4/29/12

Nothing to report this week since I don’t know of any boat that sailed. But that will
change this week with the fluke opening. I know a number of charterboats with trips and
LAZYBONES will start sailing on Tuesday pending the arrival of some clients.

Don’t forget that to legally fish in New York waters you need to sign up for the states
registry. It’s not a license, but amounts to the same thing, and it doesn’t cost anything.
You can get it at https://nyfgisales.appsolgrp.com/fgnyia/html/index.jsp When you get to
the site it looks like you will have to pay, but at the end it says that the fee is $0.

Last month the MBCA was informed by the Coast Guard that they will be cracking down
on small vessels carrying passengers for hire that are not built to Coast Guard specs. This
will mostly apply to the fly boats but something else might come into play and that is
boats taking charters without licensed captains. Some of the light tackle boats are
unlicensed but get by with a New York State guides license that covers them in state
waters. Renewing a captain’s license has gotten a little dicey over the last couple of years,
mainly due to the medical section of the forms. I’ve been going through it myself for a
couple of months now, having to go to three different medical specialists to prove that
past problems, going back as far as twelve years, have been managed satisfactorily. I
know one captain who spent a year getting his ticket renewed over one medication he was
on. I know of a couple of others who were turned down. One was considering retiring
anyway, but the other probably would have continued working. I know that I would never
ask a captain about his license status because I don’t want to find out someone is working
without it.

Of course the fishing in Central America will still be hot through the spring and some of
the lodges that were booked up through the winter months are starting to have some
availability. Give it a thought and check it out at www.tropicalfishing.com

If you need any other information about fishing in Montauk check out
www.montauksportfishing.com