# 12' tigershark speared by freediver



## diverdwn (Nov 13, 2007)

<H1 style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 3.7pt"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 28.5pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Pictured: The moment a diver grappled with a 12ft tiger shark to save a friend<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-comfficeffice" /><o></o></H1><P style="MIN-HEIGHT: 0px; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11.5pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">By<SPAN class=apple-converted-space><SPAN style="TEXT-TRANSFORM: uppercase; COLOR: #003580">DAILY MAIL REPORTER
Last updated at 4:23 PM on 11th March 2009<o></o><P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; TEXT-INDENT: -0.25in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.5pt"><SPAN style="mso-list: Ignore">·<SPAN style="FONT: 7pt 'Times New Roman'"> <SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11.5pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><SPAN class=linktext><SPAN style="COLOR: #00aad2; TEXT-DECORATION: none; text-underline: none"><SPAN style="BACKGROUND-POSITION: -30px 0px">Comments (<SPAN rel="1161211"><SPAN class=readercommentno><SPAN style="COLOR: #00aad2; TEXT-DECORATION: none; text-underline: none">10<SPAN class=linktext><SPAN style="COLOR: #00aad2; TEXT-DECORATION: none; text-underline: none">)<o></o><DIV style="BORDER-RIGHT: medium none; PADDING-RIGHT: 0in; BORDER-TOP: medium none; PADDING-LEFT: 3pt; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0in; MARGIN-LEFT: -0.25in; BORDER-LEFT: #00aad2 1pt solid; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0in; PADDING-TOP: 0in; BORDER-BOTTOM: medium none; mso-element: para-border-div; mso-border-left-alt: solid #00AAD2 .75pt"><P class=MsoNormal style="BORDER-RIGHT: medium none; PADDING-RIGHT: 0in; BORDER-TOP: medium none; PADDING-LEFT: 0in; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0in; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt 0.25in; BORDER-LEFT: medium none; TEXT-INDENT: -0.25in; PADDING-TOP: 0in; BORDER-BOTTOM: medium none; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in; mso-border-left-alt: solid #00AAD2 .75pt; mso-padding-alt: 0in 0in 0in 3.0pt"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: silver; FONT-FAMILY: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.5pt"><SPAN style="mso-list: Ignore">·<SPAN style="FONT: 7pt 'Times New Roman'"> <SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11.5pt; COLOR: silver; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><SPAN class=linktext><SPAN style="COLOR: #00aad2; TEXT-DECORATION: none; text-underline: none">Add to My Stories<o></o></DIV><P style="MIN-HEIGHT: 0px; MARGIN: 0in 0in 7.4pt"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Plunging a knife in again and again, diver Craig Clasen grapples with a 12ft tiger shark to protect a friend.<SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11.5pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><o></o><P style="MIN-HEIGHT: 0px; MARGIN: 0in 0in 7.4pt"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">For two hours he wrestled with the giant, spearing it seven times, even drowning the beast before eventually finishing it off with a knife.<SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11.5pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><o></o><P style="MIN-HEIGHT: 0px; MARGIN: 0in 0in 7.4pt"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Mr Clasen was hunting yellow fin tuna with fellow fisherman Cameron Kirkconnell, photographer D.J Struntz and film maker Ryan McInnis in the <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-comffice:smarttags" /><st1lace w:st="on">Gulf of Mexico</st1lace> when the encounter took place.<SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11.5pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><o></o><P class=scrolltext style="MIN-HEIGHT: 0px; MARGIN: 0in 0in 1.85pt">*<SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11.5pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Scroll down**<SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11.5pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Free diver Craig Clasen was forced to fight head-on with a 12-foot tiger shark when the predator turned on his friend during a spearfishing trip<o></o>*<P style="MIN-HEIGHT: 0px; MARGIN: 0in 0in 7.4pt"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">The group were about to leave the deep waters south of the Mississippi River's mouth, when Mr McInnis found himself alone in the company of a tiger shark.<SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11.5pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><o></o><P style="MIN-HEIGHT: 0px; MARGIN: 0in 0in 7.4pt"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">With no time to lose, Mr Clasen grabbed his speargun and swam to his stranded friend, who was being circled by the giant predator.<SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11.5pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><o></o><P style="MIN-HEIGHT: 0px; MARGIN: 0in 0in 7.4pt"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">'I positioned myself between Ryan and the shark and I tried to watch it for a second, hoping it would pass us by,' explained 32-year-old Mr Clasen.<SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11.5pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><o></o><P style="MIN-HEIGHT: 0px; MARGIN: 0in 0in 7.4pt"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">'I noticed that the shark was getting tighter and tighter and just kept trying to get a back angle on us and behaving in an aggressive manner.<SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11.5pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><o></o><P style="MIN-HEIGHT: 0px; MARGIN: 0in 0in 7.4pt"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">'The shark made a roll and looked like it was going to charge us so I just went ahead and took the conservative route and put a shaft through its gills.<SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11.5pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><o></o><P style="MIN-HEIGHT: 0px; MARGIN: 0in 0in 7.4pt"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">'Cameron and I have been around sharks for years and we all have a lot of experience with them but this encounter had a different feel to it.<SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11.5pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><o></o><P style="MIN-HEIGHT: 0px; MARGIN: 0in 0in 7.4pt"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">'Down in my core I really felt the shark was there to feed. I didn't want it to come to that.'<SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11.5pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><o></o><P style="MIN-HEIGHT: 0px; MARGIN: 0in 0in 7.4pt"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Mr Clasen spent nearly two hours wrestling with the giant 12ft shark, spearing it seven times and even attempting to drown the beast before eventually finishing it off with a long blade*<SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11.5pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">The experienced spearfisherman spent nearly two hours wrestling with the shark, spearing it seven times<o></o>*<P style="MIN-HEIGHT: 0px; MARGIN: 0in 0in 7.4pt"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">'Once I shot it in the gills I felt a moral obligation to finish the job,' says Mr Clasen.<SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11.5pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><o></o><P style="MIN-HEIGHT: 0px; MARGIN: 0in 0in 7.4pt"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">'I didn't want it to go on any longer than it had to. I shot the fish like I would do any other fish and worked it up closer and did my best to kill it as humanely as possible.<SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11.5pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><o></o><P style="MIN-HEIGHT: 0px; MARGIN: 0in 0in 7.4pt"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">'I speared it in the gills which I knew would kill it and from that I tried to put a shaft into its brain as quickly as possible.<SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11.5pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><o></o><P style="MIN-HEIGHT: 0px; MARGIN: 0in 0in 7.4pt"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">'I shot it six times in the head with a spear and I wasn't having much luck - it was a slow drawn out process.<SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11.5pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><o></o><P style="MIN-HEIGHT: 0px; MARGIN: 0in 0in 7.4pt"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">'Sharks are so resilient and so tough from millions of years of evolution they are just survivors.<SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11.5pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><o></o><P style="MIN-HEIGHT: 0px; MARGIN: 0in 0in 7.4pt"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">'The best way and quickest way to finish the job and kill the shark and recover it was to get a rope around its tail, drag it from the back of the boat and attempt to drown it.<SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11.5pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><o></o><P style="MIN-HEIGHT: 0px; MARGIN: 0in 0in 7.4pt"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">'In the end we had put a knife its skull once I got lose enough to it and use a long blade knife even after trying to drown it.'<SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11.5pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><o></o><P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">*<SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11.5pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Mr Clasen, who usually sees 50-100 sharks on such dives, said that such an attack was rare<o></o>*<P style="MIN-HEIGHT: 0px; MARGIN: 0in 0in 7.4pt"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Mr Clasen has been free diving and fishing since an early age. Hailing from <st1:State w:st="on"><st1lace w:st="on">Mississippi</st1lace></st1:State>, he was brought up in a fishing family, and is an expert in all fishing disciplines. Despite his experience, Mr Clasen took no pleasure in disposing of the giant shark.<SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11.5pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><o></o><P style="MIN-HEIGHT: 0px; MARGIN: 0in 0in 7.4pt"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">'This was one of the most remorseful moments I have ever had in all of my years in hunting, gathering and fishing,' explains Mr Clasen.<SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11.5pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><o></o><P style="MIN-HEIGHT: 0px; MARGIN: 0in 0in 7.4pt"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">'Personally I never shoot anything or kill anything that I am not going to eat.<SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11.5pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><o></o><P style="MIN-HEIGHT: 0px; MARGIN: 0in 0in 7.4pt"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">'We saved the tail and the head, cut a giant chunk out of it and ate a piece.<SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11.5pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><o></o><P style="MIN-HEIGHT: 0px; MARGIN: 0in 0in 7.4pt"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">'I wasn't there to hunt the shark, it was a defensive move for me and I would do it again. Unfortunately it had to be done and its not something I was proud of. It was a situation that presented itself to us. This was one of those rare instances where we had to protect ourselves.<SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11.5pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><o></o><P style="MIN-HEIGHT: 0px; MARGIN: 0in 0in 7.4pt"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">'I have so much respect for sharks in general. With the amount of time that we spend out there we are exposed to so many potential risks.'<SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11.5pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><o></o><P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">*<SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11.5pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">The divers had been hunting with spear guns for yellow fin tuna when the tiger shark attacked<o></o>*<P style="MIN-HEIGHT: 0px; MARGIN: 0in 0in 7.4pt"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Spearfishing is a form of fishing that has been popular throughout the world for centuries. Considered to be the most selective way of fishing, the amount of fish taken by spearfishermen accounts for just 0.1 per cent of fishing globally.<SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11.5pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><o></o><P style="MIN-HEIGHT: 0px; MARGIN: 0in 0in 7.4pt"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Today spearfishermen use effective elastic- or pneumatic-powered spearguns and slings to strike the hunted fish using free-diving, snorkelling or scuba-diving techniques.<SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11.5pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><o></o><P style="MIN-HEIGHT: 0px; MARGIN: 0in 0in 7.4pt"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Regarded by many as two of the world's best free diving spearfishermen, Mr Clasen and Cameron Kirkconnell have come into contact with thousands of sharks.<SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11.5pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><o></o><P style="MIN-HEIGHT: 0px; MARGIN: 0in 0in 7.4pt"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Watching from the boat, Mr Kirkconnell is sure Mr Clasen the right decision. 'We had been in the water all day and had caught lots of tuna,' he explained.<SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11.5pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><o></o><P style="MIN-HEIGHT: 0px; MARGIN: 0in 0in 7.4pt"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">'But every dive we do is a shark dive and at certain times of the year, especially in <st1:State w:st="on"><st1lace w:st="on">Louisiana</st1lace></st1:State>, we expect to see between 50-100 sharks from 7-12 ft.<SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11.5pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><o></o><P style="MIN-HEIGHT: 0px; MARGIN: 0in 0in 7.4pt"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">'This encounter was so rare though. This shark might have been part of a feeding frenzy and still fired up and thought this was an easy kill.<SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11.5pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><o></o><P style="MIN-HEIGHT: 0px; MARGIN: 0in 0in 7.4pt"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">'Tiger sharks have no problem eating whole sea turtles, 150lb tuna and even dolphins. It wasn't a split second decision on a whim, Mr Clasen has had hundreds of hours of experience.<SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11.5pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><o></o><P style="MIN-HEIGHT: 0px; MARGIN: 0in 0in 7.4pt"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">'There was no doubt that was what needed to be done.'







<P style="MIN-HEIGHT: 0px; MARGIN: 0in 0in 7.4pt"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">







<P style="MIN-HEIGHT: 0px; MARGIN: 0in 0in 7.4pt"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">







<SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11.5pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><o></o><P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 9.5pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><BR style="mso-special-character: line-break">http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1161211/Pictured-The-moment-diver-grappled-12ft-tiger-shark-save-friend.html?ITO=1490<BR style="mso-special-character: line-break"><o></o>


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## GONU (Oct 3, 2007)

That's some crazy S^&t right there!


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## [email protected] (Oct 4, 2007)

holy sh#t


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## skullworks (Oct 2, 2007)

WOW!


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## Tuna Man (Oct 2, 2007)

1) Your title was totally misleading.....Holy crap.:banghead:banghead

2) Hell of a guy to freedive and fight off that shark for "2 hours"

I'd call that the shark from HELL.

And stories like that are the reason my wife doesn't want to go out further then sight of land, whatever difference that makes.

Glad of the outcome:clap:clap:clap:clap


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## jjam (Dec 9, 2007)

<DIV class=headline><SPAN class=label>Local spear fisherman thrust into spotlight over fight with shark <SPAN class=time_stamp>11:25 AM </DIV><DIV class=headline></DIV><DIV class=headline>Here's the Times Picayune story..</DIV><DIV class=headline></DIV><DIV class=headline>Jimmy</DIV>


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## Orion45 (Jun 26, 2008)

Wow. That took *muchos cojones*. For those of us with*cojones más pequeños*, may I recommend *Shark Shield?*


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## fishwagon (Oct 23, 2008)

holy s#$* 

does anyone think that a shark shield would have helped . i have been thinking of getting one to do night dives on wrecks.


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## fishwagon (Oct 23, 2008)

did i mention holy s#$*


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## Orion45 (Jun 26, 2008)

> *fishwagon (3/12/2009)*holy s#$*
> 
> does anyone think that a shark shield would have helped . i have been thinking of getting one to do night dives on wrecks.


Yes. I believe the shark would probably never have gone in to the attack mode. I have one (Freedom 7 model) and it works as advertised. I use it everytime I spearfish and hardlynotice I'm wearing it. You can read more about it at http://www.sharkshield.com/Content/Home/


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## Magic236 (Oct 1, 2007)

This has to be the most amazing fish story ever. Read the article in the Times Picayune. This happened in June '08 and was featured in Outside Magazine this month. Truly amazing......


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## HateCheese (Oct 2, 2007)

I think we're going to need a bigger boat!

Not the type of shark that I want to see while spearfishing. Obviously an experienced spearo because he didn't try the 'octopus' defense. Wonderabout the condition ofhis wetsuit, mine might need to be professionally cleaned after that.


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## Telum Pisces (Sep 27, 2007)

> *HateCheese (3/13/2009)*I think we're going to need a bigger boat!
> 
> Not the type of shark that I want to see while spearfishing. Obviously an experienced spearo because he didn't try the 'octopus' defense. Wonderabout the condition ofhis wetsuit, mine might need to be professionally cleaned after that.


The day I see a tiger shark in the water is the instant I am back on the boat. I will dive with Bulls, Gray Reefs, and most other sharks. They only want one thing. That's the fish on your stringer. A tiger shark is known as the garbage disposal of the sea. And they bite things just to see if it's edible. NO THANK YOU.


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## HateCheese (Oct 2, 2007)

I wouldn't mind seeing one, I'd just hope I have an empty stringer at the time.

Yeah, the experts on shark week always say it is the garbage can of the sea, so I'd probably want one good look then I'd be back on the boat.


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