Angler battles killer whale on New Zealand fishing trip

A team fishing in a recent tuna and marlin tournament off New Zealand became the talk of the event because of what it hooked but had no chance of landing: a large killer whale.

In an extremely rare occurrence off Gisborne, the killer whale became hooked on a lure being trolled behind the boat.

Angler Charlie Destounis took the rod and fought the cetacean for about 45 minutes before the line broke. The killer whale made repeated runs of about 750 yards and the reel was literally smoking before the end of the struggle.

Robby Lewis, a renowned angler and captain of the boat, told the Waikato Times, "I thought I was hallucinating. I've never heard of it, and I've done a lot of fishing. To see what we saw was unbelievable."

The hookup occurred in an area where tuna were leaping. About five killer whales, or orcas, were apparently feeding in the vicinity.

One of the orcas began to porpoise in the wake of the 24-foot boat, C Crazy 2,  and "all of a sudden it dived out of the water and landed on the lure," Lewis said.

The orca nearly spooled the reel on its initial run. The group considered cutting the line long before the battle ended, but didn't want to leave so much line dangling from the mammal.

New Zealand orca expert Ingrid Visser told the Waikito Times that orcas "understand the concept of hooks to some degree" and are rarely snared. She guessed that the orca probably was curious about the lure and accidentally became foul-hooked.

The scientist advises against trolling while in the presence of orcas.

-- Image of hooked orca as it appears in the Waikato Times. No credit provided

Comments

[Sandro]

Why the fisherman (Mr. Page), didn't take the line back when the orcas where approaching?

Why Page engaged in a 45 min battle with the "hooked" orca... while he was sitting comfortably from his boat?

Perhaps Mr Page wanted to hook this animal intentionally, by inflicting an enormous amount of pain to this animal... just for his own fun...

Page go to play golf... perhaps you make less damage

Sandro Rucci

[nature pictures]

This is amazing. How much do they weigh? Did you get a video of it? Did it end up having a lot of line dangling from it anyway?

[Pete Thomas]

Aquanue, I wrote up high that the line broke after 45 minutes. That's what all the other stories mentioned as well. Only the people on the boat know exactly what happened. I find it surprising that it would take an orca 45 minutes to break free.

[Aquanue]

It would be good if the author finished the story - if the group decided against cutting the line - what happened next? Did they land the orca? Did it spit the lure out and go on its merry way?

[Aquanue]

Yet another reason why fishing tournaments should be banned!!

[Pete Thomas]

Drudown: you're right. Something seems fishy. But the orca was jumping in the wake. Maybe this photo was taken before it became snagged.

[drudown]

Question: if the Orca pictured was, in fact, "hooked", wouldn't the fishing rod indicate tension?

Sounds like a fish tale....

[Doreen Murgatroyd]

This is amazing. How much do they weigh? Did you get a video of it? Did it end up having a lot of line dangling from it anyway?

I read that Orcas eat tunas.