Fact or Myth??? Hammer heads Rye

[cameronpatrol]

G'day all,
the other day I was looking for info on sharks in PPB and this dive site popped up in Google.
http://www.peninsuladive.com.au/sharks.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Reading through it out of curiosity it says that off Rye at I think 21-24 meters theres small Hammer heads.
Is this true??

Has anyone seen or caught one before in the bay??
cheers cam

[cheaterparts]

Has anyone seen or caught one before in the bay??
cheers cam

I know for a fact that small ones have been caught in Wp , in 2012 my partner in the Vyak pairs comp pulled a small Hammer Head ( 72 cm ) from the Lang Lang - Jam Jerrup area


Lobos hammer head

the same season another kayaker Rob Waller caught a 1.18 meter HH around the Reef Island area


a pic of Robs HH

and there was a report of another small HH around the same time caught near Corinella by someone in a boat
both kayak catchs would have been a lot less depth than 20 meters more like 5 or 6 meters

it seams that large HHs drop there young in inclosed waters like WP and maybe PPB and then leave for open water
the young aslo leave for open water when they get to about 1.2 meters

[Nude up]

I caught a hammerhead off cowes 2 years ago went 85 cm for the measured length let it go because they grow huge

[Wolly Bugger]

G'day all,
the other day I was looking for info on sharks in PPB and this dive site popped up in Google.
http://www.peninsuladive.com.au/sharks.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Reading through it out of curiosity it says that off Rye at I think 21-24 meters theres small Hammer heads.
Is this true??

Has anyone seen or caught one before in the bay??
cheers cam

Meet a bloke once who caught one in PPB, he said that it took him a fair while to catch one.

[Redhunter]

I've also caught Hammers in WP, only small, up to 1m. Caught between Reef Island and Elizabeth Island in 4-5m. Have heard of them up to 200kg off Cowes pier as well. Hammerheads, along with Bronzies seem to drop their young in the bays. Therefore, I would say it is "fact" there being Hammers off Rye.
I've hooked quite a few sharks off Clifton Springs area. Have not seen them all as mono has been used, but have brought a couple of Bronzies and a Threshers to my tinny, before they wore through the mono.
I've also heard of Bronzies up the Yarra hooked by mates fishing for Jewies.
Was flatty fishing in the tinny out wide off Altona once, and was bringing one to the boat where there was another following it, only to have a 6-7ft mako jump clear outta the water within 3-4ft of the boat. I decided to move locations pretty quickly.
My old man told me of a story of him and my Pop out floundering one day many footy seasons ago off St Leonards, where they were in knee high water, where a large shark swam straight between them.
Yeah, fair to say I don't do much swimming in saltwater these days as I know full well what is out there....

Cheers

[azkay]

Interest read, didn't know they were around at all!

[cahoona]

Got a small hammerhead off blackrock last year only 750mm long he went back to get bigger "" FACT '' ''

[cameronpatrol]

Wow.. I would have never believed they were down here untill now.
Thats awsome!
I thought HH were a warm water type of fish, like upper NSW.
As a kid in primary school there was a lad that went up to Bermaguiey a fair bit with his old man.
They would always get onto some toothie critter.
I remember he brought a small hammer head in a big jar to school.
Would have been about 60cms.

I'm guessing they are like a bonus catch? As in no real particular rig or a targeted fish sort of thing.
Ya learn something every day, ey. :a_goodjob:

What sort of lengths would a 200KG model be?

Cheers cam

[PoddyMullet]

From "Fishes of Australia Southern Coast" we get the Smooth Hammerhead's (Sphyrna zygaena). Apparently there are 11 species of Hammer's worldwide. The Smooth Hammer's can be picked from their northern water cousins the Scalloped Hammerhead as the front of their head doesn't have an indentation. Smooth Hammer's grow to 3.5m, and are listed as one of 3 Hammer species worldwide as dangerous to humans (but still carry a shy reputation). They drop litters of 50-60cm fish in groups of 20-50 at a time, so there's probably a few pups around!.

The little fella above took a fresh squid head under a float, and did take a wire leader although I've heard fisho's report they're not fond of wire. I've also hooked but lost a larger Hammer trolling HB's for pinkies off Mornington (with a coupla jumps on the run), so Rye is defnitely a goer for em. This is the time of year to have a hook set for em, but the Mornington job was in Nov a while back. If in a boat and on PPB, I reckon Mud Island area away from restricted ground and fishing slack water with fresh caught baits would be worth a look for em (but haven't done it myself).

[justonemorecast]

Yep good post.
I think hammerheads can be found round the club districts in Melbourne as well, bloody dangerous!!

Rob