Dan's Papers - July 11, 2008 - Fluke, Striper and Bluefish

Fishing slowed last weekend due to the rainy, foggy weather, busy boat traffic, and fireworks shot off waterside in one village or another nightly. I headed out fluking before the holiday traffic, stopping at East End Bait and Tackle to get sand eels and squid, then joining my buddy John Locke at the Ponquogue Bridge launching ramp on Shinnecock Bay. We were fogged in.

At 9 a.m., the fog was still so thick we couldn't see the pilings supporting the bridge, so we waited half an hour until the fog started to lift. We motored west and sighted a few boats and the Shinnecock Star drift fishing for fluke. After a few drifts and catches of undersize fluke, the color of the water didn't look good, so we proceeded east back under the bridge into the main part of the bay. We drifted again and caught more "shorts" until I finally hooked a 25" fluke. It really made my day!

Nor'east Saltwater magazine's big Fluke Mania Smackdown tournament is this Saturday and Sunday. Prize monies total $20,000 with $10,000 going to the angler catching the heaviest fluke at least 20.5-inches long (NYS minimum). Registration fee is $25 per angler. Register online at noreast.com, bait stations listed below or call 1-866-610-2246. Weigh-in stations are East End Bait & Tackle (Hampton Bays), Gone Fishing Marina (Montauk), Silly Lilly Fishing Station (East Moriches), Tight Lines Tackle (Sag Harbor),Wego Fishing Bait & Tackle (Southhold), Westlake Fishing Marina (Montauk).

A marine research vessel from Stony Brook University's School of Marine and Applied Sciences, under the direction of Dr. Chris Gobler, worked in Quantuck Bay off Quogue and confirmed the presence of brown tide last week. If the algae bloom causing brown tide continues, it blocks sunlight filtering through the water and kills local shellfish. We are hoping this week's heat will slow the algae growth.

The tuna fishery worldwide is also under assault. I read reports that large tuna which migrate between the Atlantic and Mediterranean are disappearing. Thirteen super-sized seiners, which carry up to1,500 tons of tuna each, were recently sighted just two miles off the beach of Cabo San Lucas on the Mexican Baja peninsula. U.S. commercial fisherman have asked the Mexican government to extend their coastal waters out 50 nautical miles to prevent these seiners from completely depleting the tuna fishery. The current July/August Florida edition of Sport Fishing magazine reports the Eastern Pacific yellowfin tuna population is down 60 percent.

This Saturday, July 12, the Town of Southampton's Parks and Recreation Department is offering a fishing clinic for anglers 14 and older from 10 a.m. to noon at Hampton Watercraft and Marine on Newtown Lane in Hampton Bays. Fishing basics including how to clean and prepare fish will be taught. The clinic fee is $20 for residents, $30 for non-residents. Reserve a place by calling (631) 728-8585.

A monster 70.6-pound striped bass was caught by Mike Columbus of Riverhead off Orient Point. John at Jamesport Bait & Tackle tells us there are many striped bass and bluefish being caught before sunrise and after sunset at Plum Gut and the Sluiceway using live bunker. He also says keeper-size fluke are in Mattituck inlet and in Gardiner's Bay at the Ruins. There are also porgies and some weakfish around Robins Island in Peconic Bay.

Harvey Bennett of Amagansett's Tackle Shop reports client Herve Saralequi hooked a large striped bass on a rubber shad off Bridgehampton's Ocean Rd. beach early last Saturday morning, fought it for 20 minutes and then lost it in the surf. Harvey also says stripers are plentiful before sunrise off the Gerard Drive beach, East Hampton, and then bluefish come.

In Montauk, the charter fleet has been doing well catching fluke and large striped bass. Paulie's Tackle Shop weighed in stripers up to 54.8 pounds and Montauk fishing photographer Jack Yee reports Mike Didyk caught a 51-pound striped bass in the surf off the Montauk Shores trailer park last Saturday night.

Scott at East End Bait and Tackle, Hampton Bays, says there are plenty of striped bass at the Ponquogue Bridge on the incoming tide. Most of the fish are caught on top-water plugs and with clams and live bait. Fluking in is good in Shinnecock Bay and the ocean off the wedge-shaped "Cheese" house.