i gave good old goleta beach another shot today. there was a lot less oil in the water wich made fishing a lot easier. i caught 3 sand bass (two small and one 5+) and 6 or so rockfish. all the fish were caught on a 4 inch bighammer.

now for the interesting part.

i was just fishing away and i heard the familiar pffffffft behind me. i turned around to see the seal. my heart just about stopped when i saw a very large, very close grey whale. thats right no more than ten feet away a whale had breached. the length from spout to tail had to be at least 15 ft. i gathered my wits in time to see the 7ft wide tail aproach the surface. suddenly all the discovery channel whale specials flashed through my mind, i could see that tail raising out of the water and crashing down on my tiny kayak. luckily though it just slid by gracefully. these animals are very large and ive come to realize they are also incredibally gracefull. this is one of the most humbling experiences ive ever had. just like that a half decient day of fishing was turned into an unforgetable afternoon.

Cool!

Also cool it wasn't the Landlord coming to collect!! :D

And I thought the one that came within 30 yds of me in my float tube was scary. You win :-)

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honestly, ive seen them twice from 30 yards or so, that was unerving, but this was heart stopping. good times though:)

Dan rest be assured that the oil slick at Goleta is as natural as that gray whale you saw. The slicks form on the outside of the kelp beds off I.V. It is a matter of wind, current, and tide that it slides away from there. After watching this for over fourty years I can only state these Coal Point slicks area chornic condition that the local marine environment puts up with if not has adapted to. UCSB has used this for decades as an unusal field condition for research. The return of the kelp beds after almost 20 years is a return to normal. More concentrated slicks will be a part of this. Trust me you can learn to live with the oil however frustrating and messy it can be.
Take care with the Whales. I have been "holed" by a gray from the barnacles on its back.It was an exciting paddle back into the beach befor my surf ski sank. It's probably not a problem with the newer poly plactic boats other than maybe putting you in the water. These whales are what can be described as "kelpers". They swim up and into the kelp in order to knock off some critters to fliter feed on. In addition in about a month we will see mothers with babies migrating up the coast. They like the kelper behavior too as well as having the kelp to rest against while nursing. A couple of times I have had a mom or nanny flop a fluke a me when I got to close to a baby.

Hi there,

If I had not read Riffys post, I would have guessed that many whales know and navigate with deference to certain things like 12ft bananas and large donuts with creatures having eyes the size of saucers on them. ha ha ha

JapanRon