October 30, 2009
We had a nice day fishing with the Oyster Bay Anglers today.
Not everyone had their limit but everyone had a few fish to
bring home. Bob Fravola had a nice 7 pound tog to win the pool.
Still a lot of porgies around.
October 18, 2009
On Saturday we fished the Gut with Peter Castro and 13
friends. We adjusted our starting time to coincide with the ne
wind and the ebb tide. Fishing was absolutely non stop with
jigs. We backed into the rip and were able to have up to 10 fish
on at a time. Glad to get the day in. Matt had the largest bass
and the boys kept only 20 smaller blues to eat. Great trip and
terrific guys.
October 15, 2009
Thursday, we fished with Chuck and Bob Hamilton and a few
friends. We opted for blues in the Gut with the hope of a few
bass. The weather started out fair at best and worsened as we
fished. There were blues and birds everywhere. We kept about a
dozen smaller blues to eat and released about a hundred others.
Plenty of fun and action. Definitely not fishing this Friday as
the weather looks awful.
On Wednesday we fished the Gut with Ron Gajada and friends.
Once again the blues were ferocious and bit through both tides.
Almost all were released. We had a number of close to legal fish
with Joe taking the largest bass. We had a couple of albacore to
add to the fun. Great weather is a bonus in the fall. Very
enjoyable day with great guys.
October 12, 2009
Monday, we fished with Ed Salem and his friends from Staten
Island. Once again the Gut was packed with blues of all sizes.
Bass were scarce. You could see albacore zooming around just
below the surface. Plenty of action for all whether you fished
with bucktails, diamond jigs, top water plugs or saltwater
flies. The group kept only a few blues , evidently they have not
tasted Myra's spaghetti bluefish sauce, and then went scupping.
The porgies must be in a feeding frenzy as they bit steadily
throughout the day. You can have the fish sauce recipe if you
mail me at wrusso@optonline.net I will be glad to forward it.
On Sunday, the Mastic Beach Yacht Club Anglers visited us for
a day of fishing. We figured the most action was blues in the
Gut on the ebb and scup near Gull on the slack and flood. Good
choice as all rods were bent at all times. There were just a few
bass and all were undersized and we are wondering if the day
bite will ever get underway. A few boats left the dock before
dawn and were able to get a few. Nevertheless, it was a great
day . It got quite breezy in the afternoon.
October 5, 2009
On Sunday, Robert Smith and his friends from the Bronx came
to Orient for a fall porgy trip. The weather was great and the
fishing was excellent. Most had porgy limits. There were a few
tog, some bluefish attacks on the scup and a fluke which we
released. Fish on at all times!
October 3, 2009
On Friday The BioGent Ltd. group fished with us. We targeted
porgies and blues mostly in Plum Gut and local areas. Good porgy
fishing with fish to 2.5 pounds. The Gut on the ebb had some big
blues to 13 pounds. Some schoolie bass were in the mix. It was
great to see people who get to fish only a few times a year
wrestle with very big fish. Everyone had a good time! Once again
I invite you to request a bluefish spaghetti sauce that Myra
makes. Just email me at wrusso@optonline.net and I will forward
it to you. I think you'll like it.
September 28, 2009
Monday, we fished with some good friends from Half Hollow
Hills Schools. I taught there for many years. The Gut was loaded
with blues of all sizes and we caught them steadily, keeping
only the pool fish and the smaller fish for supper. Bill Kerwin
won the pool. The porgies were a bit off their usual intense
bite today. Could be the horrible weather yesterday or the
upcoming pressure drop. Who knows. The fish are there by the
thousands but when they want to eat, that's when they eat. Still
had a few pails full of nice scup for all.
September 27, 2009
On Saturday we fished with John Caruso and his friends on the
Orient Star II. The Gut had some blues in it but it didn't look
very promising. Between tides we hammered the local big porgies
and then went to the Race. Plenty of blues there of all sizes so
we selected the smaller ones to bring home. The bass were not
that cooperative, most likely due to the weaker tides. Still a
great day fishing with fish on at all times
September 14, 2009
On Sunday we fished with Ben DiVenti and his friends. We love
Plum Gut in the fall, especially on the ebb as blues, bass, bait
and birds were everywhere. Everyone caught blues 'til they were
arm weary and then we focused on some nice porgies . Plenty of
those to go around as well. Great fishing, fantastic weather,
and wonderful people.
On Sunday afternoon the Roanoke Sand and Gravel co. had their
first annual "Go Deep" fishing trip. We had great blue fishing
in the race and a few bass as well. We had 4-5 fish on at all
times.
September 6, 2009
On Saturday the Lady Reelers Fishing Club held their annual
porgy-bluefish give away event. All of their catch is donated to
the Long Island Cares organization. The fish are cleaned by us,
meaning Mike, and taken away in a refrigerator truck to be
distributed to needy people on Long Island. They have been doing
this with us for a number of years and it's a great thing they
do. We are happy to be some part of it. The Ladies jigged 55
blues in short order in the Sound and then settled into some
great porgy fishing. Many large fish were taken. Some nice
seabass were in the mix. Nice going ladies.
If any women anglers out there are interested in contacting
this great group of people you can contact me at wrusso @
optonline.net and I will forward your name and email to the
Ladies.
On Sunday, Al Lipman and his family and friends from Mr.
Beauty in Freeport came to Orient for a day of fishing. The
winds kicked up quite a bit but the Gut proved very productive
with bluefish. Later in the day we had a nice porgy bite with
many 2 pound fish.
August 28, 2009
On Thursday, Jimmy Ricciardo lead his friends from his
Pentacostal Church to Orient for a day of fishing on the Orient
Star ll. The weather on Thursday was about as perfect as it can
get and the fishing was very good. The Race was loaded with
blues and a few bass. We caught a bunch of porgies during the
tidal change. Everyday should be this good!
On Friday a group from New Jersey, lead by Harry DeSimone and
Kevin Doyle spent a half day of fishing on the Orient Star ll.
We tried the Gut today and there were blues and bass to be
taken. We fished nearby for a great catch of jumbo porgies.
August 16, 2009
Today, Sunday, the Shoreham Fire Dept came to Orient for a
whatever is biting kind of trip. There were many youngsters on
the trip so we targeted porgies for most of the day. All hands
caught plenty o nice fish. The crew thoroughly enjoyed the
company of these fine men and their families.
On Saturday,Todd Katz and a some iron worker buddies came to
Orient for a day of fishing on the Orient Star ll.We picked
steadily on nice size porgies and when the tide was right we
bucktailed some big blues up to 11 pounds. Lenny Montoya won the
pool.Once again, anyone who wants Myra's bluefish spaghetti
sauce recipe (awesome) email me at wrusso@optonline.net
August 12, 2009
On Wednesday, Burt Katz and Dany Fox brought friends and
family fishing with us on the Orient star ll. Big porgies and
blues were the order of the day providing great fishing and fine
dining on tasty scup and blues. There are plenty of terrific
recipes out there for bluefish.Look one up and try it. It's a
healthy fish to eat too!
On Tuesday Mike Connolly and friends sailed with us for a
half day of non-stop porgy and blues action. Big porgies to 3
pounds and blues of all sizes were taken. Myra makes a bluefish
spaghetti sauce that's really good! If you want the recipe, and
it's an easy one, I will send it to you if you email me at
wrusso@optonline.net. I know you will love it.
August 9, 2009
It's getting near to the closing date for fluke in N.Y. Too
bad because there are plenty of fluke around.The Flower Hill
Fire Dept. from Port Washington, under the leadership of Chief
Geoff Cole tried fluking with us before the deadline. There were
some very nice fluke caught with Tom Murray taking the pool with
a 6 pound fish. There were a few porgies in the catch as well as
some tasty seabass. Really a good bunch of guys and a pleasure
to fish with them
On Saturday Paul Misthos and friends fished with us. We
fished the Race for awhile and caught many blues and a few
keeper bass.Fishing was good at Fishers for plenty of porgies.
Great weather and solid fishing
August 4, 2009
On Sunday Diane Isnari and her neighbors came to Orient for a
day of fishing. The folks were camping in Greenport and got
together for a great day on the water. We had some very good
porgy action as well as some seabass in the catch.
On Saturday Jimmy Jacobson and friends came to Orient to fish
with us on the Orient Star. Lots of big scup were taken in the
am and then the group headed to Gardiners for some fluking.
Danny Ligi's 4.5 pound flattie won top honors and Jimmy J. had
second with a nice 4 pounder. Many others were landed. Some
close to keeper size were released after inserting Littoral
Society tags.
July 31, 2009
On Thursday, Dave Chichanowitz took his company crew from
Creative Environmental Designs out fishing with us. Dave is a
great guy and this annual event is really enjoyed by his people.
It was breezy in the am and the tides were strong but we did
well as the day went on.
On Wednesday, Bob Carr brought his family including his sister
in law's family visiting from Germany out fishing with us. These
folks had never been fishing in their lives! Imaging catching
blues and 2.5 pound porgies in great numbers. Couldn't
understand a word they were saying but their smiles were
fantastic.
On Wednesday Jerry McGrath aka, schoolman, brought his Scope
course students out fishing with us. Jerry always does a great
job with this course for teachers. It's about a 4 day course for
resulting in 3 credits. One of the 4 days is spent on a fishing
trip with the Orient star ll. Some blues in the Gut and a lot of
big porgies throughout the day.
Tuesday afternoon a few old friends from college days at
C.W.Post visited with us.John Zureck, Vinny Salamone, Eddie
Sutton and I along with our wives fished together for blues and
porgies. We shared old stories, had a lot of laughs and caught
some nice fish. Topped off the day with a nice dinner out east.
Nice to be able to relax with friends. Captain Mike did a great
job on deck as usual.
On Monday, Joe Lalito and a few friends tried their luck with
blues ,porgies and fluke on the Orient Star ll. They did well
with the first two species and they did catch a lot of fluke but
the larger ones were elusive for us that day. Still, a great
trip with plenty of action and lots of good eats to take home.
Last Sunday Alan Markovic hosted a father-son fishing trip on
the Orient Star ll. The porgy fishing was fantastic and later on
in the day we tangled with blues. Great trip.
Last weekend we held the annual Jackie Bauer fluke trip on the
Orient Star ll. The tide was right to hit the porgies first and
then we went fluking. Rich Ekberg's 4.5 lb. fluke won the pool.
Tom Borst had a really nice sea bass. Amy wrestled a big blue on
a fluke rod and everyone had plenty of porgy to take home. Even
Jackie.
July 22, 2009
Today. Wednesday, we fished with Jared and his buddies who are
vacationing on the North Fork for awhile. The boys caught dozens
of blues of all sizes up to 12 pounds. Many schoolie bass were
released, as were all the blues. The only fish taken home for
dinner were some nice porgies. It's easy to fillet large scup,
leaving no bones...just delicious sweet meat. Steady action all
day with fantastic weather.
July 20, 2009
Last Saturday afternoon twenty close friends of Joe Tringali
joined us for a fishing bachelor party on the Orient Star ll.
Plenty of action was the order so we opted for a catch and
release program. There was enough good sized fluke to have some
tasty sashimi..Awesome. We jumped on some blues near the end of
the trip. You know how things can get on a bachelor party? Well,
someone proved his worth by eating the butt of a
bluefish....nice. Joe's dad, Joe senior bested all the
youngsters with the largest fluke. TJ Buckley was aboard and
acted as sashimi chef, referee, fisherman etc.
Fred Schraft and his buddies fish with us each year for two days
and target our fluke. Knowing that they can catch some quality
fish in our waters, many of the men come from neighboring
states. George Callaway from New Jersey won the pool on both
Saturday and Sunday with 5+ pound fish.. Some of the guys put
clam bait on and caught scup as a side catch. No problem there
Campers from Shelter Island tried their skills at porgy fishing
last Friday. All hands had as many as they could handle. The
kids only took 40 back to the camp for dinner releasing many
more to grow even bigger. Great weather and terrific kids.
Last Thursday Burt Katz and Vernon Jackson fished with their
friends on the Orient Star ll. They bucktailed blues and bass in
the am and then had a mess of porgies.
July 13, 2009
On Saturday Terry McTigue and friends fished for fluke down at
Gardiner's. There were plenty of fish and the larger ones seemed
to prefer small whole squid. We caught a few squid while fishing
which proved that squid were in the area. John McTigue was the
pool winner with a fish of 5 pounds. Sean Carroll had some nice
big fish as well. Very attentive, hard working group and their
catch often reflects it.
On Sunday, Dennis Cataldo held his annual fluke tournament. This
is Dennis' personal tournament and he provides the prizes and
trophy plaques. Dennis is the outgoing president of the New York
Sportfishing Federation and I would like to thank him here for
his tireless efforts on all of our behalf's. Capt. Ron
Grandinetti, long time Montauk Point skipper was aboard and
showed us all a thing or two about fluking. He bucktailed
tirelessly for about 20 fluke and had the largest to win top
honors with a fish just around 4 pounds. Lou Truncali took
second with a fish a few ounces less. True fluke fishermen all.
Oh yes. Forgot to mention that we had some scup addicts aboard
and hit a porgy spot on the way down to the fluke grounds. The
ratio right now is about 50:50 keepers to throwbacks..but is
steadily growing in a favorable direction
July 5, 2009
On Friday we had the Milt and Jane Schoch family out on a fluke
trip. Aboard were their sons Parker and Cooper. Very active
fishing as many fluke were caught. Amongst the throwbacks were
some nice keepers. Porgies are starting to make their presence
felt on the local fluke grounds. It's always great to see
youngsters have a good day. Kind of prevents them from becoming
golfers.
Saturday, July 4th,was celebrated with a Russo and Zarzana
family fishing adventure. Another very active day with lots of
fluke, a few porgies and Mike's 5.5 pound Black Sea Bass. A
stiff breeze made the drift pretty fast at times. Still. pretty
good fishing.
On Sunday we put together an open boat fluke trip for about 12
people. The morning bite was slow for us. Persistence is
something that most successful fluke fishermen have and this
group kept at it throughout the day. When the ebb was running
hard the bite really started. Fish were on throughout the whole
drift. Rich Miller won the pool with a 7.8 lb flattie. Rich's
grand daughters Natasha and Dominique Miller each had 5 pounders.
Very enjoyable day for the passengers and crew.
June 29, 2009
On Saturday a group of high school kids from Washington Heights
New York fished with us. They were staying on Shelter Island for
a day or two at Camp Quinipett. We only had a few hours to fish
so we stayed local and we caught. tagged and released a bunch of
fluke. The fish ranged from 12 inches to 6 pounds. I have tagged
hundreds of fluke ovr the years and releasing 5 and 6 pound fish
with American Littoral Society tags is actually fun. Who knows
where those fish will go? Hopefully not New Jersey. The kids had
a lot of fun and for most it was a first time thing. First time
on Long Island, first time on a boat and first time fishing.
Wonderful bunch of kids. Fluking opens again next Friday, July
3rd. We are looking forward to it.
June 25, 2009
On Wednesday Myra and I went scouting for some porgies. There
are some beauties around. We each had our limit in short order.
Caught and released 4 nice fluke while porgy fishing. We are
eagerly awaiting the 3rd of July. There are some BIG fluke
around
Rich Hutson and his buddies from Philadelphia came to Orient
Point for some early season porgy fishing. The 2-3 ponders were
already cleaned when I got to the picture taking (I
swear)....The boys all agreed that the drive was well worth it
and they are already signed up for a fall trip or two.
June 19, 2009
Wednesday, Joe Chingas hosted a fishing trip for his company on
the Orient Star ll. The Gut was more active than the past few
days as the tides have picked up. We had some nice bass with
Meredith Lipinsky taking the pool and Pete Cheney aka Wilfred
Brimley, close behind.
Friday, we fished with Sameer Rege and Ed Pisani who brought
family and friends to Orient. The Gut was very active right from
the start and the group nailed some nice bass and plenty of
blues...all blues released. We tried our hand at the local
porgies and were not disappointed. Plenty of large scup are in
the area.
June 15, 2009
On Friday the Hamilton
brothers, Chuck and Bob plus a few buddies tried their hand at
some east end fluke. The boys had some fine fish at Gardiners.
Hate to see the fishery close but I am sure these fish will be
around when it reopens. The fish were spitting up squid and when
bait is available the big fluke stay around. Antique John,
visiting from Maryland released a beautiful 24 inch fish. We
gave him a nice Catch and Release certificate and thanked him on
behalf of all us N.Y. fishermen.
On Saturday Steve Malinowski and friends came fishing with us.
We thought their best shot was to target fluke in the morning as
the bassing has been a little weak recently in the daytime.
Stronger tides are coming and the bass bite should improve soon.
The group did well with some nice fluke. At the change of tide
we tried Plum Gut for blues and bass...Very quiet.. Tried Pigeon
Rip... Still quiet. On the way back to the Gut the blues and
birds erupted. The fishermen landed about 30 schoolie blues in a
half hour and hooked a few keeper sized bass in the excitement.
On Sunday Rich Clark and his buddies got their last licks in on
the fluke ....at least for a couple of weeks. The weather was a
bit iffy at the start but the day ended up just beautifully.
Pictured are a few of the quality fluke we had. A few blues were
landed as a by catch
June 7, 2009
Stallion Inc. came fishing with us this Sunday. The weather was
great..The fishing not so great. The day started off just fine
as we landed a few keepers in the Gut despite a very crowded
situation. A few shorts were released but over-all the Gut was
not hopping with action. Went to the Race and hoped that would
be more productive. Some blues cooperated. Still, a very nice
day on the water.
The Lady Reelers Fishing Club had a very good day on the fluke
as they had their annual fluke contest on the Orient Star ll on
Saturday. The girls kept 12 hefty fluke to 7 pounds and released
many fine fish over 19 inches. I had the pleasure of tagging
many beauties with American Littoral Society tags. It's a fun
thing to get involved in and it eases the pain of letting a big
fish go. Kathy McGuire had the 7 pounder. It's a shame we have
to endure this coming closure but I believe there will be plenty
of quality fluke in the area when it opens again.
Felix LoCicero and his co-workers from the EPA braved steady
rain and wind last Friday in the Gut and the Race. The largest
bass was Flaire Mills' 17.5 pounder.
Chang Hua had a 15 pounder to finish second in the pool. Only
took one photo as I couldn't talk them into standing out in the
rain for even another minute.
April 1, 2009
The Wayward Boys had their 61st reunion this
year and 5 members came fishing on the Orient Star ll . The 5 men took home 9
keeper bass with Lee McQuade's 21 pounder the largest
On Saturday Terry McTigues group did well on large fluke. There
was a hot bite going on and all nets were busy as Owen Thomas and
Kevin McTigue each landed 7 pounders simultaneously.
