Fishing Roundup: Leila Caught A Lulu
Leila Duchac, age 11, writes, "I saw in The Star this week your article about a young girl catching a 30-pound striped bass by the Surfside Inn. I just wanted to say that I am that young girl, and the fish was 44 pounds."
The picture Leila included with her letter shows her holding a fish (with a little help) as long as she is, and she's smiling.
"Oh, don't tell me that," said Joe Gaviola, one of the organizers and contestants in the ongoing Montauk Locals surfcasting tournament. With some of the most experienced surfcasters on the coast competing, the largest fish caught in the tournament so far weighed 33-and-a-half pounds. Leila is not in the contest, although there is a children's division.
Mammoth Blues
As for the contest itself, there has been no change in the standings, Mr. Gaviola said, due to slim pickings since the weekend, when there was very productive but not record-breaking bass fishing all along Montauk's north coast. He credited the paucity of fish in recent days to very low tides. There was still a great deal of bait fish about, he said, and predicted more productive casting in the week to come.
Dave Marcley of Montauk is said to have hooked up a pair of 25-pound bass fishing on Montauk's south shore, although the location probably could not be learned without the application of torture.
Around Gaviola's Market in Montauk one also hears tell of mammoth bluefish in Fort Pond Bay. Blues up to 20 pounds were taken from the beach during the week. Richard Berkley of Amagansett, armed only with a fly rod, found a monster blue close to the beach on Napeague.
Hot Bass Fishing
"I cast a medium-size white deceiver fly into the melee of bunker and sardines committing suicide, beaching themselves," Mr. Berkley said. "I was sure that keeper bass were the villains. Before I even began stripping the fly back, a huge boil appeared and inhaled the offering." Mr. Berkley said that 20 minutes later and 100 yards down the beach he caught a 16-and-a-half-pound bluefish, his largest ever on a fly.
From the boats, bassing has continued hot, although the size of individual fish has gotten smaller, and the bluefish have moved in. Last week 30-pound bass were not uncommon, and Capt. Michael Potts of the Blue Fin IV reported attracting a couple that size with live eels. Captain Potts said he expected larger bass to return.
To the west along ocean beaches, "there are 10 billion bass and bluefish from Atlantic Avenue, Amagansett, to White Sands on Napeague," said Harvey Bennett of the Tackle Shop at Skimhampton.
Quiet Bays, Offshore
The bay was quieter, he said, even when it came to "coots." This is the time of year that Mr. Bennett takes charter customers out on his "cast and blast" trips during which he pulls out the light tackle for bass and bluefish, and the light infantry for sea scoters.
The offshore action has about ceased, although on Friday the charter boat Reel Nice came back to Montauk with a 300-pound mako. There are still blue sharks around.
The short opening of both the large and school-size bluefin tuna fisheries over the weekend bore no fruit locally, although a few larger fish were said to have been caught off Nantucket.