# About Shark Attack off Rod & Reel Pier



## Jim Bryan (Oct 14, 2011)

http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/26184891/vp/44888278#44888278


About a week later there was another but not as severe. Same area.


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## Rene McDaniel (Oct 14, 2011)

Oh, I love the Rod & Reel!  We were just there in June on a side-trip after our week at Disney.  It's probably one of my favorite vacation food finds ever!  

So glad to see this story had a happy ending.  Could have been a real tragedy had the friend not fearlessly jumped in.  Amazing!

--- Rene


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## talkamotta (Oct 14, 2011)

We are going to be there in about 2 weeks.  I love that place. 

Im glad the people are ok.


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## shagnut (Oct 14, 2011)

When I was there many years ago there were sharks all over the place. They were very close to the swimmers and I was yelling my head off to get people out of the water.  I think the coast of Fla and NC are the worse place for sharks.  shaggy


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## jlwquilter (Oct 15, 2011)

We own at Umbrella Beach on Anna Maria and go every year, usually for Thanksgiving week. And we'll be there this year. Sure gives me pause to allow my DD, not to metion me and DH, into the gulf. Being close to shore is no protection.

We love the area. But...yikes! Was the 2nd attack also on someone spear fishing? It's known that such activity draws any sharks in the area in.

Best wishes to both attack victims!


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## Rene McDaniel (Oct 16, 2011)

*"SHARK SENSES:  Sharks have all the senses we have (smell, taste, touch, eyesight, and hearing). They can also sense electricity and vibrations in the water.

SMELL:  A shark's primary sense is a keen sense of smell. It can detect one drop of blood in a million drops of water (25 gallons or 100 liters) and can smell blood 0.25 mile (0.4 km) away. Its paired nostrils are on the underside of its snout. Water continually flows through the nostrils, giving the shark olfactory information. Unlike humans, shark nostrils have nothing to do with breathing - they are not even connected to the mouth." *

Spear fishing would put a lot of fish blood into the water, and since they were in a high powered fishing boat they were offshore in fairly deep water.  I lived in that area for 7 years, and had my little Cape Dory sailboat in a marina in St. Pete.  In all my weekend jaunts out on the open water, or swimming at the beach all those years, I never once saw or knew someone who had seen sharks near swimmers or at the beach.  I really think that it's the spearfishing, or blood in the water that brings any sharks around.  What I remember reading most about in the local papers were the stories of people who lost an arm duking it out with an alligator who came running out of a pond and tried to gobble up their little dog. 

Shaggy, I'm not saying what you said isn't true.  I'm sure it is.  I just don't know where you were in Florida.  Are you sure they weren't nurse sharks.  One of my old Florida friends, Bill, has like hundreds of photos of himself grabbing some poor nurse shark by the tail and taking a photo with it.  I figure they must be a pretty tame shark just to put up with having their pictures taken with him all the time. 

But I never saw sharks in the years I lived there.  Not even when friends and I were in a catamaran that capsized in a storm (off St Pete beach), and we were stranded out in the middle of the ocean treading water for a couple of hours hoping to be rescued by the coast guard.  That was scary.  But luckily for us, no sharks.  You feel very vunerable out in deep water like that with your legs kicking around making a big ruckus just trying to stay afloat.

jlwquilter, I think you should go, enjoy yourselves and have a good time. If you are still worried, choose an beach area with lots of people (safety in numbers).  If you are worried about your daughter make sure you or spouse are in the water with her, and stay closer to shore.  Talk to locals for more info.  The Rod & Reel is closer to the deep water of Tampa Bay.  If you asked the locals, they could tell you the safest areas/beaches.

--- Rene


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## Jim Bryan (Oct 16, 2011)

The report from the second attack was that they were wading from shore. In the same area. I grew up on and in the water on both coasts in Florida. I have had one encounter with a shark at Daytona Beach. I also saw another encounter at New Smyrna Beach. 
When you are at the Town of Anna Maria, stop and look at their small museum. You can see pictures of what has been caught in the area. Or stop by Mote Marine and look at their shark tank. Just have a healthy respect for them, we share their space.


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## Jwerking (Oct 20, 2011)

Wow, since we are going down at Xmas to this area, it is a bit disheartening to hear about these shark attacks - but best to know ahead of time to keep a lookout. 

Have not been to the gulf coast of FL for 15 yrs - but remember loving it without the big crashing waves of the East coast side.  It is fun to just float in the water on a raft and relax - hmmm, but don't want to be shark bait - yikes.  Anyway, may be too cold to float around too much in the water at Xmas time anyway - as weather can be very variable. 

Joyce


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## baakfamily (Nov 5, 2011)

*This is not surprising*



Jim Bryan said:


> http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/26184891/vp/44888278#44888278
> 
> 
> About a week later there was another but not as severe. Same area.



Spear fishermen.  Common story.  When you have wiggling, bleeding, dying fish on the end of spears, you are ringing nature's dinner bell for sharks.  Such stimuli get them very excited and in a feeding mood.  I don't know what other people think, but I don't want to be in the water with excited sharks hellbent on feeding.  Spear fishermen get bit with far greater frequency than just about any other group.

This took place near Rod and Reel Pier on Anna Maria Island?  I recall reading during my last visit there that a near record hammerhead shark was caught off that pier.  It is always full of fishermen hauling in struggling, tiring fish -- easy prey for sharks, which again get very excited by all that natural feeding stimulus.

Shark attacks are much rarer on the Gulf coast than the Atlantic coast, but even on the Atlantic side they are quite rare.

Don't want to get bit by a shark?  Don't swim anywhere near spearfishermen or even rod and reel fishermen.  There are sharks in Florida waters all the time.  Where there are fishermen nearby hauling in struggling fish, there are likely to be excited sharks looking to bite something!


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