Montauk Sportfishing Report 9/7/04

9/7/04

Saturday afternoon I was spraying off the bow of the boat when I happened to
look down and see a couple of dozen, prime fluke bait size, snappers just
milling around. Up until then the only ones that I had seen were only about
two inches long, but these were closer to six inches, perfect doormat bait,
and even though there are not a lot of fluke around, of the ones that are
here, a lot of them are biggies. Unfortunately, as of Monday, they are off
limits - the season is closed. So wipe them off your menu until sometime
next May, or June , or July, whenever the wackos at the DEC let us fish for
them again. Of course this doesn't apply to the Connecticut or Rhode Island
boats that come over here for the fluke. Their season remains open.

You can also cross off the seabass as well, at least for a couple of weeks.
Their season reopens on September 22. It is also closed for a short period
for the Connecticut and Rhode Island boats.

The last of Montauk's trolling only charter boats has crossed over to the
dark side (live porgie fishing for bass). A lot of these guys are pretty
proud of the fact that they are damn good at trolling wire, and are
reluctant to fish any other way, but after a while they get tired of
swimming against the tide. It doesn't seem to be the miracle method that it
was a couple of weeks back, but it is still producing pretty well,
especially with big fish. The drawback has been bluefish, which also like to
eat live fish.

I'm starting to hear about the draggers way out east, with lots of bluefins
looking for freebies. They should be moving towards us ever so slowly, but
it looks like we should have some pretty good chunking later in the month.
Hopefully there will be some decent size fish in the mix, and not just the
dwarfs that have been around all summer.

Things seem to be picking up out around the 450 line with then yellowfins
and longfins, at least before this little blow that we had over the weekend.
The top line was around 580, but who knows what it's like after this little
blow we had over the weekend.

The Montauk Boatman's and Captain's Association stages a two month long bass
tournament in October and November. Entry is automatic for anyone fishing on
a participating charter boat - no entry fee. This year the are increasing
the prize money to $3000, $2000 and $1000. Also, they will be running a
weekly striped bass pool. For a $15 entry fee, you are in it for the week,
as long as you are fishing on a participating boat. For more information, go
to http://www.montauksportfishing.com/BassTournament.htm

If you would like to have these reports sent to you directly, just drop me a
note at . And for more information about
fishing in Montauk, you can give me a call at 800 280 5565 or check out
ht.//www.montauksportfishing.com.

Capt Gene Kelly

Montauk Sportfishing


--

Capt Gene Kelly
Tropical Fishing Adventures
Montauk Sportfishing
800 280 5565
631 668 2019