On Friday, August 19th, John Shemilt, Keegan Corcoran and I participated in one
of the final days of the Hampton Offshore Invitational fishing tournament.
We focused our efforts within Ryan and McMaster Canyons ("The Claw"). We
traveled south from the top of the canyon toward the bottom of the continental
shelf break, just short of 1000 fathoms, where we encountered 82° water with no
steep temperature break. The offshore weather was fantastic for traveling
purposes; very little wind with a flat sea surface resembling pond-like
conditions. Unfortunately the balmy, windless conditions made our two chum
slicks relatively useless. The scent barely carried and most birds were
roosting on the surface (expected for mid day).
Despite being unable to draw much into our slicks we did encounter some deep
water and canyon specialties while traveling about. The cumulative list is as
follows:
1 Black-capped Petrel
2 White-faced Storm Petrel
7 Band-rumped Storm-Petrel
1 Leach's Storm-Petrel
285 Wilson's Storm-Petrel
1 Long-tailed Jaeger
3 jaeger sp.
2 Cory's Shearwater
10 Audubon's Shearwater
4 Red-necked Phalarope
Marine mammal sightings from our 8/19 trip include hundreds of Pilot Whales,
Risso's Dolphin, Bottlenose Dolphin, Common Dolphin, 5 SOWERBY'S BEAKED WHALE
and a giant Manta Ray that cruised by our starboard side.
Two sightings earlier in the week are also noteworthy. John and Keegan
encountered White-faced Storm Petrel in the same general area; 1 on 8/15 and 2
individuals seen together on 8/18.
There is a lot of life out there and hopefully this bodes well for a successful
organized pelagic trip at the end of this month.
Best,
Derek Rogers
Sayville
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