Dan's Papers - October 12, 2007

The warm weather and the westerly winds slowed surf fishing on the ocean beaches and at Montauk Point, but boats trolling off the Point have been scoring with large striped bass. Scott Maran, fishing on Capt. Steve Witthuhn's charter boat Tophook, caught a 67.5-pound striped bass - a cow of a fish - last Saturday.

Cooler weather is expected this weekend and, if winds come from the east, the surf fishing should pick up. One of the last local fishing tournaments of the season is this Saturday's "Surfcast Fishing Contest" in all Southampton Town waters. Registration runs today through 3 p.m. and it is open to both Southampton residents ($10) and non-residents ($20); call (631) 728-8585. Prizes will be awarded for the largest and heaviest bluefish and striped bass caught off any Southampton Town beach on Saturday between 10 a.m. and 5 p.m. Weigh-ins are at East End Bait & Tackle, East Montauk Highway (East Main St.), Hampton Bays (631-728-1744).

Ken Morse of Tight Lines Tackle, Sag Harbor, reports one customer and his fishing buddies caught 20 blackfish weighing up to six pounds each off Orient Point. They used green crabs as bait. Another customer Jeff, fishing on a boat with his father off the north side of Shelter Island, sited a natural "crab hatch" on which striped bass were feeding and they caught a slew of stripers using poppers. Ken said another customer reported another crab hatch further east in Gardiner's Bay, a great magnet for stripers.

Linda at Jamesport Bait and Tackle tells us large striped bass are being caught with eels in Plum Gut and the Race in the Peconic bays and at Horton Point in Long Island Sound. Blackfish and porgies are plentiful around Orient Point and bluefish plus some weakfish are in the Peconics at Rogers Rock and Jessups Neck.

Harvey Bennett of Amagansett's Tackle Shop says his friend Sam caught a 38-inch-long striped bass on a plug at The Ruins north of Gardiner's Island. David Carr caught a 20-pound bluefish off Gardiner's Island and Tommy, from California, caught many cocktail bluefish in the bay. Harvey also tells us large humpback porgies have been caught by boat off Culloden Point outside the Montauk inlet.

East End Bait & Tackle, Hampton Bays, reports porgies, sea bass and blackfish at the reefs and wrecks off the Shinnecock inlet. Anglers are using clams, squid and green crabs to catch the fish. In Shinnecock Bay, bluefish are abundant and stripers are being caught on clam chum at the Ponquogue Bridge. (The bite is good in the early morning.)

In the Peconic bays, there are porgies at Robin Island and the bluefish and striped bass will bite as the water cools. Offshore, tuna fishing has been good at night at the Dip; yellowfin tuna in the 80 to 100-pound range are being caught.

Steve at Wego Fishing Station, Southold, says there are large porgies and blackfish at Plum Gut, the Sluiceway, the Race and all the way to Fisher's Island. Large striped bass are biting on live eels (one customer caught a 51.5 striper) and blackfish are biting on fiddler and green crabs, which he has in stock.

Paulie A. of Paulie's Tackle, Montauk, says daytime surf fishing early this week was slow due to the warm weather and westerly winds, but the night bite was better. The fishing will improve with the cooler weather and winds from the east.