My avatar is a 381 lb. Bull Shark caught off a pier. I once caught a 528 lb. Bull off of a pier. Bull and Tiger sharks are very dangerous because they will come into the surf. The world record Tiger was caught off a pier at Cherry Grove SC. Larry
This is why I only swim in pools...
- Thread starter portejw
- Start date
tlay
US Veteran
I used to do a lot of diving near Ft. Lauderdale. We would go spear fishing there. Sometimes we could see the Baracuda swimming near us. Some of these were up to 5 ft. in length. You could see them eyeballing you and the next second they would be gone. Scary!!
Back in the late '90s a friend and I were diving off the southwest shore of Grand Cayman and we were "followed" by a 13-ft barracuda! 
(Well, maybe it was more like 5-ft or so. 
)
We were doing macro photography and didn't stop our dive because of him, though I will admit we did keep an eye on him. He stayed with us for maybe 15-20 minutes. We thought it a little ominous but the divemaster laughed at us. I guess there was a restaurant that fed them left-overs to entertain the guests and the local cudas were more like hound dogs following you around looking for grub than predators about to attack you.
I didn't know whether to buy that story or not. And it doesn't account for a visitor coming by that may not be up on local customs! But it was fun to see one fairly close and be able to get a good look at him. They certainly are an imposing-looking fish.
(Well, maybe it was more like 5-ft or so. )We were doing macro photography and didn't stop our dive because of him, though I will admit we did keep an eye on him. He stayed with us for maybe 15-20 minutes. We thought it a little ominous but the divemaster laughed at us. I guess there was a restaurant that fed them left-overs to entertain the guests and the local cudas were more like hound dogs following you around looking for grub than predators about to attack you.
I didn't know whether to buy that story or not. And it doesn't account for a visitor coming by that may not be up on local customs! But it was fun to see one fairly close and be able to get a good look at him. They certainly are an imposing-looking fish.
Jst1mr
Member
Anyhoo, it's still funny to hear folks talking about being "bait" or "topwater lures" when they swim in the ocean...
USS Indianapolis.....
"...lifeless eyes, black eyes, like a doll's eye..."
shouldazagged
Absent Comrade
Grim, but apropos.
"Objects in the mirror are closer than they appear"
vigil617
US Veteran
<shiver> just had a bad flashback of my ex
YogiBear
Absent Comrade
Aloha,
A bull shark was found in the Mississippi River as far north as Minnesota.
I have been unkowningly body boarding over sharks several times that I know of (I was told later by friends who saw the sharks)
Met only one aggressive shark that bothered the wrong scuba diver(my friend). That shark met with the wrong end of a NcNair bangstick.
Here is a video of Kimi Werner, world champion skin diver with a great white.
Kimi Werner, Hawaiian Freediver And Spearfisher, Swims With Great White Shark In 'Variables' (VIDEO)
A bull shark was found in the Mississippi River as far north as Minnesota.
I have been unkowningly body boarding over sharks several times that I know of (I was told later by friends who saw the sharks)
Met only one aggressive shark that bothered the wrong scuba diver(my friend). That shark met with the wrong end of a NcNair bangstick.
Here is a video of Kimi Werner, world champion skin diver with a great white.
Kimi Werner, Hawaiian Freediver And Spearfisher, Swims With Great White Shark In 'Variables' (VIDEO)
Silver Dollar
US Veteran
Those things not dangerous?? Bullshark!! I've always wanted to say that.
Fishinfool
Member
I'll never forget when I was a kid, myself, my father, and my uncle were fishing in his boat at night for Blues, right off Penfield Reef in Long Island Sound. There were about a dozen surf casters wading, fishing the same area. Nice bright full moon.
Suddenly my father hooked into a big one, and it took a while to get it in. Everyone was watching, and assumed it was a big striper. When my uncle gaffed it, and lifted it out of the water, he yelled "shark". It was a four foot sand shark.
All the guys wading stopped cheering, and it was funny to watch them all running in slow motion, trying to get out of the water...
Larry
Suddenly my father hooked into a big one, and it took a while to get it in. Everyone was watching, and assumed it was a big striper. When my uncle gaffed it, and lifted it out of the water, he yelled "shark". It was a four foot sand shark.
All the guys wading stopped cheering, and it was funny to watch them all running in slow motion, trying to get out of the water...
Larry
SO SO True!!
Steve O
Member
I am much more comfortable diving with sharks than being with some people in this world.
This.....
Bull Sharks are responsible for more attacks on humans
than any other species every year. I am like Charlie and
would confine my swimming to pools and farm ponds/lakes
from now on.
Chuck
Texas Star
US Veteran
I was going to post about bull sharks (C. leucas) having more testosterone than any other known living animal, but someone beat me to it.
I laughed out loud when a, "Baywatch" episode said that tiger sharks are harmless.
I have about 7-8 books on sharks and all say that the tiger is among the most dangerous. So do the separate books on dangerous animals in general.
I think Jeremy Wade was about 200 miles up that South African river when he caught the world record bull shark, a female. People were actually swimming in that river. They weren't very happy when scientists monitoring him insisted that it be released. Of course, many other bull sharks are also there. Some follow boats and steal fish off of anglers' lines.
The bull shark is the species found in Lake Nicraragua. It appears that some are a permanent population in the lake and others swim up a river into the lake and return to the ocean. Local residents (the human ones) say that the color of the migrant sharks differs from the others. All are considered to be very dangerous to people.
My son had to spear an aggressive grey reef shark off of Guam. He finished it off with a knife and local friends (Chamorro people) showed him how to cook it in a pit.
Some sharks secrete urine and need special preperation before cooking. I've read that mako shark meat tastes a lot like swordfish, one of their favoite prey species. I don't know if they secrete mercury like swordfish do. I quit eating swordfish when the mercury bit came out and limit consumption of tuna to no more than a can a week. Albacore tuna is the worst in high mercury content.
I laughed out loud when a, "Baywatch" episode said that tiger sharks are harmless.
I have about 7-8 books on sharks and all say that the tiger is among the most dangerous. So do the separate books on dangerous animals in general.
I think Jeremy Wade was about 200 miles up that South African river when he caught the world record bull shark, a female. People were actually swimming in that river. They weren't very happy when scientists monitoring him insisted that it be released. Of course, many other bull sharks are also there. Some follow boats and steal fish off of anglers' lines.
The bull shark is the species found in Lake Nicraragua. It appears that some are a permanent population in the lake and others swim up a river into the lake and return to the ocean. Local residents (the human ones) say that the color of the migrant sharks differs from the others. All are considered to be very dangerous to people.
My son had to spear an aggressive grey reef shark off of Guam. He finished it off with a knife and local friends (Chamorro people) showed him how to cook it in a pit.
Some sharks secrete urine and need special preperation before cooking. I've read that mako shark meat tastes a lot like swordfish, one of their favoite prey species. I don't know if they secrete mercury like swordfish do. I quit eating swordfish when the mercury bit came out and limit consumption of tuna to no more than a can a week. Albacore tuna is the worst in high mercury content.
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Texas Star
US Veteran
Watch out for alligators even in ponds. And Jeremy Wade found electric "eels" in small ponds in Brazil. They had killed three men on horseback.
They aren't true eels, being instead members of the knifefish family.
I think stingrays can also come up rivers and some are freshwater rays, anyway. It was a stingray that killed Steve Irwin.
mjr
Member
Of course, there's that golf course in Brisbane with bull sharks in their lake....
SHARKS IN GOLF LAKE: Bull sharks infest golf course lake - YouTube
Texas Star
US Veteran
River Monsters - A Really Big Piranha - YouTube
Not a shark, but a big Black Piranha. Look at the teeth in the closeup. Sobering...
Not a shark, but a big Black Piranha. Look at the teeth in the closeup. Sobering...
rocketdog
Member
Stay in the pool! If a shark doesn't get you, might be a candiru. 
BBC - h2g2 - Candiru - the Vampire Fish - A35669460
BBC - h2g2 - Candiru - the Vampire Fish - A35669460
Here where i'm at (Indiana) no eels or aliigators to worry
about. Maybe a snapping turtle at most.
Chuck
