6/6/2011

A nice weekend and some of the charter boats are starting to sail a little better. It was a
pretty rotten May for them and not only because of the weather. It doesn’t matter what the
wind is doing if your not booked anyway.

The bass fishing is holding up nicely and the average size of the fish is getting better.
Shorts are almost unheard of and most t of the fish being taken are from 12 -20 lbs or so,
with some nicer fish mixed in, like the 42 lb bass taken on the SEA SPRAY on
Saturday’s morning trip. The fish are being taken on the “chutes, umbrellas and diamond
jigs. I wouldn’t be surprised to hear of some sharpie giving the big spoons a shot, since
some of the bigger fish have been eating the smaller, bait sized flukes. It would be illegal
to use them live, of course.

During the week the fluke fishing was pretty steady even though keeper size fish are in
short supply. If we had New Jersey or Connecticut regs, boats would be taking their limit
daily. Over the weekend though it slowed down even for the shorts.

Some nice sized porgies are around, but of course that season isn’t open yet. Seabass are
showing up too, but that doesn’t open until next week. With these regs I think a good
number of anglers are going to start using the same system that is used with the 55 mph
on the LIE.

The doggies are showing up too, but it hasn’t been much of a problem. They will be more
difficult when the seabass season opens up.

I didn’t hear about this until after I posted last weeks report. On Memorial Day Saturday a
friend was helping me put the outriggers back on the boat I run. While we were doing it
we were talking about how the water on the south side still hadn’t reached fifty degrees
yet, and what that might mean for when the first sharks might be caught. While we were
talking, Capt Tommy Cusimano had his SEA WIFE out at forty fathoms in 59 degree
water releasing around thirty bluesharks. He might have had more if he had more hooks.

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