Maybe my actual love of fishing flourished when, as a toddler, my father took me fishing on Lengthy Island for fluke, flounder, sea bass and porgies, or within the Catskill Mountains for trout. The whole lot about the entire image fascinated me. Often, my mother and father drove to the South Shore at Hampton Bays and I watched the surfcasters endlessly casting and retrieving steel lures. I wore the print off fishing magazines, particularly Salt Water Sportsman articles by Frank Woolner and Hal Lyman on the incredible surf fishing on Cape Cod. Names like Race Level, P-City, Nauset Inlet, Monomoy, and Nice Level grew to become indelibly etched in my thoughts. I additionally examine Montauk Level, and all its spots – magic names like Shagwong, North Bar, Jones Reef and “Beneath the Gentle.”
My household drove out to Montauk for picnics, and I used to be awed by the great thing about the place. I by no means did any severe surf fishing at Montauk in these days, however that modified after I acquired my first automotive.
Again within the early 50s, the Montauk Chamber of Commerce ran a full-page advert on the again cowl of Salt Water Sportsman each month from Might by way of October. The advert confirmed a photograph of Montauk Gentle and a constitution boat trolling a few mile offshore. It learn, “In the event you fish, eventually you’ll fish Montauk.” More true phrases had been by no means spoken. Again then, the variety of IGFA line class data held by Montauk was solely exceeded by the Bahama Islands.
My first surf-fishing journey to Montauk was in late October 1957. I arrived properly earlier than dawn on a Sunday morning. I rigged up and walked right down to Turtle Cove, simply west of the lighthouse. I shortly hooked a small bluefish on tin and made some extra casts earlier than I moved across the mild and labored my means north, making a dozen or so casts at numerous spots till it was full mild.
At North Bar, I hooked a small bass. I made my means south to Jones Reef, the place the tide was midway out by then. A inexperienced four-wheel-drive Jeep station wagon drove up—in these days, inexperienced was the one colour that it got here in—and three surfcasters exited the car. They promptly adorned their belts and jig baggage, and made their means out on the reef so far as waders allowed within the average surf. Virtually instantly, I noticed three bent rods. The bass had been all good fish within the 12- to 20-pound vary. As a novice, I didn’t have felt sandals or steel spikes, and as I made my means out on the reef, I stumbled and acquired drenched. Soaking moist, I began to forged, acquired a backlash (by then, I by no means backlashed – it will need to have been buck fever), picked it out, continued to forged, however acquired no hits. The threesome returned to their Jeep with two or three good bass every and drove off. With what I had simply seen, I knew I had found Nirvana, and my surf-fishing life would by no means be the identical.
The following twenty years had been fantastic and thrilling instances, and it solely took a number of seasons to actually study Montauk and turn out to be a “common,” as they are saying.
Once I’d began fishing Montauk, standard reels had been the norm, however the late 50s noticed the arrival of high quality saltwater spinning reels. Fiberglass surf rods from Lamiglas and Harnel on the West Coast had been the primary decisions amongst Montauk surfmen. Most of us used the favored Lami 1165 clean, usually referred to as the “honey clean” on account of its colour. It was 11½ toes lengthy and had a medium motion—again then you might purchase it for $9. To the rod, I’d wind or tape three or 4 Mildrum chrome steel guides and prime it off with an agate tip. The butt part was wrapped in both neo-cork grips or neo-cork tape.
I most popular a skeleton reel seat to a standard seat as a result of utilizing electrical tape to connect the reel gave me a a lot hotter grip in chilly climate. As for the reel, the French Luxor was the workhorse. It was a stable reel with a direct-drive cam, and was simply transformed to handbook pickup. A few years later, Van Staal used this similar design. The Luxor was not waterproof, however its easy design allowed it to be taken aside, drained of saltwater, and re-greased in quarter-hour. This reel modified names to Crack within the 70s as a result of a authorized dispute over patent rights in France, then stopped manufacturing round 1980. In case your Crack wore out and also you couldn’t discover black-market elements, your subsequent finest wager was the Penn 704 or 706.
Again then, numerous manufacturers of monofilament had been used till Ande from West Germany appeared, and pink Ande grew to become the primary selection. For the fishermen who continued to make use of standard line, braided nylon, known as “squidding line” was hottest. Nevertheless, with the tendency for line to fray alongside Montauk’s rocks, some used monofilament although it was not as straightforward to forged. To chop the price of braided nylon, some surf-men used parachute line (a nylon used to weave a thicker strand for parachutes). It was made in New Jersey, was cheap, and forged properly, nevertheless it had a brief life as a result of fraying.
I didn’t use a frontrunner, however like lots of my associates, doubled the final 20 toes of line with a Bimini twist and added a snap swivel. Once I burned the tag finish of the knot with a cigarette, the mono mushroomed to a clean floor and the Bimini not often caught on any information through the forged. For probably the most half, I fished 20-pound take a look at; nevertheless, I dropped down to fifteen and even 12 for an extended forged. Even with the final 20 toes doubled, this was a dangerous technique.
Night time fishing was primarily accomplished with Gibbs 2.5-ounce darters—there have been no needlefish plugs in these days—whereas the daytime lures consisted of popping plugs, just like the Atom Striper Swiper and the Gibbs Pencil, plus an assortment of tins, together with Hopkins and Kastmasters.
In my early days at Montauk, four-wheel-drive autos had been uncommon till the late 60s. You didn’t really want a buggy to fish “out entrance” from the sunshine to North Bar, nevertheless it did make it simpler to get from one spot to a different. A fish field was additionally a giant asset when one had 50 to 100 kilos of fish on a stringer. Keep in mind, there have been no limits again in these days.
For attending to Shagwong and the sand seaside, a seaside buggy was invaluable. Most of my associates and I slept in our buggies or station wagons in these days. A typical buggy usually was a two-wheel-drive Willys Jeep station wagon that, if at the least 8-10 years outdated, may very well be purchased for $100-$200. These autos needed to be fitted with the most important tires potential (the much less tread the higher) and deflated to 10 or 12 psi for seaside journey. This meant that the edges had to get replaced to deal with the bigger tires. Within the case of Willys, Chrysler rims match the lug sample, so we bought rims and tires from junk sellers for a couple of bucks every.
Tubeless tires couldn’t deal with very low tire strain with out the rim of the tire dropping the seal, so innertubes needed to be put in. To air up for normal street use, I carried what was referred to as a spark plug pump – a tool that changed one of many engine’s spark plugs and related to a hose and the tire. I began the engine and the pistons pumped up the tires. It wasn’t clear air, nevertheless it didn’t appear to break the innertubes. Opposite to fashionable engines, the spark plugs again then had been very simply accessible. We didn’t carry our buggies house till the top of the season in November—we’d park them behind gasoline stations on the town.
Though I ceaselessly lament not having the liberty to roam that we as soon as had at Montauk, I repeatedly rely my blessings. I’ve been up and down the East Coast to many areas that had been as soon as accessible and at the moment are both non-public or made off-limits by the very individuals who had been supposed to assist us, America’s residents. I used to be initially enthused when the Outer Banks, Cape Cod and Fireplace Island grew to become Nationwide Seashores, considering that non-public improvement can be curtailed. It was, nevertheless it additionally primarily shut the fishermen out, particularly on Cape Cod. The excuse was that sure people had been abusing the seaside and dunes, which was true, however relatively than punish the responsible few with heavy fines, seaside driving was prohibited for everybody.
We had been very fortunate that 90 years in the past, governor Al Smith made Montauk Level a state park. Moreover, Hither Hills State Park was based, and one other three miles of seaside, often called Napeague, was put underneath state management. The 2-mile stretch from the sunshine to Driftwood Cove on the South Facet, encompassing Turtle Cove, Browns, and Kings Level, is now Camp Hero State Park. This space was an Air Pressure base—a part of the early warning radar system through the chilly conflict. At the moment, the Air Pressure gave fishermen full entry day and night time with a free move they issued. We did lose entry to three miles on the South Facet (together with hotspots similar to Caswells, Coconuts, Frisbies and Ditch Plains) as a result of non-public house improvement. Nevertheless, if you’re prepared and in a position to do numerous mountain climbing, you’ll be able to stroll into these areas alongside the rocky seaside.
Shagwong, which was a cattle ranch with an proprietor who gracefully granted us entry, is now a Suffolk County park—one other stroke of luck.
Again then, the bass fishing was finest within the spring and fall, particularly the latter. There was sporadic summer season motion throughout northeast blows, however autumn was the time. I didn’t spend numerous time on the South Facet or the sand seaside, primarily as a result of the fishing was so good out entrance from the sunshine to North Bar. September and October noticed many daytime blitzes, however the nights produced much more high quality fish. Whereas North Bar and the sunshine had a number of nights that produced “pigs,” fish over 40 kilos, the majority of what I referred to as high quality fishing produced fish from 15 to 30 kilos. On many events, most bass caught had been underneath 20 inches.
Round 1967, I started utilizing a wetsuit, having fun with the liberty to achieve a lot extra fishy water with out the priority of filling up a pair of waders. When fishing on Jones reef at night time sporting a wetsuit, “hanging out” was a one-in-ten incidence. Some nights introduced two or three fish; others eight to 10 “high quality” fish. I consider the primary wetsuiter at Montauk was a gentleman named Alston Beckman, and he was adopted by Jack Frech after which Fred Schwab, all very wonderful fishermen. The primary two had been licensed fishing fanatics. A yr later, my good buddy Mike Damberger and I (and a few dozen others) switched to wetsuits, although they weren’t needed when fishing the lighthouse or the sand seaside areas.
Jack Frech made his personal plugs and gave me what he referred to as a “Montauk Darter.” It was a duplicate of the Gibbs darter, however weighed an oz extra and was slightly thicker in diameter to provide it the identical buoyancy. It added about 30 toes to my forged, however was extra tiring to throw for hours on finish. I purchased an inexpensive wooden lathe and made some. I wish to say that the additional casting distance made a giant distinction, however in all these years, I can rely on one hand what number of instances it made a distinction. Nevertheless, on these uncommon nights after I acquired successful within the first 5 cranks and all the opposite guys within the water subsequent to me couldn’t choose a fish, properly…I’ll always remember these nights.
It’s attention-grabbing to notice how a lot bigger a few of the bluefish have gotten since I began fishing Montauk. Once I was in highschool, a 10-pound bluefish was thought-about humongous. The world document then was caught off Barnegat Inlet in 1945 and weighed 14¾ kilos, however that was damaged in 1950 with a 20-pound fish at Montauk. The document of 31 kilos caught in Hatteras stands now, however yearly Lengthy Island sees numerous numbers of blues between 20 and 25 kilos.
I ought to point out that weakfish had been virtually extinct within the 50s and 60s, however the 70s noticed a decade of a resurgence on Lengthy Island. I had many good summer season nights at Shagwong in that decade, however weakfish grew to become scarce once more within the 80s.
Beginning round 1957 and ending round 1963, pollock, a backside feeding fish caught primarily whereas cod fishing at sea, invaded the Montauk surf in Might, early June and once more in November. Hordes of pollock moved into the surf at Jones reef and North Bar. It was often at dawn or late afternoon to nightfall; at instances, there have been acres of breaking fish hitting tins. Among the colleges had been made up of 5- to 7-pound fish, whereas others held 10- to 15- pounders; generally, pollock as massive as 27 kilos had been caught. In November, they generally hit plugs at night time. It was nice sport, nevertheless it completely got here to an finish round 1963. Most individuals consider that the Russian business fleet, which was legally fishing only a few miles from shore in these years, decimated the fisheries. In these years, there have been additionally some surf-caught pollock at Race Level on the Cape and in Level Judith, Rhode Island.
Within the 60s, there have been a number of surfmen who would car-top or trailer light-weight aluminum boats out to Montauk and surf launch them at Clarks Cove simply north of North Bar. The most well-liked boats had been both Starcraft or Duratech and had been powered by 10 or 15 horsepower outboards. On calm October nights, you might simply rely 20 to 30 of them. Many of those guys did very properly on bass, however I by no means acquired concerned in it. It was a copycat of what the regulars did at Provincetown on the Cape ten years earlier and died out when the federal government took over the Cape Cod seashores. Not solely did these Cape regulars take some very massive bass, however every now and then they took college tuna, however that by no means occurred at Montauk. The tin-boat fleet additionally got here to an finish at Clarks Cove when the State Park authorities felt it was getting out of hand.
After the bass fishery collapsed within the early 80s, a moratorium was put in place and the fish got here again fairly sturdy. It recovered within the 90s and the primary decade of this century, however the surf image has dropped off within the final three or 4 years. It was that when a college of migrating bass hit Montauk from Rhode Island, they stayed for per week or so. Once they departed south, they had been changed with one other college from New England, and so forth, for many of the autumn. The previous couple of seasons, nevertheless, There have been solely had 4 or 5 days of excellent surf fishing for bass at Montauk. In July and August, the boats do very properly fishing for stripers as a result of they aim a mass of resident bass which have been straightforward to find with fashionable electronics.
There was a really noticeable change in seaside situations at Montauk. The rip at North Bar is actually gone and False Bar isn’t what it was. Jones Reef has modified, and never for the higher; aside from on a useless calm night time, the situations underneath the sunshine make fishing within the water on the decrease rocks nearly inconceivable. Fishing the ocean wall above these rocks makes touchdown a very good fish a two-man operation. One can see how dramatic these adjustments are when landmark rocks such because the “Twin Rocks” on the mild, “Weakfish Rock” on the bluff, and the “Huge Flat Rock” off Evans are not three toes out of the water at excessive tide, however at the moment are invisible. I’m no geologist, however this proves that these rocks are sinking into the ocean backside. It may well’t be defined by the rising sea degree, which is just a matter of inches on this century. There may be nonetheless loads of good water out entrance, however regardless of being a rocky coast, it has modified considerably.
As of late, the primary group of surf-men nonetheless choosing massive bass at Montauk are these wetsuiters swimming at nighttime out to rocks 300 to 500 toes from shore – on the south aspect at Kings and Caswells. Discovering these rocks at night time takes a lot daylight reconnoitering and these guys deserve their success. Even that group, nevertheless, was doing a lot better ten years in the past.
With the decreased success nowadays, I’ve observed that many “regulars” are to not be seen anymore. I can solely assume that a few of them are fishing their native waters, whereas others might have gone to a ship—some might have even taken up golf. To the latter two classes, I can solely say that they had been by no means actual surfmen! A buddy of mine, an outstanding surfcaster lamenting about how crowded Montauk was, stated, “What this place wants is a few actually unhealthy years, and that can eliminate the crowds.” Poor fall runs however, I fish on. I not fish in a wetsuit, and at 79, I can’t navigate the rocks properly anymore, so I persist with the better areas. However, I nonetheless fish. It’s in my blood!
Immediately, I spend most of my time on conservation issues. I might like to see the subsequent technology benefit from the wonderful fishing that I did. It’s discouraging that the Chesapeake Bay has skilled solely two good spawning years within the final decade, however I hope for the most effective, and I’m deeply grateful for the fantastic years I skilled.
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