# palm beach tiger sightings



## Fishing Man (Oct 4, 2006)

hey guys,

im getting keen to have a crack at palmy reef soon, 
just a few more weeks practice i think, what i want to know is how many of you have had shark encounters out there??

ive heard a lot about the infamous tigers that inhabit the area, and how aggessive they are. Have any of the palmy boys seen them out there and if so what happened.

im still gunna give it a crack, just like to be prepared


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## Jebster (Dec 18, 2005)

G'day mate,
We have been out there and have never seen any sightings, and it isn't that big a paddle from 19th Ave.
Jebster.


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## couta1 (Sep 10, 2005)

palmy is an easy place to fish from a yak.you should have no problem.the only hazard i think is that you will get run over by boats!!!,as spotted mackerel have started to show up,and so will more boats.


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## spooled1 (Sep 16, 2005)

On Monday I was 100 metres between the pass and wategos and 200 metres offshore. Under the yak was 4 metres of grey that seriously checked me out.

I grabbed my sunscreen and rubbed some on the side of the hull. I tried to keep my heart rate right down and focus on paddling.

I paddled to within 50 metres of shore and then realised that if I was gonna be eaten, it would have happened in the last 3 minutes.


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## troppo (Feb 1, 2006)

Dan: That sound seriously serious. How close did it get?

And what was the sunscreen on the hull for? :?:


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## spooled1 (Sep 16, 2005)

Hi Troppo,

When I said, "Right under me", we're talking a depth of 6 metres diectly below in 95% visibility almost hugging the sand.

His beady eyes were staring straight back up at me it was that close.

On the second pass, I was paddling and he was about 4 metres to the left and 6 metres down.

Worse still, for the last month there's been a white lurking. I don't know my sharks and I don't dare comment.

Sunscreen was shark shield for scared people.':roll:'


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## Peril (Sep 5, 2005)

Was it Stumpy, Red, er Dan? (Report from another site about a small white up at Byron)


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## troppo (Feb 1, 2006)

Spooled1, that it close! It would have seemed huge!!


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## troppo (Feb 1, 2006)

Spooled1, do you think it would take a lure? SX40?


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## spooled1 (Sep 16, 2005)

Dunno Peril,

A few people have seen something similar between here and Lennox.

Thank god for turtles, they're tastier.


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## Fishing Man (Oct 4, 2006)

have you seen many other sharks down that way mate


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## spooled1 (Sep 16, 2005)

Hi Ben,

This was the first real fear generator since I lived in Victoria and went surfing off Flinders one summer years ago.

The Flinders one was heaps scarier because it was a bloody big fin that came straight towards me and suddenly dipped about 3 metres away.

I almost shat myself on the spot.

This one kinda cruised calmly.


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## bazzoo (Oct 17, 2006)

whooaa Dan , how are you feeling now , shocked i bet , that would really shake my confidence sooo much :shock: :shock: says a lot for using a shark shield, but they are so dear , think i will stay inshore, or if i do venture offshore will have to take the cheaper version of shark shield i.e. seal flavoured handgrenades lowered ever so slowly on a string :roll: :roll: :roll:


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## Phoenix (Jan 12, 2006)

Sharks are always around. The on set of summer will see Tigers start to arrive and assert their dominance. Whites will also be around in a few months.

Bull Whaler's are there all the time.

Sharks will be in almost every salt water and even many brackish water spots that we fish. I remember when I lived in Sydney sharks were caught at Lane Cove. Many kilometres from the sea.


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## bushwoodboy (Oct 5, 2006)

Yeah I agree with Phoenix, from my experience they are pretty much always around you just don't always see them.Have been watching mates surf from the top of the dunes at moreton island with sharks in the water while they paddled around in ignorant bliss :shock: My motto has always been to surf with someone who looks tastier than you & can't paddle very fast :lol: Mal


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## andybear (Jan 15, 2006)

I was just wondering what the shark would look like on the fishfinder.......huge arch if fish ID off, and if ID on 'Ping" GWS or KGW...just a passing thought

Cheers all Andybear :lol:


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## andybear (Jan 15, 2006)

Over the years, there have been many reports of greyhound trainers, swimming their dogs in the Georges River, and coming home with just the lead and the muzzle and perhaps the front legs. I Suppose they are not so much a report...... more of a tail really....

Cheers all Andybear :lol:


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## troppo (Feb 1, 2006)

ha ha haohhhhh sheesh!


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## JD (Jul 2, 2006)

Is this just a plot by someone to get me to sell my Swing cheap? Sharks! Almost as bad as snakes!


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## Scott (Aug 29, 2005)

Spooled, you are in the right place for them up there mate. I was once snorkeling off Tallows when my brother in law swam out and told me there was a big tiger shadowing me. The same brother in law used to be one of the partners in Sundive, one of the dive shops at Byron and was in the water that day as a dive master when the white ate the honeymooner.

Luckily for us that tigers seem to be rarely in the mood to have a munch on a human where as i wouldn't trust a white as far as I could drop kick it. Its those dirty bloody whalers that used to scare me the most, have a lash at particularity anything and get right up the rivers. I once met some dudes walking a canoe back along the shoreline in the upper Berowra river. When I asked them what was up they told me that a shark (likely a whaler) as long as their canoe (a 12 foot Coleman) had shadowed them into shore.

We would regularly hook these things as far upstream as Lautendale (spelling) near Wisemans when fishing for jews up there during drought time high tides when the salinity level was quite high. A local prawn trawler at Wisemans got a whaler aprox 150kg one day in his net when I was up there. It was a big fish, around the 9-10 foot mark and stocky as. I personally find it amazing that none of the skiers from the waterski parks up there ever get taken.

Catch ya Scott


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## PoddyMullet (Aug 29, 2005)

Dan they freak me half that size...on land, boat or in yak. 4m is a big girl indeed. That close to one is going to get the blood pumping, hope ya got a good supply of tea bags to calm the nerves. : :shock:


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## ScottLovig (Aug 7, 2006)

Ditto Pheonix.

The buggers are everywhere. You just dont see em.

Cheers

Scott


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## Arcachon (Jul 18, 2006)

I have run this question past the better half as she is a life saver at Pacific Surf Club which is right on 19th Ave at Palm Beach. Apparently tiger sharks are reasonably common on the reef in warmer months along with many other types. They actually closed the beach last weekend when one came a bit close to shore.

Haivng said that I don't believe there has been any reported attacks on humans in the area. Certainly not in recent times. Apparently we are not that tasty.


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