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“I’m the bonefisherman who was bitten Thursday around 11:30 a.m. My brother and I were at Savannah Sound on a flat about a quarter of a mile off the beach in knee-deep water. There was a deeper ledge off the flat about 30 to 40 feet from me. I saw some nervous water moving toward me and thought at first it was a school of bonefish, but as it came closer I could see a dorsal fin and I knew I was in for it.
“The shark came with so much speed and velocity that it knocked me down. It circled around me at that point. I shouted at it and hit it several times with my fly rod. It bolted out of there when it realized it had made a mistake and I wasn’t a fish to eat. My brother ran over and noticed the gash in my foot from one side of the ankle to the other. We ran for the beach, worried about sharks smelling blood. I got very dizzy from the loss of blood but made it to the beach and my brother tied a tourniquet above the wound.
“There was a local person working on the beach, and we followed him to the clinic at Governor’s Harbor. The doctor there said I needed to go to the hospital in Nassau because of extensive tendon damage. He said he could not attach my severed tendon to my small toe. He stitched me up and I was released at 3:30 a.m. I am now at home in Rochester, New York, and will be seeing local doctors tomorrow. I loved Eleuthera and its lovely people. I will be back soon. A couple of facts I want to clear up: I was in knee-deep water. The shark gave no warning signs before the attack and swam straight at me. I was bitten just below the ankle, and I was not airlifted out. I flew out on Southern Air. People should not be afraid of sharks. This was a freak occurrence and I have confidence I will make a speedy recovery.”
Postscript: Anderson is right about not letting this attack scare you off the flats. Worrying about a shark attack is like worrying about a plane crash. You’re in much more danger driving to a flat or an airport than you are in the water or in the air. Still, if one does spend a lot of time wading, especially far from shore near deeper water, maybe it makes sense to carry some kind of light but sturdy aluminum wading stick you can hang across your back and use to keep a shark at bay.