Whale Shark at the Barwons

[Mad Fish]

Went out to the banks on Wednesday, the fishing was very ordinary but.
About lunchtime I looked out the back of the boat and spotted a LARGE greenish brown stain in the water heading straight for the back of the boat. At first i thought it may have been a Whale but it was about 6' across the head and as we were in a 6 meter boat i can tell you it was at least that long. It was only about 1m under the water and the only thing breaking the surface was the very tip of its tail. It had large pectoral fins about 1.2 m long. It passed us no more then 4 metres from the side of the boat and all 3 of us got a good look at it. No pics sorry, but an amazing site.
John

[Horse]

How good was that. It makes up for the quiet trip

[-spiro-]

i always wonderd how whale sharks and whale never hit you anchore line......?

[ooglie74]

Hey chris, I know of a pro on here that could tell you a story of a whale hitting his anchor rope and losing the anchor.

Cheers Troy

[GPB]

We encounted one while fishing in 140m off the Barwon Banks at Xmas 2005, KC even patted its head as it took some hand held pillies, Awsome.

At the 'Tiger Kelly' Troy

[Skusto]

they are certainly great looking .

[Mad Fish]

Wow hand feeding one, I was more worried if we were on the menu. If i ever see one again I'll try the pillies
jh

[bondy99]

Great stuff. good to see a magestic whale shark up close and personal.

[jason p]

well there you have it i never thought they were up this way only thought they were cold water species, good stuff.

jp

[sambos]

i didnt realise they ate fish .I thought like whales they ate krill etc

[trueblue]

they certainly are super cool up close and personal

I've seen them up close with half a dozen 20 kg cobia in company

[wakakiwi]

######## greenies would love that i know the trouble i got in 5 years ago trying to feed a dolphin!!!

[jason p]

i did a search on whale sharks

The shark is found in tropical and warm oceans, lives in the open sea with a lifespan of about 70 years.[3] The species originated about 60 million years ago. Although whale sharks have very large mouths, they feed mainly, though not exclusively, on plankton, microscopic plants and animals, although the BBC program Planet Earth filmed a whale shark feeding on a school of small fish.

jp

[grahams]

This is just about my favourite fishing photo. Whale shark off Yeppoon 2 years ago.

They are a very friendly animal and seemed to want a bit of company...must get a bit lonely out there by yourself