Montauk Sportfishing Report 9/2/08

captgene · 09-02-2008, 09:33 AM

8/25/08
OK, boys and girls, you can pack up your spinners, silver, bullets, sproat bucktails and all the other fancy stuff you use for fluke. The season is over as of today (Labor Day). And, it was a pretty damn good one. Coming into the season most of us though it was going to be a bust because of the new regs. But we were wrong. There were tons of keepers caught throughout the season along with even more throwbacks. And the action lasted right up to the end. In past seasons by mid August the action was winding down.
Writing about the striped bass fishing is getting boring. It’s always the same. The fishing is great, and has been all summer. A couple of charterboat guys told me the same thing this week. All their trips are the same. They start out with the parachutes and after forty-five minutes to an hour they have their limits, putting them in the live well. Then they switch to the big tubes and spend the rest of the trip upgrading.
Offshore is still in the doldrums. A typical overnight trip might catch a bigeye, swordfish or mako at night and a yellowfin on the troll. Or more likely "none of the above". The charter boats that have offshore tuna trips booked are kind of torn. None of them want to go out there, But neither do they want to lose a day’s (or two) pay. They prefer to talk their clients into switching to a shark or bass trip. But what about the group that wants tuna or nothing. If they tell them the fishing sucks, will they wind up bailing out on the trip altogether?
The shark fishing seems to be improving slowly with the water cooling off a bit. Now boats are looking for a couple of bites a day. Most of the makos being taken are less than a hundred pounds, but that will probably start to change. Also, the bluesharks are starting to get more common. Friday the HURRY UP got three makos. The largest, 175 pounds they kept.
There are a couple of offshore tournaments coming up this fall that not many people are aware of.
The first is the Old Harbor Outfitters Shootout, to be held at the Montauk Marine Basin September 26, 27 & 28. It is for the canyon guys and has cash prizes for tuna, swordfish, mahi & wahoo. You have an option of fishing two days out of the three or one overnighter. For more info call the Marine Basin at 631 668 5900.
The second is the Stephen Sloan Memorial Shark Tournament, a strictly tag and release affair. Like some of the world famous billfish tournaments, an observer will be aboard each boat to record the catches and to make sure everything is done by IGFA rules. In addition to the cash prizes and fishing trips to exotic locations for the top three teams, there will be the standard calcuttas. I’m interested to see how much attention this contest will get. It will be held October 4 & 5, and for more information call Mike O’Reilly at 631 289 5500.
Early in the week there was some excitement at the Coast Guard dock, when the TOP HOOK got escorted in and met by a mob scene of people. By the late afternoon word got out that he had found a dead body all wrapped up in chains and cement blocks. After lots of investigation it turned out to be a dog that somebody had buried at sea.
I got an e-mail this past week from Capt Anthony Mendillo, who has a couple of charterboats at Isla Mujeres in Mexico. This past winter he had people from National Geographics magazine (the one you read in the dentist’s office) with him doing an article on sailfish working on bait balls. The article is in the September issue and a teaser for it is at Sailfish - National Geographic Magazine Check it out. The photos by Paul Nicklen and Goran Ehlme are spectacular.
From the LAZYBONES;
Mon. A.M. saw 14 keepers with the pool going to Tony P. with his fluke at 6 lbs. P.M. trip saw quite a few sea bass and porgies mixed in but pool honors went to Timmy the Turtle with a 5 lber.
Tues. A.M. had 20 keepers and a 7 1/4 lber. won the pool by Bob Canzoneri. Chris Gray limited out with fish up to 6 3/4 lbs. A-Team Bob had a nice fish at 7 lbs. and T.C.G. had one at 6 1/2 lbs. P.M. trip yielded 22 keepers and Jeff Carpenter had the pool with his fish at 7 lbs. Chris Gray had 8 keepers for the day, retaining his limit, with fish up to 6 1/2 lbs. Wed. A.M. had 24 keepers coming over the rails and first time fisher-woman Millie Harrison had the pool with her nice fish at 7 lbs. P.M. trip had 12 keepers and the pool was won by Donald Klenke with a fish at 5 lbs.
Thurs. A.M. had 14 keepers and T.C.G. managed to win the pool with his fish at 7.4 lbs. and Vinny Vanacore was not far behind with his fish at 7 lbs. P.M. trip had 7 keepers and Jeff Carpenter once again won the pool with a fish at 6 3/4 lbs. and 14 y/o Chris Fiorillo had one at 6 1/2 lbs.
Fri. A.M. had 13 keepers and the pool winner was Joe Casablanca with his fish at 6 1/2 lbs.P.M. trip was slow with only 5 keepers, but Chris Gray won with his fish at 5 lbs. Sat. all day was very picky and slow. A.M. pool was won by Jimmy the lifeguard Janicek with a 6 lber.
Sun. A.M. turned out to be a good morning with 17 keepers and the pool was won by Gary Edlund with his fish weighing in at 5 1/4 lbs.

If you would like to get these reports sent to you directly, drop me a line at captgene@montauksportfishing.com and I’ll put you on the list.
Capt Gene Kelly - Montauk Sportfishing

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