Ahem... Shark Donuts?

[TubeDude]

[cool][#0000ff]Yeah, I have had trips both in the Pacific and down in the Sea of Cortez when the "lobos" came around. Young ones and females are more prone to be curious or playful. But, when there is a big ol' bull in the area you have real reason to worry. I have never heard of any tubers, tooners or yakkers gettin' "molested" by them, but I know of a couple of divers that had runins with them. Best not to tempt fate.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]I was tubing one time down off a remote area in the Sea of Cortez when I noticed the head of a female sea lion poking up out of the water looking at me from about a hundred yards away. I couldn't help myself. I raised the tips of my fins up out of the water and clapped them together a couple of times and did my best sea lion call..."Ork Ork". The little lady thought I wanted to play (or something) and immediately started porpoising in and out of the water straight to me. She made a couple of quick turns around me, faster than it takes to tell about it and then came up with her head out of water for a closer look. As soon as she determined I was a human she dove back under water and took off away from me. Humans don't treat them too kindly down in Mexico. They don't believe in letting them have the run of the ocean like in California.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Probably one of my most interesting "encounters" was also in that same area in Mexico. I was kicking along inshore, casting to individual rocks and small reefs easily visible in the ultraclear warm water. I looked down and noticed that there were two shadows on the white sand below me. I spun around and saw a large sea turtle just coming to the surface a few feet away. He (I think) was moving slowly toward me. Not wanting to get into a species discussion with a horny sea turtle, I turned around and power kicked out of there. He tried to keep up for a minute or so and then swam off. I have always wondered how I would have convinced that guy that I had a headache and did not want to play.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]I have taken many smaller species of sharks from a tube, and a few stingrays. The ones they have down in Mexico are bigger and have six inch long stingers, unlike the smaller spines on the California batray. You definitely do not want to get them close enough to your air chambers to check their effectiveness.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]There are also a lot of needlefish down there. They leap a lot and can either ram a hole in you (or your tube) or chew up your gear if you bring them aboard.[/#0000ff]

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[#0000ff]And then there are the triggerfish. They have both spines and teeth, and bad attitudes. Fun to catch and good to eat, but dangerous to air chambers and flesh.[/#0000ff]


[#0000ff]There are many other species of rockfish in both California and Mexico that have nasty spines (sculpin, scorpionfish) and teeth (barracuda, lingcod) that can be caught from inflatable craft. A good rule of thumb is to either have a good long handled net for control or to avoid bringing them too close to your craft.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Oh yeah, don't try "lipping" them either. That's for basses.[/#0000ff]
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