New York Metro &
New Jersey

October 1st, 2004

Just Be Careful

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Those of you who have been in the game for a while know that this is the time of the year when the bass get right up on the beach or move up into the shallow, breaking sandbars just off the South Shore inlets.  Whether they’re chasing mullet on the West End or plowing through bay anchovies on the East End, these predators really take advantage of the shallow water to coral that bait and launch rapacious attacks.   Late September/early October is perhaps the best time to witness this incredible phenomenon.    It’s the time of the year when you’re likely to see some pretty amazing stuff:  Big stripers surfing in swells, major whitewater blitzes, Montauk bass-boils in just a few feet of water, fish so thick it looks as if you can walk on them.  Scenes like something right out of Wild Discovery.

If you’re anything like me you go berserk when this kind of thing unfolds.   But it’s very easy to let this excitement get the best of you.  I know this first hand.  I’ve gotten in some pretty hairy situations myself, mostly because of lack of self control when these amazing things happen before my eyes, but also, after four years as a small boat coxswain in Lower New York Harbor, I’ve seen my fair share of disasters, and even my share of floating lifeless bodies.   Accidents, caused by overexcited, overzealous anglers do happen much more frequently than we think.  Every year the mullet show on a sandbar in my neck of the woods and every year the action is the best during big knarly northeast swells.   I’ve seen 4 different boats capsize there and several more come pretty darn close.  I’ve even preformed search patterns for 6-hours looking for a casualty of one of these episodes.  Most certainly a wake-up call. 

It’s hard to resist going into that Surfline when big bass and blues go nuts in the whitewater as mullet spray everywheret…  Likewise, it’s equally hard not to follow a roiling bass boil up to the rocks in Montauk.  But guess what…  The stakes are too high…  Every year at least one boat capsizes on one of the West End sandbars.  Every year a boat gets caught by a rogue wave in Montauk and ends up on the rocky shoreline.  In fact, it happened to an experienced, well known Captain three days ago.  Was it his fault, was he being stupid?  Not anymore than some others out there.  It was probably just bad luck…  It could have happened to anyone of us.  Thank God no one was hurt, but there were some people pretty shaken up people and a captain is going to loose the brunt of his season…  Unfortunate indeed. 

So while this stuff might go without saying to most, let me provide the rest with some sage advise:

On the sandbars, any ocean surge in the 4-foot range can and will capsize your boat if it hits you from the wrong direction.  In addition, there are always bigger set waves moving through...  Be very aware of this.  If you must fish this water, do it with the motor running and with the bow toward the wave.  If you have a motor that is prone to stalling, don’t even think about going into that sandbar or that close to the beach!  Fish one person at a time and always have a guy at the helm ready to get you out of there.  When you get a fish on, get the boat out of there and fight it in the channel.  In Montauk, just don’t get that close to the beach, no matter how many feeding fish are in there.  If a surfcaster’s plug lands anywhere near your boat, you’re too close!  Keep in mind that you have the whole ocean to fish.  These guys have only a few sections of productive beach.   Don’t be a selfish jerk.  If you are in an area far enough away from the beach, but where a swell is breaking, stay on the outside with the bow into the wave, always keeping the motor on and ready to scoot if you have to. 

I know…  Elementary, common sense stuff, but I believe it’s still worth mentioning.  Don’t let the adrenalin get the best of you.  Be smart…  Be careful…  No fish is worth your life. 

Now let’s get on to the reports:

Tons of albies in Montauk…  If the weather is good you can’t miss.  Some bass boils are occurring close to the beach, mostly in the afternoon and on the outgoing tides.  If you’ve never seen one of these, be sure to do it at some point.  They can make any red-blooded angler’s jaw drop.  All along the South Shore, mullet can be found in the wash, and some areas are holing good sized bass close enough to get with a flyrod.  Albies are abound at all the inlets.  Big blues have dominated the scene on the North Shore, but more and more bass are beginning to show.  In the New York Metro area, the albie fishing was solid.  There were some monster blues in just a couple feet of water in Jamaica Bay blitzing rain bait and peanut bunker.  Even if you could only get it out there 20-feet you could still hook up with these big choppers.  There were some albies in the mix as well, but when they get in shallow water like that, they become impossible to catch.  Northern New Jersey had the same sort of albie action that the NY Bight did.  Solid albie fishing all the way down the coast in fact.  Weakfish are showing in the southern areas of the Garden State. 

Next week, I’m in Hawaii for an environmental grant-makers conference.  A tough time of the year to be leaving because things are really getting good on the home-front…  But hey…  It’s Hawaii!!!  Author Angelo Peluso will be taking care of next week’s columns.

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

Tight Lines!

John McMurray

New Jersey

From the Southern New Jersey area, Captain Bryan DiLeo from Iowa Fortune Guide Service reports multi-species opportunities.  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 back country is still the dominance of Bluefish in the 3 - 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 mid to upper 60'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 consistently into the low to mid 60's at which time mid day action will begin. The current temps have giving us some daytime action with a good amount of gator size weakfish in the 5 - 9 .LB size class offering a great opportunity for consistently achieving NJ slams with 5 out of 6 trips last week completed that challenge. 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.

From central New Jersey the guys at Shore Catch Guide service check in with this report:

Sending the report a bit early this week as I will be heading out to Montauk for the PFLGA RedBone.
 
All I can say is what an UNBELIEVABLE week it has been for Ablies here along the Jersey Shore. This week I had out Roy Cooley and his brother Dick for day 1, and Roy and his wife Jan on day 2. On each day we have over 30 albies in the boat! Not bad for three anglers who have never fished for False Albacore before. The action was literally every cast on Baby Angels and Mushmouths, and all the fish were big -- from 9 to 12 lbs!!
 
Offshore things are definitely heating up as the inshore Bluefin fishing has started. Once I get back from the RedBone, I will be running these trips pretty much exclusively for the month. Looking forward to seeing everyone this week!

Albies galore on the outside!  Not gangbusters, but enough to get a handful in a few hours.  Still a lot of bait around and most expect this action to last well into October.  Mullet are still on the sandbars, although not in the numbers we saw last week.  Bass are taking large flies and poppers in the dawn hours.  In Jamaica Bay the peanut-bunker pods seem to be getting larger and larger.  There are some big blues around pushing these guys into shallow water and creating some pretty neat visual strikes.  Expect this bluefish scenario to switch over to bass in a week or two. 

Western Long Island

No official reports this week here, but albies have been reported all along the South Shore with the inlets being your best shot.  On the North Shore, big blues are all over the place with some, but not a whole lot of stripers in the mix.

Eastern Long Island

Montauk lived up to its reputation this week.  Check out Salty Flyrodder, Joel Filner’s report and you’ll know what I mean:

You can wake me up now. Thursday the 23, on the boat with Amanda and
David Berman out of Montauk, was a true dream. From the morning start
off Shagwon for blues and albies mixed ten minutes out from the
harbor, to the end of the day with the most spectacular display of
bass feeding that brought the adrenalin up to levels which I am sure
are not safe, gave the day an ethereal effect that took until today
to wear off. We fished on the south side wave riding into schools of
bass balling up in a frenzy on the shore. The surf casters were able
to throw 20 ft into the pod, and the boat guys could throw into the
other side of the pod and be well out of the fishing range of the
surfcasters. That's how big the balls of bass and bait spread on the
beach. There was too much boat traffic and the swells were not nice
but motors were on for safety. I lost a new Airflo line and a large
striper in the same cutoff.

Down the beach where there were few boats but many albies showing and
hitting the fly. Cast on to the swells where the albies and blues and
bass were playing, strip, bang, run, run, run, and finally work them
to the boat where they were released and then back to the cast. The
boat was a great platform in the moderate swells and reinforces my
fear that it would take me too long to learn the skills that kept us
safe and into fish for a boat on my own. The Montauk slam was done by
both early in the day.  One disturbing note was the netters out along
the shoreline harvesting bass. We understand that it is legal but not
a pleasant sight to witness so many fish in one boat whilst we are
carefully putting them back to keep them for next year. The day
continued with moving to the rip off the point, a more difficult
balancing act but just as satisfying. The current takes you out of
range quickly so the accurate cast and quick strip must be done in
order to manage the fish. The albies on the shore all ran laterally
on the beach, the albies on the rip all ran deep and around the boat.
A different experience, and the first time in the day that we were
more than 5 minutes with out a fish. Quel domage!

The last hour and half on our way in we noted fish splashing on False
Bar. Large stripers feeding on snappers leaping out of the water to
trap their prey. As we drew near, fish smacked the side of the boat.
Casting to rising trout....nope .. 10 to 20 pound stripers... as they
hit the larger flies with gusto. A truly wonderful experience
especially with the size of the fish.  Flies we used were Albie
Whores, small tan and white furry flies, clousers, and large  bait
fish patterns for the bigger stripers. They would hit the small fly
but more than once rejected the small patterns. False bar held fish
on Friday and Saturday according to my surf friends. The rest of the
weekend was okay as there were fish on Friday at Shinnecock, bass in
the early morning and late afternoon, albies on the incoming and part
of the outgoing. Saturday morning reported similar activity but very
choosey albies with lock jaw, and Sunday all quiet as most of the
regulars left the beach by 930AM.

Also heard from Captain Alex Powers this week.  Check it out:

Montauk had great weather and lots of albacore from Shagwong out to the Point.  I had heard that the bass had been coming up well during the week, slamming schools of bait from Stepping Stones out to the Point.  Brendan McCarthy and I went out Friday evening, hoping it would happen again.  The bait was there, but no bass just blues.   Throughout the weekend, there were only intermittent bass blitzes, complicated by murky water and a big swell, but the albacore kept everyone busy.  Deadly Dicks were working well for the spinfishermen I had on my boat and sparse, smaller flies did the trick for the flycasters. 

That’s all for this week…  Off to catch a plane!