‘We’re really just scratching the surface’: Fisherman tags great whites off Hilton Head

Christmas is coming early for Chip Michalove.

It’s in the form of hundred of pounds to tons in weight. Thousands of razor-sharp teeth. And a signature pointed dorsal fine. That’s right, as the waters cool and the holidays are upon us, great white sharks are swimming down from the northeast to South Carolina waters.

For Michalove, a Hilton Head Island charter captain who owns Outcast Sport Fishing, it’s the best gift he could ask for. And if his prediction holds, because of the earlier-than-normal cold waters, this great white season could shape up to be one for the books.

He’s aiming to tag and release 10-15 of the apex predators during the season that typically runs through March, though he’s had a couple stragglers in April. At the top of his list is reeling in 16 or 17-footer, which would topple the typical 10- to 12-foot sharks the captain usually tags. For reference, Michalove’s boat is 26 feet and a mammoth 16-foot shark would tip the scales at about 3,000 pounds.

The next couple of months will be a bitter-cold waiting game to see whether he gets his wish, but if temperatures around Hilton Head continue to plummet, Michalove said it’s shaping up that he could tag an “enormous one” off the coast.

From satellite tags Michalove and others have placed on the great whites, he watched as the majority barreled up to New England and Canada this summer to feast on a buffet of seals and whales. As the waters get colder, the massive fish make their way to Carolina, Georgia and Florida seas.

“They’re all in transition right now,” Michalove said. “(For the next two weeks) the Atlantic Ocean looks like I-95 on Thanksgiving weekend.”

The more sharks, the better. That’s right. It’s not what most laymen would think, but the influx of white sharks in recent years means the area waters are healthier. And when Michalove affixes thousands of dollars worth of tags to one of the gigantic fish, scientists can glean from them vital data points.

Biologists with whom Michalove works, like the “shark godfather” Greg Skomal with the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries, can track information from the shark’s movements to the saltiness of water the fish prefer. The Hilton Head captain also works with the Atlantic White Shark Conservancy.

Not even a decade ago was information available about great whites visiting Hilton Head.

“We’re just really scratching the surface on what we can learn from these fish down here,” Michalove said. “We’re starting to learn what they’re doing here and why.”

Reese was the last great white Michalove caught, tagged and released. That was back in late-March, as the species was heading northward. The 9-year-old female fish was 10 feet long, nearly a whopping 1,000 pounds and gave the well-known “shark whisperer” a good run around.

Michalove acknowledges that if someone wants to hop on a charter with him to seek a great white in the coming months, it’s going to be a freezing cold ride, what he called “the most miserable day of your life until one shows up.”

“And then you could die tomorrow,” he added.

There’s no question in his mind, the wait and the fight to catch, tag and release a great white is worth it.

The next few weeks, as the fish continue to swim south, he’ll have his senses on alert for 16- to 17-foot apex predators. But for now, as Michalove puts it, “we’re just starting the first inning.”