Aug 27 - Fishing Block Canyon

Yesterday I was lucky enough to fish the tip of Block Canyon on a new friend's boat. It was beautifully calm in advance of Hurricane Cristobal passing well to the southeast with only very gentle 2-4 ft swells and no wind. We left the dock in Montauk by 2am and were at the canyon before sunrise. There was a fair amount of life to be seen, though not much bird-wise. The highlight of the day were the numbers of Audubon's Shearwaters, perhaps not surprising given that last weekend's BBC overnight pelagic to larger canyons further east produced Massachusetts state record high counts on consecutive days!

Numbers:
Cory's Shearwater  2
Cory's Shearwater (borealis)  1
Sooty Shearwater  1
Audubon's Shearwater  20
Wilson's Storm-Petrel  71
Oceanodroma sp.  1

Common Dolphin 10
Risso's Dolphin 95
Pilot Whale sp. 15
shark sp. 1
Manta Ray 1
Portuguese Man o' War 6

sunrise

Audubon's Shearwater

Audubon's Shearwater

Risso's Dolphins

Pilot Whales

Portuguese Man o' War

Portuguese Man o' War

shark sp. - If anyone has any idea what this could be based on just a dorsal fin, let me know!

Evening return to Montauk

  - NB

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