7/18/2011
The striped bass fishing is starting to get a little delicate. How good it is depends on
who you talk to. If a captain caught his limit it's good. If he didn't, then it's tough. A
couple of boats have even started to run over to Southwest Ledge, and with the price of
fuel, that's a bit of desperation. But the good news is that the size of the fish is very good,
with many of the fish around twenty pounds and better, and virtually nothing that has to
be measured.
The fluke fishing is picking up, with lots of fish around and a good amount of them
being edible. The pool fish on the head boats is usually at least seven pounds and the
LAZYBONES had one that weighed eleven pounds early in the week. And, they're close
with no boats bothering to fish west of the Radar Stand.
Offshore the shark fishing is good, although it is possible to put in a day and not get
a bite. It seems like you can bring a half dozen or more bluedogs to the boat, but then
might not catch a mako. If you only get one bite, it will probably be a mako. What's
unusual is the size of the bluesharks, more like the typical fall fish - extra large.
There are still some bluefins around the Butterfish Hole, even if no one except me
has been catching them. No charter boat has gone strictly for them, with most only
putting in an hour or so dragging the plastic around before giving in and starting
chumming for sharks. There are still some white marlin around as well. Quite a few of
them were seen this past week in on Southwest Ledge, chasing skip bait. I don't know if
I'd try fishing for them there. The ballyhoos would probably be all eaten up by bluefish.
Further off at the Edge, there are yellowfins being caught every day, as well as
occasional bigeyes. But I haven't heard of any boat loading up on them, with most only
getting a couple.
The water inshore is unusually clean. One of the captains told me that while drifting
for fluke in the North Rips, he could notice the sandy color as he passed over the high
spot about twenty some odd feet down. But then the boat that I run is docked at Devon
Yacht Club back in the southwest corner of Gardiners Bay. The water in the marina is the
dirtiest that I've ever seen it, and for the first time in the ten years I've been there, there
are no schoolie bass or even cormorants feeding on the little sandeels that live there.
For more info about fishing in Montauk, check out www.montauksportfishing.com
and if you would like to receive these reports directly, drop me a line at
captaingene@montauksportfishing.com
