Montauk Fishing Reports

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more 1975 celebrity montauk fishing photos

2009-07-11T12:23:00.002-04:00

Here are two more interesting photos from a deep sea fishing trip in Montauk (1975). Yes, the commenter is correct in the previous post...it's none other than B.M in dark shirt and white pants.

Montauk Fishing Report

2009-07-06T20:00:00.002-04:00

So I had a few short opportunities to throw my line into the water via surf. I hit a few spots on the south side with not much happening. However, I did get clued in on where to catch keeper fluke, bass and flounder...in Lake Montauk. I witnessed it personally. Here's a hint: find a good dock (with current) and fish the night.

The Lake is loaded with bait and the predators are following them in.

Kevin

2009-07-06T08:49:00.002-04:00

Here's an interesting Montauk fishing picture from 1975. Can you guess who the guy on the far left is? Submit your guess into the comments section.

I have a couple more pics like this one that I'll post soon.

Capt. Bob Tuma

2008-11-10T16:04:00.003-05:00

Unfortunately, I must tell you of another Montauk fishing legend that has passed about 10 days ago Capt. Bob Tuma passed away. He was 85.

Bob was a great guy and a great Captain. My brothers and I used to charter his boat "Dawn" frequently.

His family were part of the original charter boat business owners in Montauk.

He will be missed but not forgotten.

Montauk Surf Fishing Report (October 13, 2008)

2008-10-13T16:42:00.003-04:00

All I can say is WOW! The Montauk fall run is definitely here. Well, I can say more.

On the way out I received an email from Jason at TheFin. He was also on his way out and wanted to do some night fishing. He said he had a steady pick on the south side on Friday night into Saturday.

I wasn't so lucky on Saturday morning as I only had three shorts just before dawn and nothing for the next hour. Unfortunately, I only have a couple of hours in the morning to fish (you know...kids and all).

Saturday we spend the day at the Montauk Fall Festival which was organized by none other than my own Mom, Pat Shea. I may be biased, but I think it was the best one yet! If you didn't make it this year, don't miss it in 2009. It's a real treat for kids and adults with great food and drinks.

Anyway, after the festival we decided to take the kids to the beach down by Nick's. At about 2pm the birds started working and the water was boiling just east of us. It killed me but I watched as the massive schools blitzed the beach. It lasted for over an hour and I left feeling sorry for myself for not getting into the action.

Sunday was a little different. I left my pole and gear in the car when we went to the beach. It happened again, but this time all over the place. I could see the fish down by ditch and beyond IGA. Pockets of Bass and Blues all over the place.

I took advantage of the situation and grabbed my pole to get into the action. I caught quite a few large blues and a few short bass, but the action was awesome and the weather perfect.

Once again, the incoming tide was the trick.

A perfect weekend and some great fishing.

Don't forget...next weekend is the Hamptons International Film Festival. Once again, the Shea family is volunteering and we'll be helping out at the Montauk movie theater. Well, this year I'll be watching the kids, but say Hi to my wife Deirdre, brother Brean or mom...Pat.

Kevin

Thefin.com: What's your opinion?

2008-09-28T23:59:00.004-04:00

After further review, thefin.com turns out to be a better effort that I had originally thought.

First, let me tell you what I like. As Jason points out, there are some really interesting aspects to the "Find a Charter/Guide area. It's a nice interface to find a charter. However, I did have some difficulty finding a New York charter by using the map function...it was too cluttered. Using the zip lookup worked very well.

The videos are great! Watching them really gave me the itch to get back to the surf.

However, I must say that the site is still lacking something important. Even after I login I don't get the feeling anyone in the site has a connection to me. This is probably due to the newness of the community. If I were running the site I would recommend pushing relationships as soon as I registered...show me people who are related to me by geography, fishing types, etc.

If he is worried about the chicken/egg problem, I would recommend a direct online marketing campaign that targets registrations. Do some SEM and have the users hit a registration page immediately. Your registration conversions would be higher and that's what it's all about. Build relationships and show users who they are related to.

Let's give this guy the chance to show us he can make a great fishing SNS website. Go to thefin.com and register. The more of us there, the better the site will be...hopefully!

I want to hear from you. Please post to my blog and tell me what you think about the site.

Capt. Kevin

Update on thefin.com

2008-09-23T11:13:00.002-04:00

Jason Puris from thefin.com has taken the time to point out some things that I may have overlooked on his fishing networking site. Since he has taken the time to explain more about what is offered there, I will reciprocate by taking the time to review the site in more detail.

I plan to conduct a full review of this fishing social networking site within the next 5 days.

And yes, if I was wrong or hasty in my comments (it wouldn't be the first time), I will apologize.

In the meantime, I'm stuck in an office with my hands on a keyboard instead of navigating around the point :-(

Stay tuned...

Capt. Kevin

Fishing: the social networking dilemma

2008-09-22T23:59:00.003-04:00

The "dilemma" is basically this: Do I waste my time on these sites or not? My answer is simply NO. The reason is simple: The new fishing "social networking" sites that have launched recently are just plain WEAK.

For example, I looked at 2 sites recently thefin.com and anglingmasters.com. A friend of mine said he knew the guy who started thefin, so I gave it a fair shake. Anglingmasters was mentioned in techcrunch last year. Here's the skinny on these fishing sites: they both suck!

Hey guys (and gals), a nicely designed CMS does not a social networking website make. Do you know why there are only a few good SNS sites that are popular? It's because it's hard. It's hard because the true value of a social networking experience is the data relationships between your members and the interaction stimulus that you provide in the UI.

Both of these site owners must think pretty pictures and a couple of "celebrity" "fly guys" is a recipe for success. It's true that visuals for fishing fanatics (like me) are stimulating. But I want to know more about who and what I am related to more so than a picture of a guy kissing an illegal bluefin tuna from God knows where.

If you want a more interesting experience than what is offered today, I suggest you try your favorite forum. Personally, from my geo area, Noreast.com or surfrats.com are great places to start and get acquainted with people that want to INTERACT with you (i.e. socially network).

Sorry for the rant, but frankly, it had to be done. Us fishermen need good sites so we can share ideas and really connect. We don't need hyped up, wannabe celebrity driven websites that don't deliver.

(disclaimer: I am in the business of the internet and I was a charter captain out of Montauk)

Capt. Kevin

Montauk fishing report - September 22, 2008

2008-09-22T23:54:00.002-04:00

This montauk fishing report is from Gene Kelly, who is btw a ROCK STAR when it comes to getting you weekly reports from Montauk. If you don't get his report already, I suggest you do so: montauksportfishing.com. See my next post/rant about the new wave of bad social networking sites about fishing.

Here's some great stuff from Capt. Gene...offshore, inshore:

Today is the official start of fall, and it looks it outside. But for me, fall started Saturday when I went to Gaviola’s and all the winners from the 2007 Local’s Surf contest had been wiped clean.

Offshore fishing got a little interesting this past week when some bluefins started showing around the 650 line. The fish that were caught varied from 35 pounds to 100+ pounds and were caught both trolling and chunking. But, the weather is starting to play a big part. Thursday was good and a number of boats caught fish. Friday no one went. Saturday was marginal at best and I only know of one boat that went out there. He couldn’t get any bait from the one dragger that was there because the birds got the trash first, he couldn’t chunk because of the numbers of bluesharks, so he trolled all day, but only got one 40 pounder. Sunday the weather was good and I understand some fish were caught, but more boats stayed closer and did well with the sharks. I did hear of one fish around 50 inches being taken, and I suspect there were more.

The marine weather forecast for this week is as follows;
Tuesday- NE winds 15 to 20 kt with gusts up to 25 kt. Seas 3 to 5 ft.
Tuesday Night- NE winds 15 to 20 kt with gusts up to 25 kt. Seas 4 to 6 ft.
Wednesday - E winds 10 to 15 kt with gusts up to 20 kt. Seas 4 to 6 ft.
Wednesday Night - E winds 15 to 20 kt with gusts up to 25 kt. Seas 4 to 7 ft.
Thursday - E winds 20 to 25 kt with gusts up to 30 kt. Seas 7 to 10 ft.
Friday - NE winds 20 to 25 kt with gusts up to 30 kt. Seas 9 to 12 ft. A chance of showers

There has been a bill introduced to get us out of the TWIC requirement. It was written by Senator Coleman and is S.3377. There is opposition to this bill and the only way it will be adopted is if you call your Congressman and/or Senator and say you fully support Senator Coleman’s bill They are going to vote on this before they leave session which is in the next few days so please do what you can to help get this bill passed.

Montauk Fishing Report (August 19, 2009) - inshore/offshore

2008-08-19T17:06:00.002-04:00

This report comes from Gene Kelly from MontaukSportfishing.com If you are looking for a charter, give him a buzz:

I’m a little out of touch this week since I spent most of it working on a boat problem The port engine didn’t suck. I had to install a new suction tube in the fuel tank, and with only one welder in town it got to be a pretty big deal. But it’s working now.

The fluke fishing is still holding up remarkably well, and you don’t have to travel a dozen miles west any more. The fish have moved closer to the point and even the half day boats are doing well with good size fish.

Striped bass fishing is also very good. For the last couple of years we had somewhat of a lull in the bass fishing in mid summer, but it hasn’t happened yet, and if it hasn’t happened by now it probably won’t. The average size of the fish being caught is still up there too.

Offshore the tuna fishing is a little disappointing. Apparently there are still some bluefins over by the Fairway Buoy, but not many and it is easier to not catch one than to be successful. Offshore what yellowfins there are are on the small side, and no sign of any longfins at all. The most yellowfins are around the 400 line, but the better size fish, along with bigeyes are south of the edge. There are a surprising amount of white marlin out there.

Shark fishing is still on the slow side, since there are few blue sharks around. But there are makos and threshers, so if you catch a shark, it’s probably going to be the right type.

One of Montauk's great ones has passed

2008-08-11T12:21:00.006-04:00

It is of extreme sadness that I write about the passing of one of the finest human beings I have ever met. Nick Deane, the owner of Nick's on the Beach in Montauk, passed away this weekend. My condolences to Claire, his wife, and the other members of his surviving family. Montauk will not be the same without you.

Nick is someone who influenced my life significantly. How? It was partially because my wife worked at his restaurant in Montauk; it was partially how our wedding reception was held there in 2003; it was partially because of his ability to make me always feel welcome. But, the main reason he influenced my life was his infectious smile. He had a way about him that always made me feel like smiling. When my wife and I ever needed an upbeat moment, we would always say..."Let's go see Nick".

Nick, we miss you already, but we're going to keep smiling. Thank you!

Capt. Kevin Shea
Deirdre Kilroy-Shea
Killian Shea (son)
Marina Shea (daughter)

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

2008-08-06T16:14:00.002-04:00

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.

Montauk Monster rumors flying around forums

2008-08-02T10:22:00.003-04:00

People are talking about this montauk creature like wildfire in forums. Check out this chart from Twing.com comparing the terms "montauk monster" to the terms "gas prices". Their relative strength is almost equal! Now that's viral.

Here is a link to discussions about the Montauk Monster. I love the comment from the user "Caminsky" on the 3.8 Mustang Message Board: "Is it werid that this picture makes me hungry?"

LOL, that's good stuff!

And it's not just the NY/LI/Montauk forums discussing it. They are talking about this thing in forums and discussion boards across the country.

I wonder when someone will figure out how to leverage this into a fishing excursion. It puts a new spin on the old Frank Mundus promotion of fishing for MONSTERS!

Anyway, I still think this is a (really good) PR stunt :-)

Capt. Kevin

Montauk Monster - a hoax??

2008-07-31T14:52:00.003-04:00

So the story goes that some dog/bird/rat like creature washed up on some beach in Montauk a couple of days ago. Here is a picture of the "monster" in question:

Personally, it looks like a fake to me, but you be the judge. Also, I don't see any reference to Montauk in the picture. This sand could be on any beach. Could this somehow be some PR stunt by a newly opened restaurant on Edgemere? hmmm...

I will say this, if it washed up next to my feet while I was surf fishing in the pre-dawn hours, I might have been a little rattled :-)

Let me know what you think about this story.

Capt. Kevin Shea

Montauk Fishing Report (May 19, 2008) - stripers and fluke

2008-05-23T11:14:00.002-04:00

From Capt. Gene Kelly of MontaukSportfishing...

The striped bass and fluke fishing is off to a great start, with enough of both to go around.

The bass are mostly around 10-12 pounds with an occasional fish pushing twenty pounds, but just about all the charter boats have been coming in with their limits. There are also a lot of bluefish around, but for those who want bass they are fairly easy to avoid. Just don’t go near the birds. The fishing has been with the good old chartreuse parachutes.

Fluke are concentrated on the south side with most boats fishing off the Radar stand. There are plenty of shorts, with enough keepers mixed in to keep up the interest. The party boat pool winners have usually been around six pounds or so. Unlike the bass fishing where weather doesn’t much matter, a slow or fast drift or big swells can effect the fluke bite.

From the MARLIN VI PRINCESS: Fishing on Friday was great. With only 5 fares Capt. Eddie did not hold back. Conditions for fishing were great and everyone on the boat limited out.

From MISTRESS TOO: On Friday’s all day trip, the Charde group had their limit of Stripers as well as twenty fluke up to 28

From the HERLS GIRL: On Saturday afternoon the Blanco party caught their limit of bass up to 20 pounds.

Montauk Fishing Report (May 12, 2008)

2008-05-16T14:04:00.005-04:00

Captain Gene Kelly gives us some recent news about what's happening in montauk. You can find more recent Montauk fishing reports and discussions.

Begin report from Capt. Kelly...

LAZYBONES claimed that he wasn’t going to do any flounder fishing in the lake this year since it has been so lousy the
last couple of years. But, some friends were BS’ing with him at the boat one nice day and he decided to give it a shot,
just for something to do. And they caughty some fish, so over the weekend he sailed a couple of trips and caught what
amounted to a couple of years worth of flounders.

And, speaking of flounders I hear that there are an awful lot of them over at Block Island’s Hooter Buoy.

HERLS GIRL made the first trip of the season on Saturday and brought back a dozen nice stripers, all between fiftenn
and twenty pounds. That’s a pretty good start.

Fluke season starts on the fifteenth, and it should start out pretty good also. The pinhookers have been doing very well,
catching fifty or so fish per trip, with about a third of them qualifying as legal fish. They are held to a max of 70 pounds
per day.

The pressure is off on the TWIC cards. The regs were just changed, and they won’t be required until mid April of 2009.
If they had decided that two weeks ago I could have saved thge $20 that I lost to the Indians.

From the LAZYBONES: “Got out Sat. A.M. and caught 10 keeper flounders in Lake Montauk. High hook was Greg
Ferdinand with 4 flatties. P.M. trip produced 6 keepers and they bit on mussels and worms. Sun. A.M. had 5 keepers in
the Lake with the bait being the same as yesterday. All in all, not to shabby for flounder fishing. It was good to finally see
some sort of a come back.”
If you would like to have these reports sent top you directly, drop me a line at captgene@montauksporttfishing.com

Twing.com - interesting new community search

2008-01-31T07:23:00.000-05:00

There's an interesting new search site available for people looking for more fishing reports in Montauk and elsewhere. Since many reports are posted in bulletin boards (forums, bbs, etc.), this site searches only that type of content across many communities.

The site is called Twing and it just went live in "beta" recently. Here's an example of a query I ran for Montauk fishing. The goal of the site is built into the tagline: Twing - Search and Discover Communities.

Searching or browsing the directory will show you that it has a wide range of discussions available across multiple verticals. Fishing is only one topic available that is near and dear to my heart :-)

(Note: Yes, I do work for the company so drop me a note if you have any suggestions. But remember, it's in beta so work continues...obviously.)

Montauk Fishing Report - August 21, 2007

2007-08-23T14:48:00.000-04:00

From Capt. Gene of Montauk Sportfishing. Thanks to him for the weekly updates! This report includes inshore and offshore fishing reports...

We had a little taste of fall on Saturday with a fairly strong little north wind. Only a few boats got out in the morning, but most were able to get the afternoon in. I always expect the first sign of fall the last week of August or so, but it’s here early this year.

Long range boats heading out towards the edge are coming back with mixed reports. Sunday afternoon I spoke to two captains just back. One had a mix of albacore and yellowfins, ten in all, and the other one mahi. If you go over them you catch, often in multiples. If you don’t, you don’t. The blow on Saturday mixed the water up considerably lowering the water temps down as low as 68 degrees or so. Otherwise everything else is the same, with all the action below the 450 line.

Shark action remains fairly steady with a good amount of small makos being caught daily along with some bluesharks. Most of the boats are fishing east of the Butterfish Hole and inside of the 750 line, and they are seeing a fair amount of draggers out there as well. A couple of giants have been brought into Montauk this week, all from southeast of Block Island.

Inshore things remain a little picky with both the stripers and fluke. Trolling seems to be producing the best bass, although there are some boats catching on the live scup or by bunker dunking. But there just don’t seem to be a lot of bass around, and boats have to work pretty hard to put a trip together. Fluke fishing is producing a lot of fluke and some very nice ones, but it seems that the fluke population has been pretty much picked over. There doesn’t seem to be an awful lot of edible ones left.

Montauk Fishing Reports - August 13, 2007

2007-08-17T11:53:00.001-04:00

Submitted by Capt. Gene of Montauk Sportfishing - Includes Star Island Mako Mania shark tournament results plus inshore and offshore details

The shark huggers were out in force on Saturday for the Star Island Makomania Tournament. All eight of them, smiling and waving at all the cars driving past them on their way to see the “needless slaughter” of a half dozen or so sharks. They were there for all of an hour on Saturday, but not on Friday.

Before the captains meeting on Thursday there were thirty-eight boats signed up for the tournament, but they still wound up with sixty-eight entries. To me that is mind boggling, seeing as how the forecast was for conditions that would rate at least a six on Capt Phil Lewis’s old “hideometer”. And the forecast was right. The results are as follows;
1st Place Mako - SHARK TALE - 156 lbs

2nd Place Mako - SILVER FOX - 134 lbs

3rd Place Mako - CHAS’N TAIL - 114 lbs

1st Place Thresher - REEL GAMES - 171 lbs

2nd Place Thresher - REEL GAMES - 151 lbs.
The mako fishing is excellent right now. You’ll notice I didn’t say shark fishing. There are lots of makos around, but no big ones. Many are under a hundred pounds down to what we call “toenail clippers”

Way offshore the tuna bite is till OK, but you have to get below the 450 line, and you’ll do even better down in the 300’s. There is nothing in closer.

Inshore, the fluke bite died off a bit. It was red hot all week, and for the edible kind, but by the weekend it slowed a bit. It may have been because of the conditions resulting from Friday’s blow.

The striped bass fishing is either good or difficult depending on who you talk to. For the last couple of years we’ve had a slow period in July with fishing improving as we got a little into August, so hopefully things will start to get more consistent soon.

The recession that the charter boats are going through is getting fairly serious. Typically August is the busiest month, with September having the best overall fishing. When I had my boat I would often leave a day or two open during August just to be able to catch my breath, but nobody has to do that now with virtually every boat sitting at least a couple of days each week. Normally I don’t use a cellphone, but during the summer months I get a prepaid one and have calls forwarded from my regular phone to the cellphone when I am out. This year things are so slow, that I don’t even bother to carry the thing around anymore.

Montauk Fishing Report - August 6, 2007 - sharks, tuna, stripers, fluke

2007-08-17T11:51:00.000-04:00

This report comes from Capt. Gene Kelly of "Montauk Sportfishing", includes inshore and offshore fishing reports for Montauk.

That was a crappy little bit of global warming early in the week. I went offshore on Monday and spent the whole day in the tower, something I rarely do, but it was the only cool place on the boat.

The offshore fishing is continuing pretty good, with a good amount of yellowfins and albacore, and a surprising amount of wahoo (that usually signal their presence by biting off your lure) and blue marlin. There are also lots of mahi. But, you have to make the run at least out as far as the 450 line. Anything much closer than that is probably a waste of time, although that can always change.

The shark fishing is staying the same, a couple or three blue sharks a trip, with occasional makos thrown in. Star Island is holding their Mako & Thresher Mania Tournament this Friday and Saturday. I wonder if the shark huggers will show up?

Inshore the fishing is improving, especially with the fluke. There have been plenty of fluke being caught all along, but this week the quality jumped up considerably with lots of folk catching their limits of eating size fish, and it doesn’t seem to matter where you fish. Pick a spot that has been good to you in the past and you’ll probably do OK.

Striped bass fishing is improving as well, with charter boats starting to come back with limit catches. Live scup are catching as is trolling. But be careful with the porgies. A couple of boats got ticketed again this week for shorties.

Montauk Fishing Report - July 16, 2007 - MBCA Shark Tournament

2007-07-19T13:25:00.001-04:00

This report brought to you by Capt. Gene of MontaukSportFishing. It includes the results from the MBCA shark tournament.

Threshers rule!

The MBCA had its charity shark tournament (six $1000 awards to local college gowers) and it was all threshers all the time. One 108 lb mako was weighed in and no blue sharks, along with eight threshers ranging in size from 143 lbs to 518 lbs. The following are the results;

#32 ADIOS Thresher 518 lbs

#15 DOUBLE HEADER Thresher 515 lbs

#20 HURRYUP Thresher 425 lbs

#29 JOY SEA Thresher 364 lbs

#25 ARC ANGEL Thresher 355 lbs

#5 TUNA TANGLER Thresher 250 lbs

#5 TUNA TANGLER Thresher 202 lbs

#3 RIDGE RUNNER Thresher 143 lbs

#1 FINEST KIND Mako 108 lbs

Overall the shark fishing has been excellent with three to four fish being caught about average, mostly bluesharks, but there have also been hammerheads, a tiger along with the usual makos and threshers being caught. And, more and more school bluefins being seen every day, as well as some being caught. Nice sized fish too, forty to fifty pounds.

Inshore, the fluke fishing is great, even if the eating isn’t. Lots of fish in the rips with lots and lots in the almost keeper size, along with occasional eating size fish.

Bass fishing is kind of up and down, with no rhyme or reason. One tide it’s great, the next it’s difficult. Parachutes and the big tubes are doing the job for the wire liners, but more boats are using the live scup. Bigger but fewer fish are on the baits. Also, I heard about the DEC checking out some boats for short scup, so be careful out there.

Montauk Fishing Reports - Inshore/offshore - July 9, 2007

2007-07-10T14:09:00.000-04:00

A call-in fishing report to me from Colin was an interesting one. He was using bucktails (with rind) in Fort Pond Bay looking for Striped bass, but started catching fluke! A lot of fluke! Within a couple of ours he had about 20 with many being "close" to keeper size. Thanks for the report colin. Send your pictures next time.

Anyone can submit reports to me at info@fishingmontauk.com

The following is from Capt. Gene Kelly of Montauk Sportfishing. He recaps the offshore shark and tuna bite, as well as, the inshore action.

============================

I usually post these reports on Monday morning, but a last minute decision to go fishing changed that.

Offshore the waters are in the mid to upper sixties and green, with eelgrass floating in it and as many inshore birds like terns and seagulls as shearwaters and petrels. But there are sharks too, with enough bluesharks still around to provide action along with occasional makos and threshers. Tuna sightings though are very few and far between.

The last of the early season shark tournaments is this weekend, being held at Star Island on Saturday and Sunday. This is sponsored by the Boatman’s and Captain’s association, and most of the proceeds go toward college money for local kids. It looks like you will be safe from the sharkhuggers, so stop by and buy something.

Inshore things are going well. If we had last years fluke regs it would be great as there are lots of fish less than an inch short around, especially out in the rips.

Bass fishing is steady, with trollers and live baiters doing well. Everything is working, but catches are kind of up and down, with some days and tides better than others. But I guess that’s fishing.

Montauk Fishing Report - July 2, 2007 - shark tournament results

2007-07-04T15:51:00.000-04:00

The following montauk fishing report is brought to you by Capt. Gene Kelly of MontaukSportfishing:

I guess the shark huggers have decided that they have done enough to stop the “cruel shark tournaments”, since they were no where to be found at the Marine Basins tournament this weekend.
There were plenty of sharks though. Ninety-seven boats fished and weighed in eighteen threshers, five makos and a number of bluesharks. The following are the results;
LARGEST SHARK OVERALL - 519 LBS - THRESHER - TRUCE
1st Place Mako - 299 LBS - ULTIMATE
2nd Place Mako - 224 LBS - TUG N TOW
3rd Place Mako - 172 LBS - CRACKED OAR
1st Place Blue( tie) - 264 lbs - WHASSUP
1st Place Blue ( tie) - 264 lbs - OFF DUTY
3rd Place Blue - 256 lbs - ON THE EDGE
1st Place Other - 519 lbs - THRESHER TRUCE
2nd Place Other - 490 Lbs - THRESHER - PANCHO
3rd Place Other - 465 Lbs - THRESHER - FINCASTLE

Overall the number of sharks being caught each day has dropped off as the main body of bluesharks are moving east, but the threshers and some makos will be here for a while now. It would be nice if there were more makos, but what can you do? Now that the bluesharks are moving out, I can go shark fishing. The owner of the boat that I run would rather sit and wait for one exotic than catch a bunch of bluesharks.

Inshore, things are progressing nicely. Bass are being taken with regularity by the trollers and the scup dunkers are starting to take their share. The fact that there are guys fishing with live porgies is an indication of how good the porgy fishing is. For the last couple of years that kind of fishing didn’t get started until late July or so.

I finally found some doggies while trying for seabass at Rocky Hill, but they sure aren’t around like they have been for the past couple of year, thank God. Guys drifting in the Frisbees area have been doing OK with a mixture of fluke and seabass. And at times better than just OK. It’s just a matter of being there at the right time, mainly on the flood tide. Out in the rips there are fluke, but for me it’s not would it should be as far as numbers are concerned.

I was checking out the EEZ line on the GPS and made a pleasant discovery. The west end is around 14639-43869, but then it shoots north, instead of curling to the west like I assumed. This means that the Alaska Rips are in state waters. That’s one of the main places for late fall bassing and if it was out of bounds would have really hurt.

Montauk fishing report - June 25, 2007

2007-06-27T12:32:00.000-04:00

The following montauk fishing report is brought to us by Capt. Gene of MontaukSportfishing. Sharks, Striped Bass, fluke, seabass, porgies

Motauk Marine Basin has it's shark tournament this weekend. I wonder if the protesters will be there. They can certainly get closer to the action at the Marine Basin than they did at Star Island. Overall the shark fishing is pretty good with lots of blue sharks, and occasional, very occasional threshers. Not much if anything in the way of makos though, even though the mid sixty degree water is right. And, I haven't heard about any bluefins being sighted yet.

Striped bass fishing is kind of up and down, with some days or tides excellent and others a bit of a struggle. And live porgies aren't the answer, as those guys aren't do much. I don't think there are enough of the larger fish around right now.

It's a similar situation with the fluke. Get to the right place at the right time and you can do alright, but otherwise it's kind of picky. Seabass are mixing in with the fluke. I'm kind of leery about mentioning this, but the doggies are not the same kind of problem that they have been for the last couple of years. I hear occasional complaints, but nothing that can't be dealt with.

You can take this with a grain of salt. I know I did. A couple or reputable captains have told me about a boat fishing at Gardiners Island that caught a fluke that had been filleted. No meat on either side. It's internals were OK. I know that I have filleted fluke that were alive that kept wiggling after I was finished, so I guess it is possible. I assume that it was short fish.

You don't need a grain of salt for this one. A Rhode Island charter boat was ticketed for fishing in the EEZ at Southwest Ledge this week The fine is supposed to be $1200. They're watching!

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