Blowing a Gale

Fished today anyway with Dick and Mike in Montauk. We were glad we did. We ended up releasing four or five stripers and over thirty blues. The blues were up to sixteen pounds. All were caught on jigs. We had multiple triple headers and a bunch of doubles. It was rough but good. Tomorrow may be another story.

Back Bay Bass

Patty and I headed out in the bay on Monday night. We ended up releasing ten stripers on jigs. These fish would have also taken flies. It was great around sunset. I also went out last night with Ryan and we had three bass in less than an hour.

Chopped

One of the nice weakfish Mike had on Sunday was about to be released when it was attacked by a ten pound plus bluefish boat side. In one bite, the blue chopped off the back third of the fish. We saw it happen.

Montauk Weakfish?

Fished with Mike again on Sunday. Rough weather and wind greeted us at dawn. We headed around the corner and down the beach to get out of the wind and find the fish. We found some off the beaten path. We ended up catching a fifteen pound bass, a bunch of nice blues, and weakfish. Yes. I said weakfish. We had two on the fly and one jigging. We pounded on the blues on the fly.

Striper on the Fly

Fished today with Mike in Montauk. By Montauk standards, it was a slow day. We were flyfishing and that made things extra tough. Mike ended up catching a striper and a nice bluefish on the fly. Jigging was far more effective today as the fish were deep. We had several big blues on the jig. The fish just wanted to hug the bottom today.

Blues on the Fly

Fished with Mike today in Montauk. The big blues cooperated today and Mike caught a bunch on the fly. It was a little bumpy this morning (isn't it always?) but conditions improved. We had nice pick of ten pound plus blues for most of the day. We were fifty fifty between fly and jig fish.

Montauk Monday

Patty and I headed out on Monday to round out the weekend. It was good. We were met with wide open bluefish blitz. We had them on every cast. They were a touch smaller than on Sunday but it was a blast. I had several on the fly and one striper to round out the morning. It was still pretty rough but not as bad a Sunday.

Rough Water Merit Badge

It has been blowing hard northeast for almost a week. It was huge yesterday, no one went. Today it was just a little less huge. We went anyway. After some semi protected prospecting I decided to head to the point. At 7 knots. I was greeted by 4-6 footers with an occasional bigger wave when I turned the corner. Then I saw the birds. Amazing how that makes it seem not so bad out. Huge bird plays and only two boats around us. We hooked up instantly. Big blues. All we wanted. I then moved closer to the point and the waves got bigger. I had some pass under us that were higher than the t top. When I looked around we were the only boat at the point. On Sunday of Columbus Day weekend. Unbelievable. Then another boat arrived. It was the Coast Guard rollover boat doing heavy weather exercises. They stopped to watch us catch fish on every cast. Heading out tomorrow morning.

More Montauk Pics

More pics from last weekend.

Montauk Bass

Fished again Sunday with Darryl, Matt, and Dave in Montauk. Totally different day today. Started off jigging and caught all the blues we wanted to ten pounds. Dave hooked the fish of the trip with a striper that approached the forty inch mark and was about twenty pounds. He caught that on ten pound powerpro and a jig. We the rounded out the day with another dozen smaller stripers on jigs. I'll post more Montauk pics later this week.

Montauk Albies

Fished with Darryl, Matt, and Dave in Montauk on Saturday. We had a very good day. Started off jigging deep and scoring a striper and all the 6-10 pound blues we wanted. We moved and hunted for albies after that. We found the albies far away from the crowds and we hammered them on metal. We caught and released at least 25 albies. We also had a nice Bonita as well. As a bonus we jigged up some beautiful sea bass to twenty inches on metal and plastic. We also had dinner plate sized porgies and a few fluke as well. We had fish all day. The weather was terrific as well.

Montauk Sunday

Fished with Anthony and Peter again on Sunday. The jig proved more effective for the second day in a row. We caught stripers to 34" and blues over ten pounds again. The fish were on sand eels and the deep water presentations were the key to success. Peter did have a nice striper on the fly first thing in the morning but then jigs proved more effective. The weather was beautiful.