Of late, it has become common practice to entice Bull Sharks off Palm Beach Florida to approach divers in hopes that the Cobia that swim with them come in as well.
Anyone who has dove in the SE USA has noticed the ten fold increase in Shark numbers and on most dive spots as soon as you pull the trigger, whether you hit a fish or not, there are 1-20 bull sharks rocketing straight to you for a free meal.
I have my opinion on this but want this to be an open discussion.
Cameron Kirkconnell
This is how you feel after 120 stitches
Anthony after his bite
10 Responses to “Opinion needed: Video Spearing and Bull Sharks”
Bulls and duskies gotten a lot worse here in South East Queensland over the last 2 years (more common and more aggressive).
I tend to chase, and jab sharks as soon as I can, in the attempt to make them more wary of divers, instead of getting aggressive as soon as they see one! It usually works.
I have been toying with the idea of rigging an old gun with a non-fatal shaft (either just using no flopper or a fat, blunt end) to shoot at them and give ‘em a jolt (do you reckon that’s safe, Cam?).
I don’t like to give them food, and will stop burleying when they show up.
I definitely do not want to be bitten.
Shooting cobia off or around bulls is dangerous.
Scuba diving by nature makes it even more dangerous compared to freediving
Freediving tends to involve more divers in the water for protection and pulling the cobia up from the surface means the sharks can’t come from behind
From my observations in Australia we don’t have many people shooting cobia off bull sharks. Occasionally it happens. But we do have increased shark activity in many areas with a lot of spearfishing, and yes, when you pull the trigger it has become a signal for a free feed for sharks, not just bull sharks but also Tigers and other Whalers. I don’t know if there is a lot that can be done. I was of the opinion that if you intimidate the shark and fight for your fish then you can hold your own, but when there are a lot of sharks, or an aggressive bull shark it is not always smart. However, I have never seen aggregations of bull sharks like in your clip. That is full on and no doubt just about impossible to land a fish.
This raises my level of concern and I have spent a lot of time in the water over many years. Plenty of shark encounters. Only one was concerning. In this video what catches my attention is how more than one bull appears to almost charge the camera. I would like to have a discussion of both experiences and thoughts.
I as well have noticed the sharks here off the coast of Mississippi are more aggressive and seem to be more abundant when we first started spearfishing 8 years ago. Over the last 3 years everytime we go we seem to encounter them. As your video shows 95% of the time it is the bull shark. We had one close encounter like the one on the video but it was only 3 and not 6 or 7. I hope somebody comes up with something or we may start seeing more spearfishing attacks.
Personally, Im not a fan of that technique. The reward, does not justify the risk in my opinion. If a shark comes up, thats one thing. Enticing Bulls to possibly shoot a Cobia, is another.
Not sure what type of sharks we have around our inshore Texas rigs. Yes the sound of a speargun and definitely fighting and pulling up a red snapper will bring the sharks. My experience here is if I can see the sharks I can pull up my fish….if I shoot deeper and go to the surface in murky surface water (can’t see the sharks) they will hit my fish. I don’t think these are bulls and even with 3 to 5 sharks circling they seem hesitant to attack my fish or approach me when I can see them.
So you find them? Let them get more and more confident? Let the come closer and closer? Let them get more food anxious? Carry recently killed fish with you ? And then get supeised when they show a sign of agressivness or when they test bite you? Mmmmm….. I think you are confusing courage with disrespect and neglect of animal dynamics. I agree with spearfishing sith sharks around, but the way to do it interfers with the tanks for some odd reason
A few thoughts…. What is shown in the video is not standard practice. Most of the guys I know would not even think of attempting that little circus. My opinion is that it was probably done more for the video and the ensuing publicity than anything else. I hope that it has struck a chord with them and they will not try it again.
As for the practice of intimidating a shark… it works 99/100. Just as it would with any other wild creature… its the nature of things; however I have personally witnessed bulls attack without blood in the water… bulls turn and charge after being powerheaded… bulls whip around on someone that poked them… etc… and it will only get worse as the mating season goes on.
(better to be smarter about your surroundings and execute more caution than have to fight for your fish)
Lastly… I can tell you first hand that no matter what you do… how safe you think your technique or plan is… if one wants to take a taste… there is nothing that you can do. They are too fast… to strong… to stealthy. Anyone spearing near sharks takes the chance (you can lessen it… but its always there)
Also Cam… it was 187 stitches, 68 staples, a skin graft, 5 surgeries, complete loss of movement from knee down for 1.5yrs, and some miracles along the way.
Good to know and glad you have a good view of the world just sucks you had to go through that. Thanks for the insight.