By Mike Busch

Shane Carew and Tyler Sawyer, bartenders at the Kismet Inn on Fire Island, ventured outside of Fire Island Inlet yesterday looking for some early season Striped Bass and Bunker.  Much to their surprise they came upon a Humpback Whale aggressively tail slapping in about 60 feet of water.

“At first we thought it was a Shark jumping out of the water”  but as they got a little closer Shane realized it was a Humpback Whale.

Tail slapping is also referred to as lobtailing, and occurs when a Whale or Dolphin lifts their fluke out of the water and slaps it on the surface.  This behavior can be used to communicate, scare fish, or be a sign of aggression.  As you can see in the video, Gannets are diving in the area so this could be bait related.

Last June, Jimmy Romano shared a video of another tail slapping Humpback just outside of Moriches Inlet.

Thanks to Shane and Tyler for sharing their story, The Kismet Inn is now open Friday through Sunday, stop in and say hello!