This is why I only swim in pools...
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Texas Star
US Veteran
Great Whites mostly jump like this (after seals) only near Cape Town. But they'll hit swimmers from below, of course.
Makos are known for even more spectacular leaps. And they, too, attack humans.
Bull sharks are the most likely to attack, and they range far from the ocean, up freshwater rivers and streams. Many canals in Florida have them, and I think some sawfish. Also, Asiatic snakeheads, and I suspect that Burmese pythons swim in the Everglades a lot.
Makos are known for even more spectacular leaps. And they, too, attack humans.
Bull sharks are the most likely to attack, and they range far from the ocean, up freshwater rivers and streams. Many canals in Florida have them, and I think some sawfish. Also, Asiatic snakeheads, and I suspect that Burmese pythons swim in the Everglades a lot.
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charlie sherrill
Member
Several years ago my son and I went for a helicopter ride at Destin, Florida. It was a 15 minute flight down the beach and back and once airborne we could see thousands of sharks just off the second sandbar less than 100 yards from the beach we had been swimming at about an hour earlier. I asked the pilot why no one was warned of this and his reply was "those are just bull sharks and they won't hurt you, besides that nobody wants to scare off the tourists." Luckily we had a pool at the hotel because I wasn't going back out there, nor were my children. A couple of years later we went back and I took a rod and reel armed with 80 lb. test line, a wire leader, and some mullets I bought at a seafood store down the road. I cast out over the second sand bar and in 30 minutes I had landed three bulls weighing 30 to fifty lbs. Big enough to gnaw on your leg. I was informed by one of the locals I could get fined pretty good for catching them so I cut the filets off of them and put them in a cooler full of ice. When I got home we grilled them over charcoal. Good stuff. I'd much rather eat them than them eat me.
BJoe
Member
There is NOTHING on two, or four legs, on this planet I am afraid of..........BUT sharks scare the heck out of me.
We've been going to Destin for the past twenty years. No sharks yet thankfully.
shouldazagged
Absent Comrade
Bull sharks have, the last I heard, been found as far up the Mississippi as Illinois. They can function quite well in fresh water.
Texas Star
US Veteran
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I did not know that!
I am not particularly afraid of sharks but any time you are in the water it is a heck of a good idea to know what might be around. Often the little stingy things are just as bad as the bigger bitey ones. That said, nothing has permanently chased me out of the ocean - yet.
Bull sharks attack people more often that any other, I believe. They can be found inland, in some places, around 100 miles from the sea.
BearBio
Member
While in our leadership program, I did a training detail at San Francisco Nat Wildlife Refuge. This is a disperse refuge and one section is the Farallon Islands, a great white breeding zone. I was asked to prepare a release dealing with the controversy of whether researchers and recreational divers were disturbing the sharks to the point of interfering with their behavior.
About a year ago, I saw a program about strange deaths of great whites off of the Farallons. Chewed up bodies were being found and rthe sharks had disappeared. Researchers tagged some sharks, including one that had clearly been attacked. Turned out that some "rogue" orcas were coming in and killing the sharks, mostly for their liver and because they were competing for the sea lions and seals. Rogue orcas are migratory groups of males that wander large areas as opposed to the locally constrained family pods, such as we have in Puget Sound. A few years ago, the L.A. Times had a picture of a breaching orca with a 13-ft mako shark in his jaws, sideways!. The orcas were playing catch with the shark.
What was interesting was that, as soon as the orcas arrived, this radio-tagged shark dove to the bottom, went to the continental shelf and dropped deeper. The shark did not come back up until he hit Hawaii!
Here's a pic of a resident pod near Seward that I took a few years ago.
About a year ago, I saw a program about strange deaths of great whites off of the Farallons. Chewed up bodies were being found and rthe sharks had disappeared. Researchers tagged some sharks, including one that had clearly been attacked. Turned out that some "rogue" orcas were coming in and killing the sharks, mostly for their liver and because they were competing for the sea lions and seals. Rogue orcas are migratory groups of males that wander large areas as opposed to the locally constrained family pods, such as we have in Puget Sound. A few years ago, the L.A. Times had a picture of a breaching orca with a 13-ft mako shark in his jaws, sideways!. The orcas were playing catch with the shark.
What was interesting was that, as soon as the orcas arrived, this radio-tagged shark dove to the bottom, went to the continental shelf and dropped deeper. The shark did not come back up until he hit Hawaii!
Here's a pic of a resident pod near Seward that I took a few years ago.
Poodle Soup
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People forget that once your toes hit the water your back in the food chain.... and not even close to the top.
Yep, Bull sharks are not dangerous.
Jersey Shore shark attacks of 1916 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jersey Shore shark attacks of 1916 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jst1mr
Member
I refuse to swim anywhere I might be considered a topwater lure...
BearBio
Member
I KNOW from experience growing up in SoCal and snorkeling in Newport, Laguna and La Jolla, that there is no shark under 12' in length. See one while snorkeling and it is AT LEAST that big!
Shark attacks off the Fl coast are invariable committed by Bull sharks. They are the MOST testosterone charged creature in humanity and can live and prosper in either salt, brackish or FRESH water. They have been reportedly seen in Lake Okeechobee so don't et someone misguide you.
vigil617
US Veteran
I've swum in the ocean all my life and never once have I seen, felt, or been nibbled on or grabbed by a shark. I know they're out there, but I don't venture too far from shore (though, I know, they can come in close).
Always heard your chances of being struck by lightning are much greater than being attacked by a shark. I guess that's because you could be struck by lightning whether you're in the water or not, while shark attacks on land aren't all that common....
Anyhoo, it's still funny to hear folks talking about being "bait" or "topwater lures" when they swim in the ocean...
Always heard your chances of being struck by lightning are much greater than being attacked by a shark. I guess that's because you could be struck by lightning whether you're in the water or not, while shark attacks on land aren't all that common....
Anyhoo, it's still funny to hear folks talking about being "bait" or "topwater lures" when they swim in the ocean...
RightArm
Member
Me and my dad were watching the Jaws movies. About that poor family cursed with a giant sharks vendetta, my dad says, "Why don't they hide somewhere like, I don't know, Nebraska maybe."
Gunslinger808
Member
As a diver, Sharks are inevitable.
The only Two I've dealt with that are overly aggressive are the Bull and Tiger.
Great Whites are dangerous no doubt, but in most cases their attacks are due to mistaking humans for seals or other prey.
Bulls and Tigers on the other hand seem to actually go out of their way to attack humans, really nasty buggers.
ETA:
An interesting tid bit I've noticed over the years:
During Hurricaine season notice where shark attacks are reported, in most cases a hurricaine will hit that exact area the same season.
Believe it or not.
The only Two I've dealt with that are overly aggressive are the Bull and Tiger.
Great Whites are dangerous no doubt, but in most cases their attacks are due to mistaking humans for seals or other prey.
Bulls and Tigers on the other hand seem to actually go out of their way to attack humans, really nasty buggers.
ETA:
An interesting tid bit I've noticed over the years:
During Hurricaine season notice where shark attacks are reported, in most cases a hurricaine will hit that exact area the same season.
Believe it or not.
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