Viking Fleet Fishing Report

This trip was a wet but successful one! Rain was falling as we left the dock and continued throughout most of the trip, a reminder of how fortunate we were this season with most of our trips avoiding heavy downfalls and experiencing sunny, summer weather. Nonetheless, we searched for humpbacks seen on previous trips along the shore, finding our first near Montauk town. This whale was first documented by CRESLI on 09/04 and was seen again on 09/05, a juvenile humpback feeding in under 50 feet of water. With short dive intervals, passengers were treated to frequent sightings of the young whale. We spent some time with this animal before moving on to find another. Along the way, we saw at least one ray (species unknown) leaping from the water and a few shearwaters and about a dozen Wilson’s storm…

Close to shore and lots of humpbacks! Our trip on the Viking Star left Montauk on a perfect day with calm seas, blue skies and a light breeze.  We had just rounded Montauk Point when we spotted a pod of Tamanend’s bottlenose dolphins, about 15-20 individuals.  Our vessel stopped, as we watched them, when several dolphins came up to and around our bow, swam away and then came back again. Tamanend’s have not usually been making these close approaches, and the passengers really enjoyed the encounter. Proceeding along the south shore eastward, we started passing huge schools of menhaden at the surface.  These fish, in their huge “bait balls”, were a mass of flashing silver scales, and are an important part of the marine food chain.  Sure enough, in a few minutes, we saw our first humpback whales eating them. …

Capt. Dave reports a great last day of local fishing on the Viking Starship. We started at the Lighthouse with lots of big Porgies, then went to anchor out of the tide and continued with good fishing! Lots of big Porgies and Seabass for the day. No Pool today.