Sharks......

[Magicallbill]

I guess you could call this killing time in the winter months...

I read DebbieCuda's post on the dolphin grabbing her dangling fingers over the side,and it prompted me to pose the question..
Have any of you Fla. boaters ever come into contact with Sharks while beaching,swimming at anchor,or whatever?
With the attacks in the panhandle,and a surfer being bitten off,West Palm,or Daytona,it just makes me wonder.
I've spent much of my vacations on Longboat Key,and only once did I see a shark swimming in between the 1st bar and shore.

Anybody else?
Does it worry any of you?
Do you think about the possibility of attack while swimming?

Curious.....

[gcarter]

I spend a bit of time in Daytona and used to keep a boat in Ft. Pierce. I've read the Florida Southern Atlantic coast is a breeding ground. It seems to have a high population of sharks. That never kept us from diving in 10-30' on a clear day.
I've read most shark attacks in the surf are cases of mistaken identity. That sharks don't particularly like the tase of people but that feet and legs in the surf look like food. I can't think of any shark attacks in the surf that were lethal, just bites. I doubt if the attackees were any happier knowing that.

[ChromeGorilla]

Only once.... while on my JetSki in ST. Augustine, FL I was floating with motor off waiting for some one and saw some fins about 10' away pop up. I thought no biggie.... I see dolphins every other minute while boating on the ICW. Well this time the fins weren't porpoising. They stayed above the water line cutting back and forth. SO I am sitting there watchin a pair of fins for a short while and finally one of the fins passes within 3 feet. And on the bright sunny day I could see the whole damn shark. It was a Bonnet Head shark about 4-5 foot long and about a foot in diameter. Looked like they were chasing fish at low tide. Was slightly unerving considering I have jumped in the water fairly regularly in the past to cool off...... Other than that it's always sea turtles and dolpins.

[Cuda]

My closest contact was when I was wade fishing near the Skyway in Tampa Bay. I caught some movement out the corner of my eye, turned to look, and there was a six foot bullshark about eight feet from me on a drop off. I was standing in about twelve inches of water, and my buddy told me I did my Jesus immitation, that my feet never hit the bottom running across that sandbar!

I've seen quite a few smaller sharks when scalloping up near the Steinhatchee River, I figured I could whip them. :)

[Cuda]

One of my buddies who used to surf a lot on the east coast said they would see them regularly out there. The refered to a shark as "the man in the gray suit", or "the landlord". When the landlord comes to collect the rent, sometimes it's an arm, and sometimes it's a leg.:eek!:

[pmreed]

I've seen them a number of times diving. Since I was about as big as they were, they just swam off. It was very unnerving the first time I encountered one:shark: ; I spent the rest of the dive looking over my shoulder. I seem to recall I burned up that tank pretty fast too!!
Phil

[Islander]

Seen them lots of times, here and in the Bahamas. Biggest I've come across were a pair of hammerheads, the largest of which was at least 12'. I was with my wife and son on a 15' whaler and we were just looking around the finger channels north of Boca Chita, and I spotted the two sharks and idled up to them. The weren't the least bit bother by us. They circled around the boat a couple of times and swam off. About one hundred yards away there was a family swimming around their anchored boat, splashing around, oblivious to the fact that they had company. Just goes to show that humans really aren't a regular part of a shark's diet.

In the Bahamas we see sharks literally every time we go fishing or diving. Mostly reef sharks, black tips and lemon sharks, but occassionally we come across a bull shark. If we're diving, and a bull shark shows up, we leave...quickly. They are not sharks you can take chances with.

[onesubdrvr]

,....I've seen quite a few smaller sharks when scalloping up near the Steinhatchee River, I figured I could whip them. :)
Had Debbie with 'ya huh? :biggrin:

Wayne

[Magicallbill]

Thanks..
Great stories!
I used to surf(kind of) off Longboat. I would be standing in waist-deep murky water from the breaking surf,all alone,and would wonder how smart I was being...
Anyone else? This is entertaining..
Jefe?
Donzigo?
Poodle?
Buzilla?

[onesubdrvr]

Being a kid, growing up in Florida <1 mile from the beach, I spent ALOT of time in the water,....

Surfing / body surfing, swimming, pulling seine nets, fishing, etc.

I used to spend time looking for sharks teeth, and it was amazing how many more I found just inside the mouth of the Saint Johns River than at the Beach!!

I'm sure I've been very close to sharks before and not known it. Of course, we would catch one every now and then, usually just cut the line.

Received a hell of a scare by the coast guard station in Mayport one time, used to be a great flounder fishing spot,....we were out one day doing a little wade fishing when something BIG bumped me, darn near crapped myself, until I saw what it was,..........Just a friendly Manatee!

Wayne

[boxy]

My wife and I spent our honeymoon on Cable Beach in the Bahamas, I spent a few days diving with Stuart Cove, and took my wife snorkleing with sharks one day. She was less than impressed when we started, but love it as the day progressed. :D :D

[onesubdrvr]

Another somewhat interesting story,....

Every summer when I was a kid, we would spend a week down in the keys and do some fishing / etc. Now, my dad and grandfather weren't the most environmentally friendly individuals (wasn't as big of a concern back then). We were out in our little 13' Orlando Clipper one day, and my granddad had just finished a soda, and proceded to hold it in the water, allow it to fill up, then let it sink,.... about the time he let go and it started to drift away,


BAM,.... absolutely demolished by a LARGE Barracuda!! These stories are actually pretty common, not usually deadly, but loss of fingers / hands / etc. They LOVE the shiney stuff (rings / jewelry / etc.!!) and MAN what a set of chompers!!

Wayne

[BUIZILLA]

2 quick story's....

about summer '68ish, I was 14 I think, I was anchored in my new 15' Cobia fishing one night, in the Sands Cut channel on the north end of Elliott Key, there used to be a wooden dock there owned by the McGahey family..... I threw over a big hook with a dead mullet just for grins, and tied it off the rear corner deck cleat, with some yellow propylene rope... all the while we were spinner rod fishing with shrimp and spoon's and general bs'ing and laughing... all of a sudden, in the dead of darkness, the line goes tight, the boat leans sharply to that side, and starts going against the anchor, actually dragging the anchor for 50-75', until the deck cleat pulled out of the deck... :eek!: :eek!: whatever it was in the shadows, was about 2/3 the length of the boat... scared the **** out of us :kyle: :embarasse

early 90's, flat calm perfect Sunday summer day, we are anchored in Key Largo Sanctuary with the kids, snorkling over the statue... Janice is piddling around just under the surface by herself with mask and snorkle, while i'm free diving down on the bottom, about 30' or so, at the statue, I look up and see a HUGE 'Cuda slowly zeroing in on her from behind, she turns around just in time to be face to face with a 6' 'Cuda, who has a nickname of Smokey, and is the resident watchdog, albeit harmless it seems.... needless to say, my wife exhaled with such force, that she blew herself right out of the water unto the B-bracket of my Contender... :sombrero:

JH

[Air 22]

Havn't run across any in the Donzi but while in the US Coast Guard as a Rescue Swimmer I saw my share... mostly from the air in a HH-65 Dolphin Helo but a few also while on the water...mostly Blues but an occational Tiger and Hammer Head off Miami, Carribean and Cuba. You would be supprised how close they come to people yet not attack as they go about there business....Neat to see but NOT swim with:rolleyes:

[Magicallbill]

Again..Great Stuff...

I guess it's logical to assume that with all the sharks in the water and all the swimmers entering the water,humans are not a regular menu item. With all the run-in's that must happen,if we were prey,there would be a lot more of us missing.
As Air22 said. after all the years I've swam in Saltwater, I wonder how close I've been to one of those things and never knew it.

Ignorance really can be bliss....

[Islander]

After fighting this cubera up from 80' of water off Great Harbour Cay on 12lb test for like half an hour, I had him beat. He was 15 feet from the boat and a resident Bull decides it's lunch time....

[Islander]

LOL, been through a few 'cutoffs" over the years..
At least he left ya the shoulders, the only part worth eating :D :D :D

Actually, I would've let him go. I don't like eating big reef fish, too much chance of ciguatera.

[McGary911]

No shark stories, but there was this barracuda....

Family vacation on Grand Cayman a couple of years back. We all were going down for a last swim on 7 mile beach before getting on the plane to go home. I beat everyone in by a few minutes. I was about 50' out when my dad walks up to the beach and points behind me to look at the scuba diver. ut oh. 2 seconds later i saw a small silver fish swim in front of me and hook a right around my waist. I knew what was coming next. I immediately got my left arm waaay out of the water (was wearing a new stainless watch i had bought down there) and held my breath. Chasing the little fish was a 5 foot long cuda. They did 3 tight laps around me. I felt the cuda brush me a few times. Then the little one bolted, with the big one following. I got out of the water at that point. Everyone else gave the fish about 5 minutes to catch his lunch.
Turns out that that cuda is a regular in the area. The locals even had some cute name for him. He wasn't very cute that day....

[Magicallbill]

There used to be reports of a large hammerhead that hung around Boca Grande Pass(Pt. Charlotte)..People would continue to say they'd seen it.
I just blew it off as local "fish tales," but with all your stories of "resident" Cuda's,and the like, maybe there was something to it..

"Farewell and adieu to you fair".....

You all know the rest.... Thanks for really interesting encounters....

[Magicallbill]

Out of all your posts that I've read, I didn't know you were a dedicated fishin' guy.
Do you have an outboard fishin' rig still in addition to your X-18?
I have great memories also of Mom&Dad,this guy named Claude and myself.
We used to go in Claude's boat on the East shore of Sarasota Bay,halfway between Van Wezel and the Ringling Museam(SP?) There are the remains of a long dock that stick out in the bay aways..There are weedbeds there, and we used to drift for speckled trout&the like.
Never hooked any sharks,or barracuda's though...