Sharks

[Questor]

There is so much fear about sharks. One time I flew over Fort Lauderdale beach in a small plane and the pilot banked to point out the brown figures of big sharks swimming just beyond the depth of most swimmers at the busy beach. The sharks are usually there. Attacks are exceedingly rare. It's really quite amazing.

Questor Jr. won't touch one, even if it's a little one that we caught.

What's the level of fear about sharks in your area?

Me? If I'm in the water with one and I can see it, I get scared. If I can't see one I'm always mindful that one is probably nearby.

A couple of years ago we had just caught a six foot bull shark and then headed in to the dock at the end of the day. Not far from where we caught it we spotted a kayak in distress. Two Russian tourists were aboard. The tide and wind were changing and it was just too dangerous to be there in the kayak. The man looked fearful and the woman was at the edge of panic. We pulled them and their boat into our boat and took them in. Then we went to a second kayak, which had had one person in it. This second kayak was capsized and the boater was in the water. The water was murky. The current was gettiing strong. Good shark conditions. There's reason to fear them.

[slim rem 7]

i hear that bit about sharks not really being dangerouse ...oh poor sharks,we killum..
 i believe the ship was called the indianappolis..over 1500 hundred men went in the water
 three hundred an something came out... sharks got the rest...as told by ,,,i believe they called him flynt,, in jaws .. not real you say...took my nephew to see it an he nearly broke my arm a couple o times in that theater..walkin out the movie ,,he says i wasn t really scared...i told him if a bullfrog had wings he wouldn t never bust his butt either...
 me i aint puttin my body  in no dang predator hunting grnd... aint taking no stroll accross alaska niether... not without a 50 cal gun that i know how to use...jmo slim

[Oldshooter]

Sharks are like any other predator, if you go into their territory you are at the bottom of the food chain!
Best not be there with your head in your behind ! You dont need to fear them but you better respect them!

I used to dive in the gulf and spear fish, When they come around its time to leave unless you like life and death adventure where you are the prey!

[streak]

Having spent a couple years in Perth, Australia (1972-74), I got my fill of sharks! They had some real nice one`s over there and big!! They had spotter planes that flew over the beach areas looking for sharks. If they spotted one they called into the beach patrol and they would sound off the shark alarm sirens. Many times I hauled my happy little buns out of the water as the sirens went off! I am sure most people have seen films of the Australia beach patrol hop in their boats with their little skull caps on and row these boats into and through the surf out towards the open water.They had extremely long oars and after rowing through the surf towards the shark or sharks they would chase the sharks and try to hit them with the oars to make them head farther out to sea! I always thought this was a waste of time and effort! I told some of those guys why don`t you just have a "Bang Stick" in the boat and let the shark have it with that instead of trying to chase it off with the oars.They said " Mate if we did that we would have more sharks feeding on the wounded or dead ones from the " Bang Stick"! I said well kill`em and tow back to shore and process them as dog food!( TO MUCH WORK).
The biggest sharks I saw were a humongous Tiger shark( 16-18ft) and a Lemon shark!

[LONGTOM]

The only sharks near me here in northern VA are about 80-85 miles away and wear ties in DC.


Sorry, I couldn't resist!!!


LONGTOM

[Yankee1]

Hi Oldshooter
    You did not happen to dive with the Hammerhead Divers out of Beaumont Texas did you?
                                   Yankee1

[Glanceblamm]

Closest Sharks to me would be 1k miles or better cept for them two leg sharks.

Was swimming the ocean @ Daytona once in the late 70's when a few sea bass started jumping around us. Took a few years for the cold realization to set in on what might have spooked them!

I knew that in the 80's to present, some of the pilots flying with advertisement banners in tow thought the beach people were crazy for all the sharks they were seeing.

I have read stories of Shark fishing along the eastern Texas coast with intrest. Sometimes the fishing is slow so they tow the bait in the opposite direction (desert) and can catch some Coyotes
With the strenght of those poles and the high test line, they say that things can really get interesting if you would happen to catch a chevy blazer while doing this

[gypsyman]

Closest shark to me has an office on the main drag into town, about 3 miles away. Does divorce and bankrupcy, and occasionally leads the ambulance to the local hospital. gypsyman

[AtlLaw]

in the 80's to present, some of the pilots flying with advertisement banners in tow thought the beach people were crazy for all the sharks they were seeing.

I occasionally flew over the beach at Panama City during the mid-60's through the early 70's and was always amazed at the number of (BIG!  ) sharks I saw swiming literally within feet of unsuspecting bathers.  They scare me... always have... Jaws didn't help... 

[Oldshooter]

Hi Oldshooter
    You did not happen to dive with the Hammerhead Divers out of Beaumont Texas did you?
                                   Yankee1

No, but know of them, learned with Don Castille out of Bridge City, I dove with some hammerheads but we were never formaly introduced! 

I came up from a rig dive one day with a stringer full of red snapper and along comes a big hammer head that was almost as long as my 25 ft boat just cruising by. Needles to say we moved on! Although I saw several sharks when we were diving and spearfishing under rigs I have never seen one under a rig, I think they are claustrophobic or something

[Heather]

in the 80's to present, some of the pilots flying with advertisement banners in tow thought the beach people were crazy for all the sharks they were seeing.

I occasionally flew over the beach at Panama City during the mid-60's through the early 70's and was always amazed at the number of (BIG!  ) sharks I saw swiming literally within feet of unsuspecting bathers.  They scare me... always have... Jaws didn't help... 

You look so sophisicated in you new pic that I almost didn't realize it was you!  I'm scared of sharks!  THe ocean is their turf where they clearly have an advantage.  I love swimming in the ocean, but only where my feet can find semi solid ground.

Heather

[kitchawan kid]

I think it was Col. Jeff Cooper who said that they found out sharks really don't like the taste of humans,and generally spit it out.I hope that will make you feel better if you run in to one.

[AtlLaw]

You look so sophisicated in you new pic that I almost didn't realize it was you!

Shooooot girl!  You should see me when I'm in my full blown "elder statesman" motif!     Short hair, clean shaven... the picture of conservative decorum!     I'll probably be heading that way again soon...    Kathie says I've had enough fun... I've got to grow up... it's time to act my age...    <Geeeeze, one little bar fight and she gets all bent outa shape... heck!  I almost won!    well, maybe not almost... >

I really don't worry about sharks... they would never bother me... professional curtosy...

WOW!!   wait a minute here!     Did I just tell a lawyer joke!?   

[petemi]

I scuba dived on the New Jersey shore and Florida East Coast for about 20 years and had many shark encounters....none at all threatening.  I NEVER entered the water unless it was clear.  I was swimming with a friend one evening at dusk at "The Bathtub" near the south end of Hutchinson Island, east of Stuart, Florida.  We were chased right up to the beach by a 7 or 8 foot Bull Shark.  Being in the water there at that of day was stupidity on my part, because that is the time of day we started fishig for them.

Pete

[teamnelson]

We've got a few around the island; used to open water kayak alot 'til someone pointed to the sharks underneath us and my wife lost interest quick (Hammerheads breed in Kaneohe Bay). We get a few white tips in the spot my son and I like to spear fish, but same deal - they never bother anyone. Dive all around the island - never a problem. Seems like we get at least one tourist a year chomped on though; last one was off Kailua and conditions were right. Biggest one I ever saw outside of an aquarium was off Sable Blanc, Djibouti - big tiger shark coming around the reef we were snorkelling. We swam into the shallows where he couldn't go and he passed on by. Unfortunately my wife swam into a shoal of blue plankton ... fortunately we were near a Legionnaires post, and their medic gave her a shot. Poor thing, she just never catches a break. She finally did a discovery dive and is signed up for certification in 2 weeks ... pray for me folks. And pray there's not a single shark in the vicinity!

Personally, I like sharks ... grilled, with a marinade of butter, garlic, soy, lemon. 

[Yankee1]

Hi Oldshooter
   I belonged to Hammerhead Divers and dove with them. One day on the eighteen mile light off of Sabine Pass I saw a shark bite the lower unit off of a outboard motor right below the power head. Two guys were pulling in a Ling that they had been fighting for about 20 minutes.
Just as they pulled it in the boat the shark tore the lower unit off.
We looked all over the area and could not find it. A friend of mine owned that sailboat rental at the bottom of the bridge going to Bridge City. Her name was Sue Feagan. I've had some big ones circle me quite a few times. We used to rent dive boats in Sabine Pass and run all night to get out to the 44 mile rigs in the morning. We speared sea bass , barracuda , sheepshead and red snapper.  Bobby Sims from Port Arthur taught me how to handle greater barracuda without losing any fingers. Spent many great days diving in the Gulf.
                             Its a small world
                              Yankee1

[Oldshooter]

 Small World,No kidding! Grew up in BC

I used to trailor my boat to Sabine pass in the early 80's and run out to the 40 mile rigs, She was fast! When you could use fast! 

I had a picture of Don Castile with a Jew fish (when you could shoot em) picked up on a engine A frame, the head is at the top(8ft) and the tail is bent on the ground. He shot it and "rode" it for a while before it got tired then he put his hands in its eyes and pulled up and it swam him to the surface!  He is a divers diver! He moved to Florida a while back so i hope he's still with us.

[Yankee1]

Hi Again Oldshooter
   We would spear Jew Fish about the third vertabre back from the gill section. Then the ride would start. It would pull your mask down on your chest and go about 60 feet towing you behind it. When it stopped your buddy would catch up with you and put another spear in it and the ride was on again until the spear tips did their work.
Then we both would haul them to the surface.  We could hold them on the surface but when we would swim  towards to boat all three of us would start sinking again.  Someone on the boat would dive in and grab both spearguns and tow us and the fish just like a raft over to the boat.  At the boat we would run a piece of 1/2" rope through his gills and out his mouth and they would all haul the fish on board.
The fish ran around 350 to 400 pounds.
Just thinking about it makes me wish I was doing it again.
                        Regards
                     Yankee1

We would hang them from  a davit on the stern and dress it out.
We wore Levi's to stop the barnacles from cutting us up if we brushed against the rig. We always split Jew Fish up with everybody on board.