A latest TikTok video that exhibits a Texas fisherman catching a bull shark within the Guadalupe River went viral this week. The video’s recognition additionally prompted a minor panic on the web, with many individuals expressing their dismay over a shark swimming in one of many state’s most closely recreated rivers. It even impressed a satirical Fb put up by town of New Braunfels, and some native information shops hopped onboard the nervousness prepare, asking if the video was faux or if it was doable for a shark to reside within the river’s higher reaches close to the closely populated Central Texas area.
The brief video clip that was uploaded by Jonathan Aguayo on Sunday exhibits an angler reeling within the bull shark from the riverbank. He’s utilizing a heavy baitcasting rod and he lands the shark with a big gaff. Aguayo explains within the remark part that he’d introduced the gaff within the hopes of catching an alligator gar. He additionally claims that he launched the shark as a result of it was beneath the authorized harvest restrict of 64 inches. (It’s unclear from the video if the shark really survived, and whereas bull sharks are powerful, we advocate fastidiously dealing with any fish that you just plan on releasing. This implies avoiding gaffing and stepping on the fish at any time when doable.)
Right here’s the factor, although. As cool because the video is, it’s not all that surprising for a few causes.
First, bull sharks, not like most shark species, can survive in brackish and freshwater environments for lengthy durations of time. They’re recognized to journey upriver in methods that join with the ocean.
“[Bull sharks] are capable of transfer forwards and backwards between saltwater and freshwater with ease. This habits brings them into extra contact with people than most species of sharks,” says Oceana, a global ocean conservation group. “Bull sharks don’t simply enterprise into freshwater for brief durations. They journey far upriver in some locations (together with the Nicaragua River, the Zambezi River, and the Mississippi River).”
The Texas Parks and Wildlife Division echoes these details, stating that bull sharks “have been discovered many miles upriver from the Gulf [of Mexico].”
Second, judging by the surroundings within the video and the colour of the water, the shark was nearly definitely caught on the decrease Guadalupe River close to the Gulf and never in its higher reaches close to the Hill Nation. I might know, as I grew up in Central Texas and have fished most stretches of the river in a canoe.
The Guadalupe begins its journey in Kerr County as a rocky, spring-fed stream. The water is evident and chilly in these higher reaches, and the surroundings is beautiful, with large cypress timber rising alongside its banks. The river maintains these traits beneath Canyon Lake (the place it’s impounded by a big dam) because it flows by means of Gruene and New Braunfels.
It’s this postcard stretch of the Guadalupe (pronounced Gua-da–loop by most Texans) that attracts thousands and thousands of interior tubers each summer time, and it’s the world that the majority locals consider after they hear the identify. However it’s not wherever near the place Jonathan Aguayo was fishing when the bull shark was caught on video.
TUBERS, BE AWARE:
Regardless of latest social media posts warning tubers a couple of shark being caught in “the Guadalupe River,”…Posted by Metropolis Of New Braunfels – Authorities on Wednesday, Could 8, 2024
Aguayo didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark, however I’m prepared to guess he was fishing on the decrease Guadalupe nearer to the Gulf. The river proven within the video is broader, deeper, and dirtier than the higher stretch. The vegetation and surroundings are additionally indicative of the Gulf Coastal Plains, a big and flat area that covers the japanese a part of the state.
Learn Subsequent: Salmon Shark Discovered Alongside River in Idaho Was Planted as a Prank, Officers Conclude
Aguayo seems to reside in Victoria, Texas, which lies a brief distance from the place the Guadalupe spills into San Antonio Bay. This portion of the river is roughly 200 miles downstream from the stretch in Central Texas, and there are a number of massive dams alongside the best way {that a} bull shark wouldn’t be capable to go by means of.
Which implies that tubers, swimmers, paddlers, and different Texas river customers shouldn’t fear about bull sharks swimming within the spring-fed Guadalupe River this summer time. Possibly simply don’t get within the water close to Victoria.
