"You Catching?"   IV. Fall

September 9th

That blow over the Labor Day weekend ushered in the fall fishing season here in Montauk.  I can’t remember such a long spell of rotten weather at this time of year.  Virtually nobody ventured offshore.

The blow brought the inshore waters to life, with all kinds of fish chasing all kinds of little fishies.  The false albacore are the most visible, with pods of them splashing around down by the Lighthouse.

September 23rd

Fluke fishing has had it for the year.  There are still some good fish around, but I think those are just the stragglers who are a little too slow to realize that the rest of their buddies have left.  That blow we had Labor Day seems to have been the end for the flatties.  Seabass and porgies are still here though and will be here for a couple of months anyway.

September 30th

The offshore season is definitely on the wane.  Weather is the big reason for the drop in interest.  Getting blown out for a couple of days is becoming commonplace, and when the winds do subside, it takes a day or so to find the fish.  Then maybe there are a couple of days of action before another blowout.

Overall the surf scene is a little slow right now, but it’s also very changeable.  The fall run is on, and there will be times when the fish, both bass and blues, will be right at the surfcasters’ feet.  The secret to success is to put in your time.

October 14th

If you are thinking about coming out to Montauk this time of year, you have to understand one thing, and that is it’s more likely than not that there will be some breeze.  All you can do is hope that you will be able to deal with it.  There will be some spells of great weather, but perfect days are a little too much to demand.

Over all though the fishing is about what you can expect from Montauk at this time of the season—excellent.  Everyone from charterboats, to light tackle guys to plain old googans are catching plenty of stripers.  The falsies are hanging on as well, although sometimes the bluefish get in their way.  And if you are into bottom fishing, the seabass and porgies are in top form.

November 5th

Except for the weather, things are going along wonderful here in Montauk.  It seems like every weekend has been at least a partial blowout, and at this time of the season, since many of the charter boats are only sailing on weekends, it’s getting painful.  But, the fishing is holding up well, with lots of medium sized bass around as well as a sprinkling of trophies.  In addition, there are still bluefish in various quantities, including some real brutes.

The falsies are gone, as of about a week ago.  They probably just got tired of the weather.

December 14th

Although there are still a couple of boats fishing, I’ll go out on a limb and declare the 2002 season finally over.  The LAZYBONES fished through yesterday and caught a couple of fish, but now the weekend is here with a lousy forecast, so even BONES is packing it in.