September was the worst of times. It was the best of times.
September 28, 2010
The action began late in the afternoon, Friday, 9/24—where else–at Turtle Cove! A few fish. Nothing to write home about. Saturday AM, more of the same. Sunday? You could have stayed in bed. Nada.
Matt King took his first keeper bass in the corner under the bluff at Montauk
But Monday was a whole different, ahem, kettle of fish. Insane action by many accounts. Wave after wave of bass moved through Turtle Cove, crossing west to east from Brown’s rock to the Lighthouse jetty. At one point, the bass were in so close to shore that a rogue wave threw up a bunch onto terra firma. Those on the scene—I was not—reported quality fish–35-inchers; 15-plus pounders–in abundance. The action lasted all day. ”Water was purple from bloody bait,” 4Runner Dan told me. “Rippling pods of fast moving schoolie bass were feeding on snapper blues and white bait.” They exploded on pencil and Polaris poppers.
The fish were back at TC at daybreak on Tuesday, September 28. Then, SE winds kicked up and turned off the southside spigot. Time for a scene change to Montauk’s kinder and gentler northside. Typical of my “shoulda been here yesterday” fishing fortunes, I showed up at the North Bar at first light on Tuesday. I love skipping the office for a weekday fishing foray on the beach. If there is an upside to growing old—please, please tell me there is—it may be license to do the things forbidden to us as kids. I was great a playing hookie from school in the 1960s. I haven’t lost my touch now that I am in my ‘60s.
A steady pick of bass kept surfcasters happy on the North Bar
There was plenty of action for me to share that Tuesday. Tons of bait around. And to hear the sharpies describe it, plenty of fish too. But the action was sporadic, requiring time, effort and luck to be in exactly the right spot when the fish decided to show. Otherwise, you’d surely have thought the water was dead. But it wasn’t.
There was fish all day from Clark’s Cove to the refreshment stand bluff, about one-quarter of which were keeper bass. A few blues mixed in. I raised a few fish with a white pencil popper in the mini-blitzes that I was barely able to reach on the North Bar and False Point between 10am and 1130am, just before the flood. I nailed one short striper in the same area when the action resumed in the afternoon on the outgoing. Blitzes were in and out and very fast moving. The afternoon settled into a slow pick for the longest casters. Then, at dusk, an up and down mini-pod worked between Clark’s Cove and the entrance. But I was never able to reach them. Still, I felt the satisfaction of knowing that the fall run was on. October suddenly looked very promising.