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Old 05-17-2014, 08:47 PM
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ricki ricki is offline
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I got to speak today with Brian Brumaster close friend of Jimmy Roseman. Brian was on the boat the day the white shark stopped by. Brian said that as it was Jimmy's boat, he had dibs on the first dive that morning. They don't anchor but live boat following the exhaust of the diver in the water. The guys frequently dive solo to spread things out. The time was around 9 to 9:30 am. They had arrived in 80 ft. of water on Bethel Shoals looking to spear some bottom fish. They had on full wetsuits as the water was 77 F on top and 72 F on the bottom.

Jimmy Roseman is a guide for various types of hunting both on land through Osceola Outfitters and in the water as well as being a taxidermist. Brian grew up diving off the area and has been hard at it since was 14 years old. This guys are of old Florida, hog and alligator hunts in the glades, etc..

Jimmy and Brian are full time spear fishermen, have been for years and they push the envelope and get beaten up for their efforts at times. Two weeks previously, Jimmy was attacked by a 7 ft. reef shark when he had a fish on. He punched it away with his speargun and it took off after one good poke. Ironically, Jimmy was using the same GoPro camera he bought from Brian on that dive too on a mask mount. Jimmy joked about having Brian to buy the camera back due to its unusual shark attracting abilities?!

They guys had no idea Great Whites were in the area until they got home and learned about Katharine. In fact when Jimmy first saw the shark he didn't realize it was a white shark. That came later after they could look things up at home. White sharks are as rarely seen in those parts as they are off southeast Florida apparently.

Brian related that he had been attacked TWICE in the past by bull sharks when he had fish on. The last one bit his hand after missing the fish Brian was trying to keep away from him. That attack resulted in a total of 50 stitches between both sides of his hand and $15,000. in medical expenses. I asked Brian just how successful he was in driving off sharks (bulls, tigers and hammerheads, it is shark central in those parts), when they are spearfishing? He said usually one good jab from the speargun and they take off consistently. Brian has had to deal with lots of shark encounters and a couple attacks as well as I have said. There are no guarantees in any of this of course, sometimes divers particularly spear fishermen are nailed by sharks. So none of this is to encourage hanging out with sharks and bloody fish.

I understand visibility in the morning was about 15 ft.. Brian said the guys usually carry dive lights to spot fish in crevices in the rock, hence the light in the video clip. The shark came up out of no where from behind Jimmy. When it hit his tank he was forced forward in the water column by the impact. He later checked his tank for marks but it was already heavily scratched up. Jimmy surfaced with four fish after this dive and likely had at least a couple on him before the attack. These guys don't give up their fish as a rule to an attacking shark which is interesting but not a unique perspective. Some guys suggested he should have shot the cobia that was shadowing the shark to distract it but Jimmy thought better of it and just kept poking the shark away. Jimmy estimated that the shark was about 12 ft. long. You can see his exhaust in the clip, I saw no evidence of hyperventilation or even much increase in breathing rate. He was using a 100 cubic foot tank with 3000 psi originally. He surfaced with 1000 psi after his session with the white shark. He is one cool customer to say the least but Brian did say he was rattled by the experience, but not enough to stop diving for the day. They moved the boat and kept diving, free of sharks this time.

I asked Brian what Jimmy might have done differently? He said neither Jimmy or Brian himself would have done things differently, which is saying something. That goes from not giving the fish up, keeping your head and staying put until the shark is driven off. It is no secret that I am not crazy about spearing in heavily depleted and ecologically impacted southeast Florida waters. I decided continuing to shoot what few small fry we had left was a bad idea many decades in the past. Our water is fairly clear, fish stocks heavily culled, estuaries shrunk, shoreside population out of sight and in general it is a rough place to be a shootable fish. With these guys, shooting in poor viz. for food, often cold water with sharks out the wazoo to level the playing field and strong fish stocks by comparison, it is easier to accommodate for me.

Thanks for sharing your story guys, try to stay in one piece!


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Last edited by ricki; 05-18-2014 at 08:18 AM.
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