VIRGINIA BEACH – January 26, 2012 — John Kersh was out on the bay fishing for striped bass last week but he did not catch a fish.
And Kersh didn’t care, because that day whales, not striped bass, were stars of the show.
“Humpback whales all over the place off Fort Story,” Kersh reported on Facebook. “One spy-hopped twice very close aboard. Best day I have ever had not catching striped bass!”
When whales stick their big heads straight up out of the water as if to look around, it is called “spy hopping.”
Kersh was aboard Joe Miller’s boat, “Miller Time,” out of Lynnhaven Inlet. The boat is 30 feet long, said Miller, who lives part time here and part time in Richmond.
The whales were at least the size of the boat and they were carrying on all around it, “breaching and tail slapping,” Miller said.
“It was one of those things like you see in National Geographic, yet it was right here in Virginia Beach,” he added.
Most humpbacks here are thought to be juveniles that hang around the area to feed on tiny menhaden fish just the right size for these big filter-feeding whales. Larger adult humpbacks, as long as 52 feet, travel south for the winter to their Caribbean breeding grounds.
Kersh and Miller actually saw the whales bubble feed, which in essence means they blow bubbles all around a school of menhaden to tighten the school and then surface from below to grab a big mouthful.
Kersh saw the whales leap in the air very close to the boat and watched them slap their tails on the surface. This impressive move is called “lobtailing.”
“Spectacular to say the least,” Kersh said.
“They made an audible ‘squawk, squeak,’ high pitched,” he added. “Really cool.”
To add to the show, northern gannets, beautiful oceangoing birds, were dive-bombing the water all around the whales to dine on the confused menhaden too.
From the weekend of the rockfish tournament in the beginning of January, fishers of all descriptions, whether human, avian or Piscean have been having a field day in Virginia Beach waters.
Winter is traditionally rockfish season here, but bluefin tuna have come unusually close to shore to dine also. On good weather days, fishing boats line the horizon for as far as the eye could see offshore.
“Wall to wall boats,” as some say.
Some say that more of the little menhaden and other small food fish than usual are lingering in our waters because of the warm water temperature this winter. The presence of so many menhaden has even persuaded dolphins to stick around instead of heading south to warm waters.