Tuna
10-14-2001, 01:13 PM
Thursday morning I changed my plans to fish Gardiners when, before getting off the dock, heard from 2 sources that albies were at the Point the day before.
Got there around 7 am and the albies were starting up. Broke a few off, then as the morning progressed, the bite got better. Nice to fish in 15 knots - just enough wind to kick things up but not beat me up. Warm day, with plenty of sun, so seeing fish under the surface and strikes was frequent. Had a good day.
Friday was even better in the morning. 10 knots at most, sunny and warm, and a few hours of just about as good as Montauk gets. BIG pods of albies - lots of boats, but enough albies around to support it. Coast Guard came out to watch (or to make sure we were behaving?), but the albies dispersed soon after their arrival.
I actually did better after they broke off into smaller pods before noon, often catching fish casting to areas birds were sitting on the surface over pods of bait a few albies were on. Died out by 2 and I left early to conserve some energy for Saturday (two consecutive double digit days had me banged up despite the calm weather).
Saturday I got out before sunrise. Eerie calm morning, with the big swell NOAA had been predicting but everyone had ignored. Some fog outside, and bigger swells the closer to the Point I got. By Shagawong, it was actually a bit scary, and I could see the Point looked pretty foggy. As I got to the Point, the fog got thick, the swell got bigger, and I got a bit terrified (a rare occurrence during albie season, when I sometimes lose my commen sense). Stopped before the Point to think things out. Ted, Dino and Jeff were right behind me - Dino went further, then reappeared to announce he thought the Point unsafe. We all headed back (we lost Jeff, who found his way back to Montauk Lake some hour or so later). Hung outside of the inlet with Ted for an hour, hoping the fog would lift. Had not dressed warm and had no wet weather gear, the fog was soaking my blue jeans and I was cold. Went in to wait the fog out.
Went back out about 11 am, and there was a feed at Shagawong. But many boats compared to the number of fish. Decided to run to Gardiners for less congestion. Found nothing, got colder (it was like there were 2 weather zones - Easthampton and west, which was warm and sunny, and Montauk, which was cold, had NE winds, and was cloudy/remnants of fog). Got back to Montauk Lake around 1:30 pm and called it a day, a good cold skunking.
At the start of every albie season, I wonder how I will be able to give it up.
At the end of every albie season, I remember - tired and beat up, the albies beat me down every season.
May change my mind during the week, but this coming Friday and Saturday may end up being my last days of the season (and what a season it has been!).
Got there around 7 am and the albies were starting up. Broke a few off, then as the morning progressed, the bite got better. Nice to fish in 15 knots - just enough wind to kick things up but not beat me up. Warm day, with plenty of sun, so seeing fish under the surface and strikes was frequent. Had a good day.
Friday was even better in the morning. 10 knots at most, sunny and warm, and a few hours of just about as good as Montauk gets. BIG pods of albies - lots of boats, but enough albies around to support it. Coast Guard came out to watch (or to make sure we were behaving?), but the albies dispersed soon after their arrival.
I actually did better after they broke off into smaller pods before noon, often catching fish casting to areas birds were sitting on the surface over pods of bait a few albies were on. Died out by 2 and I left early to conserve some energy for Saturday (two consecutive double digit days had me banged up despite the calm weather).
Saturday I got out before sunrise. Eerie calm morning, with the big swell NOAA had been predicting but everyone had ignored. Some fog outside, and bigger swells the closer to the Point I got. By Shagawong, it was actually a bit scary, and I could see the Point looked pretty foggy. As I got to the Point, the fog got thick, the swell got bigger, and I got a bit terrified (a rare occurrence during albie season, when I sometimes lose my commen sense). Stopped before the Point to think things out. Ted, Dino and Jeff were right behind me - Dino went further, then reappeared to announce he thought the Point unsafe. We all headed back (we lost Jeff, who found his way back to Montauk Lake some hour or so later). Hung outside of the inlet with Ted for an hour, hoping the fog would lift. Had not dressed warm and had no wet weather gear, the fog was soaking my blue jeans and I was cold. Went in to wait the fog out.
Went back out about 11 am, and there was a feed at Shagawong. But many boats compared to the number of fish. Decided to run to Gardiners for less congestion. Found nothing, got colder (it was like there were 2 weather zones - Easthampton and west, which was warm and sunny, and Montauk, which was cold, had NE winds, and was cloudy/remnants of fog). Got back to Montauk Lake around 1:30 pm and called it a day, a good cold skunking.
At the start of every albie season, I wonder how I will be able to give it up.
At the end of every albie season, I remember - tired and beat up, the albies beat me down every season.
May change my mind during the week, but this coming Friday and Saturday may end up being my last days of the season (and what a season it has been!).