Montauk Offshore 7/10 & 11 Pictures

[mikesopals]

Ran south on Sat am about 20 miles, just east of the Butterfish Hole. Had trouble catching blues at the point for bait, as stripers dominated the scene once again----birds and bait were everywhere but fish were selective and not showing on the surface. Finally hooked up with a sparsely tied white deciever, 1/0/. We eventually got one blue, and had two frozen from yesterday, so we headed south. We ran into a large group of whales at about 15 miles, this was easily the highlight of the trip. We had groups of 2-3 Finback Whales come within 20 yds of the boat when we were sharking! There may have been some Minke whales in the mix too but these were too far away to positively identify. Only one blue shark, around 125 lbs. Tons of shearwaters all the way out.........we tried some trolling for BFT but saw no signs on the way in.
Came in early, around 1pm as the wind started to kick as predicted.

Attached are some pic's from the past two days.
If you want to see some short video clips of dolphins or the whales, just send me an email.

Mike G

[Glory]

what a beautiful day on offshore water. looks like it was rougher in my harbor than 20 miles offshore. i'm getting ready to take my first offshore trip in a 26 edgewater cc. any advice on picking days.. wind direction etc.?

thanks

[JGH]

You got those sharks on the fly? Sweet!

[mikesopals]

this was our first successful trip taking blue sharks on the fly. After we had caught a few on conventional tackle, and there were a few circling the boat and nosing the chum bucket. We pulled all the conventional gear, and started to chunk to get them eating, then tossed a bight orange/yellow/red chum fly out and let it sink and they just inhaled it after 3-4 attempts.

I also got a larger second blue, around 100lbs, on a big mackeral fly that I had tied up on a 7/0 shark hook. In both cases, I hand tied a 3-4 foot leader on to the fly with a haywire twist and attached the wire to a 30lb test leader with a loop to loop connection.


In regard to checking conditions, we try to venture offshore when conditions are 2-4ft and quite stable with no big fronts coming in. Check the coastal forecast (out to 20 miles) at http://www.nws.noaa.gov/om/marine/zone/east/okxmz.htm

and the Offshore forecast(20-100miles out) at
http://www.nws.noaa.gov/om/marine/zone/wrdoffmz.htm

Please note that these forecasts are typically wrong.....can be much better or worse, so always make your own decisons based on the reality of what you are seeing. Btw-when heading straight south, you can hit some rough water at the Montauk Shoals, about 4-6 miles out, then it typically calms down the further you go out. Based on what I've seen, it is not uncommon to be nicer and flatter offshore that close in near the rips!


Hope this helps.

Mike G

[Glory]

this was our first successful trip taking blue sharks on the fly. After we had caught a few on conventional tackle, and there were a few circling the boat and nosing the chum bucket. We pulled all the conventional gear, and started to chunk to get them eating, then tossed a bight orange/yellow/red chum fly out and let it sink and they just inhaled it after 3-4 attempts.

I also got a larger second blue, around 100lbs, on a big mackeral fly that I had tied up on a 7/0 shark hook. In both cases, I hand tied a 3-4 foot leader on to the fly with a haywire twist and attached the wire to a 30lb test leader with a loop to loop connection.


In regard to checking conditions, we try to venture offshore when conditions are 2-4ft and quite stable with no big fronts coming in. Check the coastal forecast (out to 20 miles) at http://www.nws.noaa.gov/om/marine/zone/east/okxmz.htm


and the Offshore forecast(20-100miles out) at
http://www.nws.noaa.gov/om/marine/zone/wrdoffmz.htm

Please note that these forecasts are typically wrong.....can be much better or worse, so always make your own decisons based on the reality of what you are seeing. Btw-when heading straight south, you can hit some rough water at the Montauk Shoals, about 4-6 miles out, then it typically calms down the further you go out. Based on what I've seen, it is not uncommon to be nicer and flatter offshore that close in near the rips!


Hope this helps.

Mike G




Thanks. I'll consult the noaa sites. What size boat do you run offshore?

[mikesopals]

Have a Grady 257----twin 150 Yamaha's, 25 ft with closed transom...love it.