bertram31.com

went bass fishing off Fire Island to catch annual bass migration. i put everything brother charlie johnson taught me basically never live line until charlie show me the way anyways a 50pound stripe bass and a 47 pound within a hour then the unbelievable . a full grown right whale surfaces right next to the boat in 35' of water!!!!!! he munching down thousands of bunker so i start the engine to move a little and then whale goes under boat and trys to surface .lift the front of boat out of water(quite a bump) from midships forward it hit no shaft,prop damage.he went back down and surface on other side.i drop the hammer let me get the hell out of here i told my son. no apparent damage or leaks. i will show photo of whale when i get from my son but here is the 50 pound bass.

Nice fish Bob!!

Bob

Very nice. Great fish, giving it a shot tomorrow on a friend's boat.

You got lucky with that whale. Not sure if I can find the video, will search for it when I get home and are not on a mobile device, but last year one surfaced under a 25 footer off of Barnegat ligtt. Lifted the boat out of the water and came close to rolling it over.

I guess food takes preference over making sure they are not going to hit something. Or maybe his sonar was not working.

exactly tony. the whale was surrounded by bunker 10' thick

Nice fish.

Going out tomorrow also.

Nice fish Bob!

I got out late yesterday...and I got a nice ride out of it.

congrats bob nice fish
52" that's all if not more then 50lbs

Nice Stripah' Bob. That's the fish of a lifetime and the story of a lifetime. Maybe the whale was just a fan of the Phoenix too and wanted to see it rise?
Best,
Stephan

Great story Bob.. and great fish.

It came to my mind as I read your post that if you were in a lesser boat than a Bertram the outcome might have been different.

i have been about 50 feet from a whale that surfaced (about 200 miles off shore) and it was one of my life's most memorable
experiences. Looking into an eye as big as a dinner plate, and having it look back at me really made me realize how insignificant
we humans are in the scope of the universe.

Bob

Congratulations. Fish of a lifetime, and cool story. Beautiful fish.

John

when "moby dick" broke the surface he had a huge eye that look at 31Bertram Phoenix "tough boat not fu-king with that again" and went to sea. cover in barnacles i will never forget this close encounter .

http://www.thebassbarn.com/forum/12-dry ... ed-us.html

Bob

the above link should take you to the posting with the video of the whale coming up under a boat. It is at around the 1.11 point. It is hard to see due to the distance the person that took the video was from the boat impacted.

Was out this morning. We worked from Barnegat Inlet up to Seaside Heights, about 10 miles. A lot of bait but no stripers. They just disappeared. Was lights out on Monday, and yesterday and today nothing.

seriously if i told somebody 35' of water and the whale was actually on the other side of us so had to be 30' of water they would never believe it but your video is proof they can go in 20' of water ,crazy.yesterday we seen one of the bad boys come in ,yes i guess it was a great white. water temp. is crazy for this time of year.perfect wave height 4 to 6 footers (keeps the small fleet from mugging you when they see two guys holding the net to bring monsters on board without breaking the handle on a large net.

here is a photo of a past rendevous with the master aboard Phoenix teaching his diciples and charlie johnson telling me "you are doing it all wrong" woe as me with 32" to 36" bass by trolling,jigging,chumming,drifting with clams,casting plugs ,etc ---------Live lining Bob ---ok,ok i will try. today one 47" male and one 42" male---------yes charlie no cows.

Bob

Great fishing this time of year. For some reason the bass seem to hold better up around sandy hook out along Long Island. Further south until you hit Delaware by, they move in and out fast. Here one day gone the next.

two days of fishing stripe bass this week with four fish above 42" we keeps males only. leave the cows to spawn up the hudson river.

Tony,

We were out also. Worked from Manasquan to Seaside. No fish, lots of bait and boats. Didn't see one caught. Snagged bunker all day and live lined. Managed to snag a couple of small weakfish but couldn't keep them. Need to be 13 inches. Maybe next week will be better.

for some reason i cannot get on photo bucket when i do i will download photo`s.

Joe

I am sure we passed like ships in the night. I was on my friends 23 Contender. Nice boat, but would not want to be out in cool weather if it got sloppy.

Figured we would get them but from what I hear, they are still drawing blanks.

release the big girls
they are the future
besides they don't taste as well as the smaller ones

i am learning charlie always leaning. -------------thanks again

Bob-

I'm up at my Dad's in Mattituck and was telling him about your fish. I can't pull the picture up. Any chance you can repost the pic?

John

ok john here is the repost

two more from outside fire island inlet, a 42" male and a 47" male .

Bob- Thanks for the repost. Great pic. My Dad loved it.

We went out this morning on the Sound for a little bit. It was a little sporty in my Dad's 22' center console. Got these jigging off Horton's Point on real light tackle. They're not the fish of a lifetime like Bob's, but as you can see, he was pretty happy. Not bad for a 91 year old.

God bless him i hope i can still fish at 80! nobody with my last name ever lived beyond 70 yo. thats a great photo and even better on lite tackle.

someone tagged me in this one from facebook not my boat

that was the situation exactly and you know in all the massive bunker donnybrook the whale may lose it`t sense of direction and surface under that Bertram.

Tom, I was also tagged last week off of Masnasquan. Slow day with the fish.


Tony, we fished from Manasquan to Seaside, close and out to about two miles. Lots of bait, fish showing on sounder but a bust as for hookups. Getting hauled on Thursday. Need to button up for the winter. Heading to California for Thanksgiving.

my friend is playing catch and release with eight or more bass a day just north of you in 35' of water just east of those huge towers or buoys the locals call the "sticks "in the entrance to hudson river actually called raritan bay ,monmouth county NJ. they used dual mojo lures on a triple swival.one side of boat white the other side chartreuse at 3.6 mph. caught and release 80 bass so far this fall.

Joseph Fikentscher wrote:Tom, I was also tagged last week off of Masnasquan. Slow day with the fish.


Tony, we fished from Manasquan to Seaside, close and out to about two miles. Lots of bait, fish showing on sounder but a bust as for hookups. Getting hauled on Thursday. Need to button up for the winter. Heading to California for Thanksgiving.

Joseph, Is that a normal running angle? Or are you coming on plane/ cresting a swell? Todd

Joe

I am out. No bass around right now. Unbelievable.

May take another shot if my friend delays laying up his contender. But after seeing a couple of guys on sunset down at the marina not do sure a center console is ideal in this weather. They took a beating and his clothes were actually white from the dried salt water.

Nothing like having some cover.

Todd, a local internet poster took the pic. Looks like i'm coming off a wave. The normal angle is much flatter, also have trim tabs.

Tony. the frost is on the pumpkin. I stayed in bed this morning.

Also on a center console you need some canvas to protect in this weather. My old boat. Also had side and rear curtains for the cold weather.

Joe I agree, but around 10 this morning it would have been a great day on the water. But I don't think they caught today either.

https://www.chinadialogue.net/article/s ... seen-story

Bob

Check this out. Happened again off of NJ. Another whale hit.