SAN DIEGO (KGTV) -- A San Diego fisherman rescued a whale tangled in a lobster trap Friday. His friends took videos to document the rescue.
Conditions were perfect last Friday for a weekend out on the water. Matt Capron and his four friends were hoping for a big catch.
"The sun was just going down, and we hooked a bluefin tuna," Capron said.
One hundred miles off the coast of Point Loma in an area known as Tanner Banks, Capron and his buddies won an hour and a half battle against the 180-pounder. They thought this would be the highlight of the trip. But the following day, they were in for a bigger surprise.
"I said, 'Hey, there's a whale on this paddy,'" Capron said.
As they came closer, they noticed that the whale was in bad shape.
"It couldn't move because it was essentially attached to the bottom of the ocean," Capron said.
The whale was caught in a lobster trap. That is when Capron jumped in.
"It was probably between four to seven feet down. The rope was attached to its body right before the fluke, and it was looped six or seven times," Capron said.
With a filet knife in hand, Capron dove under, slashing the rope, one loop at a time. After the second dive and a couple more cuts, Capron finally freed the animal. A few minutes later, the whale came back, perhaps to thank him.
"We're just so fortunate that we came upon it when we did," Capron said. "It was probably one of the highlights of my life. Honestly."
The men said that the meat from the 180-pound tuna will be gone soon, but the story will live on forever.
