Rum Runner Saltwater Fly Fishing

Idle thoughts today

Capt. Sandy — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 16:42:23 +0000

We made it through January pretty well and now its time to get back to work. A lot of my anglers ask me what I do in the winter so here is a peek. This past Thursday I tied a fly. The first one since October. With that success I tied two on Friday and they both came out pretty good. After all that work I took the weekend off. Now its Tuesday and I’m already planning on a fly to tie this week. Actually most of my new supplies have arrived so it won’t be long.

I was watching a disturbing news report yesterday. One of the reporters mentioned that the price of gas is expected to rise to close to $5.00/gal. by summertime. Then add another $1.00 for Marine Gas. I was forced to raise my rates this year because of the fuel costs. If they keep going up there will be a lot fewer charter boats and anglers that can afford to fish.

On a brighter note its getting near spring salmon time in New Brunswick. Gail won’t make it this year because of her surgery but I might be able to take a short trip.

Happy New Year

Capt. Sandy — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 21:43:36 +0000

The calender has changed and its time to start thinking about what’s important. We started off this season with a trip to the Marlboro Fly Fishing Show. There weren’t a lot of people there. It might have had something to do with the Patriots and a playoff game. We had lots of time to visit with old friends. I picked up quite a bit of tying materials and a few new ideas for some bass and albie flies. Gail is having back surgery soon so we both will be housebound for a while. That will give me time to try some new stuff.

The time has come

Capt. Sandy — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 15:12:16 +0000

We pulled the boat yesterday. Its just too windy on most days to even try to get out. There are blues at Gardner’s Island and small bass at Montauk. Those are both long runs for a chance at fish. I had friends fish at Watch Hill this week. All morning for a small blue. Lots of bait with no fish chasing them. To recap the season. May and June were good for stripers. No real big ones but the ones that we caught were decent. July and August brought the blues in. If you rigged for them it was a lot of fun. The bonito didn’t show at all and we did go looking. Sept and October were good for albies. We did pretty well on this side and also had some good trips to Montauk. We hit the jackpot on Columbus Day with all the big bass and albies that you could want. Since then the bass have been replaced by smaller fish and the albies are packing their bags. Thanks to everyone that fished with us this year. It was a lot of fun. We are looking forward to a little rest and a new season. Check in every once in a while. I’ll put some stuff up when I get the chance. Probably fly pics. and fish pics. If you have any ideas let me know. Have a great winter.

No peanutbutter and jelly today

Capt. Sandy — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 13:35:55 +0000

Sunday brought Dr. Jeff and Ron out for their annual trip. Based on what I found the day before we decided to go in a different direction just to find fish. The first stop brought small blues that were spread out. I had a very reliable report from the day before so we made a move in that direction. We pulled in to find bait balls so tight the birds were just sitting on them. Bigger blues were just below. That began a day filled with doubles singles and lots of laughs. Ron told me beforehand to leave the PB & J at home because he was bringing lunch. We learned that you don’t leave great snacks in front of a guide that only has to land fish. Especially when the fish are eight to ten lb. blues. It takes awhile to get one to the boat. Well needless to say the snacks disappeared before the fish did. Then we had lunch. We moved with the bait and were pretty busy for most of the day. I must say Sunday was a real fun day on the water.

If its Montauk then it must be good

Capt. Sandy — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 13:23:41 +0000

This past Saturday Gail and I actually left the dock before sunrise. The weatherman said light winds so we made the long run to the south. We started on the south side and we were the only boat there. For good reason, the water looked like mud. We saw some bait on the surface but no fish. We waited for the tide change and when it did it brought some clean water and fish with it. We had scattered albies from the point to Shagwon. We had some good shots but no co-operation from the fish. In the five hours we spent there we did not get a single bite. The best part of the day was when a Brown Pelican flew by at eye level. That was one big bird. The ride home was great.

Boys day out

Capt. Sandy — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 14:40:23 +0000

Dr. Jeff brought his son Andre and his buddy Robbie out for a late afternoon trip Tuesday. Both are at the ripe old age of ten. We started out where I had seen some bluefish earlier in the day. The boys quickly kicked the skunk out of the boat. The fish soon disappeared and we went on a search. After the fourth stop we hit the jackpot. The guys were pretty busy for over an hour till we lost the tide and the sun. We had doubles and singles and more doubles. The boys had another boat with three young adults trolling circles around us until they gave up. I almost felt sorry for the other boat. NOT!! It was a pretty eventful trip. We got up close and personal with a 300 lb. sunfish. We saw a waterspout follow us with a rainbow and on the way home we watched the full moon rise from the clouds. It just doesn’t get any better than this.

Best day this year

Capt. Sandy — Mon, 10 Oct 2011 23:22:31 +0000

Today Gary brought GM with him to do a little fishing. We left the dock early and made a long run. We all agreed that we would stay on the outsides of the fleet because everyone and all their relatives would be out today. There were about 200 boats but who’s counting. We pulled in to find albies spread all over the place. They were fussy at first but after a fly change their attitudes changed as well. We caught a bunch and they were still going when we decided to try for some stripers. We found them close to shore and had a good time for quite a while. We went back to the albies and then back to the bass again. I don’t know exactly how many fish the guys caught but we were busy all day. I do know that they caught about six bass at 15#s one at 20 and one at 25#s. Not a bad day on the water. There were a bunch of big bass boils so I’m adding one to this report. The average sized bass in the schools was around 12 #s. I’ve never seen so many fish stay up for so long. This should keep up for another few weeks.

A trifecta the hard way

Capt. Sandy — Fri, 07 Oct 2011 18:48:05 +0000

Friday brought Brian out for another wintertime albie trip. We started out just before dawn when the temp said it was 41. Our first stop brought us a bunch of medium sized bluefish as the sun was rising. after it became light they left for parts unknown. We were soon joined by about 20 other boats looking for albies. I found out that someone had posted the location on a fishing website. I guess that he thought that he discovered the albie hot spot all by himself. There were more boats than fish but Brian did manage to catch one of the two albies that I saw caught all day. We left the mob and found some ducks herding bait with a few terns flying cover for them. A few minutes later we had a fluke alongside to complete the trifecta. We could say that there were albies everywhere and we were into fish all day. That would be true but they were spread around and even with great shots at them they weren’t all that interested. It was a classic case of albie attitude. The water temps are dropping and things should soon get to where they should be for this time of the year.

Fussy Fish

Capt. Sandy — Fri, 07 Oct 2011 18:34:35 +0000

Thursday brought Dr. Jim back from New Hampshire to warm up with some fishing. We warmed up but it was from casting practice. Jim did pretty well considering the fish didn’t particularly like what we were throwing. He did well enough to land several Albies and he even let me catch one, just to see if I could. We had a lot of shots but they had the fuss working today. As usual the fish were spread out and not bunched up. I’m inserting another photo of Jim with an albie. He has had his picture taken with so many of them that I am considering using a file photo from now on.

Who says that business trips aren’t fun.

Capt. Sandy — Wed, 05 Oct 2011 13:22:08 +0000

I got a call from Gary last week and he said that he would be passing by on his way home from a business meeting yesterday. I just happened to have the day off so we decided to go for a boat ride. We left right after the rain stopped. We made a quick check of the local spots and headed South. We arrived to find the fish spread out like they were yesterday. It took three casts to get the first of many to the boat. The fish were still fussy at times but Gary got it done. We lost the tide and saw some really ugly clouds to the North. We came back across and checked a couple of spots. The wind was blowing around 15 from the NW. We found some fish but they weren’t very sociable. We decided to head in before the skies opened up. I wish that I made that decision 10 minutes sooner. Five minutes from the dock,. we ran into a wall of water. Rain hurts at 40 mph. We had a lot of fun and it was worth the soaking.