The story

[gumshoe]

Aside from freezing our nads off, went out of WPB on Sunday and found vis to be about 60' and water temp still 76 ish. Unfortunately, the air temp was only in the mid 50's, overcast, with a chilly breeze.

My buddy shot a nice hog - stoned it dead. By the time he got it on the stringer, a pretty good sized bull showed up, back arched and circled the spot where the hog had hit the sea floor. After a couple circles, he literally attacked the spot where the hog made contact with the bottom - crap from the bottom flying everywhere. He then looked up at us and started to close in the perimeter. My buddy quickly dropped the hog, which didn't last 30 seconds before being eaten.

No doubt that this shark was hungry and has learned to see humans as a food source. It also clearly had no fear, and was going to have that dead fish no matter what. Anyway, in the end nobody got hurt and in a way, it was kinda cool to watch.

Now the question I would ask is: If you had a powerhead, would you guys have stood your ground to keep a nice hog?

[Divin' fool]

Hummmmm....good question. I have always heard-Don't give them the fish, they'll only come back for more. But when the pucker factor increases I'm afraid I might give in and drop the fish. Guess it would depend on the agressiveness of the shark.
Had some buddies off West End that got surrounded (they said) by 10 or more Bulls. They both dropped their rings and the sharks were on the fish like stink on Chit. They said it took the sharks like seconds to inhale the fish....then they came right back to the source. The sharks followed the divers right up to the stern of the boat. The divers were freediving so it did'nt take long for them to get in, they said they "were'nt scared" but they decided not to dive the rest of the day.:rolleyes: .

[Grande]

I would gladly give him the hog if it meant he would go away, but i too have heard that it only makes it worse.

[f94gator]

I want to see what Spear One has to say about it, but I’m guessing he’ll tell you that you should NOT give the shark the fish. It’s not a matter of preserving the fish that you worked so hard to spear, it’s a matter of not getting the shark even more worked up and aggressive and making the situation worse.
I personally have never encountered an aggressive shark underwater. In fact, only once have I seen a shark other than a nurse. I’d imagine it could be pretty harrowing and I hope I can keep my wits about me if and when it does happen.

[Hogwild]

I used to give up the fish in those sitsuations, but now follow Spear One's advise that "to give up your fish only puts the shark into a feeding mode", not pleasent to be around down there.

From now on if they come around agreesively, they can have a taste of my powerhead. :mad:

[Spear One]

Get aggressive with them as soon as you see them. Give them the steel or hit them with a powerhead if you feel threatened.

[slipknot]

Give em'the lead,not the fish.a friend of mine,who does'nt powerhead,told me that when an aggressive shark approaches him he takes his point off and hits the shark in the gills with the shaft only.

[blue gun]

Spear One had a great entry for this topic a while back and I tend to agree with him.

[Nxs Diver]

Had the same problem last month off sarasota with about a 5' mako .I had 2 gags on the pin , first pass just swam by,second pass he came closer and faster. That pass cost me $38.00 put a new shaft in the gun when I got back to the boat

[f94gator]

Is it your guy's experience that a shark will get quickly disinterested in you if you just cause him a little bit of pain, such as the example of jabbing him with the shaft without a tip?

[gumshoe]

Thanks for all the replies. Again, it wasn't my call, but my gut tells me it was the right one to give it up in this instance. There is no doubt that this thing needed to be "selected against." (isn't that what we learned about Darwin's theories in biology?)

Anyway, I think there are more sharks around here this time of year, so I expect to get more experience with them.

[Screen Name]

"Cause him a little pain", jab him with the shaft idea.

I stuck an 8' Bull with my pole spear once to "scare him away".

It didn't scare the son of a bitch at all. It pissed him off and he did his best to eat me, and when the fight finally drifted away from my stringer of fish, he went back and got the fish. This was truly a close call, that slowed down my fish huntin' prowess for about a year.

I'm no authority, but I believe Spear One is absolutely correct, shoot the bastard as soon as you get a chance. And I think the lesson I learned is do your best to kill him, not just scare him.

Not long ago I had an experience with a Hammerhead. The problem was that I had a fish on my line shaft. I'm not sure If I did the right thing, but I detached it and let the shark have the fish. Should I have reeled in the AJ, attempted to deshaft it while the shark was trying to eat it, reload and shoot the shark? I didn't have the balls to do that, but I sure would have liked to stick a B&B in that guys brain.

I may be wrong, but it seems to me that sharks tend to know when you're vulnerable (at least when I am). I've had several encounters while I had 2 spears in 2 fish and none left to shoot. Another case is when you only have a line shaft. I'm not sure it would be smart to line shaft a shark, you probably need to make sure your powerhead is ready all the time (Regretably, I've screwed this one up also).

I agree that you should give the shark your best 2 banded shot as soon as possible, and hopefully I'll master doing it someday.

[f94gator]

Gotcha, good to know that that might happen!

[greyface]

That begs for the question: Do you reckon a .357mag. would turn the lights off on an 8' bull?:eek:

[Screen Name]

B&B 223 is what the shark rollers use in this area, as described in the earlier powerhead posts. I believe Spear One uses this, d4b, financial advis, and others.

The shot needs to be well placed with any powerhead I believe. I've been taught to free shaft the shark in the gills, but not with a powerhead because you want to hit something solid, I believe just behind the eyes.

How 'bout some experienced advice on shot placement on a shark. Anybody have any? I could use a review, personally.

[Steel Shootin']

I may be wrong, but it seems to me that sharks tend to know when you're vulnerable (at least when I am). I've had several encounters while I had 2 spears in 2 fish and none left to shoot. Sharks have an inate ability to sense vulnerability.

As far as having the powerhead at the ready, that's a tough one. I just bought a powerhead, so I'm far from an expert, but will you really have time to screw it on when you realize you need it NOW? It would seem more likely at best you have the chance to load up your second band. Of course, if sharky was doing a circle routine on you, you might have a chance to screw the PH on the end of the spear tip.

[f94gator]

That’s what I was thinking, Scott. If I can scare the shark and get him to leave me alone, I don’t care if he’s dead, (although if he were it would make the trip back to the boat much more relaxing!)

[subdude]

is the reason I use a homemade .45 PH that uses the spear tip as a firing pin. It just slips over the tip and is ready to go. I keep it on the butt of my gun with a piece of bicycle tube.

subdude

[FredT]

Originally posted by Screen Name
I'm not sure it would be smart to line shaft a shark....

Depends on your rig.

It's not too bad with a riding rig provided you use the correct procedure.

Step 1. Clip off line to rig cross member or anode.
Step 2. Shoot shark attempting to pass tip through brain.
Step 3. IMMEDIATELY get outside of cable radius!
Step 4. Watch to see if shark is properly stoned.
Step 5. Return to boat and collect 30' of 1/2" rope, a large lift bag and a suitable attitude adjustment tool.
Step 6. Have lunch so shark has time to "drown" a bit and all other divers are recovered.
Step 7 Return to shark and provide a suitable attitude adjustment to the shark if he actually DID wake up.
Step 8. Tie rope around shark tail and attach lift bag to other end of rope.
Step 9. Fill lift bag enough to bring shark to slightly less than neutral
Step 10. Untangle shaft line from the structure and unclip the riding rig. the already inflated bag will take the shark up to the surface.
Step 11. Return to boat, untie from the structure and go recover your lift bag and shark.
Step 12. Prepare yourself for some serious fish smoking, jerking and steaks.


DO NOT swap positions of Step1 and Step 2!

Step 7 and 8 may be reversed if the pull of the bag is necessary to get close enough to the "sharp" end of the shark to complete Step 7. It's amazing how putting a fish under 100#s of tension nose to tail restricts his movement.

If diving with some other rigging with synthetic non-stainless line, or well away from structure, just shoot and open your hand. New guns are cheaper than hospitalization.

FT

[baitwaster]

Subdude,

Could you describe how you built the ph? I have been considering this for a while and would like any ideas.

b8waster

[subdude]

then cut a piece of 1/2" pvc, 3 " long. I use a buddies band saw to cut 1" long slits down the back of it so it will fit over the tip.

Put the round in the pvc, standing up on the "business" end, slit side up. Then seal the top/back end with wax. When that dries, flip it over and seal the front end. I then put a 1/2" ID copper coupling over the front end to kinda hold everything together.

I keep it on the butt of my gun with a piece of bicycle innertube for quick draw.

If this is confusing, lemmeknow and I'll take a pic next week and post it.

You're in P'Cola huh? I grew up there and now live in the FWB area.

subdude

[greyface]

Mi amigo mui loco!:eek:

[subdude]

The only spanish I speak is "don Julio, cerveca, Patron, ..."

I do know "loco" though!

subdude