Yesterday, July 14th, I had my first real encounter with a shark. We tied up to an oilrig in the Gulf of Mexico. My first trip from the boat to the oilrig and back was un-eventual. I shot a dog snapper and brought it back. The guy I was diving with said he had seen some sharks around the boat and was a little concern. On my second trip to rig, I had a leaky mask, because the strap became loose. After taking it off twice and trying to adjust it and put it back on, it still leaked so I started going back to the boat. I hate making the swim to the boat without bringing a fish.
As I neared the boat I saw a small 3.5-foot black tip shark and thought to myself, “is that all my partner is concerned about?” I dove down to take a better look at it. Suddenly this 7-foot bull shark came bursting onto the scene. I surfaced and immediately did what I had heard to do when a shark is acting aggressive or interested in you. That is, extend yourself and gun to make yourself look as large as possible. I did this, but it did not phase the shark. He was still interested in playing even though I was not a willing participant! I started swimming backwards toward the boat with my eyes and gun on him.
I had a self-inflating float instead of a float-line setup because this was a rig that had some species that liked to stay inside of it and it is easier to move through it without a float-line. I really didn’t want to pull the trigger on this 200 lbs plus shark with the self-inflating float, because I was sure I would never see my gear again. The shark took a nip at one of my fins so I pulled my legs up so I could jab him with my shaft tip before he could reach my fins if needed. It was real slow swimming backwards in that position and for the first time I felt a healthy dose of fear. Slowly I inched toward the boat with the shark doing a little dance just past the reach of my spear tip.
When I got to within 10’ from the boat he backed off which was a real relief and I was able to pull myself up onto the dive platform without additional fear. My dive partner was still in the water so I hurried to put the float line on and add another float to it encase a shot was necessary. Right before I slipped in I heard my dive partner yell that the shark was harassing him.
I swam toward the dive partner and the shark, and saw the partner give the shark a good jab with his tip. He had a long gun, probably 60” with stainless cable line and 3 bands. I had my Riffe MT2, with three 9/16 bands and a 5/16 Hawaiian shaft with single flopper. Not the best tool for shooting a 7’ shark, but at least it wasn’t a single band gun.
The jab did not deter the shark and it came right back to play more with him.
At this point I started getting angry! :vangry I figured someone here was going to get hurt and if that was the case then I wanted to be the one to give out the hurt first! I was about 30 feet away from my dive partner and the shark was another 10 feet past him. I dove down to 10-feet.
When the shark saw me dive he immediately shifted his focus to me and came at me quiet fast. I had been told that if you ever needed to shoot a big shark aim for the gills, because you have the best chance of the spear penetrating there. Didn’t know how true that was but it seemed logical. Since the gill slits are on the bottom half of the shark, by diving down I had hoped to get a little lower than he was for a shot. Unfortunately he didn’t want me lower than he and descended on his route to me.
At about 10-feet away and still swimming straight for me it occurred to me that unless he turned my only shot was going to be at his front sloped head which because of the angle of the tip coming in contact with the skin, might not be a good shot to penetrate it with; so I thrust the gun toward him (he was probably only 8-feet away at this time). He seemed surprise and started to angle to one side. At 5-feet away I pulled the trigger. It was a high shot but the shaft penetrated his skin and the flopper opened on the other side. :ko
If you ask me how I managed to nearly miss that big of an object only 5-feet away, I would have to say nerves and adrenaline!:head The shark just froze for about 5 seconds. He seemed confused like, “this isn’t supposed to happen! I’m the one who puts the hurt on others!”:waterwork Then he turned and bolted. I had 2 mm Dyneema line, which is 570 lbs strength and has a protective woven sleeve around it. It is supposed to be very abrasive resistant. I also like to tie the float line directly to the gun and not use a breakaway.
I fully expected the shark to rip the gun out of my hand when the shooting line came tight, but just as I started to feel the pressure; the shark’s body came into contact with the Dyneema line and cut it in two. There went the shark and my shaft! As far as we know he never turned around and is probably somewhere over on the East side of the Atlantic by now!
The good news is that particular shark never harassed us again. It was a very unusually day in that we probably saw 30 sharks at the three rigs we dove. The pole fishermen managed to catch a little one and hook on to two 8-footers, which broke off. The most and the biggest sharks we encountered were when we were drifting back from the second rig after I had untied us. Fortunately I was in the boat when those boys came to visit!
I have been freediving the Gulf for three years and never seen sharks like yesterday. To tell you the truth I never could actually say I for sure saw a shark until yesterday. Several people I have dove with claimed to see them, but all I ever saw were some dark figures in the distance. Now I can, for sure, I have seen sharks! Even have a story about one!
don
As I neared the boat I saw a small 3.5-foot black tip shark and thought to myself, “is that all my partner is concerned about?” I dove down to take a better look at it. Suddenly this 7-foot bull shark came bursting onto the scene. I surfaced and immediately did what I had heard to do when a shark is acting aggressive or interested in you. That is, extend yourself and gun to make yourself look as large as possible. I did this, but it did not phase the shark. He was still interested in playing even though I was not a willing participant! I started swimming backwards toward the boat with my eyes and gun on him.
I had a self-inflating float instead of a float-line setup because this was a rig that had some species that liked to stay inside of it and it is easier to move through it without a float-line. I really didn’t want to pull the trigger on this 200 lbs plus shark with the self-inflating float, because I was sure I would never see my gear again. The shark took a nip at one of my fins so I pulled my legs up so I could jab him with my shaft tip before he could reach my fins if needed. It was real slow swimming backwards in that position and for the first time I felt a healthy dose of fear. Slowly I inched toward the boat with the shark doing a little dance just past the reach of my spear tip.
When I got to within 10’ from the boat he backed off which was a real relief and I was able to pull myself up onto the dive platform without additional fear. My dive partner was still in the water so I hurried to put the float line on and add another float to it encase a shot was necessary. Right before I slipped in I heard my dive partner yell that the shark was harassing him.
I swam toward the dive partner and the shark, and saw the partner give the shark a good jab with his tip. He had a long gun, probably 60” with stainless cable line and 3 bands. I had my Riffe MT2, with three 9/16 bands and a 5/16 Hawaiian shaft with single flopper. Not the best tool for shooting a 7’ shark, but at least it wasn’t a single band gun.
The jab did not deter the shark and it came right back to play more with him. At this point I started getting angry! :vangry I figured someone here was going to get hurt and if that was the case then I wanted to be the one to give out the hurt first! I was about 30 feet away from my dive partner and the shark was another 10 feet past him. I dove down to 10-feet.
When the shark saw me dive he immediately shifted his focus to me and came at me quiet fast. I had been told that if you ever needed to shoot a big shark aim for the gills, because you have the best chance of the spear penetrating there. Didn’t know how true that was but it seemed logical. Since the gill slits are on the bottom half of the shark, by diving down I had hoped to get a little lower than he was for a shot. Unfortunately he didn’t want me lower than he and descended on his route to me.
At about 10-feet away and still swimming straight for me it occurred to me that unless he turned my only shot was going to be at his front sloped head which because of the angle of the tip coming in contact with the skin, might not be a good shot to penetrate it with; so I thrust the gun toward him (he was probably only 8-feet away at this time). He seemed surprise and started to angle to one side. At 5-feet away I pulled the trigger. It was a high shot but the shaft penetrated his skin and the flopper opened on the other side. :ko
If you ask me how I managed to nearly miss that big of an object only 5-feet away, I would have to say nerves and adrenaline!:head The shark just froze for about 5 seconds. He seemed confused like, “this isn’t supposed to happen! I’m the one who puts the hurt on others!”:waterwork Then he turned and bolted. I had 2 mm Dyneema line, which is 570 lbs strength and has a protective woven sleeve around it. It is supposed to be very abrasive resistant. I also like to tie the float line directly to the gun and not use a breakaway.
I fully expected the shark to rip the gun out of my hand when the shooting line came tight, but just as I started to feel the pressure; the shark’s body came into contact with the Dyneema line and cut it in two. There went the shark and my shaft! As far as we know he never turned around and is probably somewhere over on the East side of the Atlantic by now!
The good news is that particular shark never harassed us again. It was a very unusually day in that we probably saw 30 sharks at the three rigs we dove. The pole fishermen managed to catch a little one and hook on to two 8-footers, which broke off. The most and the biggest sharks we encountered were when we were drifting back from the second rig after I had untied us. Fortunately I was in the boat when those boys came to visit!
I have been freediving the Gulf for three years and never seen sharks like yesterday. To tell you the truth I never could actually say I for sure saw a shark until yesterday. Several people I have dove with claimed to see them, but all I ever saw were some dark figures in the distance. Now I can, for sure, I have seen sharks! Even have a story about one!
don
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