11/26/12

The herring are here and the striper fishing is easy. But, hardly anyone is here doing it. A half dozen boats were out on Friday, and with the breeze on Saturday, even less. Sunday, with more breeze, nobody sailed. The herring are over toward Ford Pond Bay, but getting them is still no big deal. And then it’s just a matter of heading out to the Rips and start catching. Most of the fish are in the ten pound range. Despite having plenty of bass around, in reality it’s just about all over for the charterboats.

The bottom fishing on the other hand will continue to draw some interest, especially the blackfishing over at Southwest Ledge, where it’s been great. The caveat though is you don’t want to fish it around the full and new moons, when the strong tides make it difficult.

More interest will start to pick up south of Block Island for codfish. Last winter the cod fishing was pretty much a bust, so there is some anxiety there. I doubt any of the “carpetbagger” boats will show up this winter until there is a good showing of the cod. A couple of the charterboats will be staying available throughout the winter.

The local Surfmasters contest is over, so I can stop posting this. The finals are as follows;
Wader Division
1st Place - Gary Krist - 29.15 lbs - 10/3
1st Place - Clever Oleas - 26.0 lbs - 9/22
2nd Place - Atilla Ozturk - 20.6 lbs - 9/20

Wetsuit Division
1st Place - John Bruno - 40.3 lbs - 9/29

Women’s Division
1st Place - Christine Schnell - 18.8 lbs - 10/2
2nd Place - Mary Ellen Kane - 14.0 lbs - 10/3
3rd Place - Cheryl Lackner - 11.8 lbs - 10/1

Youth Division (12 - 17 years)
1st Place - Dylan Lackner - 13.5 lbs - 10/1
2nd Place - James Kim Jr. - 13.5 lbs - 10/4
3rd Place - Phillip Schnell - 13.0 lbs - 9/26

Kids Division (7 - 11 years)
1st Place - Brian Damm - 14.6 lbs - 10/8
2nd Place - Witt Holmes - 13.8 lbs - 9/26
3rd Place - Brian Damm - 10.2 lbs - 9/24

For more reports, etc. check it out the Montauk Sportfishing forum at http://www.montauksportfishing.com/forum.html.

If you would like to get these weekly reports sent to you by e-mail, drop me a line at reports@montauksportfishing.com and if you need any other information about fishing in Montauk check out www.montauksportfishing.com

Capt Gene Kelly