Surf Fishing and Sharks
Greetings,
I am a surf fisherman because I love the ocean and the excitement of catching fish in roaring waves.
About 20 years ago, I was surf fishing for pompano when an incident occurred that altered my fishing methods for years to come. I was standing in about ten inches of water when I felt something brush my leg. I thought to myself, I certainly hope it isn't an eel because I hate snakes and eels when they get too close.
I looked down and there was a seven to eight foot black tipped shark!
The monster had ridden in on a wave and decided to check me out as a possible food source. He had apparently given me the once over and was heading back to sea when his long body brushed against my leg.
In that brief moment I decided to conduct a science experiment to prove that fat was lighter then water. All of my fat body "floated" over 20 feet of water until I stood safely on dry land shaking. The lifeguard nearby came over and told me it had been a black-tipped shark. He said that occasionally they will even come all the way out of the water when chasing food and then roll back into the surf.
At that moment I decided to continue surf fishing but only from the shore. I also concluded that all my swimming would henceforth be done in a swimming pool as I detest being part of the food chain!
Comments
GREAT STORY…….
Living in Kansas, I have no idea what seeing or having a shark by you feels like 
Wow…I prefer fresh water beaches for this reason. I wouldn’t have made it out of the water…I would have died of fright standing rooted to the spot! Great article…very funny!
Seen many a shark while surf fishing in the Gulf of Mexico & wading the flats of Tampa Bay. never been threatened by one yet.
Mazatlan 2008 surf fishing off Wolf Island, had a huge Bull Shark attack my Roosterfish in about 18″ of water. Rooster never knew what hit him.
It was a nice sunny morning with a green blanket of water covering the westerm Gulf coast. I was sitting a 6’2 surfboard and had to paddle harder to catch the few ripples that occasionally came in my way. I thought it might have been my splashing and thrashing of water to catch waves that created much friction in the water, sending a distressed message to some predator. After sitting in my spot in the water for a few minutes, I noticed a small dorsal fin heading straight for me; I wasn’t sure what it was at first, but my instinctive reaction was that it was a shark. As it was closing in on me, I was certain it was a shark, but what kind? I remained sitting frigidly still until it kept coming directly toward me. I had hoped that it would turn or submerge and ignore me; but that was not the case. When it was less than ten feet away, I quickly managed to balance all four limbs of me on the deck of my board, holding the rails steadily. It was a small hammer head that came up for a better look, noticing that I was too big of prey for its jaws to grind; for it was about as long as my arm. Then after sizing my image for a moment, it began to chomp on the left side of my rail just inches from my hand. I countered with a slap to its side and it wiggled violently, and again it bit my board grinding more teeth marks into the fiber. It bit repeatedly but never tore a chunk off. Again, I slapped it and yelled “I’m out of here!!!” and paddled westward hard and fast. Churning up more water, I stood up, riding the crest of my own wake! When I stood up, a small wave began to form beneath me and took me into the shallows until I was ankle deep. This was one of the best (miracle) waves of my life because it spared me from a shark attack; I might have lost a finger or two in the scuffle. Oh yeah, I have had other shark encounters, even with bigger ones, but none as personal as this one.
Once when fishing in Corrola, NC, I had no luck fishing from the first and second sandbar so I made my way to the third sandbar. And started catching, but every time I caught, I had to wade through the sandbars, down the beach, re-bait my hook, and wade back out. With the tide coming in, the troughs kept getting deeper. So I hit on the idea to cut up a bunch of bait and put it in my pocket. I waded back out, almost neck deep in the troughs by now, and started fishing again. I even caught a spanish mackerel. After re-baiting and casting out again, I tightened my line, quite contented with myself. It was then I felt something brush my leg, above the knee. I was in about waist-deep water. I froze very still. Mind you, it just didn’t brush my leg, I felt its’ entire body length brush slowly on my leg! And it was loooong!
That’s when it occurred to me; I shouldn’t have put the bait in my pocket!
So I took it out and put it on my hat and continued to fish. But didn’t catch anything else.
We were in about waist deep water fishing. My buddy was about 5 feet away holding a tight line waiting for a bite. He yelled at me, “Cut it out.” He thought I grabbed him under the water. I too felt something rub against me at the same time, but I was too shocked to react. When he realized I was too far away to touch him, we both slowly backed out of the water to fish another day. It was either 2 large sharks or one real big one.