Have you ever what was next to you while you were swiming:rolleyes:

If we worried about all the seals we swim and fish with on a daily basis we would never go to the ocean again.

I think seal attacks are probably more common than shark attacks because the unknowing will accidently provoke a beached seal by trying to pet it.

BAD MOVE.

In the ocean I promise you won't get attacked..........

Seals bite more often than sharks do...

Little protected bastards...

This post reminded me of a story.

I was in a pub in bermuda a years ago and i started talking to this old timer who was a sailor all his life. He made many trips around the world and i was talking to him about fishing from a sailboat on those long voyages. He made a statement to me that i will never forget aqnd i often think about.
he said " 80% of the sailors in the world would never sail again if they knew half of what swam under their boat"

Mr. Kav,

You aren't kidding. I spoke a few years ago to a spotter pilot for the commercial Tuna boats that fish East/SE of Nantucket. He said to me that it was easier to spot the Great whites and Makos from the air than the Tuna. That was the fastest way to zero in on the school.

His next comment was that he would NEVER, EVER swim on the East/SE side of the island EVER. The sharks offshore were THAT big.
Well, I finally got out there and it took a few trips to see some big ones. The whites were hard to get close to but we figured a few of them to be 15' with ease. LOT'S of 8-12' Makos and Blues.

Crazy.

1996 a 15-18' GW is spotted and photographed right off Sankaty Light cruising the surface. You just cannot believe HOW MANY people swim that East beach. And they are some affluent S.O.B.'s.

One of these days it is going to get ugly. I'll beach fish that stretch at night and you get spooked once in a while about wading much past you knees. :rolleyes: :(

We are lucky that seals aren't even close to being their primary dinner. If that day comes No One will be able to swim out here or on the Cape and Vineyard again. Kind of like that movie from the 70's, eh ?

Beach....how far off the beach did you see these?

If you men the one off Sankaty about a 1/4 mile !

The White, etc. while fishing offshore were 60 miles East and some on another trip down near the Canyons.

Can you tell me when the last shark attack happened off the Vineyard, or Nantucket? I do a-lot of shark & Tuna fishing and know what's out there, but I don't think we need to worry too much about swimming off the islands. The only time I wouldn't feel comfortable swimming the outer beaches is at night, you then increase the chance of sharks coming in closer.

You don't hear much about shark attacks since JAWS....most of the water related injuries are when the surf gets big and kids push the limits...

Last summer they caught a small great white in net right off Menemsha.

I was wondering if the increased seal population on Muskeget might bring in some whites. Last year I saw a dozen seals on Tuckernuck everyday and we see more and more seals cruising up and down Madaket each year.

All those shark specials are filmed near seal colonies... makes you wonder if whites will be in the area anytime soon.

Exactly,

Except for that rogue 12' White that killed some people in the 30's I haven't picked up anything else that describes any attacks. The seal populations on Nantucket, Tuckernuck and Muskeget are certainly year round and cause for some attention. The 30's attacks, which occured down the coast all the way to NJ, makes one think that it could easily happen again.

That big white seen off Sankaty was the REAL thing. No fish story. I know the captain well and he has it on video !

I think the best deterent we have is the massive amounts of fish that are available for us all to eat. I believe it keeps the sea monsters satiated but I would hate to meet one face to snout !

I spend a LOT of time IN the water as do hundreds of surfers over here and still not a nibble. I'll knock wood on that one !

I have seen Hammerheads 5 miles south on the surface and in the late 1950's the infamous Madaket Millie harpooned a 12' specimen in Hither Creek (inside Madaket harbor) that was casually cruising the surface. This topic is going to get me to check the exact date and weather that year and see if there are any similar scenarios that could happen again.

In the 1980's I was racing boats in Buzzards off Marion and saw a LARGE hammerhead. :(

We''ll be back :eek:

Okay, so I smell an opportunity here.

In addition to the surf stick I'll bring my 50 lb. class stand up gear, a coolerful of fresh chopped up bluefish, and a fighting chair bolted down to the bed of the pickup. :eek:

Beach sharkin' anyone? :laughs:

Guys,
FWIW they caught a GW in a pound net just off the beach in Montauk the week before last.

Mako,

Ya baby. How big ?

Sounds like it is time to take weewee lead and bolt a chair in my truck and start tying some HEAVY wire leader.

I think I am going to need a BIGGER truck ;)

Beach,
It was a relatively small one, I think it was estimated at 400 lbs.

Thanks,

But big enough to give someone a pretty good size slash, eh ?

Couple of years ago while we were on a charter trolling for stripers at Stellwagen when we hooked a couple of porbeagles. It was early in the day, flatass calm we seen a few dorsal fins here and there but didn't give it a second thought. There were 2 dorsal fins ahead of the boat and the capt called out to watch the rods. We had two strikes one after the other, lost 1, but we fought the other one for almost an hour. We took turns trying to reel in the wily beast, he'd run and we'd get him in closer until he had enough of us and went straight down and sat. Then the knot at the wire/ mono came undone and he was gone. Lost 2 umbrella rigs and a sh!tload of wire:smash:

Porbeagle are some knarley bastards.

Same family of sharks as Mako's and Whites

Originally posted by beachwalker

Sounds like it is time to take weewee lead and bolt a chair in my truck and start tying some HEAVY wire leader.

I think I am going to need a BIGGER truck ;)

Don't laugh, they actually do this down in the Carolinas.

:eek:

Picture looks like something outta my yearbook...

Yep, I've got a buddy who migrated to South Kakkylakky and lived on the ocean in a house with a dock. He used to chain his tuna rod to a holder on the dock and swim out (crazy mf) with a large piece of cheap meat on a very big hook, then swim back and wait. He does quite well with this technique.
Another buddy in North Kakkylakky, an immigrant from Florida, used to do the pickup fishing thing, but they'd run out the bait with a jet ski or zodiac or whatever was handy, then proceed to sit back on the beach and get pickled; they also did quite well.
Oh well,
Rick

That is SOOOOO killah !!!

Do you think those guys use those Baitrunner reels ? ;)

Hey HighTide,

AS I remember it was closer to two hours! Capt was pissed about the rigs and wire, and we were all worked up cause we lost a couple hours o' striperin'

Quote of the day:
Mate: "What do I do if we get it to the boat?"
Capt: "Tie a rope on it's tail and I'll drown the sonofabitch"
Mate and the rest of us: "ROPE??"

Big Shark though...

BN.