Shark bites Spearfisherman

[DandyDon]

Shark very embarrassed :blush:

Exclusive: Shark bite victim Rick Neumann talks about brush with death - wptv.com

JUPITER, Fla. - Recovering with 200 stitches, Rick Neumann says he is lucky to be alive after a shark tore into him miles off the coast of the Jupiter Inlet Friday.
"I'm just thankful I didn't lose any parts and I'm here to tell my story," Neumann said.
The 70-year-old says he was spearfishing off the coast when the bull shark came out of nowhere.
He says the shark was confused and released his jaws after realizing he hadn't bit into a fish.
"I think the shark got confused and just lashed out and hit me like a freight train on the right side of my shoulder and head," Neumann said.
Neumann had to have part of his ear reattached, but should make a full recovery.
He suspects the shark was going for a nearby cobia about forty feet underwater.
"As we were going back, I knew I was bleeding a lot and I felt around and knew part of my ear was hanging off," Neumann said.
After a harrowing forty minute boat ride back to shore, Neumann was airlifted to St. Mary's Medical Center.
"The wounds were so close to the arteries up and down my neck...this could have been a different story," Neumann said.
Neumann' wet suit has holes in it from the shark's teeth.
He's been spearfishing for fifty five years and is ready to get back out on the water.
"I will be back out there. It is not the shark's fault. He got confused. The water was murky and things can happen," Neumann said.
Neumann suspects his wet suit helped the situation by keeping pressure on his wounds.

 

[snowdog61]

I want to be spearfishing when I'm 70!! Good to hear he is OK and even better to hear the calm voice of reason rather than a sensationalized media event

 

[AfterDark]

Seems like nothing more than a different kind of spearfishing outing to Neumann. The poor shark missed lunch. Now Neumann has to wait for the stiches to be removed before he can get back to spearing fish. Glad it had a happy ending.

 

[Johnoly]

Diving and spearfishing Cobia hanging off bull Sharks at 70 year's old !!!

Shove your golf cart, I want to be like that at 70, that's bad azz.

 

[klausi]

Respect to the guy for not blaming the shark!

 

[danvolker]

Still...shooting cobia off the backs of bull sharks.....???
Picture some guy wearing a ninja outfit, that thinks he's really fast, sticking his hand into a lion's cage, to show that he is as fast as the lion--when the lion decides to swat at his had with it's far superior reflexes, speed and reach..... How long will it take for this wanna be ninja, to figure out that for every 3 inches he can pull back his hand from inside the cage, the lion can strike out 5 times faster and farther....

 

[dreamdive]

Unfortunately when I heard it here in Costa Rica, the shark got blamed! No mentioning that he was spearfishing. The reporter commented that she will stick to fresh water diving. This and poor reporting is perpetuating the public's fear of sharks. There is less sympathy to shark conservation!

 

[iamrushman]

great news............and he can spear again.

 

[danvolker]

I guess we need some more headlines like:

• Horse tramples man and crushes foot.
• Poodle bites 12 year old boy, boy requires 40 stiches!
• Boy goes after honey in Bee hive, is then killed by bees. Report at 6pm by Charles Darwin.

 

[HalcyonDaze]

Diving and spearfishing Cobia hanging off bull Sharks at 70 year's old !!!

Shove your golf cart, I want to be like that at 70, that's bad azz.

I'm remembering this one for future reference. :mrcool:

Between taking part in feeding dives and having plenty of friends who participate in the "Running of the Bulls," I can't knock the practice of shooting cobia off sharks too much. I'm still fairly impressed there are relatively few bites and a pretty high success ratio for getting the fish back to the boat in one piece. Between this incident and Randy Jordan losing a couple fingertips to a line wrap back in December I have to say I'd need to work up my spearing skills before giving it a whirl. The trick seems to be to shoot, pull the fish in, and get it in the boat before things get too exciting. The one time I've played "bodyguard" for a shooter was a day when we were joking that up until the safety stop on the last dive, the bulls were totally uninterested in the bait or the shot fish. Like graduate students, they didn't move in until we were taking the food away (and even then for the most part they were content to hang below us and wait for the chow to fall).

That said, if the viz really was about five feet, then shooting fish in bull shark territory is piling up a lot of risk factors, both in terms of the sharks getting confused and the diver not having much time to react. He's very lucky the shark stopped short and left once it figured out it made a mistake.