What is the most interesting thing you have seen while offshore?

[fichtion]

It had to turn into a Bayliner thread?

[fishingfun]

Evenflo - 11/13/2006 10:37 PM

Headed out of Lynnhaven Inlet around 11pm a few years back for a summer night of fishing. Crossing through the channel in between the 1st and 2nd Islands at the CBBT I almost ran over something white and floating. Turned the boat around as I like to pick up hazzardous trash if I can. Turns out it was a guy swimming!! I grabbed a PFD and tossed it to him. He got on the boat a puked all over the place, nice!! He was pointing south as he was puking and finally got it out that his buddy was "that way". I made my way "that way" and saw this guy waving his arms. I got him aboard as well. Turns out these guys just bought the boat that day and decided to take it out of Lynnhaven in the afternoon and beach it at Chicks Beach to go drinking at Alexanders or Zia's or something like that. Well, they got to drinking and didn't anchor it up well. The outgoing tide got it and off the boat went. These guys, in their clouded minds, decide to swim after the boat, as they could see it a mile or so off the beach. Their boat was adrift and we did recover it, however decided to tow a perfectly good working order boat back in as they were in no shape to run it back. Sheesh!

Ok I have to ask, You said they where between the 1st and 2nd island and the boat drifted away from the opening of Lynhaven. That means that they had to swim 6 to 7 miles against the tide and that the boat was floating against the tide. I must be missing something.

[HebertNecessity]

Easter morning last year we took the family out to fish and see sunrise from the ocean, at about 10am nothing biting we started to head back in towards port everglades, I see something in the water, looks like a wing, I turned the boat it's still there we get to about 25' away and it starts flapping, It was about 20+ foot long Basking Shark, very cool

[sophiasdaddy]

A SEAFOX!!!!!!!!!!!

[sophiasdaddy]

That was for deadwood!!!!!!!!! I actually like them!!!!!!!!

[Boatdood]

The thing that captures my interest most is that nervous twitch of the rod tip when the bait is dancing around, then the line goes slack for a moment, or an eternity before the rod dips and the reel screams. Yep, nothing catches my interest quite like that.

[Shambala]

Deleted.

[fluketamer]

LAST YEAR AT TOMS CANYON SEEING SKIPPIES ON THE SURFACE THAT I THOUGHT WERE CHASING BAIT UNTIL I SAW THE 150 CLASS YFT GO AIRBORNE AFTER THEM.

2 MONTHS AGO AT THE HUDSON SEEING SOMEONE HOOKUP ON A SURFACE POPPER WITH A 100 LB CLASS YFT

SAME TRIP HAVING PORPOISE EAT MY SQUID JIG 3 TIMES AND SPIT IT OUT 3 TIMES (EVEN WITH ALL THOSE NEEDLE SHARP TINES IN THEM.

INSHORE - SEEING AN OSPREY PICK A BUNKER OUT OF THE WATER THEN REALIZING IT WAS THE ONE I WAS LIVELINING. MY BUNKER HAD NICE PUNCTURE WOUNDS FROM THE TALONS.

[STRIPERMAN]

One night our captain called me to the wheel house to see
some interesting blips on the radar. We were in the Green Canyon out of
Grand Isle approaching the Arethusa Neptune with supplies. We were in a 130 ft, Breauxs Baycraft powered by four giant Cats.She could run 28 knots!
The captain was a little spooked. We cut all running lights and approached
the nearest target. There were 3 circles on the radar spread several hundred feet appart. As we approached there was what looked like a pole sticking out the water a few feet or so, with sphere the size of a basketball
on topin our spotlight. Remember,we are in 3600 feet of water ! The hair stood up on our necks and we turned back towards the Neptune. Moments later the radar was clear except for the Neptune. Submarine maybe?

At the same platform one night I was catching footballs, 5-15 lbs. I would hook up on the bow and walk the tuna back to amidships to land them.
I had one in the water about to hoist him and a six foot long shadow came right along side us and stopped for a brief moment before inhaling the tuna.
This is on a 7 ft. 15 lb. class Ugly Stick and a Lews RB3W reel.(Good redfish rod). The best fight of my life insued and ended 40 minutes later with a terminal tackle failure. WOW!!! We think it was a big ling. Cheers.

[Menzies]

Sounds like a sub sending a scheduled transmission. Most likely European (Brit or French). They go out for 6 months at a time and float a small transmitter. Guess they saw you but didn't think you would catch their float on your radar.

[nccoaster]

Not offshore, but cool. I have crossed the Chesapeake Bay Bridge many times. But the time I drove UNDER an aircraft carrier was the coolest. Kinda strange when you think about driving under a movable island. They were outbound but not in a big hurry.

[screamintunas]

Where to start....
Makos (plural) within 100 yds of the beach.
Working as a mate on a blue fish charter. Reached over to gaff a bluefish, the bluefish was grabbed by a 150lb mako at the same time. Interesting tug of war.
Free gaffed mahi.
Free gaffed squid.
Free gaffed mako. Wasn't as good an idea as the squid or mahi.
Great white swim under while tuna fishing that was longer than the beam was wide on a fifty-five foot boat.
Schools of 5-10lb bluefish jumping for their lives like bunker as makos and threshers chased them. Same day saw a five hundred pound thresher drag a 28' boat backwards after it was gaffed- at over two knots.
Fives miles out of Pt Pleasant NJ- coming in from a shark trip- saw a fin and the tip of a tail- big fish, thought it was a mako. Came around to bait it. Saw the shadow of a bill- thought it was a sword- picked up the harpoon to stick it, only to see it clearly- 300lb+ blue marlin.
Off St Thomas on a destroyer- many many tiger sharks better than ten feet- hooked one on a 9/0- never saw it.
In the Med. one night went through trap gear for miles little lights from the pots everywhere, for miles.
Saw a beautiful skiff drifting along off Crete with no one on it.
Gave food, fuel and water to a couple Canadians in a sailboat on their way to Aruba- no wind- sails don't work.
Life ring from a tour boat in the Bahamas, off the coast of Ireland.
On a supply ship, went though a squall in the Indian Ocean, winds went from ten knots to sustained eighty for about fifteen minutes during a night watch trhen dropped to less than ten knots.
Twenty foot cresting seas off Florida in January- had to ride them out too. Water coming over the bow and putting three feet of water on the deck.
Multiple water spouts at the same time. They would form and drop out.- Just after telling the Captain the weather was crappy and it was a good day to sea water spouts.
After doing a search pattern looking for a downed air craft (S-3), put small boats in the water recover some "things". Had to station shark watch with M-14's to keep the little bastards from destroying the remains of some pilots that we were trying to recover.- Not a very good day.
Oil smugglers in the Gulf.
Tuna chasing flying fish.
This could go on....

[hose]

Fishing thirty miles off Morehead watched two F-15 eagles dog fight using flares the sound was deafening, then all of the sudden the trailing plane dropped out of the sky to tree top level took a bead on our boat came directly across it at about 100 feet smoken, must have been easy 500 knots pulled her staight up full afterburners 20 sec only the noise could be heard it was totally heart stopping, imagine your the enemy what you gonna do, don't say I know I would.

[Ssoto0055]

On a night trip off north Key Largo a large meteor lit up the sky. It wasn't the typcal meteors that a small little line across the sky for a second. This one lit up into a ball of fire that lit up part of the sky. Lasted a few seconds, but eventually burned up. Awesome sight.

[XV2PS]

I was trolling in the middle east, with pork chops as bait when I reeled up an ugly bearded man that was sunk with several .223 amos.

[HurricaneBK]

Almost ran over a narco submarine that was painted a blue camouflage off Key West one morning.

[try again]

About 12 years ago fishing the Ala deep sea fishing rodeo seen big sea turtles and beside one was
the jackpot tagged Ling for 25000.00 dollars and would not bite anything but was a good day anyway.


27' CAPE-HORN .

[grreatdog]

This wasn't really offshore, but it was pretty interesting since I have seen exactly one in my life time. We were building range towers outside Baltimore Harbor and I was stuck on a little 2' x 6' front tower platform for several hours alone with my surveying equipment. I was 6000' from the rear tower with the rest of the guys.

While I was sitting there just waiting for the crew boat to come get me, something VERY large started making a stir in the water all around my little tower. I watched it for a while but couldn't tell what I was looking at. All I could tell was that it was huge and making quite a commotion banging the tower legs under me.

Then it started to swim off off really fast and all of a sudden something I thought at the time was a giant manta ray jumped completely out of the water. I have no idea how big it actually was because I had no frame of reference. But it looked as big as a small runabout.

It was definitely several feet across and twice as long. A little research on my part says it was most likely an eagle ray. But it was definitely the biggest living thing I have seen in the Chesapeake Bay. It might have been the biggest thing I have ever seen in the water including my years of shrimping off SC.

If I hadn't watched it mess around my tower for so long I am not sure I would have believed my own eyes. The construction guys on the crew boat definitely would not believe me. But the old salt captain said he had seen a couple of big rays like that before in the same area.

[#1Stunna]

I saw a Sea Turtle that looked a 1000 years old. It was the size of a VW Bug. Slowly rose to the surface, checked us out, then disappeared.

[Necessary Evil]

Watching the USS Truman work up her air group off Key West was pretty friggin cool. So was Duval Street that night with the sailors getting one last binge in before deploying!