Thread: Great White Shark at the Rakaia River mouth?

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 .

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.

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.

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.

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.

Did you eat them?

Originally Posted by Russian 22.

Did you eat them?

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.