Atlantis Anglers Association

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     A look Ahead :                 

                        Blackfish Rule the Fall!

            It’s the time of year again when we start to experience some of the best fishing the north east has to offer.  While stripers and blues harass baitfish off the beach, true sharpies hit the bottom fishing grounds in search of falls smartest foe, the blackfish! In my eyes blackfish are worthy of the prestige that grouper and other game fish receive in the southern states.  They are the most fun to fight, and one of the hardest fish to consistently hook. Finding prime locations to fish relies heavily on water temps, and how they influence migrations from northern areas south. In early October when the season starts, the shallower rock piles and wrecks will be the main areas to concentrate on. The water in the shallows cools off faster, and thus will get the togs going strong. My first three weeks of the season often find me on the Rockaway Reef. During the time I had my boat in Jamaica bay, I would work that reef until early November. From then on I would try to get to ab reef, or go to highlands reef, where the water temps weren’t as cold as at Rockaway.  Those reefs are a bit deeper, thus the temp will be again more to the togs liking.  By the time Dec. comes, traditionally the deep water wrecks and 17 fathoms, become the focal points. There will be 4 week closure from Dec. 21^st through Jan 16^th. 

Ok, so now you have an idea about water temps, and the migration of the tog as the winter draws near. The question now is do you have a clue as to what to look for when anchoring? We all know that large pieces look really great on our color machines, and if we were the only ones on the water, they would always be first choice.  Unfortunately, this isn’t the case. Most of the higher, larger pieces are worked over fairly quickly with the amount of fisherman on the water on any given day during the season.  I like to find the smaller pieces that are still big enough for me to get my boat on, but don’t look like a mountain on my screen. These areas always produce, as they get passed by more times than not.  I choose to grapnel do to the logistics of only having myself on board to do the anchoring.  Typically, when there is a good breeze, you can easily judge the wind and which direction to anchor in. NO wind means making a practice drift to determine the affects of the current on your boat. I hit the mob button and let the boat drift. The direction I head back to the M.O.B. is the direction I drop the anchor in.  With a grapnel, you want to lay it down straight as possible, without twisting it around the main line and chain. Once the hook catches I like to pay out enough scope to hopefully position myself over the piece I want to try, and still retain its holding power should I bounce around out there. This is possible to do on artificial reefs do to the amount of rubble surrounding the many pieces I choose to fish. On a wreck, you will have to do stop on the piece, drop the hook into the structure and tighten up as much as  you can . There won’t be much to grapnel onto forward of the piece.  With two capable people on board to anchor, definitely go with a double anchor danforth set up on a wreck. This will enable you to fish the entire piece by adjusting the two lines. It also is the best way to not break free from the spot your on. 

             Our boat is now anchored in the right depth range, on a piece that most all other boats on the reef passed over. What’s next? Rigging up of course.  I normally stick with a two hook rig. I have discovered the strongest way to attach the hooks is to loop it over the leader by bending the leader and placing the snells loop over it bringing the hook back through the leaders loop. (Go with 50lb or better), then use a sinker to tie an over hand knot behind the loop to hold it in place. I have had dropper loops snap under the pressure of a large blackfish, more times than I care to admit. This alternate way of rigging has yet to let me down.  Hooks generally should be 2-3 inches up off the sinker, tops. In special instances, such as on the north shore wrecks. Many time a higher hook placement is better, around 5 or 6 inches up. This is do to heavy silt that covers the wrecks, and thus your sinkers as well. You want your baits where the fish can see them. When using braid, tie on  a 10 ft shot of 50 lb Ande line to your 50-60 lb braid with a double uni knot, or a properly tied Albright knot . I have found it much easier to tie my rigs directly to the top shot.  A small overhand knot just above the sinker acts as a quick release should I get really hung. It is then a snap to re- tie.  I carry a small spool of top shot mono with me on all trips.   For hooks, the new choice the last 3 years or so has been the octopus style Gamakatsu or Owner hooks. There are other Japanese octopus hooks, but they all have different tolerances, and some bend out quicker than others. I still like the old standard Virginia style hooks. I have used both types of hooks and don’t see the advantage to the higher priced hooks, especially when losing 3 set ups in an hour isn’t uncommon. I also like that I can more confidently sharpen the Virginia hooks, they aren’t hollow to the point that it will weaken the hook if you sharpen it. Newer laser sharpened and grinded point hooks are too weak to re-sharpen them once they get dulled. I won’t risk a lost bulldog to a weak hook, if you do use those laser points, chuck them if they ping over or dull. 

            In the fall, crab is king when blackfishing.  You can always try to find less common asian crabs, or white crabs. The ever annoying rock crabs (calicos) are great as well as the incredible hermit crab. For the purpose of the weekend angler, nothing is wrong with using green crabs. They are more easily available, and they aren’t passed by if the fish are there.  Experiment with which color greens are working best on any given day. Many times the orange belly crabs will out produce the Green belly crabs. Some days the fish  will want the crab shell less and legless. Other days just the opposite. If you feel like using a whole crab, crack that shell with the sinker. With half crab baits, run the hook in the leg socket out the other side of the crab. I like to leave the hook slightly exposed in the yellow fluid of the crab. With a whole crab in one leg  socket, and out another is best. If the crab is large, a second hook should be used on the other side the same way. When you get that first peck, be patient. No other fish can cause the barber to lose business like the blackfish! When he bounces the tip hard, hit him one time, then hold on and crank if you are slow to react, you will lose the battle! Drag settings for reels with braid must be kept lighter that the traditional tight settings of the mono filled reels and fiberglass rods we grew up using. I like to keep the drag set to a point appropriate to the rods rating, as compared to the braid stated rating. 50lb. braid has a tendency to break over 65lbs, most rods rated that high cant sustain more than a third of 50lbs line. So I keep the drag setting tight but limited to 16lbs max, most times a bit less to be on the safe side.  You don’t want to snap a graphite pole as  the line will outlast the graphite if you pull on it hard enough. Between the top shot and the lighter drag settings, you will have enough shock absorption to ensure your fish doesn’t rip the hook right through his lip or ruin your high priced arsenal!

            Once you land your first keeper blackfish of the year, the fever will consume you, and your thoughts will be with MR. Tog  the rest of the season. They make good meals, and offer the savvy angler a very satisfying feeling knowing you have succeeded in besting the smartest inshore fish we have.  Get out there and get yours today!

Tight lines,    Mike Bobetsky

Tackle tips: 

Reely Speaking; issue 1: Do you understand the makeup of your reels?

Boating Tips and Safety:

Kidding Yourself

Editorial: 

                          Mid-Summer

We are now deep into the summer fishing season in New York. We have enjoyed a good spring  and early summer. Fishermen have had great Striped- bass fishing, loads of action with Fluke, seen a good showing of big Seabass, and a seemingly healthy Bluefishery.There have also been a few surprises like large Cow Nose rays and sharks riding close to shore chasing bunker schools.

Now that fishing has slowed down a bit , what do we do we target on our weekend excursions? For the purpose of this piece I will concentrate on inshore waters . The Fluke fishing is starting to heat up in the ocean with the deeper structure holding more bait and Fluke. Try the south side of area reefs which produce some nice size fish.  We have well known deep areas off Jones such as Cholera and Anglers Bank , that will also hold late summer Fluke .  Of course you have to be on the look out for our Ambrose channel run that starts off when Fluke begin to head out of our bays and inlets at the end of the season.Try to fish Ambrose at the end of one tide through to the beginning of the next tide. Once the mid stages start to hit your drift may well be too fast to fish this area.  If you like true bottom fishing , our area reefs have lots of Porgies and Seabass. By now the larger sea bass are harder to come by than in the spring and late fall.Porgies can be found off of high pieces and lots of time you need not worry about chum, especially with only a 10 fish limit. On nice evenings targeting schoolie Bass in the bays with clams or worms is fun, as the season wears into fall , night eeling will start taking bass. For our Bluefish fans there will be schools of cocktails on top from Breezy Pt. east hitting jigs and spoons in the inlets and bays, usually our friends the seagulls will help us locate these schools. The larger choppers will be offshore a bit in areas such as the Mud buoy ,  the Three Sisters wreck as well as 17 Fathoms, Cholera bank and the Mud Hole west .  Anchoring is the way to go out there and make sure you work the chum in a wide area behind and to the sides of the boat to keep fish moving up the slick and not holding back in it. For our West end fishermen, you will start to see False Albacore and Bonita move into  Breezy point and take Deadly Dick lures in the  bait schools.  Those fish will also be seen to the east but usually in lesser numbers for some reason. Offshore these same Albies and Bonita will invade deep water Bluefish grounds and can be taken on small hooks baited with spearing  fished in a chum slicks sweetened with spearing,  You can also troll small feathers and skirt lures, if that's your game and connect with these speedy adversaries.

Ive now given a lot of options for  late summer angling on long island's south shore, from Brooklyn to Fire Island. We should have stable weather hopefully so take advantage of it while its there and get outside the inlets for some better fishing. 

Tight lines

Mike Bobetsky