Shmorgishborg Today On Long Island Sound

[FishHeadRic]

Howdy Folks!

Couldn't sleep the other night so I decided to head down to the sound at first light and catch some porgies for this weekend. My aunt's having a BBQ and she always raves about how much she missed me around to supply her with fresh fish so I figured I'd come bearing gifts. There's a little beach tucked in behind a few multi-million dollar houses that I used to go to when I lived here before. The beach was named for a Big boulder that the British used for target practice way back when. Target Rock.

 

There's quite a few large boulders that lie under the water when the tide is in. Makes for a great ambush point for predators on a moving tide and the hidden boulders keeps most boats from venturing in close to shore. Two perfect things for a guy in a float boat. Today though I was really just after porgies.

 

 

 

Porgies or Sea Bream are tasty little buggers. They can get upwards of 3lbs but the average sized porgy around here is usually 1-2lbs. Really strong fish! Really strong! Once hooked they tend to just freak the F$#@ out. Great light tackle fishing. The fight is kind of like a Smallie on steroids.

 

 

 

Here's a view of a couple of the houses in the area... houses... Villas... estates... mansions!

So anyways I started off really good I had 3 porgies on the stringer and just hooked into another one when all of a sudden a bluefish shoots out of no where and just bites the porgy I have on the line right in half! This literally happened about 3 feet away from me and I just sat there stunned at what I just saw happen. The front half of the porgy was still trying to swim around with blood trailing out of the U shaped where his tail and back end had just been. Next thing you know another blue comes out of no where and just engulfs the rest of the fish which was still attached to the end of my line. I finally snap to and jam my thumb into the spool of my bait caster hoping to just brake off right away and I did.

With blues in the area I might as well give up on fishing for porgies so I put a white buck tail with a wire leader. Hopefully there's bass mixed in with the bluefish and I was counting on the blues just concentrating on the porgies and not a small buck tail bouncing off the bottom.... No Dice!

 

 

Bluefish, pound for pound I would have to say are one of the strongest fish on earth! They are just vicious! I've had so many lures and plugs just ruined by blues. They have razors for teeth and when first hooked they'll test your tackle the hard way! Even when landed they'll just be the biggest pain in the ass. 'bout 12 years back I used to work on a party boat on the east end of L.I. We had a fare once who tried to hold a bluefish's head down with his palm.... The blue clamped down on the fleshy part of his hand just under his thumb and just sheered it right off. Of coarse it was our first drift of the day and we actually got a chopper to come out and pick him and the bluefish up to shoot him over to the hospital. Bluefish are EVIL, that's all I have to say about that!

 

DANGER! I had to go to the shore to land it cause I just wasn't in the mood for any sort of mishaps ( Right Fidel! ) This one was about 12lbs. 30", body like a football.

 

 

Razors! So anyways the blues moved on and I started to see bait fish freak out all around me so I kept the buck tail on and hooked into a nice Fluke. A little bigger then the one I caught the other day. On to the stringer with you! 3rd type of fish so far. All I needed was a Striper to get the grand slam.

 

 

 

Bam! He hit the buck tail on the next cast after the fluke.

 

 

I caught another one after this one but it was the exact same size as the last. I decided to take a close up just to make it look like a bigger one. He He.

 

 

 

So the keepers for the day, 13 Porgies and a nice Fluke! I didn't catch the flip-flop. Bought that one.

 

 

 

Nice and thick this fluke. I'm gonna fillet it and roll up some asparagus arugula and raw cashews inside of the fillets with a red pepper and Gorgonzola sauce. ummmmmm.....

 

 

 

Here come the money shots!

 

 

 

Going to Montauk next week so hope I'll have a cow to post!

 

Take care,

FishHeadRic

Edited August 24, 2007 by FishHeadRic

[Riparian]

Sweet pictures Ric ive never seen a bluefish before.

[Weeds]

Right on!! Nice report, cool to see something so different.

[Hooked]

That my friend was an awesome report!! That looked like some fishing I could get use too. Good stuff Ric, and yer pad looks pretty sweeet too!

[Sinker]

Awesome!

 

I've never seen a bluefish either.........lovin these out of country....different reports!

 

Sinker

[Greencoachdog]

Excellent report and pics Ric!!! Those Porgies are sweet! We call them White Snapper down here, and another delicious Flounder taboot!

I know that Bluefish was a heckuva fight! The only fish I know of that you can catch from shore that pulls harder than a Blue, is a Jack Crevalle... but I don't think they live that far north!

 

You made my mouth water when you described how you were gonna cook that Fluke!

[highdrifter]

Dude where's the blackfish... the Tautogs?! I remember you violating them with green crabs when we were out there..

 

Fluke and porgies...mmmmmm. Does Ms. De la Cruz cook them the same way?? Scaled, seasoned and deepfried.. queue Homer..

 

Great report budday. Target Rock was a close to heaven as I've ever gotten, thanx for that. Good to see you in there with the fishcat also.

 

tight loops

HD

[huntervasili]

WOW cool report... Great change in material... keep em coming and thanks for sharing

[fatherof3]

great report ,interesting to read of something new

[Dano]

Good stuff Ric, awesome report! Nice to have that kind of fishing at your doorstep huh?

[Roy]

Wonderful report, Monsieur de la Cruz. Hope you get lots of time on the water.

[motv8tr]

What a great report Ric! Those are some nice fish, and i tell ya, that blue fish would have scared the cr@p out of me that's for sure. Good thing they didn't go after the ones on your stringer.

 

Maureen

[Rich Clemens]

Well Ric, you sure had my curiosity ... what in the world is a porgie. Good thing you posted some pics. your Fluke dinner does indeed sound yummy. Great report Ric.

[ccmtcanada]

Fantastic report! Great job at giving us the exact location (as seen on the google map), but I dont think I'll head down there quite yet...must organize an OFC bus for that...LOL. Anyhow, you are a natural story teller, and seeing fish not native to where I am is a real treat. Keep up the good work! Looks like your aunt wont be disappointed.

[007]

Great Report Ric. Thanks for showin us some new species. The Bluefish certainly looks mean.

 

007

[Raf]

...adding bluefish to long list of species on the 'to-catch-list'.

[Headhunter]

What a great report FRH! It's all new to me and I can't seem to get enough of it! Thanks for taking the time and keep'em coming! I find it fascinating!

HH

[snag]

Very cool,

 

I missed your reports.

 

Nice hood

[Joey]

Wow, super report Ric. Are bluefish not good eaters? I noticed you didn't keep it.

 

Joey

[Mike Pike]

Wow! Bet your Aunt wasn't counting on a a feast like THAT!

 

Congratulations FishHeadRic! What an awesome day on the coast. You've got some great saltwater action there and it looks like you're really taking advantage of it.

 

Really enjoy your reports from the coast!

[dustink]

Wow...what a great report!!

 

Did you get your stringer out of the water when the Blues came through??

 

Thanks for the pics!

 

dk

[FishHeadRic]

Thanks Guys! Joey, They arn't good eating especially at that size. Their major prey is a fish called Bunker.

These bunker are actually caught and harvested for the amount of oil in them. The oils are used for oil based paints and things of that nature so when the bluefish get this big they just end up tasting like a used paint brush.

Raf I' was talking to some of my friends the othere day and it's funny cause we consider them a scurge, especially when we're targeting other species. I was stating the fact that if you haven't caught a bluefish before that they really are an amazing fish to catch. But I guess it's kind of like those ole' timmers that'll just cut their lines if they get a muskie while fishing for walleyes.

Grant, Wish that was my hood! Actually no, i don,t ... They're probably paying close to a hundred grand in taxes a year.

CCMT, I figured the probability of seeing another OFNer there was at a minimum so....

Maureen, It's funny cause I really didn't give it too much thought until after the porgie got gobbled up. I actually had them on a 3 ft leash but tightened them right to the boat cause they kept gettin' in the way of my kickin'. Good thing eh?

 

GCD, Ive always wanted to catch a Jack. One of my friends worked the rigs and he used to tell me stories of them catching them on their lunch breaks and always getting into trouble cause they were lated getting back. :/

 

Fidel, Yeah It's so good to be home...

 

And thanks to everyone for all the replies. I'll try to keem em coming.

 

FHR

Edited August 23, 2007 by FishHeadRic

[FishHeadRic]

Oh By the way Dano,

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I've taken good care of her! hehe

 

 

FHR

[Tacklebuster]

What a Great report! Not that I didn't enjoy reading your pike reports from TO but that takes the cake, glad you moved... haha. Those bluefish are like piranha's. You got some ba!@'s dangling your foot in the water with those things and whatever else swimming around....not for me....boat only.

[tonyb]

Those blues just look MEAN

 

Great saltwater report, thanks for sharing.