Montauk Sportfishing Report 7/7/08

[captgenekelly]

7/7/08

The biggest change in the fishing this week was the July 1 start of the commercial bass season. All of a sudden it looked
like the charter business was picking up, but only because a lot of guys started using up their tags. Normally they don’t
start doing that until late summer or fall, but these aren’t normal times.

Both the bass fishing and fluke fishing are up and down. You can always catch lots of short fluke, but catching
something to eat is a different matter. One day it’s good and the next it’s not, but there are some real nice fish around
when you do find them. Bass fishing is similar in that one day it’s a lot of shorts and you have to scratch for some
keepers and the next day there are plenty of keepers.

Some guys have started using the porgies, but that’s not a sure answer. If you use legal porgies, it takes a pretty nice size
bass to be able to eat it, and there are not that many around. Of course you could use short baits, but “they’re watching”

The “surf sharpies” have been doing pretty good with the big bass. Gary “The Toad” Stephens took a 54.80 pound bass
and Paul “the Skisher” took one of 38 pounds over the weekend.

Getting offshore info is tough because so few offshore charters are being booked, but I have yet to hear of anyone being
a “shark dummy” and most are still catching at least a half dozen bluesharks per trip with an occasional mako or thresher
popping up as well.

The MBCA tournament is being held this Saturday and Sunday out of Star Island Yacht Club. This event is non profit,
with the proceeds being passed along to local college students. If you have nothing to do, stop by and buy a tee shirt.

A couple of private boats made the run to the edge over the weekend, with hardly anything to show for it.

From the BLUEFIN IV: The most interesting trip on the this week was on Wednesday. We set out with a father and son,
and a grandfather, son and grandson trip. First, 7 year old Charlie caught a 38 and an 18 lb Striper. Others caught blues
and small bass. We had to drop-off one father son combo because they didn't feel well. We headed back out at 8am and
set out a shark slick about 18 miles from the Point. Soon, Charlie caught a 150 lb Blue Shark ! Austin took the next bite.
After two cartwheeling jumps (one was so near the boat that he threw bluefish pieces all over the bow), we boated a 209
lb MAKO. David, Charlie's father, hooked a 200 lb. Blue Shark. As we were releasing it, Charlie thought he spotted
more sharks, but is was 20 porpoises that hung around while we got ready to go in !!

If you would like to get these reports sent to you directly, drop me a line at captgene@montauksportfishing.com and I’ll
put you on the list.

Capt Gene Kelly - Montauk Sportfishing

[paraman]

Over the weekend a 71+ lb Bass was caught as well as numerous other large fish. Info should be in the Fisherman magazine next week. The Fish was caught on the troll!!!!
paraman