New York Metro &
New Jersey

October 24th, 2003

Weather Junky

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Some guys are addicted to booze, some people drugs, some folks can’t stop eating and some can’t help but frequent the online adult content sites…  Me, I’m addicted to Internet weather sites…  At least when I’m not fishing…  I can’t go 30-minutes without checking the forecast on at least 3 different sites.  I concentrate intently, sometimes for up to an hour, on the marine forecast trying to read between the lines…  I can frequently be heard yelling to no one but myself “What the H does “around 15-knots” mean!!!”  Deadlines don’t matter to me anymore…  The wife yelling at me is just background noise.  Phone calls go un-noticed and nothing else matters but that blue and white computer screen with wind speeds and directions.  I’ve tried to control it…  Even went an hour and a half today cold turkey…  But I just can’t help myself!  I have to go back on those sites.  It’s starting to interfere with my psychological well-being!  Are there any others out there…  If so we all need help! 

After all, the weather this year has been so wacky and so unpredictable, the existence of these sites and their ability to lock us in has created a vast number of amateur meteorologists and I’m one of them.  I need to know in real-time what the weather is going to be so I can plan my days.  These sites have come to control our lives!!!  It used to be I was at the pier no matter what the 6:00PM forecast was, because odds were it was going to be fishable. Not so these days.  More times than not it’s bad!  If Mother Nature would just settle down and relax I wouldn’t have this problem.  Unfortunately she didn’t do so for most of this week. 

While the fall run is in full swing now, unfortunately, so is the wind… Boy did it crank this week and over the weekend there was probably the biggest swell of the year…  So big you couldn’t see the horizon.  Not optimal fishing conditions but darn if the surf wasn’t good.  But despite the weather, It’s that time of the year where the south, central and north coasts of New Jersey as well as the New York Metro area, West and East Ends of long Island are all equally on fire. Those days flyfishermen could get out, things were outstanding in all the regions.  Grand slams are not only possible on outings they are frequent! 

In New Jersey albies are still afoot and bass and bluefish have been blitzing right up along the beach line.  Some large bass have worked their way into the sandbar areas of the New York Bight and are very aggressive, smashing mullet during dawn hours. Schoolies are abundant up in the Harbor and large blues have become frequent visitors.  Albies have worked their way in the harbor as well…  Raritan Bay is beginning to show keeper bass inside along the structure and Jamaica Bay is just loaded with Peanut Bunker.  Schoolie bass and bluefish can be found in the AM hours blitzing them relentlessly.  The big ones can’t be far behind and I expect the comming cold front to really light up Jamaica Bay.  The North Shore of Western Long Island is seeing some albie action while the South Shore has displayed some good action from the beach.   The central North Shore is still loaded with bonito and false albacore, and the striper fishing is really just beginning.  The east end is just awesome, with daily bass blitzes of unbelievable proportions.  The albies out there have yet to let up.

Now let’s do something about this weekend weather. Looks different every time I check, but I’m trying very hard to just leave it alone.  Regardless I’ll give it a shot and you should too!!!  Go fish!

And don’t forget to email me your own reports. Tight lines all.

Tight Lines!

John McMurray

New Jersey

Captain Gene Quigley from Shore Catch Guide Service reports good action this week with bluefin tuna entering the picture offshore…  Check it out:

John,

Things are still ROCKIN down here and it seems for once the peanut bunker migration is a bit early. Not sure if that is good or bad, nevertheless the bass and blues are here and blitzes are occurring every day throughout Monmouth and Ocean County with BIG blues and bass up to 15-20 lbs. Albies are still here in good numbers and the Bluefin bite is starting to pick up really good out in the Mudhole.

We will be taking the weekend off from both our boat and beach charters as we will be running our first annually Shore Catch Surf & Jetty "Grand Slam" Fly Fishing School here in Seaside Park, NJ.

Talk to you soon!

There were a lot of large stripes as well as blues working mullet in the shallow stuff this week…  The surf guys are getting them and the guys working the jetties were as well…  Boats fishing the shallow sandbars during the infrequent windless days are scoring well and the structure spots are producing more and more fish.  Jamaica Bay is beginning to show its colors as peanut bunker are think in all the usual spots.  Mostly just schoolies as of now but expect it to bust open this weekend. 

Raritan Bay is fishing well also.  Check out Captain Joe Mattioli from On The Bight Charters’ report:

Hi John
 
Bluefish and False Albacore were Blitzing peanut Bunker and rainfish. Plenty of fish to cast to but very finicky with tons of bait to choose from they can be very selective. Deceivers worked for the bluefish while epoxy flies for the Albies.
I have Choice dates Available
Capt. Joe Mattioli
On The Bite Charters

Captain David Azar from One More Cast Charters also reports good action…  Check it out:

     This past week brought super fishing to Jamaica Bay and a chance to catch a Northeast slam!
     Again the action was concentrated around the Breezy Point Jetty.  Striped bass, bigger bluefish and gazillions of false albacore were all on hand.  Throughout the week nice size stripers were working the surface in shallow water and taking big black flies and plugs early in the morning before the sun got too high.  Also we found birds working over big blues that were taking poppers, flies, plugs, tins, or just about anything we threw at them!  And then with a little more sun and a running tide the albies were popping up all over the place, literally driving us crazy, until we realized that we didn't have to chase them and just drifted through the area and kept casting until we hooked up. 
     Friday Frank "the Shaker" Casillo and his buddy Angelo had an even dozen albies on "Deadly Dicks", "Crippled Herrings" and "007 Diamond jigs".   Angelo was outpacing Frank by 6 to none until Frank tried his now famous "Casillo Shake".  After two hours of watching Angelo land albie after albie on a straight fast retrieve Frank decided to try something different.  He told me about a technique that is a killer for stripers busting on top.  He casts his lure in amongst them, closes the bail and then simply shakes his rod only retrieving line to keep it tight.  Well he proved this works on albies as well.  If it had only worked once I would be the first to say that it was a fluke, but when it worked six times I was convinced.  One of the greatest things I love about fishing is that no matter how long you've been doing it you always learn new things. Thanks Frank.

Monday I had out Dave Collins, his son Paul and Bill Davisson from Nevada.  We started the morning with several nice blues and then the fish of the day a 30" striper for Dave.

Both Bill and Paul hooked nice fish that they fought for a while before they became unpinned.  When the tide turned to outgoing the albies appeared in full force but were their usual difficult selves and even the "Casillo Shake" wasn't working.  In John McMurray's boat they were able to hook two of about a hundred they cast to by attaching a dropper to a tin and tying on a small fly (wind and the erratic albie behavior made for frustrating fly fishing).  Unfortunately though we must have had good shots at about two hundred albies we only managed several follows and no hook-ups, but like they say in Sheepshead Bay, "they're effin' hard!"

Western Long Island

Reel-Timer Angelo Peluso reports great fishing on the Central North Shore…  Check it out:

Hi John,
The fishing out this way  for the past few weeks can only be described in one word...phenomenal.  It has developed into one of the finest fall runs in a long while.  Weather and winds permitting, this past week has been no exception.  There has been an abundance of pelagics around to keep it very exciting...the bonito and now false albies are marauding bait on just about every point, along all the beaches and off the shoals and productive offshore locations.  The bounty of bait has also attracted excellent numbers of bass and some very large bluefish.  A number of outings brought forth a LI Sound Grand Slam!  Boat and wade anglers alike have been enjoying this piscatorial prosperity.  A friend of mine called early Sunday morning to meet him down at the beach to take some pictures.  He had a magnificent bluefish that pushed my Boga close to the 18 pound mark. That morning also brought him several nice-sized bass and his first surf-caught bonito.  A number of my on-water buddies... who are albie and bonito fanatics...also had a marvelous week.   Consistent catches of "bones" and "alberts" on flies have been bringing smiles to the faces of all.  After the season ends I think  we will all need to enroll in AA(Albies Anonymous).  Enough can't be said about the plethora of bait...it is literally everywhere...and the water temps have been hanging in there giving hope for some more terrific times ahead!  And just a suggestion to all those out on the water out this way ...the fish are spread out over a fairly wide range in this area so there is no need to crowd or follow other fishermen!  Half he fun is finding your own fish! Tight lines...enjoy the Fall...Angelo

NICE!!!

Fishing the Western Sound is Captain Brian Moran:

Some mid teen size blues are on the small bait in the harbors and are taking peanut and spearing  patterns ,we have had some  great top water action on poppers and sliders as well, better numbers of school bass are starting to show, early and  evenings are the top producing periods, night tides are still better. Larger bass are in with the school  fish,, on Saturday’s big blow produced a big bass than ran Joe Wiecks leader in to the rocks after a super run into his backing with the brakes full on.. with his rod doubled over he could not turn the bass,, awesome display of power...the fishing is really showing fall feeding patterns, so get out and wet your lines..

Eastern Long Island

Captain Ralph Burtis of Island Charters reports great action at Montauk.  Check it out:

Hey John,

 Sorry I haven’t sent in a report in a while, Montauk has been busy as hell. Of course the wind hasn’t helped. The past two weeks have had some really poor weather conditions causing me to cancel a couple of trips due to the extreme wind conditions. But in between those days there’s been some really super fishing. We’ve been landing bass up to 41” on spin artificials and 37” on fly. Albies have been as big as 10 pounds of reel burning lightening. I’ve attached a picture of a bass caught by Jeff Tuck and a nice albie caught by Jack Hobson, both caught on fly this week. Check out the picture of the bass slapping against the side of the boat. While the wind had picked up that day, bass were in acre sized pods slowly moving and slurping ¾ - 1 ½” bay anchovies. Albies were in smaller, but more aggressive pods slashing the water in rows of fish at least 12 wide, like a great big rakes moving across the surface of the water, row after row causing bait to literally fly out of the water trying to escape their doom. The blues were flopping around in schools too big to explain. This is not, I repeat not out of the ordinary at the East End. I’ve got another two weeks out here and then it’s back to fishing the metro area and New York Harbor. Don’t get me wrong fishing the metro area isn’t bad, far from it. It will never be Montauk, but Montauk will never be the metro area either.

Also reporting from Montauk this week is Captain Jim Hull of Light Tackle Challenge:

Hi John, The Montauk Lighthouse is glowing white hot. When weather permits the fishing is real good. Montauk is living up to it's name and continues to be the standard by which all others are compared. The larger bass contained among the blitz fish have now spread out to their usual haunts, leaving nice legal size bass to blitz and all the albies and blues to show for the crowds. Some days are just phenomenal. Set the hook twice then pump up and reel down. Jim (captainjimhull@aol.com) 631-749-1906

Captain Alex Powers also checks in this week with an interesting report:

Hey John:
The fishing has been pretty unbelievable this past two weeks off Montauk.  Lots of bass, blues and albacore...
 
Last Friday, I took my buddy John out with his dog, Casey, and, after getting pounded going around the Point, we found a large school of bass West of the lighthouse.  It was pretty rough - big swell, 10-15  kt wind - and the fish were right off the beach, so it was not the ideal situation to manuever in.  As we got closer to the blitz, the dog started going nuts, whining and whimpering at the fish.  My buddy hooked up immediately and I was trying to keep Casey calm  while driving the boat.  I took my hand off her collar for a split second to put the throttle forward and, next thing I know, Casey is doing a superfly leap off the back of the boat, into the school of bass.  To my surprize, the fish were not phased by this in the least and to prove it, I had enough time to take my camera out and shoot a couple of pictures, which I have attached.  Casey swam among them for about ten minutes before coming back to the boat and she jumped in again later on, but was never able to catch a fish....
 
Anyway, I am going to be running morning trips during the week out in Jamaica Bay, if anyone is interested.  I usually try to get on the water early and back to the city by 10:30 am.  Best way to reach me is on my cell - 917.699.0604 - or by email: flytier4@hotmail.com.

From the Shinnecock area Captain Don Kaye from Shinnecock Guiding checks in with this report:

The windy weather continued this week at Shinnecock, making shallow water angling difficult, at best. It stopped blowing for only one day and the Bay calmed down. Good sized predators (Bass & Bluefish) herded schools of 'Peanut Bunker' onto the shallow flats. Fortunately, we were there with flyrods 'at the ready' and were soon hooked up into large acrobatic 'Alligator Bluefish' and Stripers. The action didn't last long, but it was a welcome change from wind and waves. The next day it 'blew' again from the Northeast. David Grande and James Ryaby joined me for a session and once again, the stiff breeze hampered the fishing opportunities. We finally found  some partly sheltered drop-off areas and were rewarded for their efforts by hooking and releasing some medium sized Stripers. With hopes for calm winds and flat seas...Capt. Don Kaye, Shinnecock Guiding, 631-7288175.

From the Beach in that area, Salty Flyrodder Joel Filner checks in with this report:

This is a fishing report, unfortunately not a catching report. Fished
Friday morning before reporting to work in order to finish off the
week, only to see some albies in the inlet for a fleeting moment, and
watch the spin fellows with bucktails cast well into the rip in the
middle of the inlet and bring in keeper bass. Went to the back of the
bay for the 1 hour allotted time and watched the bait pool, the small
bass hit and then go away. Saturday morning was the Salty trip. 30
flyrodders watching the surf crash over the jetty, with the ocean
side truly roiling with 10 ft swells and the wind out of the east at
20 to 30 knots. ( I asked the park ranger. ) The intrepid Salty group
cast into the morning, walked back into the bay, watched the
bucktailer next to them pull in two keepers in 5 casts, watched a
bunker chunker pull out a 36 POUND striper off the elbow, watched the
regulars with the spin rods note the one pod of albies to come
through and went off to breakfast at 11 AM. Sunday the rain
accompanied the winds, cancelling a charter, the Yankees, and my one
chance for fish. Went to McCabes on the north fork to find the
regulars all home in bed and the wind now shifting north, northeast
just to thwart the fly rod.  Monday even the bucktails didn't work
with the moon tide and the early morning crew putting the rods in the
truck at 8 AM declaring the day a non fish day. Don't forget the
wind. Still at 20 knots out of the north. And the greatest you
shoulda been there Thursday when Montauk was the sight of historic
proportions of albies, stripers, and blues. Even those not part of
the histrionics were declaring the day as the best one ever..... and
of course Breezy was reported live with fish from beach to boat on
Monday on the out going in the afternoon.   phoooey. See you next
week.

That’s all for this week…  See you on the water