Surf Hunters!!! Question for Ya

[mtpockets]

Hey Everyone,

I'm just wondering how many of you guys hunt the Surf Solo?

Meaning when you hit the shores and you notice that there isn't many people in the water do you still go in

or do you hang out and wait for a few people to enter before you do.. Just thinking of the Predator issue. and the ODDs

I was at the beach a few days ago and there were many people on the beach but maybe only 2 or 3 actually in the water. And the worst part was
that there were several guys surf fishing.. Which to me isn't right in the first place fishing directly where people are supposed to be swimming..

So I finally made it in the water but it took awhile to get the Discovery Channels shark attack show out of my mind. that I watched the day before.. .

 

[Gulf Hunter]

I prefer nights. No crowds, no kids, no interviews and I'm kinda a lone wolf hunter too. If Huntress or one of my mates wants to hunt with me, I'm good with it, but if not, I'm there anyway. Pay attention to your surroundings, watch for people and marine life. I'd be more concerned with a man-o-war or jellyfish, than a shark. Sometimes you just don't see them coming, before they light you up, savvy? Bring along armament, if in a rough area. I have an 11lb stainless scoop, that looks more like a midevil weapon, than a scoop, fixed blade field knife in a sheath and if the crowd is rough and rowdy, a 12GA flare gun, with extra rounds, locked and loaded. Yes, it WILL fire after being submerged.

 

[Chi Town Bruce]

n/t

 

[nugget]

Cool, I love the flare gun idea. You got more guts than me GH, I'll never go in around or after dark, or dawn. The bull sharks are a bit of a worry over here as you would be well aware.

 

[Larry (The Palm Bay Pirate)]

LOVE hunting at night! when I'm dry sanding, I carry my Glock Model 27 40 cal. In the water, I wear a sea hunter knife for both water sharks and land sharks. Besides the benefits mention by Gulf Hunter, hunting at night also will lessen your exposure to the sun and skin cancer (been there done that...Don't like it) HH

 

[Sandpiper]

If people only knew what was swimming with them. We have Bulls and big Tigers along the beach all the time. Think you have to worry more about the human sharks than the water types, where I hunt is surrounded by night clubs and can get pretty rowdy at times. I have had several occasions where the young male hormones came into play - be best to just ignore them if possibly, sometimes its not. My scoop was enough to discourage one which ran right up to me. I have now started carrying the big can of pepper spray. Yes I hunt the water at night being very careful to keep track of all my surroundings behind and out toward deeper water. But whatever you do you can become distracted of your surroundings very easy digging a target. If using a light its like a draw to people they come to it like moths to a flame, and it also blinds you in the process as seeing people approaching you. Best to use a red lens so you want become blind. Water hunting of course I use a white light in order to penetrate the water. Play it safe, stay alert at night.

 

[Gulf Hunter]

Not sure how this device will affect your signal, but check this out, all ye who are paralized by sharks in the water. www.sharkshield.com As for me, I'll continue to hunt amongst them, as I really believe they hate our signal. Sharks are scared of electricity. Your detector is an electronic device, just my 2 cents.

 

[Bobbie]

Up here in New England and in Long Island Sound we do not get much in the way of sharks close to land, but the Blue Fish are another story. When they get into a feeding frenzy and happen to be chasing a school of fish your way.......you can bet you will be chewed up and thinking piranhas attacked you. Learn the feeding times of the sea creatures and don't go in the waters when they are hungry.

 

[mtpockets]

See now I would have thought that the Sharks would be Attracted to the Electrical field of the coil.. Hmmm
I'm Not worried about the People.. Its Just being eaten Alive that makes me think differently..

I'm a Diver too But for me I guess its a little different being face to face. or at least you can monitor them..

 

[PaPa-Joe-Fla.]

I hunt solo most of the time. Day and night on most beaches in Fl. have had a few bumps in the night that get your attention. The most attacks in Fl. are on surfers around New Smyrna Beach area, then Daytona, but you are more likely to get hit by lightning in Fl. than bitten by a shark. I read a crazy fact that in 2006 more people were killed by pigs than shark attacks. Go figure. HH

 

[Lou from downunder]

I come from the cold southern state of Victoria in Australia.
I have been an avid recreational and competition spearfisherman for 37 yrs and have clocked up thousands of hours in the water.
I have speared in estuaries, rivers, bays and beyond the continental shelf sometimes swimming in thousands of feet of water. Been on live aboard charters far out into the Coral Sea and speared in Vanuatu.
Have been bitten myself and lost a friend to shark attack.
My observations are that if you are concerned about sharks; the most dangerous time, in that sharks become far more agressive, is in the last hour or so of daylight. Its also the time when we get our best fish like Dogtooth Tuna, Marlin and Sailfish, all topline predators. It seems thats when the big boys like to come out to play.
Its also the time of day that I was bitten and Sean was taken. Most of the hairy shark encounters I've experienced have been late in the day. Its just a bad time!
As for nights.... well frankly I do'nt know. Personally I have'nt done much in the way of night diving. Bit pointless from a spearing aspect if you can't see more than a few yards in a thin torch beam. However I know quite a few ex abalone poachers who worked only at night to avoid the fisheries. Modus operandi is once the ab is picked up it is shelled immediately, the meat going into the bag with the shell and guts discarded, the result being your swimming in a heavy burley with fish feeding aggresively on the ab gut all around you. They had no dramas. Maybe more good luck than good management.
Realisticaly, the chances of shark attack while MDing are so remote that its not worth worrying about.
I've never heard of it happening anywhere. You have more chance of stepping on a ray and being jabbed, { been jabbed 3 times}. Even this was only a problem for Steve Irwin.........
So, to cut a long story short..... If sharks are a worry, work during the day and be especially wary as sunset approaches.
Lou.

 

[mrowdy]

I think the odds of getting struck by lightning are greater than getting attacked by a shark. But they say the chances are better at dusk and dawn.

 

[rmptr]

Well I saw what happened to Quentin Tarantino in dusk til dawn and looks scary to me!
...on 2nd thought, it WAS Salma Hayek that bit him...
HH

 

[Parkit]

Been wondering about this one myself. I'm landlocked big-time and the only time I get to hunt a beach is when I go on a business trip. The great part of that is that I don't have to pay for these mini-vacations, the bad part is that my free time comes late in the day and at night. Hitting the dry sand or the lane doesn't bother me, people are generally just curious or lost in their own little worlds enjoying the mostly empty beach. Stepping out into the mine just isn't the same story. I haven't found a headlamp yet that helps in the surf and wonder about it attracting unwanted creatures anyway. I wear a thinsuit under my wetsuit to help some with the jellys and sea lice, and rays REALLY concern me more than sharks. It's the little bumps from unknown sources that freak me out. The result is that I usually stick to the lane (where there is one) or the pockets that I can't resist. I tell myself that I'm being a wuss, but I get over it when I realize that I'm on a paid vacation doing what I like to do, in a place that I rarely have access to, and the odds of finding something better than a couple clad dimes are higher than coin-shooting a school.

Steve