Time to Follow the Sun

Yep. It’s official. The days are getting shorter. 

As the season changes from spring to summer, it’s always been a bit hard for me to fathom that our exposure to natural daylight is already on the downhill. A sunrise of 5:15 a.m. on June 21 in Montauk is 5:18 a.m. a week later. It’s only a three-minute difference, but the daylight does begin to erode rather quickly.

Personally, summer does not really seem to commence in my own mind until the July 4 holiday weekend. And despite the rise in water and air temperatures we’ll experience over the next two months, the fact remains that with each passing day, our time to enjoy various daytime pastimes and activities begins to lessen. Such differences are subtle at first and barely noticeable. But before you know it, by the end of July, we’ve lost nearly 50 minutes of daylight. And by then, we do see and feel the difference. 

For aquatic creatures like fish, does the lessening daylight alter their habits? Actually, the answer is yes, for the most part. Many fish, too, begin to make an adjustment to their activities and feeding patterns as we move deeper into the summer months. 

For those anglers in pursuit of bluefish and, in particular, striped bass, a focus on fishing in the early morning and late evening or night during the lazy, hazy days of summer will usually result in greater action. The high noon, blazingly bright sunshine of mid-August is not exactly prime time for a fish like a striper to be on the prowl for food. They too become more lethargic in the midday sun, seeking deeper and cooler water, and become more nocturnal in their hunt for prey. It’s the same story for various freshwater species in our local ponds. 

So, while shorter days are now upon us, now is not the time to ditch the Ray-Bans and sunscreen. Quite the contrary. But it’s time to look more closely at the clock on the wall and the sun in the sky, and rethink our own schedules to better maximize the time spent pursuing various quarry.  

As if on cue, the early morning and evening bite for striped bass has already kicked into high gear at Montauk, as a large swath of sand eels have moved into the various rips and along the south side. And the fish being caught in recent days have been significantly larger, with a good number over 40 pounds landed on trolled parachutes, large tubes, and diamond jigs.  “Usually by July 1, we see the larger fish show up, so the timing is about right,” said Capt. Richard Etzel of the Breakaway. “Fishing has been very good.” 

The season for the other saltwater bass — black sea bass — opened for recreational anglers on Tuesday. Three fish over 15 inches can now be taken on a daily basis. The creel limit will increase to eight fish on Sept. 1. Commercial pinhookers, who have been allowed to keep up to 50 pounds per day since May 15, report that the start of the season should be red hot. “Lots of big sea bass around,” said Gregory Mechaber of the Capt. Mark. “Plenty of large porgies are also mixed in, up to four pounds too.” 

With the lessening of a persistent groundswell, fluke action also picked up a bit off of Montauk. Various open boats have taken part in the improved action, including the Lazybones, the Montauk Star, the Miss Montauk II, the Viking, and the Ebb Tide II, which saw fish up to 11 pounds weighed in during the recent calming seas. 

“Fluke action has become more consistent,” said Paul Apostolides of Paulie’s Tackle in Montauk. “Action from the shoreline has been a bit picky though, but some blues and small bass are running around, especially on the north side.”

Farther off the beach, the shark action continues to be consistent. The 47th annual Montauk Marine Basin shark tournament took place last weekend and the largest shark captured was a 384-pound mako on the Joy Sea, skippered by veteran Capt. Chuck Mallinson. The Joy Sea also captured the largest shark back in the 2013 tourney with a 377-pound mako.  Some good shark karma going on the deck of that boat for sure. The Sea Dreamer II took second place with a mako of 348 pounds, while the Tail Walker out of Connecticut placed a 243-pound mako on the scales to take third. 

While we are not in the middle of summer doldrums yet, the action the past week hit a bit of a lull according to Harvey Bennett of the Tackle Shop in Amagansett. “Fluke slowed down, but some nice ones were taken off Napeague Harbor,” said Bennett. “There are some small bass and big blues at Gin Beach in Montauk, and some weakfish have been taken at White Sands, too.”

Separately, Bennett added that his continued recruitment of used baseball gloves and mitts for underprivileged children in the Dominican Republic remains successful. “It’s been a great response so far,” he said. “But if anyone has any catcher’s mitts, that would be particularly welcome, as they are hard to find.” Check the back of your closet or garage and let Harvey know.

Up at Mrs. Sam’s Bait and Tackle in Springs, Sebastian Gorgone reports that the striped bass action at Main Beach and Georgica has perked up. “I had one customer on Sunday land several keeper bass on clams,” said Gorgone. “However, those who fished various lures had no action at all.” Slinging clams into the surf is a popular summer method to land stripers during the day, when artificials are regularly spurned. Gorgone added that the fluke action remains decent in the local area.

Farther west, action in the Peconics is mixed, with a smattering of fluke, porgies, weakfish, and large bluefish being the predominant catch. “Action from the ocean beaches has been quiet, but inside the bays, the activity has been pretty good,” said Ken Morse of Tightlines Tackle in Sag Harbor. Kerry Heffernan dead-sticked a seven-pound fluke fishing in local waters. 

Keeper-size striped bass have become harder to find as bay water temperatures have crept up over 70 degrees. However, the warming waters have kept the blue-claw crabs happy, with catches remaining excellent in the Sag Harbor area. Another active nocturnal feeder, blue-crabs are perhaps the finest table fare we have to enjoy on the East End.

We welcome your fishing tips, observations, and photographs at [email protected]. You can find the “On the Water” column on Twitter at @ehstarfishing.