My whale of a tale. Finally.

[Osama Bin Hopper]

So here she goes folks.

Coming out of Coaster Channel in the Broken Group on a beautiful summer morning. Some cool guests onboard which is always nice.

Got Bobber John directly behind me in the Mills tin can and Capt Kidd behind him.

Cruising speed about 25 or so.

Suddenly, 20 off port, 40 feet in front of us breaches a big grey whale. Like HUGE. I didn't even ever know they could be that big but I guess thats cause I try to give the buggers a pretty big berth...

Launches COMPLETELY clear of the water. Is way above the hard top of the Grady and I am flying at this *******.

Slam to neutral, crank her to port. Myself and the passenger facing forward are completely silent.

Until it hit the water. Both of us scream at the top of our lungs!

Missed me by maybey 8-12 feet. Boat dips into whales wake, covered by the splash of cold pacific. Guests facing back leap up and scream not knowing whats going on...

He comes up about 15 feet from the boat, gives a big screaching blow and sounds goodbye.

I had to stand there and shake for 10 mins before moving on. I could see the barnicles all over his belly and looked right into his eye! One of the highlights of the summer for sure. Had a couple more close calls, but nothing that remotely compared to that!

Japans gotta step it up a notch, these things are like rats!!!

Let's hear it from Captain Kidds angle now... Thats a gooder also!

Gimee the gaff!!!

 

[Autumn Ty-ee]

Holy crap! I have never had one that close. Maybe 2 to 3 hundred feet but not 40'. Probably had to clean out your drawers after that one.

Autumn Ty-ee

 

[Lipripper]

Finally!

Hope you had a spare set o' britches

 

[island idiots]

Great story, thanks Osama! Thats one for the memory banks! I.I.

"We must strive to touch the land gently and care for it as true stewards, that those who follow us and assess our record may see that our mark on the land was one of respect and love, not cruelty and disdain."
-Robert B. Oetting

 

[profisher]

I had a close encounter with a one of our female resident killer whales and her calf some years ago. I had no idea the whales were in the area and was running guests back to the docks. These whales surfaced right in front of me as I was doing 30mph. I cut the throttle and surfed within inches of climbing up on top of them. I wasn't sure if the boat was going to settle in and stop in time....it was to close!!! They carried on as if nothing happened. A few years after that I was dead in the water after playing a fish and the whales were just about to us. I decided to just stay dead in the water and let them pass while the guests took pics. A bull, female and calf came directly at us. The bull and calf dove down deep, we could see them about 20 feet down as they swam under the boat. The female surfaced about 10 feet from the boat, her dorsal fin sliced through the water heading for the hull near the bow. At the last second she rolled on her side, which put her dorsal horizontal, allowing it to clear the boat. But that move put one side of her tail fluke above the water and she ended up slapping the hull near the bow as she passed. Only time I've had any whale touch the boat.

 

[Sculpin]

OBH that is an incredible whale story for sure. Such a privelage to be there. Your guests must of been amazed!!!!

Pro fisher I think that Orca is smart as can be and she just gave you a love tap to let you know she's the queen of the ocean.

"I'm not talkin bout pleasure boatin or day sailin......I'm talkin bout workin for a livin"- Captain Quint

 

[Charter Tofino]

Jeff your luck Bobby J didnt put that banana in your boat or you would have definatly been prawn food. Cant imagine a close call like that.

Profisher i had a similar incident last month with a big bull and was lucky enough to have a cam. Not as scary as OBHs run in but when that tail started pumping and seeing him larger than the boat "Oh my god" was all i could muster. Haha you can see our friends scared as hell all sitting instead of watching and they asked during the vid if it would flip the boat. Pretty cool experience and amazing how aware of their fins they are. He just kissed the bottom with his tail.

http://s225.photobucket.com/albums/dd116/nuck43/?action=view&current=008-2.mp4&newest=1

 

[fishspoon]

neat thread! Two Decades ago, Two fishermen and I were jiggin' in front of Cape Beale, it was absolutely quiet morning with only big swells and big waves hittin' the rocks. All of a sudden, a massive grey whale showed up really close to the boat, giving a great blow with water spray, swimming away. Impressive! We all need to appreciate the nature and enjoy!

 

[the fog ducker]

Pretty Cool Kelly,, did the turtles come out..[)]

FD

quote:Originally posted by kelly

Jeff your luck Bobby J didnt put that banana in your boat or you would have definatly been prawn food. Cant imagine a close call like that.

Profisher i had a similar incident last month with a big bull and was lucky enough to have a cam. Not as scary as OBHs run in but when that tail started pumping and seeing him larger than the boat "Oh my god" was all i could muster. Haha you can see our friends scared as hell all sitting instead of watching and they asked during the vid if it would flip the boat. Pretty cool experience and amazing how aware of their fins they are. He just kissed the bottom with his tail.

http://s225.photobucket.com/albums/dd116/nuck43/?action=view¤t=008-2.mp4&newest=1

thefogducker@hotmail.com

 

[sammyslabber]

A 1/2 doz. years back i was up fishing with Wayne Kellett of west wind tug boat adv. We were cut plugging near bug wall off summerville Is,if you ever fished Rupert you'll know why wayne named it bug wall.We were fishing away from the group,the next stop Alaska.We took a moment to run a bit to get away from the onslot of black flies.We noticed a huge humpback bubble netting a huge school of bait.Wayne grabs his camera hoping for a foto opp.and I sit wide eyed taking in the spectacle!.When all of a sudden this whale(the size of a greyhound bus) lumbers it's massive body strait out of the water well clearing it and does a full 360o in front of our "Bobcat".Wayne starts to shoot and I sit there slack jawed he says "**** i just ran out of film", quickly i grab my disposable camera and finish snapping off a few shots before it disappears back into the placid sea! Wayne and i sit there motionless staring wide eyed at each other without saying a word to each other for what seems like 20 min. If you ever want to go on your dream fishing trip of a lifetime checkout Tugboatcruises.com and if you crave big hogs insist that Wayne Kellet is on board, i did our best day ever (28;32;65&43)all before 10am last day of my second trip(that we'll leave for another story)"Oh" the the disposable camera i managed to dipose of it between Rupert & Victoria airport[V]Sammy

 

[Sushihunter]

Great thread!

In 2005, I spent all of August at Nootka Island Lodge running a 16' Sorrenson open boat with a tiller handle 40hp outboard. Nice little boat for fishing out of as long as it's not raining .

I face forward running the boat and the two guests sit in the seat just forward of me, facing back towards me.

I think it was around the third week of August. We had been watching Humpback whales breaching a couple of miles off-shore. They were putting on quite a show for us even though it was really too far to see well. You'd just spot that tower of white water on the horizon every few minutes.

For several days we had baitfish from Friendly Cove to Bajo like I've never seen in my life. It sounded like bursts of rain as they jumped and flipped on the surface - usually with something chasing them. Quite often we would spot big Chinooks break the surface chasing these bait fish. As soon as we spotted them, I would turn the boat toward them to put the lines close to the bait fish in the hopes of picking up the Salmon chasing them. Got a few this way in the few days when they were around.

Well, as bait fish do, they moved on after a couple of days. They were still around, but not in the huge numbers we'd seen.

Well, this one evening I had just made a pass though Friendly Cove and was just outside heading straight out when I spotted a bunch of bait fish exploding from the water about 50 feet in front and to starboard. I turned the boat towards the fleeing bait fish. All of a sudden, this huge mouth surrounds the baitfish and pops out of the water moving straight up like an elevator - and I'm heading straight at it! I twist the grip bringing the boat to near stop as I grapple for the shifter. The thought running through my head is "How far is that Humpback Whale coming out of the water?" I had visions of it doing a full breach and landing on us. It must of made it to my facial muscles as the guys were looking at me wondering what the hell was going on.

All I could do is point, and by the time they turned around the Whale that had just come about 10 or 12 feet out of the water just silently slid straight back down with all these tiny fish falling from its mouth. They only saw the disturbance in the water where the Whale had been - never saw the Whale!

That's the closest I've ever come to a Whale - except for Luna - and I never put my hand in his mouth and I never rubbed his teeth - and I don't have photos to prove it! [}]


Jim's Fishing Charters
www.JimsFishing.com
http://www.youtube.com/user/Sushihunter250

 

[264winmag]

cool whale tale jeff. never been spalshed by them .good thing that orange whale watching boat didn't see you running that close to that poor innocent whale he would chew you out for not knowing it was there [}] deffinently a lot whales to dodge this year.[8D]


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