harassed by a large fish yesterday

[dc426]

Went to Sanibel's light house beach yesterday morning. It was windy and pretty choppy so I didn't venture too far out. For those of you who use PI machines I'm sure you have noticed how the small fish circle you at a distance of about 2-3 feet. I sometimes have a halo of minnows circling me from time to time. Yesterday out of the corner of my eye I see a large fish about 2.5 feet long go buy. He wasn't anything dangerous, I think it was a Jack of some kind or possibly a Dauphin. I couldn't tell because the water wasn't crystal clear. Then he started circling me just like the minnows do. He made a bunch of circles and then I tried to tap him with my coil and he would bolt away and then come back. This turned into several passes right at me. I tried to hit him but he was too fast. I think I may of tapped him in the tail because he went away and never returned.
When the minnows would always circle me I always thought if the little guys will do it why don't the bigger guys do it? Now I know, now the question is: If the bigger guys do it....
DC
PS: I think it's time to get Myth Busters involved.

 

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[gold nuggets]

I would be a bit nervous....bigger fish have bigger teeth.
Especially if the water is murky. Gold Nuggets

 

[ivan salis]

uh big fish eat minnows * even bigger fish eat big fish -- the electronic halo attracts minnows - the minnow swarm attracts big fish and so on right up the food chain - note human's when in salt water are far from being #1 on the food chain. we are like 4687th on a good day --we are unarmored , slow swimmers , and have no sharp teeth , fangs or posion --we are the twinkies of the sea going critter world.

 

[baywalker]

Dc426 Doubt if it was dolphin ( FISH ) they aren't on this coast this time of year or in that close to shore .Sharks and most fish have receptors on there lateral lines that pick up electrical signals.As long as you don't go in the water at night I would not worry ,but remember to shuffle your feet for the stingrays 8)

Jonnie

 

[JD-GA]

Probably a red fish interested in the minnows.

 

[wavecrazed]

http://weirdthings.com/2011/01/the-legend-of-old-hitler/

 

[ivan salis]

try "hector" the great hammerhead shark * of deigo garica , BIOT (british indain ocean territory) sadly he was killed atfter a person swam late at night in the island's large lagoon and came up missing -- most likely they drowned and the body washed out to sea ( perple are warned NOT to swim at night due to the large numbers of large sharks in the island's lagoon and the fact that most of them feed heavily at night) -- hector in the old times would have been a "god fish" to the islands natives --at 25 feet he was a apex preditor , with no fear of anything -- i got to see him once while fishing for huge snappers out of our ships life boat in the lagoon - he was longer than our ships lifeboat and was a huge and impressive beast .-- he meet his fate when he was machine gunned on the surface by a helicopter crew a few days after the night swimmer at just "dissappeared" --there was no proof at all at the time that hector ate the swimmer , but he was killed "just in case". - worth noting historically speaking -- hammerheads have been known as man eaters and florida has lots opf em -- northeast florida around the st marys river area is a breeding ground for hammerheads .

 

[Da Sand Crab]

Bring a spear with you and bring home dinner
along with the rest of your finds.

 

[Silver Surfer]

I still believe that the electromagnetic field given off by our detectors protect us from sharks. They key in on things using their own field, and if you are familiar with scuba, you know about the "shark shield " device that is used very effectively. It merely puts a protective electromagnetic field around the divers that sharks don't like.
I can't find one case of a MD'er being hit by a shark, but countless on waders and fisherman. Why? I believe it is due to that field. And maybe it's just me, but I can be simply wading (shark tooth/shell hunting) and have little fish swarm me. I think they do it simply as cover means safety, not any electric field.
Last summer at Miami, I had about a 7 ft reef shark come cruising by all the swimmers, and when it got about 10 ft from me, it made a BIG wide, fast, swing around me but then continued to swim right past other swimmers. Either I smelled really bad (to a shark) or it was the electric field....

 

[stevemc]

The only thing about the Shark Shield is it will shock you if you touch the whip. A metal detector wont. It is a lot more potent in its sting. But I agree with you on the field given off, mainly by a PI. Mark and Dave are always talking about that when we walk in at night. I see wakes go by me at night, and really try not to think about it. Fear will eat you up. Respect is always warrented though. I dive in the Gulf, and spearfish. When you spearfish, sharks will come to eat your fish. Always if you stay long enough. But when you are metal detecting, first of all, you have the electrical field, and you are not a quivering , bleeding fish. Its the sound that gets them, the sound a fish makes. I have been spearfishing in the Bahamas enough to know as soon as you spear a fish, immediatly get him back to the boat, as sharks will be right in. It is the blood taste, but the sound will yank them right in. Often they will swim right past me heading to where I speared the fish. And I am talking seconds. As quick as I can grab the fish, hold him up out of the water if small enough, and start swimming back to the boat, sometimes in 15 seconds, I will have several sharks going past me to the spot and start searching. I have talked to many guys who have seen big sharks swimming through a crowd of people at the beach, and no one sees it but the guy detecting, and it swims way around him.