2 sharks off Swanny

 

Headed down to swanny for a whiting bash on sunday. Arrived at our spot around 7am. I filled up the home made burley bomb (a 3/4m piece of PVC riddled with holes) with minced fish bones, guts and pellets and dropped it over the side (approx 11m depth). Within 3 mins we had what seemed to be a 3m tiger shark cirlcing our boat and swimming underneath it. We had no probelms/ fear with this shark. 1 min later in came what we are sure was a white that was close to the length of the boat (5.5m half old school cabin cruiser). This thing was huge and had the girth of a cow. Feeling uneasy i pulled in t burley bomb only to find the thick chain attached to the bomb and had been chewed through. We watched this thing for another 30 seconds and as it cruised by the boat within touching distance we decided to move on. this thing was big.

 


Albee Mangles's picture

Posts: 985

Date Joined: 20/05/08

I think we're gonna need

Mon, 2010-01-18 11:57

a bigger boat.....

Ewan's picture

Posts: 271

Date Joined: 15/05/06

hooley dooley...how thick

Mon, 2010-01-18 12:38

hooley dooley...

how thick was the chain?

sheeet...I'm training for the rotto and busso jetty swims by doing lots of ocean swimming at beaches in the area!! I think sharks officially went from the back of my mind to the front....

young_yakker's picture

Posts: 261

Date Joined: 05/09/09

you are brett with your kayak

Mon, 2010-01-18 12:43

you are brett with your kayak

eddie's picture

Posts: 303

Date Joined: 07/02/08

if a shark bit through the

Mon, 2010-01-18 13:06

if a shark bit through the chain, wouldn't you have felt an almighty tug in the boat?  I would have been a bit nervous as well.

dallasthedog's picture

Posts: 101

Date Joined: 22/04/09

the chain was the type you

Mon, 2010-01-18 13:15

the chain was the type you use to secure your trailer to your vehicle - the back up chain

 

we kicked ourselves for not taking a photo but fear makes you move quickly - i'm sure we were very safe but i felt nervous in my old boat and being the skipper i had the final say to move on - no one disagredd with me mind you!

dallasthedog's picture

Posts: 101

Date Joined: 22/04/09

the burley bomb

Mon, 2010-01-18 13:19

the burley bomb was tied to the chain which was tied to 200lb line connected to the boat - i pulled up the 200lb line and a remnant of chain - we felt nothing - i think it severed the chain with a bite rather then snapping it with a pull

after that we used the remaining burley 5 kms off floreat and had small hammerhead and bronzy action - i got 20kgs of fish frames from IGA (50 cents a kilo) put i through a sausage mincer and then added chook pellets and pollard and oil - it was good stuff

 

nackers's picture

Posts: 341

Date Joined: 23/10/09

far k

Mon, 2010-01-18 21:01

been snorklin all day chasin occys might have to put all my pots on a rope i thinks

wopjrb's picture

Posts: 1407

Date Joined: 05/03/09

how does a shark bite thru chain?

Mon, 2010-01-18 21:26

doesnt sound plausible man ?

Faulkner Family's picture

Posts: 17582

Date Joined: 11/03/08

they bite through chain with

Mon, 2010-01-18 21:43

they bite through chain with their teeth. have you seen where the big sharks bite through the cages people are diving in . well there is your answer

____________________________________________________________________________

RUSS and SANDY. A family that fishes together stays together

Posts: 335

Date Joined: 27/08/09

i could understand a shark

Mon, 2010-01-18 21:43

i could understand a shark snapping chain with a pull if the chain had spent the last 30yrs under water

they are fish not swimming bolt cutters

____________________________________________________________________________

lox ambassador

Faulkner Family's picture

Posts: 17582

Date Joined: 11/03/08

have you seen the size of

Mon, 2010-01-18 21:48

have you seen the size of the teeth in some of these big sharks and could you imagine how much pressure these things could administer in 1 bite.they could take your leg off without you even feeling it 

____________________________________________________________________________

RUSS and SANDY. A family that fishes together stays together

Faulkner Family's picture

Posts: 17582

Date Joined: 11/03/08

it would have been a bit

Mon, 2010-01-18 21:45

it would have been a bit exciting at first . when realaty sets in you get the heck out of there

____________________________________________________________________________

RUSS and SANDY. A family that fishes together stays together

wopjrb's picture

Posts: 1407

Date Joined: 05/03/09

i spose

Mon, 2010-01-18 21:46

just hard to imagine it happenin - cages are made of alluminium chain is hard - harder than the teeth in a white pionter mouth

wopjrb's picture

Posts: 1407

Date Joined: 05/03/09

opens a interesting debate anyway

Mon, 2010-01-18 21:47

" can a white pointer bite thru steel chain?"

dallasthedog's picture

Posts: 101

Date Joined: 22/04/09

When I pulled up the 200lb

Tue, 2010-01-19 08:39

When I pulled up the 200lb line, the amount of chain that came up was less than what I had put down - I would think that large white shark could bite through chain - I am going to google this now.

It was very exciting - I want to see it again - I hope the next time I will have a bit more guts to get a snap shop with the beast

dallasthedog's picture

Posts: 101

Date Joined: 22/04/09

I came up with this on my

Tue, 2010-01-19 08:49

I came up with this on my search - I can't say its fact - draw your own conclusions

 

http://www.answerbag.com/q_view/9872

Ewan's picture

Posts: 271

Date Joined: 15/05/06

North-west blowies will bite

Tue, 2010-01-19 09:02

North-west blowies will bite straight through a 5/0 hook...and as hardcore as their teeth are, they aren't as hardcore as a big white's!! Swimming bolt-cutters indeed!!

Ewan's picture

Posts: 271

Date Joined: 15/05/06

My mate who lives down near

Tue, 2010-01-19 09:08

My mate who lives down near Bremer had a 3.5m white (just a baby!!) hammer his tinny, went to town on it, from his story it was definitely trying to get through the boat to get to him!

Anyways, I've seen the marks, and with what little purchase it could get wrapping it's mouth around a tinny, they are impressive gouges that remain in that boat!

I'm sure it would do some damage to it's teeth but I reckon a biggun could get through a light anchor chain...add in a weak link or some corrosion, etc etc...

Surprise you didn't get a sign of it on the line though. Still - the evidence seems pretty solid. Unless you didn't do up the d-shackle tight enough and it just fell off!!  

sarcasm0's picture

Posts: 1396

Date Joined: 25/06/09

Shackles

Tue, 2010-01-19 16:25

Dunno if im telling you something you dont know, but I read the bit about "tight enough" and thought I might mention that you shouldnt really have a shackle pin in tight. You should do them up finger tight, and then back it off a 1/4 of a turn. This is because if the shackle experiences a sudden or excessive load and even slightly deforms, you will never get the pin out, leaving you to cut it off.

Because of the thread on the pin and the way the force is designed to travel through the body of the shackle, the pin should hold in regardless. If you are concerned, you can wire the pin to the body of the shackle or switch from a screw pin shackle to a safety shackle with split pin and a nut, but these are generally used for fixed applications.

I knew this from working for a rigging supplier for a couple of years, but was reminded on a recent trip to Walpole. I noticed when we got there that the shackle from the trailer safety chain had turned so the load was diagonally across the shackle, putting all the load onto the screw end of the pin. The boat was tyed down, but had still moved on the trailer and put tension on the saftey chain. It had deformed that leg of the shackle outwards, and dragged the pin partially out of the female threaded section. Luckily it was so far out I got it with a turn of the pliers. The boat was still secured by the winch, but still we replaced it in town at the earliest opportunity.

Anyway these things do bend, and it can be a pain in the arse. This was a 8mm shackle, on a 4.3 mt quinny with a 40hp. Not relating it to the sharky bit either:)

sarcasm0's picture

Posts: 1396

Date Joined: 25/06/09

Shackles

Tue, 2010-01-19 16:27

Dunno if im telling you something you dont know, but I read the bit about "tight enough" and thought I might mention that you shouldnt really have a shackle pin in tight. You should do them up finger tight, and then back it off a 1/4 of a turn. This is because if the shackle experiences a sudden or excessive load and even slightly deforms, you will never get the pin out, leaving you to cut it off.

Because of the thread on the pin and the way the force is designed to travel through the body of the shackle, the pin should hold in regardless. If you are concerned, you can wire the pin to the body of the shackle or switch from a screw pin shackle to a safety shackle with split pin and a nut, but these are generally used for fixed applications.

I knew this from working for a rigging supplier for a couple of years, but was reminded on a recent trip to Walpole. I noticed when we got there that the shackle from the trailer safety chain had turned so the load was diagonally across the shackle, putting all the load onto the screw end of the pin. The boat was tyed down, but had still moved on the trailer and put tension on the saftey chain. It had deformed that leg of the shackle outwards, and dragged the pin partially out of the female threaded section. Luckily it was so far out I got it with a turn of the pliers. The boat was still secured by the winch, but still we replaced it in town at the earliest opportunity.

Anyway these things do bend, and it can be a pain in the arse. This was a 8mm shackle, on a 4.3 mt quinny with a 40hp. Not relating it to the sharky bit either:)

sarcasm0's picture

Posts: 1396

Date Joined: 25/06/09

Shackles

Tue, 2010-01-19 17:56

Dunno if im telling you something you dont know, but I read the bit about "tight enough" and thought I might mention that you shouldnt really have a shackle pin in tight. You should do them up finger tight, and then back it off a 1/4 of a turn. This is because if the shackle experiences a sudden or excessive load and even slightly deforms, you will never get the pin out, leaving you to cut it off.

Because of the thread on the pin and the way the force is designed to travel through the body of the shackle, the pin should hold in regardless. If you are concerned, you can wire the pin to the body of the shackle or switch from a screw pin shackle to a safety shackle with split pin and a nut, but these are generally used for fixed applications.

I knew this from working for a rigging supplier for a couple of years, but was reminded on a recent trip to Walpole. I noticed when we got there that the shackle from the trailer safety chain had turned so the load was diagonally across the shackle, putting all the load onto the screw end of the pin. The boat was tyed down, but had still moved on the trailer and put tension on the saftey chain. It had deformed that leg of the shackle outwards, and dragged the pin partially out of the female threaded section. Luckily it was so far out I got it with a turn of the pliers. The boat was still secured by the winch, but still we replaced it in town at the earliest opportunity.

Anyway these things do bend, and it can be a pain in the arse. This was a 8mm shackle, on a 4.3 mt quinny with a 40hp. Not relating it to the sharky bit either:)

dallasthedog's picture

Posts: 101

Date Joined: 22/04/09

funny you should say that -

Tue, 2010-01-19 09:45

funny you should say that - my father in law said the exact same thing (about not trying up the bolt) - however on close inspection there is defintley some chain missing

another point - we had loads of berley still in the boat - I am wondering if the sharks could smell the burley in the boat hence the circling of the vessel

 

Leemo's picture

Posts: 3712

Date Joined: 22/02/07

years and years ago, my old

Tue, 2010-01-19 10:01

years and years ago, my old man was fishing swanbourne of a huge boat. he hooked a huge shark on his alvey, so he tied his alvey to the boat. they got towed around for 3 hours, before he was bitten off..... through heavy chain and a 10/0 hook!

____________________________________________________________________________

bludgin' since 94'

wopjrb's picture

Posts: 1407

Date Joined: 05/03/09

how do you attatch heavy chain to a 10/0

Tue, 2010-01-19 22:12

ive got some 12/0s and i tell ya now the eyes way to small to thread a 10/0 on .....hardly plausible

Posts: 335

Date Joined: 27/08/09

i just read that link about

Tue, 2010-01-19 10:21

i just read that link about the largest shark caught i could of believed it until i read "the great wight shark is the largest fish in the ocean" wrong the whale shark and correct me if i am wrong the basking shark are larger 

____________________________________________________________________________

lox ambassador

Posts: 809

Date Joined: 01/05/09

define biggest. longest

Tue, 2010-01-19 16:33

define biggest. longest would be an oar fish. heaviest would be a basking

carnarvonite's picture

Posts: 8513

Date Joined: 24/07/07

Biggest

Tue, 2010-01-19 18:25

The biggest of all sharks alive now is arguably the whale shark being known to grow to a length of 16 metres

sarcasm0's picture

Posts: 1396

Date Joined: 25/06/09

Chain

Tue, 2010-01-19 11:11

Just a few things here about chain. 

"the chain was the type you use to secure your trailer to your vehicle - the back up chain" In the old days people would juut use any old hardware chain.  About 2 years ago they changed the law, and you now need approved load rated trailer chain. Its not as strong as chains used in lifting slings but you get the idea. 

Also chain is designed to take the load in a straight line through the length of the link, not a sideways cutting force against the long side of the link, also twisting forces on the link are a no no too.  Different chain types are constructed differently with the way the link is joined/welded back to itself and I have seen some really dodgey chains supposedly rated for lifting purposes that would not pass a tensile test, and if you picked anything up with it, I wouldnt be anywhere near it.  

Plenty of docos on foxtel with people doing bite force measures on all sorts of animals these days using compression load cells.  I personally would think a decent sized shark wouldnt have any problems biting through even load rated chain.  Another idea would be if the chain was hardened in some way, as some techniques increase the brittleness of the metal making it susceptable to breaking by sudden force. 

 

Posts: 92

Date Joined: 02/11/09

Shark Tales

Tue, 2010-01-19 13:41

We were fishing on sunday 27 nm off 2 rocks in my 26' keywest in 200m of water and had just cut 2 pinkies and put them into the kill tank; the kill tank vents to sea through the transom so blood was seeping out the back.

Things had gone quiet and the water had glassed off; we were half asleep holding our beers when there was an almighty bang under the boat and the starboard side lifted about a metre sending us all spralling. We jumped up and looked over to see a tiger shark easily 4m come out cirling the boat. He came around and had another go, this time he got stuck between the outboards and started thashing around.......I thought I was going to lose one of the OB's. A coulpe of seconds and he got free, circled a few more times and took off.

I have been fishing out of boats for over 30 years around here and up north; I have never experienced anything like this before. All I can imagine is that the snapper blood attracted him and mabe he mistook us for a wounded whale.

But like my mate Eric siad at the time, lucky we werent taking a piss of the marlin board when he struck.

 

Mick

dallasthedog's picture

Posts: 101

Date Joined: 22/04/09

Now that is a shark and half

Tue, 2010-01-19 13:51

Now that is a shark and half tale!  Classic!!!

Posts: 9358

Date Joined: 21/02/08

The really obvious flaw in

Tue, 2010-01-19 14:04

The really obvious flaw in the idea of the shark chewing the chain off, is why didn't you notice all hell breaking lose while the shark did it?

They don't exactly ninja up to the berley bomb, quietly chew chew chew their way through the chain and then stealth away now do they?

The shark would simply have banged it, and the rope you used to attach it to the boat presumably would have to take the load from the attack and not fail before the chain. 

____________________________________________________________________________

Kal's picture

Posts: 160

Date Joined: 30/04/07

take a photo of the chain

Tue, 2010-01-19 15:25

take a photo of the chain and post it up.

YOU DIDNT HAVE A BIG SATURDAY NIGHT DID YOU?Cool

dallasthedog's picture

Posts: 101

Date Joined: 22/04/09

My saturday night was not

Tue, 2010-01-19 16:04

My saturday night was not huge but is wasnt small either - I have done stupid things before

Ii'll photograph it tonight (if i remember)

joe amato's picture

Posts: 731

Date Joined: 21/12/08

WHEN I SEE IT,i will believe

Tue, 2010-01-19 16:30

i have watched doccumentries on great whites and i would say impossible,how could you not feel a tug or something,proffesional shark hunters use chain all the time in the past and used to kill great whites all the time,i think the chain wasnt atached properly,chain is a lot harderer than  a great whites teeth ,which is maily cartoledge,maybe it was a megladon(great whites cousin)lol

jersey's picture

Posts: 393

Date Joined: 12/06/08

Chain & Bone

Tue, 2010-01-19 16:57

I saw what was left of a spear fisherman taken by a White or Tiger up at Greenhead in 1968 The week before the long weekend in Oct from memory.I know that chains come in different grades and link size but this poor guy was recovered with only the top torso No waist,no legs.Taken in one bite  in two halves.I do know the name of the spero and he was one of the states best,Frank Paxman would know also.Back to the question chain stronger that bone, A Shark can deliver, I do not know how many pounds per square inch of bite and I have a photo of myself holding the Jews of a 21 footer taken in Busselton near the town jetty in the early Seventies,the front teeth are approx 25mm at the base,and 25/35mm high. The story goes that it was shoot with a .303 seven times and harpooned it still towed the older style cray boat (heavy wood hull) around for three hours.I have also seen the hull of a 7 meter Fiber glass hull that encountered a big White off the coast down south I think,it had a perfect bite mark that penetrated the duco and glass on the water line,just a taste test to see if it was edible,I think an Ali boat may have taken on a bit of water had the same occurred to it. As I have said on this site may times before,a fish once they get over three meters particularly Whites and Tigers but also Bull sharks are a real problem for all they may come across.jersey Ps I think the fiber glass boat was a Chivers  a very strong build boat

DieHard's picture

Posts: 1823

Date Joined: 06/10/08

Hey Jersey. I was watching a

Sat, 2010-02-13 20:09

Hey Jersey.

I was watching a Document on National Geographic, and it was about roboshark. Any way they were saying that a great white or Bull sharks bite is between 2.5 3.5 Tonns or Tons per  CM Squared.

 

Anyways what about if the shark came for a Suprise attack and came from the bottom of the sea floor straight up and bit the chain? no downward pull but there still would be a 'Clunk'.

____________________________________________________________________________

DieHard – The Official “Ray & Shark” Chaser!