Berly works wonders!!!!

had lovely conditions this morning and we decided to head out to cockburn sound for a snapper snoop :), winds had been good and so we expected the vis to be a bit better, and with all the lino reports we thought, lets go get some

we ended up at my mate Joes house at around 6:30, there wa four of us going out, me, Joe, Ryan and Adam. we got all our gear ready and watied for about an hour while we loaded the boat and adam was fixing his spear

finnally we go to woodman point at 7:30, we get there and gear up, put the boat in the water and and there the day started.

we headed out to our first spot ( ryans spot x where he last season saw the school and shot one and 2 other shots were taken at the school) we dived along there only find the vis was about 2-3m max, if i stuck my gun out (about 1.8m long with the spear) i could see the tip but not much past it. we dived all along this spot but we found nothing, to make matters worse my sinuses were playing up and it hurt to dive everytime.

we headed of to joes spot X where there is ussauly pink if they are in, and there are badlies if u look for em ( a 7.5kg has come from here) joe put a scaling bag on the bottom of this float hagning about 1m below the surface and filled it with our berly, he had all differynt cut up squid bits like heads and flaps, and i had half a bag of mulies, a yellow tail king fillet and some squid aswell

we all jumped in the water and again, terrible vis, couldnt see the bottom in 5m. and i loaded my gun and then looked around to see adam hitting the berely bag with the but of his gun, i then shook the bag a bit( you know get the juices flowing around) adam even said "wow this is good berely if theres something here this will bring it in." i followed joe who had the berely bag about 2m behind him as he was holding the line near him trying to make sure if the pinks come that we see them, i did a little dive everynow and then only seeing skippy and yellow tail.

On one dive Joe was breathing up and i was like ok i might aswell dive aswell, i searched around but found nothing, i re surfaced and then discharged my snorkel. looked at joe and saw him pointing at me. i turned to my left and all is saw was this big grey wall!!!, a 3.5m great white!(this is my second great white i have seen while diving now both times with joe) i basically teleported into joe and went back to back making sure it didnt come to close and we knew were it was, but with the vis that bad we kept loosing it only to see it re apear on the other side.

I was swimming into the float line and the berely bag was only about a metere away from us, so joe said we gotta get away from it, as we started going away it still followed  us, this thing wasnt intrested in the berely, he wanted us! Joe later told me this is what scared him the most, at one point it even swam straight at joe and joe was about to hit it in the head with his gun but he turned, now remeber the vis is only about 3-4m here, so everytime we saw it it was closer then that! most of the time it was about 2m from joe and about 1m from me when it came to my side.

we started the biggest 50m swim back to the boat i have ever done in my life, it followed us the whole time and i was panicy, i had even joked about seeing one last night, when we got to about 20m from the boat i lost sight of it and didnt see it again, Joe told me a differnt story, he saw it the whole time, when we got about 5m from the boat i did a sprint for it, in one kick in threw the gun on board and flew into the boat, joe then slowly ( alot more relxed followed) now the scary part, appernetly when i did that last little burst, it changed direction and came for me, and joe said all he could think is i am about to get bitten.

We got on board and the white did a big tail kick right at the motor, i started pulling the anchor and we heading to go get ryan and adam ( about 80m on the other side of the boat) we got them in then we talked about the shark, after a few minutes i see a thing in the back of the boat, the shark was back! it kept cirlcing the boat and we tried to get the cameras ready to take a photo, it then dissaperad as fast as it first appeared.

we knew we couldnt go back in cause it was being very aggresive, even though our sounder showed very good fish! most likely the pinks, so we started heading to another spot to check it out, as we started, i looked in the engine trail, the thing was following the boat! so we started to take photos again and we got one goodish one :), we looked around abit more, had fishiers come and check us then headed back in and called it a day at 11am.

All in all a good day, and i am pretty sure i owe Joe Petrovich my life as he basically took control of the situation. but hey Adam was right, the berly worked!

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Joodles's picture

Posts: 362

Date Joined: 19/11/10

Yeah F**K THAT!!That's why

Tue, 2011-09-13 19:11

Yeah F**K THAT!!

That's why I have a boat that floats and a fishing rod so I don't have to get in with those bitches!

Posts: 917

Date Joined: 04/12/09

Scary stuff. Great write up

Tue, 2011-09-13 19:14

Scary stuff. Great write up mate, glad your all okay aswell

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fishy fingers's picture

Posts: 1719

Date Joined: 28/04/07

Get yourself a shark shield

Tue, 2011-09-13 19:16

less than 600 bucks, next time you may not be so lucky, if you think they dont work then fine no one wil convince you otherwise on the other hand it's not too much to invest if theres a chance it works.

scotto's picture

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Jeeeesarz,

Tue, 2011-09-13 19:17

Pretty intense mate. Was this in the sound?

I so wish these things weren't protected....

Posts: 809

Date Joined: 01/05/09

yeah man in the sound, and

Tue, 2011-09-13 19:18

yeah man in the sound, and nah man my gun does my well :) dont need a shakr shield, it just makes em more angry

grantarctic1's picture

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Date Joined: 03/03/11

Damm

Tue, 2011-09-13 19:24

Damm, i just got into freediving, now youv'e scared the sh$t out of me. lol

Glad you are all safe .

fishy fingers's picture

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Date Joined: 28/04/07

ok your choice

Tue, 2011-09-13 19:26

just makes em more angry

And you would know that how? and you think a spear gun would actualy penetrate a white pointer skin?

I doubt that probably bounce right off THEN he would be angry.......then eat you!

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Date Joined: 03/05/11

Scotto I rekon its good that

Tue, 2011-09-13 19:31

Scotto I rekon its good that they're protected.

Whats an ocean without sharks, its like and Earth with dogs and cats but no humans!

Just the way I see it I love sharks but not when they bite...:)

Ben

Fraser 5.25's picture

Posts: 122

Date Joined: 25/07/11

I scuba dive and I have a

Tue, 2011-09-13 19:32

I scuba dive and I have a Shark Shield. We were going for crays and had a big Wobby shark attempt the theft of a cray whilst still in the snare and it pissed off pretty quick. The shark that gets you is the one that you don't see. At least I might stand a chance.

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Date Joined: 10/12/07

Wobbies

Wed, 2011-09-14 10:51

Before you get too confident with that big wobby I am pretty sure that shark shields have no effect on wobbies!! Without googling or getting too scientific, wobbies do not have the same sensors in their nose as 'sharks' do.

fishy fingers's picture

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I believe your correct

Wed, 2011-09-14 17:52

must have just been scared by his mug!

Posts: 809

Date Joined: 01/05/09

haha well the shark shields

Tue, 2011-09-13 19:38

haha well the shark shields aggravate their feeding sensors, so everyone not with one on is at risk, we didnt jab this one because we only use it as a last resort, most of the time just eye contact keeps them at bay, and ull be suprised, i have stabbed a friendly bronzie and it made a hole :P not even that hard a hit

Posts: 62

Date Joined: 28/05/11

That time of the year when

Tue, 2011-09-13 19:41

That time of the year when these little beastie's are out , if you berly up the water like that suppose you gotta expect them to be lurking . I support the protection of white's , your in their livingroom .

rockoe_'s picture

Posts: 140

Date Joined: 02/09/10

good to hear your all safe.by

Tue, 2011-09-13 19:43

good to hear your all safe.by the way you fellas are MAD. i love my diving but if  that was me, i would of shit bricks!

Fraser 5.25's picture

Posts: 122

Date Joined: 25/07/11

That's why I ended up buying

Tue, 2011-09-13 19:44

That's why I ended up buying one. Diving with three other divers and I was the only one without a diving without a Shark Shield. I didn't want to be the one the shark wanted to taste.

fishy fingers's picture

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Date Joined: 28/04/07

I agree with you

Tue, 2011-09-13 19:54

If all that was needed to scare of a white was a spear gun they wouldnt be shuch a threat unfortunatley

it would be like hitting it with a a toothpick and once it fires it could be on you before you could think shit I'm a gonner!

Non believers cant be convinced so it's not worth trying.

chrisp's picture

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Damn!

Tue, 2011-09-13 20:44

Scared the shit out of my just reading this mate.Then again you boys that burley up and jump into murky water are insane!

I was watching a story of a guy on 60 minutes who dives without a cage in shark alley in South Africa and he has the same theory about standing your ground and the eye contact theory, as long as you see them and they know it they (seem) less likely to veiw you as a something worth tasting.

aalfred's picture

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I would shit myself. I

Tue, 2011-09-13 20:48

I would shit myself. I wouldnt think a sec about going to another spot

just dhu it's picture

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Date Joined: 14/05/09

MMMMM

Tue, 2011-09-13 20:51

That thought will come back on the first dive for crays this summer .   recharge the shark sheild before going in the water , Great storey guys

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Date Joined: 23/10/09

bjebus

Tue, 2011-09-13 21:06

thats a close call mad buggers berley divin mate of mine had the same happen at cape nat few years back was a 5m model  seems to be a few around at the moment looks like this years occying might be canceled for me

scottland's picture

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Uhhhhh stuff that

Tue, 2011-09-13 21:15

Thanks for putting me of diving :P

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Food For Thought..........

Tue, 2011-09-13 21:38

Nice write up mate.

I realise we are in their Living room but I think if the Govt put trackers on these things and worked out how many are actually around a few people may change their tune.

Lets face it. Its the only option left that doesnt upset either side. Id love to really see where all these buggers are and how often they come to visit but Im sure the Govt would want to alarm us with the results.

 

Scott

 

Carry's picture

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yep

Tue, 2011-09-13 22:05

Yep human squid for me i would shit my pants literally.

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Great white

Tue, 2011-09-13 22:20

Hope u had a spare pair of jocks onboard, scary stuff

Ben Derecki's picture

Posts: 1926

Date Joined: 10/10/07

Lol, I was on the edge of my

Tue, 2011-09-13 23:04

Lol, I was on the edge of my seat reading that... and I'm 20kms from the water!

I'd hate to think what was going through your minds hey, especially with the Bunker Bay attack being so recent.

Awesome writing too, cheers lads.

southcity104's picture

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Date Joined: 27/01/09

very true moylee

Wed, 2011-09-14 04:13

Theres a BIG fat 5.5meter female that returns to cottesloe beach every summer. 

Hair raising story! Hope im never in that situation. I reckon Joe would have been there a few times though.  

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joe

Wed, 2011-09-14 11:03

i have dived with joe in cockburn sound 3 times now, and he has only seen 3 great whites in his life under water, two have been with me :) one was at the beagle islands up north

GusG's picture

Posts: 547

Date Joined: 07/04/08

Oh yeah, i would have crapped

Wed, 2011-09-14 06:53

Oh yeah, i would have crapped my dacks for sure.  Awesome read dude and I am glad you survived to type the story.  I am sure this one will be recounted at the pub many a time (and be in the forefront of your mind next 1000 times you dive)

Posts: 877

Date Joined: 03/05/11

Crisp I saw that too. I can't

Wed, 2011-09-14 07:50

Crisp I saw that too. I can't beleive he even took a ride on its dorsal fin. It was amazing that nothing serious occured.

 

Posts: 81

Date Joined: 28/03/11

white

Wed, 2011-09-14 08:50

Had a white come along side me boat about 18 k's from grace town one day.It was about  5m and i was in a 4.2 stessco tinny with two other mates . We all shit our self and got out there.Being in the water with one that came out of the blue i would have had a heart attack lol.you guys are brave . 

Posts: 218

Date Joined: 15/01/10

Maybe the same one

Wed, 2011-09-14 09:02

http://www.perthnow.com.au/giant-5m-shark-sighted-in-cockburn-sound-early-today/story-fn6u274m-1226136643935

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Date Joined: 27/09/06

I would of shat so hard!!!

Wed, 2011-09-14 09:31

I would of shat so hard!!! Well done for keeping cool

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Bodie's picture

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yep im with Joodles F#$K

Wed, 2011-09-14 09:35

yep im with Joodles F#$K that!!!

GrahamM's picture

Posts: 648

Date Joined: 19/01/09

You boys are too keen burling

Wed, 2011-09-14 10:44

You boys are too keen burling up first i dive lots and dont see too many sharks but i NEVER burley up first and call me a girl but i do wear a shark sheild if im shooting if my gun comes along so dose the sheild and yes i have seen it scare off the grey ghosts first hand. Great story and yes it will be in my mind next ttime i jump in

Posts: 809

Date Joined: 01/05/09

berlying

Wed, 2011-09-14 11:01

hey man for pinks u always berely, if they are flighty u need to get em close as soon as possible i have shot a few and if you dont berely, you dont get a shot :)

roberta's picture

Posts: 2773

Date Joined: 08/07/08

Just put up

Wed, 2011-09-14 10:56

that their was a sighting of a 5 meter great white near the power station in the sound this morning at 6.30am by fisho's, shite I wouldn't be diving any where in the sound at the moment, bet they are coming in for the snapper spawning soon.

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tiger?

Wed, 2011-09-14 11:21

the photo they put up looks like a tiger to me not a great white, also its prett thin, the one we saw was fat as! so i am guessing anyother great whites in the sound will be fat too


Ryan C's picture

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Date Joined: 08/07/10

tiger

Wed, 2011-09-14 11:43

it definately looks like a tiger it has a very blunt head profile!!  cheers (the news photo i mean!!)

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Date Joined: 30/08/11

thats why I rather stay nice and dry on a boat or land :)

Wed, 2011-09-14 18:13

 Wooowwww what a storry. I would shit my wetstuit full with seven colours of shittt haha

Good you guys came safe back on the boat, you never know with those sharks! Maybe a shark shield is worth to buy!?

 

I keep it nice and dry staying on a boat or on the shore :P

FishoStu's picture

Posts: 38

Date Joined: 25/03/08

During snapper time your

Wed, 2011-09-14 18:45

During snapper time your crazy to berley up in my view, glad all turned out well, but not really a good option this time of year.

Being on top of the water is more than close enuff for me & no way Im using berley.

Im sure theres alot more sharks around the sound than just the ones that get reported/sighted.

 

crasny1's picture

Posts: 6986

Date Joined: 16/10/08

Ohh crap

Wed, 2011-09-14 19:42

Well as I recalled with my encounter in 1985 I didnt crap myself, but pissed my pants!!!

Robbie Nash was coming to Perth to try and break the world windsurfing record off Woodmans and I was an Equipment Pro windsurfer. Never got paid, got flash gear to "test". I wasnt good at jumping waves and much more a speed freak, so was asked to test the radical board, fin and wing type sail.

10 mates always sailed together and so one day I decided to try it off Leightons. 1.5ks out (luckily heading in) I heard a strange swooosh sound. Checked the board, wing etc and thought probably nothing. Heard it again and looked back thinking maybe weed etc on the rad fin. F*******rk me!!!!

It was a big white (I dont care how big, just bloody big mouth) and the sound was the noise it was making trying to bite the end of the board. Now this thing wasnt a wave board and pretty unstable, especially "racing" it. I decided after the piss that I would probable have to go as fast as I could and pray the board stayed stable. Now my mates thought I was nuts going flat out in a full racing position (ie almost lying on the water) with this board that bloody trips you up on flat water and catapults you with ease.

It just kept coming and I hit the beach full speed, broke the $$$fin (surfers call it a skeg) and ran like buggery up the beach. The people on the beach saw it almost come out of the water and take a nice bite on the $10 000 worth of rad custom speed board. Now it would have bitten at the board about 10 times, and it was its bloody gob that acted as a break to slow it down and miss. It was closing faster than I was going on the board.

I didnt look back on the beach. I was gone and I am still haunted by the piece of some unfortunate other victims flesh hanging off one of its top L teeth. It wasnt fish, it was red!!!

That was my scuba and windsurfing days. That was too much and I feel for you guys with an encounter like that. Yours IMO is much worst than mine and yet 2 favourite pastimes have gone. No more Windsurfing or diving for me. Lost it and get the jitters thinking about going in the water. When I have to up here in Dampier for an important reason I still get shit scared.

Hope you guys fare better than me.

Still shitting myself now.

Neels

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Mitch Keys's picture

Posts: 83

Date Joined: 27/01/11

Nice write up mate

Wed, 2011-09-14 20:57

 Nice write up aye buddy, you guys are super keen! Makes for a good Marine Biologist though. :)

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 Soft plastics + Light Gear = Big Fish + Big Fun

--Marine Biologist (UWA), Worked at BCF for 3.5yrs--

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Date Joined: 01/05/09

haha thanks man :P we gotta

Wed, 2011-09-14 22:47

haha thanks man :P we gotta go for a fish sometime :) and btw i am studying marine science :P

Daisy's picture

Posts: 789

Date Joined: 24/01/08

Yep would've shit meself

Wed, 2011-09-14 23:25

Yep would've shit meself inside out, well told mate and sounds like you were hell lucky when you cut and run near the boat.

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The view expressed in this post is that of a self opinionated bullshitter and does not reflect that of this website, it's owners, mediators, other members or anyone else for that matter :-P