long hike down straights

[al49]

one of the theories up here are that the sharks are having there food decimated out wide so are finding new areas to feed in closer and once here are learning that boats and engines means an easy food source ,hence the one that followed me last monday for a few k.one of the guides was saying he can nearly tell the time it takes for sharks to start cruising around his boat once they know hes there .having young in this area will only add to the prob as they will learn this way of eating as well

[BR65]

They associate the sound of motors with an easy feed, have had them follow the mother ship at Swains for miles waiting for us to pull up for a drift

[Gippsy]

Me too rakey. Miles they follow the big boat. It’s hard just to land a tuna up the island. (Fraser). It’s not worth the steam chasing them most of the time, They never take your catfish or slatey bream, But jump on trout red or pearl perch, We have had quite a few salmon and Barra taken in the burrum by 8/9 foot bull sharks, Usually on days bites are hard to come by, Sucks balls

[Apollo]

Al, we lost about twenty really good fish to sharks over the breaksea spit a few weeks back. They were circling the boat waiting. I have caught a 4m GW at Reds and lost plenty of LTs to tigers, etc off Arch. My last trip to the fairways resulted in three sharks in first three drops, so moved on. Years ago, I ripped it up a known HB identity for thinking it was funny to feed the sharks circling his boat by baiting them with fish heads on a rope. He put up the video and I ripped it up him that he was part of the problem of 'training' the sharks to associate hanging around boats for a feed. They are a serious issue in HB/Fraser.

[al49]

Don't know what can be done though Steve it is bad at moment

[Blackfish]

I've seen it up at the Kimberleys, to me it seems learned behaviour. Well to meet seemed anyway.
A couple of spots spring mind.
One is Halls Point,a great point sticking out with a big current pushing past. Every thing that lived there was in the large size. 12 plus years ago we used to get "Big" Mackys, Big Queenies and Big Brassy Trevally plus sundries. In the last few years we used to just drive past the place as you couldn't pull a fish out of there without seeing them Vaporised by Big Sharks.
Another place was Prior Point, great spot to get good Queenies, Brassys, Goldens and a couple varieties of Mackies.
In the end it was hard to get a fish out of there, though sometimes, but rarely you had no Sharks. The Sharks also loved Bucktail Jigs. The clients got a thrill when a shark picked up one of those and screamed off, though the outcome was nearly always the same, the trace would wear thru. If it didn't and only hooked in the corner of the mouth, the Older, unfit Men who were used to a softer life were stuffed in the end.
Now these places were not fished other than Petes clients and that was from about May to October. Halls Point was only fished about a dozen times a year at the most.