New York Metro &
New Jersey

September 24th, 2004

Guns and Fish

Featured Affiliate

Garmin Geko 101 - $100.00 plus shipping

What can they possibly have to do with each other? Unfortunately, a lot, especially during the politically volatile time we’re living in. What I’m talking about is the fact that many anglers are hunters, and because these two groups enjoy the outdoors, most who take part in either or both sports are self-proclaimed environmentalists. You may call it “enlightened self interest” if you wish. Politicians like to call us the “hook and bullet crowd.” When it comes to voting, polls show that we continuously vote for the “gun rights” candidate over the environmental candidate. It just so happens that most of the time the “gun rights” candidate really sucks on environmental issues. More times than not, these guys vote pro-industry at the expense of the environment. That means easing environmental regulation and increased pollution. It means taking away protection of our old growth forests that provide habitat for the animals hunters target, as well as protecting vital salmon spawning habitat. It means allowing factory farms to continue to operate unregulated, dumping sewage waste and causing fish kills. It means allowing mountain top removal mining to fill in blue-ribbon trout streams. It means allocating more water to already heavily subsidized farmers at the expense of wild salmon that suffocate as a result. It means filling in and developing wetlands. It means mercury in the fish we eat.

Is that really worth it? I sure don’t think so. And what is it with these NRA types that believe that any candidate that voted to continue the assault weapons ban is involved in a conspiracy to take all good American’s guns away. It’s pretty silly if you ask me.

Newsflash: IF YOU DON’T PROTECT THE ENVIRONMENT, YOU DON’T HAVE A PLACE TO HUNT AND FISH! So before you buy into the campaign crap about how environmentalists are “wimpy liberals” conspiring to take away your right to bear arms and your right to hunt and fish, think long and hard about that.

Now, I’m going to stop beating around the Bush for a minute (all pun intended). Many agree that this administration has been the most hostile one toward the environment in history of our nation. Rational, Teddy Roosevelt conservative environmentalism, thanks in large part to the big corporate campaign donations candidates receive, is a thing of the past. Of course I’m not trying to persuade anyone to vote any particular way. Hunting, fishing and the environment are only part of each candidate’s platform and this is not an appropriate form to discuss other Presidential issues. But… We really need to ask ourselves important questions this November when we head out to vote. Whether or not we want a president who has worked to turn back 30-years of environmental steps forward should most definitely be one of them.

Now let’s get on to the reports.

Albies, albies and more albies! This week was awesome just about everywhere! Southern, Central and Northern New Jersey had’em good, with some bonito mixed in to boot. Inshore the mullet are beginning to show, and with them the bass numbers are on the increase. The New York Metro area was albie heaven also. The breaking sand bars had a bunch of mullet in them, and at first light the bass were on them good. Jamaica Bay had a good number of albies as well. In fact, they are in as little as 4-feet of water doing some really cool stuff, but are very difficult to hook. Big tackle-busting blues have been in the shallow water as well. Albies are showing up all along the south shore of Western Long Island east all the way to Montauk. The Western and Central North Shore is still holding big blues and small bass, but as the water cools expect the bass to get larger. Montauk really did its thing this week as bass boils and albie blitzes were abundant.

This weekend looks like a good one, weather and fish wise! Go get’em!

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

Tight Lines!

John McMurray

New Jersey

From the Atlantic/Ocean City area Captain Bryan DiLeo from Iowa Fortune Guide Service reports good action both in and outside. Check it out:

Fall is in the air with Mother Nature bringing us cool overnight temperatures and in turn cooler water temperatures. Still the dominant factor in the SJ backcountry is still the dominance of Bluefish in the 2 - 6 LB range willing to pounce on mostly any thing placed in front of them. The Bass have also begun to move more through out the back a bit more with most Bass still taking topwater flies and plugs on a regular basis, though at times getting through the Bluefish is at times trying. Most Bass this past week have all been in the 24"-30" range. With the water temperatures starting to cool they are still hanging in the 70's which will keep us on the summer time pattern of low light action, i.e., first light, last light and night time for a couple more weeks or until we slip into the low to mid 60's at which time mid day action will begin. As far as action out front we still have active water temperatures in the mid 70's providing great light tackle and fly action for Big Blues, Bonito, Albies, and some nice size Dorado providing the aerial entertainment all offered just a short boat ride offshore. Albies are also due to start their westward migration as the baits will start to poor out of the inlets offering angles a plethora of choices for their angling adventures. My dates are filling very quickly with September filled, a few key dates available for October and November dates starting to be targeted daily. Remember work is always there for you 7 days a week but the fishing peaks for 8 weeks. The math is simple, Ya gotta love the fall.

You sure do…

From Central New Jersey, the folks from Shore Catch Guide Service check in with this report:

John,

It has been another solid week here along the Jersey Shore with Albies despite the big blow last weekend. Weather you are going out to the lumps to chum em up or chasing them along the beaches "on the blitz" the fish are here and eating well! In addition to the boat guys, the jetty fly rodders are also getting good shots and catches at all the major inlets on the morning and late afternoon tide. We are definitely noticing much bigger fish this year than years past, with most going 7 to 10 lbs!!

Hot flies for us have boon surf candies, jiggies, mushmouths and the latest hot fly is a small polar bear Hollow Fleye. I had four trips out this week with steady action and literally NO BOATS in sight of us!! I guess every one here in NJ is still Fluking!!?? We had Paul and Kevin Scroff in from California and the father and son team hooked and landed 30 Albies before they cried uncle at noon and asked me to take them back to the dock.

Capt Jim had out Don Murnane and John Canary and headed out for more albies on our inshore lumps six miles off of the beach. They anchored up and chummed with fresh spearing to bring the albies to the back of the boat. They had a late bite boating four albies and two bluefish. All of the fish in the slick came on Popovic’s surf candies.

The mudhole Bluefin bite is just getting started and I will be running these trips on the fly exclusively through mid November. Looking forward to seeing everyone next week at the PFLGA Montauk RedBone! Lets hope the weather and good fishing holds for us.

From the Northern New Jersey area, Captain Paul Eidman from Reel Therapy checks in with this report:

Good morning John,

False Albacore fly fishing continues to be outstanding in our part of the world here in the NY Bight! It’s providing the window of opportunity for guys and gals that have never experienced the thrill of it all to finally catch a football on the fly. We are all hoping that the seas and weather continue to cooperate so we can get out and catch all these footballs before the water temps flush them all out of here.
Catch em up!
Paul

It was a fantastic week for albies, with great sea and wind conditions and lots of hungry albies, stripers and blues. This week was most certainly the grand-slam week. We had many this week! The mullet on the sandbars are really starting to show well and the bass bite on them, while still an early morning deal, has been really good. Jamaica Bay is loaded with chopper blues blitzing peanuts on the surface. Time to get those poppers out! The albies have been in the bay as well and are getting into some pretty shallow water. Forget about getting close enough to cast to them, but when they get this shallow, they do some spectacular things on the surface. It was fun to just watch. Go check it out…

From the Staten Island Side, TV star Captain Frank Crescitelli from Fin-Chaser Charters checks in with this report:

Hey John, glad to report the fishing is great in NY Harbor. Last week Larry Weitsma and Tomas Frias did great with the Albies (see attached photo). We wanted to stay away from everyone so we (yes) live chummed and had fish blowing up right in the back of the boat! Then we chased them by Breezy point and under combat conditions hooked a few more. Fun had by all! Albies Bass and Blues were eating good today. I Had the guy's from the Florida Sportsman, Shallow Water Angler magazines out today shooting a new show for the Outdoor Life Network, and we rocked em. These guy's were floored on how good the fishing is here! Jeff Mancini of East Coast Angler was one of the anglers, and slammed 3 times today all on the fly, even while shooting the show, which can get tin the way of fishing some times. He was using his new line of fly rods and they are cannons! The sea was so calm we used my Grand Slam Silver Shadow flats boat for two day's. Enough can't be said about using trolling motors, to get up on the busting Albies. Peanut Bunker so thick in Great Kills that you can walk on them! We also saw a lot of Bay Anchovies and Spearing as well. Do what you can to protect this fishery it deserves it! Most of us will be at the PFLGA Montauk Redbone next week, fishing for a great cause, Cystic Fibrosis. This is the third annual, and we are keeping our fingers crossed for good weather. OK time for sleep, until next week...

Captain David Azar from One More Cast Charters reports and excellent albie week. Check it out:

Albie fishing in Jamaica Bay has broken wide open. Though they have been around for several weeks the false albacore have now gotten into a regular pattern, very similar to last year. They are showing every day and most days on both tides. Sunday morning was very windy but I was able to get out a little ways and found them busting right outside my marina; conditions were tough and I really couldn't get a good shot at them. On monday morning the wind settled a bit and I was able to get outside. I found the albies coming up consistently and had non-stop action from sunrise. I had to leave at 10:00 and left them biting. Fishing by myself my finally tally was 4 on fly and another 5 on spinning. This fishing should only last a few more weeks so I strongly encourage everybody to get out there ASAP if they want to take advantage.

Western Long Island

Reel-Timer and wildlife artist, Bob Giordano checks in this week with a report from the North Shore:

Prior to Ivan, the end of last week fished well up here in the
Huntington area. Early Friday morning at the bottom of the tide,
shallow water in Lloyd Harbor held plenty of good sized blues lazily
picking off bait just below the surface. Saw a few of them skimming in
water that must have been less that 18". Bait was predominately
spearing and peanut bunker. Took a half a dozen plus to just about
11lbs on both Boliermaker poppers and Crease flies. Large topwater
patterns received more solid hits and hook ups. For the first time in
my life, these fish after hitting the plug, would just bee line it,
cutting fast parallel to the bottom never sounding whatsoever with the
fly probably due to the fact they were so shallow. Once it was hit, the
line would almost go slack with the fish easily tearing lightspeed
6-10' towards the boat. Made for some dramatic takes that I just love.
Also picked off some twinkie sized bass in the harbor before dawn on
Black Clousers.

Wednesday morning at the top of the tide, things were a bit slow. Got
smacked a few times with the topwater stuff by blues and one very
impressive bass that just breached behind the popper. A couple of dozen
cast with numerous patterns never raised him again. Water needs to cool
a bit more to get these type bass on the heavy feed again. Only came
across Adult Bunker on my way back into Huntington Harbor for work. By
that time, they were left pretty much unprovoked. Heard from Huntington
Bait & Tackle that some consistent sightings of Falsies is happening in
Huntington Bay. Filled up the tank and will do some local scouting by
the weekend. Tight lines

Bob

Captain Robin Calitri reports good schoolie action in the Cold Spring Harbor area:

Gene Haines and Emory Butts have been doing a job on the schoolie Bass in the Cold Spring Harbor area. Long Island Bassmasters held a Tounament on Lake Oscawna. Dan McGary won once again with Dom Berardi placing second. Of the twenty two anglers who fished, 8 zeroed. I took fourth place with two Largemouth Bass. It was a tough day. Next Bassmasters go to White Pond for the final tourney.

Eastern Long Island

Montauk is going nuts!!! Get out there!

Captain Jim Hull from Light Tackle Challenge explains:

Hi John, Been fishing, fishing eat a little then sleep a little. Had some tuna last week with Kevin and Bill. Now it is full Montauk migration action with multiple slams on all trips. The Albies are more cooperative and the school bass seem to be larger and very happy. We have been doing some special bass trips away from the madding crowd with several 30lb. class fish caught and released. See you at the Trout Unlimited event and Red Bone; it should be fun. Jim

Reel-Timer John Papciak also checks in with a report this week:

The bad News: Montauk fly fishing was a bust for me.. Wind, wind and more wind. The Good News: The fish are there. Unless you are on MARS, you already know this, as I see the same reports echoed all over print and web-based media. Anyway, I took a spinning rod with me Sat afternoon, after the rains, on the south side, and easily had over 30 fish, up to about 12 or 13 pounds. I had to use a heavier bucktail as the wind made it difficult to keep in contact with any type of plug. No trouble finding the fish. You could see the fish in the face of the waves, and you could watch the dorsal fins going back n forth in the foam. I caught one big bluefish that spit up rain bait all over my foul weather top. yech! I came back Sunday morning with the fly rod but the wind still had not shifted enough to hide behind the cliffs, and if anything, the waves were a bit bigger. The fish were off the beach as well. They did not return in force until Sunday afternoon.

Captain Robin Calitri reports non-stop Montauk action:

There must be better fishing in the world but I cannot fathom how it could be better than Montauk in the fall. So I was facing west and silhouetted against the falling sunset were a large group of surfcasters under Montauk Lighthouse and most had their rods bowed with big Blues or Bass. All around me were small boats, mostly professional fly fishing guides with clients. This is a competent, courteous and fun group to fish with dealing with amazing grace as they maneuver boats around the dangerous waters of Montauk. Brendan McCarthy had Ammagansset's Estio restaurant owner, Captain Jason Dapra had Rich of the Campsite, and I had Long Island Bassmaster Mitch Bernstein. Earlier that day Mitch and I had caught uncountable False Albacore in the 7-9pound range. I was using fly tackle, and Mitch was using his trusty Falcon rod and tiny reel. At one point we had to force one another to fight another Albie, because their raw power was causing us to get hand cramps. So we head down the beach and came upon Captain Ralph Burtis who had his client into Bass and shallow water and Captain David Blinkin was offerring Sage (I had to send my favorite XI2 back after it lost a battle with and Albie) advice. We quietly used my Lenco Trollin Tabs to sneak up into 5 feet of water. We each landed a large Blue and then the Bass hit the fan. If you have never seen hundreds of Bass, packed so close together, on the surface, you have not yet witnessed a BASS BOIL. Check out Captain Amanda Switzer's rendition of a BASS BOIL. So we were in the middle of it, and Mitch hooked up and landed a nice Bass after breaking off all kinds of tackle. We were spent so back to the point we headed. There were fish breaking everywhere and we could choose by moving a 100 yards, catching Albies, Blues or Bass. We got into another BASS BOIL, and I landed a nice 31incher. So, we went home.

Farther west, Salty Flyrodder Joel Filner checks in with report from the shore:

The weather forecast was frightful. Too bad it wasn't completely true. Last Thursday and Friday, the morning sessions at Shinnecock on the incoming tide were true to form. Albies in packs moving through the inlet in sporadic fashion, showing, then hiding, then showing and eating. Most of the action occurring at first light through the top
of the tide. Then in the afternoon as the tide would switch to incoming again, the fish would show until 7 PM. A regular feeding session that seems to defy the fly rodder to match what is the food of the day. One local doing spectacularly well on his "little white
fly" for the three days. Others satisfied with the intermittent bang and run, and the fish to the wall. Saturday morning was the scheduled trip for the Salty Flyrodders and TGF. Of course the weather report called for thunder storms, high winds, high tides, and 5 ft swells, as it always manages to do on our trip days. About 20 intrepid souls were on the beach on Saturday morning at 5 AM prepared for the worst. Well it didn't happen that morning. The four hour delay in the weather did not bring the front through until 11AM or so after most of us left the beach tired from casting and holding on to the rods as
the albies went into the backing. A great morning' fishing for all including some masters with their sons for gillies, and a few beginners learning the wall to cast, move the fly and watch the excitement. The fly of choice is the white little fly either deceiver, anchovy, epoxy, small, medium, or in the case of the spin caster the small castmaster with a little feather. The most successful technique is let the fly sink in the current about 15
counts then work it back though the lane of the bait. Of course when they showed they would hit the fly on the surface. There is the follow and move away in disgust practiced by all the fish we strive for, but the anticipation was worth it. The crashing storm decimated the beaches, and the high winds out of the north on Sunday morning (a
beautiful day ) driving against the tide combined with the dirty water made the inlet not really fishable with the fly (some tried).

Moving even farther west, we hear from Reel-Timer Frank Mizzo this week:

John,
. Monday, hooked into my 1st & 2nd Albie in Moriches Bay, just east of the Inlet, in the channel by the trailer camp. Very small schools which included some blues to 5 lbs. Took a sand eel/spearing imitation, about 2 1/2 " long. Got so excited at the prospect, that I used a light wire hook and on the second take, straightened it out. Got two good runs out of it . Looked about 10 lbs. as I got it to within a leader length from the boat. What a rush!!!!!!!!!!
Otherwise there are schools of snappers all over, but don't count on the birds. It is mostly a run and gun and keep a sharp lookout.

That’s all for this week… I’m off to Montauk and then Hawaii!!! See you on the water.