7/7: Blues at Goff Point

[Tuna]

Brother Jim and cousin Stan joined me on my first trip in the new boat. Travelled a bit in it, including:
- through Peconic, nothing. Stopped at Jessups Neck but water was murky so kept going
- tried the flats on east side of North Haven again. Water temps back up to 78 degrees, water still a bit murky, not a bass in sight
- tried Nichols Point flat, water much clearer, not a bass in sight
- tried Gardiners flats. Blew a chance at sight casted bass (pulled fly out of open mouth). Stan caught first fish of boat, sea robbin, "trolling" a hammerhead deceiver on spinning as Jim and I looked to sight cast to bass. Stan got another, actually excited about it so he could show a picture to his kids, who never believed Stan's description of the fish. Saw only the bass I missed.
- on the way to Montauk, saw lots of birds at Goff Point. Pretty good bluefish feed. Stan got several blues on spinning, I decided to get one on spinning too
- continued on to Montauk. Saw pop-ups outside of Turtle Cove that didn't look like blues. The way the birds were moving, the way the fish would come up in unison, Jim thought maybe bonito. Probably was just bluefish with a dose of wish, but none of us hooked up, so its kind of fun to think maybe they weren't blues but a hint of things to come
- on way back to 3 mile harbor, saw the same school of blues at Goff Point

Sure like taking them out - Stan's from New Mexico and usually gets to fish out here just once or twice a season, so if he gets anything he's stoked - Jim's son is just 1 year old, and any day his wife lets him play the whole day is a bonus.

[avandaalen]

Thanks for another nice report, Tuna. BTW, what boat did you end up getting, and what were the driving factors in your decision?

[fmw]

Fished several times from Thursday night to Sat. night with mixed results. Had about 10 bass Thursday dusk at Sammy's Beach. No size on the bass as they were about 20-22", with a few even much smaller. Saw a decent size blue taken. Friday evening fished Devon without success.

Saturday dawn fished Lazy Point, Napeague, also without much success. Fished with a college roommate who had one small bass. Among the 5 or 6 people fishing the area, there were only a few schoolies taken. How interesting that it seems that just around the corner there were blues at Goff Point as mentioned by Tuna. Oh well.

Saturday dusk was back at Sammy's for a more satisfying outing. Had a 22" bass and a good sized blue that gave a hell of a fight. Fishing with my visiting brother, he had a 24" bass on spinning tackle (a small Atom popper).

General observations: 1. It seems the good spring bass pattern has clearly passed and shore fishing is now into summer mode. I expect result of future outings to be more likely focused on blues and smaller bass.

2. Noticed a greater variety of baits, especially at Napeague. While I saw sand eels, small spearing is also in the mix and, more signigicantly, Napeague Harbor was absolutely flooded with tiny peanut bunker the size of a dime. Notice on the weekly report page that David Blinken mentioned that the early arrival of peanut bunker was a hint of a possible substandard fall. I don't quite understand the logic. Does early arrival mean early exit? I think peanut bunker tend to hang out a real long time, deep into November. How does early arrival relate to the fall fishing? Can someone shed light.

Finally, at Napeague also saw what I think was the species of crabs that I recently read about in a New York Times article that has apparently accidently arrived from the Far East via ship bilge systems, etc., and have invaded our waters. They covered the bottom as I saw dozens at my feet. They were not attractive. Anyone have any comments on this topic?

[Tuna]

I ended up getting a Boston Whaler 22 Dauntless. I wanted a boat I coulld get onto flats on but not bounce around too much in the fall madness at Montauk. No boat is going to do both equally well. Nearly bought a Steiger Superfly 21, which would have been better for the flats and would have done OK in the fall.

But the real driving factors ended up being my test drives and old habits. I "grew up" salt water flyfishing on the 1980 22 Whaler Outrage I just traded in. I grew very used to having a small casting platform in the front, and addicted to looking down on the water from the angle the platform provided (even in the fall fishing).

My test drive of the new Whaler showed it managed small water as well as my old boat and big water better. It had a larger casting platform (which I like, but now must grow used to - both my brother and cousin, who also fished a lot in the old whaler, each lost their footing once getting down from the platform). I also liked the extra space in the boat - 8 and a half foot beam, a full foot more than the old boat. I'll be banging my knees a bit less chasing albies around the boat in the fall, and I have storage space that is great.

The casting platform turns most people off, perferring (particularly in the fall) to cast from the bottom of the boat and be less exposed to falling off. But I am so used to standing high over the water and looking down that had I gotten the Steiger, I was going to have a custom platform built on it.

So if you see someone swimming near a new whaler in the fall, guess I fell off while insisting on an old habit whose only advantage is seeing better into the water for those hits, misses and errors.