MERGED - Shark attack on yak 3/18- Monterey Bay

I am curious if anyone had any type of eerie feeling before they were attacked or seen a shark ? I have kayaked on the ocean for a few years now and only once did I have a sense that there was a shark nearby. 

I saw a seal behaving very strangely once, acting injured and struggling to get out of the water seemingly ASAP, skimming along kelp and finally exiting on a rock.

That scared the crap out of me and I headed in. Solo trip in the rock garden at Trinidad.

I am curious if anyone had any type of eerie feeling before they were attacked or seen a shark ? I have kayaked on the ocean for a few years now and only once did I have a sense that there was a shark nearby. 

I saw a seal behaving very strangely once, acting injured and struggling to get out of the water seemingly ASAP, skimming along kelp and finally exiting on a rock.

That scared the crap out of me and I headed in. Solo trip in the rock garden at Trinidad.

Mine was a solo trip as well. Not comforting to know there would be no one to help if need be. Oh well, that's the chance we take sometimes.

According to that paper, the decoys were towed between 8-10 kph. How fast are you moving when you target rgc, salmon, or halibut? Do you even get close to sustaining that speed? I would argue that the static bait test is more relevant to our "kayak bait" presentation.

The static experiments were designed to simulate a diver wearing the shark shield on his ankle and included chumming the water and bait. The towed decoys imitated seals, and I suspect the speed was chosen so as to entice as many strikes as possible, which to my mind makes the results for the shark shield in that case even more impressive. Also, as I read it, there were no breaches in the static experiments, which means no polaris type of attacks. It seems to me that the attacks we see on kayaks fit what the researchers were seeing when towing the decoys a lot closer than the static case.

Its just like fishing a spook versus a dry fly. Both are surface baits, the faster movement of the spook necessitates velocity to catch. Duh.
Of course there are breaches in the towed board. Essentially we are static unless traversing. Even then, we are very very slow. Does not require much velocity to catch us.

I am curious if anyone had any type of eerie feeling before they were attacked or seen a shark ? I have kayaked on the ocean for a few years now and only once did I have a sense that there was a shark nearby.

I've only seen 3, and I didn't have any eerie feeling for any of them that related to sharks specifically.
one was certainly an eerie day with dense fog initially and thick red tide conditions.
The second was on a bright clear March day, and it blasted out of the water so fast there was no time for it to register until the fish had split.
The last one was another bright clear fall day, and I saw it at the surface as it cruised up, since after the last two I am usually scanning all over the place

I don't discount the spidey-sense at all though, as I've heard many stories of it giving folks a bit of warning.

Have you watched shark on Netflix very good example of this

seconds before I got blasted, i noticed it being very quiet & calming, i thought to myself, WOW where is all the usual hwy1 traffic noise,,,,,then BAM! 

Several other survivors told the same on various shark weeks.

seconds before I got blasted, i noticed it being very quiet & calming, i thought to myself, WOW where is all the usual hwy1 traffic noise,,,,,then BAM! 

Several other survivors told the same on various shark weeks.

Adam, were you paddling at the time or just drifting? Would account for the quietness if not actively paddling (along with a lull in the wind, etc).

Makes sense that a predator would take the opportunity to attack a resting prey animal - higher chances of a hit than chasing something in full stride.

A few years ago out of SWN I was solo but there were a couple small boats in the vicinity, beautiful day, clear calm, and pretty good vis.  About 80 ft out front of me I heard/saw a really large swirl/thrash just once.  Pretty creepy, I figure most likely a furbag, so I scanned the water for several minutes expecting to see the thing come up.  Nope, I asked the guys in the boats if they saw "that". Nope,  I kept fishing but it pretty much ruined my day, and I made sure to keep my feet in the footwells.

A few years ago out of SWN I was solo but there were a couple small boats in the vicinity, beautiful day, clear calm, and pretty good vis.  About 80 ft out front of me I heard/saw a really large swirl/thrash just once.  Pretty creepy, I figure most likely a furbag, so I scanned the water for several minutes expecting to see the thing come up.  Nope, I asked the guys in the boats if they saw "that". Nope,  I kept fishing but it pretty much ruined my day, and I made sure to keep my feet in the footwells.

yep something similar at TC ...heard  a splash turned, nothing ,but the weirdest feeling came over me , pulled my feet in , paddled away for a bit mainly for peace of mind but kept my head on swivel   

seconds before I got blasted, i noticed it being very quiet & calming, i thought to myself, WOW where is all the usual hwy1 traffic noise,,,,,then BAM! 

Several other survivors told the same on various shark weeks.

Adam, were you paddling at the time or just drifting? Would account for the quietness if not actively paddling (along with a lull in the wind, etc).

Makes sense that a predator would take the opportunity to attack a resting prey animal - higher chances of a hit than chasing something in full stride.

i had just been paddling very aggressively out in 70' for quite a distance (i had left the heard) and then put the brake on as i veered towards shore, the bottom was rising rapidly to 50'. The entire day was oily smooth, so there was no wind or swell, but the feeling i had right before my yak wobbled (a millisecond before the launching) alerted me that something is about to go down.

All the wrong moves in my opinion.

i had just been paddling very aggressively out in 70' for quite a distance (i had left the heard) and then put the brake on as i veered towards shore, the bottom was rising rapidly to 50'. The entire day was oily smooth, so there was no wind or swell, but the feeling i had right before my yak wobbled (a millisecond before the launching) alerted me that something is about to go down.

All the wrong moves in my opinion.
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I remember you saying some shyte and breaking away, lol. It was overcast too as I remember, as someone who chases steelhead with a spey rod, it was the perfect weather for skating flies to steelies...apparently good for skating yaks to the landlord as well.

Would a shark shield help prevented this attack? Im surprise there aren't many more of GWS attacks considering the amount of seal activities. but anytime we get out there, there is a chance of an attack. Always go with buddies for this reason even if you are an expert solo.

I'm a believer

 

I didn't get attacked yesterday because I was constantly peeing in my wetsuit.

I'm a believer too 

The only time I've ever seen sharks was right after I took a leak through my scupper


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seconds before I got blasted, i noticed it being very quiet & calming, i thought to myself, WOW where is all the usual hwy1 traffic noise,,,,,then BAM! 

Several other survivors told the same on various shark weeks.

I am curious if anyone had any type of eerie feeling before they were attacked or seen a shark ? I have kayaked on the ocean for a few years now and only once did I have a sense that there was a shark nearby.

In over three decades of surfing the Red Triangle area I've only been creeped out of the water twice. Once at Gazos Creek, and once at Bolinas. In 98' at Bo I was surfing alone out on the Seadrift side of the channel and happened to notice that there were no people on the beach. Looking around I couldn't see a single bird in the sky or on the water, no seals, no life of any kind anywhere. I thought that was kind of odd then I felt this strong sense stillness and quiet. I paddled in as quickly and calmly as I could and got out. On the beach I scanned the water for 10-15 minutes and didn't see anything. With in a week a kid got bit out at Stinson. Still gives me the willies thinking about it.

Sad?  One for the yakkers...
http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/environment-and-nature/20170407/shark-stranded-near-pleasure-point

Somebody uploaded a video about this incident.  Very scary, but maybe there is an education somewhere?  Glad the guy made out OK.