Tag: kayak fishing

Watch: Tiger shark attacks kayak, angler thinks he knows why

Scott Haraguchi documented the assault on his vessel and offers a theory as to why the shark became aggressive.

An angler who survived a harrowing tiger shark attack on his kayak last May has shared footage of the encounter along with a possible explanation for the attack.

Scott Haraguchi had reeled in a grouper while fishing with a buddy off Kualoa, Oahu. He did not bleed the grouper and does not believe scent was a factor in the shark ramming his kayak.

Minutes later, as shown in the footage, the tiger shark surfaces off Haraguchi’s bow and slams into his kayak.

“There was a lot of speculation as to why a tiger shark would run full speed into a kayak,” Haraguchi stated via Instagram. “Hopefully this answers all those questions.”

Haraguchi captured the scene with a mounted GoPro that was documenting his fishing exploits. He told FTW Outdoors days afterward that the shark might have mistaken his kayak for a seal.

But in the footage he offers a different theory.

“The shark approaches the front of there kayak as if to ram it or scare it, instead of eat it,” Haraguchi begins. “And as it slides up the side of the kayak he realizes that it’s not tasting a seal or a whale, or something alive.”

Slow-motion footage, however, shows the large shark chomping on the kayak with much of its body out of the water.

Haraguchi and his companion remained in the area “with our limbs out of the water” for several minutes and eventually spotted a wounded seal, which Haraguchi points to in the footage.

He concluded: “I believe that the shark rammed me thinking that I was competition for its seal kill. What do you guys think?”

It’s impossible to know but tiger sharks, which can measure 20 feet, commonly prey on seals, turtles, fish, mollusks, and other critters.

They’re also implicated in the vast majority of shark attacks on humans in Hawaiian waters.

Watch: Kayak fisherman unknowingly hooks into a great white shark

Rick Austin was fishing for striped bass from his kayak in Nova Scotia when he hooked into something huge. It wasn’t what he thought.

Rick Austin was fishing for striped bass from his kayak in the Minas Basin of Nova Scotia last week when he hooked into something big. It wasn’t a striped bass. It turned out to be a great white shark that weighed more than 200 pounds.

Austin posted video of the encounter on YouTube with a caveat for language, but CTV News also had it in a clean version in its report below:

When the fish leaped out of the water, Austin didn’t realize it was a great white shark, saying in the video, “That’s a porpoise. I gotta let that go.”

So he cut the line.

“My first thought was that it was a dolphin and that it would just spool me and then it would have hundreds of yards of 50-pound braid wrapping around it,” Austin wrote on Facebook. He realized it wasn’t a dolphin but a shark after watching his video.

Austin later had it confirmed as a great white shark by biologists from the New England Aquarium in Massachusetts and the Department of Integrative Biology from the University of Guelph, Ontario.

“They estimate it to be between 6- and 8-feet long, weighing between 200 to 250 pounds,” Austin wrote.

Kayak fisherman lands 350-pound sturgeon, and it’s on video

If not for being in a kayak, Braeden Rouse would have lost the huge sturgeon he hooked into while fishing on Canada’s famous Fraser River last week.

If not for being in a kayak, Braeden Rouse would have lost the huge sturgeon he hooked into while fishing on Canada’s famous Fraser River last week.

In a battle that lasted 30 minutes, Rouse managed to land an 8½-foot sturgeon that weighed an estimated 350 pounds, and his girlfriend Sidney Kozelenko captured it in video.

The footage, posted on the Adventures with Braeden and Sid Facebook page, is actually pretty comical as it shows Rouse being towed in zig-zags up and down the river.

“We laugh every time we watch it,” Rouse told USA Today/For The Win Outdoors.

To get the video footage, Kozelenko was forced to get into her own kayak and follow him. You can clearly see the speed at which the sturgeon pulls him.

“He’s pulling you faster than I can paddle,” Kozelenko said at one point in the video.

At times, the battle was a bit dicey.

“There was three times I nearly tipped as the sturgeon aggressively swam away,” Rouse told For The Win Outdoors. “I had to keep the rod tip at the bow of the boat just to avoid tipping.

Also on FTW Outdoors: Catch of enormous ‘living dinosaur’ had anglers in disbelief

“A sturgeon guide told me he’s had clients catch sturgeon this size, and they normally trade off throughout the battle fighting this size of sturgeon and are standing in a boat. The fact I was sitting in a kayak was crazy.

“I’ve shared my pictures on a few sturgeon pages and many are pretty shocked I caught a sturgeon this size out of a kayak.

“If I wouldn’t have had my kayak, this fish would have just kept swimming with its sheer power until I had no line left on my spool. I would I have lost it.”

Credit also goes to Kozelenko, who helped in the landing. As the fish tired, both paddled close to shore. Kozelenko beached her kayak, got out and tied a rope to Rouse’s kayak and pulled him to shore. Rouse was then able to get out and finish the remaining seconds of the battle on land.

“I hadn’t quite realized how big this fish actually was until we got our first glimpse,” Rouse told For The Win Outdoors. “The pictures really don’t do it justice.”

After getting photos, Rouse released the huge sturgeon.

“I love the release part of catching a fish,” he told For The Win Outdoors. “This one was particularly rewarding. The fish swam gracefully away with a lot more spunk than I would have figured after the battle. When it gave its last push, the tail fin came nearly two feet out of the water.”

This was “by far” the biggest sturgeon Rouse has ever caught. His previous best measured 62 inches.

Photos courtesy of Braeden Rouse.

Kayak angler ties 40-year-old record with Northern pike catch

Leslie Slater was kayak fishing with her family in Connecticut when she landed a Northern pike that tied a 40-year-old state record.

Leslie Slater was kayak fishing with her husband and kids in Colebrook, Conn., recently when she landed a Northern pike that tied a 40-year-old state record.

The sharp-toothed pike, caught in West Branch Reservoir, the family’s favorite fishing spot, weighed 29 pounds and measured 46 inches, and Slater somehow managed to pull it into her kayak, as reported by the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection.

“I was jigging a Rooster Tail for trout when all of a sudden I had a huge hit,” recalled Slater of Barkhamsted. “It pulled hard right to the bottom. It almost broke my pole in half. Then with all of the dead weight, I thought that I had lost the fish and snagged the bottom.

“Never in my life did I expect to see a freshwater fish of that size come out of Connecticut. The adrenaline rush pulling in a fish that size was awesome. I still can’t believe I pulled it into my kayak without flipping over or having my toes bitten off.”

 

Efforts to revive and release the fish failed, so Slater and the family began looking to weigh it on a certified scale.

“We had many staring at us as we carried in a fish of that size,” Slater said. “One deli was willing to weigh the fish, but it was too big for the scale, the head and tail hit the counter. The reaction we received from the deli customers was priceless.”

Also on FTW Outdoors: Shark bites into tip of kayak as if ‘smoking it like a cigar’

DEEP Fisheries Division biologist Edward Machowsky, who has managed Northern pike in Connecticut for 20 years, caught wind of the catch and phoned Slater.

“Leslie’s excitement and enthusiasm over catching this monster pike was infectious and I knew we had to help her,” Machowsky said. “Thankfully, Ryan Craig, the owner of the Berkshire Country Store in Norfolk had equal enthusiasm in helping out and agreed to weigh the pike using his certified scale in the deli. In the end it tied the state record, and was a very fitting end to such a memorable catch.”

It was not clear how much time passed before the Northern pike was weighed or how much weight it might have lost during that time. It’s possible she could have broken the record. Nevertheless, Slater will cherish the catch of a lifetime.

“My favorite part of that fishing adventure, besides catching, was that my husband and kids were there to share the experience,” Slater said. “That catch will forever be a positive memory of 2020 for me and my family.”

Photos courtesy of Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection.

 

Kayak fisherman ‘shocked’ when shark attacks his fish

A kayak fisherman was reeling in a fish when a shark attacked it. He was happy it was on video otherwise “no one would have believed me.”

A kayak fisherman was reeling in his catch when a shark appeared out of nowhere and attacked the fish before racing off with it, leaving the angler a bit amused, shocked and happy he caught it on video, otherwise “no one would have believed me.”

Stuart Richie, 36, was fishing in Luce Bay in Southwest Scotland earlier this week when he hooked a dogfish on light tackle.

“When the dogfish broke the surface I immediately saw something behind it,” he told the Mirror. “I tried to pull the dogfish clear, but the shark was too fast and turned with a splash and grabbed it. My rod bent as the shark tried to get away with the fish, and with a splash and final kick of its tail it snapped my line and was gone.”

 

“It’s always a shock when you see a shark shape in the water, especially when you’re so close to it,” Richie told the Mirror. “When it grabbed the fish, I was shocked and just held on. I was praying that the GoPro was recording as no one would have believed me.”

Also on FTW Outdoors: Shark charges spearfisherman, bites off swim fin

When the shark snapped the line, Richie can be heard laughing and declaring it was a “shark attack.”

The species was a tope shark, also known as a school shark. It feeds primarily on fish, but it isn’t fussy about what kind of fish.

Richie, a navigator with the Merchant Navy, has been kayak fishing for five years and has caught tope sharks before.

“I have encountered these sharks before and they are one of my favorite species to catch,” he told the Mirror. “But I have never encountered them feeding in this way, which is surprising.”

Photos courtesy of Stuart Richie.

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Kayak fisherman’s ill-advised move invites shark attack

A kayak fisherman fought off a great white shark that chomped down on his boat 30 seconds after unintentionally prompting the attack.

A kayak fisherman off Northern California fought off a great white shark that chomped down on his boat moments after he bled out a fish he had just caught, evidently unintentionally inviting the shark attack by doing so.

Michael Thallheimer Jr. of Eureka was camping in Shelter Cove in Southern Humboldt County when he decided to go fishing by himself Monday morning around 6:15, according to the North Coast Journal and Lost Coast Outpost.

“I had caught two small ling cod and then caught a large one about 36 inches or so,” Thallheimer told North Coast Journal. “I put it on my fish clip. I cut through the gills and it pumps all the blood out. As soon as I did that, it wasn’t 30 seconds after, that [the shark] attacked.

“All of a sudden, it was attached to the side of my kayak.”

He described it as a 16- to 18-foot great white shark.

Also on FTW Outdoors: Angler risks swimming with sharks to avoid losing fish

“I saw a nose and an eyeball with no soul,” he told the Journal. “That animal doesn’t give a [darn] … [The shark bit] right in the middle of the kayak directly next to my knee and thigh, about 6 inches away.

“I slapped the thing as hard as I could on the end of its nose.”

It was enough to prompt the shark to let go. It then whipped its tail hard, hitting the kayak.

“It gave me a good thump, [but] it didn’t damage the kayak. I think he was pretty scared. He turned and split as fast as it could.”

Thallheimer immediately headed for shore, pedaling with his feet. Then he suddenly realized “the paddle was not there.” He told the Journal the shark had bitten through the rope that held the paddle to the kayak, so he circled around to retrieve his paddle and headed in.

Halfway back to the harbor, Thallheimer realized his kayak was filling with water; the Journal reported the shark had bitten a hole in the side of the kayak. He phoned 911 but as he was talking, a wave rolled the kayak, sending him into the water and his phone and keys to the bottom of the ocean.

He scrambled to get back into the kayak only to have it roll again and again.

“Every time I would pull it right side up, it would flip over,” he told the Journal.

“[Eventually] I got off and held on to the side of it…I was in the water maybe 15 minutes…It never left my mind the whole time that [the shark] might be going to come back. I had a freshly killed fish dangling around my feet because it was clipped to my kayak…I kept telling myself, ‘Be calm. Panic is not going to do any good.’”

A radio attached to his lifejacket alerted him that help was on the way.

“Fishermen responded, pulled him into their boat and dragged his kayak back to the marina,” Shelter Cove Fire spokesperson Cheryl Antony told Lost Coast Outpost. “He was hypothermic but suffered no injuries.

“He said he was so scared when he realized his boat was sinking and he didn’t know where the shark was. He was thankful to be alive because it could have gone really bad to be out there all by himself. Anything could have happened.”

Photos of rescue of kayak fisherman and rope that shark bit through courtesy of Shelter Cove Fire. Generic images of kayak fisherman and great white shark courtesy of Wikipedia Commons.

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Kayak fisherman towed 15 miles by ‘record’ marlin

A kayak fisherman in Panama caught what was unofficially being called a record for a black marlin caught from a kayak.

A kayak fisherman hooked up with an estimated 500-pound black marlin in front of a Panama fishing lodge and by the time the battle was over, he was 15 miles from the point in which he started.

The recent catch by Adam Fisk was unofficially considered a world record for a black marlin caught from a kayak and it came a year after he caught an estimated 450-pounder in a kayak from the same spot.

Fisk of Los Buzos Resort, a kayak fishing destination on the Pacific Coast of Panama, called it an “epic experience.” After a 4-hour, 37-minute battle, he reeled the marlin close enough to touch the 15-foot leader to constitute a catch and turned the rod over to Robert Field on a boat to ensure the marlin lived.

“We decided to transfer the rod to the boat to save the marlin’s life,” Field explained to USA Today/For The Win Outdoors. “Marlin are notorious for fighting so hard and for so long that they die of exhaustion. It’s quite common, even when the angler intends to release the fish unharmed.

“From a kayak, Adam simply could not physically put enough pressure on the marlin to shorten the fight, and we knew if he continued from the kayak, the fight would drag on for hours longer and the fish’s chance of survival would plummet. We didn’t anticipate it taking me another 90 minutes in the boat to bring her up.”

The entire battle lasted 6 hours, 12 minutes before the marlin was close enough to the panga to cut it loose.

Also on FTW Outdoors: Spearfisherman dragged out to sea by great white shark

“The power of a monster like this is unbelievable especially when you are battling it from a kayak,” Fisk, a managing partner in the resort who is from Florida, told Outdoor Life. “I have pretty big gear that I target marlin with out here and even with it, sometimes I feel like the fish doesn’t even know I am pulling on it.”

One of the best parts about the battle is that Field, who produces new fishing episodes each week for his YouTube channel called YakFish TV, captured the entire thing on video and posted it Tuesday.

After the marlin puts on an aerial display, you can hear Field saying in the video, “That is the most insane thing I’ve ever seen come out of the water. That is crazy. It looked so ridiculous next to that little boat. It’s so much bigger than Adam and that kayak together.”

Concluded Fisk on his Facebook page, “I can’t think of a more epic experience to happen in the world of kayak fishing and the fact that Robert Field was here to capture it all is absolutely incredible. This catch is one for the books and one we will all be telling for the rest of our lives. So proud of the whole team!”

Photos courtesy of Robert Field of YakFish TV. 

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Kayak fisherman nearly toppled by 200-pound alligator gar

A kayak fisherman came close to being tipped over by the 200-pound alligator gar he battled for 40 minutes in a south Texas river.

A kayak fisherman in south Texas came close to being tipped over by the 200-pound alligator gar he battled for 40 minutes before paddling one-handed to shore and landing the prehistoric fish.

The 7-foot alligator gar was the biggest Chris Hernandez had ever caught and it was almost too much to handle.

Hernandez told USA Today/For The Win Outdoors he was fishing a river on the outskirts of his hometown of Benito when he landed the alligator gar last week.

At one point, it became a bit scary when the fish slammed his kayak with its tail.

“It was just a quick flip from the tail that hit my yak causing my yak to shake back and forth,” Hernandez told For The Win Outdoors. “If my yak would’ve tilted a couple more inches, it would’ve took in water.

“At one point my rod was halfway in the water while the gar was taking line. My upper body was [so] tired that I thought I was going to lose my rod to this dinosaur of a gar.”

Hernandez told MySanAntonio the fish “was dragging me all over the river.”

Also on FTW Outdoors: Shark helps fisherman land huge tuna

Since there was no way he was going to pull the fish onto his kayak, Hernandez used one hand to paddle to shore as he held on to his fishing rod. A friend helped him through branches on the bank so he could to land the gar.

“This was an awesome experience and an awesome joy ride on the yak,” Hernandez wrote on his Facebook page. “Man, the heart was really pumping.”

Alligator gar are often referred to as “living fossils” because scientists can trace them back 100 million years in the fossil record, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. They can grow up to 10 feet and 350 pounds.

Hernandez is probably lucky not to have hooked one that big.

Photos courtesy of Chris Hernandez.

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