Montauk Pioneer - May 29, 2009 - The Word At Paulies

"What's happenin'?" Paul smiled as he welcomed the "almost locals" Jack and Ed from Lindenhurst whose home away from home is Paulie's Tackle Shop and the North Bar, where they set up every weekend from Memorial Day until Thanksgiving. For nineteen years they have fished Montauk, always accompanied by Ed's beloved, friendly lab/chow mix, Scrap. A knee replacement and the need for another further caused Scrap to fail and his passing leaves us all with sadness, but happy memories of this special dog remain, who sure knew how to eat a striper for dinner.

Hither Hills ace surfcaster, Vic Triola, and his handsome dog Austin are both favorites at Paulies; Austin loves biscuits, Vic peppermints. Slowly but surely the gang is reuniting for another block buster fishing season. Captain Peter Chan, cracker-jack salt-water fly fisherman, has returned and will be here through December 15. Peter clearly fills the quest for fly fishing enthusiasts by teaching and guiding the increasing number of fly anglers in Montauk. "This is THE place," Peter is often heard saying. "The finest fishing area in the Northern Atlantic. There's nothing like it!"

Paul's son, Nick, arrived Friday night to do what he likes best besides playing Varsity Lacrosse for Islip High School.

Blitzes was the word this week. All along the south side sandy beaches and even up front near the sewer pipe there were plenty of fish. Jack Yee, cruising the beaches in his very visible maroon truck, photographed anglers and their catches. Bob Neilson had a 29 lb bass and Geoff Bowen a 26.4 pound bass. John "The Woodcarver" landed 30 fish in the blitz mix. Mattie Vega weighed in an 8.8 lb fluke to kick off the Memorial Day weekend!

Jimmy "The Kim" dropped in to stock up on lures and even the man himself, Paulie, grabbed his waders and rod, hopped in his truck, and headed west down the beach last Sunday.

If you haven't caught anything yet, well..., that's the way the mop flops. They're out there. Keep on fishin'.

There are two ways to fish, artificial or bait. Bait fishing for bass and blues use eel, sand eels, clam bellies, bunker and sandworms. For fluke and weakfish, squid and spearing are the ticket. For fishing with lures, (artificial) use wooden or plastic lures such as poppers and darters. Bucktail is used for bass, blues, fluke and weakfish. Block tins such as Kraftmaster, Hopkins, Charlie Graves and Charlie Pasquale which ride high on the water are also used for bass, blues and weakfish.

Manhattanites, Carter Tyler and his fiancé, Kay, who surfcast in Montauk as often as they can, stopped in so Kay could buy a Van Staal Reel for Carter as an "early" Christmas present! "A Van Staal," Paul explains, "is the Rolls Royce of reels." It has a seal drag system that allows the reel to be held under water for hours.

Its stainless steel gears and its one piece light weight mechanized housing are reliable, durable, dependable, and virtually maintenance free. It is the reel preferred by most serious surfcasters and costs between $699 to over $800. Interestingly, most top local surfcasters own a Van Staal.

Jack Yee reports that the party and charter boats have had a great week. In fact, the charter boats limited out on bass and blues this week and the party boats limited out on fluke up to 12 lbs. Ace "Miss Montauk" Captain, Jamie Quarisimo told me, "I am shocked at the size of the fish we're catching!" He further added, "The fluke fishing is superb; lots of fish coming right over the rail."

Jack Yee, one of the busiest guys in town, filmed by Plum TV at the Sag Harbor Windmill Saturday morning, rushed back to Montauk to entertain his wife and daughter during a wonderful reunion. Wining and dining them at Manucci's and showing them his fishing spots and Paulie's haven, it was a whirlwind of a holiday weekend for all three of them.

Nothing looks better on Paulie's scale than a nice BIG BASS. Zeno Hromin, author of the celebrated book, The Art of Surfcasting with Lures, landed a 44 lb bass Saturday night and Montauk's Gary Kuehn caught his 36.4 lb bass Sunday afternoon.

Paulie's Tackle is indeed "the place" to hear all the fishing news day-by-day, sometimes hour-by-hour. Just ask Paul or Susan for the latest like, "Who's where?" or "Who caught what?" or "What with?" or "How big?"