Close Encounters

[Threemuch]

Here is a topic to pass the winter months...

Who has had a close encounter with the Apex in-water predator, the Great White Shark?



I have been a diver for about 10 years, mainly freediving. I have dove Point Reyes and a couple other spots in the "Red Triangle", but I have never seen a shark other than small bottom sharks, like leopard and horned.

Last year, while trolling for salmon off Garibaldi, we hooked a very large fish, and couldn't really make any headway on it. So we used the kicker to get closer, and when we got very close to the line, we could see a shark, maybe 10-12 feet long. Way too fat to be a blue, and to me, looke like a great white. On herring? Not likely, probably a salmon shark. He ended the fight right after that, with a quick flick of his tail, the short line parted.

I have a diver friend who saw one in the water once, and another aquaintance who was attacked and survived. I also have fishing friends in CA who have seen them from the boat. So come on, you old salts, I know some of you 20 year salty dogs must have some stories, let's hear em.

In the late 60’s I was on the bottom, at 90' (offshore of Salt Point State Park N. California) and had one swim about 25’ over me. Needless to say I had to wash out my wet suit. I also had a killer whale swim over me in Alaska.

[ 12-08-2003, 08:24 AM: Message edited by: Keta ]

[skein]

Like this one?



The shark that ate this one was about 8' long and not blue at all. He was more brown/sandy colored and much thicker than a blue. We watched him swim around the boat looking for the rest of it.

Pretty, uh... exciting. :shocked:

Skein

[kamloops]

Yeh, that sounds like the same shark we had ahold of last summer.
I thought it may have been a six gill, the shark was not able to part the 30lb mono, after several long runs I reached down and got the diver and pulled. It was not a blue that I know.

We were mooching with herring 10 miles S.W. of the C.R. buoy.

[Threemuch]

Six gill are wierd looking bottom sharks.



I caught a small one in the SF bay once.

Salmon shark is very similar to a great white, esp from the top.



Here is a good URL to some info and cool pics:
Salmon Shark Webpage

[kamloops]

It was not as chunky as the Salmon Shark.
The fish was rather sluggish in his runs and came to the boat peacefully, I had to pull to break the line, the fish was not too concerned with me tugging.
Think a Salmon Shark would have shredded the line.

[Mark Mc]

On a couple of tuna trips last summer, the water was SWARMING with salmon sharks.

The one shark memory that stands out..... on a trip around '89 or '90, I was on my brother's boat, which is 55 ft long & 19 ft wide. We were fishing in the shallows at the Farallons, close to the main island. It was flat calm. Out of nowhere, here comes a great white very slowly alongside the boat, as if to check us out. He got within 10 feet of us. This will sound like an exaggeration, but here goes....this thing looked to be 1/3 the length of the boat, and as big around as an old growth redwood. So what does my brother say? "hey let's get a rope around it." And I SCREAM back "are you out of your (expletive) mind?"

[TheTexan]

On one salmon trip out near the rock pile last year, I was watching some gulls feeding on the surface about a 1/2 mile away (guessing on distance). All of a sudden something broke the surface and started thrashing. It was big and I could see the foam on the surface without bino's. We pulled our gear and ran over to the general area looking for blood, but never found anything. My immediate thought was a shark, but with the lack of blood, I really don't know. Any ideas? Really made me think twice about being out there!

[Finnlander]

A few years ago I was off Pt Reyes in a thick fog heading south at approx 6-8 knots when my partner pointed to starboard and there no more than 10 yards away were two sharks swimming parallel to us on the fog shrouded surface, They looked 20 ft. long.It took me hours to settle down.

[justcastn]

Uhhhhh, I think I'll pass on getting close to one
:shocked: :shocked:

[wak'm&stak'm]

I was certified and have dove here off and on for 32 years, and have been fishing of Oregon for 40 years and I have never been blessed with such sighting, although I have seen the unexplained surfase actions at a distance.

What is strange is, I have seen 5 Basking sharks in my younger years but the last on was probably 15 years ago. Has anyone seen any lately?????

[blast and cast]

I have had the pleasure of spending some time on the Farallon Islands (actually staying on the island) and numerous Hawaian Islands for FWS work. Here are some pictures of small Tigers at Midway Island. This picture was taken while we were fishing for Amber Jacks, Trevalli and Tuna outside of the reef.

I have some great pictures of a 14-foot tiger that I will get up if I can get permission from the FWS.

[blast and cast]

Here are the local amberjacks that live under the pier that come out when you clean fish. These fish were 80 to 120 pounds each

[Chaps]

Oh yeah, and we've all been thinking that as long as we're in the boat we're all perfectly safe . . .



I thought these things were lethargic! :shocked:



[ 12-08-2003, 11:25 PM: Message edited by: Chaps ]

[Threemuch]

One time, trolling off CA our downrigger started to spool line off like mad. We figured we snagged a crab pot. We stopped the boat, and cable kept peeling out. So then we put it in reverse, and wire kept peeling out. We didn't want to lose all the cable, so we clamped it down and POW, it broke, at the weight.

I suspect Basking Shark or whale, but I'll never know.

Another Shark story that is not GWS, was when I was salmon trolling off Moss Landing. It was a slow opener in rough water in early march. We hooked a big fish on herring in an RSK. BIG. It peeled off a bunch of line in it's first run, and nearly spooled the light salmon gear before we got the boat turned around and chased it down. It was way too rough to back into it.

We cycled between theories as my partner Justing fought the fish. Holdover albacore? We weren't too far out, but we were over the Monterey Canyon. Too cold. Last years salmon that refused to die? That's crazy talk. Log? Crabpot? They don't take thumb burning runs. Finally about 20 minutes in the fish broke the surface about 100 yards away. No question about that 4 foot tail. Thresher! We had no gaff so we got as much of his head in the net as we could. Grab the tail. In the boat. Run for cover. We watched as the fish tossed tackle around the back deck for a while.

"What should I do?"

"Kill it"

"How?"

"Cut its gills"

So now there is a very mad thresher tossing tackle about in about 2" of blood on the back deck.

"It's gotta die eventually. Look, it's got no blood. And it can't breath air, right?"

"Right."

Eventually it did die, and made fine table fair. The days before digital cameras. Too bad. It's one of my best fish stories, because it actually happened. Fish never saw a scale, but it was somewhere between 60-80 pounds, about four feet in body and four feet in tail. A baby in terms of threshers, but big fun on light tackle and a trophy in our eyes.

[ 12-09-2003, 10:12 AM: Message edited by: Threemuch ]

[Miss B Haven]

I saw a "fish" off the flybridge this summer that looked a lot like those pics Blastandcast posted pf the Tigers. Same coloration, dorsal but I don't remember seeing that large of tail fin. Wasn't really looking at the tail though, I was too much in shock when I saw the breadth of the head. The head looked to be between 2-3 feet across!
Had a thresher jump behind the boat while trolling Tuna this year (I missed it but the crew saw it). Another boat running with us saw one jump that day too.
Saw a 14 foot 600 lb thresher a guy caught at Bouy 10 on a diver and herring. It was gettting filleted when I saw it. Pauls scales only went to 500 lbs so the guy weighed one side filet whole- 185lbs of pure meat!
Then there was the whale that I had to stop the boat for to prevent hitting it broadside. Disappeared under the bow pulpit. One of a small pod we ran across. They weren't grays, closest I could get in a book was Fin or Minke. Big dang whales and very strange coloration. They were almost an irridescent green/brown when they were right under the surface (gray/brown when their backs were out of the water. Kinda like when a Marlin lights up but not the deep blue, it was very light tan/green. Their tails never broke the surface either, their heads came up, blew, then rolled under and the back/fin came up.
I dunno what that thing would have done if I had actually hit it and I'm really not wanting to find out. :shocked:

[ 12-09-2003, 09:34 AM: Message edited by: Miss B Haven ]

[backlash442]

I've never seen a GW. Friend was surfing at Santa Cruz Is. and got bumped by one while sitting on his board. Made me think about all the times I used to freedive out there. I get nervous when I see a sealion!
Blues are the most common sharks around here but you don't see them like you used to back in the 70's. Had one eat the tail off an albie once. Made it easy to bring in. Sealions are more of a hassle than sharks though.
Last year a whale breached and landed on a Davis Boat off Morro Bay. Killed the driver but the other crew survived. Boat didn't sink. Think the driver was knocked out and then drowned. Odds of that happening are unbeliveable.

[Mr. BrownTrout]

Sometime around 1989 or 1990 I ran into a 14' great white off the mouth of the Columbia river. It was quite large.

[Mr. Fisherman]

I think this guy must have messed himself...

[Silver Eagle]

Hi Guys, In 1998 caught a 14 foot hammer head off the coast of Mazatlan, while it took the whole crew to get her aboard she layed there and gave birth to 10 2 foot babys which we put back in the water, she almost tore the boat apart. Have seen some real big looking sharks off Newport, but probably not any Whites, caught a 8 or 9 foot blue last year but still not a white, maybe this coming year. Have a pole ready on the flybridge just for Sharks, need the rush.

[Mr. BrownTrout]

There are plenty of great whites off the Oregon coast, seems like every few years a surfer gets nailed around Cannon Beach