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Go Coogs!
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/...n/7589635.html
UH senior was enjoying Memorial Day in the warm Gulf waters when a shark took a bite out of her holiday
Kori Robertson puts ointment on the bite mark left from an apparent bull shark attack on Monday at Follett's Island.
Read more: http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/...#ixzz1O29xwXOs
Kori Robertson was minding her own business, standing waist-deep in water chatting with a friend, when she felt a jerk on her leg, followed by sharp pain. The 22-year-old college student didn't know what was happening, but she knew it wasn't good.
"I had been stung by a jellyfish before and it did not feel like that," said Robertson, who was enjoying Memorial Day with a handful of friends on Follett's Island, near Surfside, when the good time suddenly ended. "It didn't feel like a little fish nibbling at me. I had to pull my leg up out of the water, then I thought I had to get out of the water. Now."
Though she never saw the culprit in the brown water, Robertson said she was told by doctors it was a shark that had bitten her right thigh, likely a bull shark, which are plentiful along the upper Texas coast and are known for aggressive behavior. Not for nothing are they likened to aquatic pit bulls. Then again, said shark was probably minding its own business as well, swimming through the shallow water, looking for a snack, when suddenly a fleshy object appeared right before it.
"I just want people to know about this," Robertson said. "It's not something you usually think about"
Robertson, a senior education major at the University of Houston, is more of a beach lover than a shark hater despite her fresh wounds. She just wants people to think twice about the water they and their children are playing in. Bull sharks rarely inflict fatal wounds, but they can inflict a nasty gash that may require multiple surgeries if tendons are severed.
In that sense, Robertson was lucky. Whatever bit her did not get a good hold on her thigh. Her skin was badly cut, but the bite was only 1 centimeter deep. Her doctors' biggest concern is infection from the warm Gulf water. Her concern: "Big scars."
Robertson's boyfriend rushed her to the hospital after wrapping her thigh in a towel. Emergency room doctors at UTMB in Galveston treated her wounds but did not s ch them up, fearing that would make it easier for infection to set in. She is recuperating at her mother's home in The Woodlands.
"Even on the way to the hospital, I said we need to take pictures of this," she said. "I have nieces and nephews who I take out further than this. "
Shark attacks along the Texas coast are uncommon and rarely fatal. The International Shark Attack File maintained by the Florida Museum of Natural History shows 34 attacks from 1911 through 2010 for all of Texas, with 16 in the last decade, none of them fatal.
"I'm definitely not scared, though it will take me awhile before I go further out in the water," Robertson said. "You need to use caution. You definitely want to be able to see your feet."
Go Coogs!
"It's not something you usually think about"
i always think about sharks when im out there, it's really the only danger. that is scary when you're surfing and you see one swimming through a breaker and realize they are probably all around you.
I was hurricane surfing back in my 20's at Freeport and saw a monster hammerhead. The third break there is WAY offshore and we had paddled out in the dark through the 8' surf and were just sitting on our boards catching our breath as the sun came up...It was just a glorious morning...the high cirrus storm clouds were starting to move in and the pink/orange/purple sunrise was just spectacular.. the next 5 wave set came in and I was looking back waiting for the last wave in the set...the next wave rose up behind me and I could see this huge hammerhead profiled in the wave with the rising sun shining through it...I was on a 9' surfboard and he looked like he was twice as long as my board...he was only about 10' away...damn...I just belly flopped on the board and paddled with my fingers and caught and rode that wave all the way to the beach...rolled off the board on the sand and hyperventilated on adrenaline overdose for about 10 minutes...
I was out at the coast last weekend, and while I didn't get any shark bites, the approx. one zillion baby crab pinches I felt were not pleasant
oh no, you have crabs?
Hammerheads are scary looking, but I've never heard of one biting somebody. Bull sharks are the bad boys. Out here you have to worry about the great whites of course.
I hear the sargasso is pretty awful right now...I was out at the coast last weekend, and while I didn't get any shark bites, the approx. one zillion baby crab pinches I felt were not pleasant
I was in Galveston last this past Saturday... I don't think I saw anyone get bit by a shark... haha
global warming, folks.
Had crabs. Below the knees.
Mustang Island and the National Seashore were pretty clean; I can't say I noticed more than a minimal amount out there.
Cool...I was down there a couple of weeks ago and it was 2' thick and 40 feet wide down at the sticks (just north of the national seashore)Had crabs. Below the knees.
Mustang Island and the National Seashore were pretty clean; I can't say I noticed more than a minimal amount out there.
I've had them run into me while I was wade fishing. It's scary . I fear the stingray more though, because they follow you around.
Agreed. Always shuffle the feet.
Was wade fishing a couple of years ago behind a spoil island just south of the land cut in waist deep water...my buddy and I were hammering the big trout and were about a half mile from the boat (leapfrogging with two other guys)...he cast to some noisy water in front of us and damned if a BIG bull shark didn't hook up...When he jumped there was 5' of shark in FRONT of the dorsal...obviously broke him off ASAP but then it was...uhhhh...where did he goooooo? really took the fun out of fishing till they picked us up...
I had one swallow an upper slot red, swallowed it whole. Just a puff of blood out the gills, white eyes and off she went. The was that I was wading and about to net the fish. The line didn't even pull, just went limp.
I was wading in the surf for trout and had about 4 on the stringer when i felt an unnaturally strong tug on the stringer, stronger than a breaker or one of the bigger, livelier trout pulling. in shark eating my fish! yeah, i shuffled back to shore fast as .
They make the breakaway stringers. I had a friend get snatched off his feet and back about 10 feet by a dolphin while were flounder gigging. He got dragged a bit before the flounder's gill plate gave way. Weird to see, especially at night. He was like a crankbait.
thats scary as , i'd never wade at night. not like i can see through the water during the day either, but at least i'm more oriented.
It's fun though, and we get lots of big flounder and stone crab claws. You see some pretty cool at night, and it's not nearly as bad as it seems.
We have to keep visual contact with the bottom else we cannot see flounder. We are normally 2-3' deep max, with a shoreline just a few feet away.
yeah that doesnt sound too bad, i bought a head lamp planning to go gigging one night a couple summers ago but it never happened. I'd like to try it sometime.
I used to go gigging at night along the sand flats along the Lydia Ann channel (using my kayak to jump the shrimp boat channel) at Port Aransas, but with the new limits this year it's not worth the trouble...
Well . My son and a couple of his buddies are planning a short trip out there next week to start learning about fishing in water other than lakes and rivers. I read this thread to him and all he did was laugh and say "Awesome!"
it IS awesome!
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