Port St. Lucie anglers Michael Bramhall, Roy Lowe, Ron Buchanon and Jared Buchanon had envisioned a Sunday morning which included a few dolphin in the fish box. What they got instead was a rare chance to see one of the sea's greatest predators.

The foursome had caught a few kingfish, but struck out on dolphin (also called mahi mahi) and had decided to troll towards Fort Pierce Inlet. But within sight of the inlet, they saw a dark shape swimming close to the surface.

"We thought it was a big bull shark at first," Bramhall said. "We almost ran him over, in fact."

As they approached in Ron Buchanon's 22-foot Pathfinder bay boat, the shark didn't sound like sharks often do. The men could clearly see from its size and the shape of its snout it wasn't a bull — it was a great white shark. Bramhall said it was probably 12-14 feet in length.

"I know that's not very big for a great white shark, but for the kind of sharks we see most commonly around here, it was certainly big," Bramhall said.

What gave Bramhall and the others pause was the place where they encountered the big shark.

"It was in only about 72 feet of water, or about five miles from the inlet," he said. "It wasn't far from some spots where we lobster dive in the summer. That made us think."

More:Divers encounter great white shark off Jupiter

According to the Division of Marine Fisheries in Massachusetts and the Atlantic White Shark Conservancy, spring and summer is the time of year white sharks began migrating from areas like the Gulf of Mexico and the South Atlantic off Florida back to the waters off New England to mate.

As for the dolphin fishing, Bramhall said they didn't have a bite, despite finding a nice weed line in 140 feet of water. They did, however, catch a few kingfish.

It was the first time Bramhall, Lowe and Jared Buchanon had ever seen a great white shark with their own eyes. Ron Buchanon said he had seen one during a shark cage dive trip once before.

Great white sharks have been making their presence off Florida's coast known in recent days and months. In February, Stuart divers off Jupiter captured photographs and video of one, known as Salty (WS 12-08) by the Massachusetts researchers. Several OCEARCH tagged white sharks have been pinging off the coast recently.

More:Three OCEARCH white sharks, Miss May, Katharine, Miss Costa, surface off Treasure Coast

Anyone who sees a great white shark can report it or tag the Twitter handle @sharktivity.