Beaufort inlet

At dawn it was like glass until about noon when it turned to slop with 4 foot quartering seas at a solid 20 knots. I Hit a small pod of bonito ( birds gave them away) and picked up 4 on a Kastmaster that ran around 3 lbs or so but nothing trolling except a couple of large albies. Ran over to the newport haystacks and caught 7 puppy drum including a 25 incher. I talked to one of the area guides who says he caught a huge hammerhead at AR 315 on a live eel earlier in the day that was probably 7 feel or so and it broke off next to the boat. I think about these things when I see kids waist deep wade the shorlines at night gigging flounder in the summertime dragging a bloody stringer of fish hooked to their belts...Frank

[Blue_Runner]

Nice little puppy drum hole you have there ;)

[willy]

I think about it too here in Jersey, we have a quiet sport fishery here that does not get alot of publicity for obvious reasons but all thru Barnegat Bay and several other coastal and bay areas have guides taking guys out for shark. :o Good size shark, and they are not even leaving the back bays for them. Shallow water at times two feet deep at MLW and they are catching them all summer and having a blast. Millions of people on those beaches all summer. Last year had a small great white chomp a young girls leg in three feet of water in the surf. Shark biologist set out a long line in Raritan Bay where I fish and caught 60 young great whites (under 7 FT ) in one night there. I think I will be staying in my boat.

[reelapeelin]

Go into saltwater and you just went onto their dinnerplate...up to them whether they eat you or not...surprising it doesn't happen more often...it's real difficult to sit on the beach and watch my kids play in the surf knowing what's out there :-/ ...Cherry Grove, SC had world record Tiger Shark at over 1700 lbs for long time...initially hooked from the pier and landed on the beach....

[Blue_Runner]

RAP, that record still stands and the guy actually hooked and fought one that was 1/3 bigger the day before, but lost it due to he and partner gaffing it while it was "green" after a relatively short fight. I think it was like an hour and a half or something. The fish sounded when he gaffec it and took the gaff with him.

They took their time on the 1700 lber. Taking more than 4 or 5 hours to land it.

They say that the BIG variety of tigers visit that area every single year. We're talkin a full ton of powerful, flesh eating power!

I'm glad its not just me that feels this way because there are tons of do gooders and bunny huggers who will tell you that they are misunderstood docile creatures that just want to be left alone etc etc etc and you chances of being bitten by one (if you live in kansas) are less than being hit by a freight train etc etc. I'm no expert but they are top of the line predators and are VERY unpredictable. Last week I was helping a couple of diver types get back on the dive boat and after the second guy got in a huge sand tiger popped up right at the swim ladder and looked at me with those lovely black eyes like I owed him money and he did not want to leave. In late august of last year I was night fishing for trout at the newport haystacks in about 5 feet of water when a 2 huge sand tigers(I think) swam right by skiff very slowly . I have a lot of respect for them but they are more dangerous that people think they are so I always have my trusty shark dart just in case. Frank

[Stinky_Hooker]

Man, yall got G Whites up there!! That rocks!!!


IMO- I am not of the bunny hugging variety (unless him beng in a crockpot huggin on some potatoes and carrots counts), but I have alot of respect for sharks. I love them to be honest. I have dove wth big sharks before and its awesome!! I have also fished for them quite a bit around here.

No I am not going to jump right in with and of the "maneaters" (GW, Hammerhead, Tiger, Bull, etc....) but MOST shark attacks happen in murky water where sharks assume you are food or prey. They cant see well anyways and this only adds to the problem. Rarely does an attack occur where its clear and they KNOW what you are. ;)

[Blue_Runner]

Labor day weekend about 5 years ago on the outer banks of NC the water was crystal clear. I fished the pier that day and saw a huge baracuda just hanging out under the pier. You could SEE flounder on the bottom and site cast for them in like 10ft of water. Very incredible.

The wife and I were about to head for home and were eating lunch at a little mom and pops burger joint right across from the Lighthouse View motel. All of a sudden here come cops and sirens rescue vehicles and one rescue vehicle pulling a boat. The lady that works in the restaurant said, oh it must be a shark attack. A few miles up the road a girl was wading back in from a sand bar when the shark tore into her. Her boyfriend ran in to save her. He got chewed up real good and died on the beach. The girl made it but I think lost a foot. That shark wasn't going to take no for an answer.

I agree with you on the murky water to some degree Stink, but here's my theory:

Sharks can't see worth a crap. Murky water they can see less. Clear water, they see further and are more likely IMHO to see a flash from your bling or foot or whatever from even greater distances and mistake you for bait.

Here's the long story from that attack. I haven't swam since!:

Labor Day shark attack survivor hanging on
September 5, 2001 Posted: 1:31 AM EDT (0531 GMT)

Shark victim arrives in Virginia from the Outer Banks.

AVON, North Carolina (CNN) -- Investigators were still trying to determine Tuesday what kind of shark killed a man and critically injured his girlfriend in the waters near Cape Hatteras on North Carolina's Outer Banks the night before.

Monday evening's incident was the second deadly shark attack over the Labor Day weekend and came about 100 miles from the earlier incident.

Authorities are not sure whether more than one shark was involved in Monday's attack.

"That calls for a lot of speculation," said David Griffin, director of the North Carolina Aquarium on Roanoke Island. "We're not even sure what species the shark was."

An autopsy Tuesday showed Sergei Zaloukaev, 27, was bitten at least three times, injuries so severe that he died from massive blood loss soon after he and his girlfriend were attacked.

The autopsy was inconclusive on whether he was bitten by one shark or more. One bite stretched 10.5 inches on the back of his right thigh from just below his knee to his buttock, according to medical examiner Paul Spence, and his right foot was completely severed.

Natalia Slobodskaya, 23, who lost her left foot and parts of her left buttock and thigh in the attack, was in stable but critical condition Tuesday in a Norfolk, Virginia, hospital. She is a Russian national living in northern Virginia, as was Zaloukaev.

Two days earlier, 10-year-old David Peltier was attacked in shallow water off Virginia Beach, Virginia, about 100 miles to the north.

His father beat the shark off the boy, but the youngster bled to death after the shark severed his femoral artery in his left leg.

The back-to-back attacks and their ferocity stunned authorities, who stressed that shark attacks are rare.

"This is a serious occurrence. I'm not trying to down play that, but we're also trying to give you a perspective on the frequency of these activities," Griffin said. "Sharks do frequent those areas."

Mary Doll of the National Park Service said the medical examiner had not found any teeth in the injuries, "which will make the identification a little more difficult."

Bull sharks, hammerheads, tiger sharks, reef sharks and blue sharks frequent the area "looking for food," Griffin said.

Griffin said that movement -- including waves crashing, swimming, jumping and thrashing about in the water -- stimulates the "feeding response" in sharks

To date, there have been 52 shark attacks worldwide -- including the three over the weekend -- reported to the International Shark Attack File, based at the University of Florida in Gainesville. Of those, 41 have been in the United States, including 29 in Florida.


There were 79 such incidents last year, according to the center's Web site, and the annual average during the 1990s was 54.

Doctors at Sentara Norfolk General Hospital in Virginia said Slobonskaya was "not completely conscious" after being heavily sedated to alleviate the pain from her injuries.

"She just has a large dished-out area on her hip and buttocks that is about 12 inches in diameter," said Dr. Jeffrey Riblet, a trauma surgeon at the hospital.

He said the bites on her left side had gone "to the bone" and could affect her sciatic nerve, which controls motion in the leg.

Riblet said she was placed on a ventilator because of the heavy sedation and he expects her to be in the hospital for "weeks to a month range."

The couple was with five friends from the Washington area on holiday in the Outer Banks. The two were swimming together near a sandbar about 20 feet from shore when they were attacked around 6 p.m., authorities said.

National Park Service pilots spotted several sharks Tuesday just south of the area where the attack took place.

Doll said park officials would confer with state and federal biologists to determine whether it was necessary to close the beaches, which have remained open since Monday's attack.

The two deaths were the only ones caused by shark bites reported in the United States so far this year and the second and third worldwide. The other was in Brazil.


Teammates of David Peltier hold their helmets up during a candlelight memorial on Tuesday.
Ten deadly shark attacks were reported worldwide in 2000.

Media attention on shark attacks this summer began July 6 when an 8-year-old Mississippi boy was attacked at a beach on the Gulf of Mexico near Pensacola, Florida.

Jessie Arbogast, whose right arm had to be reattached after the attack, is still recovering and remains in a light coma.

Last month, a New York man vacationing in the Bahamas lost part of his left leg after a shark attack.

There were several less serious shark attacks on surfers on the Florida east coast in August.

me and a buddy were fishin the yankee (about 18-20 miles out) last summer and havin a ball with 100 pound blues and small makos... all of a sudden the action just stops. bout 20 minutes later we got a big (BIG) white in the slick. we were in his 21 robalo and this thing looked to be about 16-18 in my best estimation. hung out with us for about a half hour and wouldnt take a thing. just kept on bumpin the chumbucket (not you chumbucket) and pushin the baloons around. you never saw a more beautiful creature in your life. WHAT A FISH!!!

[Blue_Runner]

Wouldn't take a thing? You mean you tried to catch it :o