Video: Whale Breaches Feet From Fisherman's Boat

BURLINGTON (CBS) – A fisherman captured incredible video of a whale jumping out of the water.

"There was a ton of fish," Zack Fahey said. "I just had a feeling he was gonna come up near us. So I just started recording."

Fahey says that feeling led to a jaw dropping sight -- a massive humpback whale breaching just feet from his family's boat.

"He was so close I can't believe he was so close," Fahey told WBZ-TV from his Burlington business.

The 28-year-old says the close encounter happened last Friday during a fishing trip with his dad and his buddy.

Their 20-foot boat was bobbing in the ocean just a mile off the coast of Hampton, New Hampshire, when the menhaden they were fishing to catch for bait swam into the path of a Humpback's feed.

"My parents have always had boats so I grew up on boats. We've seen whales and stuff like that before but nothing like that. That was crazy," Fahey said.

Also, wild, Fahey says, was the response on social media.

Fahey says after posting the brief clip, it has been shared hundreds of times and viewed thousands more.

"To me it was awesome, and I'll probably never see anything like that again," he says.

But his whale of a tale has a purpose. Fahey says he shared it hoping more people respect the ocean.

"That's part of the reason I wanted to send it out because just so people can appreciate the ocean. There's a lot of stuff going on out there. A lot of people don't see it," said the Wilmington native.

Fahey says what he does see clearer now, is that next time he should keep his distance.