GR Tarr and Hammerhead Shark

Hey Josh, Thanks for the comment on Spearblog.
The picture above you are talking about is one of my favorites as well and was a magical day. GR Tarr and I were diving together in Florida and it was the sharkiest day we had ever experienced up until that point. On every dive we were seeing at least a dozen Bull, Dusky and Hammerhead sharks and GR is actually looking down in this picture towards the school of Bull Sharks that were below. We would have to dive down each time the other was surfacing to discourage the Bull Sharks who would follow you up from the depths each time. It was scary stuff but it taught us a lot about dealing with Sharks and remaining calm. We shot close to three dozen fish this day and lost so many to sharks it was unbelievable. I think we ended up with 9 Wahoo and almost as many Tuna with a few snappers and Reef Fish scattered in for good measure. We earned it though. The first Wahoo I shot was swimming with this group of Hammerheads that you see here. He was a few feet off the back of one of the sharks right in the middle of the school. Pretty cool sight. The Hammerheads didn’t chase him but the Bulls came up from the bottom in 200 ft of water and were chasing it all over the surface. Scary stuff.
There have been plenty of times over the years where I have seen people freak out in the water and it does nothing but excite the sharks and drive them to their worst behavior. I’ve found that if you are super chill and act like you are supposed to be there they will leave you alone as long as they don’t think they can eat you. The only two times I’ve had to pull the trigger on a shark were when we were chumming in Micronesia and a big shark came in and the guy chumming got spooked and dropped the entire fish we were berleying and the shark ate that and went nuts trying to bite us and the other time was in Louisiana at the Midnight Lump which is notorious for big aggressive sharks.
MY friend Craig had just shot a big Wahoo and we were taking pictures on the boat and when we were finished he got in the water behind the boat to wash the scales and blood off. I was just cocking my gun (while inside the boat because there are so many sharks there we always get in cocked) and caught a movement out of the corner of my eye and beside the boat going underneath to where Craig was in the back was a 14+ft Hammerhead Shark. Me and Brandon Wahlers (Who famously screamed like a 12 year old girl “Ahhhhhhhh Craig!!!!!!”) both yelled and I shot the shark in the side from the boat. The slip tip had not been put on the shaft yet and the shaft still penetrated so deep that all we could see was the back 12 inches of the spear sticking out of the near side and nothing from the other. That means the shark was upwards of 6 feet thick.
It was a monster. Those are the only two times I could say I have ever been forced to spear a shark out of total last resort. Someone was going to get bitten and hurt badly. I have had hundreds and hundreds of encounters that when I was a kid I would have considered “an attack” but now that we have spent so much time in the water we see that it is just the initial inquisitive “swim right up to you and check you out” that almost every shark regardless of size does.
They are out there looking for food and depending on where they are in the world and what they feed on they will have ideas on what it is they can eat and what it is they need to avoid. Something as big as we are usually is something they don’t want to eat but I believe they see us as a large predator as well and if we are there then there must be a food source that could sustain them as well and maybe they can take part in that same feeding if and when it happens. Unfortunately, Shark Chumming Charters and places that we spearfish often has conditioned sharks to know and understand that when they see divers and boats it means food and those sharks will not hesitate to come and take a fish right out of your hands. Those are the ones that I fear. The ones that don’t fear me.

Aaron Kirkconnell Scott and his big cousin Cameron. Same stoked smile on the first big yellowfin Tuna he has seen up close on his first bluewater trip

Yeah there were a few sharks around too....

Aaron and one of 8 Blackfin Tuna he shot in the few days we dove. He got the hand of it pretty quick and was only picking out the 25 lb'ers. Spoiled Rotten.

Aaron's first Wahoo at 50 lbs. I was on the surface beside him watching the whole thing screaming in the snorkel to swim towards them. On the drive over I had talked for 6 straight hours on how to hunt them and all the other bluewater fish, telling him things I don't even let on to my friends. He listened, and he already had a lot of raw skill and 15 years under his belt of being surrounded by the sport. He shot this first one from about 6 feet away and had his choice of the entire school. Mad skills. I'm scared he is going to be better than all of us...

Still smiling 6 months later I'm sure

Admittedly this one was a fluke. I was looking for Wahoo and a school of 10 big Yellowfins came up. I had the camera in my left hand and made the dive following them to a whopping 56 ft to take the shot. They all had long sickle fins back to their tails so I knew they were 130+lbs and was praying they were bigger. With a single Riffe 2 Atmosphere float and a 100 ft bungee I had him up within three minutes and Aaron put the second shot in him. Chad had the video camera so for fun I brought him up while he was very much alive and as he came to the surface snatched his tail out of the water. Predictably he went batshit and made a circle of whitewater about ten yards wide. His tail beat against my left bicep so fast and hard it was like getting hit with an axe. When I finally let him go my glove and my brand new dive knife got caught in the cable and I lost them both. Could have been my hand, or my leg or my neck. Just goes to show (practice what your preach) always kill your big fish before you try to get your hands on them. It happened the very next day with Lindsey grabbing a feisty one the same size and he lost all the bungee he had worked so hard to get to him and it took another 5 minutes to get the fish in.

I won't be doing that again. It didn't even make my muscles look bigger

Chad Morris with a stud Wahoo. WE never seem to have a bad trip when we go together.

Nothing better then seeing your friends happy. Chad Morris with the biggest fish of the trip and a huge smile on his face