I have an idea for a new thread...

[Sepia]

I should send you the tracks.  You would never swim there again, I promise.

(Best I keep them otherwise there will be an outcry.)

Edited June 22, 2017 by Sepia

[Hairy]

YUP, the problem is that I have seen it.

 

When we were all oblivious to it, nobody cared, we all swam and floated around the river all day long. Now I only dry start when wakebarding... 

 

The reality is, that there are too many fish for the sharks to worry about hoomans for lunch, but I just don't like, so nee dankie.

 

Here is a pic of one of the little fishies caught very close to the Riverine.

 

http://lifeissavage.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/largest-bull-shark1.jpg

 

Here is the one that Jeremy "the dream killer" Wade caught.

 

http://www.sharkobsessed.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/bull-shark-2-photo-01.jpg

 

 

This is what they do when they want to taste something.

 

http://iconfilms.co.uk/assets/galleries/41/thumbs/539RM2ZS.jpg

that dude has CRAZY EYES!!!

[Patchelicious]

I should send you the tracks.  You would never swim there again, I promise.

(Best I keep them otherwise there will be an outcry.)

I already don't, promise!

 

So please post them.

[Sepia]

that dude has CRAZY EYES!!!

Flipping shark eyes.

[l4y3rcake]

I already don't, promise!

 

So please post them.

 

 

Yes please post the tracks. I find it very interesting.

[Ed-Zulu]

that dude has CRAZY EYES!!!

You get those eyes when the taxman (sharks) chow 15kg's of your 20kg kabeljou

[Hairy]

You get those eyes when the taxman (sharks) chow 15kg's of your 20kg kabeljou

and then still wants to come back and take more

[Sepia]

You get those eyes when the taxman (sharks) chow 15kg's of your 20kg kabeljou

True this!

[DJR]

This is what they do when they want to taste something.

 

http://iconfilms.co.uk/assets/galleries/41/thumbs/539RM2ZS.jpg

I once had a Zambesi take a Giant Kingfish from me, at arms length, in the shallows at Mtentu on the Wild Coast. I always imagined it would be a vicious biting and shaking, foaming of the water, blood and violence.......but in stead it was TOTALLY silent, almost elegant. It swam up out of nowhere exactly when I bent forward to take the leader, almost like a trout rising to a dry fly, opened and closed its' mouth ........and 90 % of the fish was gone. We sent the remaining bits, basically the head, to Grahamstown University and they estimated the Kingfish at just over a metre in length. I gained MASSIVE respect for the Zambesi in the split second the whole thing took.

Edited June 22, 2017 by DJR

[Long Wheel Base]

I once had a Zambesi take a Giant Kingfish from me, at arms length, in the shallows at Mtentu on the Wild Coast. I always imagined it would be a vicious biting and shaking, foaming of the water, blood and violence.......but in stead it was TOTALLY silent, almost elegant. It swam up out of nowhere exactly when I bent forward to take the leader, almost like a trout rising to a dry fly, opened and closed its' mouth ........and 90 % of the fish was gone. We sent the remaining bits, basically the head, to Grahamstown University and they estimated the Kingfish at just over a metre in length. I gained MASSIVE respect for the Zambesi in the split second the whole thing took.

Now that is a story worth telling. I am sure your heart stopped and then went to max once you realised what just happened.

[Hairy]

https://youtu.be/LqoV4ZW7xTA?list=RDLqoV4ZW7xTA

[Rocket-Boy]

I once had a Zambesi take a Giant Kingfish from me, at arms length, in the shallows at Mtentu on the Wild Coast. I always imagined it would be a vicious biting and shaking, foaming of the water, blood and violence.......but in stead it was TOTALLY silent, almost elegant. It swam up out of nowhere exactly when I bent forward to take the leader, almost like a trout rising to a dry fly, opened and closed its' mouth ........and 90 % of the fish was gone. We sent the remaining bits, basically the head, to Grahamstown University and they estimated the Kingfish at just over a metre in length. I gained MASSIVE respect for the Zambesi in the split second the whole thing took.

That must have been a huge GT and all kinds of fun to get in. Zambesi's arent scared to hang out in shallow water, been some scary attacks in really shallow water before.

[DJR]

That must have been a huge GT and all kinds of fun to get in. Zambesi's arent scared to hang out in shallow water, been some scary attacks in really shallow water before.

It happened after fighting it on a 12 weight rod for about 20 minutes (felt like an hour). The Grahamstown piscatorial gurus measured the head and pectoral fins and said they estimated its length at 111cm. I real Nelson of a fish! No wonder it went the way it did! I never caught another one anywhere near that size and since then the Indian Ocean islands became out of reach with keeping my kids in bicycles. But I still have an appointment with one of those dirty fighting monsters before I'll be ready to kick the bucket!   

[Ed-Zulu]

It happened after fighting it on a 12 weight rod for about 20 minutes (felt like an hour). The Grahamstown piscatorial gurus measured the head and pectoral fins and said they estimated its length at 111cm. I real Nelson of a fish! No wonder it went the way it did! I never caught another one anywhere near that size and since then the Indian Ocean islands became out of reach with keeping my kids in bicycles. But I still have an appointment with one of those dirty fighting monsters before I'll be ready to kick the bucket!   

In the mean time, target Natal Stumpnose for the boxing match (lighter tackle though) to equal the Kingy's punch

[Shebeen]

http://www.sealine.co.za/mvs/Zambezi.pdf

 

this is the original research article if you're interested

Edited June 22, 2017 by rider#35

[DJR]

http://www.sealine.co.za/mvs/Zambezi.pdf

 

this is the original research article if you're interested

 

"Most of the time (24%) was spent 11–13 km upstream,

where it actively inspected boats and shore-anglers, a behaviour considered to be an opportunistic foraging strategy."

 

This is the bit I found the freakiest (is there a word like that?) Anyway, the mere idea of one of them "inspecting" me, hip deep in the soup, in the dark, is enough to make my jewels shrivel up and withdraw.

 

Once, while fishing right in the Kosi mouth, at night, I had a fright that put me off sharks for ever.

 

It was in the near pitch dark. You just cast blindly and strip your fly back, until you hear the schools of mullet rustling, fleeing a predator. Then you can also see the silver rustling of the jumping mullet in the faint light and you cast your fly into that chaos. If you are lucky you get a Giant Kingfish hookup. (The mayhem that then explode is another story for another day.) Mostly you are knee deep in the tidal water rushing through the mouth, sometimes thigh or hip deep. If you make a mistake, you step off the sandbar and you suddenly go swimming, rod and all and on your way to the ocean. So, after doing this for a few hours you start to think about the predators, and you wonder if perhaps it is a shark, rather than a Kingfish, chasing the mullet that are heading your way at a rate of knots. Your mind plays all kind of tricks and you distinctly hear the Jaws theme song in the background..........then suddenly, out of the chaos of mullet, tide pull, rods and lines, stripping basket, a big bull mullet, about a foot and a half long, jumps and hit you square in the middle of your chest at full speed! It feels like a big guy punching you hard! Let's just say, I got back to dry land pretty quickly and I stayed there for the rest of the outing. I was glad my pants was already wet so nobody could make fun of them!

 

So, now you know, a peaceful little mullet scared me worse than a shark ever could!