Alone on the salt

Spot,  Did the whale show up on the fish finder?

So does the fish icon slowly pan by like the beginning of Spaceballs?

Spot,  Did the whale show up on the fish finder?

Lol!  No.  I think it was just tagging along behind and to the side of me. 
My fish finder does distinguish the size of fish so it'd be interesting to see how it would display something that nearly fills its cone.  I think that even a porpois or sealion would make me pucker if I didn't know what it was.

im guessing but i am betting it would just show it as the bottom

I was out on the ocean one day in water i knew was 35-40 feet and all of a sudden my shallow water alarm went off!!(goes off at 3 feet of water). Kinda freaked me out a little, i didn't see anything below me so i figured it was a glitch or my batteries were getting low. who knows maybe it was a whale. Do you think a whale would be big enough to cause that to happen?

well i know this

i have been in my friends power boat before and he could turn on the fish finder if you put your hand about 6 inches from the transducer it will read bottom and if you put a paddle about a foot or 2 away it will still read the bottom as the paddle...so if it is something even kinda large close to the transducer its not gonna know the difference...but i believe that was a 20 degree or 22 degree watever it is not a 60 degree

Blue whale next to a kayak... we get blue whales migrating along the Oregon Coast.  I'd love to see one, but not sure about doing it in a kayak...

A Porpois will show up on your fishfinder and it will pucker you up until you see it surface, especially when your alone.

Blue whale next to a kayak... we get blue whales migrating along the Oregon Coast.  I'd love to see one, but not sure about doing it in a kayak...

I've seen tons of 'em cruising along the caost before i got my kayak in the same spots i now fish on my yak. I'm sure one will surface near me sooner or later.It would be kinda cool in a scary as hell kinda way.

3 weight,
 we have GRAY WHALES along the Oregon Coast not the big blues

3 weight,
 we have GRAY WHALES along the Oregon Coast not the big blues

There are blue whales up and down the west coast.  I've only ever seen one once and that was way offshore in CA from a PB.  But I'll never forget that experience as it as the largest living creature I've ever been in close proximity too.

-Allen

they have not mentioned the blues at the whale watch stations along the Coast in our area. Are they  farther out to Sea than the Grays?
 Thanks for the info Allen, I like to learn something every day.

A Porpois will show up on your fishfinder and it will pucker you up until you see it surface, especially when your alone.

   As I recall, you were suction cupped to your seat when we finally met up offshore a couple of weeks ago.  I'm glad the porpois was you and not me.  I'd had my fill of excitement after the baby whale incident.

Speaking of close encounters with whales, I've had lots of them over the years while surfing.  At La Push some 20 years ago I had a pod of greys come in over the sandbars for a closer look.  Everywhere I turned there were whales eyeballing me.  They were surprisingly carefull to not disturb me even though they were coming in as close as a couple of yards away. 
Years later in Seaside I learned a valuable lesson.  Baby whales are curious and Mama whales are rarely far from their babies.  I'd paddled out for a closer look at a baby grey and Mama surfaced directly between us blowing hard.  She didn't have to tell me twice.

they have not mentioned the blues at the whale watch stations along the Coast in our area. Are they  farther out to Sea than the Grays?
 Thanks for the info Allen, I like to learn something every day.

I don't know how far in blue whales migrate.

Hmmm ... exciting whale moments ....

Last year in Prince Williams Sound I had a humpback come up no more than 10 feet from my kayak.  I was drifting in a bay watching a pod in feeding mode, you know when they blow bubbles, herd bait, then feast.  They were about 100 yards away, but one must have gotten curious and decided to pay me a visit.  I have that on video tape somewhere.  I should dig it up.

Another time in  Monterrey Bay on a PB I had the pleasure of watching a pod of more than a dozen killer whales hunting a baby humpback.  Awesome to say the least.  Momma would get under the baby to try to push her up to breath and the killer whales would porpoise up on the baby whale trying to force her down.  It was  Blue Planet moment for sure.

-Allen

They are not common (still considered an endangered species), but blue whales do migrate up and down the Pacific Coast.  Whale Park at Canon Beach in Oregon got its name because Lewis and Clark found a dead blue whale there in 1804.  Found this map of blue whale migration areas on the Lewis and Clark Trail web site:



Oregon State Parks has some whale watching info on their web site.  We do mostly see grays in Oregon, but blues travel through as well.  Note the relative sizes of the whales in their chart 

http://www.oregon.gov/OPRD/PARKS/WhaleWatchingCenter/facts.shtml