SpearMax – Ringing in the New Year with Bull Sharks!

[SpearMax]

Kinda spooky way to ring in the New Year! I wonder if it has anything to due with the latest issue of my publication Spearfishing Magazine being all about “Shark Encounters?” There is one chilling story in that magazine about a bull shark attack on a spearo in the Bahamas who luckily had a good recovery. Having a close encounter with fired-up bull sharks certainly added a jolt of adrenaline to my New Year’s Day!

[SpearMax]

Saturday December 30, 2006 – The weekend started off in typical fashion. Profishndive came down from Melbourne for his first trip on my boat. He and I went out in big seas looking for big spearing out the Palm Beach Inlet. I dove a wreck solo in 190-200 feet of water. I spared the first fish I encountered which was a 25+ pound cubera snapper. I did not feel like putting cubera on the menu this weekend.

[SpearMax]

I then found a nice gag grouper that I wanted to poke…but I blew the very close shot! At the trigger pull, he flinched his head and I shot over him. Damn…..

[SpearMax]

Tony and I did two dives each. He caught one lobster and I struck out. But, we had some great dives with good visibility.

[SpearMax]

Sunday December 31, 2006 – More spearboard dudes joined me on New Year’s eve. BubbleJunkie, Kitefisherman, Spleen and I hit the big waves on Sunday. Whew, it was rough with some 7-10 footers in our location just north of the Palm Beach Inlet. Kite and I went down on a wreck in 90-100 feet of water. I had better luck on this day with a near world record Dog Snapper.

I spotted him out in the open on top of the wreck. As I approached, he actually turned in towards me and I nailed him at close range which threw off my shot placement. He was gut shot and went spinning down into the wreck.

[SpearMax]

But, I pulled him in and knifed him in the brain as I had seen a big bull shark earlier. The dog snapper weighed 16.7 pounds. They are a very good tasting fish.

[SpearMax]

Here are some shots on my safety stop. The canine teeth are what give the dog his name. The teardrop marking under the eyes is diagnostic for species identification.

[SpearMax]

On that same dive I spied a nice black grouper and the chase was on. He was skittish and stayed just out of my range for about seven minutes of chasing. Two bull sharks were circling and actually turned the black back toward me.

[SpearMax]

But alas, the distance was too great and I missed.

[SpearMax]

I had the dog snapper on my stringer on a four foot rope as I always do to keep the fish away from my body in case of a sneak attack by a shark. I can easily pull the fish into me if a shark approaches. I sensed that the two bull sharks were closing in on my dead fish, so I decided to turn my shark shield on and leave the area. My shark shield battery was dead. A good sized nurse shark came in for my fish and I had to poke him away. The bulls never came in strong and I ascended to the boat. The seas got rougher and after taking a few waves over the bow, we decided to call the dive day and head in to the Brass Ring Pub.

[SpearMax]

Monday January 1, 2007 – Tech EDU and I headed out in much calmer seas. My first dive was to 210 feet. The viz was 80+ feet, temp was 75 degrees and the current was mild north. I saw no separable fish on that dive. My next dive was to 125 feet and I dropped right on a nice 12 pound black grouper that I dispatched with a frontal shot. He went running off and holed up under some structure.

[SpearMax]

I used my pole spear to paralyze the fish. A big bull shark came cruising by, but did not appear to be in an aggressive mode. I strung up my fish and went hunting further down the road.

[SpearMax]

Later on, I spotted a bigger black grouper in the 20-25 pound range that took refuge in a pipe. I first went to the other end of the pipe to see if it was open. Immediately on my right, an aggressive bull shark with pectoral fins down and arched back passed close by! I turned, I there was another pumped-up bull shark! Then another! I had no shark shield as my battery had gone dead the day before and my charging attempt failed.

I could tell the bull sharks really wanted my fish. So, I pulled the stringer in close to me so they would not get the grouper easily.

[SpearMax]

I ascended quickly and the sharks followed me all the way to the surface! The scary part was that they would approach me from above me, alongside of me and below me in the water column. I could not tell where they would come from next as they were moving very rapidly. I decided to forget my safety stop and when I hit the surface, I stuck the fish on the end of my spear and held the fish and the stringer out of the water as I screamed for the boat to come and take the fish from me. I felt relieved that fish was in the boat, but being on the surface, I could no longer see the sharks which hastened my desire to get out of the water.

[SpearMax]

Here is the fish I held on to. I was wondering what had fired up those bull sharks so much. Later on, I learned that my friends JFJF and Scott Turgeon were on a nearby wreck shortly before my incident. They had been spearing cudas while freediving and had lost a fish to some bull sharks. I suspect these were the same bull sharks they had encountered.
See their story on this separate thread:

http://www.spearboard.com/forum/showthread.php?t=39321

Needless to say, I am getting a new battery for my shark shield!

All in all….a challenging way to ring in the new year!