quote:

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I don't know how much is bullshit but it makes a believer out of me!
stated above by LB

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I know, I know. But they had the damned pictures. That thing looks to be the size of a locomotive and it don't take much for me. Some peeps are scared of spiders, I have a phobia about sharks.

Good hunting. El Bee

PS this is a totally new show, I saw the megladon thing
 

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Posted by DAA (Member # 11) on August 11, 2014, 06:49 AM:
 
Sharks scare me too. Big fish in general scare me. Takes the fun out of snorkeling sometimes.

- DAA
 

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Posted by Lone Howl (Member # 29) on August 11, 2014, 07:03 AM:
 
Watched it...its fake imo. The shark thing must be running out of steam cause they are making these fake documentaries it seems to drum up interest.

Just like the mermaid "documentary" last year.

[ August 11, 2014, 07:04 AM: Message edited by: Lone Howl ]
 

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Posted by knockemdown (Member # 3588) on August 11, 2014, 11:19 AM:
 
I'm not overly afeared of sharks. But, from time to time, I have to inspect an 'issue' under the boat, when offshore.
Could be we hit something submerged while underway?
Maybe wrapped up a line in the shaft/prop/ etc.? Check a loose rudder post, or whatever?

Anyhoo, it's my job to dawn the snorkel mask & fins to take a "look- see" dive under the rocking boat, to check things out.
Not particularly fun, my balls usually hit the roof of my mouth as soon as my feet hit the water!!!

Remember one trip, summer sharkin' near the HA buoy. Drift was slow, and the wind came around & changed on us. The short line, with cable/wire shark rig, drifted under the boat and got hung up in the running gear...
So, we pull the other baits, pull the chum bag out of the water, and lucky me gets to dive under the rocking boat with a pair of heavy cable cutters to get that shit outta there. Should add, 28 tons of rocking fiberglass WILL knock you the f-out, if you don't hold an arm against the hull to keep from gettin' smashed in the head! We're positively buoyant and static, but the boat is at the mercy of the water. So, any wave or swell will lift the hull up, then drop it back down on ya!

Anyhoo, got the wire/cable rig cut out and climbed back aboard thru the tuna door. Was hosing myself off with freshwater while my buddy got to dumpin' the chum bag & settin' the lines back out.
So help me, while I was still dripping wet on deck, that far bait took off, SCREAMING with a nice mako attached! Did a couple awesome crazy mako cartwheels into the sky, then an excited struggle ensued. Wound up stickin' the gaff in that one, was 172 lbs. or close to that. Don't remember exactly the weight, but I do remember knowing that sucker was swimmin' around below me, as I cut that rig outta the wheels...

Subsequent to that episode, my balls hit the roof of my mouth when I hafta take an unplanned dip in the big salty!
 

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Posted by Leonard (Member # 2) on August 11, 2014, 12:09 PM:
 
I ponder the "what if's" after the fact.

I used to use an inner tube with a burlap bag tied around the inner and would dump speared fish and abalone in what you could consider a very efficient "chum bag".

All this damned near out of sight of land, from that perspective. In what is now a Marine Sanctuary, there is a long volcanic spit that goes way out there, between Emerald Bay and Crystal Cove. It's very easy to forget how far out you are when there is only fifty feet of eel grass under you and steep cliff sides; which is where all the gamefish hang out.

Mostly, dark flashes turned out to be sea lions, (I think?) but We used to spend hours out there practically as bait. I had a French 4 band arbolette that, in it's day was a hell of a nice speargun. This was all snorkeling and free diving; believe it or not at one time I was quite fit. Every man-eater in the ocean was lurking, but for some reason, it never occurred to me, since as most stupid young men, I was IMMORTAL. You know?

I've done the same thing in the Hawaiian Islands, body surfing way out there with the big ones. I think about it later. And, not as a stupid kid, as a middle aged adult who still don't get it. Those Islands are crawling with Tiger Sharks.

When I was ten years old, I swam across Lake Nakomus in Minneapolis with my friend following my progress on his bike, from shore. Not that he could have helped, except to tell somebody where to start the search. I used to stand right on the edge of Minnehaha Falls and look straight down, (maybe fifty feet?) standing in two feet of rushing water. Must have had a death wish?

I've done some stupid shit in my life. Could fill a fair size book. Remember the time I caught a rattlesnake with my bare hands?

Good hunting. El Bee

[ August 11, 2014, 12:10 PM: Message edited by: Leonard ]
 

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Posted by Kokopelli (Member # 633) on August 11, 2014, 06:15 PM:
 
You're luckier than you know, El Bee.
Back in the day, when we hunted Catalina, a treat was to hike down a ridge out of Toyon Junction that ended in a sheer cliff above the ocean and just out of Avalon Harbor.
Good place to break for lunch in the shade of a scrub oak tree.
And glass for goats.
And chickas sunbathing topless on rental kayaks.
It wasn't too unusual to see some pretty impressive sharks swimming under them.
And you were out there self chumming ??
 

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Posted by Duckdog (Member # 3842) on August 11, 2014, 08:46 PM:
 
I don't know if it's the same one you watched Leonard, but I caught the tail end of one today where they were rescuing some people from a capsized boat. And, I guess they were stranded under there breathing the trapped air..?

So they take a cage down there to start hoisting the people up because I assume they knew it was shark infested waters, (I didn't see the beginning).
And then this one HUGE shark hits that cage like a run away freight train!!
I don't care whether it was fake or not! It made me flinch!! I wished I'd have caught the name of that show, I'd like to catch the whole thing.

OK,...true story. The family and I were vacationing down in Florida on the gulf side. For a week my son and I snorkeled all over the place and several times were out so far there is no way in hell anyone would have ever seen us if something went wrong.
Being a Midwesterner (I guess), the thought of sharks was always at the back of my mind but I managed to keep it there in order to enjoy myself.

The very last day, we find out that the day before we got there, the tower crane operator working on the adjacent condo spotted a huge group of sharks and sounded his alarm causing everybody on the beach to RUN out of the water.

I'm just thankful I didn't know that the whole trip! I don't think I could have kept those thoughts at the back of my mind and it would have ruined our whole vacation!
 

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Posted by knockemdown (Member # 3588) on August 12, 2014, 04:47 AM:
 
Mr. LB, from what you wrote, I'd say you were the guy in the thunderstorm that didn't get struck by lightning!!!
I don't care what the odds, are. I ain't swimming where friggin' Great White sharks eat seals for breakfast, lunch and dinner...

Ok, another quick story.
About 12years ago, took my hot little blonde girlfriend down to the Dominican Republic for a week on the beach. First evening there, after a few Brugal & Cokes, we decide to go skinny dippin' in the ocean. The beach is dark & deserted, so we strip down and jump in...
We were only in a few minutes, because the surf was up (the resort was in Cabarete, the windward side of DR, known for parasailing) Anyhoo, we figure to reconvene to the resort pool. My girl left my arms and heads for shore, and I'm gonna body-surf a wave in. All of a sudden, I feel a hard 'thud' against my leg...
Now, here I think my girl has changed her mind, and a wave bumped her leg into mine? But, when I turn around, Cristina is just about out of the water!!!
UH OH...
Even thru a fog of rum, it didn't take to long to realize that I should be gettin' to shore...NOW!

Didn't really dwell on what happened, with my 1/2 naked girlfriend leading me to the pool But, two nights later, we were at the resort bar hangin' out & chatting with the bartender. He overheard us talking of going skinny dippin' in the ocean again, and protested:
NO NO NO senor!!! Mucho tiburon in la playa in de noche!!!

Or somethin' like that.

I knew what he meant & then remembered gettin' bumped into that first night. That was when I told my GF what happened, and she didn't believe me...

Next day, we did a 1/2 day fishing trip. Caught some mahi & small tunas. Capt. was working a bait ball trying to get a billfish bite, when we trolled right past the biggest dang tiger shark I ever saw!!! I mean, that sucker was 12feet long, if it was an inch!
Seeing that big, green joker right next to the 31 Bertram prompted me to tell the Capt. about our the skinny dippin' story. He said we were "MUCHO LOCO" to go swimming off the beach at night, LOL

Live & learn!!!
 

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Posted by Leonard (Member # 2) on August 12, 2014, 11:39 AM:
 
I've done that, too. That was before i saw JAWS.
Edit: moe thats the show. Look for it again, i think its worth watching. And if its all fake, those bastards should be arrested.

[ August 12, 2014, 11:43 AM: Message edited by: Leonard ]
 

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Posted by knockemdown (Member # 3588) on August 12, 2014, 02:29 PM:
 
Watching "I Escaped Jaws" on Shark Week Discovery channel right now.
This is some horrific shit...
 

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Posted by Duckdog (Member # 3842) on August 12, 2014, 03:43 PM:
 
That guy they carried out of the surf with his flesh hanging off everywhere! Nasty!
How about that footage of the shark double hitting that surfer at the top of the wave??!!
Yep...I'm never going into the water again.
 

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Posted by Moe (Member # 4494) on August 13, 2014, 12:58 PM:
 
I've spent a bunch of time both on and in the water fishing and diving and such. Seen a lot of sharks and caught a few but have never been bothered by them.

A friend and I went down to Pez Maya, Mexico to fish and early one morning we waded out into the ocean to see what we could catch. I was walking toward the beach when he got bumped by a shark. The water was shallow and clear enough to see the fish. It was big enough to make a large shadow.

A funny story. We bought a 24 ft Seasport boat about 13 years ago. My wife's son was bugging me to get some tubes and such for them to be pulled around on. I told them it wasn't that kind of boat and that the water off shore was very cold. I kept hearing it.

You have to release unclipped cohos here in Oregon because they're native and one day I hooked one and was trying to release it but when I did it turned belly up I backed up the boat and ran over to grab the fish and try to revive it. My fingers just touched the fish when a 6' blue shark came from under the boat and grabbed the salmon. Scared the hell out of me.

The kid who was annoying me to get the towing toys was watching the whole thing and when I looked up and saw him after almost losing my hand to a shark his eyes were huge. I asked him if he wanted to go swimming. He turned away and headed into the cabin saying,"NO! NO! NO!" He never again asked to be towed behind the boat.
 

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