# Shark encounter



## Jarhead (Jul 3, 2008)

Dove out of Pensacola today, about 25 miles out.. Water was great, the mud layer was there but not too bad but it opened up at around 70' and good vis. On the first dive we saw a 6' Nurse shark, harmless enough, but on the second right after we speared an AJ a 8' beast showed up out of nowhere and started sniffing around. I had never been in the water with a shark before and it was pretty intense. I was starting to calm down when I realized the AJ was tied to ME. Once he circled the second time I felt a little better since he hadn't came after me or the fish... All in all it was a great day of diving. I'm not sure what type of shark it was. I know my sharks pretty well but I'm not familiar with this one. I'll have to look it up. It looked like a light colored sand shark but a hell of a lot bigger.. Any ideas?


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## Telum Pisces (Sep 27, 2007)

The most common sharks around here are Bull sharks. We see them a lot when diving. I had to poke one in the nose the last time we saw some sharks.


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## jaceboat (May 5, 2008)

that sounds just like what happened to me with a 7ft bull shark except we hadnt shot any fish yet he just came in pissed.


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## Clay-Doh (Oct 2, 2007)

For safety sake, I do not clip my stringer to me with a metal clip once there is fish on it. I had one of those cheap plastic squeezebuckles, with the female side and the double pronged male side, that could break easy enough if tugged. Reason is, I have heard to many storys of peoples stringers gettin yanked on by a shark, and there is no way you could win a tug off war with a shark, and I would hate to get pulled around!

Now I usually just open the hoop and attach the whole stringer to something nearby, or if I'm roaming, hold it in my hand.


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## Jarhead (Jul 3, 2008)

Good advice, I pulled out my knife like that would actually do anything. I was a little freaked out and couldn't decide if I should cut the stringer or not. I ended up crouched between the rail and wheelhouse of the wreck. Talk about a rock and hard place. I wanted to wait him out but I was out of air. The safety stop in the mud layer surrounded by cuddas with that shark under us was pretty crazy.


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## Telum Pisces (Sep 27, 2007)

> *Jarhead (8/7/2008)*Good advice, I pulled out my knife like that would actually do anything. I was a little freaked out and couldn't decide if I should cut the stringer or not. I ended up crouched between the rail and wheelhouse of the wreck. Talk about a rock and hard place. I wanted to wait him out but I was out of air. The safety stop in the mud layer surrounded by cuddas with that shark under us was pretty crazy.


The best thing you can do with fish on a stringer when a shark around is get that stinger and fish as close to you as possible. Trust me they are intimidated by you as well. If you have your fish on a stringer that is hanging off of you, it will only get them to come closer to you. Don't feed them either by cutting your fish loose. That will only make the problem worse. Keep your fish close.


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## FishinFL (Sep 30, 2007)

The ONLY time i hold my stringer next to me is when the "cudas come looking. I hang my stringer on a plastic clip so it will release or break free if swallowed. I unhook it when I see a shark in the area too. They make a diaper clip that can be opened while under tension too. You see the right shark, as I have, and he will not be intimidated. He'll come right on in, and probably behind you....always look back too.



A good friend, a real fart smeller........smart fellar, taught me to use a safety sausage as a lift bag this past week. Clip the stringer on the anchor, give it a little air, and it goes up to the bubble watcher.

just my .02, Reese


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## Telum Pisces (Sep 27, 2007)

> *FishinFL (8/7/2008)*The ONLY time i hold my stringer next to me is when the "cudas come looking. I hang my stringer on a plastic clip so it will release or break free if swallowed. I unhook it when I see a shark in the area too. They make a diaper clip that can be opened while under tension too. You see the right shark, as I have, and he will not be intimidated. He'll come right on in, and probably behind you....always look back too.
> 
> A good friend, a real fart smeller........smart fellar, taught me to use a safety sausage as a lift bag this past week. Clip the stringer on the anchor, give it a little air, and it goes up to the bubble watcher.
> just my .02, Reese


I guess I have not encountered that right shark yet Reese. Every time I have had fishNOT right next to me, the sharks come in closer. Of course my closest encounter with one was when we had no fish and had not shot any as well. The plastic clip sounds like a good idea though. We have also had sharks follow us to the surface before. I wonder if they would go after your rising stringer and take the fish only for you to run back into them on your safety stop. Ask Jeff (sniper-spear-it) about a time on my boat when two 5-6 footers gave him hell on the surface. I thought I was going to have to jump back in the water and help him. One shark doesn't usually bother me. But there is hardly ever just one. Usually the second one comes sneaking up on you from behind while you are watching the first one that showed up.

And the only thing that has actually tried to take a bite out of fish on my stringer so far was a damn turtle.:banghead I was more scared of that turtle than I had been of any shark so far. He bumped me from behind and I turned around to see a wide open mouth trying to chomp down on my fish with my leg right there. All while Jeff was watching over my ass while two large sharks circled me at the same timewithout me knowing it till I got away from the turtle.


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## spearfisher (Oct 3, 2007)

I have my stinger set up with about 10ft of rope on it. The way I have it rigged I can keep it right next to me or drop it down 10 ft. When I put fish on, I usually drop it down. That way I can see the fish and I can defend them. The most important thing in my opinion is really not where you keep your fish, it's keeping an eye on the shark and keeping the business end of your speargun pointed his direction. Sharks are opportunistic. If they see a free meal they will take it, so don't give them one. Normally just keeping your eyes on the shark is enought to keep them off of you.You may have seen a bull shark, or itcould have beena Grey Reef shark. They are really common around here too. Every shark everybody sees in the gulf is a Bull Shark, that is until you see a bull shark, and then there is absolutely no way you could mistake if for anything else. They look like a dump truck with fins, and unlike a Grey Reef, a Bull can and will get very aggressive.


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## Sniper Spear-It (Jan 16, 2008)

i try to keep the fish close to me for the cudas as well.There are some very big lemons around right now, approaching 8-9'

Probably bigger. That damn turtle did try to take a bite out of jons azz. Very aggressive turtle.

We also saw some large sharks on that dive. couldnt tell if they lemons or bulls. they looked bigger than bulls, so my guess

after further reveiw is that they were lemons. BIG LEMONS

Do whatever you feel safest doing. Try not to feed the suits.


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## flyingfishr (Oct 3, 2007)

I know a guy that showed me how to send the fish up the anchor rope too. That system works great with a bubble watcher, but that is only on the accent. If you are on the bottom still slaying fish, it is kind of a moot point. Clay and I had some sharks check us out once, now that I think of it, they may have been lemons or grey reef sharks, then on a different dive we saw the dump truck with fins. I don't have a tried and true solution for keeping your fish safe, hell, your ass safe for that matter. I do know that it IS important to not give up your fish without afight, let them know that the bubble blowers aren't going to be an easy meal, the only thing that does is teach the sharks that they can bully us, I'd rather not be bullied by a shark. I'll punch that SOB in the face!


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## Orion45 (Jun 26, 2008)

Sounds like a good field test for a Shark Shield.


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## Clay-Doh (Oct 2, 2007)

Lota good points made hear, and different schools of thoughts.

I still am a fan of either 1: keep your fish right on you(on a easy to breakwawy or quick disengage clip that wil stil do so under tension/pressure)or in your hand on you, or 2: clip your whole stringer off the the wreck, anchor line, rebar, or anything else that hoop will fit around, while you stay in an area shotting fish. 

My persobnal opinion, and I am by no means an expoert, is Fish right on youmake for a bigger "target" more intimidating to the shark with a human directly "attached". Or no where near you. For me, trailin behind me, at 5 to 10 foot, is an invitation, and I do not want jaws snapping on a meal that close to me.

No I have to say, most the guys who have commented on this post, have WAY more experince than me. FishinFL and Spearfisher especially, and Reese has probably powerheaded more sharks than I have fish!

And I like the "Fart Smeller" thingy!!!!! :moon hee hee

Now...all that being said, I had by far my coolest experience with a shark today. It was in the 7 foot range. Went out with Spearfisher, and Sean from MBT. This IS all on video by the way. Soon to come

Shot a decent snapper. Immedietly, this 7 foot or so shark was on top of it This was on natural bottom. I tried puling it in as quick as possible, but no good.

Bastard snatches up my snapper, AND my shaft, and while shaking his head like a pitbull, takes off! I was drug around the ocean floor for about 30 feet, cuz I REFUSED TO LET GO OF MY GUN!!!! All I could think of was how hard it was to convince Coochie to let me spend $500 on a new Riffe, and how hard it would be again to convince her 3 months later for me to buy another!:doh

SO...it slips outta his mouth, I try to yank it in...this bastard grabs it again with me in tow. Finally the fish came off the shaft, and I yank it back in, and reload it. This poindexter is still circling around. By this time I have lost all fear of him, and could only think of the hell I would ahve caught if I would have came home asking to buy ANOTHER Riffe, so I (can see this when the video comes out) start chasing him with my gun...don't know what I woulda done if I caught up with him.........buit it sure felt good.

By the way, Rich and Sean scored on snapper and lobster, and we all had a big feast of Bblackened snapper and griled lobster!!! Thanx guys!

My final thoughts...eityher keep your fish right on you to avoid temptatiopn of "easy oppurtunistic" meal, or clip em away from you to something while you load up on more! Just my thoughts.


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## Telum Pisces (Sep 27, 2007)

Where was the trusty powerhead Clay?????


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## GrouperNinja (Oct 30, 2007)

Sounds like some real men or idiots (you pick) need to help some of the most popular dive sites eliminate (not likely)or drasticly reduce this thret of mister grey. Before some un-suspecting diver gets bit on accident because he doesnt have eyes rear mounted or a buddy watching his back.Is it just us spear fishers that ring the dinner bell??? Clay saved me once already this year...thanks again. Just a thought.


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## Clay-Doh (Oct 2, 2007)

Went again with Kecin...Holy Spear-It...had a blast out with him.

2 more sharks, one no problem, at the bottom of the Chevron, I did not see, one of the other divers did.

Other one was on natural bottom again, and everyone DEFINATELY sar him. He mad sure to visit all of us...Kevin jabbed him a few times, another diver did, I got over top of him and put my gun on him, and he came right up to it about a foot from my gun....and after a long safety stop, with everybody else out of the water, I seen him one last time right up on the surface by the boat.

Definately gonna be stocking up my freezer soon with more shark nuggets.

I didnt have my powerhead cuz the bands are to week, gotta repower, and gonna cut a third notch in the shaft so I cna put a third band on.


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## Jarhead (Jul 3, 2008)

Thanks for all the advice fellas. You can imagine, for a rookie diver, this was a crazy experience but I loved it and the fact that he didn't come after me has given me a lot more confidence in the water. Never the less, I want to have some kind of defense next time I go down.. Have any of you had to spear a shark and if so, what happened? If that thing had come any closer to me I would have shot his arse..


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## Clay-Doh (Oct 2, 2007)

Me personally, I have just jabbed them, which is enough to turn them. I wouldnt shoot one with a speargun myself, for 2 reasons.

1, youll probably lose your gun.

2 a shaft will come no where near mortally wounding a shark, but will sure as hell injure him, and no tellin what might happen then, like a wounded dog cornered and lashing out.

I say either jab em, and if they still do not get the point and keep being pushy, time to find a new dive spot and keep a wary eye out during your accent, or powerhead them if you have one.

FishinFL has used his PLENTY on sharks, ask him. I have never had 2 yet, havent felt completely threatened.


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## Greenjeans (Jul 6, 2008)

You guys are making me want to dive again.. Back in the day when I was stationed in Puerto Rico I logged over 300 dives about half of them at night. We used to spear fish and have them hanging off of us all the time. I only ever saw two sharks and they were nurse sharks. Being older and wiser now, I would probably be a bit more cautious. Just got my first offshore boat (20 foot Mako) and am hoping to get back into the diving again next year. I have my basic cert, advanced, and a specialty in wreck diving but its been a few years. Love to read your stories.

:usaflag


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## Jarhead (Jul 3, 2008)

I do not understand the attraction to diving at night. I consider myself a pretty brave guy but there are two things that are just freaking crazy, Bull riding and diving at night. I'll skydive, bungie jump and anything else you can throw at me. After years in the Corps and two Wars I figure there's not much left to tackle but riding a damn bull that just wants to kill you and being in the water with sharks at night is just silly. Why would you do that? It's hard enough to see the fish in the daylight if the vis is poor. Can you see anything at night? That big arse shark snuck up on us in the middle of the day and very good vis. I can only imagine what I would do at night and not seeing the thing until it was right in my face. Shinning my little flashlight around in the dark praying I see a shark before it's too late is not my idea of a good time. People think I'm nuts for diving in the day with sharks around. I say you have to be off your rocker to do it in the dark.


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## Lockout (Dec 27, 2007)

I use to use a 6 foot lead. Kept the fish two to three feet below me. Then a buddy lost part of a fin as a shark took his fish and gave him a pretty good tug. I have had a bull bump me before but he was only after my fish and stringer. Push him away and he was gone. I carry my stringer now. Ive never had to feed a shark and wont unless i absolutely have to some day. I dont want to contribute to them thinking i am going to give them free meals. I had to swim down and shoot one why cant they? Stringer in hand and close to your body. Thats my advice.. And watch them damn cudas.


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## bmoore (Oct 10, 2007)

I used to work in a dive shop and make five night dives a week. Used to nail flounder, grouper, lobsters at night. You can actually see quite well with a good light and clear vis. We would do a lot of night diving under the Navarre pier...floundering...(we evern pulled a spiny off Navarre pier one night) and occassionally something would bump ya or hit your fins and you would turn and nothing would be there..shark probably. They never bothered us too bad.

But heck I also cave dive......


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