School Is In Session

The bonito and false albacore are schooling, at least off Montauk. It's a sure sign the fall inshore fishing season has started, or is well on its way.

Fishermen from Hampton Bays to Montauk are reporting the fast, bullet-shaped tuna working the outside of striped bass schools, and now gathering in tidal rips in search of prey.

The larger tuna continue to frustrate East Enders. Why the bluefin, yellowfin, big-eye, and even long-fin albacore have bypassed this area is the subject of conjecture on the docks. Overfishing is not likely the reason, because tuna fishing to the south and east of Long Island has been very good this summer.

Bait Missing?

Pat Scida of the National Marine Fisheries Service's Gloucester, Mass., office said it appeared that a dearth of bait is what's kept the tuna beyond the reach of East End fishermen this season.

His office tracks the commercial harvest of bluefin, which had been robust, he said, in the Gulf of Maine, Cape Cod Bay, and as far south as Chatham, Mass.

Reports had the bluefin feeding on sand eels and mackerel, Mr. Scida said. He added that yellowfin landings in the Mid-Atlantic region have been strong.

Call A Meeting

Carl Darenberg Jr. of the Montauk Marine Basin said on Tuesday there were more promising signs recently, but no major meetings of trolling fishermen and schooling tuna.

Why have bluefin tuna, yellowfin, big-eye, and even long-fin albacore bypassed this area? A dearth of bait?

Bill Urvalek took his Karen Sue offshore to the Fish Tales section of Block Canyon on Sunday and returned with two yellowfin. The following day the Karen Sue ventured to the east and found one of the same species.

"Guys are fishing mostly at night in the canyon," Mr. Darenberg said. The appropriately named Late Hours, skippered by John Ambler, landed a big-eye tuna in this way on Monday.

He also harvested a number of mahi mahi (dolphin), as did the crew of the Good As Gold.

Inshore Action

Speaking for the Shinnecock boats, Floyd Carrington reported that some tuna and marlin had been trolled up at the spot known as the Aquarium, south of Block Island. It's a 53-mile steam for Shinnecock boats. Montaukers are closer by about 20 miles.

Mr. Carrington holds out hope that "if the season stays open," anglers might be visited by bluefin sliding by Long Island on their return migration south.

"Somebody's catching them. They closed the season on Saturday," he said, referring to the close of September's commercial quota on "giant" and "large-medium" bluefin, as defined by the National Marine Fisheries Service.

Sea Bass Take Up Slack

"Offshore action, no, but thank you, God, for inshore," was how Maureen Sennefelder of Montauk's Gone Fishing Marina summed up the summer's fishing.

The marina services commercial pinhookers as well as recreational fishermen, and Mrs. Sennefelder said all were continuing to find a steady supply of fluke, big ones on the south side, although the fluking in general had slowed from the summer bonanza.

Taking up the slack was a healthy supply of sea bass, the tastiest fish in the sea according to aficionados. Striped bass, of course, remain in good supply, as do porgies, said Mrs. Sennefelder.

Fall Migrations

Fishermen think in migrations of fish. Montaukers think in migrations of fishermen. This week marked the start of the fall migration of surfcasters in search of striped bass among the rocks and along the beaches of Montauk.

The fish did not disappoint, although a few local casters with the advantage of having watched the stripers' movements over the last several weeks fared better - or claimed they did.

Steve Kraemer, denizen of the rocks, said he pulled a 36-inch striped bass from the beach near the spot surfers call "poles," at the west end of Ditch Plain Beach, on Saturday morning.

The Pecking Order

Altenkirch Precision Outfitters of Hampton Bays echoed the eastern reports of increased action along the beaches. Early morning was seeing mixed schools of bluefish and bass, with bonito feasting on frightened bait.

The typical early-fall pecking order finds the sharp-toothed bluefish on the surface tearing at small prey, bass beneath them scavenging scraps, and the small, quick tunas racing back and forth on the outside of the schools picking off fleeing baitfish.

Add gannets diving from above and surfcasters adding their bucktails, and you have the late-fall picture.