east end 11/5

[fmw]

got out late sat. morning. some bluefish schools working south of the light in about 60-70 ft. of water. big fat fish, but there werent tons of schools out there and after an hour or so, it totally died (dont know whether they were there all morning). given the outgoing tide had a ways to go and the fish crapped out, had a feeling it wasnt going to get much better. based on that and some second hand intelligence, headed towards gardiners. found more blues in blitzes east of the ruins. i just got blues out of these blitzes and the fish didnt seem to be super thick, despite the fact alot of birds were around. there were a bunch of seals swimming around in these blitzes as well (which could have contributed to the fish being a tad skittish). heard plum gut has had alot of fish.

so, there's fish around the east end, just not the level of surface activity i'm used to. water temps still 58 in the ocean, a few degrees cooler back in the bay. no gannets seen.

late this afternoon was at my folks house back west and took a quick drive down to a beach on cold spring harbor. there were really large flocks of birds going crazy out in the middle of the harbor . . . presumably on schoolie bass. from what i've read about the north shore harbors and places like eatons neck, seems as if things are on fire. so, don't know how this bodes for the east end, i.e., will this stuff migrate east at all or is it a sign montauk is going to be somewhat passed by on the migration this year? who knows?

[wally gator]

I had pretty much the same results on Saturday a.m. Swung by Gardiners early and things were very quiet by the Ruins and at daybreak the bluefish showed in the rip and on the northside in a big way. Thought there might have been some bass mixed it, but was mistaken. Ran out to the Point and it was very quiet all morning long. Took one small bass on a bucktail at the lighthouse and then nothing. Later in the tide, some bluefish schools showed up on the south side, but again, no bass for me. Actually had one guy hopefully ask me if I had an albie on, in my dreams. Shot back to Gardiners and found the bluefish blitz still on, shredded a few more lures and headed home. I thought my luck would change after reading Mike's report last week, but alas no.

[brushfly]

FMW,

From what I experienced, after the Hurricane blew threw here two weeks ago, every morsel of bait left Huntington and Lloyd Harbor, Huntington Bay. With that and as you mentioned, it lit up outside in the Sound. Not sure about CSH, but in my drive by's all has looked a bit quiet. I hope you guys get a great late run out there, maybe the herring will close the year on a high note.

[captkoop]

There is plenty of bait and fish in the Western Long Island Sound.
The past 2 weeks has been excellent. Some days are better that others but thats fishing. This past weekend with the great weather there seemed to be 100's of boats out in search of Bass and Blues. It was just like Montauk during the Albie run. Everyone was running and Gunning to get on the schools. Herring are showing up as well as 4" bunker. CSH was loaded 2 with fish and bait all last week and into the weekend. Further west the action was off the charts with great blitzing, birds and bent rods. The fall run is just starting due to the warm water temps (55 in the sound). Once these temps get around 50 or high 40's we will be into som big fish. Over the past 2 weeks several large bass and blues have been hooked on flies (olive 1/2 and 1/2's) with one bass in particular pushing the 18lb mark. Several giant blues have also been hooked on poppers and large flashy deceivers. One blue pushed the scales at 15lbs. Check out saltyflies. com for more details.
The Western Sound fishes great up to Christmas, my boat will be in till the last bass sings. Have a great fall run.