They're a beautiful creature. Even the 2.5-3m one that was knocking the stern of my kayak around for a few hundy metres a few weeks ago. Eventually, it came right alongside and wasn't bothered when I prodded it with my paddle. Didn't have an super-agressive posture but it seemed like it was looking for me to give it a reason to flick the switch and go me or the yak. Worst encounter of probably a dozen over the years. Many different sharks tail my kayak but not like this one.

Get's a little scary when they they start harassing you on the kayak, eh. Did you use burley or how did it get attracted to your yak? After meeting Jason in Golden Bay, we have seen lot's of them cruising past the shore. Eventually I decided to chuck out a kahawai head with a big hook attached to it. We watched the shark came right up to it but it didn't wan't to eat it. Quite picky. Perhaps the steel trace put it off. I'll have to try with a heavy mono leader next time. In the end we just caught a big as stingray that wasn't quite as picky as the bronzie. But then a local came up and told us that he's not quite happy about people catching sharks on this beach so we decided to not try again at this spot.

There were multiple potential possibilities. The first was a work-up about 100m away and this bronzie decided I was competition to be herded away from their food. I've had that before but they usually stay pretty close to the work-up and only herd me for about 100m away then give up, with none of them making contact or tailing so close as this one. It was only me for 2-300m and by then we were about 400m away from their work-up. Second is the livie I was slow trolling was understandably freak'n out and I've had a few instances now, but only in my fibreglass hull, where the sharks are not interested in the livie or the fish I'm fighting, rather they seem to hone-in on the kayak. I wonder if the more rigid (than plastic) hull is broadcasting the tremors of the rod in the holder or through me if fighting a fish hard. Thirdly, it was my first day out after taking out my undermount rudder to straighten the shaft and when I fitted it back in I liberally applied raw lanolin grease to it. First time I've ever used raw lanolin like this. I've read some ocean swimmers refuse to use 100% lanolin grease because they worry about it attracting sharks. Thought it was a myth but there might be something to it and I'm not taking the risks. The rudder came out, was cleaned and I used different grease, before the next, very nervous paddle. If there are other reasons why this shark encounter was so different to all the others I've had, I'm very keen to learn why and what to do to avoid it in the future. Wasn't a pleasant experience ;-)