My 2003 MAY SYNOPSIS

My 2003
MAY SYNOPSIS
By Bill Wetzel


This striper was taken on the edge of one of the coves
that litter Montauk.

Adjust to Montauk

My approach to May seems to be different every year. Some years the weather is warm and consistent, other years the weather is cool and sporadic. During the cool and sporadic Mays I like to target the big water stripers in Montauk. My first trip to MECCA in 2003 was on 5/18 (two days after the full moon). There was big water as I remember, and my target was the edge of deep coves, where water was getting pushed into the beach and driven back out. It was the deepest most stable water I could find. With water temps in the low fifties a slow presentation on or near the bottom was a must, as was stable moving water, as opposed to the white unstable water that inhabits Montauk’s rocky points. In the fall when stripers are more aggressive I would have thrown a 11/2 oz bucktail without a second thought, but with the higher weight comes faster retrieves to keep the bucktail from snagging on the rocks. A fast retrieve with the cold-water temperatures was not getting the job done as the fish were just lying on or near the bottom using as little energy as possible. After tweaking the bucktail size down to ¾ oz, I could slowly bounce it off the rocks without snagging. That was the ticket that enabled me to land a 26lb and a 35lb striper that was probably closer to the low 40’s, but my scale bottoms out at 35 so I’ll stick with 35. This is a great example of tweaking your presentation to adjust to conditions. By the end of May, water Temperatures increased and stripers became more aggressive. That was the time to go back to the 11/2 oz bucktails and stick it in the unstable, highly oxygenated, white water. On May 31^st that was the ticket for my New moon AM charter as we managed a dozen stripers (see report section and scroll down).

South Shore Back Bays

I’m sick of hearing the term “reading the beach,” hell I use it, and I’m sick of saying it. It makes you think of open sand beaches that hold as many resident fish as a 10-gallon aquarium (in most cases). Ok I’m getting carried away, but the term should really be “read the water”. May for me on the South Shore usually means back bays. Here water temps are warmer and fish are either moving through, or will stay awhile, and hold to specific pieces of structure night after night, as long as weather patterns remain stable. I love to concentrate on spring, daytime, South Shore, Back Bay grass lines with 1oz polaris poppers. Sometimes I will cover a few miles of grass lines in a single trip. Here it’s not about reading the beach, as there is no beach, It’s about reading the water, and looking for subtleties like small rips, cuts in the grass lines, drains, and sunken grass. That is the kind of structure that will hold bait night after night, and stripers will utilize the most efficient tide to feed on this bait. May of 2003 however was not a good one for me in the South Shore back bays. Bait was simply lacking. Theories are numerous, but I always look for consistent weather and optimal water temps to be a good producer of Back Bay fish. May 2003 was a cool one.

North Shore

Take a look at the stats. That is something you will not see from me too often. Only 15 hours fished on the North Shore! What can I say, I had big bass fever and the only cure was Montauk. May 2003 was a cold one, and concentrating on Back Bay drains is usually a successful plan when water temperatures are cool. At the mouth of these drains you can find warmer water temps as the sun heats up the shallow muddy bottoms of the Back Bay marshes. Ebbing water with 10z polaris poppers retrieved slowly early in the month, and faster as water temperatures rise is a good bet. May 2003 was littered with cloudy cold days, which did not assist in producing solid catches when targeting the drains. The drains are where you will usually find me when the North Shore May stripers are on my mind, unless I get word of sand eels somewhere else. Then it is sand eel patterns like the 3” slug-o used as a teaser, or on the bottom with a ¼ oz lead head. Or my daytime go-to, a 3/8 oz kastmaster modified with a green or white tube.

THE STATS

1.Total # of trips- 18	7. Total # of bass caught in Montauk-47
2. Total# of Hours fished- 66	8. Total # of bass caught for North Shore-8
3. Total # of hours fished in Montauk- 23	9. Total # of bass caught for South Shore-14
4. Total # of hours for North Shore- 15	10.Total # of bass caught-62
5. Total# hours for South Shore-28	11.Total # of blues caught-13
6. Other-some sweat water stuff- shhh	12. Total # of weakfish caught- 0
13.Total # of bass 10-15 lbs-14	17. % Of charters that caught fish-100% yee ha!
14. Total# of bass 16-25lbs-4	18. Total # of skunks with and without charters-6
15. Total number of bass 17-34lbs-1	16. Total number of bass above 35lbs-1(low40’s?)

MOON PHASES

19. Total fish caught from new to full (up swing)-15
20. Hours fished from new to full-19
21. Total fish caught from full to new (down swing)-55
22. Hours fished from full to new-51
23. Total fish caught on FULL-0 (not fished)
24. Total fished caught on NEW- 20

Wrap up

I am not impressed with the amount of fish caught, but am content with the quality. In May 2003 we saw some sand eels, but in no way what I expected. Another cold winter this year may yield excellent sand eel concentrations for May 2004. If that is the case look for lots of bass to be caught. Time will tell! If we have another cool spring I think I’ll chase some large after the herring and shad in MECCA. One thing I expect this year is many fish to break the 50 lb mark, and May maybe the month for me. CAN’T WAIT! For detailed reports that coincide with the stats click on the report section and scroll down to May.
Copyright April, 2004