7/12/09

Went out today w/ Jack Ballant from the Fishing Connection. Didn't look promising at 5:30 with wind and overcast skies, but turned out OK. Ran out to Watch Hill Reef (6:00am) on outgoing tide - stripers were rolling all over the place but very picky. I dropped one, as did my friend Jeff. My brother, who never fishes, caught two in the mid-20" range. These bass were all over butterfish but finicky when it came to lures. It's frustrating to see that many fish and not be killing them. As the slack tide approached, we ran to sugar for a bit (Doug caught another shorty) and then to Fisher's Island. I slammed my first two right off the bat, the largest being 38". Doug caught another, but Jeff was just getting killed by the scup. They seemed to be laser guided to his tube and worm. I ended up getting two more in the low-30s and Doug one more. Jeff had a tough day, but finally found some love about noon. Just like a teenager trying to get laid, wait long enough and it will eventually happen. Though it took a bit of patience, we landed several keepers and took a pair of the 30's for fillets. My 38' was also a tagged fish (USFWS), so I get a hat! It's back out there to maybe grow to 50+.

Nitty Gritty:
Departure 5:30 am.
Winds SE 10-20
Temp 63/Overcast
Water 63?
BlackWatch Reef outgoing 6:15-7:00
Striper Schools rolling on surface, 2 mid-20's on small split-tail plastics. Few bites.
7:00 - Sugar Reef same as above. 1 on/mid-20's.
Low Tide - Fishers Island 7:32
38"x20" SE Point - slack tide, tube and worm
32" slack tide, tube and worm.
Incoming tide, wind decreasing less than 10. Sunny. Water clear w/ debris, seaweed. 9-12:30
3 30+" keepers by square house. Trolling T/W.