Gigantic Whale Jumps At Boat Off New Jersey (Video)

This was quite a fish tale, but it was for real. And a guy who goes by the name of Pauly Walnuts (no, it's not the Sopranos character) is the one who tells it.

A humpback whale breached the side of a fishing boat this week, just off the New Jersey coast — and the video (see below) has gone viral.

The whale appeared in the Raritan Bay area, just off Perth Amboy, and a Monmouth County, N.J. man was the one who confronted it.

"This definitely was one of the craziest experiences in my life and I've had many," said Paul Ziolkowski of Union Beach, who added with some explicit language on social media when he said that "some Moby dick" emerged near his boat outside the Verrazano Narrows Bridge.

On Facebook, Ziolkowski, who calls himself "Pauly Walnuts," said the humpback was chasing a pod of bunker when it jumped out of the water "and tapped the hull of my boat, knocking bunker into the boat."

"Crazy, I know it sounds like a fish story, LOL but these #NewJersey waters are serious," he said.

Here is the video — viewer discretion advised for language:

Ziolkowski has been celebrating his discovery on Facebook, noting that he's been interviewed by various television stations and that his video has been viewed by many people.

YouTube video and photo courtesy of Pauly Walnuts (Paul Ziolkowski)