I've seen Tigers twice, never in Florida.
Abaco Island in 1991, I was 9. It must have been 14 feet long. I measured everything by my father's height and this was definitely twice his length and he's 6 feet tall.
I wasn't afraid but when my father started hurrying me back to the boat I realized something was wrong. He swam backwards to protect me from behind.

We saw another one on Big Isaac off Bimini. Stupid to spear there and everyone knows it but damn there's fish.
We saw about 4 tigers that day. They don't swim like any other shark that's for sure. It's so strange. And every fish Freaks out when they cruise by.
If I saw a GW I'd probably freak out and I don't think many of you would have the self control to stay calm.
Shitty part is if you are attacked even if it's just a check bite or a bump bite and you're shorediving you're screwed. It's hard enough to swim a mile or two by yourself imagine trying to swim back and drag a buddy and the whole time trying to keep him from being attacked again or from bleeding to death.
Scary Stuff. That's what scares me.

Geez, you are all so old fashioned. Next time I see one, I'll gently cup my hand over their snout & flip them over - it puts them to sleep. Seriously, I saw it on tv

Last time I saw a tiger it was too close to shoot & I poked it in the gills. Good thing I had the long flopper so it wasn't embedded for long.

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May I borrow your carbon credits?

The speed of the situation may dictate otherwise. Everytime I see a large shark underwater that isn't a Sandtiger I am always impressed by their speed.

Guys quit worrying about it, if Whitey wants you, he's gonna get you, your measly 60' freeshafts and PPD's ain't gonna stop Whitey (it's like attacking a Sherman tank with a flyswatter, way too thick). If that fish can propel itself out of the water to skyrocket on a seal, you WILL NOT be able to whip your gun around fast enough to make a difference. Shit, I don't even know if there would be enough time for your brain to send a signal down to your hand to pull the trigger. I think you might register an 'ohh shit' before you get bit and that's it. If a GW is coming in to bite you, he's comin' so fast and hard, and from behind, you have no chance. Your fate is his decision, don't delude yourself. You are now lower on the foodchain.

Just dive however you normally would and don't worry about it, if you see one, calmly/hurridly leave the area and pray while you ascend.... pray boy.

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Damn Tommy way to kill the mood. After Marcus' "You're the apex predator so act like it" comment I felt like I just finished a kung fu movie. Now not so much LOL. I guess you both are right given the circumstance. If you see a curious one and you have the chance to man up and hopefully convince the animal that you are boss, cool. On the other hand if you don't see him and he wants you, you are well fuct. Writing this reminds me of one of the many things that I have learned from the guys on here, never freak out period. I'll keep the fact that we are not on the normal menu for them in mind and hopefully we don't become a deliciously.

Luckily, I've never seen a great white. But from what I've heard, I think you are right. You aren't likely to even see it coming.

But if you do see it coming, one story gives me hope. A few years ago a guy at Catalina Island dove down and lined up on a school of yellowtail, only to have them part and make room for a big white charging straight at the him. He shot it in the face, and it veered off at the last second. Of course it took his gun and everything else with it, but I think he considered it a good investment.

Like so many stories that I hear second hand, I wondered about this one. But then just a couple of weeks later I happened to be at Jay Riffe's shop and the guy himself walked in, so I got it straight from the horse's mouth.

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Wow...cheated death. That doesn't happen very often.

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In the beginning of a change the patriot is a scarce man, and brave, and hated and scorned. When his cause succeeds, the timid join him, for then it costs nothing to be a patriot. ~Mark Twain

If your lucky enough to spot a GW closing in you might be able to change the outcome. The chances of the happening are next to zero. The stars and moon where aligned just right for the guy you met.

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I've never worn a Shark Shield and I hesitate to restart the argument over whether of not they work.

But for what its worth, a guy I know reported on Spearboard that he was in that same spot on the back side of Catalina mentioned in my previous post. His buddy was wearing a Shark Shield and he happened to be close to him. He got bowled over by the backwash of a great white turning on a dime, apparently in reaction to the SS.

Of course it could be argued that it had some other reason for aborting the run, but he doesn't think so.

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If it makes him feel better wearing a SS than so be it. I think their is plenty of footage of GW's aborting a predation at the last minute for what ever reason. IMHO I think the SS is what got him noticed in the first place. Whites are very sensitive to electrical fields and curious. It wouldn't surprise me if it came in to explore what was causing it.

I think the SS works well for HH, bulls, and other small sharks but once a shark reaches 12+ ft all bets are off. As Megabeast said, if it wants you it's gong to take you, that's it and their isn't anything that could be done to stop it.

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I think an ss may deter curious a shark but I have seen footage of Mako's wired up come eat out of the guys hand. So if it wants you it will get you even with an ss.

I have only had one encounter with a serious shark ie: one that could mess up your dive trip. Diving a hooka in Costa Rica about a 7-8 footer (Unsure of the species) was on me, head on,...only thing i could think of or had time to do was shoot him,...lucky he turned at about 5 feet and i didn't have to find out,..also I would of said later to my line shaft set up. All of the "I woulds" and planning go out the window in a hurry,..I'm with Gamble and the other folks with the opinion that if he wants ya and your ticket is up.......thats it
Of course I have been circled by two huge nurse sharks in the keys that just wouldn't leave me alone,..the bigger of the two was realy getting aggressive and he had 7 big white marks on his back from where i was jabbing him as hard as i could,...I know that a nurse isn't as cool as the other big hungries but I still didn't like the idea of those big curved needle teeth buried in my thigh, ,...I could of gave it the 30.06 but didn't,..#2 showed up and it was too much to keep an eye on ad still hunt,....we moved to a new spot.

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Not that everybody can be this perpared, but if there were a chance you could run into 12ft+ of shark, there is this. Looky here, they make a 50cal powerhead. If that round can cut boats or airplanes in half and kill folks 600yd away through brick walls, I am sure it can dispatch a shark at 10 or 20 feet.

http://www.beco-products.com/beco_catalog.htm

I could carry the "little" 06 PH and the 50 if there really was a need. If I did see something longer than myself I would definately have ammunition on the end of the spear and exit the water slowly. I wonder how loud a 50cal PH is when it goes off. I wish there was footage of somebody using one of those.

Besides that, you can always take your tank off, shove it in his mouth perfectly, and shoot it with your Garand that you happen to have in yer back pocket!!

My 1st dive with my new Shark Shield 12/20/07 had mixed results. We were shooting fish in amongst 5 Sand Tigers 6-9 FT. and a Duskie arond 7-8 Ft over head. Since I was on the bottome 90% of the dive I don't think the Shark Shield was really put to its best test as I understand that the field is not working correctly if you are on the bottom, and I mean I was BC defalated on the bottom in 112 fsw. Within 15 secs on the bottom my brother punches a 6-8' Sand Tiger with his fist as he said it was 6-12" from my back. Then we go to work shooting fish. I got 2 Grouper and my brother gets a 25#AJ and a scamp. All of this is within 30 feet of where we hit the bottom. I proceed to swim 30 feet away and 20' off the bottom and a similar sized Sand Tiger swims under me. Well F*CK that sand Tigers move slow. When the Shark Shield drapped over his back he hauled A*S like nothing I've ever seen.
I see sharks on about 30% of my dives so I will continue to wear the SS. To me there not the best thing, but better than nothing and I will still continue to carry my (2) 30.06 PPD. Thanks Ray Odor. Those things are great.

along with aborting runs, sharks miss sometimes when theyre closing in for the kill. I was in the water with a very large hammerhead near alligator reef in the keys and i watched him attack a sea turtle about 10 feet away, guess he didnt like me =D

I don't think that's the .50 BMG round that you're thinking of. There are several rounds made in .50 that would be more useful than a BMG. I would be more afraid of being in the water when a .50 BMG goes off than I would if there were sharks around.

I think I disagree with this tactic. Aiming for the snout is a lot more difficult a shot than aiming for the gills, particularly considering how fast you need to make this shot and also considering the high stress and tension you're going to be under.
I have a lot of balls dealing with bulls and other sharks I encounter here, but I'm just not sure how I would react to a white shark. I agree though that if you see it, he's not trying to eat you. I'm not sure the "establish dominance" theory works with a 20 ft white shark.
I think the freeshaft to the gills is always the best defense if it comes to that. Aiming for the snout would get you in trouble. Besides that, you've created a unicorn with a deadly dagger sticking out from it's head. If it decides to thrash about to try to throw it, remember you're in the area, it could end up bad for you too.

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Capt. Sean Patterson

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