Great White in LJ
 

Hey boys... This is my 8th year LJ kayak fishing and today was a first. Took a good friend of mine out, his second or third kayak fishing trip - and my first Sunday trip in a little while. Around 9am this morning we were in 95 ft off La Valencia and another yaker (about 70 yards away) in a brown hobie started screaming, and LOUD. He freaked out, yelling shark. When we looked over he was hauling ass for us, still freaking out. When he gets to us he is white faced, out of breath and still freaking out. After a few minutes he tells us how a GW followed his bait to his yak then turns bumping the front of his yak. As HE describes it, the shark dwarfed his yak and as mentioned surfaced to check him out. To be honest, I was pretty skeptical blowing it off as perhaps a large Mako or Thresher working the area - we all know how big they look by our Kayak... Anyhow, when we landed a few hours later I told the lifeguards about the ordeal as an FYI - still skeptical:cool:. Watching the news tonight ( http://www.fox5sandiego.com/news/ksw...,4728057.story) and they aired they film some guy took of a shark near SO and also talked about a FEW sightings of GW in La Jolla and Scripps Pier. FYI guys, I was there and I am having a hard time not believing this guy - what he described to us (size, attitude, agression etc) if accurate, was a GW. Be careful -
RD

Its no wonder I haven't had a mac stolen by a dog in awhile. :you_rock:

As long as they don't like eating chubby half-asians......they can stay as long as they want. :sifone:

I have no doubt the guy had a GW encounter.

Prepare yourself just incase that apex predator pays you a visit.
Try not to panic - stay as calm as you can - so as Not to draw a strike.

They don't want to eat you - they want the seals or your large fish.
---------------------------------------
I'm heading out Wednesday.

I thought I read it here... but if you see the shark, good chances your not lunch. GWS are ambushers. Most of the time their pray doesn't see them until its too late. Its the ones you don't see you need to worry about.

lol!

There are GWS in the Pacific and so this is definitely believable:) Had a huge one last summer about 20 yards away near the condo while dangling some fish on a game clip.......no love tap to the kayak......maybe it spotted my hair and the potential for a hairball

GWS
 

That is great news, we all want less seals right ? they will leave when we run out of dogs.

I'll be the first to admit all this GWS talk is spooking me abit. I always knew they were there but I don't like hearing about one bumping my yak.....:leaving: I'll be out next weekend.......

:D

I too met the white faced shark whisperer yesterday...kinda felt bad for the guy cause he looked like he was gonna have a heart attack as he was peddling full speed to the canyon edge, top water lure style....at least the green water and giant schools of GWS's havn't affected the fishing.

Wasn't the first reported great white attack in america in La Jolla Cove?I think the tax man has showed up to support us on getting rid of the seals.The seals have the super seal enviro's on their side,I think the tax man has come to see what all the commotion is about.There's gonna be a new attraction around La Jolla."Hey do you want to go down to La Jolla to watch the great whites?"or"to watch the GW's make a bloody mess out of some seals?"Then the enviros can start protecting the white sharks that won't leave La Jolla that will start to kill all the seals.Would'nt that be ironic:doh:

I have often wondered why it has taken so long for Mr White to show up and feed on some fur bags. I dont see to many seals basking right now - I can only hope a few knot-heads have gone down...

the dogs are just feeding at night on the fine local cuisine....saw hundreds of'um this weekend......they are so fat by grey light they won't even try for your fish ;).

I hooked a thresher, then a bat ray, then something extremely strong and violent that broke the leader, then this shark this morning. There be monsters down there...

http://www.bigwatersedge.com/bwegall...00/shark_1.JPG

Stand by for one of the distance swimmers to become victim.

Fished Friday down south at the TJ flats. Metered 58 degree water and some spots of 57 coming back to the Whistler. No wonder the GW's are here, its Winter in August

:)

Who's not going to "Panic" with a 10ft GW next to your kayak; I don't think so Billy.:leaving:

On the way back in Andy there were 2 swimmers at the yellow reserve buoy. I felt it to be the neighborly thing to do was warn him and offer him a ride on the back of the yak. He graciously declined the offer. I don't want to be swimming around in a seal outfit about now - no thanks.:eek:

They've been there for some time
 

Last GWS attack in San Diego was a rental kayak 20 some years ago by Scripps Pier. (not an ocean swimmer). Scripps used to chum for sharks to come in to study before that one occurred.

And, Tom Booth and I saw one in late Jan 2004 north of the pier in 60 feet of water just south of Torry Pines Reef one. A lobster boat had one go under his boat earlier in the week tht he estimated at 20+ ft.

All we saw was the tell-tale dorsal. Based on the 1ft plus that stuck out of the water with no other visible parts (back, etc.), would guess that shark was 18' plus. It sank out as it swam toward us.

Fun times, good memories.

Lol, Wonder if he was trying the old dump and run that you use for seals that keep stealing your bait/catch.

KirkG.

Donigan,
Was that you with your buddy in the blue outback, if so, did he roll before or after that??? If after, he must have jumped out of the water back in his yak!!!! Lol!!

Leo, that's the pic of your 1st WSB you were talking about, maybe that's what they saw....haha:biggrinjester:

Mako, maybe?

looks like a soupfin to me

soupfin, no lobe on the mako tail, cresent shaped.

looks like i wont be using the inflatable boat for a while. wouldnt want to be in that thing and have a gws take a nip out of it.

Kind of an interesting follow up on this whole situation. My neighbor a few doors down is a lifeguard Sargent and told me that after I told the LJ lifeguards they got out the huge Bino's and boats looking around. They DID find a GW swimming over the Canyon (5pm ish) hence the swim advisory they put out today. They have to if they confirm a GW sighting for liability reasons. With that said they pay more attention to GW behavior rather then just a plan old sighting. Bumping into a kayak (which is what the yaker told me) is above normal for aggressive behavior. He told me (the lifeguard neighbor) of several GW signs and sightings this past year in the LJ area. One that I get a kick out of is 3 seals (on different days) off of Casa wash up with bite marks that are obviously from a big shark and bleed to death on a rock cropping. I am convinced at this point that the GW boys are getting the job done in LJ - aka huntin with and around us. Once again, we were in full view of childrens pool and the 2nd confirmed lifeguard sighting was over the canyon. It all seems to tie together:evil:....

I have to admit - I'd love to hook one for a photo op.
-From a boat of course.

I wonder if it will take a Mint Green 7X :)

Soup!

http://i216.photobucket.com/albums/c...t2010004-1.jpg


Been there more then once..

someone should flyline benninghoven.

The Taxman commith...........

The tax man came...

http://www.norcalkayakanglers.com/in...c,25902.0.html

You may need an account. Pucker factor for sure...

Doesn't surprise me. Bean hollow is just a few miles north of Ano Nuevo, which has one of the sickest right-hand breaks in NorCal. Oddly enough, there is never anyone out in the lineup and for good reason. Elephant seal breeding ground = many GWS. While growing up there, I surfed many sketchy spots in the area but never that one.

Here's the link to the newspaper story: http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/nat...ng/ci_15796029

Here's the recount from the yaker.

"thanks for the love fellas,,,,,you know if it were not for NCKA and the botherhood& love we have(i'd still be waiting for Trout to find my powerbait)

I told the kids,"their ambilical cords were getting severed today" and you're gonna have to find your own structure. I'm headed south, we pounded this whole area fro the last two days". Off I went, paddling hard and steady out to 60fow, zig-zaging, looking for virgin mounds to pound. I was determined to find me a big fish first. I did not find any mounds beyond the 60 depth, so when I hit that rocky cluster area that seperates the little beaches, I turned and paddled straight towards the beach. I know that area, planing to stop when I came to the shelf of stucture that raises fast from 60feet deep to 40ft. real quickly. As soon as I saw what I desired, I put it in reverse and stopped. I radioed my location and was gonna drift back north towards the crew. It was glassy w/over 15feet of visability, dropped pins could be heard from miles away.
~close your eyes and breath now~
A hard thump, followed by what sounded & felt like my kayak was getting dragged over boulders. It came from the depths. hard and as soon as it touched, my yak was suddenly tilting sideways and being pushed hard. As i'm sliding out of it sideways, my body&legs were getting pulled underneath. i'm holding onto my seat straps or the handles as I knew what was happening to me then, I was about to be eaten.I remember a quick calm like feeling, like a thought of, "oh well, a shark is attacking me and this is the end" but my grip was solid and I had a whole day of fishing ahead. picture my kayak on its side spinning and me plastered chest to seat with legs being pulled under.The beast would not stop attacking and every forward thrush drove me deeper into the water until I finally ended up underneath and still holding on. This went on for what felt like a long time. I was completely underwater and losing grip, but somehow held on to the handle that was on the safe side. I remember kicking and grasping for whatever i could find with my lose hand. I pulled myself up on the one handle, cuz there must have been enough counter balance to keep it from getting sideways i guess. It countinued to hit&chew. My head above water now and stil getting pulled under, I feel for the scupper holes below my seat and like a rockclimber I stick a finger in and start pulling and kicking, now having both fingers in both holes, I pull myself chin-up style up & onto the bottom of my yak, he is still driving me in circles, knowing there is LIVE prey somewhere in here.Its head&gills were completely out of the water, locked onto my lifeline. I looked into the Real_Hunters eye which is now only a shimmy down the hull and think "well this pattern didn't work at all na d if you dont stop soon, i'm gonna have to crawl up there and punch you in your face= choose wisely!
It chose to let go of my kayak at that point, turn around/do a u-turn, raising higher out of the water with fully opened mouth and nail the flickering blade of the paddle that was still leashed and following right behind it. I remember it's mouth closing and them feeling the pop of the leash. It was my chance to slide back into the water and upright my yak. My survival mode must have been fully engaged, because i dont remember thinking"ok, now is the time i need to go back into the water and flip this thing", it just happened and i was able to jump right back in without a hitch. I grabbed my handles, lowered my center of gravity and braced for round two. Maybe a few seconds passed by,thenI remembered my waterproof WestMarine VHF radio and relaxed knowing the crew heard my request for assistance. I sat there looking at the circle of my stuff around me and one of the articles were my much needed paddle. I did a couple of hand strokes, but quickly returned them to the handles and back into the fetal position. My knife sheath must have broke somehow, but guess where i found it, sitting in the footwells, just laying there, so in my mouth it http://www.norcalkayakanglers.com/Sm...mileys/003.gif as i see my rescue party on the horizan. "


Sketch

I saw about a 10' whitey swim under my kayak while I was making bait under the pier before dawn one time. Scary, but fascinating. Scared all the bait away.
Got some big ones up here in the PacNW.

Its a matter of time before they learn to tip yaks over for the snacks inside.

Pushing the noses of yaks out of the water is getting freaky.

I just hope yellow is not their favorite color.

Who wants to go spearfishing with me this Saturday? :p:stupid::p
Actually, it's a bluewater meet going on, so there might be a couple more of us out there than usual.

From the NorCal -
"Dan had a 16 foot red hobie adventure and Adam was on a yellow 13-foot Ocean Kayak Prowler.

Dan was hit on July 21, 2007 and Adam on Aug 14, 2010."

Red... Yellow... I am glad mine is white. I've only heard of them hitting red and yellow yaks from all I've read so far. I wonder how many people will be changing yak colors ; )

There not going to tip people over and eat the snacks inside. come on...

The reason we know about shark attacks is that fact we find whats left of the person after the fact. Sharks dont like the taste of people, Our blood content doesnt have enough fat in it. Well thats for most folks on this forum... unfortunately If the Taxman takes a bite out of me he might not leave me alone! But Im prepared for that situation. which will likely never happen.

Those Norcal guys see bigger Great Whites and are subject to more attacks becuase of the food there. Those Elephant Seals and stuff are big. So if the sharks cant get ahold of a baby, they will get over ambitious. Thus many of the Great whites will be larger. big fish, big food!
But thats not likely a problem down here.
Most of the whites seen out here are juveniles, or young adults. under 18 feet. Most of the sitings of people claiming they are 25 feet long is just a fast haeartbeats stretch of the truth. besides an X-factor is 14 feet long.... and most of the kayaks out there are longer. IF you get hit by a shark youll most likely never see it comming and you almsot surely will get thrown out of the kayak.

You think the sharks swim nonchalantly around the seals before they decide to eat one? no, seals arent stupid. If you see a great white he already has seen you. and if he stays around. hes just curious. Theyd put there hands out and touch you if they could... bumping the kayaks and touching it with there nose witch is the most sensitive part of there body. Thats how they figure things out.

Red and yellow and bright colors are what may get them initially curious. active paddling will make them curious as well im sure. But truthfully inside your kayak, your much larger to them than you think. And you really have little to fear. Thats why we have "close calls" :rolleyes: shark reports... IF the shark wanted to eat you. he would have.

Its rolling the dice just like anything youd do. Lightnin'! will hit ya more likely than a GW will. The media makes a bigger deal of it than it is.

These great white threads are cute. I like them almost as much as red tide threads...