Viking Fleet Fishing Reports

Capt Dave reports a great trip on the Viking Starship. We started out offshore south of Montauk looking for Sea Bass and had excellent conditions and a lot of keepers. There were small ones to pick through, but everyone managed keepers. Triggerfish were very plentiful too, we had over 30 large ones on the boat….

It was a beautifully crisp day as we sailed into September aboard the Viking Starship yesterday. We decided to head west after finding no whales or dolphins to the east on the previous trip. The nearshore environment has been rich with schools of bunker and scores of pelagic birds over the last few weeks, even as the effects of Hurricane Erin passing offshore have been felt elsewhere in the region. We encountered rafts of Cory’s and great shearwaters, likely resting with full bellies, from a previous feast, and enjoyed their characteristic gliding above the water as we continued out transit west. After a short while, a small pod of Tamanend’s bottlenose dolphins were seen, if only for a fleeting moment. We waited and watched as they appeared one more time, before continuing on. Eventually, with no whales spotted nearshore, we…

Captain Dave reports that the day started off slow, but quickly turned around with some excellent fishing action.We spent most of the trip near the lighthouse, where the bite really picked up. Anglers brought in a great mix of quality-sized Porgies, Sea Bass, Fluke, and a few Triggerfish to round things out. All in all, a solid day on the water with steady action and full coolers! The pool winner was Angel Montes from NJ, with a 3 lb Porgy and a 3.2 lb Seabass

Captain Carl reports a slow morning of fishing on our 1/2 day trip aboard the Viking Starlite. East wind made the fish have lockjaw for us, with just a couple fish here and there but no great shakes.

You couldn’t have asked for a better late August day. We had unlimited visibility, clear skies, sun, and enough cool wind to keep those in the shade needing additional layers. We had no reports of whales or dolphins, and decided on a course that would take us through several areas that had been productive recently. We briefly caught glimpses of dolphins, and had several encounters with phantom ‘blows,’ but nothing substantial materialized. While we saw sporadic clusters of pelagic birds and prey, it wasn’t until late in the trip that we found areas with significant prey densities throughout the water column, but still no cetaceans. 19 Wilson’s storm petrels 60 Cory’s (with perhaps 1 Scopoli’s shearwaters (see https://ebird.org/checklist/S270846932) 30 Great shearwaters 8-10 Manx shearwaters

Captain Carl reports a beautiful afternoon on the half day boat with plenty of action on board. Fluke and Sea Bass made up the majority of the catch with enough Keepers of both to hit our buckets. Congratulations to our pool winners, Julie Darand from NYC, NY, who caught a 3.2 lb Fluke, and Larry…

Another special day on the water with dolphins, whales, and cold winds   If you were itching to escape the heat and spend you time looking for dolphins and whales, Friday August 29, was your day. While we’d been traveling east for the past few weeks and finding whales, the presence of Atlantic menhaden in the near shore waters, as well as the mixing in response to Hurricane Erin has changed our potential searching paradigms. We had reports of humpbacks being in the nearshore waters and went to explore.  First we found a group 60-70 Tamanend’s bottlenose dolphins in addition to a few pelagic birds (Cory’s shearwaters and an occasional Wilson’s storm petrel and Great shearwater. We continued westward and our Senior Naturalist/Scientist, Dr. Artie Kopelman, saw the splash of a massive whale breach miles ahead. We never found the…

As August (and soon summer) draws to a close, we could not have asked for a better day to explore Long Island’s marine ecosystem. With unlimited visibility, blue skies, and a crisp breeze, it was a privilege to head west along Long Island’s east end searching for marine life. Pelagic bird sightings were limited at first, but began to pick up with numerous Cory’s and great shearwaters observed gliding over a calm sea. A small pod of Tamanend’s bottlenose dolphins were spotted about two miles from shore and we spent some time with them before moving on to a second, larger pod to their west. We continued on for a bit and decided to move south in our search. About five miles out, we encountered a series of splashes belonging to a much larger group of Tamanend’s bottlenose dolphins, which…

Captain Dave reports a great day on the Viking Starship. We had a busy morning with a steady pick around of the Lighthouse. We were able to catch many beautiful sizes of Porgies and Sea Bass. Everyone had a fun day and when home with their buckets full. Congratulations to our pool winners, Juan Izarra with a 4.0 lb Triggerfish and Chicky with a 3.0 lb Porgy.

Captain JR reports a productive morning onboard the Viking Star. We had lots of action with sea bass, a few porgies, and some beautiful KEEPER fluke keeping us busy. A gorgeous morning to be out! Congratulations to our pool winner, Dowd Martin from NY, NY, who caught a 5.5 lb Fluke!  

Captain Mike Ricker reports a relaxing afternoon out on the water. We ended the trip with plenty of Sea Bass and Flukes in the buckets. Congratulations to our pool winner, Joey Rakhlin, from NYC, 4 lb. Fluke!

Captain JR reports a grind today onboard the Viking Starlite. We took a long ride to the far reaches of the Block Island grounds but had a tough time finding quality fish. It was definitely a heavy sort with the sea bass and the fluke that we found. But most people ended the day with a decent catch of sea bass and a few giant porgies for their coolers. The fluke we found were mostly small, but boated a couple beauties.  All in all not a terrible day.