Swell and wind sure made me feel alive in a 14 foot skiff! I also had an encounter with a Grey whale calf that hung out below the boat for about 10 min. You can sort of see the whitish glare in the center of the water photo. He/she was about 18 foot long and was really curious. I actually had eye contact with that creature when it surfaced to blow which is a pretty cool deal. Mom kept her distance and waited. I tried but couldn't get a good shot of either one with the wind and swell. It's not a good idea to take your eyes off of incoming swell for any length of time in a small boat but I stopped fishing and watched the youngster for as long as I could.
Fishing was so so. There are literally millions of jelly fish invading Monterey Bay in the upper water column right now. Although I have never heard of it actually happening to someone, I always worry about them clogging my outboard so I kept moving trying to find jelly free water. First two reefs I fished seemed bare of fish but I ended up finding a little deeper area with hard bottom and there were some beautiful FAT reds and few keeper Lingcod there. I had good fishing in this one area for about an hour and then ran back to the barn. I didn't keep any but those Vermillions are one of my favorite for the table!
4 comments:
I like how you photographed that last fish; it looks really cool! How exciting to see a whale close like that. We visited Hawaii too late (in May) to see the whale there.
Thanks for the comments Linda. I also liked browsing through your images too! We are fortunate to have have the Whale migration from warmer southern Pacific waters where they give birth to the colder more fertile Eastern Pacific where they feed. They have to come through here on there way north. Monterey Bay is actually a deep sea canyon and the whales try to stay in as close as possible to shore to avoid predation on there calfs by local Killer Whales and Great White Sharks that patrol the open water over the sea canyon. I've seen lots this year.
Hey David. You are a brave man taking a 14' craft out on the ocean. I suspect that you've been doing this forever and probably don't give it a second thought. Nice to see some different fish photos. Keep them coming.
Mark
I plan ahead and i'm a weather watcher. I never ever go out in iffy conditions. A 14 foot skiff is perfectly safe on the ocean with some common sense. The ocean will take you if your careless.
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