Great White Shark at the Rakaia River mouth?

Great White Shark at the Rakaia River mouth?

About 2012 I took a trip to the Rakaia river mouth on the south side and walked out the shingle spit to the river mouth.

The waves coming ashore were about as high as a house a vertical wall of green water before breaking on shore.

I was looking into one of these walls of green water when I saw a massive shark much longer than my ute glide through this vertical wall of water and disappear as the wave broke on the shore.

I was shocked that thing was massive as I stood there looking at that spot then a seal shot straight up vertical out of the water it cleared the water what appeared to be twice its length before dropping back into the water.

I stood there for some time but did not see anything of the two again I was also the only person around on that stormy day.

I did an internet search and I am convinced that was the first and only Great White shark I have ever seen and it was so close to shore.

Any thoughts ?

Attachment 130171

That was the shape I saw!

Quite probable man, they are far more common in nz waters than we realise. Could have also been an orca in close but obviously quite a different shape.

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No no way it was an Orca they are very distinctive white patches and tail on the wrong plain.

seen plenty heaps of dolphins along the coast...there has been reports of sharks up in gut when folk are casting for salmon...apparently it was a bit of a race to shore...so entirely possible.

Again a Dolphins tail is on the wrong plain this things tail was vertical and big.

It seemed fatter than the image more rounded on top with a larger dorsal fin grey colour bloody big I remember I seemed to be looking up into these walls of green water thinking is this shingle spit a wise place to stand that day!Attachment 130174

Ive seen a dead sunfish washed up on washdyke beach.....anything is possible along that bit of coastline.plenty of seals show up so yeah completely plausable it was a great white.

That would have been quite a sight, I'm envious. If you'd been lucky enough to catch it on film you'd be famous. I've seen dead great whites washed up on HB beaches twice in my life, one of the reasons I tend not to go out too deep when swimming. Also being a kid when 'jaws' came out did not help....

Yes would have been a great sight alright, however I to saw Jaws at a very impressionable age and as a consequence sharks, and being in the sea both fascinate and scare the shit out of me.

Why doubt it was a great white? They are not uncommon in NZ waters.

When I was seriously in to SCUBA diving, I was flying all over the world to dive with sharks. Even made the trip down to Bluff to see the great whites (they didn't appear). I never worried about being attacked. Now I'm a fledgling freediver/spearo, it weighs quite heavily on my mind.

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Originally Posted by jakewire

Yes would have been a great sight alright, however I to saw Jaws at a very impressionable age and as a consequence sharks, and being in the sea both fascinate and scare the shit out of me.

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I was at a party a couple weeks back with a bunch of us being born a few years either side of 1970, discussing this very issue. We all had the same problem, Jaws was part of our upbringing and the influence has still impacted us all.

Yep, that first jaws film scared the bejesus out of me when I saw it. The other ones, not so much but I still hesitate to go into the water. In a boat Im all good.

Happily used swim out past the breakers post "Jaws" no way.

I would rate the first Jaw's amongst the best films I have seen I also saw it at the movies as a kid and remember it well (the other was Where Eagles Dare), we were on holiday on the Mediterranean years ago I was on an air bed paddling out quite happily when the water below me went dark blue the first thing I thought of was Jaw's and headed straight back in.

I believe the biggest Great White was caught in the Mediterranean and a few deaths by shark attack last one I read of was off Malta, I never knew that all the years we were in the Med!

when the hokitika abbatoir ran its effluent pipe out into the tasman ,it was fun to sit up in the westland hosptal carpark and watch the big fins cruising the area.
In my early years training at seaview ,quite a few male nurses did deep sea fishing as a hobby and periodically great whites were mentioned .it seemed one in particular treated the pipe outlet like maccas.
one of the guys used to make occasional forays into the hoki trench and he maintained some of the makos known to frequent that also would give an iceberg the screaming shits.

Tiger sharks in NZ too!

https://www.fishing.net.nz/fishing-a...aland-history/

Its not uncommon to see Sharks all along that Beach.
Growing up a mate lived by the Maori Church and saw a Seal and Shark explode out of the water.
We used to fish at the mouth when the Kahawai Schools were so thick the sea would be a dark inky colour and then open up to clear blue when a shark woukd tear through the Schools.

My great uncle would sometimes get his nets chewed up by sharks out there too.

Over here great whites can be found from Tasmania to Harvey bay. While the juveniles seem to stay local, once they grow up the adults follow the whale migration

That comment about makos is right- a big one is fairly close in shape to a great white. Decades back my brothers were commercial fishing in Fiordland and saw a "MASSIVE" one cruising on the surface in Dusky, and my brother is not into exaggerating. I can't recall his length estimate but many would think it was a great white going by length.

You will never know now, however whites are everywhere and very rarely cause trouble so a high possibility it was one.

I have seen a white between 4 and 5m long while diving with my girlfriend at the 3 kings, it showed no aggression at all.
It cruised past about 5m away, we backed up to the rock and orientated ourselves using the compass etc so we could find our way out of the water without spending time on the surface. We started to move off and had only gone maybe 30m when it came past again, this time passing directly over top of me while i lay motionless on the bottom. I remember my bubbles going up over it and watching it head off around a rock. As soon as it was out of sight we made a beeline out of there, too this day i still look over my shoulder while diving and sometimes wish i wouldnt :thumbsup:.

Its one of those memories il never forget.

I would say it was quite possibly, plenty of fish and the odd large marine mammal like a seal which large mature whites are known to predate on.

Yep there's Tiger sharks in NZ , Mayor Island's Tuhua reef had a population . A mate who's an ex - commerical fisherman got a 600 lb one in one of his set nets back in the 70s.
They seem to be deep on that reef but fishing way down at night they are still hooked on rare occasions.

As for whites I have spearfished for over 20 yrs and in some pretty dodgy spots and never seen one. However when they get caught off Takapuna beach in Auckland and people start filming them off the back of the boat then they are about.
Now both they and seals are protected I would imagine both populations will steadily increase, also with the water getting warmer and things like manta rays, Mahimahi and turtles and other stuff turning up we may see more sharks like Tigers also ?

Biggest problem I have had is with aggressive Bronze whalers, mongrel bloody things, bold , aggressive , large and persistent and often in numbers.

Just to add to the discussion. It's been a very sharky summer, more so than normal. Every fisherman/diver I've spoken to has had a problem with sharks taking fish, or making a nuisance of themselves in some other way.

In the late 60's early 70's a mate and I caught sharks off Rabbit Island (Mt Maunganui) in what was known as 'shark alley'...thinking back we must have been bloody mad as we used a dinghy and a canoe in our adventures...dragged them up onto the island to gut them for their livers...sold them to the local chemist...I have no idea what they did with them and for the life of me cant remember how much we were paid...I do know it was more fun and money than collecting beer bottles.

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Originally Posted by DavidGunn

In the late 60's early 70's a mate and I caught sharks off Rabbit Island (Mt Maunganui) in what was known as 'shark alley'...thinking back we must have been bloody mad as we used a dinghy and a canoe in our adventures...dragged them up onto the island to gut them for their livers...sold them to the local chemist...I have no idea what they did with them and for the life of me cant remember how much we were paid...I do know it was more fun and money than collecting beer bottles.

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Shark alley, yep swum that a few times, spearing kingies off the back of Rabbit, she's a long swim back over the sand to the beach. I never had a problem but was always waiting for it.
I never swum across in October or November as there was a very big Great White that always came through around that time. Last time I heard about it some guy was fishing off the end of Leisure Island and it swum past , apparently very big, about two after that some guy had a 2 mtr Bronize hooked up and the White cut it clean in half behind their boat .
Locals thought it came from Plate Island out the back of Motiti which has a good seal population.

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Originally Posted by DavidGunn

In the late 60's early 70's a mate and I caught sharks off Rabbit Island (Mt Maunganui) in what was known as 'shark alley'...thinking back we must have been bloody mad as we used a dinghy and a canoe in our adventures...dragged them up onto the island to gut them for their livers...sold them to the local chemist...I have no idea what they did with them and for the life of me cant remember how much we were paid...I do know it was more fun and money than collecting beer bottles.

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Did you eat them?

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Originally Posted by Russian 22.

Did you eat them?

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Would never have dreamt of eating shark back then (and I see I had the years wrong...should be late 50's early 60's)...no one in Mt Maunganui

ate anything but snapper or tarakihi back in those days.