Friday, July 04, 2008

Friday July 4

Night Striped Bass

Captain Carl reports that fishing a tamer than it was last night, but we still saw some quality fish to 32.9lbs, as well as some shorts in the mix.  Steven Spears won the pool with a 32.9lbs striper and Andy Haven took home the second place in the pool with a 26.10lbs striper.

Full Day Porgy & Sea Bass

We had a LOAD of big porgies today- 10 fish were easily filling up a bucket. Also there was a bunch of nice sea bass to 4lbs, a few keeper fluke in the mix to 4.5lbs, and 2 keeper striped bass. Overall a fantastic day with a nice mix of good sized keepers. CHris from Greece won the first place pool.

Half Day Fluke Fishing

Half Day fluke fishing was very good today. The first place pool was won by Bobby Naples and the second place prize was taken by Leo Torres.

Thursday July 3

Night Striped Bass

Phenominal Fishing! Captain Carl reports a fantastic night on the striper boat. Action was great from the very beginning till the very end of the tide. Mixed sizes coming over the rails from shorts to a beautiful 57.3 pounder.  We also had a 43lbs striper, a couple of 30lbs (one weighing in at 38lbs) and a bunch of stripers over 20lbs. A nice mix of blues as well.  Alex Leiter won the first place pool with the 57.3lbs striper which puts him in the first place of our $5000 derby, and the second place in the pool was won by Mike Johnson, who went with 14 year old daughter Linda. Linda limited out, great job guys! Call the office at 631 668 5700 ext. 0 to book your trip now, fishing is RED HOT! Make sure you check out the photos in our gallery!

Thursday July 3
Half Day Fluke AM
Mate Tess reports that they had a good morning trip aboard the Viking Starship. From the first drift of the day action was constant with fish being landed on every drift. The pool winner was Mike Smith of Floral Park NY with a 6.4 lb Doormat Fluke.
Porgy and Seabass Trip
Captain Dave reports that fishing improved today with some decent action.Todays pool winner was John Terrance from Brooklyn with a 2.2 pounder.

Wednesday July 2
Half Day Fluke AM
Fishing was very good. The pool was won by Bill Herman from Floral Park, NY with a nice 11.7 lb Fluke. Bill was so happy that he droped his rod in the water, but got lucky when the people down from him got it on their line. Bill is now the current leader of the 2008 Viking Fluke Derby. Check out some great shots in our photo gallery.
Half Day Fluke PM
Fishing started with plenty of shorts this afternoon. However they weeded through the shorts and got to the big guys!! It ended as a great day out with Paul Salen from Brooklyn winning the pool with his 6.9lb fish. Nice work Paulie!
Night Striped Bass
Captain Carl reports that there was plenty of action on last nights Striped Bass trip. At the beginning of the trip on the flood tide every rod on the boat was bending. Each drift continued to produce keeper Stripers as well as plenty of Bluefish. The pool fish was over 26lb.

Tuesday July 1
Half Day Fluke PM Trip
Captain Carl reports that fishing this afternoon has greatly improved since this morning. Its very steady with some quality fish coming over the rails! The pool winner was John McCann from Merrick New York who caught a very impressive 7.65lb fish!
Half Day Fluke AM Trip
Today fishing started slow but got much better as the day went on. The pool was won by William Lattanzio of Seaford, NY, with a 3lb fish. He also caught a 2.8lb fish. Nice work William.
Porgy and Seabass Trip
Fishing was good today. Everyone got their limit. First place in the pool went to Andy Tham form Brooklyn, Ny with a 2.5 lb porgy. Second place went to Calvin Jamison aka "Fat man C" with a 4 lb Fluke.

Monday June 30
Offshore Report from Noreast.com 3 Day Charter
 Wow! What a trip!
Trips like this are made when a combination of things come together and we had them all, great food, great weather, and really good fishing.
Monday 1pm we left Montauk under partly cloudy skies and sailed southeast of the point to make a few drifts for fluke to be used as strip bait for the tiles. After a few drifts and putting enough keepers on board to have enough strips for everyone, it was time to get underway for our long steam out to the grounds. Joe Benzie nailed a 5 lb mini doormat to start his trip off with a bang and win the fluke pool.
At this time everyone started bringing out the unbelievable buffet for everyone to feast on. We started with cheeses, pepperoni, deviled eggs, striped bass ceviche, lbs and lbs of fresh shrimp, then started with the hot food of chicken, sausage and peppers, kielbasa and kraut, penne ala vodka, Maryland style crabcakes, etc. While this was going on, a table full of desserts was staring everyone in the eye, of which some were already tapped into. I can't describe how many desserts we had but it looked way better than any bakery you have ever seen! Needless to say, everyone packed on a few pounds this trip!
Now on to the fishing. We awoke Tuesday a.m. to gorgeous flat calm seas. Soon after hitting bottom about 575' down, bites started to come and fish started to come over the rails. At first there were lots of hake and cusks, as well as some cod, and soon some tiles started to appear. We repeatedly made the same drifts and there were fish to be had on every drift. A few pretty decent tiles came up hitting over 25 pounds. Later in the morning, with everyone putting a lot of meat in the coolers, a huge 38 pound Golden Tile came up. We even saw a tilefish on a jig, and it was a double header with the other fish a COD!!
As the day wore on, the winds gradually picked up and by 5pm it was virtually unfishable. the winds were kicking a good 20-25 knots and using 4 lbs was barely holding bottom. We tried, but enden up calling it a day as everyone was pretty tired already. We then all enjoyed a prime Rib dinner a la Kobe!
After day one, guys were practically giving away hake and cusks to the crew and whoever else would take them because they wanted to keep room in their coolers for tiles and wreck fish.
Day 2 we awoke to beautiful seas and cloudy skies. At times it was pretty foggy and other times it looked like the sun wanted out but never really came out.
Our day 2 game plan was to hit approximately 4 or 5 deep water wrecks to see what was home. After hitting the first three wrecks with minimal results (more hake, cusks, some pollock, a few cod, a barrel fish and tiles) we decided to bag the last two wrecks and head to more tile grounds, some of which we've never fished before. On the tile grounds, we ground away at putting a good catch together. Every drift produced the elusive hake but each drift usually had a real good tile mixed in.
Day 3, Thursday, we again awoke to calm seas and this time sunny skies. Our goal was to hit 4 wrecks, two really deep ones and two just regular deep.
We had sailed all night from Weds to Thurs morning and by 4 am were at the first wreck. A beauty in over a 1000' water. It looked like a Christmas tree on the scope. By 530am and with enough light, we couldn't wait to get down there so we gave it a shot. Rods started to bend, but not with the urgency we were looking for. About 10 minutes later, a few of the endangerd hake popped up, some with popped out eyeballs from the decompression. Some large hake came up here, along with a bunch of mystery bites that looked really good. Oh well, we will try it again!
The next wreck was a little shallower, between 800-850' This one had nice life on it. We made about 4 drifts with each drift producing tiles, hakes, pollock and a few barrels. We had 4 barrels total for the boat. Richard Kaminski on this trip nailed an offshore tri-fecta of barrel, tile and wreckfish.
Time was pressing so we headed for the much anticipated wreckfish wrecks. Everyone was jazzed due to the fabled stories from guys that were on last year's trip. The first one produced some tilefish, hake, and wreckfish on the first drift. The second... was SOLID wreckfish. They turned on pretty good and we landed around 40 on this wreck!
The next and last wreck produced even more action with wreckfish! We ended up with around 90 total wreckfish between the two!
In total, we had well over 100 tilefish, around 90 wreckfish, 4 barrelfish, tons of silver hake, a lot of cusk, a nice handful of codfish, and some large pollacks as well.
At the pool weigh-ins, the wreckfish pool was tied between George Soroka and Joe Benzie(who won the fluke pool!) with 20lbers. Way to go Joe and George! The cod pool was won by Joe Firman with a 10 lber. The edible pool was won by John Brisciana with a nice 30 pound hake. The tile pool was won by Ryan Hickey with a 38 pounder.
Congrats to all of the pool winners!!!
Thanks to everyone for coming, and Mark for putting  this trip together. We look forward to doing it again!
Half Day Fluke AM Trip
Fishing started off slowly but as the sun came out so did the fish. Bernise McCann was the pool winner with a 7.05lb Fluke.
Half Day Fluke PM Trip
On this afternoons trip fishing slowed down from this morning but continued to be okay. The pool winner was Aslan Kerisli with a jumbo 8.8lb Fluke.

Sunday June 29
Half Day Fluke AM Trip
The AM fluke trip started slow, however finished up nicely, especially for Tina Delaney of Long Wood Beach, NY who ended the trip with a nice 6.7 lb fluke. The fish was also a personal best for Tina, Congratulations! Also, Freddy "Motor" shay took three nice fish with one tipping the scale at just over seven pounds. Way to go Motor.

Saturday June 28
Half Day Fluke AM Trip
This mornings trip saw some nice action with the pool fish weighing in at 6.9lbs. Congrats to the lucky angler who caught it, "Battery" Joe from Selden NY. We saw more keeper size Fluke on thi strip then we have seen on any trip so far this year. All in all a great morning.
Half Day Fluke PM Trip
Action continued to be strong during the afternoon trip. The pool fish was again well over 6lbs.
Night Striped Bass
Captain Carl reports a marked improvement in Bass fishing on tonights trip. They ended the night with a total of 10 keeper Bass. Robert OReilly from Port Washington NY won the pool with a 25lb Bass. Andrew Chichom of Brooklyn NY had a 24.9lb Bass just missing the pool by .1oz. One young angler caught his limit with 2 keeper Bass and 1 nice Bluefish. There were some nice Bass coming over the rails. The fish caught were stuffed with bait spitting whole squid, Ling and whiting. There were also a few Gorilla Blues in the mix up to 14lbs. This was the best Bass fishing we have seen so far this year.

Friday June 27
Night Striped Bass
Captain Carl reports that the Viking Starship had a fair night's fishing up north at The Race. The boat was chartered by Wright and Co. Some nice bass and blues were landed. Phillip Cangelosi had the largest fish of the night, weighing in at 24lbs.
Half Day Fluke Trip AM
This morning's Fluke trip saw several nice fish to 4.8 lbs. The 18 anglers aboard saw a steady pick of shorts with keepers in between. Captain Joe left 'em biting, so we're looking forward to a solid PM trip.
Half Day Fluke PM (we had a charter and an open boat)
Action contniued to be good for the afternoon and the winner of the pool on our Charter Trip was Ralph Liberatoscioli  from Bohemia NY with a 6.45 Lbs Fluke, and Ed Erskine of Riverhead Ny had 5.10Lbs fluke. On the open boat the hightlight of the trip was Pamela Podell with a great sized 7.2lb fluke.
Porgy Fishing in New Bedford
New Bedford porgy fishing saw an improvement in the action today lots of bites! The pool winner was Mr John Gaillard New York  NY with a 3.7Lb porgy and the edible pool winner was Mr Keith Walsa of Freeport NY with a 4.5 pound fluke.

Thursday June 26
Porgy Fishing in New Bedford
Captain Dave called in and reported that fishing started off a little slower than yesterday but heated up as the morning went on.
Half Day Fluke Trip AM
The bite on the trip this morning was on the slower side most likely due to the low pressure system moving through the area. However Fluke were slowly being taken throughout the trip with one young angler landing a 23" Fluke. The weather looks very good for the weekend so come on out with us. Dont forget that if you fish both trips on the same day the afternoon trip is only $20.00.

Wednesday June 25
Porgy Fishing in New Bedford
Fishing was excellent today with many large porgies and Seabass coming over the rails. The pool was won by Chris Jones of Newark NJ with a 3.6lb porgy.

Tuesday June 24
Porgy Fishing in New Bedford
Captain Dave just called in from New Bedford with reports of Fantastic fishing. Porgy fishing was phenomenal this morning with plenty of big porgies and Seabass coming over the rails. Calvin Jamerson also known as" Fat Man C" from Wappinger Falls NY was todays pool winner with a 3.9lb Porgy.

Monday June 23
Today is a scheduled day of boat maintenence. All of our trips will run as scheduled from tomorrow.

Sunday June 22
Half Day Fluke Trip AM
Captain Joe is fishing this morning, report to follow.
Full Day Fluke
We did not sail today.
Porgy Fishing in New Bedford:
Captain Dave reports that the fishing today was much better. We had a chance to explore some new spots and, found the fish! Porgy fishing has improved 100%. The pool winner was John from New Jersey, who had a 3.0lb porgy. The edible pool was won by Mr. David Fuller, who caught a 6.0lb fluke.

Saturday June 21
Half Day Fluke Trip AM
The morning fluke trip was FANTASTIC! 28 anglers landed over 20 keeper fluke. Captain Joe reports that a new batch of fluke have moved into the area. The bite was on! there was a lot of short action keeping the crowd entertained. One young angler had three keepers up to 5 pounds. Kobi caught a nice monk fish and Freddy Shea caught 5 keeper sized fluke and kept his limit of four.
Half Day Fluke Trip PM
The afternoon trip continued to be good with Deborah Guerin of Sag Harbor catching the pool winning fluke with a nice 51/2 pounder.
Full Day Fluke
Full day fluke was productive! Captain Carl reports that Phil Scalia of Levittown NY caught 25-30 fluke with 5 keeper sized fluke weighing in at over 5 pounds. His largest fluke weighed 5.4 pounds for the pool. The morning bite was best with the flood tide. The action was steady with plenty of keeper sized fish. Over half the boat had their limit.
Night Striped Bass Fishing
Fishing was tough....only a few keeper stripers were landed weighing up to 20 pounds. There were a couple of shorts and a couple of blues in the mix. The fish were there, we could see them on the bottom machine. For some reason they just were not hungry. Better luck next weekend.
Porgy fishing in New Bedford:
Captain Dave reports that fishing today was slow on both the AM and PM trips. The pool was won by Mr. Sugui from Queens, NY with a 3.1lb porgy. Fransisco Zepeta from RI won the edible pool with a 12lb blue fish. Mr. Zepeta also had a 6.7lb seabass.

Friday June 20th
The Viking Starship returned very late last night from the Abyss offshore trip with a boat packed full of fish and very happy anglers. This was on of the best Offshore trips we have seen in a long time reports Captain Steven. A detailed report will be posted tomorrow when Captain Steven returns from running todays trip to Block Island. The Tile pool was shared by Martin Dowd and Diane Viol who each caught a 35lb Tile. Diane and  her husband John Viol had 24 Cod, 4 POllack, 12 Tile, 5 Hake and 1 Fluke all together. Martin had 8 Cod, 6 Tile, 3 Pollack and 10 Hake. John Viol was the winner of the edible pool with a 20lb Pollack. John and Nick Ljekocevic had a monster 35lb Cod for the pool as well as 18 Cod, 3 Pollack, 2 Tile and 10 Hake. So as you can see a great trip.
We saw some good fishing this afternoon on the half day fluke boat. Joe Fabris Jr won the Pool with a 6.5Lbs Fluke. The boat had two keeper Fluke today weighing in at  over 6lbs. When we hit the dock we had a total of 14 keepers. There were plenty of fish caught with plenty of shorts but other wise very good fishing reports Captain Joe.
Porgy fishing in New Bedford:
Captain Dave calls is that fishing was a bit on the slow side today....Lenny Adamowidecz of Jersy City caught the pool winning porgy and Winston Wen caught a 12.45 pound weak fish.

Thursday June 19th
Porgy fishing in New Bedford: fishing was steady all day with a lot of small fish. David Brown from NYC won the pool with a 3.5lb Porgy. MR. Brown also had a few Seabass up to 5.3lbs and a 4.8lb Fluke.

Wednesday June 18th
Porgy fishing slowed down today in new Bedford. The Seabass action has stayed strong with humpback Seabass over 5lb coming over the rails. Towards the end of the day due to staying out longer the bite got better. The pool went to James MCLaughlin from Virginia with a 3.8lb Porgy. The edible pool went to Jurrell Suttles from CT with a 5lb Seabass.

On this mornings Fluke trip out of Montauk plenty of action was had but unfortunatly a lot of the Fluke were a little too small and needed to be thrown back. The pool was won by Pedro Reyes of NY with a 4.2lb Fluke which was one of about half a dozen keepers on the boat.

The afternoon Fluke trip saw good action again and more keepers than this morning. The pool was won by Ken Adams with a nice 4.5lb Fluke.

Tuesday June 17
Porgy fishing in New Bedford: Captain Carl reports that fishing started off good this morning with some really nice fish coming over the rails. As the morning wore on fishing slowed down a little so Captain Carl is on the move now looking for a new spot. The pool was won today by Tommy Hubbard with a 3.6lb Porgy.

Monday June 16th
Porgy fishing in New Bedford: Captain Dave reports that the Seabass fishing has been great again this morning. The Porgy pool was won by John Mahon of Long Island City with a 3.6lb Porgy.

Sunday June 15
Porgy fishing in New Bedford:  fishing started slowly this morning in New Bedford but heated up as the morning went on. The pool winner on the morning trip was Steve Smith of Saville who caught a 3.8lb Porgy. Steve also had 4 Seabass up to 4lbs. In the afternoon Mr. Liu was the pool winner with a 3lb Seabass. The Seabass bite has been great this past week but really turned red hot this afternoon.

The Viking Fleet sailed on both the morning and afternoon trips for Fluke today. Some very decent Fluke action was had. Check back in the morning for a full report including the pool winners.

Saturday June 14th
This mornings Fluke trip on the Viking Starship saw some decent action. Howard Chesin of Amagansett NY had 2 keepers  and won the pool with a 4.5LB Fluke. David Reid Age 9 from  Hastings On The Hudson NY had 4 Fluke but only one keeper, a 4.5 Lb he had to split the pool. Chris Maniatis of Brooklyn NY had1 keeper at 4.5 Lbs and also had to split the pool.
Porgy fishing in New Bedford: Captain Dave reports that fishing was very strong this morning but slowed down as the day went on. The pool was won by Kenneth Hoyto from Brooklyn NY with a 3.2 lb Porgy. The edible pool was won with a 6.7 lb Fluke.

Friday June 13th
Today we sailed on just the morning half day Fluke fishing trip. Captain Joe reports a lot of action however a lot of the fish coming over the rails were shorts. There were a couple of nice keepers taken as well as some nice sized Seabass that are starting to show up around the lighthouse.

Porgy fishing in New Bedford: Porgy fishing saw a huge amount of action this morning with most anglers nearing their limit by 9am. There were also a lot of Bluefish coming over the rails this morning. The pool was won by John Felder of Meridan CT with a 3.9lb Porgy. John also had a dozen Seabass up to 4lbs and his limit of Porgies.

Thursday June 12th
Porgy fishing in New Bedford:  Pfishing continues to be strong today reports Captain Dave from New Bedford. Todays pool was taken by Carl McPherson of Queens Village NY with a 3.2lb Porgy. Carl also had a 4.5lb Seabass.

Wednesday June 11th
Porgy fishing in New Bedford:  Captain Dave reports that fishing has heated up again today. All anglers caught their limit of Porgies. There were also a lot of really nice sized Seabass landed today. The Porgy pool was won by Dave Jacobs of Queens with a 3.6 pounder. The edible pool was taken by John Smith of Long Island City with a 5.6lb Seabass.

Tuesday June 10th
Porgy fishing in New Bedford: Fishing is a little pickier then it has been. The experienced anglers on the trip caught their limit yesterday and it seems to be the pattern again today. Later on in the morning the bite turned on making it possible for pretty much everyone to go home with their limit. The pool was won by Eddie Watson of Norwalk CT with a 4.4lb Porgy. The edible pool winner was Eli Johnson of Yonkers with a 5.2lb Seabass.

 Monday June 9th
Porgy fishing in New Bedford: Fishing so far today shows a vast improvement from yesterday with a lot more Porgies coming over the rails .The pool was won by Tiffany Boan with a 3.8lb Porgy. Tiffany also caught a 6.9lb Seabass. Bruce Roberts of Rockaway had a 7.3lb Bluefish and Mr. Wallace had a 5.5 pounder.

Sunday June 8th
Porgy fishing in New Bedford: Captain Dave reports that todays trips saw tougher fishing then we have seen over this past few weeks. A lot of the Porgies coming over the rails were on thew smaller side and not keepers. Later in the day things improved enough to have most anglers catch their fill of Porgies. On the morning trip the Porgy pool was taken by Yarns Ghee of Orange NJ with a 3.7lb Porgy. The edible pool was won by Grant Conway of Newark NJ with a 4.1lb Sea Bass. In the afternoon Modrick Cunningham of PA won the pool with a 3.3lb Porgy.

Saturday June 7th
In Montauk Captain Carl sailed today on a full day Fluke trip to Block Island. With Steven Sr as his mate they went out to check the Fluke and Seabass action over by Block. The results were good, with the first 5 Fluke landed being keepers. Fluke and Seabass fishng were both strong and Captain Carl and Captain Steve Sr were both impredded with such early good results. The pool winning fish was a 5.8lb Fluke landed by Yin Lang of Dix Hills.

Half day fluke fishing was good today on both the morning and afternoon trip but the bite was on during the morning when we had over 15 keepers.

Porgy fishing in New Bedford: Fishing was very good this morning in New Bedford and continued that way on the afternoon trip. The Porgy pool winner was Freddie Torres catching himself a 3.2 pounder. Eddie also won the edible pool with a 4.1lb Seabass.

Friday June 6th
Porgy fishing in New Bedford: Captain Dave reports that fishing was geat today. The  pool was won by Eddie Highland of Queens with a 3.8lb Porgy.

 Thursday June 5th
Porgy fishing in New Bedford: Captain Dave called at 9.30am to let us know that the Porgies and Seabass are biting like crazy!!!! Many of the 60 anglers onboard have already caught their limit. The pool winner was Joshua Holker of Newark NJ with a 4.2lb Porgy. The edible pool winner was Ed Robbins with a 3.5lb Seabass.

Wednesday June 4th
Porgy fishing in New Bedford: Fishing was great today despite the rain and wind. The pool was won by Mike Stanje of Brooklyn NY with a 3.7lb Porgy. Mike also had a 5lb Seabass.

Tuesday June 3rd
Porgy fishing in New Bedford: Captain Dave reports that this mornings bite was a little slower then yesterdays fantastic day. However people are still catching away and the weather is fantastic. As the day wore on fishing heated up and there was a lot of action especially with the Seabass. A lot of the Porgies today were on the smaller side but most people still managed to catch and keep their limit of legal size Porgies. The pool was won by Kelvin Treemont of Jersey City with a nice 3.7lb pool. Th edible pool was won by Wilmont Evans of Bridgeport CT with a 6.1lb Seabass.

Monday June 2nd
Porgy fishing in New Bedford: Fishing up in New Bedford started off great this morning. By the end of the day Captain Dave reported a very very very good day of fishing. The pool winner today was Cindy Shim from NY with a 3.9lb Porgy. Cindy caught close to her Porgy Limit and had Seabass up to 5lbs. Most anglers on todays trip went home with their limit or close to of Porgies.

Sunday June 1st
Porgy fishing in New Bedford: The Viking Star had a 100 person charter on the boat this morning. Most of the guys on the charter did well catching plenty of Porgies. There was also a lot of action over on the Viking Starship. On the Viking Stars afternoon trip Victor Wright of Meridian CT was the pool winner with a 3.6lb Porgy. The biggest Porgy caught on the pool was over 4lbs. There were also a lot of Sea Bass coming over the rails today.There was also a lot of action over on the Viking Starship. Clinton Townsend of NJ was fishing with us along with his Dad Clinton Sr with the Purdy group.The father and son team had 65 Porgies all together and 2 Seabass over 4lbs. Basil Lewis of Whiteplains NY had 42 Porgies and 2 Seabass winning the edible pool with a 5lb Seabass.

Saturday May 31st
Porgy fishing in New Bedford: Fishing was fantastic today on both the Viking Starship and the Viking Star in New Bedford. Everyone caught their Porgy Limit with Porgies as big as 4lbs. We also saw a lot of Sea Bass action with keepers up to 6lbs.On the Viking Starship Bernard Niranjan from Richmond Hill Queens was the pool winner with a 4lb Porgy. Bernhard also caught his Scup Limit. The edible pool was won by Mike Coward of Brooklyn with a nice Bluefish. Mike also had 40 Porgies.  Both the Viking Star and the Viking Starship will be sailing tomorrow at 5am so come on up and catch some Porgies when the action is RED HOT.

Friday May 30th
Porgy fishing in New Bedford: Captain Dave called in from New Bedford and fishing has remained fantastic. By 8.30am almost everyone had caught their limit. Todays weather was gorgeous too making it a great day on the water all around. We saw a lot of Sea Bass coming over the rails today as well as some nice sized Striped Bass. The pool was tied for first place by Aubry Grant of Bayshore and Bruce Roberts of Rockaway. Both anglers landed a 3.8lb Porgy. Todays edible pool was taken by Chang Chein of East Meadow with a 12lb Striped Bass. Chang also caught his Porgy limit and a nice 5.9lb Sea Bass.

Thursday May 29th
Porgy fishing in New Bedford: Porgy fishing is red hot. All anglers on the boat caught their limit today. Bob Harrison of Hartford CT was todays pool winner with a 4.1lb Porgy. Danny Li of NY was the edible pool winner with a 7.5 Blackfish. As Danny got off the boat he told Captain Dave, "that was a great day of fishing".

Wednesday May 28th
Porgy fishing in New Bedford: Porgy fishing was excellent again today. Everyone on the boat caught their limit of Porgies.

Tuesday May 27th
Porgy fishing in New Bedford: Fishing was great up in New Bedford this morning but slowed down this afternoon. The pool was won by Takao Asahi of Bergen NJ with a 4.2lb Porgy.  

Monday May 26th
Porgy fishing in New Bedford: Todays early report from New Bedford indicates that fishing started off a little slower. However things livened up as the morning went on and Captain Dave found the Porgies once again.  Fishing was RED HOT!!!!There were also plenty of nice Seabass and some Blackfish coming over the rails too. Todays Porgy pool was won by Mike Sigemore of Hartford CT with a 3.7lb beauty. The edible pool was taken by Al Williams of Providence with a 7lb Bluefish. Dont forget we are sailing everyday at 5am until the end of June.

Fluke fishing on both the morning and afternoon trips was good today despite the wind. The weather was still nice and sunny like yesterday but the easterly wind that came in this morning made fishing condtitions tough. However Captain Joe did his best and managed to get some nice fish on the boat.

Sunday May 25th
Porgy fishing in New Bedford: Capt Dave called from New Bedford and reported that this morning Porgy started out slow but ended up great. We saw lots of Seabass action along with the Porgy action today. The Pool winner was Michael Tlyle Sr from Old Bridge NJ with a 4.7 Lb Porgy. The edible pool winner was Nicholas Jacobo with a 5.5 Lb Seabass . The afternoon trip continued to be RED HOT. It is Porgy and SeabassTime in New Bedford so come on up and fill your coolers.

Fluke fishing this morning was just okay with not too much action. However the afternoon was great .The Moccia family had a good time with  the 20 people in their group and had Fluke up to 5lb and about 6 keepers. There was a bit of a mix up about if it was granddad Moccia or another family member with the biggest Fluke but in the end it was decided that grandfather won the pool.  All in all a great afternoon was had by all on the Viking.

Saturday May 24th
Porgy fishing in New Bedford: Captain Dave reports that fishing was very good today .The pool winner was Antonie Thuston from Harlem NY with a 3.7 lb Porgy. Antoine and his crew caught their limit. The edible pool winner was Mr Simon Tam from Rosdale NY with a 9.1 Lb Blackfish.

 Captain Joe reports that fluke fishing was good on this mornings half day trip. Our good friend Steve Bento won the pool with a 4lb fluke. Freddy (Motor) Shay had a 9.5 lb fluke and Steve Galletta
 had a 6lb fluke. Neither of these anglers were in todays pool.

On the afternoon trip fishing continued to be good reports Captain Joe. The pool winner was Christine Dassler from Bohemia with a 4.9lb Fluke. Christine also  caught one other keeper and a Gorilla Blue Fish.

Captain Steven Jr reports that the action on last nights Striped Bass trip was very slow.

Friday May 23rd
Fishing was phenomenal today in New Bedford and by 8am everyone on the boat had caught their limit of Porgies. Fishing is red hot. The pool was won by Selma Gomez of Queens NY with a 3.75 lb Porgy. Selma caught her limit of Porgies as well as a 5.3lb Sea Bass.

Captain Steven Jr just returned last night from the 2 Day Offshore Trip with an excellent report. The trip started off with great action with lots of nice Cod coming over the rails. We also saw a couple of Pollack, some Hake and giant Begauls. By the end of the first drop we had over 100 Cod on the boat. The second drop was dead and only produced some Dogfish. On the 3rd Wreck we once again had a good load of Cod, a couple of fish in the teens and a couple just shy of 20lbs. They left that wreck with around 150 fish, mostly Cod and some Begauls. They then moved to the east to a new wreck found by Steven Jr. last year. This wreck produced some monsters up to 35 lbs and for 3hrs we ran up and down the deck gaffing Cod. By days end we had over 500 Cod on the boat and many Begauls and Pollack. Low hook had 18 Codfish and High Hook had well over 30 fish. We left the fish biting and jogged north in the evening to the next days zone. Exhausted from an 8 hr cutting session we reluctantly hauled the anchor to begin a second day of fishing. Our first spot produced very little. The second spot only a short ride away produced some small Cod and many monster Cunner, including a potential world record caught by Shawn Dornblaster. With no good Cod we had to choose whether to move on or return to the previous days crime scene!!!!. We choose to head back to where we left them biting. We managed a few moree Cod but fishing was nothing like the day before. We had a tough drift in a screaming tide which made fishing difficult. Running out of time we decided to hit one more wreck on the way home and picked a few more Cod as well as Pollack. Some of the wrecks produced, some had potential and some we knew to leave alone. Captain Steven jrs hard work helped us understand what is out there and we look forward to the next time we return out there on June 2 and June 9th for the combo Fluke and Cod trips. The cod pool was won by Marty Derrig from Stewartsville NY with a 35lb Cod. Marty had 25 total Cod, a 15lb Pollack, some Hake, cusk and Cunner. The edible pool was won by Steve Morenski of Shamong, NJ with a 21lb Pollack. Steve also had 25 keeper Cod and 2 Pollack. Shawn Dornblaster of Easton, PA had a 2.75lb Cunner for the pool and also 20 Cod.

Thursday May 22nd
Porgy fishing in New Bedford: This morning fishing started off really good and then slowed down. When I spoke to Captain Dave early today he was planning on moving to a new spot to search for the Porgies. Captain Dave found the Porgies and today turned into the best day of fishing we have seen so far this year. Everyone caught their LIMIT of Porgies as well as plenty of Sea Bass, Blackfish and Striped Bass. The pool winner was George MCLeand from Jersey City with a 3.4lb Porgy.

Wednesday May 21st
Porgy fishing in New Bedford: Once again fishing was very good today with everyone catching their limit on Porgies. We are still seeing some really nice size Porgies as well as Sea Bass and Blackfish. Theis was no pool on todays trip

Tuesday May 20th
Porgy fishing in New Bedford: Fishing started off on the slow side and really improved by the end of the day. A huge porgy weighing in at over 4 pounds took the pool. This beauty was caught by Huang Yun Kang from College Point NY.  Huang is a representative from the Fisherman's Depot. The largest edible pool was taken by Ron Harris of the Bronx NY with a 9 1/2 pound black fish. Also worth a mention is Mark Myricks and friends who all had their limit of jumbo porgies.

Porgy fishing in New Bedford: Captain Daves early report from New Bedford indicated that fishing started off a little slower than yesterday. However a  little later in the morning fishing broke wide open and was FANTASTIC!!!. Everyone caught their limit of jumbo Porgies.  The pool fish was a nice 4.3 pounder.

Sunday May 18th
Porgy fishing in New Bedford: Captain Dave called from New Bedford and fishing really picked up today. The pool was won by Carlos Imvaj of Astoria with a 2.5lb Porgy. They also had a couple of big Blackfish, 2 keeper Striped Bass and plenty of Sea Bass.  

On todays Full Day Fluke Trip there was plenty of good fishing! W had keepers on just about every drift and plenty of shorts to keep busy with. During the middle of the day we lost our drift and things slowed down but then got good again in the afternoon with beter conditions. Fred shay of Montauk  managed to catch 34 fluke 6 of which were keepers (retaining his limit). Charles Lewis of Shelter Island had a  6lb fluke for the pool.  He also had one Sea Bass and 3 keepers. His Son Johnathan Lewis had 2 Keeper fluke. All in all a very good day.

Saturday May 17th
Porgy fishing in New Bedford: Captain Daves report from New Bedford shows a big improvement in fishing from yesterday. There were three first place pool winners today each with a 3lb Porgy. Mr Ronald Thomas from the Bronx, Mr Darren Slone from Mt Vernon and Mr Donald Johnson also from the Bronx. The winner of the edible pool was Mr John Ridley from the Bronx with an 8lb Black Fish. John also he  his limit of Porgies today. Capt Dave said  they did not get as many  Sea Bass as yesterday but he also had a  few Stripers and  everyone had fish to take home.

Due to the weather on Saturday the Full Day Trip sailed on the Starship. Today we had a chance  to hit a bunch of spots we haven't been able to hit this year, and we found fish just about everywhere. Some drifts produced more when the wind and tied allowed for a better drift. The pool fish were both around the 6lb pound mark, and a couple of guys did manage their limit.There were also a lot of big bluefish in the mix.

Friday May 16th
Porgy fishing in New Bedford: Captain Dave just called in from the Viking Star which is now fishing every day out of New Bedford with some FANTASTIC NEWS. By 8am this morning the anglers on the boat had filled their first pails with Porgies and are also catching plenty of Seabass and Porgies. As the day went on fishing remained pretty good. Todays pool winner was Randolph MacAlister from the Bronx with a 3lb Porgy. Honorable mention goes to the Desena family from Brooklyn NY who filled their coolers with Porgies and Sea Bass, one Sea Bass weighing 6 lbs. The largest Sea Bass caught today was by Nigel Williams from Port Charlotte Fl with a 6.5lb Sea Bass. Dont forget we are sailing everyday at 5am so come on down and catch yourself some Porgies and Sea Bass.

Thursday May 15th
On todays opening day Full Day Fluke Trip we saw quality over quantity which can be expected with the new regulations.We had action through most of day some drifts better then others when conditions would allow. The pool fish was caught by Stephen Melish from Hickville NY who had a nice 8.15 lb Fluke. High hook was our old time friend Allen who is normally high hook and was again today with a total of 21 fluke, of which 5 were keepers up to 5.5 lbs. We are not sailing Friday but we will be sailing Saturday and Sunday on both full day and half day trips. Book now for full day since they are limited to 20 people and they are booking up fast.

Wednesday May 8th
The Sea Bass Trip this week trip did not work out the way we had hoped for. The Seabass seemed to have one thing on their minds and it was not eating. They wanted to get to shallower water to spawn and the Seabass we did catch were full of eggs and milk. They should be spawning on the full moon this month as will the Porgies. On this trip we saw a couple Cod and some big Black fish.  With the new 2008 restrictive regulations on black fish, the season was closed as of May 1st. In previous years the season had remained open til May 31st. Due to this unfortunate early closure, all the big togs had to be released. All in all this 24 hour trip saw great weather, a good group of guys and we all gave it a fair shot.  Next on the calender is the New Bedford Seabass and Porgy run starting May 16 around the new moon. Captain Dave hopes to see you there.

Friday May 2nd
The "Hungry man Trip" began with empty coolers and big appetites. It did not take but one drift to realize that the coolers were going to be stuffed by the end of the trip. By the second drift we had 14 different species of fish come over the rails, ranging from a 10lb Fluke to an 88lb Tuna. There were numerous double headers of all shapes and sizes landed throughout the day. Conditions were good and fishing was steady throughout the entire day. The second day saw tougher conditions which forced us to anchor up but fishing was still steady. By the second afternoon the conditions got the better of us and we moved up to a wreck south of Nantucket. The wreck was alive with Cod and throughout the evening anglers continued to catch fish for as long as they could stay awake. By day 3 we fished for a couple more hours and saw plenty of Cod from several different wrecks. By mid morning the coolers were overflowing and we called it a trip. We would have liked to have stayed on the tiles but unfortunately conditions did not allow this to happen. Fortunately conditions allowed us to sample the Nantucket region which proved to be loaded with Cod. We are really looking forward to next weekends trip back to that zone. Everybody on this trip deserves an honorable mention for a job well done but here are a few of the standouts. Washington Robertson of Burlington, NJ caught the largest Tile Fish coming over the rails at 28lbs. He also caught 8 other Tile Fish, 21 Cod and some Cusk and Hake. Brendan Reddan from Staten Island, NY  caught a 20lb Pollack to share first place in  the edible pool. He also caught 14 Tile fish up to 18lbs. Brendan was the high hook for this trip with 14 Tile, 30 Cod as well as some Pollack, Hake and Cusk. David Mercado of Kew Gardens, NY had 25 Cod, 8 Tile up to 25lbs, 4 Pollack, 6 Hake and some Cusk. Dave also won second place in the Tile pool and  tied the largest edible pool with another 20lb Pollack.with even managed to catch some Whiting. A big congratultions to our very own Steve Martinez who caught the 80lb Bluefin Tuna. Check out oour Offshore Schedule as we have some very exciting trips coming up.

Saturday April 26th
The winds picked up yet again so Squid fishing slowed down. By the end of the night we had managed to catch about 40 Squid. All signs seem to indicate that the Squid are still here, now we just need the weather to cooperate so we can catch them.

Friday April 25th
Strong winds made it difficult to get on the Squid on last nights trip. However despite this everyone on the boat did manage to catch some Squid.

Thursday April 24th
Squid Fishing was very good last night and all signs point to a continued improvement. For the second night in a row fishing improved as the night went on. The addition of a Swordfish Light which we hung from the side of the boat helped draw the Squid off the bottom. Around 9.30pm the bite really turned on with one angler catching  around 40 Squid. Night Squiding is expected to break wide open in the next few days so bring your buckets!!!. We are sailing tonight at 8pm on the Viking Star and there are plenty of spots available so come on down.

Wednesday April 23rd
Captain Dave reports a good night of Squid Fishing last night on the Viking Star. The squid are here. High hook on the boat left with about 20 Squid and the average catch was between 10 and 15 Squid per man. We are sailing again tonight at 8pm and there are plenty of spots available on the rail so come on down.

Monday April 21st
The Stellewagon trip saw great weather, and good action this weekend.
 The first day stared off with good action on the jigs, with most cod
falling just shy of the 24'' size limit but we still managed a decent
number of keepers for the morning. By noon the morning bite had slowed to
a slow grind, we then went looking around for something else to work on
but didnt find too much. By the end of the day everyone had a few
keepers in the box. As night came we anchored up on a couple piles of fish that
we  had seen earlier in the day. Through out the night guys caught cod on jigs,
and bait for as long as they wanted to stay at the rail, but very few
were keepers. some guys had as many as 30 cod for the night, only
keeping about 3 or 4. The next morning we went back to where we had the
morning bite the day before and had a good pick of fish with a few nicer
fish in the mix. From there we went back to where we we had seen the most
bait that morning, and had a phenomenal bite. Each drift seemed to get
better and better until the last one before we had to call it a trip. With
a much better keepers to short ratio and some flurries of 10-12 pound
fish we were averaging 40-50 keepers per drift for the boat, and guys
were able to fill their coolers up quickly before the end of the trip. An
honorable mention goes to ron Armett from lindenhurst, who only had 5 fish
after the first day but came back strong the second day catching
his trip limit.

Saturday April 19th
Todays Cod Trip saw beautiful weather and some decent fishing results. Jimmy Gray of Centereach was the  pool winner with an 8lb Cod .Tom Krayeski of Greenwich took second place with a 7lb Cod. They ended the day with  about 20 Cod Keepers some Pollock, some Flounder and a  load of  Ling.

Wednesday April 16th

THERE ARE STILL SOME COD TO BE CAUGHT!!!

Friday April 4th
Captain Steven Sr. just returned from the first trip to Stellwagen for 2008. Unfortunatly conditions were against everyone due to the water temp,water clarity and a big ground swell out of the northeast. The bite seemed to be at the end of the tides and fortunatly we were there for 2 tide changes on the first day and one the following day. During the first tide change we were lucky enough to catch Cod and a few Haddock. On the 2nd we had a lot of Haddock and a few Cod. During the night a few guys who stayed up ended up catching a mix of Haddock and Cod. On the second day it started off slowly but as the tide was favorable we had a steady pick of Haddock and a few Cod. All in all not a great trip but everyone went home with some fish in their coolers. An honourable mention goes to Mavros Bennis of Montauk who fished the entire trip without sleeping and ended up with 21 Haddock and 6 Cod. Umar Butt of Stonybrook left with 17 Haddock and 5 Cod. Umar caught about 8 of his fish during the night when most guys were sleeping and was actually the pool winner with an 11lb Haddock. Captain Steven Sr. thinks that the signs are very promising and that it is only a matter of time before Stellwagen breaks open. We are sold out for next weekends Stellwagen Trip but there are still some openings on April 18ths Trip.

Squid season is upon us and we will be starting our 2008 Squid Trips as soon as they show up. Keep an eye on the website for details.

Saturday March 29
Cod Fishing continued to be slow today but we did see a nice mix of  Ling and Sea Bass coming over the rails today. The pool winner on the Viking Star was Eddie Harcarlk of  Rarltan NJ with a 35 lb Cod.  Nice Cod !!! Eddie had a total of 3 Cod and and 6 Ling. Second place was won by Michael Preston  of Northport NY with a 10 pound Cod .

Thursday  March 27
Captain Dave reports that fishing was VERY slow with only a couple of keeper Cod coming overe the rails. We did manage to land some big Ling and some Begauls. Most likely slow fishing was due to a very large ground swell. We are hopeing that fishing improves this weekend.

Tuesday March 25
Captain Dave reports a tough day on the Cod bite. We had northeast winds in the morning which dropped out late in the afternoon. By days end we had 10 keeper Cod and at least 150 Ling. The pool winner on todays trip was Frank Guerra of Union Beach NY with an 8lb Cod. Second place  was won by Mark Myricks of Jersey City with a 6 pounder.  

Sunday March 23
Fishing was extremely slow on todays Cod Trip.The Fishing seems to be back to where it was 20 days ago before they started chewing. Over the last week we have seen a lot of bad weather and horribly strong full moon tides which has turned the fishing off. However we are seeing a lot more fish and bait than ever on the bottom machine. The fish just seem to have lock jaw, a lot like the weekend before we did our crew trip. So now it seems like it will be only a matter of time before they start up again and hopefully with this little break in the weather they will be ready to eat again. Check out these pictures taken of the bottom machine showing piles and piles of Cod.CLICK HERE FOR PHOTOS

Saturday March 22
Today saw tough condtitions with strong winds and tides. Captain Steven on the Viking Starship went looking on some wrecks and caught around 20 keeper Cod and around 150 Ling as well as lots of ocean Pout. The pool was won by Tonia Thompson of Bridgeton, NY with an 11lb Cod. Second place went to Stephen Barongi of Whitestone NY with his 8.5 pounder. Over on the Viking Star, Captain Dave stayed in the area and fished more Local grounds. Their first drop of the day yielded some good results but then things slowed down. By days end they had landed between 45 and 50 keeper Cod for the 38 anglers on the boat. Lets hope that things will heat up again after the weather improves and the water cleans up.

Tuesday March 18
I just heard from the boats and the bite was VERY slow today. We still have easterly winds left over from the weekends storm. The fish are still around because the commercial boats are still catching their limit. Lets hope that the wind switches to the south tonight and tomorrow and we will bunch the fish back up again tomorrow. 

Saturday March 15
There was not a lot of action on todays trip. The Captain could see the fish on the fish finder but they did not seem to want to bite, probably due to the bad weather. Capt Dave from the Viking Star reports that fishing today was much slower than on recent trips, due to the hard North East winds and rough seas. Despite the bad conditions the guys who did get to the rail  managed to get about 40 keeper Cod .Captain Dave hopes to see the return of excellent fishing after the weather improves early next week.

Friday March 14
Once again we sailed at 3am with 2 boats  full of eager Cod fishermen. Nobody came home disappointed as a great day of fishing was had by all. On the Viking Star the average catch per angler was 10 to 11 fish. Todays trip saw quite a few medium to large size Cod up to 32lbs. The pool was won by John Bleakney of Morganville, NJ with a 32 pounder and one of Johns 8 fish for the day. Second place went to Eddie Colleran of Roxbury NY with a 28 lb Cod. Eddie went home with 19 keepers today. Over on the Viking Starship fishing was also very good. Captain Steve of the Skylark 2 fishing boat came fishing with a bunch of friends who between them landed plenty of Cod with Captain Steve receiving high hook in their group landing 25 Cod. The Viking Starship pool was won today by Bill O' Neill of Dix Hills NY with a 30lb Cod. Second place went to Dave Thomas of PA with a 25 pounder . Dave caught between 20 and 25 keepers today. CLICK HERE FOR PHOTOS

Thursday March 13th
Captain Steven Sr reports that his charter on the Viking Star was awesome with people catching as many Cod as they wanted. There was a great bunch of guys on the boat and combined with the fantastic weather and incredible fishing it was an incredible day. Over on the Viking Starship fishing continued to be as awesome as we have seen over the past few days with non stop action.Greg Ferdinand  of West Babylon was high hook on the boat with 16 Cod. The Dudek family from Belmore had a total of 30 Cod up to 22lbs by the end of the day. Mike Ajello and 2 other guys had 32 Cod and Kwang Oh of Mattituck had 29 Cod.

Early Report.Viking Starship and Viking Star are headed home early loaded with Cod!!!!Captain Steven called in from the boat just before 1pm and fishing is phenomenal once again. Check back  this afternoon for a full report.

Wednesday March 12th
Fishing was phenomenal.

Captain Steven Jr reports that once again we had an awesome day of fishing on both the Viking Starship and the Viking Star. We apologise for the late report but we sail on an extended trip on Wednesdays and lost track of time. On a very positive note the Cod are still here and they are biting!!!!.  The day started off with great fishing until about 11am and then slowed down some what. Captain Steven Jr reports that they drifted for most of the day with good results. The average catch per angler on todays trip was between 8 and 10 Cod, with  High hook landing over 20 fish. We ended the day with about 400 keepers on the Starship with some of them weighing in from around 18 to 22lbs. The pool fish was a 30 pounder caught by Jeff Spath. Jeff went home with a cooler filled with 14 Cod up to 30lbs. Second place in todays pool was taken by Bob Collins of West Islip with a 26lb Cod fish, 1 of the nine fish he landed.  Over on the Viking Star Captain Dave and his crew report landing 300 plus Cod for 41 anglers including a lot of nice Cod in the 20lb class. Just like over on the Viking Starship they saw a great morning bite which slowed down in the afternoon.  The winner of the pool aboard the Viking Star caught a Cod fish weighing in at 31lbs. Captain Dave reports that they also landed some Pollack today as well as about 100 plus Ling. High hook on the Star today was shared by Fred Shay of Montauk and Captain Rich of Captree who each had 17 keepers. A very tired Captain Steven Sr. told me tonight that it's mind bogelling how awesome fishing is. One thing is clear is that there is no point thinking about it, just come on out and join us and have the trip of a lifetime. The Viking Fleet will be sailing both the Viking Starship and the Viking Star all weekend. Both boats are sold out on Thursday but there are spots available on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Also as fishing is this good we have added Monday and Tuesday to next weeks schedule. Yes  folks we will be sailing 7 days as long as fishing stays this good and the weather cooperates. Call the office or log on to the website at vikingfleet.com and reserve yourself a spot.

 

Friday's Local Trip was a bail job!!!! said about the Local Cod trip today, his son Captain Steven Jr. was the Captain and he made his Dad VERY proud. Captain Steven Sr. has not seen local fishing like this since before he got his Captains license in 1984. The day started out as a lock and load bail job  and continued until  10am with double headers all around the boat. There was non stop gaffs going and fish flying over the rails. The 4 guys on the deck of the Starship couldn't keep up with the gaffs for most of the morning. the average catch per angler was 15 Cod. In total we pulled back into the dock with definitely over 800 keeper Cod.  Low hook on the boat was Steve Carmen of Montauk with 9 Cod up to 25lbs. All in all an unbelievable day. The boat was full of great guys and the crew would like to thank everyone for their enthusiasm  and cooperation and a busy but enjoyable day. The pool winner was Wes Pruitt of the fishing vessel The James Joseph from Huntington NY with a 32 lb Cod. Wes , Capt. Jim, Big Joe and Tommy Cod had a total of 85 Cod and they threw back about 20 fish between 22 and 25 inches. Steven Delara of the Bronx was second place with a 31 pound Cod. Steve and his buddy had over 40 Cod and then stopped counting. The crew from the Captain Al had about 70 Cod between them. Eddie Eurell and John Manyaldi of Montauk had close to 40 fish with a buch in the high teens and a couple in the 20's. What an awesome maybe once in a lifetime day of Local Codfishing!!!! CLICK HERE FOR PHOTOS

Captain Dave reports phenomenal fishing on todays Local Cod Trip on the Viking Star. By days end we had about 350 keeper Cod for the 30 anglers onboard. High hook on todys trip was Freddie Shay of Montauk with 18 Cod up to 18lbs. Mark Rafferty had 16 Cod, Steve Schatzberg had 12 Cod. The pool was won by Joe"Little Bear" Mazza for WAntagh with a 27 pounder and one of his 12 keepers. Second place went to Chris Strain from West Hampton Beach with a 25 pounder. Between Chris and his friend they went home with 22 Cod.

Captain Steven Jr. just called in from the Viking Starship with terrific news. They are BAILING THE COD FISH!!!! The boat is heading home now with about 800 keeper Cod  a lot of which are weighing in around the high teens. Captain Steven Sr. who worked on deck today commented that he has not seen Local Spring Cod fishing like this since he started running the boat in 1984. As I spoke to the Captain Steven Jr. at 3.15pm he told me his mates had been cutting fish for over 6 hours. Captain Dave over on the Viking Star which was our second boat today also had a fantastic day. A full report will be posted after the boats hit the dock around 5pm. Make sure and check back for a complete Captains report as well as exciting photos from todays trips. Due to phenomenal fishing on the Local grounds the Viking will now be sailing on our Local Cod Trip on Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday every week. Also on Wednesdays we have a Special Cod Trip strictly limited to 40 passengers that also depaarts at 3am.

 

Monday March 3rd. Same pile different day!!!

After an extremely frustrating weekend that involved terrible fishing and the loss of our port anchor and several hundred feet of anchor line low and behold we were able to redeem ourselves on Monday afternoon. After 2 short passes we retrieved our anchor line with a large grapple we borrowed from one of our commercial friends. As we had already burned the fuel and were back on the fishing grounds we decided to give it another try. We were in the exact same spot as Sunday and the machine showed the same amount of substantial life that it was showing on Sunday. There was just one big change, they were hungry!!!! After 1 quick drift we managed 4 cod for 3 guys and decided to anchor up. As soon as we could get the bait to the bottom it was lock and load, an all out bail job. Captain Steven Sr, Captain Steven Jr and Mate Eric Bonzani, the only 3 guys onboard, put  Cod on the boat up to 21lbs in just 3 hours. You know the Codfish are biting when you are catching double headers on a deadstick jig and teaser, dragging bottom. However the bite did not end with sundown, we continued to catch fish until a little after 7 and had to leave them biting. The grand total for the afternoon was 30 keeper Cod up to 21lbs, 8-10 shorts, 2 larger Begauls, 1 Ling and 2 Congers. We also managed to break 2 rods swinging fish and lost 10- 12 Cod on the surface because of having too many fish on at once and no free hands to gaff fish. All in all it was a very successful mission for the boys and the best showing of fish so far this year. Unfortunately the weather for Wednesday will be keeping the boats at the dock, but we will be sailing again Friday at 3 a.m. CLICK HERE FOR PHOTOS

 

SATURDAY March 1st and Sunday March 2nd

The truth hurts but fishing was VERY SLOW. The Cod and the Ling were biting really well before Friday nights storm. On Saturday with south winds from 30 to 35 miles an hour, a big ground swell and very dirty water fishing was very slow. We had 30 Cod fish and 40 Ling in the first couple of hours of fishing but then conditions worsened and the bite stopped. We only caught a couple more Cod and Ling for the next 4 hours so we decided to head for home. On Sunday Captain Steven decided to try Block Island. The weather forecast was calling for diminishing winds but this never happened !!!. We worked all our most productive spots were there were piles of fish on the bottom machine but we just could not get them to bite.

 

Friday Feb 29th
Captain Dave reports EXCELLENT Fishing and gorgeous weather on today's Local Cod Trip. We saw steady fishing all day with very little down time. In total we ended the day with about 150 Cod for about 25 guys and probably about 300 big Ling, one weighing in at almost 8lbs. All the guys on the boat left with an average of 5 Cod and a dozen Ling. Rich Stavdal of Yaphank NY was high hook with 11 Cod up to 15lbs. Mavros Benis of Montauk caught 10 keepers and Kobi had 8. The pool was won by Capt Ron Lajola from charter boat, Coyote from Cutchoque with a 20lb Cod. Second place was caught by James Peterson of the Osprey Iv from Port Jefferson with an 18 lb Cod. Check out some shots from yesterday trip in the photo gallery.

 

Sunday Feb 24 Reports from the Viking Starship and the Viking Star.
Captain Steven Sr reports that on Sunday both the Viking Starship and the Viking Star sailed. The Viking Starship with the larger crowd headed back to the East where they had good fishing on Wednesday and Saturday and the Viking Star with the smaller crowd headed to the Southwest to check out areas that we had not yet fished this year. Low and behold Captain Dave on the Viking Star found a hungry pile around lunchtime and had a very good bite for an hour and 15 minutes. Unfortunately the Viking Starship too far out of range to get back to where the Viking Star was. The Viking Starship Southeast of Block Island did not have cooperative fish. Trying many different spots all the way to the west end Coxes Ledge only produced large Begauls and a handful of mixed size Cod fish. The last hour showed the best results of the day with a good amount of Ling and some Cod being caught on the drifts. First place in the pool was won by Scott Wymbs with a 12lb Cod. Scott had a total of 5 Cod, 3 LING AND SEVERAL Begauls. Second Place went to Ron Huffer with an 8lb Cod and a total of 3 Cod and 5 Ling. An honorable mention goes to Dick Kissel who had a good day with 7 Cod, 3 Ling and several big Beaguls. It was a tough day on the Viking Starship. Over on the Viking Star like I said earlier fishing was better. In about 140ft of water Captain Dave enjoyed a wide open bite for about an hour and 15 minutes and then a steady pick of fish for the rest of the day. Everyone on the boat went home with between 3 and 15 Cod Fish and a nice mess of Ling fillets. Fred Shay of Montauk was high hook with 17 Codfish up to 12lbs. Then Chris Rutherford Group of 3 Combined Caught 27 keeper Cod up to 14lbs. Mavros from the galley landed 12 Cod up to 9 lbs. Brian Finnegan took first prize in the pool with an 18 lb Codfish to go along with the 5 others he landed. Robert Scott was second place winner with a 16 pounder. By days end we had about 140 Cod and 300 plus Ling. Things should only continue to improve as the fish should bunch up more for the Spring run so instead of sitting on the coach come on out for some fresh Codfish and a great day on the water.

Wednesday Feb 20th
The Special Trip proved to be a winner. The day started out on the slow side with 30 mile an hour westerly winds and very strong tides. After consistently trying different areas there were only a couple of handfuls of fish caught by noon. Captain Steven Jr was persistent and it paid off when he found the MOTHER LOAD. From 1pm till 3.30pm we put over 90 Beautiful Cod on the boat. The average fish weighed in between 6 and 10 lbs and the largest we saw was 25lbs. Having the extra time in the afternoon really made the day. By the end of the day we had over 100 keeper Cod, 75 big beautiful Ling averaging about 3-4 lbs and a nice 22 inch Haddock. There was also a nice mess of Begauls. Mavros Bennis was high hook with 10 Cod and 3 Ling. While the bite was on there were good amount of double headers coming over the rails. The action was so good that even Kobi from the galley took off his apron, put on his skins and started fishing. Kobi caught 3 Cod including a 25lb Cod which was the biggest fish of the day. Capy. Carl Forsberg even came up from Florida to brave the cold and try to catch a few Cod, which he did, landing 3 nice and a couple big Ling. The pool was won by George Guytish of Manorville with 17lb Cod. Second place went to Victor Hagan with 15 pounder. The Captain Stevens are excited about Saturdays Marathon trip.They are really looking forward to getting the late afternoon bit which nobody else offers. Our sailing times are prompt but due to the determination of the Captains of the Viking Fleet our return times may fluctuate depending on fishing. We do everything in our power to get the job done! We have plenty of fresh clams and the weather looks good all weekend so come on down. Check out some shots From yesterdays trip in the photo gallery.

The Captain Steven's are fed up sitting at the dock and ready to go fishing. They have scheduled a new trip. A Cod Marathon Sun up to Sun Down Trip to depart on the last Saturday in February and the first Saturday In March. The Viking Starship will depart the dock at 2am and return home at 8pm. The Fare is $130.00 which includes bait. Call or log on to our website at Vikingfleet .com to make reservation. Also as the kids are off school for Winter break why not take them out Cod fishing on the viking. As a special any child under 16 who comes fishing with their Mom or Dad over the next 2 weeks can sail with us for half of our regular fare. The weather looks good this weekend so come on out and catch yourself some Cod.

 

Feb 16

PRESIDENTS DAY SPECIAL

Dear Anglers, Happy Presidents Day from the Captains and crew here at the Viking Fleet. As many people have a day off from work on Monday we will be running a Local Cod Trip. The Viking Starship Will depart the dock at 3am and return at 4pm. The fare is $90.00. Call to make your Reservation. As A Presidents Day Special Any angler who can name the President who commissioned the Montau Lighthouse will receive $10.00 off regular fare for this trip only. Hope to see you onboard

Captain Steven Sr Captain Steven Jr

 

WEEKEND REPORT

Saturday Feb 9
Local Cod Trip Report from Captain Steven Jr. The Day started off slowly with bad conditions. It was impossible to anchor up so we spent the day drifting around checking out a couple of different spots only catching a few fish on each spot. Around noon we found s good pile of fish to work on and spent the afternoon catching a steady pick of Cod. We fished for about an extra 2 hours with very good results. In total we had between 100 and 120 keeper Cod and a handful of shorts. Freddie Shay was high hook with 9 Cod up to 20lbs. Fred was not in the pool so the pool was won by Alex Potz of Huntington NY with a 14lb Cod. Second place was won by Alex Chor with a 10 pounder. See pictures in the photo gallery. Over on the Viking Starship Captain Steven Sr. was very discouraged by what we found on the Wrecks To the East. We fished 5 different wrecks in depths from 130 to 200 feet and had absolutely NO BITES. Captain Steven began working his way back West and stopped on the East End Coxes Ledge where we bagan to see the first signs of life. Working late afternoon on the grounds of Coxes Ledge we hand good results for the last 2 hours of daylight. We then tried one more drop in total darkness and realized the fish had shut down for the night. With the wind and the rain we headed home. First place in the pool went to John Sullivan of Bohemia, NY with an 18lb Cod. John and his friends had 10 othe rrkeepers. Second place went to Dennis Chico of Sheepshead Bay with 10lb Cod. Dennis also 3 other keeper Cod and 1 Pollack. First place in the Edible Pool went to Joe Scaduto of Ronkonkoma, NY with a 12lb Pollack. Joe also had 1 keeper Cod. There was a very encouraging sign of life at Coxes Ledge with about 40 Cod up to 18lbs, some Ling and some big Begauls caught in just 2 hours. On Next weekends 60-80 Mile Wreck Trips both Captain Stevens will be changing directions and going south, looking for Cod and Pollack on Saturdays trip and Sea Bass on Sundays.. There are still some available spots so call today and reserve

Saturdays Trips

AS OF 10.30 AM FRIDAY MORNING THERE ARE 6 SPOTS LEFT ON THE 60-80 MILE WRECK TRIP WITH CAPTAIN STEVEN SR DEPARTING AT 1AM SATURDAY ON THE VIKING STARSHIP. THE WEATHER LOOKS GOOD SO CALL TODAY AND JUMP ON THIS TRIP. OVER ON THE VIKING STAR CAPTAIN STEVEN JR ONLY HAS 1 SPOT LEFT ON THE LOCAL COD TRIP DEPARTING AT 3 AM

30-50 MILE COXES LEDGE WRECK SPECIAL!!!!! The AMOUNT OF COD FISH WE HAVE SEEN ON THE LOCAL COD GROUNDS CAPTAIN STEVEN JR, HAS JUST ADDED A SPECIAL 30-50 MILE COXES LEDGE AND WRECK TRIP TO SAIL ON THE VIKING STARSHIP WEDNESDAYS FEB. 13TH THE TRIP WILL DEPART THE DOCK AT 3AM AND RETURN AT 6PM. THE FARE IS $120.00 AND THE TRIPS IS STRICTLY LIMITED TO 40 ANGLERS. (same as our rusty belly blackfish trips) RESERVATIONS A MUST!

THIS WEEKEND THE VIKING 60-80 MILE WRECK TRIPS This Weekend the VikingStarShip will be sailing on two 60-80 mile Wreck Trips. Both on Saturday and Sunday trips depart at 1 am and returning at 9pm, the trip is limited to 40 pass, max, there are still a few spots open for Saturdays trip and there is plenty of room for Sunday. In addition the Viking Star will be sailing both days at 3 a.m. for local Cod. These trips are also limited, to 45 pass, local cod has been producing a good amount of fish the past trips and we are hoping to get back out and do it again. You can make your reservations by calling the office bet 8 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. or anytime at Viking Feet.com

Friday, July 04, 2008

 

Last weekend Capt Rich arrived home with nothing but good reports. It started off with a nice Mangro Snapper bite early Saturday morning. The first stop after sun-up produced a 29.5 lb grouper caught by Jimmy Gallagher and a good mess of large American Red Snapper. The rest of the day we caught a mixture of large red snapper and big Red and Gag Grouper. The Saturday evening sundown bite was lock and load with red snapper, Mangro snapper, amberjack, and grouper. After sundown we topped off our Mango snapper limit by midnight, we made a long move looking for some am gag grouper action. The move produced about a dozen and a half good sized gag groupers.
Excellent fishing and good weather, the time is now, fish are biting…Book Now!

July has a good variety of trips happening, don’t wait to make reservations!  Give us a call at 888-FL TRIPS
 
July 4               44 Hr Middle Grounds
July 7               44 Hr Deepwater
July 11             44 Hr Middle Grounds
July 14             12 Hour Night Snapper
July 16             Half Day
July 17             JUMBO Red Snapper Trip
July 18             *Special* 44 Hour Cubera Hunt
July 20             4 Day Pelagic Trip
July 25             44 Hr Middle Grounds
July 30             Half Day
July 31             Half Day 

 June 8th- 4 Day Pelagic Trip

The much anticipated 4 day pelagic / deepwater trip departed about 30 minutes early, as everybody stowed there gear and started familiarizing themselves with there new home for the next 4 days. As we were motoring down the channel I checked and rechecked all the gauges, navigation lights, instruments and the satellite shots of the offshore eddy’s and currents feeling pretty good about an area I plotted out the course, 155 nm WSW. I was real happy with that distance because on the last 4-day trip we had to steam over 200 miles to find the water break that I felt good about. With Fuel at $4.75 per gallon this year distance is a big factor whether we like it or not it. Once we cleared the last channel marker and were in open water I turned the Gulf star on course on started thinking about some stops along the way to break up the ride. The words RED SNAPPER jumped into my mind, yeah let’s chase some red snapper for an hour or so. I asked second Captain George to go talk to the Passengers to see if they wanted to do the same the vote came back instantly YEAH! After altering course a bit, I looked back to the cockpit and saw the anglers anxiously rigging for Red Snapper. Five hours later I eased the throttles back and started searching the area for those tasty Red Snapper. As we circled around one more time a called over the PA system get ready guys where going to make a drift here. It was not long before the words FISH ON were being muttered. The fishing was not fast and furious but steady we only had to make two drifts to catch a bunch of Red Snapper, two Mangrove and two Lane Snapper. Knowing that we still have a lot of miles to cover before the morning sun would rise we agreed it was time to move on and get offshore.

 

Getting close, I observed the sea surface temp gauge fluttering back and fourth indicating the breaks were getting closer. The Sun was just starting to rise over the horizon and it was lines out. The First fish was a real nice Wahoo about 50 lbs and not too long after was a couple Dorado (dolphin fish) or as PGF says mi-mi’s. Wow great start right? Well it went down hill in a hurry because we had only a couple of mystery bites for the rest of the day. The water just flattened out and the breaks were gone. After searching all day we gave up, switched gears and tried some deep dropping for Grouper and Snapper that too was slow. We managed a few small to medium sized grouper but nothing we had anticipated.  With the Sun getting low we started thinking SWORDFISH maybe we can change our luck with some awesome swords. We steamed Two hours after sun down while every body had dinner, Marking bait and a Thermo-cline on the bottom machine we throttled back, started chumming put the colored sword lights in the water and started fishing. Nothing, Nothing, Nothing all night long.

 

The morning came with bruised egos and a new hope of mayhem on deck as we started trolling again. The water moved and it moved fast, we were in search mode looking for the temp break. My gut feeling was telling me to go north but the satellite shot was telling me west. After about an hour of talking to myself, we were trolling northwest, scanning the horizon through binoculars searching for weeds, trash, and a convergence zone anything that might hold fish. After 60 miles finally some surface action a few weeds and small temp changes we get a bite a barracuda, we see a dorsal fin up ahead, a Sailfish then another, no bites…. We drilled the area for 2 hours, this is turning into a captains nightmare, Now fed up with my split personality’s compromise I turned Northeast and went with my original gut feeling asking myself what was I thinking when I decided to go north west, at this point I felt lost with no plan to find my way. I know, stop drinking so much coffee and get a nap and sleep on it. Captain George has the helm now he mutters something and starts searching through his gear digging around he pokes himself a few times, hooks, knives, bladder deflators. “I Got 'em” There his ultra bionic polyball seeing, trash spotting, weed whacking green Costa Del Mar prescription sunglasses. “There’s no Hidin' now fishes”. That’s not really what he said but I’m trying to keep it clean here, you know for the kids. After about two hrs the engines slow down and wake up to a large Mi-MI dancing on the surface. We both agree that we need to drill it out here. Its getting late in the afternoon and we have life. After trolling some more we whack a few more Mimi’s and see Tuna all over. Looking back at the spread the long shotgun rod with a 14-inch Marlin Lure gets throttled by a large Blue Marlin. Fish on everybody screams as the 50 wide two speed reel is almost on fire. The lines are cleared and the deck was quickly made ready for the battle and it was clear by now this monster had no intention of meeting us and getting up close and personal. The battle did not last long, the Marlin won the battle. The mainline had parted in the middle of the line. What an upset after two very slow days of trolling the release of that marlin would have bounced everybody back in the zone. We trolled around for sundown watching tunas jumping and frolicking but no bites.

After dark we set up for the Swordfish drifts, we deployed the chum, sword lights and baits. Now we wait, and eat dinner, rib-eye steaks, grilled veggies and homemade Cole slaw what a feast. The first bite came late around 1 am, It was a keeper sword not a giant but a keeper. About an hour later three bites came in an instant causing chaos on deck these fish charged the boat and the tangles we wicked. We cleared the tangle ASAP but the fish were angry and they would not wait for anything, two gone and 1 boated. We straighten everything out and get the baits back in the water and wait only for about 30 minuets for another bite. This fish came in real easy with little commotion and fell victim to the gaff quickly. The last bite of the night was around 4 am which was an Oil fish around 35 lbs.

After sunrise we started trolling, today the plan was to troll around this area and up to the northeast towards a wreck in 950 ft of water and do some deep dropping. I don’t recall if we caught anything trolling up to the wreck that morning but when I circled over the wreck the bottom machine almost exploded with red marks all over and around the wreck. We anxiously cleared all the trolling rods and deployed the deep drop electric rods and rigged them up with 3 lb sinkers and large circle hooks baited with whole squid and a half of mackerel. We motored back up to the spot and dropped down; it’s a long way down like almost 2 minuets, which seems like an hour when you are excited. The baits did not sit very long on the bottom before I watched the rods start to bend over and the started hearing the guys screaming “fish on”. The first fish up was a nice snowy Grouper about 28 lbs then another snowy about 20 lbs then on the third rod we watch the rod stop bouncing and come up with an empty hook. The fish became UN buttoned for some reason. We made a bunch more passes during the morning and had consistent fishing on almost every pass catching Snowy and/or yellow-edge grouper. There were also Barrel fish coming up; these fish fight all the way up shaking their head violently and bending the rod tip almost to the water. Then I hear “hey look at that weed line” I was so focused on what was 950 ft down that I was not looking 300 ft away on the horizon. I let the boat drift in to the weed line and soon we heard “mahi on” now this is where it get pretty awesome the mahi’s are almost jumping in the boat and I see the deep drop rods bent over with fish 2 Barrel fish 1 large snowy and a bunch of mahi come victim to the gaff all in a matter of seconds. We worked that weed line for a while catching a bunch more mahi and a couple of barracuda. The rest of the day was a fish here and there but nothing compared to the morning. It was a long day because everybody was looking forward to some more sword fishing that night.

The first Sword came up at 11:30 pm it was about 100lbs or so and the second bite was not long after in fact we had three bites quickly but we couldn’t put the hook into the fish. The last sword of the trip was around 3am this one was just keeper size. The next morning we started trolling towards home and boxed up some more mahi and 1 more Wahoo. At 3 pm I called out lines up guys and pointed the Gulfstar towards home.

 

What an awesome 4 days, lows and highs, little fish and big, calm weather, great company and excellent food what more could we ask for!!

06/16/2008 12 hour all Night Fishing
Captain Jerry Took the Gulf Star to the night fishing grounds with a crowd of anxious anglers who had visions of snapper bliss. The bite was a steady pick of Mangrove Snappers, Key West Grunts and some keeper Gag Grouper. They also released many undersized Grouper. The Kids on this trip definitely dominated the snappers. The next 12 Hour all night trip is scheduled for July 14 at 6 pm.
 
06/16/2008 8hr all day Micanopy Masonic Lodge charter
These folks are champs they fished in some pretty bumpy weather, with thunder storms moving through the Gulf all day they still managed to catch a box of fish like Yellowtail, Mangrove and Hog Snapper, Key West Grunts and a real fat red Grouper. They also released hundreds of undersized red and gag Grouper. What a fun bunch of fishermen and women.
06/13/2008 44 Hour Florida Middle grounds
With perfect weather the passengers of the Gulfstar FILLED the boxes with Huge Mangrove, Massive Yellowtail and Giant Red Snapper mixed in were other fish like a Mutton Snapper a Rainbow runner, Black-fin tuna Red and Gag Grouper. The night fishing was great, almost easy but the Day fishing took perseverance. They Guys that toughed it out had loads of fish. Great trip check our photo Gallery for pics.

Capt. Rich and the crew of the Gulfstar returned Thursday night from quite a marathon of trips & the fun started again last night with our regularly scheduled 44 Hour Middle Grounds trip (SOLD OUT!).  This week will be a busy one too, considering they’ll return Sunday evening from the Middle Grounds and be ready to go Monday morning with a special day charter, followed by the 12 Hour Night Snapper trip at 6pm and another 24 Hour Red Snapper special departing Tuesday night at 8pm.

 May 31st 2008

10 Hour Private Charter  CCS Mechanical, Inc., of Ocala, FL, spent the day fishing in 70’ – 80’ of water with awesome weather.  They saw some great grouper action, gags, reds, scamps a few mango snappers and loads of grunts.  Well done, guys

 24 Hour American Red Snapper Opener  The Gulfstar departed at 8pm with great weather.  They saw some good night action with American Reds, Gags, Scamps, Porgies and Mangos.  Sunday gave them no current and a tough grind picking away at Red Grouper and American Reds all day.  Sunday afternoon had a couple good hits of American Reds putting them five fish away from their bag limit.  GREAT TRIP!

 44 Hour Middle Grounds Private Charter  Pool Works Company had  nice ride out to the grounds and started the trip early Saturday morning with monster mango snappers and porgies.  At daybreak it was still on until noon with a constant bite of gags, many were undersized and released, but they were still able to stuff the two fish boxes full of keepers.  They moved even further offshore where they picked a few big red grouper and some large red snappers.  This was the 2^nd Annual trip with Pool Works…another one well done!

May 30th

 12 Hour Night Snapper trip  departed at 6pm with fair weather.  They started with some decent action. The SE wind picked up and the current was running into the wind making for a sloppy second half of the trip.  It was a slow night with a couple of dozen snapper, lots of grunts and undersized grouper released.

Friday May 16th

The Viking Superstar was out on a 44 hour trip again this weekend, and fishing was great! Our first drop we made at 3:30am was a good one, with plenty of mangos coming over the rails! We also had some Red groupers and porgies as well. We caught well through the first couple of hours until the sun came up. As it did, we set up for some grouper, and were rewarded with some big Gags and Red Groupers. After that, however, the day bite slowed down. We made many moves, and picked away at snappers and groupers, but it was just a pick. We also had a couple of AJs during the day. As Saturday night progressed, everything started eating again. We picked away all night at plenty of mangos, some gags, some Red Groupers, scamps, porgies king mackerel, and bee liners. When the Sun came up on Sunday, we made a drop for groupers, and caught a couple more gags and Red Groupers. After that, we headed to a wreck and caught some nice AJs! Most of the anglers on the boat had their snapper limits, as well as Red Grouper limits! Wally Sobek of Bradenton, FL, true to form, took the Grouper pool with a hefty 27 pound gag! Tim Bible of Orlando, FL took the snapper pool with a 7.8 lb mango. Also, Bob Larson of St. Petersburg, FL took the AJ pool with a 30 pounder. We have one more trip this coming weekend before the Viking Superstar heads back to NY for the season, so come join in on the fun!
 
Also, The Gulfstar was also out on a 44 hour charter with Northwest this weekend and Capt. Rich reports similar results at the Middle Grounds. The Snapper fishing at night was fantastic, with all types of species coming over the rails including mangos, beeliners, red and gag groupers, scamps, king mackerel, vermillion snappers, porgies, and everything else. The day bite on Saturday was a little slow, but, again the night bite heated up. With plenty of fish on board by late Sat night, Capt. Rich decided to hit some inshore spots on Sunday for grouper, and the charter group was glad he did!! The gag bite was on fire! The first spot he hit inshore was red hot, with lots of keepers coming over the rails, and some above 20 pounds! After that spot, he hit a couple more, including one wreck, and each spot produced plenty more gag and Red Groupers. The wreck also produced some AJs as well. They were having such a great time bailing groupers, that Capt Rich stayed out 2 extra hours to completely fill the boxes! Thanks again to Northwest for putting together another phenominal trip with us!

Friday May 9th

The Viking Superstar returned Sunday from a fantastic trip to the Middle Grounds. Capt. Carl reports that fishing started off good at the very first drop with many mangos coming over the rails. They bit well into the day as well! As the sun was coming up on Saturday, we started seeing some nice gags, Red GRoupers, and AJs turn on. We were steadily picking all sorts of fish until around noon, when things died down. At that point, we took a 9 mile ride to look around and when we stopped, we were not dissappointed! First, the American Red Snappers were biting every hook. They were all released unharmed. As soon as they were done, we caught a few mangos, but the tide changed so we swung off the peice a little bit. We reanchored on it, and the big gags started chewing! Large firetrucks as well as VIKING size gags were coming up steadily. It was a good bite, and we broke off some big ones as well. Once they shut down, small AJs stareted to bite, then lots of vermillion snappers! Once we left there, we went to another spot for the sundown bite, and, again, large gags and red groupers started coming up. As it got darker, the mangos were biting, and they were very much of quality size. All night on Saturday into Sunday morning, fishing was on, with plenty of mangos, vermillion, more gags, red groupers, some scamps, and large porgies! Sunday morning we stopped at a small break, and MORE gag groupers and red groupers came up! Fishing was steady the whole trip, and with a light crowd, we were very close to our limits on everything!. Shawn Heverin of JAcksonville, FL took the Grouper pool with a beauty 29 pound gag! Mark Heverin, also of Jacksonville, FL took the AJ pool with a 28 pounder. Also, Gene Goodin of Council Bluff, IL took the snapper pool with a LARGE 9.8 pound mango!

Wednesday May 7th

The Viking Superstar returned yesterday from the Southeastern Tackle Liquidators charter with a load of fish! On Sunday, before the boat left, Mookie had the BBQ going and fed everyone who was on the trip some of his famous Chicken, Steak, Baked Beans, and potato salad. Thanks Mookie! We left the dock at 8pm and headed out to the grounds. We arrived at 3:00am and started fishing. The New Moon tide was screaming, and the first couple of drops produced just a few mangos and groupers. At 5:00am, we made a stop and the fishing really heated up! Many mangos were flying over the rails, along with more groupers! As the sun came up, the grouper bite really started to turn on, and gags as well as red grouper, AND mangos. All day long we picked grouper and snappers. The mates were very busy with the gaffs! That night, we picked away also on the snappers, with many limits becoming full! The next morning we stopped on a wreck and along with many big fish bites, as well as a ton of mangos! We made our last stop especially for Scooter, who was grouper-less, and on the last stop he redeemed himself with a fat 25 pound Red Grouper! Thanks to everyone for another great trip. Thanks to Vince and Gary for putting it together. We look forward to the next one!

Friday May 2nd

 The Viking Superstar returned today from another fantastic trip to the famous Florida Middle Grounds! Captain Carl reports that things started off slow. We were picking away at mangos and red groupers, but for the first couple hours of the trip, we had to fight the porpoises for every fish! a pod of 12 of them were terrorizing us, so, we took a 10 mile ride at 18 knots and managed to lose them. Once we did, we found some nice gag groupers, red groupers, scamp groupers, mangrove snappers, and porgies that were biting! We picked away steadily all day, with gags to 28 pounds coming over the rail! Once the sun set, the mangos started biting again, well, as well as more gags and red groupers all through the night. Many anglers had their snapper limits. Then on Sunday when the sun came up, we tried a few more spots and got a few more grouper. Our last stop was a wreck, and we caught a few Amberjacks on it. We saw them swimming on the surface, but they werent too interested in eating. Daniel Cheek of Naples, FL took the snapper pool with a beauty 7.5 pound mango. Wally Sobek of Bradenton, FL took the Amberjack pool with a nice 24 pounder. The grouper pool was split in half, with two equal weighing fish... one a Red Grouper caught by John Guskey of Lakeland, FL...and the other a gag grouper caught by Dave Sobek of Chicago, IL. Both fish weighed in at 26 pounds! Good Job Guys!
 
We are just about to head out with the SouthEastern Tackle Liquidators group on the Viking Superstar. We will be back on Tuesday afternoon, so stay posted for another report!

Friday April 25th

The Viking Superstar returned from a 44 hr trip today and Capt Carl reports that it was another success! We were welcomed with beautiful weather and biting mangos! They bit well the first night, along with some gag grouper and red grouper. As day broke, we saw some more gag and red groupers, but only for a little while. After that, it seemed the only fish that wanted to bite were Porgies, and they bit well!! Triple headers were flying over the rails! We worked our way to another area, picking more porgies, red grouper, gag grouper, some big AJs, mangos, vermillions and scamps. Fishing Saturday night continued to produce well for us. We ended Sunday morning with another shot of gag and Big Red groupers. It was definaltey a steady pick the entire trip, with many happy fishermen! The Davis group out of Ohio joined us again and they had a blast! Charlie West (at it again) took both the grouper pool (with a 27 lb gag) and the AJ pool with a 48 pounder! Greg Richardson, from Columbus, Ohio showed his boys how its done with the winning snapper at 8 lbs! Thanks to everyone for a fun trip and we look forward to seeing everyone again!

Thursday April 24th

Captain Jerry too the Gulfstar out on a 16 hour on Thursday and fishing was great! We had a light load of people, and ended up with 27 keeper gags up to 19 lbs! There were many quality fish in the mix, with an average of 14 lbs a keeper! There was also a couple mangos in the mix to 4 lbs, and lots of grunts and seabass! Capt. George says the weather was fantastic as well! Dave from NY was out with his dad as well as his son, and they had a blast! Check the picture section!

Friday April 18th
The Viking Superstar was out Friday night on a 24 hour special trip, and returned Saturday night. Fishing was fantastic! We started fishing at 1:00am and the mangos were on fire! All through the dark of the night, we caught mangos, Red Groupers, a couple gag Groupers, porgies, scamp grouper, and vermillion snappers! As the sun came up, we caught more grouper, some Amberjacks, and mangos. Around 8:00am, the tide changed and ran hard...so the bite slowed down drastically. We bounced around trying numerous spots, and picked some fish, but it was tough until around 1:00pm, when they started biting well again! Our last drop produced more of everything, including some big AJs! Many people had their 2 DAY bag limit of snappers, all the first night! Stainley Tainter of MArco Island, FL took two of the pools, with a 38 lb AJ, and a 18 lb GAG. John Miller from upstate, NY took the snapper pool with a 7 lb mango. Also, Capt. George Lontakis came out fishing with us, and he had a 19 lb gag, and a 8 and a half pound mango!
 
 
Today, we went out on an 8 hr trip and along with great weather, we saw great fishing! Our first two drops we caught keeper gags, loads of shorts, and tons of grunts! After that, we didnt see any more keeper grouper, but loads of shorts and tons and tons of grunts, along with some big seabass! The biggest grouper today was a 12 pounder!

Friday April 11th

The Viking Superstar returned from another 44hr trip last night with some great fish hanging. Captain Carl reports that "We started fishing at 2:00am Saturday and the first drop produced a bunch of nice vermillion snappers along with a few mangos. Our second drop was much better with the mango snappers coming in, along with a few gag grouper and Red Groupers. We picked away into the daybreak, then moved to another spot where right off the bat, we caught a nice gag, and a nice big Firetruck red Grouper. Then, the AJs started to bite! We could see them just a few feet under the surface, and jigs worked very well! Grayson from BassPro in Orlando was using his butterfly jigs and hooked up just about every cast! Once they finally slowed up, we made a move. Throughout the morning, we bounced around, just catching a few here and there, mainly Big Red Groupers. We decided to head off into the deeper water looking for the gags, but didn't find much at all. At one wreck, the grouper didn't bite, but we had a strong bit of Vermillion snappers that all ranged from 3-5lbs!! Bill and Charlie were in heaven! After not much grouper action off in the deep, we headed back to the grounds and started picking away again at the big red groupers and scamp groupers. That night, the snapper fishing was great, with many quality size Mangos coming in, along with all the porgies you wanted. We also picked a couple nice kingfish to 35 lbs, more vermillion snappers, Red groupers, Scamps, and a couple gags, even with the wind gusting. Those who braved the cold wind were very well rewarded. Sunday morning, we made a couple drops and caught some more Gag Groupers, Red Groupers, and AJs. Dennis Williams of Orlando, who made some incredible fresh ceviche for lunch, took the Grouper pool with a 24lb Gag. Robert Brown took the snapper pool with a beauty 8.7lb mango. Also, Mike Greenwood, also from BassPro in Orlando, took the AJ pool with a 28 pounder! Everyone who won the pools were from Orlando, FL!! Thanks to everyone once again for a great fun trip!

 

Friday April 4th

The Viking Superstar returned from a 44 hr trip today. Capt. Carl reports that fishing was much tougher than it has been the previous weeks. We had a new moon, with strong currents, which made things difficult. We also had to contest againt rain, wind, fish-stealing porpoises, and sharks! The first night produced some mangrove snappers, as well as red groupers and vermillion snappers. During the day, we hunted around for more grouper, and did catch some Gags, as well as Reds, but it was a long day. We made a lot of moves and worked hard to put something together, and we did end up with some fish. For sundown, we hit a wreck, and were rewarded with more gag groupers, as well as mangos, lane snappers, bar jacks, vermillion snappers, and scamp groupers. That night, we worked hard again, and were able to catch some mangrove snappers, Big Red Groupers, more vermillion snappers, and plenty of porgies. For the next morning on Sunday, we stopped at one spot and caught some Ajs. After that, we tried another wreck, but did not get much action. Roger Homser of Orwell, OH took the grouper pool with a 24 lb Red Grouper. Stainley Tainter took the largest AJ with a 27 pounder. Jimmy Kimm from NY took the snapper pool with a nice 8 lb mango! Sorry we don’t have any pictures, but it was pouring rain when we got back to the dock!

 

Monday March 31

The Viking Superstar went out on an 8 hr trip today. The weather was just fine, and we caught some fish. We had a nice pick of Groupers, both gag and red, with some nice keepers in the mix. We also caught some Key West Grunts and Black Seabass. John Bleakney, of Morrisville NJtook the pool with a nice 9 pound gag. What a lucky streak! The last time John was fishing was up in Montauk on the Viking Starship for cod just a couple weeks ago, and he won that pool too! Congrats John!
 

Saturday March 29

The Viking Superstar returned today from a 44 hr. Middle Grounds trip and according to Capt. Carl, fishing was once again fantastic! We started fishing around 3:00am and things started off slow. Just a handful of mangos wanted to bite, so, we moved to a different area. When the sunstarted to rise, we started catching some gag and red grouper, along with tons of porgies. The grouper action certainly wasn’t as hot as last weekend, so we did work around quite a bit, with each stop producing a few more grouper, snapper, and porgies. As the day went on, the bite started getting better and better, and soon coolers were filling faster and faster! For sundown, we stopped on a ledge which showed some very large blobs on the botom machine. As soon as we anchored up, BOOM! Large Ajs to 50 pounds were landed. After they quit, the mango fishing was on fire! We caught very good for a solid 2 hours. At this point, Scott Meyers was reeling in another AJ, and a large shark followed him up and ate his jack! This kind of shut the bite off, so we moved around and fishing was great all night long. Plenty of nice mangos and vermillion snappers were caught all night, along with porgies, Ajs, and groupers. The next morning saw some more LARGE Firetruck red Groupers landed, as well as a few more gags. All in all, fishing was great, as we filled our boxes yet again. The weather was absolutely perfect the whole trip. Charlie West took 2 pool! He had the large Amberjack, weighing in at 50 lbs, and he also had the large snapper with a 8 lb mango. Scott Meyers took the Grouper pool with a 22 lb gag! We also found American Red Snappers at almost every stop, and they were LARGE! They were al released unharmed. Thanks to everyone for coming with us, and we look forward to seeing you all again

Friday, March 28

 Yesterdays 16 hr trip on the Viking Superstar turned out to be a good one. The weather couldn’t be better! Capt. Carl reports that…our first stop was very lively, according to the bottom machine. We anchored up, but they werent biting. We only ended up with a few gags and a red grouper. We sat for a while, hoping for them to turn on, but they never did, so we checked out another spot that produced similar results. Capt. Carl decided to take a gamble and a 15 mile steam to another area. It paid off! The gag groupers were coming up all up and down the boat! We also had some scamp groupers, Red Groupers, Amberjacks, mangrove snappers, pink porgies, American Red Snappers to 15 lbs (released unharmed), and grunts! It was on fire for 2 solid hours, and everything worked…live bait, dead bait, and jigs! When the bite finally died down, we went to a wreck which produced a few more gags and red groupers. We then went to one more wreck which produced a good amount of more gags. Anthony Palisi ended up with the big fish… a gag weighing in at 26 lbs! Bobby, 'the Baiter' Ehman caught his limit of grouper to 22 lbs, along with some mangos, and Ricky Gordon took home his grouper limit as well. 
 
The Gulfstar was out on an 8hr charter, and they saw great fishing as well. Capt. Rich reports similar results, with the bite a bit slow in the morning, but, once the tide was right, they made a drop that produced NON-STOP action, with keeper gags flying in and all around the boat! John Debock, true to form, easily had his gag limit. He also had the biggest fish, which he gave away, which weighed in at 22 lbs! You are the MAN JOHN! Fishing has been red hot lately! Come join in on the hot action!!

 

Sunday, March 23, 2008

WOW. WHAT A TRIP!! This weekend's action on the Viking Superstar was AMAZING! We started fishing at 2:30 Saturday morning, and the action was ok. The first drop saw some mangos, vermillion snappers, and Red Groupers. The next one produced more of the same, along with some gag groupers. After one more stop catching a few mangos, we headed to the grouper grounds for sun-up, and they were hungry! Each stop produced more than a handful of nice gags, along with big Red Groupers and mangos. They did not stop biting until around 3:00pm. After bouncing around a little and catching a few here and there, we stopped offshore a bit, and were welcomed by some bigger gags!! We stayed there until the sun went down, catching gag groupers, vermillion snappers, mangos, and lane snappers. We headed back to the snapper grounds after that, and the mangos were biting!!! Every stop all night long saw plenty of mango action, AND GROUPER ACTION!! The gags were even biting all through the night! Since most people were using lighter snapper tackle, we lost quite a few, but still boated a couple handfuls of gags, along with plenty of mangos and red groupers. We made one more morning stop on a wreck and saw some Ajs, which eluded us again this weekend, and saw quite a few, but most were short. With tired anglers and full boxes, we headed home. Stainley Tainter of Marco Island, FL took the Grouper pool with what WAS an estimated 34 lb gag, but actually had a huge bite taken out of it by a shark on the way up! It still tipped the scales at 29 lbs. There were quite a few close to it too. We had over 15 gags weighing in over 20 lbs!!! Tony Muia of Brooklyn, NY took the snapper pool with a 9 lb mango (and there were lots of close ones there too!!). Tony Deluca of Jacksonville, Fltook the AJ pool with a 20 pounder. Another notable mention was Charlie West, who had his limit of both Grouper and snapper, and tons of bee-liners! We had quite a few guys who had their limits on grouper and snapper, as this was a slammer trip. Thanks to all who joined us, and we look forward to seeing you again!
--Captain Carl 

Saturday, March 22, 2008. 1.00pm

Despite the rainy weather, Capt Rich has managed to put together a great Half Day trip so far!  He just called in from the boat and reported that along with the grunts and sea bass they have 3 keeper grouper on the Gulfstar. He also spoke with Capt. Carl, aboard the Superstar fishing somewhere in the Middle Grounds. Capt. Carl reports that they have a good mess of grouper and snapper on board already.  The 44 Hour Middle Grounds report will be up tomorrow afternoon as well as pictures! Stay tuned!

Friday March 15th

MIDDLE GROUNDS GROUPER OPENER** The Viking Superstar returned today with grouper hanging all down the side of the boat!  Capt. Carl reported.   With a loaded boat of eager fishermen aboard, we headed out Friday night at 8:00pm and started fishing at 3:00am. The first couple of spots produced a handful of Red Groupers, some mangrove snappers, and scamps. As daybreak came, the gags started biting! We had numerous stops in the first couple of hours with gags and large red groupers flying over the rails. A little after noon, the bite finally slowed down, so we bounced around catching some porgies, mangos, and scamps. For sundown, we headed over to a wreck and it was LOCK AND LOAD!! Large gags and some Red Groupers, (including the pool winner) were landed. Also, we raised a Goliath grouper as well. We hung out there until after dark and picked up a few more mangos, lane snappers, and vermillion snappers. After that, we headed back to the Grounds, were the snapper fishing started off slow, then got better and better, however, they did not cooperate as well as they normally do. Whenever they started biting good, the porpoises would come and steal them!! The next morning, we caught a few more gag and red groupers, as well as Jacks. **On a side note, we caught and released American Red Snappers at EVERY single stop we made!** Marty Grasso of Spring Hill, FL was the lucky pool winner with a 24 lb RED grouper (he also had 6 gags, another Red Grouper, and a full stringer of mangos). Dan Baxter of Davenport, FL took the snapper pool with a FAT 8.8 pound mango, and Tim Verh took the AJ pool with a 25 pound AJ he jigged off a wreck.

 

44hr Deepwater Grouper

This past weekend aboard the Gulfstar we fished the deep dark depths of the Gulf of Mexico with great company, good weather and fantastic success. Early Saturday morning we stopped in 200ft and landed some very nice Mangrove snappers with tiny ones mixed in, go figure 12 inch mangroves in 200ft. We also released 5 Gag Grouper to about 15 lbs and a couple American red snapper.
Saturday Sun up with the Gulfstar hovering 490 plus ft over some very nice bottom with fish all over, we started our day of deep dropping. The fish cooperated well all day with Yellow edge, Scamp, hind, coneys, tilefish, porgies, Vermillion and gag grouper in the mix. All gag grouper and red snapper were released and all swam away thats right even the fish caught deep swam away with vigor.

Saturday night we stayed in the deep and tried some night deep dropping, the Grouper and Snapper did not play with us but the Sharks did, black tip, spinner, and hammerhead even a Black-fin Tuna.

2AM Sunday we steamed inshore and went wreck hopping on the way home we had plenty of action of red grouper and red snapper all were released.
Another Great Deep Drop trip completed and we cant wait for the next one. BOOK NOW!!!!!! 2008 SCHEDULES

CAPT RICH
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