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In an experience they won\u2019t soon forget, two East Coast striper fishermen were nearly pancaked by a humpback whale. A nearby boater captured video footage<\/a> of the close call, which took place Tuesday off the coast of New Hampshire. The viral clip shows the massive whale breaching and landing on top of the boat, which sends the two fishermen flying overboard.<\/p>\n Luckily, some Good Samaritans who were nearby came to their rescue, and they say neither angler was injured. They were also able to recover their capsized boat with the help of the U.S. Coast Guard and a local towboat service. As for the giant humpback, it\u2019s still alive and well and feasting on baitfish near the mouth of the Pisquataqua River.<\/p>\n \u201cWe watched it afterwards and it kept breaching like it was before,\u201d Capt. Mike Genestreti tells Outdoor Life. <\/em>\u201cWe\u2019ve seen it since then, and I actually spotted it this morning outside of Wentworth.\u201d<\/p>\n A Maine-based fishing guide and the owner of MAG Charters<\/a>, Genestreti was one of the boaters who helped pull the two fishermen out of the ocean after the whale capsized their boat, the Parker<\/em>. (He was joined by two young anglers, one of whom recorded the video on his phone.) There were four or five other boats in the area fishing for striped bass, and although you can\u2019t see Genestreti\u2019s boat in the video, he was just 20 to 30 yards away from the Parker<\/em> when the whale landed on top of it.<\/p>\n Read Next:<\/strong> Watch: New Zealand Man Fined for Trying to Body-Slam a Killer Whale<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cIt was like a car crash. Just crazy violent and really loud,\u201d he recalls. \u201cI saw the boat get rocked, watched one guy fly off, and then I saw the [boat] capsize, which was really scary.\u201d<\/p>\n Genestreti, who\u2019s lived on the Pisquataqua all his life, says the one-in-a-million encounter was an honest accident. He explains that a huge bunker run had shown up at the mouth of the tidal river a week earlier. This brought an influx of big stripers inshore, along with the humpback whale. He says the whale was following the school of baitfish at the same time that local striper fishermen were chasing the feed.<\/p>\n \u201cAll those bunker had literally brought the humpback into the river, so he was scaring people up and down the mouth. Everybody knew he was there.\u201d<\/p>\n Read Next:<\/strong> There\u2019s No Shame in Catching Striped Bass with Bunker<\/a><\/p>\n Genestreti says he doesn\u2019t think the two fishermen who got tossed were being irresponsible. And he\u2019s been surprised by the negative comments the video has received from people who say the anglers were disrespecting the whale and intruding on its feeding grounds. He does admit, however, that they could have backed off the bait ball and given the whale a bit more space. NOAA recommends<\/a> staying at least 100 yards from whales, with additional requirements for more sensitive species like right whales.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen those bunker pods get balled up so tight, the whale is feeding from underneath, and he can\u2019t look up and see through the pod. So, when I\u2019m out there, especially with my clients, we\u2019re always staying on the fringes of the school. We\u2019re close to the bunker feed but we\u2019re not on<\/em> it,\u201d he says. \u201cIt was certainly wrong place, wrong time \u2026 but I think it was also just not being aware of their surroundings. They had striper fever. They were focused on the fish.\u201d<\/p>\n The same could be said for the whale.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n