Shark attack at Bean Hollow - 7/21/07

Guys.... let's do our new site visitors a big favor and move any future shark discussions not specifically related to this incident over to the....

Official GWS Thread in our Fish Talk forum at:
http://www.norcalkayakanglers.com/index.php?topic=2516.0

Thanks!
ChuckE

Wow, run off to portland for an extended weekend and all hell breaks loose at BH.  Looks like the stats are around 1/200 to see a GWS and 1/300-1/400 to get nibbled by one - guestimating (liberally) that we've had about 400 kayaking trips out there in the last few years.  I'm glad everyone's okay, I'd hate to be plugging a spot that gets someone KIA.  Easy on the surf hyperbole too, nobody's 'broken their back' there, but a few fishing rods have.    I'll reserve judgement on hobies for now, but if the next attack is against a hobie I'll have to consider little flippers under a boat as a liability.  I'm curious though how deep the water was where the attack happened.  The news said a mile offshore, is that from GPS or were y'all just 'a ways out'?  1 mile out should be about 70ft deep - which is unusual because previous attacks have occurred in shallow water.  The big wash rock is ~1/4 mile out and is more typical of GWS attack locations.

I did indeed design and build a shark shield knockoff, but #1 I'm not all that concerned about sharks and #2 due to their rarity here it would be hard to test it.  Perhaps this will motivate me to take it on the bay and see how it affects leopard sharks boatside.  If it works out I'll see about posting schematics on how to build one's own and put it in a lock-n-lock running off the FF battery for $30 instead of $450.  My design replicates the shocks produced by an electric ray, which the commercial versions do as well but don't advertise because it might void some IP.  It's just a boost power converter to bump 12V up to 45-70V and a couple oscillators in series so you get trains of 10-20 6ms pulses spaced about 1s apart.  That's what comes out of a ray, some tweaking might evoke a better response but I suspect it's mostly a matter of voltage and finding a happy medium between safe for someone in the water (not paralyzing) but unbearable to a shark.

I'm curious though how deep the water was where the attack happened.

It was confirmed that Dan was fishing in 50 FOW when the attack happened.

Guys.... let's do our new site visitors a big favor and move any future shark discussions not specifically related to this incident over to the....

Official GWS Thread in our Fish Talk forum at:
http://www.norcalkayakanglers.com/index.php?topic=2516.0

Thanks!
ChuckE

Fine, but why is that thread in 'Fish Talk'? It's clearly some form of banishment. Given the now non-speculative nature of all
that talk, I think that thread deserves a more respectful home.

J

Guys.... let's do our new site visitors a big favor and move any future shark discussions not specifically related to this incident over to the Official GWS Thread in our Fish Talk forum

Fine, but why is that thread in 'Fish Talk'? It's clearly some form of banishment.

From the Merriam-Webster dictionary:

Main Entry: 1shark 
Pronunciation: \ˈshärk\
Function: noun
Etymology: Middle English
Date: 15th century
: any of numerous mostly marine cartilaginous fishes of medium to large size that have a fusiform body, lateral branchial clefts, and a tough usually dull gray skin roughened by minute tubercles and are typically active predators sometimes dangerous to humans
— shark·like  \ˈshärk-ˌlīk\ adjective

Let's get past this banter and get on with fishing.

Janice aka "Big J"

Guess I should throw in my thoughts and will say that it was shocking to find out about it on the 10:00 news on Monday.

First, Dan I am glad you are OK and like Mooch have an extra kayak you can use until your boat is repaired. PM me if you are interested.

Second, it will take some time for me to think about whether I would do anything differently except for avoiding BH in the future. I think chances are greater of being killed in an auto accident than by a shark at BH but it would be hard to justify to my wife and family why I was fishing in an area where a shark had attacked a kayak when there are so many other places to fish. In addition there was the incident last year at BH with the coast guard rescue. Unfortunately Chinese are superstitious and although logic would say it was OK to fish there, I think I will have to leave the BH fish for the rest of the brave souls who will continue to fish there. If you find a way to improve the BH Feng Shui, I might join you.

This is going to make me sound crazier than I already am but BH has a vibe to it. It is tough to explain but I don't usually feel normal and comfortable when I am there. This was way before this incident

This is going to make me sound crazier than I already am but BH has a vibe to it. It is tough to explain but I don't usually feel normal and comfortable when I am there. This was way before this incident

I hear ya Bill.....my spider senses keep telling me to stay clear of Davenport / Scott Creek and the South side of Pedro Point 

For those of you who have not paddled on the other side of Pedro Point (The Devils Slide area), there is a seal colony in this area. On one the calm days at linda Mar a few years ago, jdyak and I paddled all the way to Egg Rock by Devil's Slide....there were seals hanging out by the rocks and NONE of 'em were in the water....It seemed like they were alarmed as they kept their eyes on us the whole time. I felt very uneasy 

This is going to make me sound crazier than I already am but BH has a vibe to it. It is tough to explain but I don't usually feel normal and comfortable when I am there. This was way before this incident

Ditto.  Part of it is history....

1)  BH is near Pigeon Pt and Ano Nuevo, so no doubt it'll be sharky.
2)  Most of the guys I know who have fished the Bean for years have had bad experiences there.  Freddie's broken two Tiger Rods while crashing and burning the landing hard on two separate trips.
3)  I've had my worse wipe out in the middle of the cove.
4)  CafeCraig had a close encounter with whitey last September
5)  Eugene "paddlefish" and his dad have actually seen a GW attacking a seal off nearby Pigeon Pt.  Recently, Eugene had some run-ins with seals going nuts in the area.... and that spells nothing but trouble.
6)  Frankfishing sunk a yak, became "Frankswimming", and got rescued at the Bean.

.... and I know there are more bad juju stories that I don't even know about. Beware fellas.  It won't be the last incident there!

I was ready for anything...but NOW?...your FREAKIN ME OUT!

I got my SCOPACE and am ready to hit the farallons next.

Oh yeah, that coastal area has some funky juju for sure. Had a few GWS run-ins/sightings from Davenport all the way to HMB. Good to hear everyone's spider senses are working! Great places for a fish or surf.. just keep that third eye open..

Z

1)  BH is near Pigeon Pt and Ano Nuevo, so no doubt it'll be sharky.

Look at the known seal haul outs, Natural Bridges...Ano Nuevo....Farallon Islands.  You got rally points like Davenport, Pigeon, BH, Sail Rock, Pedro Point holding fish.  All the popular launch spots on the San Mateo coast are right in the commuter lane between hunting grounds.  I wonder what local migration patterns are bewteen those spots and waht depth of water they're cruisin at. 

This is going to make me sound crazier than I already am but BH has a vibe to it. It is tough to explain but I don't usually feel normal and comfortable when I am there. This was way before this incident

Ditto.  Part of it is history....

1)  BH is near Pigeon Pt and Ano Nuevo, so no doubt it'll be sharky.
2)  Most of the guys I know who have fished the Bean for years have had bad experiences there.  Freddie's broken two Tiger Rods while crashing and burning the landing hard on two separate trips.
3)  I've had my worse wipe out in the middle of the cove.
4)  CafeCraig had a close encounter with whitey last September
5)  Eugene "paddlefish" and his dad have actually seen a GW attacking a seal off nearby Pigeon Pt.  Recently, Eugene had some run-ins with seals going nuts in the area.... and that spells nothing but trouble.
6)  Frankfishing sunk a yak, became "Frankswimming", and got rescued at the Bean.

.... and I know there are more bad juju stories that I don't even know about. Beware fellas.  It won't be the last incident there!

We should tell the MLPA folks that we will trade them BH, Davenport, Ano Nuevo and Piedras Blancas for Cambria, Carmel and Monterey and take away the temptation.

Scott

I dunno...  Except for LM, that makes (easily accessible) coastal fishing south of the gate for me pretty much out of reach...  Bean is so rich and close, I dunno what I'd do without it.

I am thinkin that we're all "in play" anywhere from SC to Pt Reyes, actually Bodega area too - the odds might be higher in certain places, but are still heavily in our favor against an incident. 

My takeaway is that chances of a full-on relentless assault against a 14'+ yak are extremely, extremely low, certainly low enough to keep me putting out to yakfish in the red triangle.  (And when there are 18 yaks out instead of 6, we've just made the odds 200% higher.)  Drive-bys and test bites are probably a lot more likely, but don't make me nearly as nervous as the thought did before.

I am however taking the new precaution of having a VHF when I launch from surf.  While it was highly recommended before (esp. as my dry-bagged cell does no good for me in some places), I am now personally regarding it as essential equipment.  (Another precaution - I'm not going out alone, like I did 3 weeks ago there.)

BTW.. Thanks Chuck for (repeatedly) reminding me of this, my run-in, in the past few days!       It's drilled in solid.  My radio will be here Friday....

OK, Ive got a hookup posted for the bean on sat, so I guess its safe to say thats a no-go!
Muir salmon?