Archive for Long Island Fishing Reports
Great South Bay Striped Bass on Live Eels
Posted by: | CommentsAfter cancelling my plans to fish the ocean outside Fire Island Inlet this morning due to MORE of the winds that have plagued the area the entire Fall I decided on an evening trip to drag some live eels around the Great South Bay.
I found my buddy Dennis willing to give it a go and we sailed off into the choppy bay right at sunset. We arrived for the start of the ebb current and made a bunch of drifts and moves around the inlet area with nothing to show for it.
I decided to try and find some lee behind the beach and it did not take long for Dennis to find the first fish of the night. This one turned out to be a short striper. I had a quick pickup on my eel but did not get hooked up.
I made another move back further into the bay and once again, it did not take long for Dennis to find another fish. First drop and BANG!! Shortly after a decent 17lb striper was on the deck. Still nothing for me and sadly that was how it would end up.
Great South Bay Striper on Live Eels
We called it a night as the current began to slow. Not a bad way to kill a few hours. I’m hoping for the weatherman to throw us a break and turn the FAN off. We’ll see what happens.
Tight Lines.........
Capt Paul Mandella
captpaul@maybetonightcharters.com
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Fire Island Striper Fishing with Live Bunker
Posted by: | CommentsAfter a couple of disappointing trips over the weekend in extremely windy conditions I decided to give the Great South Bay another try with some live bait Tuesday. Grabbed some live bunker and headed out to explore the back bay area for any remaining stripers. Had the last part of the incoming current in the locations I first fished.
On my second drop of the day I had a fish pickup the bait and take off running but no hookup. It may have been a very small fish that could not get the bunker down as the bait was scraped up from the fish wrestling with it.
As the tide slacked in the back bay I headed down toward the Fire Island Inlet to catch the start of the outgoing water. Several drifts inside the inlet on some favorite pieces were fruitless and I made a move just outside.
Turned out to be a good move as I managed two stripers in the 16lb class. One of them was deeply hooked and ended up coming home with me while the other was quickly released boat-side.
Late Season Fire Island Striper
I cannot help but feel that our striper fishing in the Fire Island area is winding down earlier this year than normal. The fishing in the bay area has REALLY slowed. There has been no evidence of the migrating fish along the beaches that normally provide us with the final year-end blast.
The boat will be in till at least the weekend after Thanksgiving and I will make the determination then on whether or not it’s worth staying in another week.
Tight Lines.........
Capt Paul Mandella
captpaul@maybetonightcharters.com
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2011 Riverview Striped Bass Contest- Beautiful Weather, Tough Fishing
Posted by: | CommentsEvery year I look forward to Election Day. Not for the chance to vote in the new politicians but for the Annual Riverview (The View) Striped Bass contest. This year marked the 22nd edition and the weather could not have been any better. The fishing however was another story.
My buddies and I fish this contest every year but we were a man down this time around as one of the crew had work obligations and could not make it. There is a reason why WORK is a four letter word.
The 2011 Riverview Striped Bass contest saw 146 boats carrying 468 anglers out into the beautiful Great South Bay on one of the nicest days ever seen for this contest. Several past renewals have seen some pretty nasty conditions but not this year. Leaving the dock at the 7:30am as stated by the Contest rules had the contestants cruising across the bay in flat calm with the sun shining brightly.
We arrived on the grounds and with the announced LINES IN at 8am the 2011 Contest was underway. Live baits around the local tackle shops were rarer than hens teeth this year and I had taken a trip the day before hoping to round up some legal live baits. It just did not work out. Bait was so scarce that a local commercial netter who supplies live bunker to many contestants just could not round up any of these prime baitfish and so we fished with live eels the entire day. I LOVE the eels and night but not so much during the day.
We fished the end of the incoming current around the Fire Island Inlet with no luck. No signs of life on any of the other boats either. As the current turned to outgoing a move was made back into the bay. We were treated to the US Coast Guard practicing some rescue maneuvers with the helicopter and local cutter involved. What precision these guys show.
Made a bunch of moves around the bay. Morning moved into afternoon before we had our first and only take of the day. John hooked up a healthy little 31 inch striper that was not large enough for the minimum requirements of the contest. It was, however, just PERFECT size for the grill.
Too Small to Qualify!!!
As the current slacked we headed back to the marina to clean-up and get to the restaurant for the Awards/Dinner party. This is one awesome party they throw here. The dinner is awesome with open bar provided courtesy of the sponsoring The View (formerly The Riverview) restaurant. It is a lot of fun gathering on the patio overlooking the Connetquot River and shooting the breeze with fellow fisherman. Trust me when I tell you that it is even MORE fun when you are bringing a contending size fish to the scales. We were hoping to improve upon our 2nd place finish in last years contest but that was just not to be this year.
The final verdict had a 36lb fish cop first prize. A pair of 27lb fish were 2nd and 3rd. From there the fish dropped in weight to the low 20s with a 19lb fish rounding out the top 10. The contest pays out to 15th place and it only took a TINY 14lb striper to grab the last spot this year. Can you say SLOW fishing, 468 anglers only managed to catch 15 qualifying stripers for the entire day.
Despite the VERY slow fishing, I already find myself thinking about next years edition and hoping to be finally dragging the WINNER to the scales.
Anyone in the Great South Bay area who has NOT fished this contest before should definately consider giving it a try. It is a LOT of fun for the cost of the entry fee and I think you have great time as well.
Tight Lines.........
Capt Paul Mandella
captpaul@maybetonightcharters.com
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Long Island Fishing Report- Great South Bay Stripers on Live Eels
Posted by: | CommentsThe striped bass fishing in the Fire Island area during the daytime has been difficult (slow) since the recent early snow during Halloween week. The action has been much better on the night tides and that is where I focused my attention this past weekend.
On Friday 11/4 I sailed with friends catch the outgoing current in some favorite back bay locations. The NOAA forecast called for the high winds we had during the day to lay down to 10-15kts. Well, suffice to say that was WRONG!! We had the winds blowing steady 20-25kts making for some tough conditions.
Great South Bay Striper on Live Eel.
With the high winds I quickly ruled out some of the more open areas and opted to fish some other slightly sheltered locations further in the bay. As soon as we arrived I was marking fish on the pieces but they were not feeding just yet. Small adjustments in the drifts as the current built finally got us some bites. We had stripers up to 18lbs on the live eels before finally giving in to the relentless wind and headed back across a sloppy Great South Bay.
I was back out on Sunday night for a quicky run in some MUCH improved conditions. Winds were light and the fish were around once again. Live eels produced fish once again but on this night they were running on the small side. I ended the night with 4 fish but they were probably only around a 10lb average size.
I’m hopeful the mild weather forecast for this coming week gets things back in order in the Fire Island Inlet and Great South Bay. Until then the fish on the night shift have been stretching the lines and that’s never a bad thing 
Tight Lines.........
Capt Paul Mandella
captpaul@maybetonightcharters.com
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Fire Island Fishing Report- Stripers Before the Storm
Posted by: | CommentsI had the Borg party, consisting of Mike, Don and their sons Nolan and Brian, aboard last night for a night of drifting live eels in the Fire Island Inlet for striped bass. The forecast had a pending Nor’easter bearing down on Long Island, but we left at midnight under very nice conditions.
As planned, we arrived on the fishing grounds for the very start of the outgoing current. I was marking fish right away but they were not taking our live eels just yet. It took a few drifts over the area with the current building before our first striper was hooked up. Mike started the show by putting the hook too a 15lb fish. Brian was up next with a nice run but he missed the shot.
The gang with some of the catch
As the current, (and WIND) began to build I made a short move to a favorite piece inside. First drift, Don bangs a fish, while he is hooked up Mike sticks another one. Had a double header on for a short bit before Mike’s became un-buttoned.
Little while later, Mike gets another good shot, fish spent the entire fight on the surface and was pretty decent. Turns out to be 24lbs on the Boga.
Mike B and his 24lb Striper
As the current began to fade, and the WIND from the storm began to ramp up we tried a few back bay locations before packing it at 5am. The guys kept 3 fish and released the rest. Thanks Mike, see you for the Spring trip
Tight Lines.........
Capt Paul Mandella
captpaul@maybetonightcharters.com
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2011 Pete Dahill Memorial Striped Bass Contest Hosted by the Viking Inn Islip New York
Posted by: | CommentsWe fished the 2011 version of the Pete Dahill Memorial Striped Bass Contest this past Saturday (10/22/11). My buddy Bob Highland and I pulled out of the slip just before dawn and headed across the Great South Bay in some sloppy conditions. We broke the Fire Island Inlet at first light and found even more sporty conditions as the big west wind had the ocean very lumpy.
Our hope was to find some of the bunker pods that have been running along the south shore and it we quickly found it was going to be difficult at best. The wind had blown up the chop on top of the swells making it tough to find the bait. We cruised miles to the east first up tight to the beach and then moving off to 40-50ft of water without finding any signs of the bait schools.
Along the way we would mark areas of bait along the bottom where we dropped diamond jigs to work the marks over but had no results. Seems the browned up water may have put the fish off their feeding routine. After spending 3 fruitless hours outside we decided to move back inside and fish the live baits we had aboard on some of our favorite pieces.
The water inside the bay was more a mess than the ocean. The very clouded water combined with the current running against the wind made for less than ideal fishing as it would turn out. We were not able to find any fish at any of our combined favorite honey holes as the ebb current slacked.
As the flood started we repeated the process of working our way from the inlet back into the bay again hitting all our spots while adding in some other lesser known locations with no results for our efforts. Our day ended with the incoming current peaking and combined with the wind blowing the same direction we were moving along at a lightening fast drift of almost 3mph. Not GOOD!!!
We headed back to the contest host location at the Viking Inn in Islip with our tails between our legs. Taking advantage of the wonderful barbeque spread the Viking Inn provided gave us both the opportunity to forget the tough fishing day we had just endured. Hats off to the Viking Inn and it’s volunteers for another excellent event. Not many qualifying fish were entered but it seemed as though noone was really minding at the awards/BBQ ceremony.
The winners were a 33lb Striper taking first place that was reported as being taken to the west of Fire Island. The same boat also had the second place fish of 27lbs. Great day for those guys. They also took the Bluefish category with a 12lb brute. An 18lb striper rounded out the prize list.
The night was rounded out with a bunch of tackle door prizes being raffled off and we were both lucky enough to cash in on one of these. HUGE thanks to Greg over at Burnetts Bait and Tackle in Bay Shore and Frank from Chasing Tails Tackle in Oakdale for their very generous donations to the raffle.
Despite a less than stellar day of striper fishing, I did have a good time as this was the first time Bob and I got to fish together on the same boat. Hopefully it won’t take as long for us to get together again next time.
Tight Lines.........
Capt Paul Mandella
captpaul@maybetonightcharters.com
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