New York Metro &
New Jersey

August 20th, 2004

Here Today, Gone Tomorrow

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That’s the way it is with pelagic fish this time of the year. One day they can be all over the place, tearing through pods of bait, torpedoing out of the water, grabbing your fly right at the boat and racking you’re knuckles with a serious of audible thumps… and the next day, nada. Same water color and clarity, same wind direction, same tide, same bait in the water, same underwear, same lucky hat… It doesn’t matter. When they decide they’re going to go, they’re gone and there isn’t a darn thing you can do about it except lean over to your fishing buddy and say “you should have been here yesterday” and hope he doesn’t smack you (which, by the way, he is absolutely entitled to do).

I have a love/hate relationship with these things as I’m sure many others out there do. They can make me so angry. Perhaps I have never used such fowl language as I do when I’m cursing these things for skipping town without warning. Or even when they are around in small numbers, popping up every 10-minutes ¼ mile apart for exactly 10-seconds. Or when you’ve put 3 casts right into a pod without even a touch. Yea, I can feel my blood boiling right now just thinking about it. Little (expletitive)s!

I burned a lot of fuel this week and put a lot of miles on the boat in search of inshore bluefin, skipjack, bonito and false albacore. Instead of finding them I’ve had to settle for bluefish, although some of them have been quite big. But back to the point. After last week’s tasting, I am really jonesing for tuna. Big blues are fun, but I just can’t get the tunas out of mind. Their deep irredecent colors… Shades of green, yellow and blue… those big eyes… And the speed… Ohhhh… the speed. Incredible! Like the infrequent yet highly unreliable hurricane swells we get during this time of the year, tuna are just something I jones for and can’t get enough of. I guess I wouldn’t love them so much if they were reliable.

Now, in years past the albies have shown up right around this week in the New Jersey and Western Long Island areas. In fact it was August 17th on the nose for the last two years. Yes, I was out on the 17th and didn’t see a darn thing. But any day now… Any day now…

Don’t expect the first run to last more than a few days… It never does. But it’s always followed by a stronger run. And if the bait remains as thick as it has been we should have a wonderful albie season. Now, about the inshore bluefin and skipjack… I fear we’ve seen the last of them, but I sincerely hope I’m wrong. Regardless, there is a ton of life in the water right now. I have high hopes for this weekend.

Now, let’s get on to the reports:

The mid and offshore bite off of NY and NJ remains very good and we actually had some conducive weather this week, which allowed a few Captains to score with bluefin, bonito and skipjack. Inshore in the New Jersey, New York Metro and Western Long Island areas, the bonito, Spanish Mackerel and skippies have been very sporadic and weren’t really in catchable numbers this week. Bait concentrations in all of these areas was excellent. Bluefish schools, some with large fish in them, have been the prevalent predator taking advantage of the situation. Out east there is an amazing amount of bait and many are anticipating a crazy-good fall. Inside, pods of bluefish seem to be dominating the scene. On the south-side there are still some bass to be had along the beach. Some scattered reports of school bluefin in the vicinity of the point but very few people are hooking up.

Looks like we’re going to get a good bit of wind on Saturday, but Sunday looks to have pretty good flyfishing weather… Keep those fingers crossed for the albies. Could be this weekend…

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

Tight Lines!

John McMurray

New Jersey

The guys at Shore Catch report more great mid and offshore fishing but an inconsistent bight inshore.  However on all accounts things are picking up:

John,
 
Yet another grood week of offshore fly fishing here in NJ. Same scenario - Bluefin Tuna from 12 to 30 lbs, Skipjack, Bonito, Mahi, and now albies mixed all in the bunch. The fish are starting to settle, which is good, however they are spread out so it is making it a bit more difficult to find the mother load. The area south of Barnegat Inlet seems is currently holding the best water anywhere from 12 to 30 miles offshore.
 
Had out Dr. Greg Cuzzo for his first offshore venture and he landed four Bluefin, three bonito, and two Mahi. Not a bad first offshore experience. beginners luck, eh?
 
I have heard reliable confirmed sightings of giant Bluefin (200 lbers) eating skipjacks and bonito on the surface inside the mudhole but unfortunately we have not run into them as of yet.
 
Inshore things are still very touch and go. Blues are starting to show more each day blitzing on the surface along the beaches. These fish are mixed anywhere from 3 to 7 lbs, and there is the occasional sighting of bonito and small mackerels but nothing of consistency yet. It should not be long for the albies to show. hopefully this week.

Still waiting on those albies! Some sightings of skipjack and Spanish mackerel this week, but no hook-ups. West of Breezy, there have been some large bluefish chomping on the first of the year’s peanut bunker. Expect that bight to become more and more consistent through out the week. There’s a ton of peanut bunker and spearing in Jamaica Bay, but so far only snappers are on them. Over in Raritan Bay, schoolies can still be taken along the structure, but most are exceptionally small. The water seems to be very brown and cloudy, but head off shore a bit and it clears up pretty quickly. There is still an inordinate amount of jellyfish everywhere. What that means I don’t know, but it’s kind of weird.

Western Long Island

No reports of bonito this week, but that doesn’t mean they’re not there.   I did see some busts while surfing in Long Beach that looked to me like those created by a tunoid, but I can’t confirm that’s what it was.  Running out there from Breezy Point the following day I saw nothing.  Who knows? 

No reports from the North Shore this week, but “unofficially” I hear that the bonito bight is getting a little better with more concentrated pods.

Eastern Long Island

Captain David Blinken reports that the bluefin are still around on the South Side, but catching them is extremely difficult.  David did manage one last week.  Inshore there are loads and loads of blues while the bass are sparse.  The larger blues can be found in the rips. 

From the South Side, Captain Jim Hull checks in with this report:

Hey John, Taking some R+R in this mid season point, picking only prime days to fish. The bass never quit this year with cool water and overcast skies. Jack and Corky hit them good at the Gulls with several fish to 40". Peter DeSanctis took out sons-in-law Paul and Rob for a great day fishing on one of the last trips. Old Neil banged out 16 bass with top fish going 40 and 42 inches. Tuna are there but scattered, tough to get a fly into them. Good luck and hey, let those big ones swim away healthy. 

From the beach, Reel-Timer John Papciak checks in with this report:

Luckily, we were spared of Charlie in Montauk, except for some heavy rain Sat around midnight until around 7am Sunday. Sat PM after dark, just before the rains came down, I got in an hr or two at Shagwong Pt and threw darters for a couple of bass to around 13 lbs. You could hear fish splashing out there, sounded like mostly blues. Then the rains came. I was only in shorts and T-shirt, and while there was some action, it did not warrant staying for a good soaking like that.

For all intents and purposes, I think the fall run has started. There is bait stacked up all on the North side. There have been bluefish blitzes almost daily. Its entirely possible to catch fish on plugs or flies from shore if you know your way around at night (so long as we stay out the wind and swell - and much of that depends on staying out of the path of any number of tropical storms now brewing down there).

The air is thick with humidity, but the days are getting shorter. Give it a couple of brisk fronts where evening temps start to dip down. 30 more days and we will be in full swing - I think now it’s just a matter of deciding how and when to burn those saved up vacation days.

Also reporting from the shore is Salty Flyrodder Joel Filner.  Check it out:

Casting report. I can now cast left handed consistently 45 ft without
hitting my hat with the fly, and at times with the wind at my back
almost 60 ft. My loop is not nice and neat but to get the same feel
left handed is very difficult for us not too coordinated older
people. And my arm gets tired sooner with the strange motion. I even
went with the 8 wt on Sunday to see if the "heavier" rod was
workable. The same 45 ft. but i followed my own advice and put the
fly on the water after three casts no matter what. It is a very
different way of fishing as you approach the water with a different
view of the winds, direction, stance, clearance for the fly, and more
concentration than i usually use to just get the fly moving to the
right place. Fishing was out for me but the scattered reports all
were similar: no action on Friday, Saturday morning a true wash from
Mecox to Shinnecock, blues on the Peconic near Mortons and Cow Neck
but scattered, on Saturday morning to zip in the evening. Sunday
after the blow the ocean was calm and liveable but none of my
regulars were out but I recollect the aftermath of the last big blow
was a banner time with fish eating without mercy. Only three more
weeks of rest for the wicked.

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