Surf fishing really hit stride this week with big stripers
in the wash at Montauk and along the South Shore from Shinnecock to Great Gun Beach. Bluefish filled the gaps between linesiders and also put in a North Fork showing at Goldsmiths Inlet.
"I was at Montauk during the week," said Richard Siberry at The Campsite Sporting Goods in Huntington Station, "and we hammered the fish during incoming water on pencil poppers, chartreuse bucktails and epoxy anchovy flies."
The bass and blues were so thick in the wash, said Siberry, that breakers at times seemed to hold 90-percent fish and ten-percent water! Most bass weighed under 20 pounds but there were cows in the mix.
The bass are surely on the move now and they seem to come through in bunches. The key is to time their arrival and then move south and west along the oceanfront as the action runs its course. The Montauk bite, for example, began Sunday on the north side of the lighthouse with Shagwong and North Bar lighting up first. The action then progressed to The Point and, finally, spilled into Turtle Cove.
If you can find some time between casts to crack open a good book, grab a copy of "A Season on the Edge: Stories From a Surfcaster's Year," by John Skinner (Nor'east Media, $16.95). The chapters are woven from a collection of stories culled from Skinner's detailed logs. Each passage provides a true sense of being in the wash while subtly offering surf fishing tips that apply anywhere along the striper coast. The book is available at local tackle shops and on-line at www.noreast.com. I was hooked from the very first sentence.
The surf may rule October, but boat-caught fish haven't been bashful. Stripers are plentiful off Montauk, Moriches Inlet and Jones Inlet, and big blues are still on patrol in Long Island Sound. On the bottom scene, Greenport and Orient porgy action is as good as it gets, while sea bass and ling trips have been super out of Shinnecock, Captree, Freeport, Point Lookout and Sheepshead Bay. Blackfish season opened Oct. 1, and catches have been solid with bulldogs to 14 pounds taken at Fishers Island on green crabs and fiddlers. Plenty of keepers have also come from Port Jefferson and Huntington.
On the hunting scene, bow season is off to a fine start, according to Chuck Hensel at the Archery Forum in Middle Island.
"There isn't much of a mast [acorn and nut] crop this year, so the deer need to visit fields to eat," Hensel said. "That's allowed archers to take some nice bucks already. Several have scored in the 120-class and one topped 140 points."
If ducks are your passion, be sure to check out the Freeport Tuna Club's, Waterfowl Hunting Seminar at 11 a.m., tomorrow. Topics covered will include back-bay hunting, decoys and dog training. Call (516) 851-8762 for details.
To learn more about fishing, register for the Adult Continuing Education Fishing Classes at West Islip High School. Sessions begin Tuesday and Rich Johnson, from The Fishing Line, is the instructor. Call 631-504-5616, or visit www.thefishingline.com.
If you desire to compete, the South Shore Surf Fishing Classic, sponsored by The Fisherman Magazine and Long Island State Parks, is slated for Oct. 17 - 19. Call (631) 345-5200.
Hot spots
1. Sheepshead Bay (Porgy/Sea Bass/Blues)
2. Point Lookout (Blues/Porgy/Sea Bass/Ling)
3. Jones Beach (Blues/Striped Bass)
4. Robert Moses Beach (Blues/Striped Bass)
5. Captree (Porgy/Sea Bass/Ling/Blues)
6. Huntington (Porgy/Blues/Blackfish)
7. Port Jefferson (Blues/Porgy/Blackfish)
8. Eaton's Neck (Porgy/Blues/Blackfish)
9. North Fork (Porgy/Blackfish/Blues)
10. Montauk (Stripers/Blues/False Albacore)
