Given the furnace-like blast of heat and humidity we recently endured, you certainly did not need to consult with a prognosticator of all things weather to know that hot is hot. Even some of my heat-loving friends shyly admitted, while wiping their brow, that they too were overwhelmed by the jungle-like conditions. It was downright nasty.
I originally had plans to take Rock Water out for a local fishing trip, but I quickly removed it from my calendar. At least for me, fishing in such heat is just not much fun.
Relaxing on the couch watching the World Cup and Wimbledon was a nice, cool alternative. And thankfully, the rainy, cooler weather that started on Monday broke the back of the heat spell.
However, the heat wave did remind me of a trip I made a few years ago with my colleague Al Daniels out of Montauk. Sailing on the Simple Life, a charter boat run by Capt. Tyler Quaresimo, codfish was our quarry. It was an incredibly hot late-July day, with nary a breath of wind emanating off the warm 80-degree water.
While the cod cooperated by hitting our diamond jigs, we paid the price for them in the blistering sun with soaked hats and shirts. It was a true workout, and we needed to take shade breaks and rehydrate in between drifts.
“This heat is really crazy,” I recall Daniels saying as we sat in the main cabin in an attempt to cool off. “This reminds me of being in Vietnam during the war.” Daniels recounted how he lost around 80 pounds while he did his tour of duty there in the Air Force.
Looking down at one of his small coolers filled with rapidly melting ice, Daniels abruptly poured the entire contents over his head and shirt. His impromptu cooldown made me break out in a jealous laugh.
“Oh, that’s much better,” he smiled. I did not empty my cooler over my head. Rather, I utilized a fish rag that I soaked in the icy bath and applied it to my neck and face. The rather smelly rag provided some instant, yet not long-lasting, relief.
Not a fisherman, but yearn to get on the water and view a spectacle of Mother Nature in action? You may want to join the Viking Fleet and the Coastal Research and Education Society of Long Island on an adventure to view whales, dolphins, turtles, and various seabirds.
On a trip on Friday, Durell Godfrey, The Star’s intrepid photographer, saw endless numbers of Tamanend’s bottlenose dolphins, short-beaked common dolphins, finback, minke, and humpback whales, as well as numerous varieties of sea birds, including storm petrels and shearwaters.
“It was mind-blowing,” she said. “We saw hundreds of dolphins, about 20 finback whales and a dozen humpback whales who were feeding and breaking out of the water. We were surrounded by whale blows. It was just amazing. The whale crew said it was the best ever and I hear it takes a lot to impress them.”
A large body of squid and sand eels have encamped in our nearby ocean waters, making for a fine buffet for them to feast on.
Check out the Viking Fleet website for reservations and the latest sailing schedule. Trips depart at 10 a.m. and 2 p.m., and a marine biologist narrates the tour and answers questions.
Back on land, the East Hampton Sportsmen’s Alliance, of which this scribe is a member, is raffling off a private, half-day inshore charter for four to six people out of Montauk with Capt. Joe McBride. McBride is a longtime charter boat captain who knows the waters like the back of his hand.
Raffle tickets are $10 each or three for $25. The winning ticket will be chosen on July 29, and the trip must be used on a weekday in August or early September. More details and tickets are at ehsportsmen.com.
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Fishing tips, observations, and photographs can be sent to [email protected].