7/28/08

Shark fishing is now at what I call “one bite” fishing, and a couple of boats this past week had no bites and came back
“shark dummies”. There is a lack of bluesharks, so what you are fishing for are mainly makos and threshers, and you just
don’t catch one on every trip.

Apparently there are some school bluefins being caught southeast of Block Island by Rhode Island boats, but I don’t
know of any Montauk charter boat that is going to go looking for them, or even go shark fishing that far away. Out on
the edge, there are some yellowfins being taken by boats that were willing to head out there in the crappy conditions as
well as occasional bigeyes. A private boat out of Star Island got one over two hundred pounds out of the five that
crashed his lures.

Inshore the striped bass fishing is pretty damn good, with a great cull. Many, many fish of 25-35 pounds are being taken
with some larger ones thrown in. The trolling boats seem to be catching the most, but those using porgies tend to catch
fewer but larger fish. The guys tagging bass are having a hard time of it. They are limited to fish between 24” - 36”, and
naturally they would prefer to catch the larger ones. But, the only ones around that fit into the slot are of the smaller
variety.

Fluke fishing consists of plenty of action with enough keepers around for most everybody to be able to have a nice
dinner. Hopefully the DEC won’t pull another trick like last year and close the season early.

The charter boat business sucks. Check around the docks on a Saturday and everyone is out. Sunday maybe half the
boats are out. During the week it’s like a morgue. I was speaking to one captain who, except for weather, hasn’t missed a
day in August in ten years. As of now he has a dozen or so open dates in August, and is unlikely to book most of them. A
top booking charter boat will typically book most of his dates a couple of months in advance, and doesn’t get many short
notice trips.

From LAZYBONES:
Mon.A.M. had Dave Harrison win the pool with his fish at 6.7 lbs. and Kelly Pallidino out fished her husband and
landed a nice 5 lber. P.M. trip saw Andy Chiodi win the pool with a fish at 6 lbs. Tues. A.M. had Frank Agostino leading
with his fish at 6 lbs. P.M. trip saw a mixed bag of porgies and sea bass and Mike Young had pool honors with a fish at
5 1/2 lbs. Wed. A.M. had MaryBeth Vanacore take home the pool and two nice fish at 4 1/2 and 4 lbs. P.M. trip saw a
tied pool with each fish at 5 lbs. Poll winners were Darrell Wassil and Peter Link. Thurs. A.M. had Patrick Lynch cop
the pool with his fish at 5 lbs. P.M. no sail due to weather. Fri. A.M. had 10 keepers come over the rails and Chris Beatty
took pool honors with his fish at 5 1/2 lbs. P.M. trip had son of T.C.G., Paul Young with a beauty at 7 lbs. and Ed
Yankowski had a 12 lb. striped bass. Sat. A.M. had Anthony Nino cop the pool with a fish at 6 1/4 lbs. and Tom
McMahon just missed out with his fish at 6 lbs. P.M. trip had T.C.G. win the pool with his fish at 5 1/4 lbs..

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