Montauk Albies

Fished with Peter and Ray last Sunday in Montauk. Fishing was good despite bumpy conditions. We found the fish right outside of the inlet. We caught and released around a dozen Albies and some bluefish. The albie bite has been extremely good. Pro Tip: Casting accuracy is important to success with albies. Even when the are going crazy a good cast will always produce better than one a few feet off the mark. Cast in line with and past the school.

Montauk Albies

Fished with Peter, Ray, and Ryan in Montauk this weekend. The weather was a bit bumpy at times but the fishing was excellent. We had over 35 false albacore on Saturday. Plus we caught a bunch of bluefish to about 4 pounds. The bite was incredible in the morning and we had a steady pick all day with a flurry of action in the evening. We were spin fishing but the fish would've also chewed well on the flyrod. Pro Tip: We were using metal such as Deadly Dick's for most of the morning. However, when the bike got tough we had to switch over to weightless soft plastics to get bites. Be prepared to make adjustments when the bite changes.

Montauk Day Two

Fished Sunday with John, Luke, and Dusty in Montauk. We started out day off with an albie blitz right outside of the inlet. We caught several right off the bat. Then we moved on after it petered out. We quickly found more blitzing albies and we had them to ourselves the rest of the day. We ended up with over twenty albie releases plus a bunch of blues and we called it a day by about 12:30. It was great. Pro Tip: Even in blitzing situations, casting accuracy is still important. If you were a few feet left or right you didn't get a bite. If you landed on target it was a sure thing. Take that extra second to make it count.

Montauk Begins

Fished with Dusty, John, and Luc in Montauk this weekend. We began Saturday morning by looking around for some false albacore. The tide wasn't right so we moved to some deepwater places where I know there are seabass in large numbers. The seabass have been running exceptionally large the last couple of years. We caught many that were over 20 inches long. That is a big seabass. Some were close to 23 inches or bigger. After catching our fill of those the tide was right to catch false albacore so we went looking for them. We found many false albacore that were uncooperative before we found some schools that would eat. When we did it was game on. We ended up catching and releasing over 15 false albacore and several bluefish before calling it a day on Saturday. We caught the false albacore on metal and on the fly. Pro Tip: People usually think of cut bait for fishing for sea bass. However, jigs and metal are extremely productive and tend to catch the larger specimens. We had an unbelievably epic bottom fishing morning and we used absolutely no natural bait.

Fluke Farewell?

Finished last Monday with Rob in the bay. We went flounder fishing and caught several but no keepers. We made the transition to the flats and through poppers for stripers but came up empty. Pro Tip: Late in the season there can be very large numbers of juvenile seabass in the bay. If this is the case it is imperative to move to an area where they are not abundant. Otherwise, you have little to no chance of catching a flounder.

Montauk Begins

I'll post a more detailed report tomorrow but here is a little preview from this weekend's first trip to Montauk.

Albies and Blues

Fished with Chris and Jim yesterday in the ocean. We caught blues to three pounds on jigs. We also had one good shot at Albies and we made the most of it and Chris caught one on a jig. Pro Tip: Learn to cast while keeping the lure outside of the boat. Overhead casting is a recipe for disaster for people, equipment, and the boat itself. With a bit of practice you can cast just as far underhand or sidearm. This eliminates any danger to anything or anyone on the boat.

Blues, Sea Bass, Spanish Mackerel

Fished with Chase and Katie on Saturday. The wind was blowing and it was a bit rough but we got out. We trolled a bit and caught some blues and a Spanish Mackerel. We moved into the bay and caught a bunch of small sea bass. Pro Tip: Spanish mackerel and cero mackerel are very similar. Spanish mackerel have yellow dots only on their sides. Cero mackerel have dots AND dashes along their sides. Other than that they look the same. Note the dots in the picture.

Blues

Fished with Doug and Greg in the ocean on Friday. We had a few blues to about three pounds. We also caught a small weakfish. Pro Tip: Soft plastics need to be put on the hook so they lie straight. If not they will spin and become much less effective.

Albies and Blues

Fished Thursday with Brian and Bill in the ocean. The storm over the weekend shuffled the deck so I didn't know what to expect. We quickly found some small blues and caught a bunch. Then we noticed a few blitzing albies and targeted them. We went three for three on albies with lures. It was a ton of fun. Pro Tip: Big storms change fishing patterns. Keeping records is important. After a big storm it is a good idea to look back at past experience and try things that have worked at that time in the past.