Shark bay lives up to reputation

Author: josh

Category: Trip Reports

Created on Thursday, 27 January 2011 17:48

Written by Josh

Despite the murky post-flood conditions off shore on the Clarence Coast, Steve (AKA 'Balls') Foster and I took to the water at Woody Head for Australia day, searching for mackerel, snapper or sharks, in that order. As soon as I felt the water temp (which has dropped significantly recently) I surmised that snapper might be the most likely target. But the further out we pushed in search of clearer water, the more it started to dawn on me that sharks might be the even more prevalent. It just had that feeling about it. Before confirmation came, however, I did get a couple of strikes while trolling - strikes with a very mackerel-esque motion. 

Just a few minutes after cursing my second lost fish I spotted a brown patch (browner than the surrounding water) that I immediately suspected to be a shark. The closer I drifted, the more it's unmistakable 3-metre outline came into view. The screenshot above captures the very moment I declared 'SHARK!' to Steve via radio. Drifting a few inches underneath the waterline, this bronze whaler didn't seem the least bit interested in my presence, casually dissapearing from view moments after my starboard pontoon created a shadow over its back. It was an anti-climactic encounter, but it wasn't to be the last of the day.

An hour or so later Steve and I were running lures through my favourite patch of water in Shark bay when I saw a flash of black out of the corner of my eye. It could have been a shark fin I told myself, moments later declaring that it was just as likely the wing-tip of a manta-ray, as there were many in the area this day. So I stood up grasping the sail mast as a balancing hand-hold and with the advantage of height on my side the full size of the beast in question came into view. It was a shark and it was a big one. Some 15 - 20 metres away it looked very much to me like a 4-metre specimen, definitely not a bronzie, most likely a white. It's back was much darker in colour than the bronzie, a lot like the shark I'd seen in this very patch of water about 11 months earlier, and much the same length. Coincidentally, that same day there was also a proliferation of rays evident from the waters surface (eagle rays last time) and it looked a lot like the shark was rounding them up. I'd say thats almost exactly what was happening here, only it was manta rays the shark was interested in this time. 

I lost site of the shark while fiddling around with cameras and as of yet haven't had a chance to go through all the footage to see whether I captured it on video or not. We don't know if the shark took any interest in us at all, though we did remain still in the area for about 15 minutes (both of us standing for better visibility) in the hope of catching another glimpse. I was particularly impressed with how calm Steve remained through the experience, quite comfortable to hang around with me, not panicking and not scrambling for his shark shield. Cool heads always prevail. 

We weren't the only ones who didn't fare so well on the fishing front. Upon returning to land we soon discovered that our experience reflected that of everyone else; it was a quiet fishing day all round at Woody Head. Though it does look to be making a comeback, it'll be a few weeks before the area has fully recovered from flooding run off.