San Mateo coast, 10/11..."I paid my rent sir, honest!"

Well...I guess it was bound to happen eventually.
You can only live somewhere for so long until you run into The Landlord. I was on the water for 9 days this year in this particular place before I got noticed.

The sky was gray, the water a murky 5foot+. We were catching fish in a steady bite, even in the dark water. I see two big swirls on the water, and I can see something is there, but the vis is so crappy I can't make it out. I think I said "What's that?" and in a second or two the fish passed under my boat, gliding perpendicular beneath me. I saw the back and dorsal fin, the trailing edge of the fin had a fringe of parasites or some critters fluttering behind it.

I said something like "we have a big shark here" or words to that effect. I looked down on my left side to see the fish swim past me, parallel to my boat. I could make out a gill or two, and the sharp line of gray/white beneath the fish's throat and belly.
I may have said "yeah, its a white shark, and a big one".
I decided I ought to slowly make my way over closer to Aaron and BassmanBen. I pick up the paddle and begin to glide over, when I turn around.
Behind me, about 12 feet or so I see about 6-8" of dorsal, and behind that, the tail swirl as the fish cruises along behind me. It drops below the surface and vanishes.

During this time we're having a rather intense but brief communication between our three boats, and the decision to paddle into shallower water is made. Honestly the decison was pretty easy. What else were we going to do?

We take a handful of forward strokes, and as I hear Aaron say something like "No sH*t it's totally following you," I see that apparently "we ain't done yet"and the fin , now dorsal only that I can see, zipping along like a v-8 powered muscle car in third gear.

I think what finally got it to leave was that, since I was in a time of crisis, I took Ole' Jack Burton's advice and told the fish "...the check is in the mail"

I was tempted to call it a day then, for some reason thinking mostly of one of the cold beers in my cooler, in my truck. ON LAND.
However, word came from the fresh wave of backup on the beach, about to launch "Just smack him or poke him in the eye with your paddle if he comes back", so I put my faith in the "the madness" and stayed on the water. I had some great exepriences, catching rockies, underlings, and a nice cab. Aaron & I had a double hook up on halibut. I caught a nice brown rf of about 3 pounds and released him. After a few hours of my favorite therapy (the ocean fishing kind) I felt better, and I HAD scored a beauty of a vermilion rockfish for dinner. And I'd made it to my January 09 goal to saltwater fish at least 20 times this year. Say hello to #20, as it was quite the milestone.

I'll admit, I felt spooked all day. And man, stepping back onto the beach today felt different from any other time I've done it.

I can only give humble thanks to the great crew of kayakers I was fortunate enough to paddle with today, even the far off ones who helped to lighten the mood via radio. Aaron, BassmanBen, Fishunter, EricB, & Darius. Keo, and you guys in the PP reef crew. Dave on the beach. These are good guys to fish around if you happen to get harrassed by a fourteen foot, thousand pound fish.

You guys can start another thread on the day if you like, for the pictures and stuff. There were a lot of other great moments that went on that day.  I just figured I'd tell this part of the story separate.

& I actually waited until I got home, but indeed that beer tasted good.

edit: I felt like this drawing needed to be moved up:

Glad to hear you're alright! What an amazing experience the whole thing must have been. Definitely takes a lot of courage to keep on fishing after something like that.
That stretch of coast from Davenport on up to HMB gets really sharky this time of year. 

Way to keep your composure and not totally FREAK OUT!!!!    At least you got that out of the way and hopefully never see the Ole Landlord again. Keep your rent paid up...

sure enough Brendan. Sharktober isn't just a marketing ploy for the SJ hockey team.

Reading your account sent some serious chills down my spine... Good job on keeping the calm. I've got some weird shark juju too... Many years ago, I think it was either 99 or 2000, I saw a shark maul a seal off Willow Creek. I was fishing alone and went back in as soon as it happened. Ever since then I've been kinda scared to fish certain spots this time of year.
A buddy of mine has been commercial fishing seabass and hali up by Davenport the past couple of weeks and has reported seeing a few fish sharks up around there too. 

What no pics?

i was right next to sean when it happened.  I had just released an underling, and looked over at him.  he had his hands up in the air like he was confused...and said, what was that?  then he looked into the water, apparently he saw the big shape of the sharky and started to get slightly nervous.  since i hadn't seen it due to the red tide, i wasnt exactly concerned.  but i figure if it was something that was able to make aaron and sean nervous, i might as well do as they do.  we sat for a few seconds and quickly decided to head shallow.  they kept looking behind themselves, but i was in the back and watching them. never saw the shark again.  everyone knows sharks only like red kayaks, so i didn't think he would attack me    .

no pics, too murky.  if it was clearer i probably would have seen it since i was only about 10 yards from sean at the time.

the rest of the day we hung out pretty close together.

Wow,

 So Glad your all Good,  That's Some Kahonies to stay out there after that...

 I'm glad to hear about the behavior of the beast in that it was just checking you out and not a Polaris Submarine launch...

 Not trying to Thread jack of this Great Tale, But it's the situation, if it were to happen,
that I would like to try the Shark Shield...

 I always leave it off when fishing with others and would if time permits, turn it on post sighting...  In this situation, I guess it would be difficult to know if it worked or not, being said beast left anyway...  

  Anyway...  So Glad For You....   

 Another question,  were you or the others around you, using a FishFinder?

 Again,  InCredible Story and Glad you are well and Even stayed on the Horse...

  Very, Very Strong Work.....

And ya.... NO Pics!!!????    

Very cool!  Nice review of the situation, Sean.  I like the "I think I said..." descriptions, as I'm sure it would be hard to be sure what was said in such a moment of adrenalin and heightened focus on your movements. 

Please, someone, mount a camera on your boat!   

How many days a year does it look this flat?

Sean fights a cabbie after his close encounter while Eric and FisHunter charge out

Ben stoked to fight a fat cab

Darius hooks up

Football brown

Smokin' grass

Vermmmm

Darius cabrock stringer

Triple play baby!!!

Haha LMAO  one word Sean you is CRAZY. Jai Boi

Keo

What no pics?

Nah, but here are illustrations . First pass and second pass. You can see the seat straps and carry handles on the side of my boat....

 I think you have found some new " Inspiration ".... 

Also, Love The Jack Burton Ref.... 

  http://www.killerclips.com/clip.php?id=125&qid=1638&PHPSESSID=b806b883af5dc83a2730b2c6d164a22f

I knew that you would be allright. WOW! What an experience. I had a 10 ft shark under my zodiac in 1985. Iwas thinking , " I am in a frickin rubber boat, Damn." I am so stoked for you Sean that you got to witness first hand the animal that has ruled the sea for millions of years. The drawings are fantastic. Craig

I could feel your heart pounding! Thinking OH!!!...$hit is the hunter being hunted! I some time wonder if i would be ready to answer if the land lord knocked on the bottom of the yak 

Glad all is good! And way to stick it out.