Newbie & shark question?

Hi everyone, puttering with Kayak fishing for a couple years. Just joining the group. Tried fishing live bait for halibut last month in Santa Barbara area. …one kelp bass, a stingray (?), and a great white swimming by to checking me out!!?!  Anybody else have sharks do an exploratory swim by? I wasn’t too worried, should I be?

Lol.  Nice first post.  Welcome to the group.  Sharks I guess are not that dangerous to us, but yeah, I guess most are worried.  If you aren't, you're in the right place!   

Hi JSacfish, welcome 

Welcome to NCKA JSacfish.   

welcome!
there a lot of folks on here that have been "scoped" by the gray fish. I've seen them probably  three times in the last 10 years.
Where were you fishing in the SB area? I grew up down that way and fished/dove quite a few spots between Gaviota and Ventura.

Welcome to the Madness…

saw one eye balling me up at Shelter Cove 2019 had my heart pumping!!! My revo 13’s previous owner “the Inn Keeper” got chewed on the yr before and my thoughts were “I might be on the menu”  was maybe 50 yards away (less) Stockwell asked me if I got a picture? My response was Hell No I’m getting the F out of here HA…

Bought his kayak thinking what are the odds hahaha

Headed up there tomorrow and my thoughts will be “plz don’t eat me, plz don’t eat me” 

Good luck  Brudda…

Hasn't happened to me in 14 years of kayaking, so maybe your not going to see one ever again, but who knows?! I was out in my full Adventure Island once when a fellow member was hit, but still haven't even seen one yet and many others haven't either.  With the increase in shark sightings, and the report of one attacking a Capitola Skiff, I decided I could spend the 500$ for a shark shield, and hope that it works.  As my good friend FishMaster1 *always* says, "If you want to know if there are sharks out there, stick your finger in the water and taste it.  If it's salty, they are out there" 

I was off Carpenteria.  I saw, what I imagine was the same shark, the next day from the shore (just the fin… cue the Jaws music….) along with “shark activity in the area” signs put up on the beach. After my experience I searched the local newspaper to find there 5 young Great Whites spotted by drone in the same area a month earlier.
I noticed it when it turned just off my right back side and cruzed by maybe 3 feet from me.

I was off Carpenteria.  I saw, what I imagine was the same shark, the next day from the shore (just the fin… cue the Jaws music….) along with “shark activity in the area” signs put up on the beach. After my experience I searched the local newspaper to find there 5 young Great Whites spotted by drone in the same area a month earlier.
I noticed it when it turned just off my right back side and cruzed by maybe 3 feet from me.

Ah yes! they are there for sure. We've got our own "shark park" here with regular sightings of smaller fish (6-10ft) this time of year.

Welcome to the Madness.  We call it that just for the obsession and potentially lifestyle changing force that is kayak fishing, but the ever present possibility of a Great White encounter adds even more to the meaning.

I know, personally, at least 10 guys who have had the Landlord touch their yak, and I know several others who have seen it.  If it touches you, you remember, and it may well be an event that changes your desire for water time.  Nothing wrong with that - mad respect to any who curb their offshore enthusiasm after such a harrowing experience.  When it doesn't touch you, the curiosity and the added thrill and ability to feel alive on a new level can be like a drug.  I'm a junkee, and I'm working on it.  We should all hope to grow through and past such things - like the salmon obsession...

Anyway, here's a clip from my first sighting that came almost 20 years into kayaking and more than 30 years after getting into abalone diving.



I like to give people shit for not getting the camera out when they see it, but I didn't think of that camera at all until the VW Bug was over by Rob.  I'm glad I got it out, and I'm glad the shark did a lap and came by me again.  I'm also glad it didn't touch me.

YOLO is an amazing way to live, but get the right equipment and be smart out there, bro.  This sport and the offshore wilderness are fucking amazing.

Just once with big buoy one fall morning out of trinidad.  Many many of us have see them or been scoped by them.  Nobody has been hurt other than kayaks full of holes, and a torn bootie on one luck sumbitch.

Not to say that it can't happen, but i think our track record of incidents : injuries is pretty good so far.

My two brothers and I - while fishing on the Tandem Island - have seen one do a full breach, had one swirl behind us and then do a little follow with its fin out (I reached for my camera but didn't have enough time), and were bumped by one at Point Reyes (I saw it charge up from the bottom on the fish finder).

All super cool experiences on a full TI. Not sure how I'd feel on a single-hull kayak. Encounters seem to be getting more common, and it's unclear to whether it's due to more people in the water or more sharks. Probably both.

sharks schmarks. you're human

In decades of kayak fishing the ocean I saw my 1st landlord yesterday at Santa Cruz right before we entered the mouth of the harbor.

Welcome aboard, the landlord foes his usual rounds. These are his waters.