A TRUE WHALE TAIL

BOTTOM TIME DIVER · 05-23-2003, 05:28 PM

A couple of seasons ago, my brother and I went on a tuna "look" trip from Garabaldi in his 22' dory. The ride took us 35 to the West a zig zag 35 south and and a tack back home with no fish and poor looking water. 20 off of lookout we saw thousands of porpoise, more than either of us had ever seen at one time and darn near more than we had seen in our combined life times. About 15 off of the three arch rocks we saw in the distance a large bunch of whales breaching in a fantastic display. As we got near on our course, a little over a . 25 away we decided to shut down and watch. They were Sperm whales and about 18 of them. I shot a couple of pictures with my digital camera while standing atop the fish box next to the console. The action stopped. The splashing roar of the breaching that was heard even at the distance we were at was gone. The only sound was the engine "purring" in nutral.

About three minutes had passed and i got this real nervous feeling. My brother had it too. [img]graemlins/1zhelp.gif[/img] Just then on our starboard beam one came out of the water about 65' from us on a collision course or "T-bone", 30'high and 50' long. I could see the red veins in both of its 4-6" eyes. Was it looking for a dory ride, ****ed off, or what we will never know because at that point several things happened all at once. I clicked pictures as fast as my finger would go, my bother gave the motor full throttle and my hand landed on top of his on the throttle in an attempt to make us go faster. Thankfully the whale landed behind us in our wake.

We proceeded on our course home for about a mile before we agreed to break out the medicinal pint of whiskey. We were both shaking so badly that I am not sure which one of us actually got it open, but needless to say we did not need the cap anymore. The rest of the "tuna" trip was not eventful. I got some distance pictures and the splash of the close one. I have the mental picture as does my brother forever.

[ 05-23-2003, 09:47 PM: Message edited by: BOTTOM TIME DIVER ]

Phil Layer · 05-23-2003, 08:37 PM

Awesome tale! I need a shot after reading that.

The pics....where are the pics!

CAPT KUJO · 05-25-2003, 01:30 AM

Hey DAve

That is a good story! Thanks for sharing!

CAPY KUJO

PS We LOVE PICS

BOTTOM TIME DIVER · 05-26-2003, 09:07 PM

yeh yeh yeh! sorry, the pics are not that good because of the distance and the one of the splash was just a great pic of sea water splashing. i would like to say that i wish to have better luck next time but living though that one :shocked: was good enough.

Albacore Tuna Captain · 05-27-2003, 06:54 AM

BTD your story is awesome and I can relate. Several years ago, I was doing a "Whale Watch" charter trip. We had a lot of Grays doing all kinds of things. I was on the fly bridge of the boat I was operating and then it happened. An adult Grey whale breeched beside the boat. It came out of the water and I swear he wasn't four feet from the boat! He climbed up about twenty five feet and then fell sideways away from the boat. If he had fallen the otherway, he would have crushed us. I don't know what these guys are doing, but sometimes I think they are saying "You are too close,

BACK OFF!

"

I wonder how many boats lost are because of the denizens of the sea? :whazzup:

Pilar · 05-27-2003, 07:29 AM

Wow, I'll skip the 3 shot 'spresso now !!!!!!!!!!!

Bottom time Diver, great story. I almost can smell the **** in your shorts. Usually I try to stay a ways away from the whales, you never know what they will do.

Thanks for sharing. :grin:

id. painter · 05-27-2003, 10:53 AM

Nice story and thanks for the info.
Two summers ago i was comming back from fishing all day when i realized I had driven into a pod of Killer whales, they were jumping all around me . I wanted to sit and watch the show but i couldnt get that uneasy feeling from my gut. I fired up the motor and headed home. Now i know why. Thanks . id. p.

GutZ · 05-28-2003, 03:05 PM

Late last Summer I was out with my good friend Barry(Ratherbfishin) on his Grand Banks and we encountered these guys

We kind of hung around for awhile, keeping our distance. There must have been around 40 or more Orca's in the Area. They were chasing Chum we assume. This guy got real close! You can see the corner of the boat in the picture.

BOTTOM TIME DIVER · 05-29-2003, 06:57 PM

More And More Whale Tails!

Last summer on another tuna trip I put the gear in at 35 due to water temp and headed west. 45 and no fish zig zagging thru my logged upwelling waypoints. 55 no fish. 65 no fish. Ok now its time to call Bs on this! turned the boat south and about a mile later I decided it had to be beer time. As soon as I handed off the wheel and popped that cap off my beer a reel went off. We rolled south we hit a column of water headed east at speed. the fish kept coming. then a bunch of porpoise, more fish, then a ton of birds,
more fish, then a ton of killer whales, more fish.
It was truly amazing. The water was a froth of activity like a strong tide rip. It was late in the day with the long troll and we did not want to quit-but had to go.

WP · 05-31-2003, 03:34 PM

Many years ago, three of us were3 on the tuna grounds about 150 miles off Newport. We had stopped for the night and were drifting...I was awakened by the whole boat shakeing and vibrating...seemed to be falling apart! Scared the s### out of me. One of the other guys was laughing so hard he couldn't talk and I could have killed him except I was too scared. He finally reached over and hit the starter button on the diesel. The vibration stopped and the shaking subsided. In the aftermath Francis explained that whales will scrape barnicles off themselves on floting debris, like logs...they will assume that a still and silent boat is just a tree or equivilant...soon as they hear the engine they look for other back scratching areas. It is the worst I have ever been startled...what a way to wake up way out on the blue! I "knew" the boat was coming apart!
WP

BOTTOM TIME DIVER · 05-31-2003, 04:58 PM

WE HAVE HAD THEM TRY THAT SCRATCHING THING ON THE DORIES! WHAT A WAKE UP CALL!

ANOTHER WHALE TAIL--

ABOUT 15 OR 20 YEARS AGO I WAS FISHING THE TROLLER FOR TUNA. I SPOTTED A GROUP OF WHALES THAT NUMBERED ABOUT A DOZEN AND ALL WERE ABOUT 12 TO 15 FEET LONG. THEY WERE NOT LARGE AT ALL AND DID NOT LOOK LIKE A GRAY WHALE. THEY HAD A BLOCHY OR COLORING THAT WAS LIKE A LING COD. I HAVE TRIED TO FIND OUT WHAT THEY WERE FOR YEARS AND HAVE NEVER SEEN THEM AGAIN.

[ 05-31-2003, 07:15 PM: Message edited by: BOTTOM TIME DIVER ]

id. painter · 06-03-2003, 10:01 AM

Interseting stuff. id. p.

Dr Strangelove · 06-08-2003, 08:57 PM

About 5 yrs ago three buds were fishing in a black zodiac a few hundred feet offshore in Santa Barbara when a grey whale decided to come and play. The first tail splash nailed the stern and starboard pontoon and nearly swamped us. Then he decided to get either amorous or do the barnacle thing and the boat was lifted out of the water. Fortunately we didn't flip but did end up snagging himself into one of our lines. Took us for a little tow before the skip cut the line. We realized we had a leak when the tubes started to fold in the chop. Barely made it back to harbor. That was the closest I ever got and don't care to again. Doc