8/30/10

The weatherman has started affecting bookings. I know one boat that was canceled for
Saturday’s trip because of big bad hurricane Danielle. And I’m sure there will be others
later this week because of Earl, whether he gets here or not. Right now it is supposed to
be about due south of the city and east of Hatteras by early Friday morning, be curving to
the east and be south of Nova Scotia by early Saturday morning. Whatever happens, we
are going to see some effects of it.

It looks like the weather early in the week had an effect on the fishing, especially
offshore. The good news is that there are giants in the Mudhole - and they are being
caught, although not in great numbers. All the other tuna news is non-existent. The Edge
was pretty much a bust over the weekend. There may of been some fish caught, but every
boat that I know of that made the run came back with only some mahi. Shark fishing
dropped off as well, with quite a few “shark dummies” over the weekend.

Inshore the fishing for seabass is still producing numbers, but the size of the fish leaves a
lot to be desired. A while back and you didn’t even bother to measure fish. If it looked
doubtful, throw it back. Now it seems like you have to measure everyone. Fluke fishing
has been a problem as well, although I lucked on three keepers in one drift. The next drift
over the same place I didn’t even get a short. That seems to be pretty typical. Porgies are
still good though.

There are still too many bluefish around, but for the most part most of the charter boats
have been able to work around them. It’s been more of a problem for boats using live
bait. It’s discouraging to spend a half hour or so catching porgies and then get them all bit
in half on the first couple of drifts.

If you would like to receive these reports directly, drop me a line at
captaingene@montauksportfishing.com