Bait Ban Asked Below Lighthouse

Along with the annual migration of striped bass past the Montauk Lighthouse, the annual Montauk Locals Surfcasting Tournament is due to start soon - by Oct. 1. And, as casters cast their eyes toward the sea, a movement is afoot to keep those who use another fishing method off the rocks.

Joe Gaviola, a surfcaster who frequents the rocks in the fall, reported that the Montauk Surfcasters Association was about to ask the State Department of Parks and Recreation to intervene on their behalf.

He explained that last year between two and eight persons using fixed baits, that is, baits held on the bottom with heavy weights attached to heavy fishing line, had staked out positions on the rocks.

The baiters, said Mr. Gaviola, "effectively close it" for the many surf casters who cannot cast near the fixed lines for fear of becoming snarled. The technique is a waiting game, the opposite of the surfcasters' cast-and-retrieve approach.

Casters normally reel in their lines to make way for someone else's big fish that's hooked and running. Bait fishers cannot accommodate their neighbors in the same way.