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"I was out looking for some bass during the early morning and spotted a 40 foot humpback whale tangled in a large fish net with rope near the Manasquan Inlet," Gatto told JSHN.com.
He said he called the Coast Guard before he and the other fishermen set to work cutting through the ropes.
"At one point we thought it died. We just kept cutting rope after rope and more of the net, and it slowly began to move around and began to let out some pretty big bellows from its blowhole," Gatto said.
A Coast Guard boat arrived in time to applaud the fisherman as the whale swam away.
The end of the rescue was caught on video by witness Joe Oehme, who was on a nearby boat.
"Very surreal to actually be alongside touching a creature of this size, with its huge eyes looking right at you," Gatto said.