whats your best "scare"

[butnosplash]

Have read some interesting stuff in here , and it has given me a genuine giggle. Thought to myself I wonder how many "HOLY S%$T" situations have people been in.


EG, I was sitting in my 4.5 mtr savage out on a lovely little reef about 15 k,s offshore, theres ALWAYS something there for fun, however things were really quiet , unusually so.. Well anyway I start a berley trail up, and about 15 mins later these three big long toms roll up in the trail, All about 1mtr in length. I was quite fascinated watching them when.........HOLY MCF**K the world erupts out of the ocean about 10 feet off the back of the boat. A MASSIVE shark is in full twisting torpedo flight nailing one of the long toms, he got half of it ,the other half seriously made about 15 ft into the air before coming down. I didnt exactly get the time to throw a tape measure across the big bitey thing, but it was at least as long as my little boat. Enough said, I pulled anchor and left him to his patch.

[TimiBoy]

I don't have one of my own, but I always like relating this one:

Back in 1982 I lived in a van in Victor Harbour in SA. I had a mate with a few cray pots, and he used to bring me a cray every Monday. One day he turned up quite early, no cray, but needing a beer.

"What's wrong?" I asked. "Well," he said, "I was pulling a pot in shark alley," (between Right Island and the Bluff, I think) "and as I was looking down, this black shape went under the boat bow to stern. It was longer than the boat, so I came in. Big Fred." He didn't look too happy...

This boat was a 19 footer. Big Fred was well known down there, probably still is. He's a Great White, a big one. This story is one of the reasons I don't swim in the sea. That was a couple of k's from a popular swimming/surfing spot called Petrel Cove.

Cheers,

Tim

[nigelr]

Great thread, butnosplash!
Not much of a tale to tell, thankfully!
20 years or so ago, I experimented with late afternoon spearfishing. I love my spearing, on the rare ocasions when conditions allow, where I live.
I'd noticed that the fish would start to come back inshore during the late afternoon, so over the course of several afternoons during a rare flat spell, I'd
jump in and go for a look see.
The first afternoon, I saw a shark. Only a little whaler of about 4 foot or so, just cruising about, nothing to worry about.
The next afternoon, same thing, slightly larger whaler, just kept an eye on him, no real drama.
The LAST afternoon, another whaler, this time about 8 foot, quite a solid animal and very inquisitive. Came right up to about 5 metres away and eyeballed me, all I could do was face him off with the gun pointed at his head..........
Fortunately he slowly cruised off, and I quite quickly made my way back to land, all the while looking over my shoulder...........
I've never speared late afternoons again.
There are plenty of whalers in this area, but I've never encountered one during the early mornings, so I figure I'll stick to the early starts.
Respect where respect is due!
Hardcore spearos laugh at sharks, but I am certainly NOT one of those!
Cheers.

[Local_Guy]

was fishing in the tweed river a few years back now and as we were cruising around in the small tinny, every now and again a stingray would jump clear out of the water.. thought that was preety cool.

as we were heading back into the ramp i was at the front of the boat getting ready for the boat ramp when 2m infront of me jumped this big black stingray, i could have almost touched it... a quick check of the underwear and all was good.

Timi i reckon your scare was me controlling your electronic throttle in your boat.... how many times did i almost send you over the stern ;P

[dogsbody]

We hired a houseboat in the Sandy Straits and we had anchored off Kingfisher Resort. This particular night they we're having a beach party at the bar.

So being a younger lad I took some truckies helpers and copiuos amounts of bourbon and proceeded to party like it's 1999. Got absolutely smashed. On the way back to the vessel one of the other guys was already back on board and he grab his rod out of the rod holder and over the side he went. He managed to scramble back on board with rod in hand.

When I climbed (read fell) into the tender the brain was well and truly scrambled. Dragged my sorry arse into the houseboat and laid out on the back. Was feeling crook so I went to sit on the duckboard and spew relentlessly. I had no control whatsoever and the current was moving at a fair pace. Had I had fallen in there was nobody out there and I would have had no chance of swimming back and would have drowned for sure.

Wasn't worried at the time but when I look back it scares the bejeezes out of me that I could have departed this wonderful part of the world we live in.


Dave.

[rockfisho]

I had a beautie ,which scared the living crap out of me at the time. since then i know how to read waves on rocks very well, and my surfing helps with this.

I was rock fishing with a mate down at yamba at the base of the lighthouse headland. Its a typical sort of NSW ledge. with a steep cliff bit, which you can get up, but not in a hurry, and then a ledge about 2.5 metres above the sea. we were fishing a hellishly rough and churned up hole for groper and drummer. we didnt get any bites so we decided to go to the small point type protrusion on the ledge. we left our tackle at the first place and walked to the second spot.
between them was a raging drain hole, where all the water which crashed up went down. On the day it was fairly safe, as the waves were breaking on the vertical bit of rock, and then splashing up to where we were fishing. There was plenty of room where we were standing. However the section near this big drain hole, and where all the water returns to the ocean was like a big rock pool with a few big rocks to stand on. What happend is: I was gathering more bait from the first spot, and making my way to the other spot. I was wading through the rock pool, and watching teh waves intently as there was a set at the time, and i wanted to get out quickly. about 4 waves came in in quick succession, they hit the rock, and reflected back out to sea, then a big wave came in and was jacked right up with the reflected waves. and came over the rocks about 1 metre higher than the ledge. I saw it about 3 seconds in advance, and scrambled up onto a rock and braced myself. It hit and knocked me into the big rock pool, near the savage drain hole. I could feel a current towards it, but it wasn't strong. Because of surfing experience i wasn't too afraid to go in the drink, but that drain hole!!
We checked the spot for at least half an hour, but i think there was a rising tide, and a medium swell being kept offshore by a breeze, which slowly dropped off.

cheers

Owen

[SummerTrance]

Had just picked up my first (and current) boat a few days earlier, and took it up to Noosa to show the oldies. Took my missus, 9 month old son, and my mum out for a cruize on the river. Went up the river and putted around the back of Noosa sound area for a look at the flash houses, then back to the tewantin ramp and dropped off my mum and the little man, then headed back out with the missus to do some fishing.
About 3 hours later we decided it was time to go home. We were just on the other side of the first lake. At that time my missus says 'whats that water at the back?' I looked back and saw water coming up from under the floor, and relised straight away I had forgotten to put the bungs in. No huge drama I thought, switched on the bilge pump, and said if we just head straight back to the ramp, no more water can go in if we're moving.
Punched the throttle and cause there was so much water in the boat, the motor went under and bow in the air, I thought I was going to sink the boat right there and then. Quickly got off the power and glided into the bank. One bung was lost so stuffed my son's hat in the hole and waited for the bilge pump to drain all the water.
Not life threatning, but thought I was going to sink my first boat after 5 days. Needless to say, I always check the bungs twice, and carry a spare set on board.

[onerabbit]

My best scare??

I have a few, in order of occurance,

4 arials in a row, prop & all out of the water, trying to cross Ballina bar....

Crossing the bar in the pitch black & getting about a mile out, then fully running over a Sunfish ( 5 ft crack in keel as a result ).

Pulling up close to a large log ( to look for Dolphinfish ) on the dirty water line (about 3 ks out )just after a big flood, driving down the log to the end where a big branch was sticking out, realising the branch was the tail of an enourmous White shark that was just lolling on the top.....................estimated 22-24 ft........no joking.
Every hair in the boat stood on end when the water exploded.

And the current reigning champion......................

Watching a friend approaching out at sea in 5-6 tonnes of pro crab boat, presumably for a chat, as you do..........
realising as he hits one of the last swells between you that he hasn't seen you,
all you can see is hull & hear the motors roaring...........
me & my mate grabbing my oldest son & preparing to jump...........
getting fully contacted by said boat....thankfully only a glancing blow because of a lucky swell at the time, we thought we were going down the tunnel.

Anyone want to come with me?????

Muzz

[roz]

heading out of Coffs one afternoon, just north of Mutton Bird Is I noticed a whale surfacing about 100 metres away, slowed down to watch from a safe legal distance, then looked over the side and wondered why the water seemed black... there was obviously more than one whale!!! Moved away pretty quickly

Beautiful creatures.

roz.

[Poodroo]

I went "Holy Sh!t" when I looked at my bank balance after purchasing the boat. One year on and I am still saying holy sh!t. Pretty scary stuff. :-X :o ;D

Poodroo

[tunaticer]

Standing on mangrove roots overhanging the point where two creek meet in central queensland about 10 years ago with a rod in hand ripping a rattling slot lure vertically under my feet for trevally when the water exploded and something hit my lower legs!! I don't know how i did it but i was 8 feet up the spindly thin mangroves behind me before my eyes focused back on the water. To this day I still do not know what hit me and soaked me head to foot at last light of the day. I'm not sure i wanna know either.

My heart still gains speed recalling it after all this time.

Probably the only time in my life I have been terrified I think, scared been there lots of times I got married after all.

Jack.

[Jeremy87]

I've had a few things make me jump while i've been fishing. There's the usual story of rays jumping next to the boat, been hit in the head by a few mullet, big eels at night when paddling in the canoe, crocks doing the mad dash for the water hole your fishing in. A good one was trolling off the goldy, action was slow and i'd gone into a vacant gaze with my elbow resting on the gunnel. Next thing i know about a 15-16ft tiger is eyeballing me. it simply turned around and swam back down into the depths. I don't like whales they freak me out. They're all pretty when they are breeching and fin slapping a couple of hundred metres away but when the decided to pop up ten metres away and dive just quickly enough to go under the boat that their tail beat makes the boat spin you have a new opinion of them.

[butnosplash]

Doesnt this just bring in the memories,

Got two that friends have relayed to me.

One mate whislt out fishing an overnighter, Goes to sleep about 2 am... Only to wake up as a trawler in full drag runs into him....Yes he had his navs on, seems the crew on the boat had the old girl on auto pilot and apparently didnt see him. The only reason he never sunk was the fact that he got tangled up in all the outrigger gear...Now the poor bugger just sits there all night waiting hahaha.

The other was a cracker, up here in the territory you quite often get crocs dashing into the water, not a biggy by any means, however when your in the low tide and the banks are about 2mtrs higher than you and one decides to take flight STRAIGHT OVER YOUR HEAD into the drink .....now thats a pants filler......hahahaha

[onerabbit]

That's classic butnosplash................

Muzz

[stevea]

Mother-in-law suggested to go fishing with me!

[Jeremy87]

Mother-in-law suggested to go fishing with me!

Scariest one yet

Talking about nav lights coming back through the main basin of awoonga at night time with d!ckheads with no lav lights doing a troll in the creek bed. We nearly hit 3 in a row that evening. Another one was traveling out through the rous channel about half an hour after dawn can't see sh!t ahead of us cause of the glare, all of a sudden we slam into a sand bar, apparently we missed one of the beacons, had to dig a trench using the paddles to get the boat unstuck.

[major-defect]

My brother and I were fishing in a creek up here late at night.We'd seen five crocs through the night the largest being about 12 ft.We were motoring along my brother standing up holding the spotty.There was a bit of a clunk and it went black and I was wondering what my brother was doing then I thought he's not swearing and cursing he's not in the boat.I finaly found a torch and turned the boat around and spotted my brother trying to swim straight up.I bought the boat up to him and he jumped up and held on to the little bow handle with both hands and feet.He'd fallen out right where we'd seen the largest croc earlier, I think he was still shaking the next day.

[Dirtysanchez]

When I lived on the central coast of NSW a mate and I borrowed a canoe to go Bass fishing in Ourimbah creek, turns out the canoe was a tad too small, and anyway, if either of us even tried to cast a line it would have tipped I reckon ;)

We paddled about a KM up the river thinking we might find a bank to pull up on so we could start casting our home made poppers. We did, and it was around Dusk on daylight savings. It isn't a navigable creek in this area so paddling back in the dark wasn't going to be a drama.

We pulled up on the bank, got out and my mate headed towards a tree that had fallen into the water, as a potential snag to cast to. Something large was apparently resting on the log, and jumped and splashed into the water with great speed, and a lot of noise / splash, which scared the crap out of both of us.

Could have been a large Goanna, and the area isn't a Croc area of course, but we had heard stories of the early days of the Reptile park, which wasn't far away, in that the previous owner was a bit of a boozer and had lost a couple of crocs through drains etc, so the mind was racing. So were we, we paddled back almost on the plane!! ;D

[RAT-KING]

My first bar crossing was the most scary time ive had! me and my mate out at Noosa the weather was shocking fri-sat but glassed off on sun! we slept in a bit sun morning b4 the attempt to cross which was our first mistakes because the tide turned and was heading out now! the bar looked ok I thought so we waited and picked our time and gunned the closer we ot the bigger the waves looked we crossed the first 3 they wern't to big and only had one more to go it was pretty big! i swear we were vertical over it and had clear ocean in site I dont know wat happened but the engine started to splutter and we lost speed wen another wave was building it was huge we had no time to turn around we jst hit it head on it broke straight over top of us i dont know how we didnt flip or sink we kept motoring out bailed the water for 45 mins and turned around and went back loaded up the boat and drove back to brissy still shaking! some guys seen us and said I dont know how u's survived that! neither did we! we later found that Noosa is one of the worst bars to cross!
Chers Simon

[Scalem]

I found a cure for my desire to fish. It's called a near collision with a massive sailing boat in the southport broadwater. Funny how my thoughts about chasing lizzards suddenly changed to imagining the news headlines "fisherman feared drowned after colliding with sailing boat". I still start the shakes just thinking about it, For everyone who knows the stretch north of wavebreak island to curragee, don't go there on a Saturday.... But if you really must, do your family a favour and increase your life insurance cover before you go;)

The question is who has right of way if you are drifting, motor turned off, then look up to see a sailboat just about to pummel into the side of you, missing by inches?

Scalem

[dodgyone]

Copied and pasted from another forum. Really glad I didnt have to swim that day.

Well what an adventure we had. Headed to Pococks Friday arve and ran into Barrajames just before the four mile hole turn off. He was pulling the pin as the road was a bit to rough for his boat and trailer and had decided to go up the South instead. Opes and I pushed on and arrived at pococks to set up camp. Dodgy, Pyro, Paul and Tim arrived later but the wind kept us from launching the boats till the next morning.
Hit the water at daybreak and threw every lure I owned at the rockbars around Pococks and West Alligator head but couldn’t turn a scale. Caught up with Barrajames at West Alligator head but he wasn’t getting anything either. We then decided to have a flick around the mud flats and some small gutters. First cast I had a barra around the 70cm mark have 2 attempt at inhaling my bomber but I couldn’t set the hooks http://www.fishingterritory.com/images/smiles/bang.gif Continued to fish this gutter hooking several barra and 1 salmon but didn’t boat a single fish. http://www.fishingterritory.com/images/smiles/confused.gif??: we moved to the other side of the West towards the mouth of the South, hooking a barra on our first troll that would of put me into the Metre+ club. She grabbed a barra classic but spat it back at me after she put on a bit of a show nearly taking my head off in the process. http://www.fishingterritory.com/images/smiles/cry.gif So after loosing that many fish in one sitting I had a bit of a cry and we headed back to camp as Opes had to get back into town.
After talking to dodgy about my bad luck we decided to head back out and have another crack. Just as we were leaving Pyro and the boys came back from the jew reef with Tim popping his cherry with a nice jewie, but I will let him tell that story. With nothing but barra on our minds we pushed back over to West Alligator Head and got straight into it. The barra where definitely a lot hungrier now and we were getting good hook ups on classics and bombers. We probably hooked 30 fish but still only boated a handful. Best fish went to Dodgy with an 80cm and the smallest was 65cm.

With all the commotion going on we didn’t notice the wind had really picked up and we needed to get out of here. By the time we got moving the sea had turned real nasty and we were taking on a lot of water. With the sun setting fast and the wind getting worse Dodgy and I had to make the tuff decision, keep at it and hope it gets better or run for shelter. We made it back across to the eastern side of the West Alligator but we could not get around the headland . We headed to shore but could not get anywhere near the mainland as it was low tide. So we anchored in sheltered waters and walked the rest through a few feet of mud, rocks and water with all our gear and barra on our shoulders. We then decided to walk the remaining 5 or so kms back to camp ditching our gear and eventually our fish along the way http://www.fishingterritory.com/images/smiles/cry.gif By now it was pitch black and we where navigating completely by feel through the dense mangroves and bush hoping that there where no cranky lizards along the way http://www.fishingterritory.com/images/smiles/eek_ron.gif With no shoes this turned out to be one hell of a challenge for me and I ended up making do with a couple of hats tied to my feet to cross those massive oyster rocks http://www.fishingterritory.com/images/smiles/uhh.gif (note to all: always take shoes fishing http://www.fishingterritory.com/images/smiles/bang.gif ). We arrived back at camp a little bit worse for wear but all ended well and we found the boat floating in the morning.
Wasn’t very happy that we had to ditch the fish but something had to give . I think we made the best out of what could have been a very bad situation. I few quick decisson had to be made and I recon we made the right call.
Fished again on Sunday but the only fish we got was a monster queenie.

[NAGG]

I guess fishing does have its scarey moments ..... & for me 3 stand out

1) Rockfishing ....... Going up the rope at Bluefish Pt ( North Head Sydney) .... With a full / heavy backpack on my back........ & I've overbalanced. Luckily the rope was wrapped around my wrist which allowed me to maintain my grip ......... stopping a 25M rapid descent:end: ...... The Mightey Whitey still remembers the look on my face

2) Coming through the bar at South West Rocks ....... In not very friendly conditions ........... Riding on the back of a wave , I push the throttle forward to keep my position ......... & the motor splutters & stops! :helpa: ....... After what felt like an eternity with waves threatening to break over us ......... I yell at my mate to pump the fuel bulb .......... The motor fires & with my mate pumping the bulb for dear life , we made it through ............ Just ....... I toss the anchor & we eventually get towed the remaining 500M to the ramp! ( The boat was siphoned overnight...... no fuel gauge:( )

3) Fishing off Nowra....... I hook up to a Yellowfin Tuna on 8kg 3 hours before I saw colour ........... the estimated 180-200lb fish came to the surface ..... spent ( along with the angler) ......... not 10 feet from the flyer & a fish of a lifetime ........ A surface explosion & the YFT is basically bitten in half in half with a dozen shakes of the head ........ A Tiger shark bigger than the V sea I was fishing out of had rained on my parade .......... with the dead weight of the head .... it sunk only to be hammered again a minute later
Very scary indeed .......... The violence & aggression .......... gave me 1or 2 nightmares in later life:stunned:

Nagg

[2manylures]

Getting married 2nd time round.

One day I'll listen to my gut feeling.

Told meself; nah nah na nah naahhh! - goose!

Sorry bout that, just had a weak moment.

[lunchcutter]

yeah crusing along in the port phillip bay at about 2-3 am next minute you know a 20+footer with no nav lights ill tell you the heart was pumping in over drive

[The_Tub]

hows it going muzz?

that bar crossing sounds abit hairy!!!
i had i problem like you had with your crabbing mate,i was off evans when a bloke and his missus in a 40 foot cruizer near side swiped me,they were less than 10m away when they went passed they were both out on the back deck drinking beers and waving thinking it was a big old laugh,i wasn"t waving the whole hand just the finger.

[Noelm]

got a heap that border on scarey, but are more in the funny area, one was when a small Mako jumped into the Motor well and chewed the buggery out of the fuel line and the Electrical harness, now that was interesting, another was coing in one night, the "leads" back then were just two quite small red lights, we were lined up and I was just a tad concerned that we were a bit off, but it was not my Boat so just trusted the owner that he knew what he was doing, after a few minutes he just said "SH!T" one of his Leads was a Cars brake/Tail lights and it drove away, luckily they have replaced those old ones now with "proper ones" one other was coming in through Port Macquarie Bar at night, now that Bar is a BAR, not a small woosy thing that some call a bar, we got almost through and for some reason both Motors decided to have a nap, to this day we have no idea why, my mate restarted them both, and they have never stopped since!

[3rd degree]

Out near Flinders in my 4.6m and notice a bit of water washing round just under the floor.

Open the back up and see its full of water. Flick the bilge on and check the bungs are in, and no worries there, so she'd obviosuly split but not sure how bad.

Got her nearly dry and started the long run back to Nudgee Beach (with Safety Grab Bag at my feet), which in a busted tinny is a little hairy to say the least.

Got back to the ramp and found a 75cm split where the side meets the bottom of the hull.

Boats never been the same since.

Cheers

Jim

[Little grey men]

Not my best scare...but this scares me nearly every weekend that I fish at North Pine Dam. I have to walk through some scrub to get to good spots. Hiding in the grass at various points are small black quails. They wait until you almost stand on top of them, and all of a sudden about ten will take off like little feathery rockets, making heaps of noise. I'm usually slightly on edge looking out for brown snakes already and these birds don't help. I get cranky every time it happens. I know its going to happen but I don't know when.
I was out there a few weeks ago, walked past one of the small trees close to the bank and a sea eagle took flight right beside my head...that took a few years off my life.

[Nic]

I got a massive scare while climbing a rock face near a waterfall. I was with Dave (Alchemy) and we were both hampered with rods and backpacks and had to clamber up as best we could.

When I reached the top, however, he wasn't there. I called and called, and clambered back down again. I called some more. No sign of him. Obviously he had fallen, hit his head and was now submerged in the dark pool below.

I started to get my gear off so I could dive in, wondering how the hell I was going to find him in the dark water, not to mention how I was going to lift all 95kg of him.

Then, all of a sudden he came into view at another part of the cliff and gave me a cheery wave. He had simply decided to climb up a different way.

Conclusion: if you're travelling together in rough terrain, communication is key!

[Little grey men]

I got a massive scare while climbing a rock face near a waterfall. I was with Dave (Alchemy) and we were both hampered with rods and backpacks and had to clamber up as best we could.

When I reached the top, however, he wasn't there. I called and called, and clambered back down again. I called some more. No sign of him. Obviously he had fallen, hit his head and was now submerged in the dark pool below.

I started to get my gear off so I could dive in, wondering how the hell I was going to find him in the dark water, not to mention how I was going to lift all 95kg of him.

Then, all of a sudden he came into view at another part of the cliff and gave me a cheery wave. He had simply decided to climb up a different way.

Conclusion: if you're travelling together in rough terrain, communication is key!

Did you give him a good thump in the arm for that.

[BRabbit]

We fish in three's off the end rock at Double Island point, and this is why. It was heading toward dusk on a sunday arvo we pretty much had the place to ourselves and there was plenty of action in the water. Big mantra's, heaps of schools smacking the water, birds everywhere, and you just knew there were Noahs lurking.

I'd hooked a big Golden Trev on 15lb and fought it for about 40 minutes to get it back to the rocks. At low tide the you need about a 10-12 foot gaff to reach your fish. I was playing the fish back to the rock while my mate was in position down on the lowest part of the rock (still some 10 feet away from the water) while my other mate Bill watched the ocean, wound in his line etc.

A non-conspicuous wave hit the rocks with hardly a splash, but what followed was like a tsunami surge which rose up the rock face and took my mate with the gaff completely off his feet and into the ocean. I handed my rod to Bill and jumped in to get my other mate who was completely losing the plot out in the drink. We've seen some monster tigers up there, and when you're in the sea at the point its close to a K to the shore unless you try and come up the barnacled rock faces which would be stupidity.

I swam out to Jas and we made the slow swim back to the shore. It was hairy as. There were birds feeding nearby as a school smashed up the surface about 50 metres away, and at about the halfway point you have to swim parrallel to the beach to avoid the big rip which sucks off the rocks and takes back to where we just started from. Took about 20 minutes to get back in, but it was heart in the throat type stuff.

Was completely weak and drained, more from the adrenaline than the actual swim, I think. Beers that night around the fire tasted the best they've ever tasted after a dusk session like that.

[nigelr]

Thats' a fantastic tale BR. That would have been pure survival mode I reckon.
I hope youse got pissed as newts, youse sure deserved it!
Cheers!

[fRuItCaKe]

Two come to mind.

1. Being nipped on the fin by a wobby off Bar Beach in Newcastle whilst spearfishing. My brother damn near ran on the water to get back to shore.

2. Spearfishing off Bendalong Point, caught a fish only to have it snatched off the spear by a ray the size of a VW bonnet. No argument there - its his!!

[GBC]

1. Nearly having our trawler run down by a container ship by about 30 metres - they're large up close.

2. Seeing the size of the puk puk (croc) that came out of the creek on East Vernon Island N.T. - just after we'd been walking and spearing up it

3. Flying fish at 30kts just missing my head

4. Drunkenly staggering down the beach from the Alyangula (Groote) golf club to the wharf at night only to be told later who lives there - croc - lucky boy that time.

5. Swamping the cruisecraft

6. My best - The 'thing' that pulled a banking turn under the trawler on the shelf behind Musgrave. Our best guess is an oceanic white tip - don't ask for estimated sizes you'll think I'm lying. I had 4 years sea time at the time and the thing gave me vertigo so bad I had to sit down on the deck for ten mins.:D

C.J.

[bbayjohn]

Going prawning late one night in waders. Saw some large prawns passing just out of reach. Took two steps and fell into a deep hole. The waders are full with water I have a prawning light in one hand a nett in the other and a battery pack on a sholder stap trying to pull me under. The tide was rushing out to sea, I couldnt swim against or side on to it. As hard as it is to swim in wadders full of water, I swam with the current on a slight angle back to land and made it back in. Thought I was going to drown. I get back onto the bank and can now stand up. Called for help, my mates piss them selves with laughter & help me out of the wadders.

[Poodroo]

Going prawning late one night in waders. Saw some large prawns passing just out of reach. Took two steps and fell into a deep hole. The waders are full with water I have a prawning light in one hand a nett in the other and a battery pack on a sholder stap trying to pull me under. The tide was rushing out to sea, I couldnt swim against or side on to it. As hard as it is to swim in wadders full of water, I swam with the current on a slight angle back to land and made it back in. Thought I was going to drown. I get back onto the bank and can now stand up. Called for help, my mates piss them selves with laughter & help me out of the wadders.

Yup I can empathize with you. The waders fill up fast don't they? Not sure if I would ever want that happening in front of non-sympathetic mates though. Tough choice. 1/ Be ridiculed and cop a heap from the friends or
2/ Drown with dignity, ::)

Poodroo

[mattooty]

Haven't had to bad an experience. Heard some good one's though.
I suppose my number one would be fishing at my local jew spot, which at high tide is mostly covered by water. So me being keen and thinking i knew every rock and crevice on that spot, decided i was going to wade out to the higher dry rock only 3-4m out. It was at about the time i was halfway across that 2 bull sharks around the 4-5ft mark came tearing in from both sides, on a collision course for the mullet that were by now sheltering between my legs. I think i very nearly ran on water to get away from them. Never seen the same thing since.

Another rock fishing episode i heard of from another site was a fisherman was filling up a bucket of water out of a rockpool to fill his live bait pool when a massive wave rolled over the front of the rock face and came at him. Realising his best move would be to jump into the deep pool he took a step back and was instantly hit by the wave, but not with the impact he thought. What did take the impact though was the bucket he was holding onto that immmediately filled with water and lifted him out of the pool and dragged him across the barnacles...

[BRabbit]

Thats' a fantastic tale BR. That would have been pure survival mode I reckon.
I hope youse got pissed as newts, youse sure deserved it!
Cheers!

Yes mate. We got so tipsy the next morning we woke up and all the deck chairs were in the fire.

... Still to this day everyone denies it was them. :o

[bigjimg]

Out from Wello about a mile or so after a spell of wet weather with the old man
chasing some tailor with the water a pale olive colour.Geting sweet FA I pull up the bait and just as the pillie was about to break the surface a hammerhead appears out of the murky depths following it up.Well that shark with no word of
exaggeration would have gone 14 -15ft, the head you could have had a threesome on no kidding.The old man said drop your bait back over,pigs arse.That bugger eye balled me and i reckon they don't forget a face,i won't forget his or hers in a big hurry.Jim

[dogsbody]

Out from Wello about a mile or so after a spell of wet weather with the old man
chasing some tailor with the water a pale olive colour.Geting sweet FA I pull up the bait and just as the pillie was about to break the surface a hammerhead appears out of the murky depths following it up.Well that shark with no word of
exaggeration would have gone 14 -15ft, the head you could have had a threesome on no kidding.The old man said drop your bait back over,pigs arse.That bugger eye balled me and i reckon they don't forget a face,i won't forget his or hers in a big hurry.Jim

Hmmm interesting someone's bound to catch something.

Nice boat you got there. Pity it don't see no water.


Dave.

[mudrunner]

snorkeling in princess charlette bay area. reef shark came around from behind the bommy were i was swimming...

pure panic. no other word for it. this little 'land loving' country boy lost the plot and scrambled for another bommy to get up on.

i recon that shark would have pissed himself laughing.....

i stood on that bommy, waist deep in water, for 5 minutes before i got the courage up to swim back to the small sand island where the boat was anchored.

my mate reconed it was a wobbygong.....

[BREAMBOSS01]

i was staying at fishing haven on the clarence river having a fish i saw a rock cod just swimming around the jetty pylons and it wouldnt take the bait so i thought id be smart and net it with the landing net i couldnt reach from the jetty so i went down on the rocks and swooped for it. i was wearing a pair of thongs and slipped off the rocks into the shark ridden water. i got cut up pretty bad on the rocks and couldnt get out quick enough. almost out and me thongs were floating away i netted them and got out. i was covered in blood and still didnt get the cod.

[Nic]

Did you give him a good thump in the arm for that.

Haha... I certainly should have! In truth I just stuck to him like glue for the rest of the trip -- was so glad he hadn't drowned! God only knows what I see in that guy, although he does have a nice boat... I shouldn't have put him on the cover of QFM though, I've got him thinking that he's famous. ;D

[blackjack]

i was staying at fishing haven on the clarence river having a fish i saw a rock cod just swimming around the jetty pylons and it wouldnt take the bait so i thought id be smart and net it with the landing net i couldnt reach from the jetty so i went down on the rocks and swooped for it. i was wearing a pair of thongs and slipped off the rocks into the shark ridden water. i got cut up pretty bad on the rocks and couldnt get out quick enough. almost out and me thongs were floating away i netted them and got out. i was covered in blood and still didnt get the cod.

Bugger!

Glad you got your thongs back. ;D

[Dug]

Many many many years ago I think Tangalooma was still a whaling station or it had just closed. Anyway we were standing on the Woody Point Jetty when some huge yellowfin tuna started jumping out of the water. These were 40 to 50 KG fish and were just flying about. We stopped fishing to watch the display about 100 yards away when a fin cut the water behind the jumping fish. We could see about 2 ft of fin above the water and another ft below. so this was a BIG fish. The fin had a white point on the top so this was a major white pointer shark. then about 15ft behind the dorsal fin we saw the tip of the tail fin. from what we could work out everyone agreed this shark was between 20 and 25 ft long about 7 meters in the new scale.

We stood and watched as the fin continued to chase the tuna about the bay.

The jetty was solid concrete but we all admitted to getting the shakes just seeing something this size where we regularly swam and boated etc.

There are some big fish out there that I would not want to hook !

[BRabbit]

Nice story Dug ... I was at Moreton about 15 years ago when a surfer got taken by Great White at Moreton. The guy got dragged up and down the beach for about 15 minutes before he and the shark disappeared forever.

This was a giant shark. Moreton Island must have some of the biggest whites in the world. Wasn't Vic Hislop's white pointer world record off Moreton?

[Dug]

Nice story Dug ... I was at Moreton about 15 years ago when a surfer got taken by Great White at Moreton. The guy got dragged up and down the beach for about 15 minutes before he and the shark disappeared forever.

This was a giant shark. Moreton Island must have some of the biggest whites in the world. Wasn't Vic Hislop's white pointer world record off Moreton?



Many a record shark was taken off the Tangalooma whaling station in the old days.

Vic Hislop Bob Dwyer for us old guys who remember BP Pick a Box :)

We used to dive the Tangalooma wrecks in the 1970's and you would occasionally see a big shadow cruise past. on the open water side.


There are some BIG things out there :o

[Dug]

I have actually been attacked by a shark while diving! :)

We did a night dive in Jervis bay and my buddy and I were playing with a big Port Jackson gummy shark sleeping under a ledge. It must have enjoyed the game because it followed us for a while before sticking it's head fair up between my legs !:o

I was not a happy chappy I had 1,500 psi of air in my tank before and 500psi after so that is 1,000 psi of air in one gulp !

It nearly killed my mate as well as is is difficult to laugh hysterically underwater and keep your regulator in your mouth. :D :D :D :D :D

Needless to say we cut the dive short and went and had a few drinks to calm my nerves.

[TLewis]

I was spearfishing off Tommaree at Port Stephens about 20 years ago and wasn't doing much when a shool of Kingy's swam right into me. Pow, I got one I'm guessing was aroung 6-8 kg and it was fighting to get off my pronger. I knew the pronger wouldn't hold so I was about to grab hold of the Kingy when whamo... a shark came from nowhere and grabbed it. The shark looked a monster because it was so close but it probably was about 6-8 feet long. I have no idea what brand it was.

The funny thing is, I wan't even thinking ' scared', I was more resentful of this bastard fish trying to steal my Kingy. We had a tug-o-war for a few seconds before he won and swam off with said fish in gob. Mongrel thing!

I did get out of the water immediately I came to my senses.

[reidy]

Good day all,
10m+ walls of death Gale force south westerly off Tasman Island in a 50 foot Charter boat in the late 80s.Only the skipper knew what the ---- we were doing there.Motored around 5km south to find a gap in the swell to turn her for home.
Have you ever seen pushers bubbling from 10+ meters up. interesting
Cheers
Reidy

[Mossy247]

Ummm a scary but funny story, I was in my mates little tinny there were three of us night fishing in the brisbane river, it is a small boat and relatively close to the water with 3 guys in it, we were cruising along the river near the pinkenbah boat ramp towards the silo's, my mate was abit sleepy and was lyign acrosshte boat with his head just near the water.... as we putted along, a dolphin surfaced right near the boat and all he saw was this big fin come out of the water, he was the only one watching at the time, he jumped and was scared and in turn made us 2 jump... was rather amusing after we check our undies....
thanks

[therapy]

My old mate Bretto who is 6 foot 2 and covered in red hair walking into Tangalooma resort after a swim in just his old white undies with the elastic mostly gone. Seen more than a man should of a mate that day. Probably still Japanese tourists seeking therapy as well...........

[dogsbody]

Giving evidence at a double murder trail when i was 17. I worked with him and my brother and i we're the last ones to see him and his girlfriend alive.

Thing is he was found not guilty and said to the barmaid who had seen him with them said he was going to get her. Few weeks later she was found strangled and burn't in her bed. To say i was concerned for my safety was an understatement.

Dave.

[Poodroo]

Giving evidence at a double murder trail when i was 17. I worked with him and my brother and i we're the last ones to see him and his girlfriend alive.

Thing is he was found not guilty and said to the barmaid who had seen him with them said he was going to get her. Few weeks later she was found strangled and burn't in her bed. To say i was concerned for my safety was an understatement.

Dave.

:o :o :o You win Dave..... gees! That'd scare the crapola out of anyone!

Poodroo

[BrewGuru]

Nice story Dug ... I was at Moreton about 15 years ago when a surfer got taken by Great White at Moreton. The guy got dragged up and down the beach for about 15 minutes before he and the shark disappeared forever.

This was a giant shark. Moreton Island must have some of the biggest whites in the world. Wasn't Vic Hislop's white pointer world record off Moreton?

I was there staying in one of the huts on North Point, the local pro fisherman recovered his remains

[Jim_Tait]

Mine was doing the solo night shift steaming a research vessel down the Fly River in Papua New Guinea (~2.00am) going several 100 ks between work sites, using the radar to see where we are in the river (its a bloody big place with a channel up to a k or more across in places with a couple of spotlights on the front peering into the evening) and using the auto pilot to lock the boat onto a straight fixed heading each time we went around a river bend - its dodgy enough steaming at night with whole rainforest trees floating along as semi submerged logs and shallow sand bars and the like - but there is also ocean going copper ore carring ships steaming up and down the river 24 / 7 which you have to keep in communication with and keep out of the way of - so talking to a copper ship coming up stream on the VHF (empty and fast) and we're discussing where to pass each other which bend, port to port etc and we say go to the UHF radio when in sight - so as I see the lights of what looks like a Gold Coast high rise coming around the river bend in front of me - I transmit on the UHF that I can see him and as I transmit the UHF interfers with the auto pilot I still have locked on and locks the boat into a violent full port turn (on full power and going downstream) - I cut power and look at the radar and see the world spinning around, as the copper ship bares down on us - I give reverse and forward thrust to opposing engines (its a large 40' steel hull cat) to stop the spinning and soon as the image on the radar slows down enough for me to work out the inner and outer bend of the river I turn the boat full power for the inner side of the bend (shallow side where the copper ship 'won't go) and drive it straight up into the cane grass floodplain as the copper ship slices past behind us on its way upstream - would have been certain death for me and the crew if we had collided! Had a smoke and a cuppa and explained to all who had woken up what we'd just missed, got the boat off the mud bar and continued steaming downriver!

[PinHead]

Mnay years back..fishing down the Pin i nthe Telegraph Shield. The fishing club had about 25 12' rowbaits..we got towed to where we wanted to fish. The rule was that if you were fishing Kalinga Bank, you pulled the boat onto the bank and stayed there all night. As the fishing was quiet, a couple of the blokes decided they wanted to go elsewhere. They launched the boat without anyone else knowing..tide was running out...they left Kalinga Bank and despite many searches neither they nor any part of the boat have ever been seen since. Sure taught me a lesson about tidal run in certain areas.

[1lastcast]

Yep had one of those monents last sunday was heading out to sea from the gold coast seaway full throttle got to aroung the 24`s and a humpback whale fully breached right in my path only 30 meters in front of me it was so close i got water on my windscreen as it landed back in the water.

To say i s@#t my self is a understatement so i grabbed my camera and took a couple of snapps as it swam past after i stopped one of the photo`s is in my thread in offshore reports

I backed off the throttle after that and kept a good eye out all around for signs of them so as not to let that happen again

Very close indeed.

[LostNearBribie]

My bro and I were in a 10ft tinny off the bottom of Bribie Island.
Nice day, pretty quiet had been in the boat for a while.
Both of us went for a stretch a the same time.
I stood up, bro stretched across, boat flipped!
Both of us and all our gear in the drink.
My shirt was caught on one of the oar rollicks, got caught under the boat for a minute.
Not a nice feeling at all. Managed to get free, but we lost 90% of our gear.
Another guy was out checking his crab pots and noticed our boat wrong way up.
Came over, saved us, towed our boat back to the ramp.
Not a nice feeling at all, being in 10m of water where you had seen noahs before.
Even worse knowing how much cash was sinking towards the bottom!
That is the strange way we think.
We now have a much larger boat...

[Nicko]

Many a record shark was taken off the Tangalooma whaling station in the old days.

Vic Hislop Bob Dwyer for us old guys who remember BP Pick a Box :)

We used to dive the Tangalooma wrecks in the 1970's and you would occasionally see a big shadow cruise past. on the open water side.


There are some BIG things out there :o

That's scary, my friend and I ventured out for a snorkel many a time from our camping ground at the tangalooma wrecks... By far the scariest thing is the swim across the deep channel.
But jeez, sharks are around...
I don't think i'll be doing that anymore.

[Lovey80]

About 11 years old fishing off the South wall of Mooloolaba bar. Caught a butter bream that swallowed my herring jig and was killed in the recovery process. As I throw the butter bream back in between the large bolders and start to wash my hands. a dirty great big eel with razor like teeth takes half of my small hand in it's mouth. I pulled back and he half let go as i pulled him out of the water cutting my hand to peices with many tiny cuts that must a have bled at least a litre of blood. The old man gets a set of gangs and the last bit of mullet on a wire trace and one by one catches 6 or so eels from the same hole one after the other.

[butnosplash]

Lovey 80, you have the equivalent of what the gardeners call a "green thumb"..lol.....anytime you want to come throw your hand in the water for me and see whats around be my guest hahahaha.

[Dory4.1]

I remember when a large turtle surfaced just behind my little tinny (and behind my back) to breath, they can make quite a loud blow. I thought I was being attached by a whale for a split second.

Funny now, but scared the hell out of me at the time LoL

Regards
Michael