Shark tails

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Manthony
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Shark tails

Post by Manthony »

Ok, I'm a little on edge about these shark encounters here of late. As I mentioned in the "Sharks" topic I had a few run ins with a couple of sharks and wanted to get some feedback from everyone else on their encounters. Again, thanks for all the reply's. Well, I went out again this weekend and made my first stop at the K-tower. We had one guy in the boat rod and reel fishing, while my other buddy and I were in the water doing some free diving/scuba. All was good for the first 30 minutes, my buddy in the boat was catching AJ's (all under the size limit, but having a ball doing it) while we were knocking off a few under the water and that's when the dinner bell rang. I looked over at my buddy in the water and seen two 9' bull sharks come up underneath him. He was on the surface so I popped up to let him know they were under him. When he looked down there were three, we made our way back to the boat and hung around at the back long enough to finish our limit on the AJ's. After a break in the boat, we slid back in to check out some other fish and again started to get buzzed by the big guys. In total we seen the three bulls, at least a 10' nurse on the bottom and what i think were 2 sand sharks cruising just off the barge. Definitely to many fins for me.

Once we finished at the tower we moved in to the OAR reefs and made one more dive to finish out the day. Being that I never dove this spot before I did not know what to expect, the bottom machine was littered with structure but nothing impressive. Big mistake on my part if i were to pass this location up, the bottom was unbelievable. So when I'm diving and spear fishing I use a crab trap with the guts removed as a fish box on the bottom. I will attach it to the anchor line and let it slide down to the bottom so I can easily find it under water. Here is how it works, once we go down I will check the area and find the best location for the anchor and move it to that location as well as secure anchor, usually the center of what ever we are diving on. Being that the crab trap slides down the anchor rope I always know where the trap is and if I can not find it I'll look up and find the rope. After someone shoots a fish they can simply put it in the box so they don't have to drag it around like chum. A lot of times I will be making my way back to drop off a fish and find other fish checking out my catch and pluck another one at the box. Then when we are done diving I will pull the anchor and box up at the same time. So anyway that's how the crab trap works now let me tell you about this dive.

After securing everything, my buddy and I moved around the site and it was loaded with fish everywhere. Within minutes we were separated from each other as he went off chasing a fish that way and me the other. As i moved around I was hesitating to shoot anything because I wanted to pick my fish and I was caught up in checking everything out at the site. On the other hand my buddy was knock'em down. Upon finding a nice little area loaded with some hogs I went to find him for we could work the area together. I found him near the cage and he was pointing to it and I seen he had put some fish in it. I gave him the thumbs up on the good job and he motioned with a fin on top his head and then a chomp chomp with his hand. About that time i saw a nice grouper swim by and went for it until I heard him grunting. So I looked up and seen the biggest Bull I ever seen coming in and before I could raise my gun he poked it on the side of the head with his spear gun. At that point the shark went crazy and zipped all over the place making a big circle around us before moving out. A little shaken up we decided to make our way up and at our stop off point we caught another shadow passing under us. In all my dives I have not seen it like this out there until this year. So Again I ask has anyone else had problems with jittery sharks after shooting a few fish? I think I might need to pick up the rod and reel a little more often then I do the spear gun. I will not stop diving, but a few more episodes like this weekend and I might have to lay low until they move out.

Oh, what my buddy was trying to tell me underwater was he seen a couple of bulls while we were separated and when he went back to the cage to drop off a fish the big one was nibbling on the cage trying to get the fish inside it. I highly recommend the cage idea for everyone with all the shark activity, its allot better to have the sharks nibble on a cage then a fish hanging from your side like a big bag of chum.
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bman
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Re: Shark tails

Post by bman »

:o
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lizbeth
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Re: Shark tails

Post by lizbeth »

:o :o :o
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Scoop Sea
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Re: Shark tails

Post by Scoop Sea »

Shooting AJ's at the K Tower, see two big bulls, and then you go back to the boat and keep shooting AJ's in the water...... :o

A friend makes the shark fin sign when ya'll are down on the bottom and your first thought is to head off to chase a grouper swimming by...... :o :o

I'm just curious, how much weight do you have to use on your weight belt to get yourself to submerge? It would appear that the buoyancy associated with the size of your coconuts would make it hard for you to go underwater. :lol: I'm just saying.......
"Be Careful Not To Confuse Motion With Progress."
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Manthony
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Re: Shark tails

Post by Manthony »

Believe me my coconuts shrank a few sizes on the last dive. I'll use less weight from now on :lol:
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RodBow
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Re: Shark tails

Post by RodBow »

I don't mean to be mean but..

Please provide your number...I've been wanting to build one of those motorized hang glider things for the thrill of flying but I didn't have anyone to test fly it. You've supplied enough info to know that you're just the guy!

The local rag (Democrap) has an obit section... just saying. The funeral should be cheap since there'll just be parts to go in the box :-? You could probably get additional discounts for pre-planning with the undertakers... oops - your already working with them!

Chum is chum - crab trap or not IMO.
use your opportunities ...

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Manthony
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Re: Shark tails

Post by Manthony »

It's all good, I'm guessing there are not allot of divers on this site. I know other guys I dive with and have talk to have also said they are seeing more then normal right now. Was just looking to share my story and see if anyone else had the same tails.

I too was that guy who sat in the boat saying "the hell with getting in the water in the middle of the ocean". Believe me I know when it's time to get out of the water and I know who rules the world down there. Once you get down there and see everything though you get hooked quick. Either way by just going down to see what is there helps you to know how to pole fish or where to pole fish on a site.

The major plus to diving is finding all the crap that drops over board from that guy who says "hell no I'm not getting in the water". I've come up with fishing poles, gaffs, stretch 30's, and a ton of lead thanks to all the guys at K-tower. Will never need to buy weights and oh did I mention the anchors, anyone needs an anchor I'm collecting them for a big sale at the flea-market one day :-D
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MudDucker
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Re: Shark tails

Post by MudDucker »

Whenever we have periods of drought, like now, the deeper water sharks move up to shore to feed because the salinity level rises.
Its a wonderful day in the neighborhood!
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Manthony
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Re: Shark tails

Post by Manthony »

Thanks MudDucker!
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