The Inshore Action Is On

By Russell Drumm

Hard to say, but it could have been the ghost of Hurricane Ophelia riding the big surf she swept the south shore with over the weekend. Maybe Ophelia, or the full moon, or the combination of the two, but something has flipped the switch to turn on the inshore fishing.

"The false albacore have attacked. Women and children are running, screaming. Gulls and terns are being eaten," crowed Ken Rafferty, a light-tackle and fly-fishing guide, driven to hyperbole on Monday to express the way in which vast schools of the species, also known as little tunny, have invaded the area.

"Stripers, albacore, bluefish, there's everything under the Lighthouse you can imagine. The rip line at Gardiner's is doing well, too," Rafferty said.

Light-tackle aficionados await the falsies' return each year, if not with baited breath, then with specially tied flies and/or small, shiny lures like Kastmasters for their spinning gear. Whatever the lure, it must be retrieved super fast to evoke a reflexive bite.

Falsies have become a favorite sport fish, not only because their eagle eyes make them hard to fool, but because once they are, they run for open water, circle, and dive deep like their larger cousins in the tuna family.

Harvey Bennett of the Tackle Shop in Amagansett reported that Richard Swain, fishing aboard Merritt White's guide boat, found himself in fly-fishing heaven on Monday in front of the Montauk Lighthouse. "The bass were boiling. All you had to do was drop the fly over the side," Bennett reported second-handedly.

In all, three bass measuring around 35 inches in length and seven false albacore up to nine pounds were caught, all on flies.

Nor have the fluke stopped biting. Bennett said that "Coffee Bill" Callas returned over the weekend to his favorite waters at the northwestern corner of Gardiner's Island, where he reeled in a nine-pound fluke and a monster sea bass that weighed in at five and three-quarter pounds.

Mr. Bennett himself went fishing with Tom Wheeler from Connecticut on Monday. Twenty false albacore were caught and released. One looked to weigh close to 10 pounds, reeled in off Tobaccolot on the east side of Gardiner's Island. Bennett said the dense schools of falsies stretched from the island east to Montauk.

If the near-shore action from boats were not hot enough, surfcasters found striped bass galore chasing after mullet well within casting range. Glenn Grothmann of Freddie's Bait and Tackle in Montauk reported that the mullet had been pushed up against the rocks in front of the state park concession stand at Montauk Point on Sunday morning.

Casters pulled striped bass, many weighing in the teens, out of the mullet schools. Bigger fish, in the 20-pound range, have been taken during the night at and near the point. Grothmann himself caught a 12-pounder using a needlefish lure on Sunday night, and was looking forward to an outgoing tide as dark approached on Tuesday.

Perhaps best of all: "A lot of fellows have gone home," Grothmann said. Fast bass action was also reported at Georgica Beach in East Hampton on Monday.

Hank Altenkirch of the Altenkirch Precision Outfitters shop reported that striped bass were making a near-shore appearance on Southampton's beaches and bays as well. "A lot of bass. They're starting to come back. The water's a little cooler. Drifting in the inlet with clams, and surfcasting too."

He also reported big porgies at Roger's Rock, and "some weakfish around too. It's why the yellow lures are working on bass," he said. He was referring to the bass's weakness for weakfish, which they identify by their bright yellow fins.

Chris Miller of Montauk's West Lake Fishing Lodge relayed the story of Joe Pannash's trip offshore on Monday, when he found a yellowfin tuna weighing 65 pounds, "eight albacore, and a handful of mahimahi." Miller also reported that live eels were working well to attract bass during the day and at night.

Montauk's Viking fleet of party boats is offering offshore tuna trips. A two-day tuna trip on the Viking Star is scheduled to leave at 3 a.m. on Saturday and return on Sunday at 3 p.m. The adventure is limited to 32 fishermen. The cost is $300.

Other overnight trips for tuna and tilefish are scheduled to depart from Montauk Harbor on Monday and Wednesday, and there are dates in October as well.