Dangling feet in great white areas

So I'm very new to Kayak fishing.  My experience to date is in lakes and rivers but I'm planning to head to the ocean this coming weekend.

I've learned to dangle my feet in the water as I'm moving around my kayak or sometimes to just dangle them over the side for a change of position.

In norcall is this just asking to lose a foot to a shark?

Feel free to hang your legs over to get to your hatches etc.  You won't want to do it for long though, not because of whitey, but because the water is simply too freaking cold!

Unless Whitey has a foot fetish, you have nothing to worry about.
It is funny when I talk to people who have not been in the ocean on a kayak they always seem to bring up this very topic. One friend in particular won't go out in the ocean on a kayak for this very reason. Afraid a GW will chomp his foot off. This same person doesn't wear insect repellent everyday, even though more people have died from mosquito bites over the ages than in all the wars put together. Logically, that would be a greater concern, but it isn't. Just use common sense. The ocean is HUGE, and a GW doesn't know that the 12 '' x 4 '' object you are putting in the water is even edible if it were to even draw attention; which by the way there are literally BILLIONS of other things in the water that are much more interesting to him.
You have no worries.

Matt was dangling his legs while he was securing his catch on a stringer at Still Water last Month.....a sea lion "tickled" his foot  

that same day, Chuck paddled right next to me while I was getting ready for a photo with my catch...I dangled my legs for stability and Chuck decided to play "footsie"    and scared the crap out of me  

Unrelated ...but....Chris  aka "Jellyfish" decided to wage war against me and shot me down with his water cannon    while I was fishing at the Elk derby   ....

....after kayak fishing for almost 6 years now....at this point, I fear my fellow yakkers and seals more than the great whites....

I definatley fear the sea lion (knocking me over) than I do the GW. I am more afraid of seeing one swim by and checking me out than I am about getting a leg bit off. Think of all the thousands of surfers who float around the kill zone daily.  Attacks are rare and rare may be to strong of a word. One little foot shouldn't be a problem.

However you may want to avoid Ano Nuevo.

jason

Not much to worry about there.  Sharks probably check us out pretty often, but their electrical sense tells them that the kayak is not edible.

You guys are all wrong.  I was reading somewhere that they like the taste of people feet.

you'll notice travis' feet are not visible in his avatar photo.

there's a reason for that.    some call him stumpy.

 

notice the guy in this emoticon has no feet either...

yep, dangled his feet...

 

What makes me nervous is when I have a bloody fish (especially salmon) on my yak....and seeing the blood drip down to my scupper holes while I'm paddling away from the scene of the crime  

What makes me nervous is when I have a bloody fish (especially salmon) on my yak....and seeing the blood drip down to my scupper holes while I'm paddling away from the scene of the crime  

Na, they will go after smelly people feet before they go after blood.

Pretty gruesome site makes feet look like Shark Appetizers http://www.sharkattacks.com/bites.htm

When that sealion hit my right leg I almost pissed my pants. It was the first time I was out in the ocean and I must have ran it thru my mind a hundred times what I would do if attacked. When I used to surf a coast guard pilot told me that if we saw all the sharks they saw in the water next to the surfers we would never surf again. But I feel safer in my yak than paddling out on my board.
Guess till it happens I will just follow the fleet out and hope that jaws picks another yak...

Guess till it happens I will just follow the fleet out and hope that jaws picks another yak...

It's like what I tell my buddy when we're hunting in Lion/Bear country...."I don't need to worry about outrunning a Bear or Mtn. Lion....I just need to be able to outrun you"  

GW's aren't the only things to worry about out there.

Giant squid, horny seal lions, blood thirsty rabid sea otters, orcas, Powerboats.

-Brian

GW's aren't the only things to worry about out there.

Giant squid, horny seal lions, blood thirsty rabid sea otters, orcas, Powerboats.

-Brian

....don't forget the flock of seagulls that fly in bombing formations overhead   ......I got "bombed" at the SC Derby...the efers   rained crap on me....hitting the screen of my fish finder and my knee......talk about marksmanship