Typical Montauk Fall Blitz (almost)

well, i think i made the trip to Montauk two weeks too late.  the wind on Sunday was around 20 mph, gusting to around 30 mph.  unlike prior years, there were hardly any boats on the water...about 7 in total.  while most of the boats had cancelled their outings, we decided to brave the elements.  believe it or not, we didn't see any striped bass or albies, and the blues were of typical Montauk size...a bit on the smaller side.  all in all, around 10 blues in about 3.5 hours.  oh well, that's fishing.

Timing is EVERYTHING

the fishing has started to get good.  really good.

about a week ago, i caught my personal best bluefish.  15 lbs.  pow!  the brute took me on a sleigh ride all around the harbor, and it took me 20 minutes to reel in.  i was on my kayak, and was having the hardest time working it.  if i set the drag too loose, it would take off.  if the drag was too tight, it would just drag me around.  it was hard enough trying not to bump into the boats tied up on their moorings.  when i finally landed it, and laid it down inside the kayak, its head and those chompers were six inches from my crotch.  yowzers!  a bit too close for comfort.  i didn't even take a picture as i wanted that thing weighed and released pronto.

this past weekend, i had one of my best days fishing ever.  i had been going to this local outflow area where i was having fun catching snappers and small stripers on light tackle.  on thursday night, i caught 7 snapper blues and 1 tiny striped bass on zoom flukes in the arkansas shiner color in about 1.5 hours of fishing.  not bad, but not great.  (i know what you are thinking...why would i use soft plastics with blues around?  the answer is that i had no choice.  for whatever reason, they wouldn't hit anything else.)

i considered it good practice as i was perfecting the slow retrieve/twitch that would prove to be key.  i went back around the same tide on friday, and it was completely different.  stripers were busting on bait everywhere!  i kid you not, i landed 20+ stripers in 1 hour.  the largest was 32", and the rest were around 25-26".  for about 40 minutes, i caught a striper every cast....literally.  some other anglers saw all the commotion, and came over and tried to join in.  they asked what i was using, and i told them that the zoom super salty flukes were producing, and I even gave them a few.  they couldn't get the presentation right, so i was the only one catching fish.  all that practice paid off.  the crazy thing was that i left to go home even with the fish still biting.

i ended up taking one home and you can see what they were gorging themselves on...peanut bunker.

on saturday, i went back around the same tide again, and while i caught 7 stripers, the largest one was 14".  it is really amazing how timing is everything.  i'm studying my log to see if i can pinpoint why friday was so different than thursday and saturday.

also, i'm headed to east long island this weekend, and going to Montauk on Sunday to fish the blitz.  this time around, i'm going to focus more on taking pictures for the blog (when i'm not chasing the albies).

stay salty.  XXA

Montauk, October 2011

so, after seeing First Images from Surf & Inshore Fly Fishing 2011 by Peter Laurelli, i started to go through my own videos.  while Peter's video is nicely done, mine are amateur, and poor quality.  but they still get me excited for next year!  in the first video, check out that albie zipping along the top edge!  what's crazy is that every 1-2 boats had their own pod.

Where, Where, Where Are You?

i'm sure by now, you all have seen the video that everyone has posted.  it's Peter Laurelli's "First Images from Surf & Inshore Fly Fishing 2011".  if you haven't, watch it below.  it's freakin' awesome.  my only question is, which CT & NY flats are shown?  i'm giddy watching the scene where the guy is crouching on the flats boat and strip strikes.  goosebumps.  i'm thinking Gardiner's Bay or the Norwalk Islands area.  anybody have any ideas?


First Images from Surf & Inshore Fly Fishing 2011 from Peter Laurelli on Vimeo.