Shark deterrent

I'm skeptical that you could actually land a descent shot after a surprise ambush attack from below. Kayaking is not for everybody and that's OK. A small skiff may be more comfortable for you.

Salmonella there’s a guy in Hawaii who makes a gaff w a straight point that might at least make you feel like you had an equalizer handy

I’m not convinced the SS is all that useful deterring a massive beast that accelerates to attack speed from way deep underneath you

Ive chatted w two marine biologists coworkers about this and both were interested to hear about GWs breaching on fish that were being landed by boaters One had worked under the local GW guru They both said the energy used breaching was usually only spent on big payoff like mammals so hinted the sharks were pretty desperate for nutrition

I considered taking my 38 but 1) it would rust and 2) would probably blow off my nuts Plus anything would have to be on your person and the only thing practical is a knife

So you and your little knife vs 2000 or more of toothy shark

Truth is we’re all counting on luck

Good stuff. From what I’ve witnessed, they don’t come out of the deep, you see them on top before hand at a distance on the top. I would think a motor would be a good deterrent as is. This is all theoretical thinking by the way guys, it’s a good discussion and I appreciate everyone’s input. I’m envisioning a gun mount 3 feet up off the water…😁 Plastic bag…

I'm skeptical that you could actually land a descent shot after a surprise ambush attack from below. Kayaking is not for everybody and that's OK. A small skiff may be more comfortable for you.

I’ll surprise you!

Sharks don’t come out of the depths in my experience. They let their presence be known if your on the top as a defense mechanism.

Of all the sharks I’ve seen across the bay, the GWS is not scared of anything, not even a 40 foot sailboat. Everything else stays away.

What's your point? A bigger boat isn't meant to scare the sharks, but rather to protect you from one.
As mdoka said, perhaps you're not cut out for kayaking. Try a skiff.

Of all the sharks I’ve seen across the bay, the GWS is not scared of anything, not even a 40 foot sailboat. Everything else stays away.

What's your point? A bigger boat isn't meant to scare the sharks, but rather to protect you from one.
As mdoka said, perhaps you're not cut out for kayaking. Try a skiff.

My point is I’m not on my bigger boat. I’m on a kayak trying to be safe in the ultimate safety situation.

The bigger boat isn’t for safety. It’s a different experience as you know.

If I’m out there 4 miles on my kayak, what’s the best safety precaution? After reading about Bushy’s encounter, what will be safer? That is my point. That is my interest.

Maybe the answer is we plan those deep trips together as a team. 💪🏻

One interesting thing here is the long perspective.  In the past I hesitated even posting if I saw something because all you would get back is bullshit rudeness and skepticism Not that I get butthurt about internet insults but why waste your breath So the few times I posted something I usually went back and deleted

Now with all the yaks out there either seeing them or actually being attacked it’s finally real

Not sure this is helpful salmonella but after a few years not fishing salmon because all my ocean time is spent swimming with my son while he surfs, I’m thinking about going back to salmon fishing maybe even before this season ends

So I’m thinking a little along the same lines as you

I’m a minimalist so what I carry will be my flare gun which I’m way more likely to aim at a boat heading my direction, and the very sharp knife I usually carry on my vest anyway If bang sticks were readily available I might think about having one of those

I posted before about meeting a commercial ab diver probably in 1972 who was attacked by a full size GW out at the farallons must’ve been late 60’s  Apart from the really impressive rows of scar tissue he was sporting from neck to ankles one thing that stuck in my mind was the shark hit him and shook him then spit him out and swam off

The impressive part, when it came back he grabbed it by the corner of it’s mouth with the arm that wasn’t sliced up His dive tender was on the boat realized the hookah line was peeling faster than a diver could swim so reeled him up

Not exactly a comforting story there

This is a dumb and pointless conversation. Checking out.

I’m not convinced the SS is all that useful deterring a massive beast that accelerates to attack speed from way deep underneath you

As I mention in every discussion here about the Shark Shield, take a look at Table 4 in this document:

https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0052/3862/0195/files/Effects_of_an_Electric_Field_on_White_Sharks.pdf

In sharky waters, they towed a decoy that looked like a seal on the surface of the water (a good analog to a kayak on the surface), with a SS deployed below. They did 98 tows with the SS off and 91 with the SS turned on. With the SS off, there were 16 breaches and 27 "surface interactions", with the SS turned on, there were 0 breaches and 2 surface interactions. It seems to me that's a pretty serious study and provides good evidence that the SS will greatly reduce the risk of a kayaker coming face-to-face with a shark.

Wrt the dramatic difference in breaching attacks, the researchers theorize:

Considering the energetic cost of breaching, white sharks might be less likely to breach if they can sense any factor that could reduce their chance of being successful or which appears different to natural situations.

In other words, thanks to the SS, a breaching attack is likely to be aborted before the "accelerates to attack speed from way deep underneath you" part of the attack has begun.

How did the fish respond?

My point is I’d consider sharks waters the Farallons. In many traversals from SC to Monterey, I saw 2 GWS. $600 on a safety net that needs to be tested regularly seems a little excessive. We don’t have Jaws coming from the deep bottom chomping up kayaks daily or ever. Gun in hand, you get attacked, could be a decent deterrent.

How did the fish respond?

According to research, (by the mfr and others) the effect of a SS on regular fish which do not have the Ampullae of Lorenzini receptors is negligible “in the protective field” produced by the SS. It’s another thing if they actually touch the wand, just as if you do.