Shark Tips (and my poor barracuda)

[fishimani]

I was out diving in a relatively new spot last week here on guam since the last time i checked it out i saw a whole bunch of big barracuda and giant trevally..... I got in the water in mid afternoon and swam out to a drop off (60ft to 140 ft, almost a sheer drop) The first fish i saw was a GT which must have been a little upwards of 30lbs (i shot his brother a couple days before pics on the way) but i tensed up a little too much when he startled me.... in the way only uluas do. Total bummer. A few dives later after i calmed down a bit and got more acclimated .....i saw what i came there for.....a big FRIGGIN barracuda. With my last failure fresh in my mind i stayed motionless except for turning my gun slowly so that my flopper wiggled a little bit...just enough to get his attention. He was zoned out and crept slowly in, i waited for him to turn broadside since i was using my trusty 120 RA with my lovely reel (which the dogtooth didnt quite tear away from me 2 weeks before) i took a shot mid body since the barracuda head is so damn thick and that gun lacks the punch to peirce the skull. He flipped out and my line went screaming off for a short run (25 yds or so) and the fight was pretty steady after that.....i told my dive partner to reel up my line as i slowly hand over hand dragged him up from the dropoff. I got the fish up close to me and (having never shot a barracuda before, but knowing they had gnarly teeth i did this kind of "fin between body barrier thing" to keep him from biting the crap out of me) then i straddled the body of the fish and slid my hands up from mid body on to the snout of the fish....holding his mouth shut. I tore out his gills which sent clouds of blood all around me (here sharky sharky)....i hung the fish on my float (which my dive partner was using) since i cant dive with such a bulky fish hanging off of my stringer......after a few more hours of diving (we saw a couple of sharks ...a small black tipped reef shark and a decent size grey)...no big deal...... I got to my fish to swim him back to shore and noticed he looked like crap.... then i noticed there were big chunks missing out of the body....wth.... i told my partner to stick close and to swim quickly back to shore with me....we encountered a few more sharks...and a few more.....then three BIG shadows appeared circling me (as usual my dive partner was oblivious) i noticed the bodies were super sleek and the fins were longer than usual ...three oceanic whitetips roughly 7-10 feet long between the three of them...i got out of that water so fast...it cant be described with words.....

the question i would like to pose is.....how the heck to i kill a fish like that barracuda without putting all the blood in the water (without a boat...naturally?)

any tips or advice would be greatly appreciated. Pics are coming soon!

 

[mishu1984]

a long pointy knife in the head and give it a good scramble. also, your 120 RA should more than easily penetrate its skull.
and dont close its mouth with your hand. that can cost you a finger. instead slide your hand up its belly into its gills and hold it there. i used to fear barracudas, but after killing a few ive learned that they have more bark than bite, kind of like a chihuahua.
next time just aim for that space in between their eyes. it should do the trick. if you get a mid-body shot, then just stab it in the skull and scramble its brains

 

[Mr. X]

Nice post FishiMani.

I've made several iki jimi spikes (awls) to try out this year. Haven't tried them yet but I'm hoping they will penetrate fish skulls quicker, easier & with less risk of slippage than a pointy knife. Less mess in the water too perhaps.

The New Zealand spearos & some French spearos use planche(sp?) - big hollow floats that they can store their fish in. Google "Ron's Corner" New Zealand to see pictures. A forum member in the USA has just finished making a mould for a really cool looking float box of this type - nice & big with a big fitted hatch. I think he is looking for outlets around the world. Search some of the recent float threads. Mind you, with some of these really long fish I wonder if they'd fit? If you end up cutting the fish in half it would rather defeat the aim of keeping blood out of the water.

Electronic sharkshield?

 

[fishimani]

Thanks for the replies gentlemen! I do have an Iki Jimi spike which i machined which i use.... however i wasnt able to put it through the skull without going through an eye socket. I do like the tube idea, some pvs and styrafoam might do the trick. Sorry no fish pics yet, passed out last night after work (and im at work right now)........should have them up by tonight. Once again thanks everyone.

 

[Coral Sniper]

Sounds like a great place!The sharks seem to like it to! Though do be careful,I would really reconsider even having a body stringer in such places.

Mr X's idea about storing fish in a float is a great help for shore diving places like you have just described.

You hate to teach the sharks that Diver=free feed

 

[fishimani]

As promised here are the pictures from my little excursion.

 

[mishu1984]

some folks back in the states use a screw-driver that has the tip machined and filled to a point. the grip lets them get more pressure. alternatively that you can do is put your spear from the gills up into its brains. however, this releases some blood into the water, but the fish dies immediatly and wont be trashing around.

 

[getawayFK]

Hey mate very nice baracuda. I can tell you from the bites on your baracuda that the sharks that claimed your catch were probably those blacktips that you first encountered (4-6ft) and not the whitetips.

As for acting with sharks, you have to show them that you are the one in control: that's act aggressive toward them (I've had encounters with bullsharks and tiger sharks ripping off catch right in front of my eyes... Now those are big beasts and you've to be very careful with them), but as with blacktips, those are usually like what I describe a "homeless dog" and will try to take a nip off your catch and disappear as soon as you catch them doing so to only reappear behind you and try again (from my few encounters with them). My advise for killing fish in shark water: dnt rip off their gills because you gonna make hell of bleeding, but rather a quick stab in their head (while also avoiding to hit the vertebral arteries because they gonna bleed too), or the best option is to have a boat supporting you in the area, or at last, if nothing like that is possible, well tie your fish to a cheap float and accept the risk that you might lose the fish + float to a big shark (A risk I consider and take when spearfishing here in a natural reserve where boat arent allowed and is known to be shark infested ).

One last word of advise: In such water where you also have high chance of encountering big sharks (e.g: Bulls, whitetips, tigers etc...), consider being at least 3 spearos together and sticking close to each other. That helps a lot as well. Also with a 120cm RobAllen, you can do some serious damage if you ever need to protect yourself (though dnt ever think of shooting at a shark unless you ultimately have to in order to protect yourself - very very rare chance of such thing occuring)

 

[Mr. X]

Cool pics. It looks like you got peckish waiting for the picture to be taken and had quick bite.

 

[fishimani]

Thank you for the good advice everyone......and i did get a little hungry waiting on that pic.

 

[Bryan305]

I usualy whack the barracudas following my stinger of fish hanging on my float. I don't eat them but my buddy loves them. Kill shot is the way to go, usualy easy. As per sharks as long as its not a bull, tiger or a hammer head or any kind of shark thats not a lot bigger than me, I usualy swim towards then and scream out of my snorkel under water. It usualy scares them off right away and tend to leave you alone for a while, even while catching fish. It's usualy always reef sharks that I come in to contact with.

 

[jtkwest]

why shoot cudas? target practice? they dont taste very good and the big ones have ciguatera. i saw the biggest one i have ever seen yesterday. i sure didnt want to shoot it. besides, if you are trying not to attract sharks, dont mess with the cudas. all the fisherman around here consider a cuda carcass , hanging off the boat is the BEST shark bait you can get around here period! leave the cudas alone, not worth it. if you do shoot them and a shark is in the area, plan on a visit.

 

[Bryan305]

why shoot cudas? target practice? they dont taste very good and the big ones have ciguatera. i saw the biggest one i have ever seen yesterday. i sure didnt want to shoot it. besides, if you are trying not to attract sharks, dont mess with the cudas. all the fisherman around here consider a cuda carcass , hanging off the boat is the BEST shark bait you can get around here period! leave the cudas alone, not worth it. if you do shoot them and a shark is in the area, plan on a visit.

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[Bryan305]

Like I said, I don't like them nor do I eat them but I have friend that loves to eat them. He considers it his favorite fish to eat even though they can potenialy have Ciguetera. So I knock out two birds with one stone, protect my fish and feed my buddy. I would not just kill anything living for just fun. As per the sharks, i dive in Miami mostly and almost never have a problem. When I go to Bimini is when they are every where. I wouldn't dare to shoot a Cuda
there, thats for sure.
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[jtkwest]

Like I said, I don't like them nor do I eat them but I have friend that loves to eat them. He considers it his favorite fish to eat even though they can potenialy have Ciguetera. So I knock out two birds with one stone, protect my fish and feed my buddy. I would not just kill anything living for just fun. As per the sharks, i dive in Miami mostly and almost never have a problem. When I go to Bimini is when they are every where. I wouldn't dare to shoot a Cuda
there, thats for sure.
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I saw a huge one yesterday. it was like 6 feet long and over 70 to 110 pounds, a real monster. i have eaten cuda once and its not THAT bad. just not as good as alot of other stuff around here. i wasnt suggesting you were being cruel or anything , i just dont think it is worth the risk of getting bit. it HAS to atleast be a slight risk. plus the shark thing. miami is not too sharky ? it seems they migrate through there occaisonally, no? i dont think we have as many as bimini, but they are around, especially on the gulf of mexico side of the keys. full of bull and lemon sharks. plus the water tends to be murky. you could shoot a couple cudas and set your watch by the response time of the sharks. esapecially later in the afternoon.

 

[Bryan305]

I dive the Keys on ocassion, however I never go to the bay side. The ocean side in my little experience hasn't ever been much of a problem. But I do know there is an abundant shark population on the bay side. Especialy close to the bridges, they just sit and wait for the fish to come in and out of the ocean side with the tides. How is spearing on the bay side? Never thought it could produce big fish due to the shallow depths. I was spearing by Soldier Key and "Grouper Rocks" last weekend, about 15 small hogs, 1 25 in Black, 1 small mutton and 1 really nice spanish mackeral.

 

[Bryan305]

I had just started fileting it before the camera came out. Thats why the top fin is missing. LOL

 

[blueface]

Hi fishimani! That's a scary story. I've never seen oceanic white tips. I have seen galapagos that have the long fins you describe. I'm curious to know where you saw them. I am in Guam too and I'm not sure if we've met before. I like to fish the bouys every now and then. Have you checked them out?

Dive safe!

Skip

 

[blueface]

I shoot barracudas only if someone asks me for one or I need chum. There are really big schools of blackfin that some like to eat. I've shot about a million.The coop will buy them if they're under 20 lbs. so it's reason enough.(just to pay for fuel) They also make excellent chum and I've attracted many dogtooth, trevally, jobfish and snappers of different types (and of course sharks)using barracuda meat. If we hang our fish on a float it sometimes gets nailed by a grey. I've seen this many times.

Here's a quick story:

My friend Myles (who just won individual first in the Saipan spearfishing event) and I were on a drop off and taking turns holding the line and float. We had several large fish-trevally, parrotfish, barracuda, and other stuff. I just came up from a dive and missed whatever I shot at. Myles would normally hand me the line and proceed to dive. Well he got impatient and released the line and while I was reloading my gun the float drifted away a bit and when I started toward it WHOA! a fat grey reef shark was circling it (took me by surprise) and he sort of denied it from me. Ater a minute he put his pecs down and charged the fish dangling from the float. (he got a big parrot) The float skimmed across the surface about 50 ft. and then he left. I got the line and we headed in to shallower water when he came back all pissed off and excited! He made a couple of quick passes at me less than 3 ft. away and Myles finally shot him in the side. (MAKE SURE THE BARB DOES NOT GO IN THE SHARK WHILE DOING THIS!) If it does you are going to be in a world of s@%$! ie. Bent shaft, danger, angry shark, teeth and alll that good stuff. That did the trick and he never came back.

Something similar to this has happened from time to time since I can remember. It's just part of fishing I guess. I could write a book!:blackeye

I try to stone the barracuda but when I don't it's good fun! They fight like hell! When I get them I hold the spear so they can't reach me and try to turn the upside down (belly up) and they seem to mellow out. Then stradle the fish and grab the gills. Do not close the mouth with your hand!! In a split second he could take a finger or two! Just like the other guy said. It will happen so quick. Remeber that fish is fighting for it's life!
After you've got the gills then you can stab the head. You really have to work the knife in and be carefull. It's not going to go in like butter so be patient.

Skip

 

[jtkwest]

anyone who DOES like shooting cudas, definately needs to come visit key west. we got a alot of them! you dont even need a boat. you can go off the beach with a kayak to marker 1 ,(about a mile) and shoot 50 of them. just bring your chain mail suit. you could go back the next day to the same spot and kill 50 more. we dont even have limits on those, cause no one wants them. do the black striped ones taste better than the ,(regular florida) ones?