Yellowfins Heat Up at Montauk

[Capt_Gene_Kelly]

7/23/12

Bluefin tuna are still scarce, but further offshore the yellowfins action is improving, at least for boats doing the overnighters. A couple of charterboats, the ADA K & SEAWIFE, did them during the week in considerably less than ideal weather and came back with three and ten fish up to sixty pounds or so. They both caught most of the fish in fifty fathoms rather than on the Edge itself. That’s nothing like last season when boats had to go ten miles or more south of the Edge for fish. It would be nice if they moved in even closer, maybe to forty fathoms or so.

The MTK Canyon Challenge was held this past week. I don’t have the final results yet, but as of Saturday morning these were on the boards;
Heaviest Yellowfin
Freedom 73.4lbs
Blonde 52lb
Gotcha 49.9lbs
Persuasion 49.7 lbs
JB Tackle 49.1lbs
Bella Donna 48.4lbs
Omerta 48.2lbs
Open Bight 45.2lbs
Persuasion 44.7lbs
Lady Marion 39.7lbs
Sneaky Pete 38.9lbs.
Torta 37. 9 lbs ( plus a beautiful 50lb Wahoo)
Overtime 35.8lbs
On the Ball 32.4lbs
Total of Top 3 Yellowfin
Blonde 143.8lbs
Gotcha 143.0lbs
Persuasion 142.3lbs
Bella Donna 136.3lbs
Open Bight 128.9lbs
Omerta 127.8lbs
Heaviest Albacore Tuna
Lady Marion 29.7lbs
Overtime 29.6lbs
Bella Donna 28.8lbs
Persuasion 28.5lbs
High Point Marlin
Sneaky Pete 100 Points
Blonde 100 Points
Open Bight 100 Points
Heaviest Mahi Mahi
Bella Donna 15.5lb
Blonde 13.3lbs
JB Tackle 13.3lbs
Persuasion 8.6lbs
Heaviest Bass
Useless 44.2lbs
On the Ball 38.5lbs
Gotcha 33lbs
Heaviest Fluke
On The Ball 6.7l
Heaviest Mako
Santana 59.8lbs (55 inches tip to fork).

Shark fishing is a little more like it should be in the heat of the summer with fewer bluesharks around, but occasional surprises showing up in the slick like hammerheads and mahi.

Inshore the bass fishing is not great. There are some real nice fish around as well as some smaller borderline fish. From Pollock Rip and south around the Elbow and Great Eastern all the bigger fish are hanging out along with a million boats drifting eels making for a real headache for boats trying to troll, at least on the weekend. During the week it’s a different story with so few boats out that you can almost troll blindfolded without any problems. The smaller fish are in the rips north and east of Pollock Rip. A couple of the charter boats have started making the run to Southwest Ledge or that other spot out that way, and doing better with less aggravation but higher fuel bills.

The fluke fishing right now is OK, but to come up with a limit, you have to spend a lot of time, in order to make sure that you are fishing when they are eating. There are some keepers in the Rips, but you have to cull through a lot of shorts first. Out in deeper water off the south side most of the fish are keepers, plus there are always some sea bass mixed in.



Capt Gene Kelly
montauksportfishing.com