DANA POINT — Chris Pica was in a lobster skiff in 8 feet of water just off Beach Road watching 10 great whites, six to 11-feet long, glide through the surfline.

The 53-year-old, a longtime boat captain and member of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Orange County whale disentanglement team, was enjoying his day off.

He had missed recent shark sightings off Capistrano Beach, so after getting a bite at Wind and Sea Restaurant in Dana Point Harbor on Friday, May 19, he and three friends hopped onto the skiff to see what they could find half a mile outside the harbor. In 20 minutes they were surrounded by the great whites.

“We were right in the lineup and all of a sudden, there was this big dark figure in the surf,” Pica recalled Wednesday, May 24. “I saw a round black buoy with a little light on it. In a split second the wave broke on the shark and he was in white water.”

As Pica watched the 7-footer tumble, his mind flashed back to a year ago when he and another boat captain sighted a great white entangled in fishing gear off the San Clemente pier, he said. This shark looked to have the same gear on it.

Fishing gear cut off a great white shark off Capistrano Beach on May 19. (Photo courtesy of Frank Brennan)

Capt. Chris Picastands with Mindy White Laulhere and hold a cluster of heavy-duty fishing line, buoys and weights he pulled off a great white shark on Friday in the surfline at Capistrano Beach. (Photo courtesy of Chris Pica)

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Capt. Chris Pica saw the entangled great white off a boat in San Clemente in March 2016. (Photo courtesy of Chris Pica)



“I was like, oh my God, that’s the same shark,” Pica said. “It was just two feet from me.”

A hook was set in its mouth connected to a steel cable, he said. The fishing line trailing from the cable was partially wrapped around a pectoral fin and part of its body. Trailing behind was a massive wad of mono-filament fishing line, three stainless steel leaders and the black float.

In a split second, Pica’s instinct from previous whale disentanglements kicked in.

He grabbed a metal gaffe, threw it and connected it with the cable coming from the shark’s mouth, he said.

“The shark lit up, got mad and pulled me around to the bow,” Pica said. “I got the gaffe around the leader and all the gear snapped off. It was a million-to-one shot.”

Pica, who has been a boat captain for Dana Wharf Sportfishing and Whale Watching for 30 years, has participated in more than 10 local whale rescue efforts. He credited his success with the great white to his friends on board.

Brian Pifer kept an eye on the shark. Mindy White Laulhere held onto Pica’s legs as he briefly got out-muscled by the powerful shark and nearly went over the bow. Frank Brennan, also a whale watch captain with Dana Wharf Sportfishing and part of the disentanglement team, maneuvered the boat so Pica could grab the trailing line.

“That must have been the luckiest great white in the ocean,” Pica said, laughing. “What are the odds of us, part of NOAA’s whale disentanglement team, being out there?”

Once free, the shark calmly swam off, joining the others slowly cruising nearby, Pica said. None of the sharks acted aggressively, he said.

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“They had heavy duty lines, wire leaders, three stainless steel swivels used for big game fishing,” he said. “Someone was actually fishing for great white.”

Andrew Hughan, spokesman for the state Department of Fish and Wildlife, said to his knowledge no one has ever disentangled a great white. He didn’t discount that the shark may have been the same one Pica spotted a year ago.

“Great whites are fairly habitual,” he said. “The chance of it being the same one is theoretically possible.”

Hughan said Pica may be right about what happened to the shark, adding that great whites are a state-protected species and catching them is illegal.

“Maybe a hook was set intentionally,” Hughan said. “And in its panic it swung under the pier and picked up some gear.”

State wardens are working with Los Angeles and Orange County Harbor Patrol to keep an eye on shark hotbeds along the coast, he said.

“If you’re targeting a fish, someone is watching you,” Hughan said.

Either way, Hughan was impressed with Pica’s fast action.

“He put himself in jeopardy,” he said. “Wildlife doesn’t have rational thought. If the shark has something in its mouth, it will swim as hard as it can to get away. That’s some brave stuff.”

Chris Lowe, director of the Shark Lab at Cal State Long Beach, said he’s heard recently of a number of juvenile white sharks being hooked and trailing large gear.

“I would agree that it appears there are fishers out there deliberately targeting them which is illegal,” he said. “All we can do is try to educate the public and encourage people to report incidents of illegal fishing to California Department of Fish and Wildlife game wardens.”

Lowe, added that it is not impossible that the shark Pica rescued was the same one he saw a year ago. Though, it is not likely, he said.

Pica is still exhilarated by the experience.

He said it was natural for him to help an animal in need — just like the gray whales he’s freed in the past.

“They are a vital part of our ecosystem,” he said. “Whether you like it or not, they are are all part of God’s creatures.”