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Does anyone who spends a bit of time in the water use one of these ie: Ocean Guardian ? Been diving a bit around Ruapuke etc, wont be moving from down south in the forseeable future and I cant help but think its only a matter of time before a white shows up and its an experience I dont really want to go through. Am I just being overly paranoid?
I cant help myself searching google etc for information on the Foveaux whites and ive gone and messed with my confidence under water now!
whats wrong with the good old 270..
Spend your money on a float boat.
Sharks are in the ocean, the more you see them the more relaxed you will get around them.
I use to be paranoid too but the reality is that you are a million times more likely to die on the drive there or back home.
This is why we have lakes and swimming pools
as a kid I vividly recal whole family holidays in kerikeri...when I say whole family......6-8 of Dads ten siblings with all the kids in tow would all camp on same private beach...awesome times....how is it relevant??? well the cussies were real water babies,always diving,swimming or boating...then this movie called JAWS came out...and it putthe heebeejeebees up everyone for some time....back then the special effect numbness hadnt been born yet...you saw and believed, or the subconscious did anyway.......you dont need a shark sheild...just a slower swimming dive buddy.
I guess it comes down to what you hope to achieve with it. If you want to gain a little peace of mind then sure, however I remember them saying that most of the testing was done on smaller shark species so there's no guarantee that its truly effective vs whites. Then there is the reality of using it, because of how it discharges electricity into the salt water to make the magnetic field its possible to give yourself a mild electrocution if the cord hits you while swimming. There's also a product called sharkbanz, I wouldn't say was as effective but would certainly be more care free and likely better than nothing.
There are a number of shark shields out there and there is only one that is proven to work and is even required by mandate by the Australian govt for abalone divers. That model is the Sharkshield Freedom. I've bought all the other ones including the Sharkband and the Espear and they're all full of it. The Espear would emit a pulse which felt like holding onto an electric fence, but they released the product before doing enough testing and all of them had to be recalled due to breaking down upon charging. My one stopped working, then I got a replacement and that stopped working too. I don't know about down South but Great White numbers have really increased here in the North Island. I'm selling my diving gear shortly and going to pick up a Stone Glacier bag lol. Fking shame but having seen GWs in person, I know for a fact that it's just a matter of time before I have an encounter.
Dress up as a killer whale!
We have a few GWs here and the abalone divers are the only ones that seem to use a protective device. Not 100% effective as a guy was taken some (10?) years back wearing a shield.
After our last fatal attack on a guy (last week) from my suburb, our shark biologist reported only 750 adult GWs between Aust and NZ. 10 000+ juveniles though. Chances of being taken are low unless your diving in a mullet or other bait run, seal area.
and post pictures here :thumbsup:Quote:
Originally Posted by Gibo
I figure you're not going to see the one that bites you, so don't stress.
Having had a shark in my fins and not known at the time what it was (I thought it was my dive buddy trying to make me sh!t myself, which it did, but not for the reason I thought) I haven't changed my mind.
How did I know I had a shark in my fins? My dive buddy told me afterwards. It was following me around and when I stopped suddenly on the bottom it ran into my fins.
I had no idea.
Easy on! Nothing wrong with a mullet.Quote:
Originally Posted by Mauser308
Hahaha thats what saved you ( not shitting yourself ) Fishing at Mayor Island one day and heard a baby shark ask his dad why they swim round n round people before they bite n eat them, his father said they taste better without the brown stuff in them. :D
Yeah, nah.Quote:
Originally Posted by davetapson
Like others here I'm still traumatized from JAWS version 1. Happy to be on a boat, happy to watch sharks all day long - on TV... but there's absolutely no doubt in my mind I'd be walking on water if one was anywhere near me in the water.
in todays episode of "looking at shark stuff on the internet even though I know it screws with my confidence in the water" I found this gem, hard case... sortof
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-m3N_BnVdOI
The way I look at it
The sharks are usually interested in a free feed from the fish you speared. You're also in their home so you can't sit in the barber's chair and not expect the occasional hair cut.
Most of the ones I've seen are bronze whalers though so not quite the same.
Mate, you want a shark attack story check this one out. It's a 60min doco about an Aussie spearo who got pinged by a bull shark. What's makes this even more tragic is that the American guy in that doco who saved the young spearo also got his leg bit off just a couple of months ago.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EdB9...nutesAustralia
Check out this one too. A bit violent though. Starts at 2:05. It's like a balloon full of blood just popping. Poor bastard.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R4oa...l=MHakimMHakim
I think it's important to note though that shark attacks are EXTREMELY rare. In fact, statistically speaking, you're more likely to die in a car crash getting to your spearfishing location than you are in the water.
In my limited experience with sharks, I've found that they follow a very simple mentality which can be boiled down to two perspectives. Are you food or are you a predator. Obviously there are other things that go into it like species specific characteristics, but for most of the sharks in NZ like Bronzies, it seems that if you're bigger than the shark, appear aggressive, or are confederation with others, they tend to back off. With Great Whites though, you're unlikely to be bigger than it and even a 'curiosity' bite is enough to absolutely carve you up. What scares me the most is the increase in juvinile numbers here in the Bay of Plenty. The Big Angry Fish boys recently did a video where they went fishing for Bronzies only to end up catching 3 Great Whites in the bloody Waihi Harbour. They actually had to stop because they knew that if they tried again that they would end up catching another Great White and legally speaking, you cannot target Great Whites.
yea thanks, i wasnt planning on sleeping untill next year anyhow...Quote:
Originally Posted by Daniel Kwon
It's an interesting subject. My take is that the probability of shark attack is so small, you shouldn't worry about it, but we are humans, not robots and it activates a primal fear. I think SCUBA divers are relatively safe, but there are always exceptions. Freediving and spearfishing in particular are higher risk. Experienced spearos seem to see it as a managed risk and almost part of the fun! There seems to be more great whites around the north island these days. I'm not sure whether that is true or just more people carrying cameras and posting on social media. I don't know much about shark shields, but the Aussies do, so it would be worth jumping on one of their diving forums.
This is a great resource, download the "Incident Log" and play with the data. You can limit it to NZ. I'm not sure whether it's reassuring or terrifying!
https://www.sharkattackfile.net/incidentlog.htm
Quote:
Originally Posted by planenutz
This is so true of my experience too. Are you around 50 years old btw? I was at a party a while back where the subjecgts of sharks came up, and eventually everyone was asked for input and it turned out all of us who were at primary school around the time Jaws came out (1975) all shared an irrational fear of sharks that the other age groups did not have. A couple of people my age confessed to never going further than waist deep in the sea, but no problems with deep water in lakes. In my case watching Jaws as a kid then seeing a dead Great White washed up on the beach a few years later set me up with a profound paranoia I have never tried to shake off. I have swum with sharks in the water here and in Australia but did not enjoy it. As Micky Duck says, the Jaws shark was not very realistic (and swam so slwly even I could outswim it!) but there was something in those beach scenes that has stuck with me.
30 million years evolving out of the ocean.
why go back in
Yup... nailed it @Ben_Waimata I'm 56 so was about 10 when I saw JAWS. A mate and I went together to see the movie and while I had no real desire to see it, I recall that year I'd delivered leaflets for the Papakura movie theater and as a reward they issued us both a "Pass" which gave us free entry for about 3 months. We were trying to make the most of the free pass and Jaws happened to be the hit of the day. I've regretted that decision all my life. I've watched the movie in my adult years and it now seems all very.... tame and amateur... but in its day it clearly had a profound effect. Not only on me but on an entire generation. The sea was never the same again. That was compounded by seeing my very real first shark, half dead, lying on the mudflats near Manurewa the following year. I lost all interest in waterskiing at Bottletop Bay after that.Quote:
Originally Posted by Ben Waimata
Bloody sharks. Bloody Spielberg.
I think a 44 magnum power head might be a bit more comforting, especially in a him or me situation.
the only thing separating me from a shark should be nice crispy batter cooked in hot grease
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 .
Mate, if the float was $100,000 I think I would have still let the shark (and his buddies) have it!Quote:
Originally Posted by viper
Hearing a few more first hand stories for sure. One mate had a big bronzie chase him right up on to the beach to get his fish. He was sat on his arse in knee deep water kicking it away! Another had an encounter very similar to Viper in the Bay of Islands and another saw a great white at the Mokohinaus. No drama, but enough to make him get out the water. Regular fishing buddy had a big mako take out his Minn Kota, totally unprovoked. That was just last summer.
Sounds like you guys need a float boat
I've done a bit of spearfishing in my time. Seen hundreds of sharks and don't particularly like the buggers, but seldom do they put the shits up me big time. I got buzzed a GW last year in shallow dirty water and it was the single worst experience of my life. I'd rather slam my dick in a car door than do that again...
Anecdotes I've heard would suggest that using a shark shield or similar can increase the number of encounters, but reduce the risk of attack. Seems some sharks are attracted to the emitted signal but as they get close (often proper close) it overloads their senses and they bug out.
I'm with the Jaws thing
I was 13 years old, I like Sharks about as much as I like being a pillion passenger on a motorbike.
Where was that? I'm going to regret asking.Quote:
Originally Posted by Dorkus
Closer to me than you! It was on a shore dive, straight off Mangawhai Heads.Quote:
Originally Posted by MB
Funny thing is despite being a real hotspot for whites I haven't actually heard many stories about encounters from divers down here. A mate who dives the south coast and Stewart/ruapuke told me he's seen a "baby one" but it just appeared then ghosted away again in good vis, was enough to put an end to the days diving but said it never showed any aggressive behaviour or even any interest in coming in for a closer look . Same mate said he's had an experience with a leopard seal that he wouldn't be real keen on repeating, kind of playful and inquisitive but very aggressive at the same time like it was sizing him up for a scrap
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.Quote:
Originally Posted by viper
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.
I've dived that spot many times. Those oceanic whitetips are getting over familiar and the divers are pushing it a bit. The posturing of the shark is not friendly! I've done it myself though. All part of the fun, until someone loses a leg!Quote:
Originally Posted by Daniel Kwon
https://i.ibb.co/C08cbD6/Picture23.jpg
Hahaha all good as long as it dont bite you in the crutch. :PQuote:
Originally Posted by berg243