Montauk Fishing Report (August 4, 2008) - Offshore and Inshore

This report brought to you by Captain Gene Kelly of MontaukSportFishing.com and includes both inshore and offshore reports (no mention of the Montauk Monster, thanks very much!).

The offshore fishing is getting more interesting every day.
The school bluefins over at the Gully have been cooperating a bit. I made the trip this past week for five of them around
30-35 pounds, but I saw an awful lot of them that didn’t want to eat. One school was about the size of a baseball
diamond. In addition to trolling I shut down and threw a popper into them and another time tried a diamond jig without
drawing a hit.

The shark fishing seems to be a mako or two or nothing, although a couple of boats reported a blue shark, but not enough
that you could count on catching one. Star Island is holding there Mako/Thresher Mania tournament on this Friday and
Saturday.

Offshore there are reports of occasional bigeyes, with a steadier pick of yellowfins and big mahi. But, it seems like you
have to get out at least to the 400 line. There are no temperature breaks to aim for, so just head out and throw them in
when you get far enough out. And, keep your ruler handy because a lot of the fins are on the small side.`

The striped bass fishing is holding up very nicely, with 25-30 pound fish making up the bulk of the catches. Most of the
charter boats are trolling now, even though the porgies are working well. It’s too much work to catch legal porgies. It
would be a lot easier if the “Green Guys” weren’t being so diligent.

The fluke fishing is also holding up surprisingly well, with plenty of shorts for the action and enough keepers that you
can be fairly confident of coming home with a meal or two. Sunday I finally saw a bunch of boats fishing at New
Grounds. Apparently the MARLIN PRINCESS was fishing down there most of the week and he finally started to draw
some fans along with him.


Mon. A.M. we had the pool at 6 lbs. won by Chris Smith
Tues.A.M. saw decent fishing with sea bass mixed in. The pool went to Lauren Schroeder with her fish at 6 1/2 lbs. and
Nancy Cutrofello had one at 4 1/4 lbs. P.M. trip had 8 keepers with Steve Hanstein winning the pool with his fish at 6 1/2
lbs.
Wed. A.M. was a good trip with 19 keepers coming over the rails. Mike Haupt won the pool with a 7.10 lber. and also
had 2 other keepers. His wife Christine had a nice 6.4 lber. and a very skilled Steve Hanstein had 4 keepers up to 5 lbs.
P.M. trip yielded 12 keepers and the pool fish went to Paul Bonifacic with a fish at 5 lbs.
Thurs. A.M. saw lots of action, but slow keeper wise. Pool fish was tied with a 4 lber. caught by Christine Haupt and
Andrea Armet. P.M. trip was excellent action wise but slow on the keepers. Fri. A.M. had 14 keepers and Mike Haupt
won the pool again with a beauty at 8 lbs. His wife Christine had a 6 lber. and Mary O'Donnell also had a 6 lber.
Sat. A.M. had 14 keepers and Patrick Bacaris back from Greece, landed a 9 1/2 lb. beauty, and Tom McMahon, always a
bridesmaid and never a bride, had an 8 lber. P.M. trip came in early due to t-storms.
Sun. A.M. had 7 nice keepers with Ben Vacula copping the pool with his fish at 6 lbs.