Montauk Sportfishing

Montauk Sportfishing Report 11/18/16 There are still some boats fishing here in Montauk, but it’s time to start thinking about the fishing down south and the first serious action always starts in Guatemala. Casa Vieja just finished their annual No Sancoho Sailfish Shootout with some great results. Sancocho refers to what’s left of the ballyhoo after a missed bite, which is suitable for soup. Every angler who reels in the leftover ballyhoo donates $20 to the local school in Pu...erto San Jose. The 10 boats & 41 anglers released 378 sailfish, 6 marlin, & 230 Sancochos! The results are as follows; First Place: Team Intensity 775 points/63 Sailfish/ 2 Blue Marlin/ 42 Sancochos Second Place: Team Decisive 765 points/ 57 Sailfish/ 27 Sancochos Third Place: Team Spindrift 600 points/ 55 Sailfish/ 1 Blue Marlin/ 13 Sancochos Top Lady Angler: Poppy Brownlee- 15 Sailfish Sancocho Queen: Tracey Kealy (Pez Raton) Las Viejas - 17 Sancochos Tropic Star opens up their season next weekend with their annual billfish tournament benifitting the Guy Harvey Ocean Foundation. For information about fishing throughout Central America, including Costa Rica, Panama Gautemala and Belize, check out www.tropicalfishing.com or call me at 631 668 2019 See more

It's not tooo soon to start to plan your winter fishing trip. Think about Central America with its great fishing and perfect weather conditions. I’ve been sending clients there on great trips for 25 years, and can assure you that your trip will be the fishing adventure of a lifetime. But don’t wait too long. Some of the more popular lodges are already close to booking up for the peak dates. Costa Rica is always dependable with the great billfishing on the Pacific coast at its... peak from December into April. It’s the least expensive place to fish, with accommodations in local hotels and fishing on local charterboats. Most go to Costa Rica for the billfish, but you can have spectacular reef fishing for roosterfish, cubera snapper and lots of other species as well. Guatemala has the world’s best sailfishing. There are a number of American style fishing lodges there, or you can go the less expensive route and stay in a local four star hotel on the ocean. All the boats fish out of the same area, so you’ll have great fishing wherever you stay. Panama has great fishing for big black marlin and yellowfin tuna, but it also has spectacular reef fishing for snapper, roosterfish and grouper. But availability is often the problem, so start planning now. Belize is a light tackle paradise, kind of like the Florida Keys without the cars, shopping malls and WIND. Check out tropicalfishing.com or give me a call at 631 668 2019, and I’ll set you up with the fishing adventure of a lifetime. The worst thing that can happen is we’ll spend a little time b-sing about fishing. See more

Montauk Sportfishing Report 10/24/16 Just another crappy weekend, one of many this fall. A couple of boats got our Saturday, but most cancelled. It looks like the end is in sight. In spite of the very good striped bass fishing, mostly over at Block Island, the number of charters is dropping off. Weekends are still relatively busy, but the mid-week trips are dropping off, probably a result of the poor bass fishing in October and November the past couple of years. Surprisingly..., some falsies are still here, although most of the fly guys are gone. The seabass season reopened in Federal Waters on Saturday and now the bottom fishing is going to improve markedly. I made my last trip early in the week and spent a little time looking for cod south of Block Island before going back inside for some legal seabass. There’s a big difference in the quality of the fish in the deeper waters. It’s too bad that more clients are interested. The charterboats could use the business. This will probably be the last scheduled weekly report for the season, but I will be back on occasion when something worth reporting occurs. Think about where you want to fish this winter when it is snowing up here and everybody is sweating down in Panama, Costa Rica, Guatemala and Belize. Check it all out at www.tropicalfishing.com See more

Montauk Sportfishing Report 10/17/16 The striped bass fishing is hanging in there, a lot better than it did the last two years, with most of the charters getting their limits, even though they have to work for them. Many of the fish being caught are just legal up to fifteen pounds or so, but there are still some decent ones around. The better action is still over at Southwest ledge. The bottom fishing for seabass, porgies and blackfish is good and getting better. The seabass ...fishing in federal waters will reopen on October 22, which will relieve a little pain, and when that happens, codfish will start to be included in the mix. Wednesday the Coast Guard started ticketing boat returning from Block Island with seabass because it is verboten to possess them in federal waters. When the striped bass were outlawed in federal waters, a special note was written into the law allowing boats to transit the federal waters between Block Island and Montauk, but nothing like that was written into the regs for seabass. But nobody knew that until this past week. The law allowing fishing in the federal water gap has passed both houses of Congress and is awaiting the president’s signature. Star Island held a one day striper tournament on Sunday with the following results; 1st place - FREE NICKY - 33.85 lbs 2nd place - FREE NICKY - 23.20 lbs 3rd place - OVER SPRAY - 18.85 lbs It should be noted that charter boats are no longer permitted to participate in this tournament. The Surfmasters tournament started on September 1 and runs until the end of November. Here are the current standings; Wet Suit Division 1st place John Bruno 37.00 lbs 10/6/16 Wader Division 1st place - Ben The Kid McMarron - 55.14 lbs - 10/5/16 2nd place - Larry Welcome - 23.00 lbs - 9/25/16 3rd place - Wilan Pilco - 22.30 lbs - 9/29/16 Women’s Division 1st place - Mary Ellen Kane - 19.75 - 9/23/16 For more info about fishing in Montauk, check out www.montauksportfishing.com And, it’s not too soon to start thinking about where you want to fish this winter. For info about fishing throughout Central America, go to www.tropicalfishing.com

Montauk Sportfishing Report 9/19/16 Offshore is a mixed bag. Shark fishing is back to normal with some makos around and the bluesharks, including the big fall ones, participating. And based on reports from the east there are more bluedogs coming. But not many boats are bothering to go offshore, especially for tuna which are pretty much non-existent. If you go for a long run you are really looking for mahi, whether you admit it or not. Inshore, some big fluke are still availab...le out around Cartwright, etc, but in a couple of days that won’t matter since after Wednesday they will be off limits. But seabass are still available in Federal waters unlike the last couple of year when it was shut down. Striped bass fishing is chugging along just fine with the only problem being too many boats or too many bluefish. For more info about fishing in Montauk, check out www.montauksportfishing.com And, it’s not too soon to start thinking about where you want to fish this winter. For info about fishing throughout Central America, go to www.tropicalfishing.com