Proable Shark Sighting 4/9 La Jolla

[PaulMcD]

In all the WSB excitment, I forgot to mention one other thing in my report - not to alarm anybody but just so everybody has a heads up.

while paddling through the preserve in about 25' of water to the pier in the morning to make bait, what I believe was a fat gray shark - about 10' - was sighted. At first I thought it was a big dolphin on steroids, but the tail swam side to side, and did not invert or swim sideways like dolphins usually do when they're checking me out on a 'yak, surfboard or kitbeoard. For a couple of minutes afterwards I continutally scanned around for one, or a pod surfacing for air but never saw it happen.

Basically it swam on an intercept course about 6' underwater from the beach side, got under me and cruised along directly under me for 3-4 seconds before pulling ahead quickly and sounding. I could see both fins off of both sides of my 'yak as I paddled. Freaky. Short and very wide.

Keep your caught fish out of the water for the time being, and maybe your limbs. I almost jumped overboard at one point later that day to try to wash all the WBS slime and blood off of my wetsuit, but remembered what I saw so I waited until I was back at the launch site before I did that.

I don't know my sharks very well, but if I had to guess, I would say it was a Great White due to it's light gray coloration, thickness and size.

-Paul