{"id":2755,"date":"2015-09-10T10:45:33","date_gmt":"2015-09-10T17:45:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/fishtales.abatemarco.com\/?p=2755"},"modified":"2015-09-10T14:16:21","modified_gmt":"2015-09-10T21:16:21","slug":"season-opener-2015-choppers-and-tailors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/fishtales.abatemarco.com\/?p=2755","title":{"rendered":"Season Opener 2015: Choppers And Tailors"},"content":{"rendered":"

Timely fish calls put us into early September bluefish large and\u00a0small<\/em><\/h4>\n
\"CLARK'S<\/a>

CLARK’S COVE: At sunset, voracious blues attacked our surface plugs with explosive hits.<\/p><\/div>\n

<\/h5>\n
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September 10, 2015:<\/strong>\u00a0Come Labor Day, the weather typically is still beachy, and my fall\u00a0surfcasting season officially opens. This makes for a\u00a0late-summer opportunity\u00a0to combine a fresh catch of the day with farm-fresh tomatoes,\u00a0basil, corn and more. Can you say Long Island BLT (Bluefish, Lettuce and Tomato)?<\/p>\n

Bonus:\u00a0my son, “Can’t Miss\u00a0Dan”<\/a> was arriving on the bullet train to spend the weekend. \u00a0In anticipation, a fish report\u00a0from Verizon Charlie (VC)<\/a> told of\u00a0a slow afternoon pick of bluefish earlier in the week at Shagwong Point<\/a>, which escalated \u00a0to bunker-fueled mayhem by evening\u00a0on a\u00a0dropping\u00a0tide.<\/p>\n

\"CAN'T<\/a>

CAN’T MISS DAN: Scored early and often with gorilla bluefish.<\/p><\/div>\n

Dan and I conspired for an early supper tailgate party at Gin Beach<\/a>, complete with grilled sausage-and-peppers, black bean salad, beer and wine. The BW and her\u00a0Uncle Tono came along for the ride. So called because it was a surreptitious landing spot for illegal Canadian whisky during prohibition, Gin Beach is a 2 mile stretch facing\u00a0Block Island,\u00a0within striking distance of Shagwong, the scene of the previous day’s crime.\u00a0If all else failed, we’d at least be well wined, dined and tanned.<\/p>\n

Not to worry. A\u00a0late breaking fish call from VC reached us\u00a0en route: gangster blues were hitting at Clark\u2019s Cove, in Montauk State Park<\/a>. \u00a0“Change of plans”, I announced to my passengers. The BW immediately protested: \u201clet me out\u201d. \u00a0“You\u2019ll love it”, I promised, “Clark’s Cove has it all: sandy beach with a view, benign waters\u00a0and sunshine galore.” Hopefully\u00a0there also would be a bounty of fish\u00a0for us to catch.<\/p>\n

The BW remained skeptical.<\/p>\n

\"BIG<\/a>

BIG & NASTY: Blues to 12 pounds made sure we knew we were in a fight.<\/p><\/div>\n

Negotiating\u00a0the dusty, rutted dirt\u00a0road and soft sandy dune-grass lined beach trail to\u00a0Clark\u2019s Cove, I was itchy for those first casts of the season. Was my gear ready? \u00a0Was I ready? Would the fish still be there? It became\u00a0noticeably hotter\u00a0inside my\u00a0truck. That was the BW’s\u00a0temper.<\/p>\n

At Clark’s, VC was already in the water, along with his sidekick, the Amazing Randy.\u00a0Billy the Boot<\/a>, as he shall be known this season in honor of his injured Achilles tendon, was off his crutches and casting into the kill zone from the shoreline. Further out on the bar, casting about a gazillion yards with every throw, was the perpetrator of this fish fest: “Ranger” Matt, who had put in the original fish call to VC.<\/p>\n

\"BLOODY<\/a>

BLOODY LOG: Field filleting chopper bluefish on the beach.<\/p><\/div>\n

The bait was abundant–we could see it as we waded in ankle deep water–but the hits were few and far between at first. \u00a0Still, Dan and I got our first fish of the season–big, ornery, chopper blues that let you know you were in a fight. No others keep bluefish, so we were\u00a0the benefactors of one gorilla from Matt and another chunky 8-pounder from VC.\u00a0 Without a cooler on hand, I field filleted this catch on what shall ever now be known as \u201cbloody log\u201d.<\/p>\n

After an hour or so, most of the boys drifted away. When we finished our picnic, Dan and I got up to cast again.\u00a0 The bait was even thicker:\u00a0tiny bunker,\u00a0chased by full size bunker,\u00a0preyed upon by bluefish.<\/p>\n

Multiple hits. \u00a0Hits on every cast. Tail dancing head shaking, snarling hits.\u00a0 The fish hit deep at the end of the cast, and close in, just before the pick up. \u00a0They\u2019d come once, twice, three times at the lure until they gulped it down to their gills. \u00a0When the fish came to shore, they’d have\u00a0an\u00a0eight inch bunker sheared in half already in their\u00a0guts and another in their throats.<\/p>\n

All fish were at minimum, six\u00a0pounds, with most in the 8 to 12 pound class.\u00a0 And they fought to the last curl at the shoreline. Perfect candidates for the new electric smoker back home. It grew dark. We were happy. \u00a0And the BW wasn’t furious. \u00a0A very successful day.<\/p>\n

Epilogue<\/strong><\/em><\/h4>\n
\"RANGER<\/a>

RANGER MATT: Scoring a big blue on one of his gazillion yard casts.<\/p><\/div>\n

Montauk Surfcasting Rule #2\u00a0says \u201cAlways return to the scene of the crime\u201d.\u00a0 Problem is, the fish don\u2019t read\u00a0the rules. \u00a0We returned to\u00a0Clark\u2019s the next\u00a0afternoon after a luncheon on my deck\u00a0of grilled bluefish with farm fresh tomato and basil salsa and grilled eggplant. The usual suspects were already on the beach.\u00a0 Ranger Matt hooked up only three times in more than an hour with his here-to-the-moon casts.\u00a0 VC dropped a pair of fish. Zilch for the rest of us. After a couple of beers\u00a0and\u00a0a few casts,\u00a0we were gone.<\/p>\n

For\u00a0our last session of the weekend,\u00a0VC said he\u2019d be on station at Gin Beach the next afternoon, so Dan and I patrolled Montauk from North Bar to Oyster Pond Cove<\/a>.\u00a0 We saw some \u00a0bait fishermen casting from the rocks, but all they were getting was suntanned.\u00a0 We cast a dozen or so times just to keep it honest and then left to meet Charlie at the appointed time. \u00a0We were greeted at the entrance to Gin Beach\u00a0by squawking gulls\u00a0hovering above serious splashage from medium size fish, half a cast out.\u00a0 A quick fish text to VC, then\u00a0Dan and I\u00a0sprang from the truck to toss\u00a0plugs and metal\u00a0to the school, which\u00a0was feeding on peanut bunker.\u00a0 Dan and I hooked up once, then again, and yet a third time.<\/p>\n

\"Tailor<\/a>

Tailor Blues: A September seafood treat, grilled with fresh oregano and served with local corn salsa.<\/p><\/div>\n

But these little tailor blues kept spitting the hook. We chased the fast moving pod\u00a0east and finally landed a few.\u00a0 Back and forth went this action for another hour before the fish moved off to deeper water with the tide. At\u00a0that, we headed home to one more tasty\u00a0September grilled bluefish\u00a0dinner–with fresh corn salsa, asparagus, spinach and sweet potato fries in the supporting roles. A little bluefish crudo started it all off.<\/p>\n

Next challenge: \u00a0An inaugural batch of bluefish fillets in the electric smoker.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Timely fish calls put us into early September bluefish large and\u00a0small September 10, 2015:\u00a0Come Labor Day, the weather typically is still beachy, and my fall\u00a0surfcasting season officially opens. This makes for a\u00a0late-summer opportunity\u00a0to combine a fresh catch of the day with farm-fresh tomatoes,\u00a0basil, corn and more. Can you say Long Island BLT (Bluefish, Lettuce and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2755","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/fishtales.abatemarco.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2755","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/fishtales.abatemarco.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/fishtales.abatemarco.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/fishtales.abatemarco.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/fishtales.abatemarco.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2755"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"http:\/\/fishtales.abatemarco.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2755\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2821,"href":"http:\/\/fishtales.abatemarco.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2755\/revisions\/2821"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/fishtales.abatemarco.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2755"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/fishtales.abatemarco.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2755"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/fishtales.abatemarco.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2755"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}