We've had continual east winds and dense fog, rain, mist and just miserable weather for actually weeks and the last time I can remember a decent day with some sunshine was...let me just give you the last week or so weather:
May 7: Better than yesterday with a SW breeze of 5 to 8 knots this a.m., saw some sun in the early morning but a hazy start with temps in the 50s. Turned out to be nice day, clouds and rain moved in around midnight with thunderstorms and heavy rains. May 8: Woke to cloudy skies and drizzle with a brief shower or two during the day and winds N/NE12 to 18 knots. May 9: Temps in the high 50's, water temps in the low 50's, east winds, rain, mist, dense fog.
May 10: Pretty much the same weather with one hour of sun around 5 p.m. although the east end saw some sun earlier this day. It then turned east again, dense fog, some showers and the highs were in the high 50's to maybe 62 degrees. May 11: Mothers Day saw dense fog, misty rain, east winds turning NE at 15 to 20. My band played at Otto's this day in this miserable wet, 100% humidity day and it was just plain cold and nasty with a high of 55 degrees or so.
May 12: Day started off with some promise but after sunrise it was east wind at 10 then 15 knots, dense fog rolled in and spent most of the day covering the waterways. Fog lifted around 2 p.m., winds were east at 10. Around 3 p.m. winds went E at 10 to E at 20, then S and SE at 15, then S at 5, then SW at 0 and all within 20 minutes! Then as if someone flipped a switch, it blew W/NW at 25 to 20, switched to W at 20 to 25 and has been blowing a steady 20 from the west with gusts to 29 knots for two days now.
How and why would anyone want to fish? Because it has been fantastic with the fluke bite of BIG doormats red hot on the East End with Shinnecock and Montauk the places to be and the North Fork bite lagging behind schedule for this time of year...but some nice fluke have been caught there and plenty more will be caught no doubt.
On the Fishy Business (631-722-9677) charter boat in Orient Point Friday the Merrick Rod and Gun club fluked the Greenlawns and East Marion on the ebb tide catching 25 fluke with 18 keepers to 4 pounds. Saturday the Bill Elliot group fished the same area at Greenport and East Marion and fished the ebb again for a total of six fluke to 4 pounds. Capt. Dave Lawrence of the Celtic Horizon (631-734-4295) charters saw good fluking with fish to 5 and 6 pounds, but it is lagging behind schedule because of the colder than normal spring, but this should be picking solid time by the time readers see this column.
A little west in Greenport aboard the Island Star (516-982-2283) party boat with Captain Dennis Vlismas, fluking is very good right now with lots of good action with large keepers caught and some in the 5 to 7-pound range. Larry of Brooklyn caught a 10-1/2 pounder with pictures on our www.thefishingline.com site under the Fishing Reports section. Captain Dennis says the boat had a very good week. The Island Star is fluking daily at 8 a.m. from the Greenport Railroad Dock.
Meanwhile on the East End of the South Shore, red-hot action on doormats is the name of the game with the Shinnecock Inlet area and the port of Montauk the two hot places to be. On the Viking Fleet (631-668-5700) this past week it was all about fluke with plenty of action according to Captain Dave with trophy fish in the catch. There was a big improvement in fishing with the Viking fishing the Southside of Montauk off the Radar Tower. Saturday the pool was Paul Schmitt of East Hampton with a 6-1/2 pound fluke, while Fred Shay of Montauk had fluke to 9.6 pounds on board that trip. Savy Norris of Freeport had a fluke to 10.3 pounds and Gary Chef of Copiague caught his limit including a 8.6-pound whopper. George Zimmerman and family limited out on fluke with fish to 7 pounds. The Viking sails for fluke twice a day at 6 a.m. and 1 p.m.
The report from Hank Altenkirch at Altenkirch's Precision Tackle (631-728-4110) is he cannot remember this type of fluke fishing in his area. His store is 75 year old and a third generation shop right on the Shinnecock Canal and even as a kid Hank says, "The "Shinny" area was known for smaller fluke. The last few years the fluking has been fantastic and with doormat type fluking. This season alone the draggers were having a field day with jumbo fluke, first 30 miles off, then 20 miles, then 15 miles and now everyone is bailing fluke in just 30-foot of water just outside the inlet...only problem is you have to be able to get outside the inlet and with the terrible winds and sea conditions it has been only a few days you can catch the weather right."
Fluke are feeding on the tremendous body of squid in the area and squid, whole and stripped, bucktails and just about anything a fluke will eat is producing fluke. "We have weighed in a few true doormats of over 10 pounds already this spring Hank said and dozens over the 7 and 8 pound Mark!" Hank added.
THIS WEEK ON TV. We're striped bass fishing in Orient Point under the cover of darkness using live eels with Capt. Phil Kess of the "Fishy Business" charter boat. Saturday morning at 8 a.m. on WLNY NY-55 on Cablevision Channel 10, Direct TV and the Dish Network or Time Warner.