Decent ride out past the 226 Hole and found a pod of Pilot Whales in 1200 feet. Pretty cool to watch as they casually rode the current north. There were at least a dozen in this group. Headed farther out and put lines in around 1400 feet on a slight, but improving weed line. Within 15 minutes, came upon a nice patch. Before the baits made it to the patch, fish on! Then another, then another and then another. Started the day with a quad hookup. Managed 3 of the 4 in the boat. Worked the patch for another 2 hours as numerous boats showed up. Had several multiple hookups. Pulled 11 dolphin off of it, released 2 slingers and lost a few others.
Had one regular, one rookie and one semi-experience mate on board, Gumby and his 16 year old daughter. After the initial quad, I think she was wondering what in the world have I got myself into? She did fine, but had a problem with all the blood from the dolphin. Back of the boat looked like a murder scene for awhile. You know how we all love that look!
No bites after 1030, so we headed in a little after noon to add some different color to the box. Ended up with a nice mess of bottom fish in the box also.
Great day on the water. A first for me on the whales, which was really cool to see. And it is always better when you have plenty of fish to clean.
Is it common to see whales out there or are more people just fishing much farther out than they normally do this time of year?
Trashman, I have been fishing offshore Charleston for 10 years and these are the first I have seen. There does seem to be more people going deeper as well. Until this year, most of the sightings I heard about were in the winter months, not so much the spring months, especially mid to late spring.
The J Team
Mayhem & Madness
quote:
Back of the boat looked like a murder scene for awhile.
Line of the week for sure. Maybe the month.
“Apathy is the Glove into Which Evil Slips It’s Hand”, but really, who cares?
I’m not even close to a whale expert, but those look like pilot whales. I think they are fairly common up around the Outer banks area even through the summer and stuff. The winter whales we get through here are mostly Wright Whales from my understanding.
So, this is just more support that we are getting some “ecosystem weirdness” this year (i.e. seeing critters that we don’t normally see).
Think there is any tie to tuna? Wicked Tuna guys get excited about seeing whales.
BG
quote:
Originally posted by skinneej
The winter whales we get through here are mostly Wright Whales from my understanding.
I’ve seen Wright Whales at the Bft 45 in February a couple times. One had a calf with it. That was quite a sight.
NN
quote:
Originally posted by skinneej
I’m not even close to a whale expert, but those look like pilot whales. I think they are fairly common up around the Outer banks area even through the summer and stuff. The winter whales we get through here are mostly Wright Whales from my understanding.
So, this is just more support that we are getting some “ecosystem weirdness” this year (i.e. seeing critters that we don’t normally see).
Growing up with summers on OBX beaches, i have seen many, many pilot whales within sight of the beach. Sounds crazy, but we saw them every year back in the 70’s.