A nice specimen and a scare - Kayak Fishing Adventures on Big Water’s Edge

Regor · 07-09-2011, 06:13 AM

First off is the bass. Wasn't really shooting for her, but a nice catch anyway. And, surprising what a fight she gave, even on my heavy gear. Took a full 8" live Mac.

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Second was the interesting part of the day. This day had some of the biggest and widespread porpoise feeding frenzies that I had ever seen. From south of the shores to the north, they were everywhere.

So I'm passing by an area that had just seen the activity about 20 minutes prior. The birds were dumb and fat sitting on the surface relaxing. To my right about 50 feet away was a large splash. I figured it was a leftover porpoise coming out of the water chasing bait. As I watch, I see this object underwater, coming toward my yak, and I'm thinking, odd that it doesn't take off and dive or go away. As the object is getting clearer and clearer I realize that's no porpoise, it's a good sized shark.

Using the yak as a reference, I'd put it at 10' long, and the width was as wide as my yak - 28". It was big. And the circumference was no skinny lean mammal of the ocean. The one fin was centered, and when he came to the surface and it was out of the water, it was a good two feet in height, and pure light gray.

It was now parallel to me, coming off my back-side, and about 10' off my rear. It really felt like some of the movie from Jaws. All I could think of was grab my gaff and hit the water as hard as I could, and sure enough it went around the back of me, and continued to coast near the surface and off into the distance.

At first I was thinking GW, then others thought Mako. Looking at pictures this morning it had characteristics of a Basking. So now I'm not sure what it was. Basking are filter feeders. Whatever I saw came out of the water and I'm guessing got himself a bird. Got any guesses from my description?

The only video I got was after it had come and gone .... needless to say I had other things on my mind at that moment

07-09-2011, 06:13 AM	#1
Regor Greg Join Date: May 2010 Location: Chula Vista, ca Posts: 509	A nice specimen and a scare First off is the bass. Wasn't really shooting for her, but a nice catch anyway. And, surprising what a fight she gave, even on my heavy gear. Took a full 8" live Mac. . . Second was the interesting part of the day. This day had some of the biggest and widespread porpoise feeding frenzies that I had ever seen. From south of the shores to the north, they were everywhere. So I'm passing by an area that had just seen the activity about 20 minutes prior. The birds were dumb and fat sitting on the surface relaxing. To my right about 50 feet away was a large splash. I figured it was a leftover porpoise coming out of the water chasing bait. As I watch, I see this object underwater, coming toward my yak, and I'm thinking, odd that it doesn't take off and dive or go away. As the object is getting clearer and clearer I realize that's no porpoise, it's a good sized shark. Using the yak as a reference, I'd put it at 10' long, and the width was as wide as my yak - 28". It was big. And the circumference was no skinny lean mammal of the ocean. The one fin was centered, and when he came to the surface and it was out of the water, it was a good two feet in height, and pure light gray. It was now parallel to me, coming off my back-side, and about 10' off my rear. It really felt like some of the movie from Jaws. All I could think of was grab my gaff and hit the water as hard as I could, and sure enough it went around the back of me, and continued to coast near the surface and off into the distance. At first I was thinking GW, then others thought Mako. Looking at pictures this morning it had characteristics of a Basking. So now I'm not sure what it was. Basking are filter feeders. Whatever I saw came out of the water and I'm guessing got himself a bird. Got any guesses from my description? The only video I got was after it had come and gone .... needless to say I had other things on my mind at that moment