It’s been a weird year to say the least. Most all my big fishing trips were canceled and freshwater fishing locally was lousy. The one saving grace has been Long Island Sound and my son’s and I (and wife) were all able to take numerous trips to the salt with some day trips, some overnighters and one final 4-day weekend recently with my sons and their buddies.
The conditions in the sound were different this year, with the water temps still in the 60s last week. We saw very few peanut bunker in the areas we normally fish and as such very few striped bass working the shorelines in their usual fall haunts. The upside was bottom fishing with black sea bass, porgy, and tog still biting strong recently, seems like they were everywhere and it was easy to fill the live well every time we went out. Mackerel were everywhere this fall as well.
About 3 weeks ago, my youngest son and I did a day trip and had a slow morning. When the tide turned at 10:30 am the sound lit up with false albacore everywhere. It was an incredible, as you didn’t even have to chase them, our drift took as over pod after pod and they were still chewing small bait when we left. In just over 4 hours, we boated nearly 20 albies. I had a sore elbow after that trip.
And then there was Montauk. On our final 4 day trip, we were able to make the run to the Lighthouse on 2 of the 4 days. What an incredible biomass of life passing around that point. And not just striped bass, we saw a large leatherback turtle swim right past us as well as an ocean sunfish that came close to the boat. Fish were blitzing everywhere from the time we arrived till the time we left and it was common for all 5 of us to be hooked up at the same time, mostly striped bass but plenty of false albacore and bluefish mixed in. 200 plus fish day. Montauk should be on everyone’s bucket list.
Here’s a smattering of all the species we encountered this season with a few other photos. There's one photo in there that's a shot of me battling a seal. I had hooked a slot striper at Montauk and just before landing it, a large seal came boat side and took a swipe at it. I tried to lift it in but failed and when it hit the water the seal grabbed it and took off, much to the amusement of my son in the background. Lost the seal, the bass and my epoxy jig.
So as much as I do love the freshwater, the salt provided new and unusual experiences for my family this year. It’s not every day you see the Mayflower cross your bow.