I had my question answered today in La Jolla

[driftwood]

Yup, it's that time of the year lots big shark fins seen sticking out of the water. I had my share of GW encounters.

If your nervous about sharks in La Jolla... stay out of the water from July thru Oct. Especially the month of Oct up north.

[taggermike]

I think we all have that same question you had. I've sure wondered. Good for you that your answer wasn't screaming, crapping, or running. Gotta figure that by the time you see the shark it has already seen/heard/smelled you. And if it was going to close the deal so to speak, you wouldn't see it coming. I've gotten drive bys from about every marine creature that lives in So Cal except a white. I look at that as a when and not in if. Thanks for sharing your "when" with us. Mike

[DESTROYER]

Man! 15 years of kayak fishing and I never saw a GW. I use to think the same thing...What would I do? Besides butterflies in my stomach I think I would just sit there.

[fisher_4_life]

Hey Mike, thanks again for the help in the surf yesterday! It was greatly appreciated after my not so graceful attempt at landing! That is pretty cool seeing that GW

[FISH11]

Hey Mike we both launched at the same time and I talked to you while we where both trolling our macs. You where heading back north and I was heading south west. I was in the white X Factor. You didn't say it then so it must have happended afterwards. I'm always looking around for that and after having caught and seen up close Makos and had a gray whale take my line and give me a ride. I think I would react like you. Another cool experience. The number of seals that were out yesterday and several where very vocal anouncing themselves constantly. I only lost 2 macs to the seals with all the bait that was out there, no wonder they often swam by without bothering my flylined mac. I was hopping for another hook up, but nothing. At least on Teusday I hooked a yellow around 3:15 fought it for about 15 minutes before loosing it when I tried to untangle my braid from my flyline rod on the end of my pole with the Iron. Another leason learned when fighting a big fish everything else is not important. I should have just cut the flylined line and let the mac swim away with the 100+ feet of braid. The number of runs it made and peeling line with drag screaming and pole absorbing the head shake where an awesome experience. When messing with the other braid at the tip of the rod it allowed the fish to head shake off the Iron. I was so hopping for more of the same. The wind made it a bit choppy in the early afternoon but it settled down some, later on. The surf was so much smaller than on Tuesday. Easy launch and landing. Thanks for sharing the experience. Mark

[buttchaser]

I seen one a few years ago, I screamed like a little gurl, then just about soiled my waders....

[fongman]

Originally Posted by FISH11

Another leason learned when fighting a big fish everything else is not important. I should have just cut the flylined line and let the mac swim away with the 100+ feet of braid.

Wouldn't reeling in your mac to avoid a tangle be a better lesson learned? To me, cutting your line could cause needless injury, and possibly kill, any number of marine mammals or birds while your happiness would only last until you finished eating your yellow.

[FISH11]

It's not possible to reel in the second line when the fish on the Iron is pulling hard and trying to head shake off the Iron. It was not like there was a hook on bait and it swallowed it. I fought it for a while unfortunately at the time I thought I had tired it some giving a little time to pull the second line from the tip guide. Yellows are very strong and when they realize they are getting reeled in they sound again and again. There wasn't a problem until the fish pulled my kayak and after some time was trying to circle around causing my kayak to go back over the slack on the other line. Usually I don't have two lines in the water but after hours of trolling and soaking the mac without any action and seeing a bait ball I thought it was worth a try with the Iron. If the reel was a motor I could have easily pushed a button to retreive the second line. Cutting the other line might not be the best option but it would be what I would do if the same thing happened again. If someone doesn't agree then, they don't have to do it.

[stevenc]

paddle about 100 yards of lj launch and meter the depth. Keep metering a few times on your way out. Its a pretty deep canyon close to shore.

[iethinker]

Two weekends ago I spotted a large black triangular dorsal fin briefly emerge from the water about 40-yards off the outer Solana kelp. It was moving south. The seal lions seemed agitated lifting their heads far out of the water looking in that direction too. I was shaking scared and paddled to center kelp and waited for a while before resuming fishing. The fin traveled only about 15-yards before sinking and disappearing.

[blitzburgh]

Cool read!

[kareem korn]

Great story.

[Dane101]

Don't kid yourselves,He was checking you out to see if you looked like a furball yum yum doughnut.Probably was lookin you over long before you saw him.

[sdmosch]

Originally Posted by Dane101

Don't kid yourselves,He was checking you out to see if you looked like a furball yum yum doughnut.Probably was lookin you over long before you saw him.

That's what I was thinking!

[philr21]

If it isn't on GoPro it didn't happen.



Pretty cool sighting although one I can do without.

[EDC]

June 8th I was about 2-300 yards west of the LJ kelp beds and saw something big fat and grey hanging out a few feet under the surface about 30 yards ahead of me. Being curious and stupid I closed the distance wondering if this could be a white shark. I kept telling myself it couldn't be, and secretly hoped it wasn't, but when I got about 5 yards away it turned a little and I realized that it was a shark. It was only 8 or 9 feet long but really fat so my only assumption is a white. As soon as I realized it actually was a shark I quickly turned back to the kelp and stayed there a while. I didn't really feel like it would attack or anything but I freaked out more than the prideful man in me would like to admit when I noticed that I was heading right for it and might end up aggravating it. I by no means am a shark expert and sure as hell don't know what an annoyed GW would do to the nearest bystander. It was just out by itself seemingly hanging out wanting to be left alone and here I come to like a pesky little brat. I think I'd rather just give them their space and hopefully they will do the same with us. But maybe I'm just a little bitch.

[driftwood]

Great white population explosion...