Thread: Shark Shields

Originally Posted by viper

When I lived up North I did a lot of spearfishing / freediving for about 15 yrs and speared in some very sharky places. Probably for the first 8 - 10 yrs I never saw a shark of any type.
Other factors such as shallow water black out, boats and getting caught in your float line posed the biggest risks.
Then I started seeing a few and have now being in the water with Bronzies, Mako, Blues and a Hammerhead. All were curious but not aggressive, I tended to be the aggressor ( best defense is a strong offence theory ) and it worked .
However day one I was doing a shore dive off a little bay in the Coromandel . It had being a nice spear working a weed line at 40 - 50 ft and I had John Jory and other fish hanging off my float line , I decided I had enough fish and had a 2 km swim back along the coast line to my entry point and the car.
I was about half way through the swim back when I was suddenly and violently being pulled backwards through the water. I knew straight away that a shark had grabbed my float and the fish hanging off it. A small tug of war took place which saw me get my arse kicked till I managed to wrap some float line around a rock , the shark broke the surface now with the extra pressure and started to swim straight out. I got a brief glimpse of a large head with my bigger than a basketball in its gop.
After a very short time he got to bite through my float line....then it got freaky .
Like a scene out of Jaws I watched my float get towed around for maybe 30 seconds then suddenly go under and there was total silence and nothing to see. I was thinking well that's over when suddenly my bright orange float pops up onto the surface about 300 mtrs out and sits bobbing innocently away .
I had a dilemma ... almost like the Angel on one shoulder saying you are ok and it makes sense to swim back to the car and buy a new float on Monday and take up a safe sport like base jumping.
On the other shoulder was Mister Angry saying " that dirty fucker, go and get that float back , you have already feed him and now it's going to cost $100 to replace the float ( Scottish Angry Man )
I watched my float for another couple of minutes and it was slowly drifting further out ( why the hell don't they ever drift back to you ? ) .
Fight or Flight ? Not been particularly intelligent and a tight arse I swam out 300 odd mtrs to my float. It was an adrenaline filled swim done at a slow controlled pace , I could just make out the bottom as I reached my float that still had two fish hanging under it .
The voices were going in my head again with reason saying " you fucken idiot, now we are in the shit " and Mr Angry saying " you fucking idiot , I can't believe you took my advice , can we go now ".
The swim back was spooky but uneventful but it was great to get back to the beach. The wife did comment that the fish I brought home had some cuts on them ( bite marks ) and my float has some cool bite marks also.
I have since had several run in's with Sharks over speared fish and they were always Bronzies. The current situation with Whites bothers me and despite people like Clinton Duffy from DOC saying Great Whites were always in the Bay that's total bullshit.
I went to school with guys who's fathers were 2 generation commerical fisherman and they barely saw or a bronze whaler and never saw a white.
The shark population has increased and because of that there is going to be a much greater chance of interaction and some of that won't be good like the poor girl who got hit by the White off Waihi beach at Christmas.
I don't know if I would still be spearfishing if I lived back up North... I probably would but I would be extremely alert .

Eh its fine up here. Sharks are a part of spearing, its pretty much never a problem. Definately heaps of whites being caught this year, but also a big uptake in the popularity of shark fishing so I think that will accou t for some of it. All of the whites caught here are juvi though.

I've had a couple of run ins over the years, including a bronzie that bit me (only got fin) it is what it is. Shallow water blackout is a far more prevelent danger.

It's only really dodgy when you have big fish making big vibrations.

Float boats are a bloody good investment, I've had fish stolen off my float line by sharks, seals and watched a mate play tug of war with a dolphin.