CaptGeneKelly

7/11/05
The Montauk Boatman’s and Captain’s Association held their annual shark tournament over the weekend, and kind of
took it on the chin. Normally a large percentage of boats enter the night before the tournament, but the weather forecast
on Friday wasn’t very encouraging. As a result there were only thirty-five entries, roughly half of what the event usually
draws.
Although the weather wasn’t the greatest, it was acceptable. Overall the fishing was decent, but there is definitely a
scarcity of makos, as not one was weighed in. The top of the leaderboard was all bluesharks, with around a half dozen
threshers also weighed in. There was one thresher of around 550 pounds taken on Friday by the LADY GRACE that
would have taken everything, except that they weren’t entered in the tournament. I bet they enter next year. The results
are as follows;
1st Place - THE KID - BLUESHARK - 387 lbs
2nd Place - WINDY - BLUESHARK - 346 lbs
3rd Place - ARC ANGEL - BLUESHARK - 306 lbs
4th Place - JEN SUE - THRESHER - 250 lbs
5th Place - SEA WIFE - BLUESHARK - 244 lbs
There are still the small bluefins out there, but I don’t believe that anyone is fishing for them exclusively. Rather the boats
are trolling for a while before setting up their shark slick. It works out well since the tuna are for the most part inshore of
the sharks.
Last week I mentioned that the limit on bluefins is one per boat over 27”. While that is true for the recreational boats, the
charter and head boats have different regs. They are allowed two bluefins over 27” and one between 46” & 73”.
Inshore is pretty much as it has been for the last couple of weeks, with bass fishing difficult, although there are now
enough bluefish around to fill in the dead spots.

If you would like to have these reports sent to you directly, just drop me a note at
CaptGene@MontaukSportfishing.com. And for more information about fishing in Montauk, you can give me a call at
800 280 5565 or check out http.//www.montauksportfishing.com.