Montauk memories

[BassBuddah]

Well-done, shark hart.

[seamonkey]

That action looks incredible. Wish we had that here. I guess the only place you can see stuff like that is Montauk. Very cool video!

[skinner]

Here are some pictures I found for you guys.

[albiealert]

I love old deep sea pics like that skinner, thanks for sharing,

[williehookem]

The second pic looks like Hither Hills, that's a hell of a drop to the water.

[surfstix1963]

Capt Gene Kelly

I’ve been fishing all my life, and one of the first memories I have of Montauk, was when my father took me out on a head boat out of Montauk’s old Fishangrila dock. The family, minus my old man who had to work, would spend the summers in a small cottage on the lake at Watermill, and this Saturday the two of us drove out for the days fishing. We got there early and it was a good thing we did, because we beat the Long Island Railroad’s famed Fisherman Express that brought out hoards of anglers from the city. We already had our spot on the boat when the train pulled in and the stampede started. Guys were literally jumping out of the train windows in an effort to get to their favorite boat before it was filled up and on it’s way.

We spent the day fishing off the south side for seabass and catching plenty (I still wonder why we never caught any fluke, but I know that we didn’t), until the time came that the boats were notified that Camp Hero would be having shooting exercises and we would have to move out of the area. Later, on the way home, we made a drift off the Lighthouse, and had the fastest fishing of the day, with a steady supply of double header porgies.
The next memory was the following weekend, when back at the lake, we heard a seemingly never ending steam of amblance sirens. We later learned that the Pelican, the boat that we fished on the week before had sunk off the Point, with the loss of forty some people including the captain.

I continued to fish at Montauk on occasion with my father, but it got more serious after high school when I started to surfcast along with a buddy, usually sleeping in the car in back of North Bar, or up on the cliffs overlooking Caswells on the south side. But we weren’t very good at it, rarely catching fish. All that changed when I bought a twelve foot aluminum skiff and he bought a buggy we would use to transport it. Then we could catch stripers, launching it into the surf at Clark’s Cove, and spending nights trolling big plugs between North Bar and the Lighthouse. Come dawn we’d head back to town and the back door of the Shagwong Bar & Restaurant, where we’d peddle our fish and grab a quick manhattan before heading across the street for breakfast.

The next step up was a twenty-five foot Bertram that I bought. This allowed us to get offshore, where we did OK with sharks, school tuna and even an occasional white marlin, but then the Russian draggers showed up along with the giant bluefin that would mass in back of them when they pulled their nets. Hooking up with a fish was usually automatic and quick. We tried, but were woefully ill equipped, and would usually hook up on our 6/0 tackle and just watch the line disappear. Determined to catch one we bought a couple of 9/0 outfits and a small fishing chair. We finally gave up after spending six hours on a fish, breaking the gimbal on the chair and cutting the fish off under the boat.

Until the early 70’s I worked in highway construction, mainly building bridges, and because work slowed down during the winter months I started traveling, along with a couple of buddies, to what was then called British Honduras for a couple of months, with occasional side trips to Costa Rica for tarpon fishing.
These trips led to my quitting real work in favor of fishing, which was easy to do since I had no wife and kids that I needed to provide for. I started my fishing career by opening a small fishing lodge in Belize on South Water Caye, an island of about fifteen acres twelve miles off what was then called Stann Creek, now called Dangriga, sitting on the barrier reef. I aimed for one group for a week, followed by a week off, but I became somewhat successful and wound up having a second boat built to be run by a local and more often having to work on my planned for week off.

I would head south just after Thanksgiving and return to Montauk in May, when I would fish, mainly commercial rod and reel fishing, aminly for striped bass and porgies, with occasional charter trips working with Capt Frank Mundus on his CRICKET II. At that time Frank would have occasional promotional deals and I would run the boat when he wasn’t available, and for a couple of years would run the boat on night trips while Frank ran it days. Frank didn’t like inshore fishing, so when the shark fishing ended, around the beginning of October or so, I would take over the boat for the fall bass season. That lead to a full time gig running the charterboat SEA DOLL and then the HUSTLER.

By 1980 a decision had to be made based on two little kids who had to go to school, and I closed up my little Belizean business and returned to Montauk full time, buying the KELLYBOAT, which I operated as a single-handed charter boat. It was a pretty good deal. I charged the same amount for a charter as all the standard two man boats and didn’t have to pay a mate. Plus, I’d even get occasional tips. I wasn’t used to the winter weather, but learned to deal with it. In those days, longlining tile fish was a big deal in Montauk with a dozen or so boats doing it. I wasn’t dumb enough to want to spend the winter seventy miles off shore for a week at a time, but there was another side to the operation - baiting the hooks. It was dirty, stinky work, but we did it in a heated trailer and actually made a pretty decent amount of money - $10/tub. Eight to ten tubs a day was pretty good pay in those days, and it was also pretty steady. While the boats were out fishing we’d ready the tubs for the next trip. The boats would get in and we’d start over again with a new batch of tubs. Of course, I missed the tropics, but once the kids got old enough, we’d be able to at least get in a warm vacation, and naturally that would include some fishing. Since my wife was from Guatemala, that was the most common stop, but Costa Rica and Panama figured in as well.

The eighties was tough time for charterboats in Montauk, at least for the inshore fishing. Striped bass were in decline along with the clients who wanted to fish for them. Luckily, tuna fishing was hot. For the most part, we’d fish up to about twenty-five miles off the Point, and for a number of years would anchor up closer to ten miles out and pound the yellowfins and bluefins, often heading home loaded after only a couple of hours of fishing, with the exhausted clients. However, throughout the 90’s, the tuna, started a slow move further offshore, and the striped bass while recovering were not there yet

[surfstix1963]

Picture a young surfer dude wandering around a dock lined with charter boats. A grizzled old captain yells out, "Hey, kid, you want a job?" That was exactly how Captain Mike Vegessi got his start in Montauk fishing in 1977. He had never been fishing before and was drawn to Montauk for the surfing, not the surf casting. The grizzled old captain was Doug McCabe of the "FRANCES ANNE", nearing the end of his career as one of Montauk's offshore pioneers, and Mike would be his mate for the next three years. In addition to learning the fishing business, Doug, who also owned a diesel parts business catering to the fishing boats in Montauk, taught Mike all he needed to know about the maintenance of diesel powered boats.

Doug retired in 1979, and the next year Mike went to work as a mate for another Montauk legend, Captain George McTurck, owner of the "SPORTFISHER". While with George, Mike passed his captains test, and eventually took over the operation of the boat on all offshore trips. George would continue to run the boat for the inshore trips, and it was from George that Mike would learn about Montauk's tides.

Other than well experienced fishermen, few people realize the complexities of the tidal system here in Montauk. You can be anchored on one spot with the outgoing tide, while a mile away others are anchored with the flood tide, and will be for another half hour or so. The single most important factor in inshore fishing is the tide, and Captain McTurck was and still is the acknowledged master. However, his protege, Mike Vegessi is an extremely close second.

During the winters Mike would work on one of the many commercial boats fishing out of the harbor, a tough racket. The weather is rough, but the winter is when most of the money is made in commercial fishing. Offshore there are plenty of fish, and the prices are high. One year he would fish a dragger, for porgies, whiting or fluke. The next he'd be on a longliner after tilefish or cod fish.

However, nobody wants to stay a mate forever, and when Captain Bill Butler put the "CAPTAIN WILLIE" up for sale in 1985, Mike jumped on it. The boat, 50' long and wooden was operated as a party or open boat and already had a client base. When Mike took over, he changed the rules. Half day only - flounders in the spring, followed by fluke in the summer and bass and blues in the fall. The targeted audience was families, fishing in calm protected waters. He renamed the boat "LAZYBONES", and did away with leaving the dock at daybreak.

In 1997, Mike retired the old LAZYBONES and purchased a new one, a 55' Bruno & Stillman, a fiberglass boat. and a big improvement over the aging original boat. Bigger, roomier, and most of all, not needing the amount of maintenance requird of a wooden boat, the new LAZYBONES has proved to be a welcome addition to Montauk's open boat fleet.

It is now one of the most popular boats in town, and is truly a family affair. Mike runs it, while his wife Kathy is in charge of the money. She sells the tickets and makes sure that the motels are stocked up on their brochures. It's a good system, one that keeps the boat sailing full while larger fancier boats are lucky to sail with twenty percent of their capacity.If your looking for a great family boat this is a great boat great capt. and crew I love diamond jigging on this boat I learned to master it(rather then the old boring vertical jigging) on this boat since my injury I've been going crazy not being able to get out there I would rather go out on the boat then hit the surf you can always hit the surf if the boat doesn't go out oh BTW leave the spinning rods home they are not to welcome on the boat any good conventional reel that is castable with 30 lb. test mono 60 or 80 lb. leader for the toothy critters and some diamond jigs in the 4,6 and 8 oz. range the hammerd finished jigs in gold and chrome sometimes turns the stripers head better so a good variety is good to have.

Reservations are a must for this boat and call ahead the day of to see if the boat will sail ya never know what the weather is doing out there I usually stay a week and can't move my arm by the 3rd day good thing my wife is a PT and gets me through the week.Now if I can just get this damn back good enough to fish I'd be very happy.

[mick2360]

The second pic looks like Hither Hills, that's a hell of a drop to the water.

Some of those ledges to the east of the town beaches look like that. Almost time to hit the M!

[nitestrikes]

Good read, fellas.

[rockhopper]

Almost time!!!!!!

[skinner]

kind of sad. It is about now so I don't know if it belongs here. Dark move it if you want. The thing that speaks to me is that Montauk is just about loaded to capacity with fishermen. No change in that until the fish go away.

[DarkSkies]

Who loved his family,
loved to fish.....
loved life
And loved to laugh.......


The motivation for this story is a tribute video Finchaser sent me...it was created by the Family of a Fisherman who died....
And it shows some of their memories, ending in a trip to Montauk....where they scattered his ashes....

Although not completely about fishing, it was about a man, who loved to fish...

I could identify with that, and the feelings about scattering ashes....
My Dad died 3 years ago. Only this year we finally found a final resting place, for his ashes....so maybe that's why this video sent chills through my body....

hope ya's enjoy, and thanks to Fin for sending.....
http://stripersandanglers.com/Forum/...of-a-Fisherman

[DarkSkies]

Travis Hastings' Tribute to his Dad.......

[rockhopper]

Here is an interesting viewpoint I found on another site---


MECCA

The term MECCA is the Holiest site in Islam.
Montauk is perhaps the greatest site in Surf Fishing.
When a Muslim Prays he always faces towards Mecca or the rising sun in the EAST which is in Saudi Arabia.

When a New Yorker or other mainlander looks to fish he heads EAST towards the rising sun.
A Muslim is supposed to make a pilgrimage at least once a year to Mecca.

A Fishermen is supposed to make a pilgrimage at least once a year to Montauk....
And if he doesn't he runs the risk of angering Neptune who may skunk him for a year.

Montauk is HARDCORE! check out this video

[BassBuddah]

^^^Saw that video many times rockhopper and I never get tired of watching it.
One showing the old time pics and how it used to be.

[williehookem]

Montauk is HARDCORE! check out this video

thanks for this, got the juices flowing!

[williehookem]

This guy is a pro photog who took a lot of shots of Montauk. Hope its ok to post here as well they are awesome!

[jigfreak]

thanks for this, got the juices flowing!

X2 needed something to get me thinking about fishing. thanks

[surfstix1963]

This is a pic of Montauk in the 1930's note the observation deck coming off the bluff and how far the light house sat.The 2nd. pic is the 1940's mother nature starting to take over.

[hookedonbass]

Wow what a difference. Never saw that much erosion in NJ the current there must be real strong.