[Supafly]

Anybody know what kind of whale that was? Pretty Cool

 

[BLUECLAW]

First I heard. How far off was it?

 

[Supafly]

3-4 miles

 

[PortlyRedhead]

http://www.utexas.edu/utpress/books/tovgup.html

The book has all the whales, birds and turtles that you'll see fishing off New Jersey (and PEI and Iceland for that matter). It also has great pictures of the surfacing characteristics of the different whales.

Order yourself one for Christmas. The Wetlands Institute's bookstore (Stone Harbor) usually has a copy or two as well.

I keep it with my foul weather gear so I always take it with me.

Best $25 I spent on a fishing book.

 

[Fly Ty R]

I know Right and Humpback Whales come inshore like that this time of year. Could have been either, or something completely different!!

 

[Younger]

Might be a humpy...I have seen them near the inlet this time of year before.

 

[Supafly]

I looked either dark blue or black and was pretty large.

 

[Capt'n Keeler]

orcas

 

[Supafly]

I didnt think Orcas were around here. But I know very little about whales

 

[striper13]

Supafly, Me and 2 friends were coming back from 5 fathom on Sat. @ 11AM and saw a large swirl and fin break the water off Townsends. Never thought about a whale, thought it was a huge shark. But after consulting with friends and locals, it was probably the same whale you saw......13

 

[striper13]

[ 11-21-2005, 06:35 PM: Message edited by: striper13 ]

 

[edhead]

Last year there was a big one that was cruising all around. Looked like a Finback. It was cruising on the surface like the local NJ Transit 507. It was at least 50ft BIG guy in a little boat. I put a video of it last year around this time.

 

[striper_man131]

may have been a finback they do come by here

 

[Supafly]

It was swimming very nochalantly. Orcas don't seem to do that. I am thinking it was a finback. I need to get that book.

 

[Lil' Tunny]

Supafly, I did a little research on all the whales mentioned. The surface characteristics of the humback seem to be what I saw. Last good view of it was it's tail up high out of the water before it disappeared. We were just inside the big fleet to the south of townsends on Saturday, and there was a lot of krill in the water.

 

[Big Kahuna]

i saw 2 whales around cape may reef 2 weeks ago
i am pretty sure the ones i saw were finback
i have it on video but dont know how to post it
they werent coming completly out of the water
just their backs and they did have a small dorsal fin

 

[Lil' Tunny]

BK, did the finback look like large porpoise?
A little earlier that day I saw what I thought was a couple porpoise in the binoculars. Someone said ain't it too cold for porpoise?

 

[Big Kahuna]

yes
they were slow and took their time breaching
only a few times did we see their tails
we were around them for at least 2 hours listening to them blow
and still fishing at the same time
it was wild
they kept their distance for the most part
about 100 yds
i have good footage on camcorder if i could find someone that would host it