Fish Report 10/19/08

Fish Report 10/19/08

Great Fishing

Long Faces

'Nother Whale

 

Hi All,

Shoulda been here last week.

If you like catching flounder anyway..

4 days fishing -MTWT- 4 days with a boat limit of fluke.

Double-headers of keepers even.

We're only allowed 3 per person at 17 1/2. But if the limit were 20 fish at 16 inches a couple guys would have gone there too.

Lot of good tags by the rail - 'till I ran out. Just reloaded.

An old friend asked where I'd been fishing. Unaware that he'd just asked a lady how old she was; I replied, "the Economic."

"Never heard of that spot" he said.

"No? Its a wreck.."

A restaurateur; said he'd been fishing there for some while too......

Anyway, I'm getting reports of flatties from inside the bays to 30 fathoms. Despite having not done as much with them this summer, I think they were about; that the nasty pea-green water kept them off the bite.

September's water became clearer, but the enemy of all who seek fluke is the dreaded swell. Having barely gotten 12 trips of the 30 available because of weather; swells stole September's fluke show.

Wandering around here a bit. That because the "I thought you were killing 'em." conversation is coming.

Lost Friday and Saturday; as I write Sunday at noon, waves are 13 feet in 30 knot winds. The forecast has things piping down Monday afternoon.

{What was the name of that wreck?}

We did have good fishing.

Now we're going to start a new data set.

Amidst extremely satisfied customers this week were some long faces.

They'd come for sea bass. We'd had some fair catches last weekend, but with the flounder bite on....

In a perfect ocean -with perfect weather- I could offer many different fishing trips. Sea bass, fluke, tog, ling, bluefish, scup, croaker, a mix; even giant sturgeon or -heavens- sea trout in this perfect place.

Fall of 2008?  Not-so-perfect. Find something biting with the emphasis on cbass and flounder.

It's not going to be a memorable fall cbass run. In a few weeks we may find ourselves with high man in the mid-teens; higher still perhaps as more leaves fall away. I seriously doubt we'll see any boat-limits of sea bass.

It's a good year to be flexible.

Many times I've seen anglers start out targeting tog, yet be unable to resist changing baits when cbass were coming up two-at-a-time.

So too the cbass fisherman when big fluke are being netted nearby.

Fully focused effort on one type of fish reduces the likelihood of catching another.

Also true that focused management efforts to rebuild summer flounder and striped bass have reduced the likelihood that other species will flourish until they are in the spotlight.......

Another whale tale.

I have seen hundreds of whales in my years. Not many compared to those in the 'staging areas' where whales congregate, but a fair-many for these parts.

Returning home Wednesday, a mega-yacht skipper out to enjoy a day on the wrong side of the tracks spotted a humpback in full breach. I saw the splash and slowed to allow customers to watch a while.

Unfortunately, the whale had already finished its acrobatics for the day, but did -thankfully- stay in eye-shot.

Continuing to mosey on south, we got a couple more looks. After a long dive it reappeared some 200 yards away and I put the boat in neutral. It came up again 25 yards off the port bow.

And stayed there.

Time and again it would barely submerge and then blow.

The fin whale last week was slowly submerging and swimming to wherever before returning to the same spot on our port-side to blow.

This one was just chillin'.

Pretty good stuff.

So was the fishing.

So long as you fished for what was biting.

'Spect we'll see more of a mix this week.

Regards,

Monty

 

Capt. Monty Hawkins
mhawkins@siteone.net
Party Boat "Morning Star"
Reservation Line 410 520 2076
http://www.morningstarfishing.com/