Go Fish

The porgy fishing season closes at the end of the month. The porgy catch has been very good this year. Just a reminder - the daily limit is 25 fish per angler and a 10.5-inch minimum length. The blackfish season, which opened on October 1 and goes through May 31, has a 14.5-inch minimum size per fish and a limit of 10 fish per angler each day.

Harvey Bennett of The Tackle Shop in Amagansett, shooting sea coots (ducks) from a boat with his friend Gary this past Monday on the west side of Gardiner's Island, is always on the lookout for fish. He saw large bluefish of up to 20 pounds in the Bostwick Bay area, northwest of Gardiner's Island toward the Ruins. He also caught and released several striped bass, using plugs, off Gardiner's Island.

Fishing with my neighbor David Silverstein on his boat last Sunday off Shelter Island's greenlawns area and the brickyard area off Greenport, we caught many porgies, sea bass and a blackfish. We continued west in the Peconics to Jessups Neck and drifted with live porgies; we then got slammed by large bluefish.

Steve at East End Bait & Tackle, Hampton Bays, reports striped bass action has improved in the Shinnecock inlet and stripers are also being caught at the Ponquogue Bridge on clams and eels. He weighed in a 22-pound striped bass caught in the inlet on the boat Prost. Offshore fishing was off due to strong wind and sea conditions.

Ken Morse of Tight Lines Tackle, Sag Harbor, fished off the rocks at the Shinnecock Canal last Wednesday and had constant striped bass action in the morning. The next day produced similar results. One of his clients, Mr. Cohen, trolling with wire on a boat near the North Haven ferry slip, caught several large bluefish.

Linda at Jamesport Bait & Tackle reports plenty of striped bass being caught with eels at Horton Point in Long Island Sound, and porgies on the north side of Rogers Rock in Peconic Bay. Steve of Wego Fishing Station, Southold, says there are still loads of porgies, striped bass and blackfish (weighing three to five pounds) being caught in Plum Gut, day and night. The stripers are biting on eels and bucktails.

Paulie A. of Paulie's Tackle in Montauk weighed in several large striped bass - close to 50 pounds -caught in the surf off Montauk Point. He took his son surf fishing at Shagwong and they ran into a bluefish blitz.

Offshore fishing was hit and miss this past week due to strong winds which made sea conditions rough. Some hearty fisherman going offshore to the Canyon landed yellowfin tuna. There is also a report of some swordfish being caught.

President Bush in his weekly radio address last Saturday stated he was issuing an executive order banning commercial fishing for striped bass and red drum in U.S. waters. Since these species are already prohibited from the commercial fishery, the order is redundant.


- Rich Firstenberg (YeOldeSalt@aol.com)

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