8/31/09

Danny Boy blew past on Saturday and like Bill, wasn’t what it was supposed to be. We had a lot of rain, but no wind at
all, which meant that most of the charters that were canceled could have sailed, although they would have gotten wet.
But the fish don’t mind; they’re wet anyway. The boat I run is tied up at Devon Yacht Club, back in the southwest corner
of Gardiner’s Bay, and is a horrible place when there is a bit of a northerly breeze. It’s mainly a sailboat place and many
of those left for a safer harbor. I just added a couple of bumpers and figured on staying with the boat through the worst
of it. On Saturday I never even bothered to drive down to check on it.

The striped bass fishing has gotten a little delicate over the past week. A sure sign of that came when on Friday I saw a
couple of charterboats from Montauk on halfday trips fishing at Southwest Ledge. That means they steamed three times
the distance (and fuel) that they would normally do. Sunday there was an explosion of bluefish at the Point that added to
the difficulties.

Fluke season is over, but so many of the partyboats have the RFA permits, that it’s worth talking about. It’s great,
especially over at Block Island where some of the all day boats are fishing. The permits allow four fish at twenty inches
instead of two fish at twenty-one inches. And, judging by the cars in the parking lots, it seems that the partyboats are
carrying better now than when the season was open. It’s amazing what more liberal limits will do for the business.

Offshore the tuna fishing is a mess. There continue to be scattered reports of boats catching tuna, but nothing anywhere
is consistent and “here today, gone tomorrow” seems to apply. Many of the charterboats with tuna trips are spending a
little time trolling and then breaking out the chum. Thankfully the shark fishing continues to be pretty good, although it
would be nice if there were a few more keeper makos around instead of the pups.

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.