Welcome to Scales and Tales, Newsday’s Outdoors Blog. I’ll be using this space to bring you extra tips, thoughts and breaking news each week. Mostly, you’ll find here interesting tidbits, insights and asides that just didn’t fit into the Outdoors column. Check back frequently because I’ll be updating the blog several times each week.
- Tom Schlichter
FLOUNDER TIPS FROM THE PROS
No doubt the warming weather will soon start to take the chill out of the winter flounder bite. If you are thinking about heading out over the next few weeks, consider these simple tips from a trio of Long Island’s better flounder skippers:
● Ken Tokar, The Angler, Howard Beach: “The keys to catching flounder right now are to chum heavily and use mussel or sandworm baits. Jiggle your bait while keeping it tight to the bottom – with the water still cold the fish are timid and need a little movement in the bait to peak their curiosity.
● Joe Vanderveldt, Jib VI, Captree: “Fish the ebb through the month of April for Great South Bay flounder. Switch over to the flood as May gets underway.”
● Mike Barnett, Codfather, Freeport: “Bring along more than one kind of bait. So far this season, the bite has been unsettled. One day the flatties want only sandworm, the next day they want clams. On Wednesday, I had them all on mussels.”
BLACKFISH STILL AVAILABLE
(Michael Potts, skipper of the Montauk charter boat, Bluefin IV, shows off a 9.5-pound blackfish that ate a hermit crab for angler Paul Davis, southeast of Block Island. CREDIT: Tom Schlichter)
While most anglers have been trying to stir up flounder, a couple of boats looking for blackfish have scored pretty well.
Fred Russo, captain of the Moriches open boat, Rosie, noted he’s still catching blackfish to 13 pounds in 70 to 90 feet of water. The key to catching the biggest ‘tog has been to use white crabs - which Russo has on board for bait when he heads offshore.
Mike Barnett of the Freeport charter boat, Codfather, said he has also had a few big blackfish, along with a few cod and ling in 60 to 100 feet of water outside Jones Inlet.
A few big blackfish have also mixed in with Montauk codfish on the more sticky pieces south and southeast of Block Island. If you are heading out that way, it might be a good idea to bring along some green crabs or hermit crabs if you can get them.
STRIPERS STARTING TO SHOW
When Dave Paras, captain of the Sheepshead Bay open boat, Capt. Dave, answered the phone on Wednesday evening, I clearly heard the words “Fish On!” in the background. That’s because Paras has begun sailing evening trips for striped bass. So far, his fares have been playing catch and release with a decent number of schoolies falling to sandworm baits. Best of the action has been slightly west of Canarsie Pier, and in Runway Channel.
Striper season opened on April 15th, but with the water still cool, the action on bunker chunks has yet to catch fire. Scattered reports are beginning to filter in from Little Neck Bay, on the flats of Oyster Bay, and up in the tidal creeks of Shinnecock Bay. It should take only a few days of 60-degree weather to kick the bass season into gear.