2015 Montauk Madness Part 1

Its been awhile since I had anything cool to report from a personal standpoint so here it goes

3 AM Saturday

Drinking my coffee and asking myself have you lost your f*** mind driving to Montauk on Labor Day weekend? But the crazy side of my brain won so at 3 30 AM  I am at 7/11 filling up my thermos.

Saturday morning I arrived at Montauk Point at dawn, just before sunrise. I heard that bluefish bite has been going on and off in daytime but that wasn’t really my reason for going. I really wanted to come on Sunday to take few shots with a drone when it was supposed to be flat calm winds. Saturday was a leftover blow from hard NE and E the day before. But I could not justify in my head driving two hours on Sunday, then flying a drone for 20 minutes and then driving back home for 2 hours. So I figured I come on Saturday,spend a day, take in some scenery, shot a drone in the morning and go home

It did not quite worked out that way

First stop North Bar 5 30 AM 

Few guys penciling at false dawn into sunrise, did not see a fish caught. It was supposed to be HARD NE wind but that never materialized. It was blowing but not as hard as I would like. And once sun came out it was a perfect bluebird summer day,,,,and that sucks when is coupled with NE winds..in my humble opinion

Someone asked me via text the day before how hard and nasty you want a NE to be to get psyched?That’s easy to answer, when I am seriously afraid for my life or broken limbs, that is the money weather, always have been for me. That does not mean that I encourage you to do stuff that you are not comfortable with. Please, do not get out your comfort zone, we all got mouths to feed. Having said that I remember a club member calling me few years ago during a noreaster from his room in Montauk and saying “Z, the trees are bent in an arc, I am not going fishing in this shit”

That turned out to be one of the most memorable days in Montauk in the last 15 years

Anyway back to my one day odyssey

6 30 AM

I was in no mood to suit up and throw pencil poppers, so I decided to head out to Camp Hero and put on a wetsuit. There was only a single truck parked by the Sewer Pipe, the regulars have not arrived yet in Montauk (I don’t blame them for that). As I was suiting up, a fellow whose truck I parked  next to walks up , also in wetsuit, and tells me he’s been fishing all morning without a hit. And to boot, the water is full of weed on the reefs, but not so bad in the coves. Well, that put my confidence level down on the par with the Mets winning a World Series as I really am not a fan of fishing the coves. I like to get on the points at bottom of tide and then I fish the corners “Vito style” the rest of the time. I decided to give it a shot because water looked good. Why didn’t it look great on NE wind instead of just ok ?

The wind wasn’t hard enough. When it would foam up it looked great but the period between the foaming waves was too long. In classic hard NE wind the water is white ALL THE TIME….I set myself up to fish across Rat Hole with a small bucktails but sure as shit I got weed on every single cast. Oh man, this is going to suck I said to myself. I decided to get on the lead rock in the same vicinity and try casting into the ocean instead diagonally. I was elated when there was no weed on the top of the reef and when the waves would crest the water looked GOOD…. the wave foamed and  I looked down at my feet and there are few small bass jumping in the milky foam. Few seconds later, I hooked my first fish, a husky schoolie but when no one is catching,one eyed man is a king. In  the next hour I managed three more fish but it was a workout to get them. Bite ended and I took a walk to Caswels, casting and walking along the way.

9 AM

I seriously do not understand why many complain about Caswels, calling it a “Death March” amongst other things. Its a bitch, but it is not like walking Cuttyhunk rocks on the south side where there is no sand to put your feet on, just big rocks. I got on the reef at Caswels and started casting but did not care the way the water was breaking. It wasn’t great but it wasn’t bad either. It just did not give me a lot of confidence. I looked towards the corner where water was moving in same manner. Maybe I should give a shot there as the water is a little deeper? After about half an hour, I made a move to the corner rocks. No sooner than I found a rock to stand on, I was greeted by peanut bunker flying out of the water. In the next hour I managed another 8 bass, all on small side and finally by 11 AM I was ready for a break. I really was not expecting to make a cast this weekend but so far I had a dozen bass and I haven’t fell on my ass once and its was almost noon. That almost never happens !!

By 11 30 AM I was in the lower lot drying my wetsuit and putting on my running shoes on. Hey, you got to get your cardio in somehow. After a run to the scientific overlook and back on the Montauk highway I was ready for a shower. I drove through the shit-fest in town to get to Hither Hill State Park and after a shower and a lunch at 7/11 off course, I was at False Bar at 1 PM reclining  my seat and going off to lala land……Time for a well deserved nap

And then few minutes later all the shit breaks lose…and I am talking giant bluefish, leaping bunker and usual Montauk insanity when fish show….

Not only that but the night ended with hooks being torn off my darter…nothing like I planned, that’s for sure

stay tuned