Anglers find variety in cool winds

Given the cool, wet weather over the past few days, you might suspect that there hasn't been a whole lot of fishing taking place. While it's true some anglers called off their Opening Day assault on fluke (the season began Tuesday), enough were able to get out and provide a decent read on potential action. What they found is that several popular species are now on the feed. Follow the old Boy Scout motto: Be prepared, and you might put an interesting assortment of fillets on ice.

"We fished offshore on Wednesday, loading up on tasty ling while also releasing out-of-season sea bass and blackfish to six pounds,'' said Capt. Mike Barnett of the Freeport charter boat, Codfather. "Coming back to port, we hit the bay for an hour and pulled two keeper fluke plus six shorts released.''

The mix of action and species made a fun-filled day for Barnett's patrons, including former Jets tight end Chris Baker. Barnett found the ling in 70- to 110-foot depths and the summer flatties in Jones Inlet and Reynolds Channel. All the action was squeezed into a half-day trip.

"Considering the best fluke fishing has been on incoming tide and we had outgoing water, I'd guess there are plenty of fish around,'' Barnett surmised. "We were also fishing in a stiff east wind, generally the least productive wind direction in our area. I can't wait to get out this weekend when the breeze swings to the southwest and the weather warms up a little bit.''

Indeed, mixed-bag catches were the rule for most anglers over the past few days. The Captree fleet and Great South Bay private boaters mixed things up with fluke, winter flounder, stripers, blues, weakfish near buoy 29 and some blowfish around the Robert Moses Bridge. Out in Peconic Bay off the Shelter Island Greenlawns area, those aiming for fluke also crossed paths with stripers, blues, weaks, blowfish and giant porgies.

Similar scores were recorded outside most North Shore harbors, where the cooler waters of Long Island Sound seemed reluctant to give up their bounty but the contingent of warm season species was still well represented.

Two fish to remove from your hit list until the first Saturday in June are largemouth and smallmouth bass. Long Island's catch-and-release season for both ended April 30 and it is illegal to target either species until June 2 even if you plan to let them go.

Looking ahead

If you want to learn to fly-fish but don't know where to start, check out the free fly fishing lessons being offered by the Orvis Company. Trout Unlimited and the Federation of Fly Fishers will lend support with volunteers at each event and free memberships to their organizations for those attending. Local classes are scheduled for the Orvis Company Stores in Greenvale and Manhattan. For details go to www.orvis.com/ff101.

Montauk is among the nominees for World Fishing Network's Ultimate Fishing Town contest. Voting runs through May 31 and winning towns in Canada and the U.S. each earn a $25,000 prize for community fishing-related causes, plus a featured show on WFN, the world's only 24/7 fishing television network. Visit http://www.worldfishingnetwork.com/uft/vote/

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