[Sailor612]

We went out last saturday, and for the first time EVER we saw 5 bull sharks! 3 on the first dive and 2 on the second! Kinda didn't like the idea of spearfising in 10-15ft viz <U>knowing</U> that many sharks are around!! My buddy shot a snapper and a 5-6' bull decided it was his and went straight for it right after the shot was made!!

Someone told me that the sharks are more common and aggressive during the full moon cycle...anyone know if that is true, or are the sharks just starting to come in closer? We were only about 8 miles out due to the weather, we usually run 10-13 miles, and have never seen sharks...

Any thoughts???!

 

[Brandy]

I dont know about the full moon , but sharks are on the wrecks all the time.

They just stay out of range of your sight most of the time.

 

[Clay-Doh]

Lil somethin I figured out while down there dealin with sharks Sailor.

I pretty much knew this from sahrk fishing, but it was confirmed during several dives.

When I sahrk fish, I have tried all diferent techniques, weighted bait on the bottom, suspended in the water colum, and up near the surface.

EVERY bull shark I have EVER caught has been with the bait on the bottom. Now I'm not sayin that they wont come up to snatch a bait ever.

Well, diving a few times with some pretty agressive ones, we had 2 being pushy, and one of my buddies dropped in like a rock on top of us and didnt know they were there, immediately shot a snapper and went to the bottom hovering over the snapper taking it of the spear. One of the bulls that had been circilg us came straight in at him agressively, as I kicked as hard as I could towards him, and got within about 2 feet from him (wich my buddy was only bout 2 foot of the bottom dealing with his fish) and almost got his fish and probably his arm also.

Well, superhero that I am...hee hee...I made it to him just in time also to deliver a sever jab to his head (the shark, not my buddy) with my gun, and he flipped his tail and took off the other way. I ended up having to hit them about 2 more times.

We got off the bottom up on some structure about 6 feet, and the sharks continued to circle the area, and we continued to shoot fish, but they never came up to us were we had to fend em off again. And it kinda reinforced what I learned shark fishing. Bull sharks are bottom feeders for the most part, and do not seem to feel comfortable being confrontational out of there "comfort zone". I'm not saying that they wont ever, but if you also think of all the nature programs or shark programs you have seen, the buls are almostalways pacing along the bottom, not up in the water colum.

Since bulls are what we encounter around here mostly, as soon as you shoot a fish, get up off the bottom just a lil to deal with it, pullin him in, stringin him ect. You will greatly reduce close encounters. If your standing on the bottom, or hovering above it dealing with a fish, your on there playing field, and they may try a sneaky on you, and I might not be there to risk my ife droppin in on you to fend em off!!:letsdrink:letsdrink

 

[no woryz]

Great post Clay, but I have had to fight bulls all the way back to the boat. They are hard to figure out and aggrivating as hell. They have a lateral line that no other sharks have and sense the struggling fish or even the speargun shot and react.. I have decided that I wont shoot another fish after I have seen the sharks in close.. I still have tooth marks in my speargun from earlier this year. Dont forget the Sanbar sharks, they are almost as aggressive as the bulls and there are more of them out there..As far as the moon, I am sure it has an effect, look what it does to the crazy people on land......

 

[lobsterman]

That's a nice thought but My friend and I always saw sharks on an 816 ledge out of destin and sometimes they would meet us when we entered the water stay with us the whole dive and follow us back up to the boat and they were indeed bull sharks. They were there so often we named the ledge shark ledge. My old dive buddy was gameholic on the old post. He will verify. We saw sharks so much after Hurricane Opal that my buddy got a few bang stick tips in a few different calibers.

 

[Clay-Doh]

Not being confrontational, but I did say twice in my post, about fishing and diving, that I am saying for the MOST PART that is the case, not saying not its the rule. I am sure there are plenty of cases of bulls coming up in the water column, but for every one, there is 9 cases of them staying on the bottom.

As much as I had heard spearfishers talk about seeing sharks, I had wondered why in 2 1/2 years of me freedive spearfishing I had never seen one yet, and had shot literally hundreds of fish, and would stay in the water for 6 hours at a time or so. And I would spearfish in some of the same areas I had caught sharks?

Now I know why. I usually freedove in 40 to 60 feet, and I cant freedive no where near that deep, so I rarely saw bottom any of the times I spearfished. Now in the last 1/2 year I have been certified, and only dove 32 dives, and only in the water for a half hour or so I have seen plenty a sharks?

So my point is, yes, a bull COULD AND MAY as I said before come to you at the surface, or anywhere else in the water column. But there nature, they prefer bottom, and it willLESSEN (not uraunteed to eliminate)your confrontations with them if you stay 6 feet or so off the bottom.

When I got a fish on my spear, thats were I go now.

 

[FishinFL]

If you dive within 10-12 miles of the beach, you will see more bulls...

I haven't seen many 18-25 miles out.

 

[kTkGreenGo]

only sharks i have ever seen freediving is nurse sharks.... i dunno why.