Some fishing grounds are mythic, not only for the quality of the
fishing, but for the risks some anglers are willing to take to fish
there. To be successful at these spots, you have to risk losing more
than your favorite lure.
1. Hazard Rock, R.I.
Samans Nou was striper fishing off Hazard Rock in Narragansett, R.I., one of the most productive areas on the Striper Coast, on a quest to catch the lineside of a lifetime. It was the end of August 2010, and the weather was nasty, which generally equates to tremendous fishing. A huge wave hit Nou and three other anglers casting from the rocks and washed them out to sea. The other anglers were rescued, but it was the last time anyone would see Nou alive. The 25-year-old’s body was recovered two days later.
2. Devil’s Hole, N.Y.
When Joe Marra of Lewiston, N.Y., heard the cries of terror, it was already too late to save the captain of the 19-foot fishing vessel that had just been engulfed by a whirlpool in the Devil’s Hole section of the Niagara River. That captain, Steve White, 43, wouldn’t be seen again for six days, as the turbulence and intense subsurface currents of the river held his body under water for almost a week. Marra, a longtime charter captain in the region, was able to reach one of the passengers on the boat and save him before watching Lauren Barsamian, 27, disappear into another whirlpool just before he could reach her. She, too, would be missing for six days, her body finally surfacing just 15 minutes after authorities found White.
3. The Red Triangle, Calif.
The bite mark spanned from shoulder to shoulder. Randy Fry, 50, was diving for abalone with a friend in an area just south of Westport, Calif., off Kibesillah Rock, in around 15 feet of water when a great white shark viciously attacked him. His head was completely separated from his torso, creating the most gruesome scene law enforcement officers in the area had ever witnessed. The crimson water created by this 2004 attack is just one reason the region earned its grisly nickname. The Red Triangle accounts for almost 38 percentof all great white attacks on humans in the U.S.
The aquatic boundaries of the triangle stretch approximately 100 miles, from Bodega Bay, north of San Francisco, to Ano Nuevo Island near Santa Cruz, with the corner of the triangle being formed by the Farallon Islands.
Kayak fishermen seem to be bearing the brunt of recent attacks.
A 14-foot shark attacked angler Joey Nocchi in May 2012 just after he had limited out on rockfish near Cambria (technically just outside the triangle).
Three more shark attacks on kayak anglers followed in 2012, with great whites leaving teeth fragments and punctures in the thick plastic hulls and tossing anglers about like rag dolls. Angler Adam Coca was fishing out of a camo ’yak when a great white viciously attacked him in 2010. The shark didn’t just chew on the nose of the boat, but swam in violent circles as it did so. The shark cut through the nylon straps of his sandals and through his wetsuit booties, leaving razor-like cuts down his legs.
1. Hazard Rock, R.I.
Samans Nou was striper fishing off Hazard Rock in Narragansett, R.I., one of the most productive areas on the Striper Coast, on a quest to catch the lineside of a lifetime. It was the end of August 2010, and the weather was nasty, which generally equates to tremendous fishing. A huge wave hit Nou and three other anglers casting from the rocks and washed them out to sea. The other anglers were rescued, but it was the last time anyone would see Nou alive. The 25-year-old’s body was recovered two days later.
2. Devil’s Hole, N.Y.
When Joe Marra of Lewiston, N.Y., heard the cries of terror, it was already too late to save the captain of the 19-foot fishing vessel that had just been engulfed by a whirlpool in the Devil’s Hole section of the Niagara River. That captain, Steve White, 43, wouldn’t be seen again for six days, as the turbulence and intense subsurface currents of the river held his body under water for almost a week. Marra, a longtime charter captain in the region, was able to reach one of the passengers on the boat and save him before watching Lauren Barsamian, 27, disappear into another whirlpool just before he could reach her. She, too, would be missing for six days, her body finally surfacing just 15 minutes after authorities found White.
3. The Red Triangle, Calif.
The bite mark spanned from shoulder to shoulder. Randy Fry, 50, was diving for abalone with a friend in an area just south of Westport, Calif., off Kibesillah Rock, in around 15 feet of water when a great white shark viciously attacked him. His head was completely separated from his torso, creating the most gruesome scene law enforcement officers in the area had ever witnessed. The crimson water created by this 2004 attack is just one reason the region earned its grisly nickname. The Red Triangle accounts for almost 38 percentof all great white attacks on humans in the U.S.
The aquatic boundaries of the triangle stretch approximately 100 miles, from Bodega Bay, north of San Francisco, to Ano Nuevo Island near Santa Cruz, with the corner of the triangle being formed by the Farallon Islands.
Kayak fishermen seem to be bearing the brunt of recent attacks.
A 14-foot shark attacked angler Joey Nocchi in May 2012 just after he had limited out on rockfish near Cambria (technically just outside the triangle).
Three more shark attacks on kayak anglers followed in 2012, with great whites leaving teeth fragments and punctures in the thick plastic hulls and tossing anglers about like rag dolls. Angler Adam Coca was fishing out of a camo ’yak when a great white viciously attacked him in 2010. The shark didn’t just chew on the nose of the boat, but swam in violent circles as it did so. The shark cut through the nylon straps of his sandals and through his wetsuit booties, leaving razor-like cuts down his legs.