Strangest occurrence while fishing

[James Smith]

I'm not sure if this qualifies as strange, but it certainly was memorable. I was fishing for salmon fishing off the Queen Charlotte Islands in BC, and seeing Killer Whales and Humpback whales were not uncommon. On one outing, I spotted a humpback whale surfacing about 250 yards in front of us and when I looked to my left, I saw a pod of five Killer Whales about 50 yards off the port side of the boat. The Killer whales looked like they were headed towards the humpback whale so we got as close as we dared (about 75-80 yards away) and sut off the motor to watch. Sure enough, the Killer Whales attacked the humpback. They circled her and kept swimming around her sort of like Indians circling a wagon train in the old western movies. Every few seconds one of the killer whales would swoop and nip her fluke or her pectoral fin which she would pull out of the water and slap it back down, all the while blowing a high pitched whistling sound out her blow hole. This lasted about 20 minutes and then the Killer Whales just swam off leaving her uninjured. I suspect that they were just testing to see if she was injured or sick to make an easy meal. When she was healthy and strong, they must not have felt she was worth the effort.

Jim Smith

[John Rhoades]

I until expectantly came across a mermaid sunning herself on a rock in the middle of the Deschutes one October many years ago. Her head was tilted backwards, and her long brown hair extended beyond the middle of her back and touched into the water. Not wanting to disturb her, I moved upstream a hundred yards to begin fishing, and promptly hooked, and lost a rather large steelhead, one of only 2 I encountered during a week of fishing.

[HCR]

May 31, 2011, Rio Grande between S. Fork and Creede, CO, 11:15 A.M. Wading river across from road to Creede which has a regular traffic flow. Came up out of river to get rid of some coffee and as I was pulling down chest waders, my Brittany charged up the hill and flushed a full grown mt. lion which had been hiding beneath/behind a bus just 60 feet away. Dog chased cat. I called dog back and waited a couple of minutes before climbing the short hill to the mesa above. Cat was walking slowly past my pickup a couple of hundred yards away and proceeded to stroll into the woods. Am told such close encounters are rare. I could have lived without the experience, thank-you.

[DaleW]

Here's one of those Alaska salmon pics of yours truly (just before seeing the whales!) `

[ducksterman]

I until expectantly came across a mermaid sunning herself on a rock in the middle of the Deschutes one October many years ago. Her head was tilted backwards, and her long brown hair extended beyond the middle of her back and touched into the water. Not wanting to disturb her, I moved upstream a hundred yards to begin fishing, and promptly hooked, and lost a rather large steelhead, one of only 2 I encountered during a week of fishing.

I understand those mermaids will frequently turn up the Deschutes from the Columbia if the water temperature is right.