gordo grande
02-08-2008, 08:52 PM
I had a very interesting morning yesterday. I felt like doing something different, so I got the old pier cart out, and headed down to Venice Pier. I hadn’t been fishing off a pier in about a year or so, and I wanted to practice some underhand casting, so off I went.
The weather was beautiful, and the pier was nearly empty. I got there about 9:30 AM, on the outgoing tide. I didn’t really expect to catch anything, I just wanted to relax and toss some iron without getting my feet wet.
It was slow, but after a while I spotted a couple of dolphins not more than 30 or 40 feet off the end of the pier, swimming by from left to right. It was about this time that I realized the batteries were almost dead in my Optio, and it was shutting itself off after about 20 seconds or so. No pictures of the Dolphins.
About five minutes later I was casting off the end of the pier toward the south, when I got a huge surprise. A gray whale burst out of the water about 50 yards in front of me! I shouted to everyone else on the pier, and sure enough, the whale immediately breached twice more. It was truly an awesome sight, but it was over so quick that I doubt if I could have gotten a shot off in time even if my camera had been working.
It gets better. Not more than four or five minutes later a Coast Guard Chopper comes tearing out of the Marina. He heads straight to the spot where the whale was just a few minutes before, and hovers about 50 above the water. About the same time a life guard skiff shows up coming down from the north.
OK, I don’t get this. What are they doing there? Did they know the whale was there? Were they trying to coax it back out to sea? The next thing I know, a diver jumps out of the chopper right where the whale had been.
It gets stranger. A few minutes later another diver dangles down from the chopper and hauls the first diver out. For the next fort-five minutes they take turns jumping in the water, and pulling each other out.
Were they there for the whale? Was the whole exercise planned in advance? Was it just a coincidence that they went to the same place?
My guess is that the were on their way out to train, heard about the whale, went to check it out, and then figured what-the-hell, they might as well have some fun and give the tourists a show.
I did finally figure out that I could turn the camera on and take a quick pic before it dies again. I'll post some pics of the chopper soon.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v227/GordoGrande/Chopper02.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v227/GordoGrande/Chopper01.jpg
The weather was beautiful, and the pier was nearly empty. I got there about 9:30 AM, on the outgoing tide. I didn’t really expect to catch anything, I just wanted to relax and toss some iron without getting my feet wet.
It was slow, but after a while I spotted a couple of dolphins not more than 30 or 40 feet off the end of the pier, swimming by from left to right. It was about this time that I realized the batteries were almost dead in my Optio, and it was shutting itself off after about 20 seconds or so. No pictures of the Dolphins.
About five minutes later I was casting off the end of the pier toward the south, when I got a huge surprise. A gray whale burst out of the water about 50 yards in front of me! I shouted to everyone else on the pier, and sure enough, the whale immediately breached twice more. It was truly an awesome sight, but it was over so quick that I doubt if I could have gotten a shot off in time even if my camera had been working.
It gets better. Not more than four or five minutes later a Coast Guard Chopper comes tearing out of the Marina. He heads straight to the spot where the whale was just a few minutes before, and hovers about 50 above the water. About the same time a life guard skiff shows up coming down from the north.
OK, I don’t get this. What are they doing there? Did they know the whale was there? Were they trying to coax it back out to sea? The next thing I know, a diver jumps out of the chopper right where the whale had been.
It gets stranger. A few minutes later another diver dangles down from the chopper and hauls the first diver out. For the next fort-five minutes they take turns jumping in the water, and pulling each other out.
Were they there for the whale? Was the whole exercise planned in advance? Was it just a coincidence that they went to the same place?
My guess is that the were on their way out to train, heard about the whale, went to check it out, and then figured what-the-hell, they might as well have some fun and give the tourists a show.
I did finally figure out that I could turn the camera on and take a quick pic before it dies again. I'll post some pics of the chopper soon.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v227/GordoGrande/Chopper02.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v227/GordoGrande/Chopper01.jpg