Thread: Great White Shark at the Rakaia River mouth?

Great White Shark at the Rakaia River mouth?

About 2012 I took a trip to the Rakaia river mouth on the south side and walked out the shingle spit to the river mouth.

The waves coming ashore were about as high as a house a vertical wall of green water before breaking on shore.

I was looking into one of these walls of green water when I saw a massive shark much longer than my ute glide through this vertical wall of water and disappear as the wave broke on the shore.

I was shocked that thing was massive as I stood there looking at that spot then a seal shot straight up vertical out of the water it cleared the water what appeared to be twice its length before dropping back into the water.

I stood there for some time but did not see anything of the two again I was also the only person around on that stormy day.

I did an internet search and I am convinced that was the first and only Great White shark I have ever seen and it was so close to shore.

Any thoughts ?



That was the shape I saw!

Quite probable man, they are far more common in nz waters than we realise. Could have also been an orca in close but obviously quite a different shape.

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No no way it was an Orca they are very distinctive white patches and tail on the wrong plain.

seen plenty heaps of dolphins along the coast...there has been reports of sharks up in gut when folk are casting for salmon...apparently it was a bit of a race to shore...so entirely possible.

Again a Dolphins tail is on the wrong plain this things tail was vertical and big.

It seemed fatter than the image more rounded on top with a larger dorsal fin grey colour bloody big I remember I seemed to be looking up into these walls of green water thinking is this shingle spit a wise place to stand that day!

Ive seen a dead sunfish washed up on washdyke beach.....anything is possible along that bit of coastline.plenty of seals show up so yeah completely plausable it was a great white.

That would have been quite a sight, I'm envious. If you'd been lucky enough to catch it on film you'd be famous. I've seen dead great whites washed up on HB beaches twice in my life, one of the reasons I tend not to go out too deep when swimming. Also being a kid when 'jaws' came out did not help....

Yes would have been a great sight alright, however I to saw Jaws at a very impressionable age and as a consequence sharks, and being in the sea both fascinate and scare the shit out of me.

Why doubt it was a great white? They are not uncommon in NZ waters.

When I was seriously in to SCUBA diving, I was flying all over the world to dive with sharks. Even made the trip down to Bluff to see the great whites (they didn't appear). I never worried about being attacked. Now I'm a fledgling freediver/spearo, it weighs quite heavily on my mind.

Originally Posted by jakewire

Yes would have been a great sight alright, however I to saw Jaws at a very impressionable age and as a consequence sharks, and being in the sea both fascinate and scare the shit out of me.

I was at a party a couple weeks back with a bunch of us being born a few years either side of 1970, discussing this very issue. We all had the same problem, Jaws was part of our upbringing and the influence has still impacted us all.

Yep, that first jaws film scared the bejesus out of me when I saw it. The other ones, not so much but I still hesitate to go into the water. In a boat Im all good.

Happily used swim out past the breakers post "Jaws" no way.

I would rate the first Jaw's amongst the best films I have seen I also saw it at the movies as a kid and remember it well (the other was Where Eagles Dare), we were on holiday on the Mediterranean years ago I was on an air bed paddling out quite happily when the water below me went dark blue the first thing I thought of was Jaw's and headed straight back in.

I believe the biggest Great White was caught in the Mediterranean and a few deaths by shark attack last one I read of was off Malta, I never knew that all the years we were in the Med!

when the hokitika abbatoir ran its effluent pipe out into the tasman ,it was fun to sit up in the westland hosptal carpark and watch the big fins cruising the area.
In my early years training at seaview ,quite a few male nurses did deep sea fishing as a hobby and periodically great whites were mentioned .it seemed one in particular treated the pipe outlet like maccas.
one of the guys used to make occasional forays into the hoki trench and he maintained some of the makos known to frequent that also would give an iceberg the screaming shits.

Tiger sharks in NZ too!

https://www.fishing.net.nz/fishing-a...aland-history/