"Fishing Alaska at its best - The Unique Juneau Alaska Fishing Lodge"

© 2005 Karen Bierman

“How shall we define the whale, by his obvious externals,so to conspicuously label him for all time to come?
To be short, than, a whale is a spouting fish with a vertical tail.
There you have him.” Ishmael, from Moby Dick
Whale Watching

"Fishing partners" Photo courtesy of guest Allen Cissell taken while fishing aboard the C/V Reel Job 1999

It’s hard to fathom the attraction of man to whale. Like Ishmael’s Leviathan there is more to a whale than meets the eye. There is grace, purpose, language, family, teamwork, sorrow, nurturing, play and much more. From the beginning of time there seems to have been a mystical connection between us, like our bloods are mixed in the primordial ooze of pre-consciousness.

The waters around Shelter Island are the summer home to numerous humpback and killer (orca) whales. Whale watching is done from the lodge and while fishing. It is not unusual to see whales engaging in bubble net feeding, breaching, tail-slapping, spy-hopping or sleeping. It is common to see half a dozen or more whales in a day.

Humpback Whales

(Megaptera Novaeangliae)

Meaning enormous wings: Humpbacks grow to 50 feet and 35 tons. Their annual migration from Shelter Island to Hawaii is about 6000 miles round trip.

"Pet humpback" Neighbor Jay took this shot 2005.

Every year we get a visit from a group of humpbacks we call the Chatham Family. This family numbers more than a dozen. They seem to feed primarily on large schools of herring and they work as a team to encircle and capture their query. We recognize them by their tail markings and by the distinct breathing patterns of some of the individuals.

"The Chatham Family at Lizard Head" Photo courtesy of guest Dan Root taken while fishing aboard the C/V Reel Job 1999

Once they have located a school of herring they swim in a circle beneath the school blowing bubbles and singing an erie song that probably serves to panic the herring and condense the school through herd instinct. The bubbles stick together forming a cylindrical net around the panicking herring. Many experts think that it is a single whale that blows the bubbles but I have heard several songs at once making me believe that it could be more than one or all that contribute to the bubble net at different times.

"The Chatham Family near lodge" Photo courtesy of guest Dave and Sue Use taken while fishing aboard the C/V Reel Job 2003

The first thing you see is the gulls circling and the small fish flipping into the air to get away. Next the ring of bubbles appears and an island of gape mouthed humpbacks explodes from the deep, throats billowed out, gorging on herring.

To learn more about the humpback whales in our area check out my neighbor Jay Beedle’s Humpback fluke photos at this link. Jay has been photographing the flukes of local whales for identification. He has put together photographic evidence of 74 different Humpbacks around Shelter Island in 2007. He and his daughter Jayleen have been naming them as they identify them. Look for Rick, Karen and Kayla in his whale pages.

"Pod" © 2003 Juneau Alaska Fishing

Killer Whales

(Orcinus Orca)

Orcas grow to 22 feet long and 6 tons. Next to humans they are the most widely dispersed mammals on the planet.

Sightings are common, however, do to their more transit feeding habits they don't stay in one place long.

Orcas are the largest predator of warm-blooded animals on earth and have been known to eat other whales, polar bear and moose.

Individuals are identifiable by the light saddle mark behind their dorsal fin. Local pods yortal, click and caterwaul when they travel around so it is fun to listen to what they have to say.

The whales are so plentiful that I spend more time trying to avoid a close encounter than trying to locate them. On the best days we have seen upwards of 20 humpbacks and pods of over 50 orca, usually while fishing. We keep a hydro-phone on board so we can shut the motor down and listen to their songs.

I feel blessed to live in an area where nature abounds so deliberately. The seasonal cycles of the salmon, the whales, the migration of the birds, the extremes of the sun light, and darkness, the ice and tides and the ever-present rain, all combine to make Southeast Alaska a summer estuary that explodes with an exceptional plethora of life.

"Fishing" Dan Root

Eagles are just a fact of life around here. You can see them perched or soaring just about any time you look up. Count on getting some good close-ups. Check our Blog to see photos and read the story of Lucille the eagle we captured and sent to rehab the winter of 06/07.

"Catching" Dan Root

Links