8/17/09

OK, time to put away your fancy spinners, silver bullets etc, because as of midnight tonight if you want to eat fluke
you’ll have to dig it out of your freezer or head on down to the fish store and but it. Apparently the DEC is aware that the
season is closing too, because earlier in the week, they had a couple of guys on the MARLIN PRINCESS and MISS
MONTAUK. When they got back to the dock they started writing out the summonses for short fluke. There were a total
of 53 written for 60 short fluke to the anglers, captains and mates.

Offshore the tuna fishing has been disappointing to say the least. Over at the Mudhole or south of Block Island there are
bluefins, and if you spend enough time trolling around you will most likely see them jumping around and waving their
asses at you, not in big bunches, but one here and one there. If you are in the right place, at the right time, dragging the
right stuff behind your boat, and the right tuna comes along, you might catch one. But that is a lot of the “right stuff”.
Meanwhile the yellowfins out near the edge are in a similar state, except that you don’t see much of them. The right
place seems to be around the 450 line, where boats spending the day are catching a couple of fish a trip. The Edge seems
quieter.

Shark fishing is good enough, and you can expect to catch a couple of bluesharks a trip with a good shot at a mako or
two, But the makos might be on the small size. Or maybe just big enough. Most of the makos are east of the Butterfish
Hole and north of the 750 line, so at least you don’t have to spend much on fuel.

If you would like to get these reports sent to you directly, drop me a line at captaingene@montauksportfishing.com and
I’ll put you on the list.

Capt Gene Kelly - Montauk Sportfishing