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WOW - all i can say is wow. I just tuned into Inside Sportfishing on Fox sports net. For any of you who doubt the existance of these monsters, you gotta see what i saw. A whale carcass being devoured by several huge great whites, half way between the coast and catalina. The big whale obviuously died before being attacked, but nonetheless it proved these giant great whites are still out there in numbers. This, plus the event i witnessed last summer, proves these guys are out there. Anyway, i know you guys are still gonna do it, and probaly wont have any problems tubing around the island, so just be carefull out there and have fun. Oh and if one of you guys heads out to the island, and doesnt post for a week or so, we will just assume the worst. Ha ha ha
Tight lines
JA
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I didn't get to see it I was tubing Cherry Beach for a couple of small sharks.[  ]
You won't see me ever tubing over there!! Who was it that said they weren't there?
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Hi there JAMartin,
That did it! I've given up. It seems there have been more CONFIRMED great white sightings in the last 3 weeks than in over 50 years around the island and nearby coast. Is this El Nino Nino? ha ha
I had planned to tube it this Spring but it looks like it's going to be a yak trip instead. I'm just gonna have to tell my editors in Japan that an adventure tubin' Catalina story is a no go, unless.......maybe good for an April's Fool story. Hummmmm Nope, not even that!
Time to crank up the ol WP word substitution feature. Thanks for the heads up.
tsurikichi
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[cool]Hey, JR. What's the word for WIMP in Japanese? You gonna let a few sensationalized reports scare you away from a good story?
I gotta admit, I look back on the trips I made to Catalina...in the olden days...and wonder how close I ever came to being lunch for those big toothy mothers. That was before the movie Jaws...back when I used a stone float tube. Well, maybe not that far back.
I've mellowed out a lot since my foolhardy youth, but I think I can honestly say I have a greater respect (rhymes with fear) for potential maiming or death while driving than while float tube fishing. And, to bring it down to the realities of this kind of angling, I have had more close calls from crazy boaters and PWC operators...while flotation fishing...than I have from reckless drivers on the freeway.
It all boils down to choices. If we want to do something badly enough, we will find a way to rationalize it. Just like we can rationalize our way out of almost anything we don't want to do. The one exception, of course, is getting out of "honey-do's". But that's another horror story.
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Hey there TubeDude,
One Japanese word, ikujinashi, roughly translates into spineless but a children's word I like better is yawamushi yawa(i) being weak and mushi being worm (it is a general word for bugs too) therefore we have weakworm.
I believe worms are a fishes favorite food. gulp! Problem with the story is it would be a dis-service to those that might want to do it but would have reservations if they knew of the reportings.
So be it. The truth is the tricky currents where I wanted to fish worried me more than the possibility of a great white.
JapanRon
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[cool]My tubing experiences over there were always inshore, in protected areas and usually during non-current conditions. I have spent lots of days on the water over there on a variety of boats...large and small...and I also have a healthy respect for the strong currents that can come up out of nowhere. The fish like them, but they are not good for tubers and yakkers. You need serious horsepower and/or heavy anchors to deal with currents. Neither is synonymous with flotation fishing.
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If you guys have Fox Sports Net they might re-air the episode i saw this morning. BUT IM TELLING YOU - those were some big muthasucka great white chompin on this whale carcass! Heres what got me - they wouldnt just take a bite....they came 1/4 way OUT OF THE WATER and would chomp for like 30 seconds at a time on this whale. Hmmm...now you got my business mind going....maybe i could invent some waders that have heavy duty steel mesh in them to avoid great whites. When i invent them, i will send you a pair Tube Dude, and let you try them out. Ha ha
Tight lines!
JA
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[cool] I'm more interested in an instant takeoff high thrust jet propulsion system that would get me the heck outta there. Something kinda James Bondish. Then again, if I suspected...or saw...a great white in the vacinity my last meal of burritos would probably kick in to launch me like a Polaris missile. If you wanna field test those waders, you go head on til your head hurts. Me? My mama drowned all the dumb ones.
By the way, they already have a steel mesh diver's suit. But, they have only tested it on "wussy" blue sharks and small black tips and reef sharks. A great white would crush you to death with their powerful jaws, even if the teeth did not penetrate the steel mesh.
If you want to work out something of commercial value, maybe you could make a lure that looked like a dead whale...for those who would like to catch and release a great white on artificials. Once again, I'll leave the field testing up to you. A lure that size would be nasty to cast.
I have seen documentaries on some of the nature and science channels that have shown the kind of behavior you describe. That would be an awesome spectacle. I have also witnessed the demise of sea lions, such as you did. My experience was off the Faralon Islands out off San Francisco. Like Catalina, these rocky protuberances are gathering spots for pinnipeds...and the sharks that feed upon them. You only have to see the bloody acre of water and the disappearance of a sea lion as big as a human once. That's enough to convince you that you don't belong in the same waters as those big eating machines.
As you will read, in the chapter on Floatable Waters, I strongly advise all tubers to stay out of any water or any conditions which are not guaranteed safe. It is not worth risking injury or death for a macho fishing trip. Yeah, we're all a little whacko sometimes, but we don't have to prove it.
Thanks for the report. Probably made a few folks swallow hard a couple of times and rethink that next trip to the salt.
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tube ( something i have never done ) in shark infested waters , or sit in a car that my bride is driving ?
gee guys , some kind of choise there ! [crazy]
i'll go tubeing , it's safer ![cool]
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