Took a a ride to Montauk after fishing with the Stripercoast crew. I wanted to see what it would be like with the winds forecast to 40 or 50 mph, and see if there was fishable water.
I had a very interesting trip on many levels. I met some of the surf fishin icons I already know. I also met a bunch of great people that maybe are not that well known, but incredible fishermen nonetheless.
You won't see a lot of these guys on the internet, they have better things to do with their time. Instead, they love to fish, and fish they do, as much as they can. Since I got there on a Friday, you get a better chance to have conversations before the weekend crowds start drifting in. I met more guys there with 40 and 50 years of fishing time under their belts than I could ever meet in one area of Jersey or NY.
Montauk is truly mecca, the Sportfishing capital of the world, as they call it.
I'll try to load in some of the pics and videos I took to give others who may not have gone, just a taste of what it's like.
Where else can you meet and hang with guys whose names sound like they came out of a Pulp Fiction story?
Guys with colorful sounding names like Lilco Joe, Willy Young, Jack Yee, Gary the Toad, Paulie, Bullsh** Steve, John the Baptist, Pauk Melnyk the skishing king,.....Zeno, Bill "Eels" Wetzel, and tons more of the colorful surf characters we all know and admire....
And regular people like Tommy from Jones, Al and his girlfriend from Queens (nice cownose ray, Al), Mark, Joe, Bill, Bob, Vinny, Angelo, Debbie and Carol, Giovanni, etc, etc, who don't care about fame or fortune they just wanna chance at one or 2 LARGE!
Gary the Toad and Paulie
Here's Jack lookin good as usual. Yet, he just had surgery. When ya see him, ask him why. If you used to smoke, and don't anymore, maybe ya can tell him how your life is better now. Watch out, he's got a mean right hook! And the man does take the most awesome pics, none better than Jack's pics of Montauk. You can go here to buy them or keep up with the day to day events. http://www.jackyee.com/
Nice to chat with you for a bit, Jack.
Great south side area. The winds on Fri were 40+, so some of this video is hard to understand. Also, I may have said it was a hurricane in one of these videos instead of a noreaster. My bad.
There's been controversy about surfing the north side of Montauk lately. There are a lot of people who feel very strongly about this. I wish everyone would try to get along, but this isn't always possible in this world.
From my limited perspective and the surfing spots I saw on the south side, it seems like the surfers have a lot of space to call their own. Some awesome water here.....
There's a reason this is boldly proclaimed on a sign by the golf course. You can catch fish for 12 months of the year from boats sailing out of Montauk Harbor.
There's a guy who you might hear at the end of this video, he asks if he can jump in front of me. I kind of gave him a hard time about it, here's why: we had about 200' of fishable space, there were only a few of us fishing. He had good water on either side for 20' to the left or right of me. I wouldn't have minded if he jumped in the rotation, in fact I told him that after he set up to my right.
But asking to jump in front? I was fishin for 30 mins, took a 3 minute break to stand back and film that footage. What the eff, if someone else was in that spot when I got there I would have just set up somewhere else. Maybe that's just me, either work yourself into the rotation, or don't.
No one's perfect. I make a lot of mistakes myself. Why is it ok to crowd someone? It wasn't like the fish were jumping out of the water.
Just one of the things that was working, 2 oz buck with rubber. An old timer told me there are no hard and fast rules. One guy tries something that everyone else thinks is crazy,, and that guy gets the fish. I had a guy tell me a story about him fishing bunker in Turtle Cove at night last year as some of the other guys laughed at him. They stopped laughing when he got a 30.
This guy was climbing on the rocks like a monkey. No korkers, he was going in the crevices at low tide for the lost bucktails and plugs. There is no plug or fish that's worth your life.
You put some cool videos up Dark. I am not too sure if I would have ventured down the rocks with those waves crashing like that. I hope you have on all the necessary gear.
Montauk - NorEasters and White Water
I also met a bunch of great people that maybe are not that well known, but incredible fishermen nonetheless.
Instead, they love to fish, and fish they do, as much as they can. Since I got there on a Friday, you get a better chance to have conversations before the weekend crowds start drifting in. I met more guys there with 40 and 50 years of fishing time under their belts than I could ever meet in one area of Jersey or NY.
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If you used to smoke, and don't anymore, maybe ya can tell him how your life is better now. Watch out, he's got a mean right hook! 
