RE: [Paddlewise] Shark attacks on kayakers

hi Social,

There are many sharks in the waters around southwest Florida, and rarely do
they show any interest in people, let along people in boats. We have been
PFD surfing with the tide out of passes in the mangroves and had small 3
foot sharks swimming between out legs as we walked back to the cut from just
outside. Folks who fly aircraft along the shore mention how many large
sharks can be seen from that vantage point. I guess my point is that a shark
being around doesn't mean it will be coming for you. But of course it
doesn't mean it's not either. Here's a recent tale from another member of
our paddling club. Yeah, he admits he did some dumb things, and posted it as
a lesson to share with others. Again, the point is that while it's best to
avoid interactions with wild animals for many reasons, if one does occur it
is not an automatic death sentence. Take what precautions you will, but
enjoy the paddling.

The standard cevat applies - "Your mileage may vary!"

Carey

Here's the tale...

I sat there, close to the opening, trying to decide which part of
this fairly large hidden lake to go to first. I was about 15' from
the mangroves to my left, and maybe 50' to 75' from the mangroves to
my right. At that moment, I saw a large wake coming from the
mangroves to my right, and heading straight for the bow of my kayak.
All that I had on my mind, at this point, was snook & reds. My first
thought was "Snook! BIG snook!". The wake crossed the bow, and did
a 90 degree turn to the left, no more than 2 feet from the side of my
kayak. I readied myself to cast my lure ahead of the fish, to "lead"
it, when the wake seemed to disappear.

At that moment, it all happened. The left side of my kayak lurched
underwater, and my kayak was pulled upside-down instantaneously,
before I had a chance to even realize what was going on - but I
quickly knew what it was. A shark had grabbed my stringer and pulled
me down. My spray skirt had been off, so in an instant, my kayak was
half-full of water, and I was in the water with the shark, with the
kayak drifting away from me. I took a couple of strokes & grabbed
the kayak, scrambling to pull myself up onto the hull of my upside-
down boat. I wanted to be OUT of that water, and NOW. My only
thought was, how much my kicking legs must look like fish on a
stringer.

The thing I didn't realize was, the huge splash that I made, and the
solid resistance of the weight of the kayak on the stringer of fish,
must have scared the shark off. All I knew was, it was somewhere
close by. As I climbed onto the kayak, it sank at my end, filling it
with more water, so I did the "cowboy crawl" toward the center of the
boat, to balance it, all the while, keeping my arms & legs on top as
much as possible. I reached around to the front deck, where I had
the stringer clipped, and unclipped it, throwing the clip away from
the kayak. I didn't want that shark to start pulling the kayak
around again, since I had a pretty tenuous grasp on the boat at this
point.

Now that I was in a "relatively safe" position, I had a chance to
assess my situation. I was unhurt, balancing on top of my upside-
down kayak, with my paddle, chart, and water bottle drifting slowly
away with the outgoing tide. I was in a hidden lake, where no
passing boat could ever see me. I was going to need that paddle. I
hadn't seen the shark's wake since before everything started
happening, and all was quiet, so I decided to go for it. I slipped
back into the water & swam over to the paddle, then swam back to the
kayak with it. Nothing was happening (ie - I wasn't being bitten!),
so I decided to stay in the water & swim the kayak to the mangrove
shoreline.

The mangroves were thick, with no beach area to speak of, and the
water was fairly deep right up to within about 6' or so of their
roots. There were enough roots to keep me from sinking into the
muck, so I started emptying the water from my kayak. It was then,
that I saw that the stringer was still attached to the kayak, having
gotten tangled up in the deck bungees! I pulled on the stringer, and
to my horror, I saw that the fish were still there! Shark bait!!! I
quickly stuffed them into the cockpit behind the seat, and continued
to empty the water out, as quickly as possible. You have no idea of
the relief I felt, when I was once again able to climb into that
cockpit. I finished clearing the water out with my sponge, then
paddled back out the creek, in a vain attempt to find my chart and
water bottle.

I had spare charts, a submersible GPS and VHF radio, and they were
both still functioning properly. At this point, the situation had
passed, so there was no need to call anyone, and I knew exactly where
I was, so I headed back to camp by the shortest possible route.
Somehow, I just didn't feel like fishing any more that afternoon.

After getting back to camp, I took my first good look at the fish
that were on that stringer. There was a bite mark that
measured 5 1/2" wide, cut cleanly about 1" deep on one side, with
small lacerations matching that size on the other side.
I "guesstimated" the size of the shark to be in the 5' to 6' size
range.

A few people at camp asked me if I was done with kayak fishing, or
what I would do differently. No - I am not done with kayak fishing,
but I AM done with stringers. I was aware that a shark could come
along & grab fish off of a stringer, but for some reason, I thought
that there would be more warning - like tugs on the line, that sort
of thing. That rushing wake was my only warning, and I didn't
recognize it. Anyone that kayak fishes solo, as I do, would be wise
to have securely attached to them or their kayak, a waterproof GPS
and VHF radio.

(cjp - he goes on, but that's the gist of it.)
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