Fin Mike
New member
I am writing this post simply to chronicle some of the behaviors I observed of the sharp toothed critters that I encountered on my spearfishing trip this Saturday. I write this post with some caution and trepidation because every situation is different, and I certainly don't want someone to be careless when diving around sharks. With that being said, here goes my tale.
I entered the water spearfishing for some tasty fish when I started to descend onto a spot with about five sand tiger sharks. A little surprised, I notified my diving partner of the possible danger, and continued to look for the grouper I was after. Upon loading my gun, I was immediately met by a big 8 footer coming straight at me. It was not acting aggressively, nor was it coming in fast; just lethargically swimming towards me. To my side was a 20 lbs gray grouper who came to close for me to resist, so I pulled the trigger and popped that grouper square in the head right in front of that shark, and the shark did nothing but continue to swim by. After stringing the fish up, I reloaded the gun and swam over to my partner who was wrestling with his own grouper. Standing right next to him, I immediately took a defensive posture because here came the next big sand tiger. This one came in so close that I had to poke him with my gun, which must have done the trick because he turned tail, and took off. As the dive went on, I was able to shoot a nice hogfish and my partner took out a hog and a nice scamp; all while being circled by the sand tigers.
Now my point to this post is two fold. First is to brag about whacking a sweet grouper and a really nice Hogfish amongst many sharks.:strooper: Second, and much more importantly is to covey the fact that sharks are not the mindless killers some make them out to be.
I have dove with sharks several times before, but I have never so blatantly shot fish in front of them before. I must say I was somewhat surprised all that blood didn't provoke some outwardly aggressively behavior, but the fact is that it didn't.
As I've said before, sharks should be respected, and not feared so much that they keep people from enjoying the beautiful environment of the ocean and the thrill of diving with sharks.:thumbsup:
One more word of caution. If those sharks had not been sand tigers, I probably wouldn't have shot any fish on that dive. Sand tigers are fairly docile and seem to be more curious than anything else. I do not endorse pressing ones luck by going out and spearing fish in front of sharks. Just my final .02.
I entered the water spearfishing for some tasty fish when I started to descend onto a spot with about five sand tiger sharks. A little surprised, I notified my diving partner of the possible danger, and continued to look for the grouper I was after. Upon loading my gun, I was immediately met by a big 8 footer coming straight at me. It was not acting aggressively, nor was it coming in fast; just lethargically swimming towards me. To my side was a 20 lbs gray grouper who came to close for me to resist, so I pulled the trigger and popped that grouper square in the head right in front of that shark, and the shark did nothing but continue to swim by. After stringing the fish up, I reloaded the gun and swam over to my partner who was wrestling with his own grouper. Standing right next to him, I immediately took a defensive posture because here came the next big sand tiger. This one came in so close that I had to poke him with my gun, which must have done the trick because he turned tail, and took off. As the dive went on, I was able to shoot a nice hogfish and my partner took out a hog and a nice scamp; all while being circled by the sand tigers.
Now my point to this post is two fold. First is to brag about whacking a sweet grouper and a really nice Hogfish amongst many sharks.:strooper: Second, and much more importantly is to covey the fact that sharks are not the mindless killers some make them out to be.
I have dove with sharks several times before, but I have never so blatantly shot fish in front of them before. I must say I was somewhat surprised all that blood didn't provoke some outwardly aggressively behavior, but the fact is that it didn't.
As I've said before, sharks should be respected, and not feared so much that they keep people from enjoying the beautiful environment of the ocean and the thrill of diving with sharks.:thumbsup:
One more word of caution. If those sharks had not been sand tigers, I probably wouldn't have shot any fish on that dive. Sand tigers are fairly docile and seem to be more curious than anything else. I do not endorse pressing ones luck by going out and spearing fish in front of sharks. Just my final .02.
