Shark bites Spearfisherman

[dshorwich]

Diving and spearfishing Cobia hanging off bull Sharks at 70 year's old !!!

Shove your golf cart, I want to be like that at 70, that's bad azz.

Still...shooting cobia off the backs of bull sharks.....???

I'm remembering this one for future reference. :mrcool:

Between taking part in feeding dives and having plenty of friends who participate in the "Running of the Bulls," I can't knock the practice of shooting cobia off sharks too much...

...if the viz really was about five feet, then shooting fish in bull shark territory is piling up a lot of risk factors

I'm confused - where did the original news report say anything about shooting cobia off of sharks? The report says the shark "came out of nowhere", and the victim makes reference to a fish he saw "about 40 feet away", so evidently the vis was better than 5'. Do people have information on this incident beyond the posted news story, or are they just making up details as they go along?

 

[Johnoly]

.... Do people have information on this incident beyond the posted news story,....

Yes we do,,,,,he's part of the Jupiter / WPB spearo friends.

 

[dumpsterDiver]

I'm confused - where did the original news report say anything about shooting cobia off of sharks? The report says the shark "came out of nowhere", and the victim makes reference to a fish he saw "about 40 feet away", so evidently the vis was better than 5'. Do people have information on this incident beyond the posted news story, or are they just making up details as they go along?

The victim is going to be giving a little talk about the incident at our club meeting tomorrow. It will be interesting to get the real story.

 

[HalcyonDaze]

The victim is going to be giving a little talk about the incident at our club meeting tomorrow. It will be interesting to get the real story.

Any updates from Rick's talk?

 

[dumpsterDiver]

Yeah he seems to be doing amazingly well. They were not using chum. They arrived at the new dive site and the buddy freedive down and quickly speared a cobia. I'm not sure of the depth, probably 60-85 ft range. The first diver yelled cobia.. when he arrived on the surface, meaning that there were more cobia down there. The diver went to put the fish in the boat and Rick dove alone.

He said visibility was 10-15 ft, which is pretty poor for us. He went down 40 feet, saw no cobia and then got bitten really hard while at a depth of 40 feet. The attack was from the rear and it looked like the shark engulfed his entire shoulder and a portion of his torso and head. He said it knocked his mask off and the hit was so hard he was almost unconscious, but somehow made the 40 ft swim with no mask. He was able to climb over the side of the boat on his own power. He had not speared a fish or even seen any cobia on his dive on this site.

Not bad, for a 70 yr old, freediving and making it up after something like that. The shark did not try to eat him, it was one bite and release and the shark did not shake or twist or the wounds would have been different and much worse. The bottom third of one ear was nearly severed, so the teeth were very close to his neck.. only an inch or two from probable death if his carotid would have been hit. 200 stitches I think he said.. most on the torso I think. He will probably be out of the water for 3 more weeks, he hopes.

He was wearing a 5 mm jacket with hood which he believes provided some meaningful protection.

They were diving off Jupiter, I'm not sure how far they were from the shark feeding site(s) that the local operator uses.

I'm not quite sure, but I think he said he didn't see the shark at all. He got a fast boat ride, a cool helicopter ride that he said he couldn't really enjoy and was treated by a Doctor at St. Mary's who is somewhat of an expert on handling shark attack victims.

A few years ago, this doctor treated another local diver who I know. Anthony who was scuba diving and spearing lost a decent portion of his calf muscle when a bullshark ate it and came back for more - but his buddies were able to fight the shark off as it resumed the attack. A dive buddy of mine was with him (a veterinarian) and was able to apply a tourniquet and he said the blood loss was almost fatal in that case.

Rick Neumann speaks about shark bite -

 

[drrich2]

Thanks for the update.

I'm not quite sure, but I think he said he didn't see the shark at all.

So, how strong are the odds it was a bull shark? I'm guessing this would've been mentioned if it had occurred, but I'll ask anyway...any chance a shark tooth got caught in the wetsuit or gear & retrieved? It'd be interesting to confirm the species. I suppose with a mouth the size of what you describe to get that coverage in one bite likely narrows down the species considerably. Tiger or large bull. I understand lemon sharks get around 10 feet; is that a possibility?

They were diving off Jupiter, I'm not sure how far they were from the shark feeding site(s) that the local operator uses.

I wondered when this issue would come up. Seems to me a shark related injury is going to occur eventually in the area, and when it happens near where shark feed dives are conducted, the question of whether there was a causative association is going to come up, with no way to know for sure either way.

Richard.

 

[dumpsterDiver]

I think everyone is assuming it was a bull. the teeth marks are pretty spread out. The cobia school with sharks, very often bullsharks. Tigers are relatively rare here..Although they are attracted and concentrated at the feeding sites... no doubt about that.

 

[HalcyonDaze]

So did his buddy shoot the first cobia off a bull shark, or was the first sign of a shark present when it hit Rick?

60-85 sounds like some ways inshore of where we do the feeds. That's not saying the sharks at those sites don't move in closer to shore at times. Right now the Emerald is doing the Hole in the Wall/Deep Ledge and the Bonaire, which are 120-140 and 90 feet of water respectively. I think Calypso is still doing their thing at Gary's, a bit farther out from where Randy got busted by FFWCC last year. The Deep Ledge is usually where we see bulls running in groups of 10-20. Bulls occasionally turn up on the Bonaire, but from what I've seen they're usually skittish. I'm not sure if it's because of the tigers; I've seen them stay away when they're the only sharks there and I've seen footage of them coming in with a tiger present.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GnqC1YTD54o

In general bulls are not the main target of the feeds; they don't cooperate for the camera like the lemons and tigers do. They're more like cats - they hang around at a distance waiting for you to drop some food and don't get particularly close to the divers. Last time I was out we had about 10 shadowing us from below on the Deep Ledge; they didn't turn up until about the last third of the dive. Since we didn't have bait and as far as I know no one shot anything (aside from the half-dozen lionfish I strafed and left for dead at the start of the dive) they hung well below us and didn't get close. There was one smallish bull on the wrecks that day who was even more skittish than the great hammerhead; the only time I saw it come relatively close to the bait was at the very start of the third dive, before the divers dropped to the sand. I've rarely seen them take bait off a spear and never from a hand; most of the time the bait has to be on the sand or dropped from above.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qg6XKkw8Q8w

Personally, I think bulls are typically more concerned about staying out of sight than tigers. If they're not just at the edge of your visual range, they're probably slightly past it. That's why I'd be very skittish about shooting in murky water; they might feel they can get away with mugging you whereas in clearer conditions they'd be more cautious. Tigers seem to have a more brazen "I'm here - what are you going to do about it?" approach.

 

[dumpsterDiver]

I don't know more details than I wrote. Sorry.

We have bulls come up to us freedivers.. a lot!

 

[tekkydiver]

Here's a How To video

https://vimeo.com/125628785