Party Boats Jig For Squid
The Viking squid boat is scheduled to set sail again this weekend for the short trip to Fort Pond Bay and other inshore spots. Last weekend's trips proved successful, the Viking headquarters reporting small but eager groups enjoying productive jigging.
The boat leaves the Viking Dock in Montauk at 7 p.m. tomorrow, Saturday, and Sunday, returning at around 1 the next morning. The cost is $25 per person. Rods and reels are free, but there is a small deposit on the tackle.
Reservations can be made by calling the Viking Dock.
Flounder Foray
The stubborn spring appears to be holding up the flounder fishing, although it is the usual time for floundering to peter out in Lake Montauk, and for the fluke (summer flounder) that have wintered offshore to make an appearance.
This seems to be what's happening. Montauk's Lazy Bones party boat made its first foray out of the lake on Tuesday and was rewarded with a few flounder, one three-pound fluke, and a few throw-back (under 28 inches long) striped bass at Rocky Point.
Capt. Fred E. Bird's Flying Cloud party boat will begin daily half-day trips for summer and winter flounder on Saturday, from Salivar's Dock in Montauk. The Cloud runs two trips per day, from 8 a.m. to noon and from 1 to 5 p.m.
Fluke Fever
The Montauk charter boat Karen Sue reportedly traveled to the west side of Shelter Island several days in a row this week to take part in productive fluke fishing there. Each trip was said to yield 20 three to four-pounders.
One 13-pound fluke was reported caught in the same area over the weekend. It's an area with a history of early spring fluke habitation.
So are Shinnecock and other South Shore inlets that feed the bays behind the barrier beaches. Altenkirch's Precision Outfitters in Hampton Bays reports fluke fever in the Shinnecock Canal - "tremendous" fluking, with anglers with a little talent and a bucktail catching the daily limit of eight fluke in an hour.
The fish are in the three to four-pound range.
Stripers Keepers
The canal is also said to be chock-a-block with school-size striped bass with some big ones - 30-inch keepers - mixed in. Both fluke and bass were making a stronger showing than they did last year.
Bass are also striking trolled rigs around Montauk Point. Dick Bernhard reported that his Applejack III inaugurated the '97 fishing season on Saturday morning with two stripers on jigs in the Pollock Rip. On Sunday the Applejack produced eight bass in the four to eight-pound range.
Michael Potts of the Blue Fin IV charter boat reported that a fellow charter captain, Robbie Aaronson of the Oh Brother, found bass on Sunday around the Light, including some of keeper size.
Small bass are being taken off the Three Mile Harbor breakwater and from Sammy's Beach and around the Accabonac Harbor inlet.
Big Old Bass
If the winter flounder fishing in Lake Montauk and Shinnecock has slowed, it is picking up, as it usually does, off Block Island, where three to four-pounders are reportedly being caught. Captain Potts said a Sunday trip to Block Island resulted in his party catching 21 cod and a three-pound flounder.
A rumor that made its way around the Montauk docks this week had a mackerel-fishing dragger catching two giant tuna in its net southeast of Montauk recently. It could not be confirmed.
John Erb, co-owner of the Harvest Restaurant in Montauk, holds out hope of a challenging light-tackle, freshwater catch in Fort Pond. The pond has not been stocked with hybrid bass in several years and they cannot reproduce themselves. There are some oldtimers left, however. One, seen by Mr. Erb jumping out of the water over the weekend, measured at least two feet long, according to the restaurateur.