Montauk Striped Bass Report - 30lb club

This is a report from the Fall Run of Striped Bass. I hope you guys in Florida enjoy some of the Noreast fishing....

We set out to the Mecca of striped bass fishing on sunday with the hopes of hooking into some big ones and break the 30lb mark. Conditions looked absolutely great the day before the trip and the forecast called only for more of the same. Of course it changed overnight and by the time we got to Montauk it was different than expected with higher seas and different wind direction. When we arrived, the southside of the point was completely unfishable with 10ft swells coming off the Atlantic. We had heard word of incredible fishing on the north side of the point with multiple 40lbers caught so we flew over there only to hear, " About an hour ago.....now it slowed." Thats ok it didnt discourage us and down to the rocks we went. We set up and started throwing poppers.

We had plenty of company.

Jake managed to hook into two blues and i dropped one as well. Waves dont look all that fearsome in the previous pics but the surges of water and sets of 4-5 big waves also werent the times for me to be taking pictures. I was just trying to stay on my rock. Jake got dumped off his a dozen or so times with waves hitting us over waist high. Here are a few pictures i took trying to show the rough surf. The almost new moon currents had the water ripping.

Timing was absolutely essential. You really had to work to be able to present the lure to the fish in the strike zone. If you were to cast a plug in front of one of these waves it was a wasted cast as the plug would surf its way back into the wash in seconds. So we worked together to try and time the waves and get off nice casts, the few good presentations resulted in the blues that hit. The sun was starting to set and we knew tonight would be a good night of fishing so we made the walk back to the cars to change our arsenals from poppers and bucktails, our daytime weapons, to darters which are our go to night time lures.

When we got back down there the sun already set and we started throwing our darters. We quickly realized how hard it will be to time waves on a dark night with clouds and approaching new moon. Just when you thought you were in the clear and casted, a dark shade moved in and ruined your cast sweeping your plug. We started working together and after working our way down the rocks heading west Jake got a schoolie.

We would stop every 20yds or so when we saw something in the structure we liked and would fish it and move on. We started getting more hits as the night progressed. Jake then landed the nights first keeper.

I was using a slightly different darter than Jake and i was starting to lose faith as i hadnt had a solid hit. We stopped at a spot, i made a perfect cast and felt my darter(something which didnt happen alot because of the waves) and then i felt that familiar bump of a striper, it had been 9 months or so since i last fished montauk. I set the hook and got this schoolie.

Next cast i felt the lure again and bam! another schoolie quickly released. Jake added a keeper.

We moved along to the next little mini point and worked the backside. Both of us knew it was a good spot. We had some hits and i believe Jake caught a schoolie and then shortly after i hear him say whooah! Big Fish. It hit right in the wash and was a surprise to say the least. Drag was singing zzzzzzzzzzz. A tremendous first run followed by more power runs made quite an impression. When the fish made it to the wash i saw the head in the white water and i was blown away. Jake worked it back and used a waves to wash it up on the rocks, i ran over and grabbed her and walked her up. WOW.

We were both just laughing and i looked at it and said, "thats a thirty pounder." Jake said,"yup." We weighed her at 31lbs. Look at the head on this thing.

Very long fish, thick at the tail too.

That just made the night one to remember. We had always come close to hitting the 30lb mark. I have caught many reds in the 25-28lb range and last year Jake got a 29lber. We had also previously hit stripers into the mid twenties and some possibly close to thirty but this was official. He did it in style too, a striped bass on a lure in the middle of the night in rough conditions. Congrats bro. Safely released as well.

We continued to work a steady pick of fish ranging from schoolie to well above keeper(28in). In the efforts of staying as covert as possible, yes people drive and walk up and down until they see people in fish and setup RIGHT NEXT TO YOU and we wanted to quickly release the fish we caught we did not take pics of all of em.

When we worked together and timed our casts right we often ended up with double headers. It was awesome, casting at the same time and hooking up at basically the same time as well. Great stuff. The hard work made each fish that much more fun to catch. These nights are far more rewarding in experience than the night when the fishing is just "stupid" where you can cast where ever whenever and hook up.



The shiner under my eye is from a rugby game...rough sport

I made a perfect cast, felt the darter working and then it got train wrecked by a BIG fish which ended up breaking my 20lb braid. Lost a nice custom 22$ plug along with it

After that the fishing definitely slowed, slack tide, and on our walk back we tried a few spots and nothing doing but then the tide really started moving and on our last stop we got a double header to end it. The fishing was just about to pick back up again but at this point it was late and we were tired, hungry, and dehydrated and called it a night.

We got up early the next morning to steady rain and wind. Suited up and headed back to the rocks and plug our way up and down. Nothing happening. Switched up lures and started throwing white bucktails with red pork rind.

Moved over by the lighthouse where there was a school of birds working over bait and fish, no serious blitz ever materialized. There were some MONSTER waves.

We ended up stopping fishing somewhere around noon after a good 5 hours of hard fishing and nothing to show for it. We drove back into town replenished our arsenals got some food and took a nice nap. Woke up around 3:30 and got our stuff ready. We were back at the rocks by 4:30 and the conditions laid down a lot and the rain stopped. Water look incredibly fishy.

Unfortunately the bass and blues were not cooperating. We decided to head back before dark change up our lures and get ready for a nice long night of fishing.

When we returned an hour or so later, the waves kicked up big time, with an almost continuous sequence with little or no window for making a solid cast. It was tough fishing. A lot harder than the night before. I was using an all black darter while Jake was using the trusty yellow. Using a black lure on a dark night with water that was a little cloudy was new one for me but i wanted to try it out. 20 minutes into the fishing and i was hooked up on a good fish that pulled drag quite a few times. I got the fish close but dropped it in the rocks some 15-20 yds out. We kept working and Jake hooked up to a fish and dropped it as well...the current was ripping.

I was getting a few bumps every once in a while and finally landed a schoolie, followed by a nice keeper the next spot down. We got crowded by googans and decided to move on. Picked up another schoolie and saw that the all black darter was getting a lot more love than that yellow Jake was tossing. the tide changed and started to move the opposite direction and i knew the fishing would pick up but we were dam tired and Jakes reel was seizing up BAD. We worked our way back, hit a nice looking spot and right in the wash less than 15 yds out i got slammed! Drag started peeling and the fight was on, i knew it was the fish i worked for all night and sure enough i landed a nice 21lb striper.

Shortly after i hooked into a fish that hit real hard but only gave me a few head shakes to start so i thought hey its nothing special, but as soon as the fish turned oh man it took off zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz. And then shook the hook. I started to question if my drag was set right but i knew it was since i just landed that bass before it. I got curious and a few casts later looked at my darter and found that the big girl completely bent out my treble. Two of the points were brought together and one was bent out kind of like an L.

Jakes reel was about done as we worked our way back but at a stop along the way he managed to hook into a nice 15lb bass.

After that we headed back exhausted. That marked the end of our trip as we left the next morning after trying to catch up on some sleep. If all goes well we will be back at it come friday night participating in a surf fishing tournament running through sunday noon.

Good luck to everyone going fishing.

-Matt