MRXRAY
Contributor
I was invited on a friends new boat Thursday morning to go spearfishing off from Orange Beach. We met at his house at 6:00AM and loaded our gear up. We then beat feet over to Shoreline Park in Gulf Breeze to launch and begin our adventure. Now everyone that knows me knows I've been cursed with bad luck in seeing and photographing sharks until just recently when I saw and video'd a shark at the Destin Jetties not long ago. Well little did I know that this trip would put me at the other edge of the spectrum. I never dive with my camera when I spearfish as it is just something else to keep track of but I thought that I'd take it anyways for the sake of having it. So into the boat it went after taking a few pics at the launch.
We had some moderate waves on the way out to our private numbered reef which was supposed to be holding all kinds of grouper, we we were all very anxious about getting to the site and tagging some big old gags. Larry our captain did a great job getting us to the site with only light to moderate spine damage from the rolling surf, and it wasn't long before we had a marker buoy over board and we were circling the reef and marking big schools of fish. Another boat pulled up at about the same time we did but was about 50 yards away and seemed to have no issue with us diving nearby. As we were gearing up we watched as the fisherman hooked into something big and worked him for a couple of minutes before they brought up just the head of a very big red snapper! Signs of things to come?
I was to splash first with 3 others on the first of two dives so we all geared up and I splashed and waited on the tag line for the other two. One of the guys was having some BC issues at the surface so he aborted the dive and just myself and the boat captain dove. We made our way down the anchor line into a big sprawl of concrete culverts and what looked like bridge spans. It had real nice reveal and I thought we'd tag some nice gags hiding in all these culverts. I stuck my flashlight in every culvert we came to but with no luck on seeing a single gag. I did see a few AJ's swimming about and 100's of massive Red Snapper, (you know; the near extinct ones!
:mooner:
We made our way through the rubble and after probably 15 minutes and having not seen anything except small black snapper (that were shoot-able) I decided to pluck an AJ. I put a nice shot on him , but he struggled in the water above me for several minutes before I got him tied into some rubble and got him under control. My buddy waited patiently next to me as I got him under control and he took a couple hits in the head by the AJ as he swam violently in circles as I pulled him in.
After I had him subdued we swam back toward the anchor line and we saw 3 nice Triggerfish jump out of a culvert, I pointed to my buddy to shoot and he waited for a nice shot on the biggest one. He stoned him with a nice shot followed by my shot on the next smaller one. We quickly got our fish under control just as my buddies computer started beeping about his approach on the NDL.
So we saddled up our fish and made our way toward the anchor line my buddy motioned for me to start up well before we made it back to the anchor line so we ended up having to free ascend.
As we stopped for our 3 minute safety stop I finished stringing my trigger and was thinking that although we didn't pop any grouper I was pretty happy with the dive. It was then that my wide eyed buddy motioned below us.....Bull shark. It was probably 10 feet below us circling and was maybe 6-8 foot long, he disappeared with no further contact and we continued our ascent and boarded the boat having never seen him again.
As we got our gear off we started telling about the lack of grouper, the big snappers that laid beside me as I strung my AJ, and of course the Bull Shark! The other divers who were supposed to splash next decide we should head somewhere else so we checked our books and decided to head to the 10 mile bridge rubble #1, about 10 miles away.
So we hauled anchor and left. We hadn't moved more than a mile when the sonar indicated some huge reveal at about 75 feet coming off some 15-20 feet in spots. OOOOOOh, this looks good and man were we marking fish! So we decided to go ahead and splash here, no one gave any thought to the fact that we had only gone about a mile from our last site with a Bull on it, not until later!
The 2 guys that hadn't splashed on the first dive geared up and hadn't quite splashed when the captain of the boat said that this would be the last dive since he had to get back for a meeting. A quick check of my computer told me that I'd already been out of the water an hour so I did a quick tank change and splashed. I actually caught the other two divers at the anchor as they were arriving on the sand, fastest tank change in Florida!
So we set off through what appeared to be more bridge spans and culverts, we slide through a lot of debris, more of the same I told myself after about 5 minutes, tons of Hog sized Red Snapper, no Grouper. I decided that I wasn't going to wait so long to start shooting as the last dive so I shot a big 'ole AJ and got him settled and strung in about the first 10 minutes of the dive, and again....Here come those big Ole red snapper.....And I mean BIG, setting in the blood stream of the AJ gulping at the water. It was about then that one of my buddies comes swimming up with the shark signal firmly implanted in his forehead and big eyed checking the water around us for another sighting of him. I never saw it...Darn I thought. I told my third buddy Shark in the area and he started looking as well.
As my buddies are looking around another big school of AJ's swim by, I pluck one which was over 40 inches and it took me a minute to get under control. I got him on my stringer just as my buddies computer started beeping.......He was low on air, something like 700 #'s. The other buddy swims up with what we'll call a disappointing triggerfish and I ask him his air, 900#'s. Wow, I'm still at 1800#'s, so I thumb the dive and we start towards the anchor line.
As we are nearing the anchor I hear the distinctive sound of a spear shot and I turn to see my buddy with only 700 or less #'s wresting an AJ. Stupid F*#KER! I point to the both of them to start our ascent even though we had not made the anchor as I figured we could get the AJ on a stringer on the way up, and I was really concerned with the guys air level. As we ascend we get in the current and the lower viz of a thermocline and salinity layer and we loose each other. I can hear them breathing but I can't see them. I stop at 15 feet for my safety stopand point into the current and swim to keep from getting pushed way down current of the boat.
I'm at about 1 minute into my stop watching my computers depth and time when over the top of my computer I see the bull shark rushing in. He comes in real quick and turns off suddenly at the last second, I can feel the force of the water he pushes on me. Whoa! I think Damn, I wished I had my camera! Now I'm trying to figure out the size compared to my body and 48" speargun. I think 10+ but it's in reality probably less! As I'm calculating it's size and now watching for the shark, he comes in again from the same spot below, and a bit slower this time. I can see his black eye as he turns away at the last second this time his fin brushes me as he turns away. Now all I can think about is shark week on Discovery and how I'd say that makes sense that guy got bit he was retarded, and doing retarded things! I thought, oh crap!
Now I'm still horizontal at this point swimming into the current and my fish are on a 6 foot stringer hanging below me.....Idiot I think, get the fish in closer don't give him a target! It seems like forever when I see him again....This time coming in at the same depth as me...... Slow and deliberate! I pull the fish against my body with one hand and with my unloaded gun (Shaft is not even loaded) in the other hand I push the shark away steering him off as I push. Now I'm shaking with excitement and my mind is going a million miles an hour. SAC rate, is off the charts! He turns almost immediately having never left site with me and comes back. I push him off again. Now I've decide I'm done with the safety stop and the shark is welcome to my fish. For all you spearfisherman that say you'll never give your fish up to a shark: :mooner: I let go of the fish and push them away from me so I can undo my stringers clip, just then the shark comes from under and behind me grabs the stringer and starts a roll, he rolls away from me and I can see the complete white under side of the shark and earily the eye is now protected and white. He pulls me down about 4 feet (It seemed a lot more until I looked at my computer today), until I became detached from the stringer. Then the shark, my fish and the stringer were gone. I hit the surface about 40 yards from the boat and yell to my buddies to get out of the water! I swim with force unknown to me and anxiously wait behind the other two divers on the tag line to get out of the water, but I never saw the Bull again!
I of course survived with only a slight cardiac event (Man I wish I had a computer with a heart rate monitor for this one) and a brown stain in my bathing suit! But, WOW! And no pictures of course! I'm now rethinking my desire for a bluewater spearfishing adventure. And will no longer be carrying my stringer to the surface with me!
Wow is all that's left to say!
We had some moderate waves on the way out to our private numbered reef which was supposed to be holding all kinds of grouper, we we were all very anxious about getting to the site and tagging some big old gags. Larry our captain did a great job getting us to the site with only light to moderate spine damage from the rolling surf, and it wasn't long before we had a marker buoy over board and we were circling the reef and marking big schools of fish. Another boat pulled up at about the same time we did but was about 50 yards away and seemed to have no issue with us diving nearby. As we were gearing up we watched as the fisherman hooked into something big and worked him for a couple of minutes before they brought up just the head of a very big red snapper! Signs of things to come?
I was to splash first with 3 others on the first of two dives so we all geared up and I splashed and waited on the tag line for the other two. One of the guys was having some BC issues at the surface so he aborted the dive and just myself and the boat captain dove. We made our way down the anchor line into a big sprawl of concrete culverts and what looked like bridge spans. It had real nice reveal and I thought we'd tag some nice gags hiding in all these culverts. I stuck my flashlight in every culvert we came to but with no luck on seeing a single gag. I did see a few AJ's swimming about and 100's of massive Red Snapper, (you know; the near extinct ones!
:mooner: We made our way through the rubble and after probably 15 minutes and having not seen anything except small black snapper (that were shoot-able) I decided to pluck an AJ. I put a nice shot on him , but he struggled in the water above me for several minutes before I got him tied into some rubble and got him under control. My buddy waited patiently next to me as I got him under control and he took a couple hits in the head by the AJ as he swam violently in circles as I pulled him in.
After I had him subdued we swam back toward the anchor line and we saw 3 nice Triggerfish jump out of a culvert, I pointed to my buddy to shoot and he waited for a nice shot on the biggest one. He stoned him with a nice shot followed by my shot on the next smaller one. We quickly got our fish under control just as my buddies computer started beeping about his approach on the NDL.
So we saddled up our fish and made our way toward the anchor line my buddy motioned for me to start up well before we made it back to the anchor line so we ended up having to free ascend.
As we stopped for our 3 minute safety stop I finished stringing my trigger and was thinking that although we didn't pop any grouper I was pretty happy with the dive. It was then that my wide eyed buddy motioned below us.....Bull shark. It was probably 10 feet below us circling and was maybe 6-8 foot long, he disappeared with no further contact and we continued our ascent and boarded the boat having never seen him again.
As we got our gear off we started telling about the lack of grouper, the big snappers that laid beside me as I strung my AJ, and of course the Bull Shark! The other divers who were supposed to splash next decide we should head somewhere else so we checked our books and decided to head to the 10 mile bridge rubble #1, about 10 miles away.
So we hauled anchor and left. We hadn't moved more than a mile when the sonar indicated some huge reveal at about 75 feet coming off some 15-20 feet in spots. OOOOOOh, this looks good and man were we marking fish! So we decided to go ahead and splash here, no one gave any thought to the fact that we had only gone about a mile from our last site with a Bull on it, not until later!
The 2 guys that hadn't splashed on the first dive geared up and hadn't quite splashed when the captain of the boat said that this would be the last dive since he had to get back for a meeting. A quick check of my computer told me that I'd already been out of the water an hour so I did a quick tank change and splashed. I actually caught the other two divers at the anchor as they were arriving on the sand, fastest tank change in Florida!
So we set off through what appeared to be more bridge spans and culverts, we slide through a lot of debris, more of the same I told myself after about 5 minutes, tons of Hog sized Red Snapper, no Grouper. I decided that I wasn't going to wait so long to start shooting as the last dive so I shot a big 'ole AJ and got him settled and strung in about the first 10 minutes of the dive, and again....Here come those big Ole red snapper.....And I mean BIG, setting in the blood stream of the AJ gulping at the water. It was about then that one of my buddies comes swimming up with the shark signal firmly implanted in his forehead and big eyed checking the water around us for another sighting of him. I never saw it...Darn I thought. I told my third buddy Shark in the area and he started looking as well.
As my buddies are looking around another big school of AJ's swim by, I pluck one which was over 40 inches and it took me a minute to get under control. I got him on my stringer just as my buddies computer started beeping.......He was low on air, something like 700 #'s. The other buddy swims up with what we'll call a disappointing triggerfish and I ask him his air, 900#'s. Wow, I'm still at 1800#'s, so I thumb the dive and we start towards the anchor line.
As we are nearing the anchor I hear the distinctive sound of a spear shot and I turn to see my buddy with only 700 or less #'s wresting an AJ. Stupid F*#KER! I point to the both of them to start our ascent even though we had not made the anchor as I figured we could get the AJ on a stringer on the way up, and I was really concerned with the guys air level. As we ascend we get in the current and the lower viz of a thermocline and salinity layer and we loose each other. I can hear them breathing but I can't see them. I stop at 15 feet for my safety stopand point into the current and swim to keep from getting pushed way down current of the boat.
I'm at about 1 minute into my stop watching my computers depth and time when over the top of my computer I see the bull shark rushing in. He comes in real quick and turns off suddenly at the last second, I can feel the force of the water he pushes on me. Whoa! I think Damn, I wished I had my camera! Now I'm trying to figure out the size compared to my body and 48" speargun. I think 10+ but it's in reality probably less! As I'm calculating it's size and now watching for the shark, he comes in again from the same spot below, and a bit slower this time. I can see his black eye as he turns away at the last second this time his fin brushes me as he turns away. Now all I can think about is shark week on Discovery and how I'd say that makes sense that guy got bit he was retarded, and doing retarded things! I thought, oh crap!
Now I'm still horizontal at this point swimming into the current and my fish are on a 6 foot stringer hanging below me.....Idiot I think, get the fish in closer don't give him a target! It seems like forever when I see him again....This time coming in at the same depth as me...... Slow and deliberate! I pull the fish against my body with one hand and with my unloaded gun (Shaft is not even loaded) in the other hand I push the shark away steering him off as I push. Now I'm shaking with excitement and my mind is going a million miles an hour. SAC rate, is off the charts! He turns almost immediately having never left site with me and comes back. I push him off again. Now I've decide I'm done with the safety stop and the shark is welcome to my fish. For all you spearfisherman that say you'll never give your fish up to a shark: :mooner: I let go of the fish and push them away from me so I can undo my stringers clip, just then the shark comes from under and behind me grabs the stringer and starts a roll, he rolls away from me and I can see the complete white under side of the shark and earily the eye is now protected and white. He pulls me down about 4 feet (It seemed a lot more until I looked at my computer today), until I became detached from the stringer. Then the shark, my fish and the stringer were gone. I hit the surface about 40 yards from the boat and yell to my buddies to get out of the water! I swim with force unknown to me and anxiously wait behind the other two divers on the tag line to get out of the water, but I never saw the Bull again!
I of course survived with only a slight cardiac event (Man I wish I had a computer with a heart rate monitor for this one) and a brown stain in my bathing suit! But, WOW! And no pictures of course! I'm now rethinking my desire for a bluewater spearfishing adventure. And will no longer be carrying my stringer to the surface with me!
Wow is all that's left to say!
I can't tell you how many times I've told the story. This is the long version, minus the hand and body graphics/signals! 
