Great White Sharks

[SLB]

there is one cruzing around byron right now, mate there everywhere really we just don't always see them

[Scorpion1080]

Pt Lincon of South Australia. Only about 12-13ft Great White. I thought.. this thing is 16ft but the captain corrected me. To me it was MASSIVE.

The boat I was on, belonged to a professional fisherman and the captain (real old bloke) use to catch and kill great whites before they were illegal. He had killed hundreds of them and probably seen thousands upon thousands.. He even showed me his photo album which was dedicated to his "great white" days.

Anyway. I will get to the point. In all his days the biggest great white he caught was 17' 9" he said and the head alone weighed close to 1 tonne.

I asked him about how everyone claims to have seen 6+m sharks and the media always say a 6m great white. He said bullshit. They are sooo big in girth and size overall most people think they are way way way bigger than what the actually are. He said, "6m sharks definitely do exist and he has seen them but they are rare."

[el_carpo]

Well, I live many miles from any ocean but I tell you what, I'm scared as hell of sharks and I'm not a bit ashamed to say so. I have a strict policy with them. I stay out of your ocean and you stay off of my land and we'll be cool. The second one of those toothy critters grows legs and lungs and takes a stroll down Michigan Avenue, he's toast. Both barrels, right between the eyes. Until then, they have no reason to fear me.


Two and a half last comments:

1. Surfers are crazy (ya, it's just my opinion but it's TRUE gawd dabbit!) Not for fifty-gajillion dollars would I stand on a wobbly, giant "surface lure" in the ocean.

2. Do fishing boats have "crow's nests" anymore? Because if they do, THAT's where I'd fish from. The further away from the water, the better.

2 1/2. Ya, all of my knowledge of sharks comes from the movie "Jaws" (the scenes I was brave enough to watch anyway) but I don't care! They're big, scarey, sea monsters and that's all I need to know!!!

They're ALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL yours fellas!

EC (Exceptional Cowardice)

[Blackened]

G'day

El Carpo

Make sure you get a tuna tower put on your next bass boat

Dave

[wadeo]

I was out on the barwon banks about 3 yrs ago introducing a mate to the offshore scene. Magic day had the usual 2 dolphins around us as we fished the bottom in 30m for reef fish. At this stage we had a few fish bleeding out in the kill tank. We saw whales pass us close by with a calf heading south which was picturess to see. As they passed the dolphins dissapeared the fish shut down and as we were bilgeing the blood out of the kill tank a mate say's hey look their's a huge whale right at the back of the boat so i stoped what i was doing and had a look over the back to see a huge great white which appeared out of know where. We were in a 5.5 cruisecraft half cab. Next he slow circled us looking at us with one eye relizing when beside us he was as long as us. We couldn't help but feel he was sizing us up. After 2 cicles really close to boat he dissapeared for a moment giving us a sigh of relief. Looking some 50m away from boat on port side we could see him coming picking up speed swimming straight at us just under the surface. this is when we started to shit! he wasn't slowing down but gaining speed and heading straight at us like he was going to T 'bone us. Couldn't beleive how wide and round this thing was. A decision was made by myself after relizing he wasn't going to stop to get down low on floor in case he rammed us. As he got to us still swimming very fast he seemed to deepen slightly and he went underneith the boat and dissapeared. A very anxious 20min for us. No doubt if he had of rammed us i'm sure we would have been in a very vunerable position. That's as close as i ever want to get to one of these unpredictable animals. I remember how small and insignificant he made us feel while he was checking us out nowing what ever he had in stall for us was completely in his power.
regards wadeo

[jman2016]

Video was awesome dude!! ROFL!!

Friend saw a GW off Keppel gnawing on a dead turtle. bout 14 foot.

1990 off douglas shoals. 15 foot tinny tender with me in the bow two guys down stern, reeled in hussar and it was followed by the biggest tiger shark i have ever seen, nose was in line with bow cleat and one of guys said he couldn't see the tail yet!!!

About 4m estimated length!!

I would like to go back to the mother ship now!!!

[reidy]

Good day all,
Had a chance meeting with Mr Hislop back in 1993 in Cairns.To cut a long story short i was talking to the chick at the door of his Shark show about a GW that was larger than the 20 odd footer that was snap frozen on display there.Before i could finish she had taken off for the phone,a couple of minutes later she came back over and asked if i could hang around for a few minutes.No worries
10 minutes later Hislop turns up asking 100 quest. where when how big.
I then told him the rest of the facts his employee failed to listern to that the GW in question was drowned in a gill net around 5 years before and that it was measured at 22 foot.I only saw a photo of it.
As soon as Hislop realised that this fish was dead he lost interest.Why?
I believe he was only interested in killing a bigger fish than the snap frozen one he already had on display and lost interest because he could find no glory.
Great White hunter my a---.
I think we can do with-out this mind set hay
All the best
Reidy

[onerabbit]

That's a bit of a sad story reidy,

I think the days of hunting the big sharks should be over, bit of a pity just to kill one "because it's a record".
But there are trophy hunters in our world also.

Might sound strange, but I like seeing the odd shark, nice to see a bit of nature............. also sort of puts you in your place a bit.

Muzz

[secret relations]

i was rowing in a surf boat about 500-1km off shore from burleigh one day a few years ago. I sat in the bow, and this fin appeared out of the water next to my oar, then the head appeared pased the bow of the boat, and it's tail was back passed the back of the boat.

I couldn't tell you what species it was, but it came up to check out what all the noise and commotion was about, then went back under. Easily longer and bigger than the surfboat.

[Sea-Dog]

Prawning off Fraser Island 20+ years ago at night.

Every shot that we brought up, we had plenty of smallish sharks of about 6-7 feet long come up looking for a free feed of by-catch.

They would wait by the shite chutes that we used to shovel the waste back overboard. Any small fish or rays were taken with gusto.

They would also share these trash fish with the dolphins that were there. They would take it in turns waiting for a feed. Once a shark had a mouthful, a dolphin would come along and nudge its tail and the shark would take off in only a slightly agitated manner.

The dolphin would wait for a couple of little fish to eat as well.

Then another shark would want its turn, and the dolphin would give way and let the shark take its place.

This was just wrong..... I had seen years of "Flipper" episodes that showed that sharks and dolphins were mortal enemies and would attack each other on sight.

Nevertheless, that's the way they would work.

Later that night I was glancing down through the prop wash of the 45' trawler and I saw the outline of shark's head.

It was about 10 feet below the surface and I couldn't see the body of the shark, just the width of its dark coloured head illuminated by the deck lights.

As I sit here holding my hands about 2 1/2 feet apart, I remember the sharks head looking a bit wider than that.

It must have been at least 20 foot of fish. I reckon that I could have fit down its throat without touching the teeth - if it held its mouth right.

I can tell you that I hooked my elbows over the side of the sorting tray very firmly after that. The gunwales of the trawler were about knee height and the water looked awfully close right then......

What sort of shark? I dunno - a very large Tiger or a Great White I suppose. Would it matter what species it was, if it was chewing on you?

[nigelr]

Great story, Sea Dog!
Wouldn't like to have gone overboard...........
Cheers!

[tully]

While surfing a place called Bruce's Beautie's in Sth Africa in 1980, a large shark surfaced dead centre between a Kiwi guy and myself. we were 20feet apart sitting upright on our boards talking when a dorsal fin slowly rose verticaly out of the water without moving in any direction other than up. It was an overcast day and late in the afternoon and the water looked black and glassy, so couldn't see any of the shark except the fin. We sat motionless for about 15 seconds, then it slowly moved away.
I like to think it was a harmless species, it helps me sleep at night, but I really don't know.

[Flattie Assassin]

Here's a good story of an encounter with one.
http://www.fishingkites.co.nz/sharks...arkattack.html

[Leighton]

Had the pleasure of diving with GW in South Africa earlier this year. They are an awesome creature. Pretty gentle, really sus out the bait before going hell for leather. I am a firm believer of all attacks on humans are mistaken identity. We saw 4 shark up to about 3 m

[lido76]

Great read guys flattie I dont think I will be in any hurry to buy a yak you mad dudes can have that all to yourselves. I'll wave as I drive past in my boat.....BRENDAN.....