Dan's Papers - August 29, 2008 -

This weekend concludes the fluking season. Fluke fishing slowed somewhat in the ocean off Montauk but fluking inside and outside Shinnecock is still strong. Last Sunday morning, fishing on James Darby's 30-foot Grady White with his son, granddaughter and my neighbor David Silverstein, we went from the Peconics, through the Shinnecock canal and offshore to 80 feet of water, drifting for fluke. We caught five keeper-sized fluke and some sea bass within a few hours, using live killies and squid strips as bait of choice.

Scott at East End Bait and Tackle, Hampton Bays, reports lots of undersize fluke being caught in Shinnecock Bay but he advises going outside the inlet near the sea buoy to about 80-foot depths for keeper-size (20.5 inches and up) fluke. One of his customers, Joe Giovengo, weighed in an 11.5-pound fluke caught out in the ocean. There are also school-sized striped bass (undersize) biting on top-water plugs near the Ponquogue Bridge at sunrise and sunset. The offshore tuna bite was off last week that was a blow for last weekend's charity Hamptons Offshore Invitational Tournament.

Ken Morse of Tight Lines Tackle in Sag Harbor tells us there are big bluefish off Gardiner's Island at the Ruins and plenty of porgies in the Peconic bays. One of Ken's customers caught fluke in the ocean at the Frisbies area south of Montauk. Fishing at the pigeon-rip out of Orient Point, the Orient Star got lots of bluefish for its anglers.

Harvey Bennett of Amagansett's Tackle Shop says there are stripers biting on diving plugs and metal lures at sunrise and sunset along the ocean beaches, and a client caught an 8-pound fluke in a boat off Napeague in Gardiner's Bay. Out in Montauk, Matt Gallagher caught a 12.5-pound fluke on the Flying Cloud. The big winners in last weekend's Montauk Grand Slam fishing tournament, sponsored by the East Hampton Kiwanis Club and the Montauk Friends of Erin, were Capt. Richard Rade and Perry Mastrangelo fishing on the Maria E..

On another note, Stony Brook University just announced the establishment of an Institute for Ocean Conservation Sciences at its Southampton campus. (See the story on page 47.) This will be a research center investigating problems in New York State and U.S. waters, world oceans, fisheries, endangered marine wildlife and ecosystems - all interconnected today - and to look for solutions to these problems. Dr. Ellen Pikitch, a professor at Stony Brook's School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences, will head the new Institute.

Stony Brook's School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences (SoMAS) is one of the largest on the East Coast of the U.S. Stony Brook's president, Dr. Shirley Strum Kenny, SoMAS Dean David Conover, Congressman Tim Bishop and State Assemblyman Fred Thiele were instrumental in obtaining support for the new Institute.