6/20/2011

Star Island held the first shark tournament of the year on Friday and Saturday with around
130 boats signed up, about 35 less than last year. That’s probably because a lot of boats
listened to the forecast for Friday which was pretty crappy - and accurate.

Overall, the fishing was too good, with too, too many bluesharks. Sixteen fish were
weighed in, nine makos, with no qualifying blues or threshers.

For the second year, the Concerned Citizens of Montauk spent a couple of thousand
dollars on circle hooks that they donated to all the shark tournaments to be given out as a
conservation measure. At this tournament not a single fish that was weighed in was
caught with a circle hook. Of course the fact that Star Island never gave out the hooks for
the second year in a row might have had something to do with that.

The results are as follows;
Overall winner & 1st place mako -325 lbs. - LADY IRENE 3
2nd place mako - 189 lbs. - SMALL FORTUNE
3rd place mako - 161 lbs. - PENSION PLAN


Next weekend Montauk Marine Basin has their tournament and Carl has assured me that
he will be giving the hooks out. I’ll check and see how many fish are weighed in with
circles in their mouths.

Inshore the striped bass fishing is pretty steady, with the best action on the flood tide at
either the Elbow or Slot. Of course everybody knows this, so it gets pretty crowded and
was especially zoo like on Saturday with the fog and 125 shark boats zooming out. The
ebb isn’t as good, and you have to look around for them, but the fish seem to be a better
size.

Fluke fishing has started to pick up a bit. The LAZYBONES had fifteen keepers on their
Sunday morning trip up to 9.5 pounds. You will also likely catch some nice seabass, but
if you really want them, you can get more action fishing further offshore than you might
normally fish for fluke. Another piece of good news for seabass lovers is the lack of the
doggies. You might catch one or two, but so far at least, you are unlikely to be overcome
by them.

The MARLIN PRINCESS has moved again. Now it is tied up at Salivar’s Dock.

Peter Vican of Rhode Island caught a 77.40 pound bass Saturday night

For more info about fishing in Montauk, check out www.montauksportfishing.com and if
you would like to receive these reports directly, drop me a line at
captaingene@montauksportfishing.com