quote:

Originally posted by cparktd:
According to Wikipedia only 17 recorded unprovoked attacks on humans and no fatalities by Hammerheads.

We stopped at a Florida State Park once, where we watched several idiot swimmers mingling with them in waist deep water and trying to pet them... unsuccessfully. The sharks looked to run 6-8 feet or so in length were staying just a few feet out of reach but some got between the swimmers and the beach at times.

I stayed on the pier...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hammerhead_shark

One of the previous shark threads had an interactive shark attack map (can't find it or the map) where you could filter by shark type. I remember being shocked at the number of hammerhead attacks in the Gulf of Mexico.

quote:

Originally posted by C-Dubs:
Hell with that.

We often see threads asking about the best woods gun... what’s the best for pesky sharks???

When I was diving commercially in the Gulf of Mexico we always had one diver designated as a Safety Diver. He carried a 12 gauge bang stick. Very effective.

You should see the hammerheads in Boca Grande. The Tarpon fishing capitol of the world, with huge 100 plus pound tarpons by the tens of thousands swimming through the rather small inlet. And there are tons of hammerheads. The world record hammer head was caught there, almost 1300 pounds, dragged the guy and his boat 12 miles out to sea.

There is a rather popular swimming beach right there and I counted about 3 or 4 hammerheads right from the beach one day. No way I was going swimming, but hundreds of other folks were.

https://www.heraldtribune.com/...rk-finds-empty-glory

Put some flippers and a snorkle on a honey badger and those hammer heads will skidaddle...

quote:

Originally posted by Southflorida-law:
one of two scenarios there, first, the guy was possibly chumming which brought in the shark, or whatever he was fishing for was hanging underneath the boat. I've seen tarpon and dolphin do that, "hide" under a boat.

rather than smacking the shark he should have just put some distance between him and the shark.

And for the record, I have been "up close and personal" with quiet a few hammerheads (a few monsters) while scuba and free diving. They really are not that aggressive.

Agreed. Same as my experience diving and encountering hammerheads. They (the big boys, anyway) have far more interesting things to do than bother with us. Something was drawing that little guy in, and whacking it with the paddle didn’t make sense. Just remove the enticement and leave.