[Long Beach Bob]

On Sunday, a young free diver had his first great white encounter while spearfishing just south of Avalon. He saw what he thought was a giant white sea bass thirty feet down and dove on it. It was a great white (fortunately, a 10' "baby"). It circled him several times then came straight toward him. Not knowing what to do, he fired what he described as, "a warning shot by the sharks nose". It had absolutely no effect on the shark which passed by him about ten feet away and swam off into the depths. The diver retreated up into shallow water where he continued to dive...Ahh, the luck of the young!!

 

[SCUBAPRO5]

So did he spear the shark in the nose?

Dive Deep and Fish Hard!

Roger
[email protected]

http://momentoffame.com

 

[blackfish]

What date did this occur...any more details or a link?

A warning shot with a spear gun... LMAO. I would have put that spear in it's head if came swimming at me after it had already circled me a few times.....second guessing and you could end up being shark bait.

What was he thinking.....did he feel he would have time to reload if the shark decided to have a taste of his rear. I have never seen a "Six Shooter" spear gun, let alone a double shot.

 

[noworries]

And if he hit the shark in the head the story would have went "The shark charged me so I killed it with my speargun by shooting it in the head."

 

[Fair Warning]

I hear you poke em in the eyes, than you punch em....

 

[Raz-N-Kane27]

>On Sunday, a young free diver had his first great white
>encounter while spearfishing just south of Avalon. He saw what
>he thought was a giant white sea bass thirty feet down and
>dove on it. It was a great white (fortunately, a 10' "baby").
>It circled him several times then came straight toward him.
>Not knowing what to do, he fired what he described as, "a
>warning shot by the sharks nose". It had absolutely no effect
>on the shark which passed by him about ten feet away and swam
>off into the depths. The diver retreated up into shallow water
>where he continued to dive...Ahh, the luck of the young!!

Naw--- the Shark swam away because He (the shark) Could not stand the smell of Human Sh*^ in the water!!!!RLMAO

Raz-N-Kane
SeaRay 27
Channel 69& Scan

 

[GettinUglysSon]

>It had absolutely no effect on the shark which passed by him about >ten feet away and swam off into the depths. The diver retreated up >into shallow water where he continued to dive.

he continued to dive? good lord i'd be out of the water so fast after that.


Gettin' Ugly
Glendon

 

[Ripnsumlip]

RE: Free Diver fires "warning shot " by Great White

I completely agree with you Glendon.... My Italian arse would be out of that water so fast......... LMAO....

 

[Long Beach Bob]

The fine fish was not injured. He didn't know quite what to do (protected species vs. protected ass) so he fired a "warning shot" across it's bow (must have seen "Master and Commander" too many times). He was probably too scared to stick such a big eating machine. He fared better than I did some years back when a 15 1/2 footer chased me into the kelp, breaking the surface as it eyeballed me from 8' away at Chruch Rock...I can personally testify that when you are face to face with a big one, the last thing you want to do is to piss him off... There is a white around Salta Verde with a spear hanging out of its mouth. A fellow diver fired a round down it's throat when it came up at him last year. One of the commercial divers said he saw a white swimming along with a spear dangling down from its mouth, so the fish appears to be in good health despite the "over agressive" diver...

 

[Long Beach Bob]

The incident occured Sunday, February 26th down toward the east end stone quarry below Avalon. The info was posted on www.spearboard.com below the Riffe logo..The commercial diver said that he has seen 3 separate (different) white sharks while diving the backside, so you boys be careful. I lost my diving partner to a white some years back. There appears to be a resident population occuring at Catalina, as more frequent sightings are taking place...

 

[Long Beach Bob]

RE: Free Diver fires "warning shot " by Great White

Us free divers are a different breed...we had to demote one of our peers to "junior frogman" status a few years back when he speared an attacking white in the head at Guadalupe Island. The spearing part was ok but he let the shark take his speargun and swim off with it...

 

[GettinUglysSon]

>There appears to be a resident population occuring at Catalina, as >more frequent sightings are taking place...

good news/bad news. less sealions because of this probably, but more dangerous for divers.


Gettin' Ugly
Glendon

 

[blackfish]

CRAP....just when i was finally shaking that "Jaws" fear.

what I call "Bat Buoyancy"

Although i am very comfortable diving, I always had that fear set way back in my mind...this last dive I don't think it ever entered my thoughts.......so much for that

 

[Afishinado]

>There appears to be
>a resident population occuring at Catalina, as more frequent
>sightings are taking place...

Undoubtedly the by-product of the marine mammal protection act and the resultant over-population of all that bait(seals). This brings the apex predator in to straighten out our conservationist mistakes. Nature has its own rules.

 

[blackfish]

RE: SealSHi off Freddies Beach

SEALSHI

 

[getsome]

>I hear you poke em in the eyes, than you punch em....

No, you punch them first. Then,if that doesn't work, you poke them in the eye with your stump...

 

[Fishrich]

>>>Undoubtedly the by-product of the marine mammal protection act and the resultant over-population of all that bait(seals). This brings the apex predator in to straighten out our conservationist mistakes. Nature has its own rules.

 

[aloharob]

As long as I don't become part of the food chain while nature fixes the mistake .

I'm with Blackfish on this...ignorance is bliss. We went through a thread on AC on the resident GWS at Cat a couple of years ago...we all agreed that there were certain spots (like off of Long Point) where there have been consistent sightings. And this knowledge makes my very frequent snorkel ventures at Cat a bit stressful (not being of the hardy stock required to free dive). If LB Bob's buddy was demoted to junior frogman status then I would definitely be in the tadpole category...since I would have been out of the water like a freakin' gunshot.

 

[Wideopen]

Rob, That reminds me of a time we were on a Hamilton Can, and I went snorkling, and a blue came up right to my mask, turned and kicked away....freaked me out, as I know how stupid they are! I quickly swam to the rocks and hailed my wife to bring the dink to get me! This was about 10 years ago, however....you don't know how you would react until it happens to you!