Went back to where the shark attacked in 2023, under eerily similar conditions

I had been avoiding the area the shark rammed my kayak back in May 2023, partly because it was an area I don’t fish, and partly because I didn’t want to relive the experience. I had fished areas around it so it was time to do another check of the area. What made the outing even spookier was that it was flat calm like the shark attack day. I couldn’t find any partners to go with me, so I promised I’d keep my feet in the kayak, and have a Sharkbanz device on my right ankle for the rare times I had to put my feet over the side.

I started off at the opelu spot, a mile from the danger zone, and the school showed up on the fish finder. A fairly big one bit on the first drop and came up scratched up from something that tried to grab it. Oddly enough, that was the biggest opelu I caught all day, and the smaller ones didn’t get grabbed. After 5 were chilling in my footwell I decided not to use them as live bait, and instead dispatched them and put them in the fish bag. I had not had a hookup on live opelu for the last few trips, just bite marks from small predators, so I didn’t want to hassle of trolling a live bait while mining the bottom with the damashi rig.

Next, I headed a mile north to the shark zone. I kept my eyes on a swivel and no sharks were spotted so I started damashi fishing. Fish bit in the areas with good sonar marks but they were either undesirables (hagi, hawkfish, trumpetfish) or too small (weke nono).

I considered keeping the bigger moano/moana but a lot of my friends aren’t fans of the small bones.

I took a break from the damashi action and dropped the Carolina rig with 2 tungsten weights knocking against each other. It got bit right away but sadly was a slimey nunu (trumpetfish). And look. More than halfway through the trip I realized I forgot to put the Sharkbanz on my right ankle!

I caught another random opelu one the way back to the first opelu spot, but that school had moved on. So it was time to crank up the Bixpy motor and head in through the flat water. I’m trying to figure out if the good bottom fish didn’t bite because the water was1) too calm, 2) the slow Winter season, or 3) the place is junk.

This was all I brought home, but I did get home shark-free. Note the bite marks on the largest opelu. My friend’s wife who loves fresh fish will prepare them like she does saba.