No fluke: Earl keeps fleet moored in Montauk Harbor

One spinoff of weakened Hurricane Earl was felt keenly Saturday on the East End: Rough seas kept nearly all of the large recreational fishing fleet moored in Montauk Harbor.

Michael Potts, captain of the charter boat Blue Fin IV, was among those who stayed put.

"The water's all riled up, and it would be unlikely that much of anything would be biting," Potts said. "Everybody's just waiting until tomorrow."

The five-boat Viking Fishing Fleet, Montauk's largest, operated just one boat Saturday - a 3:30 p.m. trip to Block Island - after cancelling all morning trips Saturday and being idle Friday because of Earl. Party boats usually run two or three fishing trips a day.

Crew members at Viking's Montauk Harbor headquarters noted that Monday is the last day of the fluke season, so Labor Day weekend is an important one, they said.

Potts said it would take a day or two after the seas calmed for fishing to get back to normal.

"What happens in general is that everything takes cover" during a storm, he said. "Within a day or two, we'll be catching striped bass and bluefish."

But after a summer of high heat, the Blue Fin IV's captain said he welcomed Saturday's post-Earl cool breezes.

Temperatures this week soared into the 90s across Long Island. Saturday, the National Weather Service forecast a high in Montauk of 82 degrees and even cooler days on Sunday and the Labor Day holiday on Monday, with predicted highs of 76 and 77, respectively.

At Montauk, Saturday was expected to be the windiest of the three days, with west winds between 16 and 18 mph, gusting as high as 30 mph, the weather service said. As Earl's influence wanes further, west winds Sunday at Montauk will lessen to 11 mph, the weather service said. On Labor Day, the forecast calls for northwest winds of 5 to 10 mph becoming southwest.

Saturday brought clear skies and abundant sunshine. Sunday and Monday are expected to be sunny, too, the weather service said.