Helen H moves to Montauk
 

Well,
This weeks Fisherman report Huck is moving operation to Montauk
I guess Georges isn't the place to be anymore. Suprised that Huck is moving the boat, seems like all the boats are out south of Block Island this winter.

Anybody been out lately? Jonesing.

for the winter of for good

Just for the winter. He did the same thing last year, I'm pretty sure.

Didn't realize that. article made is sound like it was a effort to get there.

Joe leased the boat to a Long Island Captain named Lou Wasserman for the winter. He normall runs the Captain Lou out of Freeport, LI.

Wow. What happened to George's Bank?

Someone took a large withdrawal.
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No you're right, I read the article. It did seem like an effort. Who knows. I'm lost. I thought he fished Block Island last winter.

those trips to georges were like 200 bucks weren't they. just too expensive for a party boat cod trip.

Always nice to see. We have some stock recovery and they get pounced on.

I was running a r/v out there last February and skirted the fleet w/ my radar on. Counted 17 targets within <1mi2. that school took a whooping that day....

Boats definitely fishing from Montauk for cod this winter:

1)Celtic Quest IV

2)Miss Montauk and Fishn Express

3)Viking Fleet

Viking starship
Viking star
Viking gulfstar
viking superstar

4)sea spray

5)Helen H/capt.Lou

That's 8 boats just from Montauk, add in the Frances Fleet with two boats, the Island current and sea otter fishing out of Snug Harbor. The Hell Cat from Groton will be there as well as several other CT based boats. Throw in a few boats from further east or west and a few private and charter boats and you get well north of 17 boats on a good weather day.

last year it was like steaming out to a city there were so many lights on the horizon

Well, if the Helen-H 9 is hitting Block, are there any good skippers out of PJ hitting codfish as well?

That has to be the Nebe quote of the month.

When i was out there last year i couldnt believe how many boats there were from all over the place. The fish were getting crushed. I was on the frances fleet and we were anchored no more than 50' from one of the montauk boats. Either they were right on the fish, or the snot clams we were using were that bad, they were killing them with constant doubles while we were picking away. It was still a good day i think i came back with 6-8 fish.
Im afraid that fishery isnt going to be around for too long. They get absolutely hammered out there. And there were draggers working outside of the party boat armada. The fishery makes me wonder if you could get a few from the beaches at Block.

Barely any draggers in SNE will be working cod this year... No quota. Each year for the past three I've heard of more (and larger) cod caught by people blackfishing, right off newport.

While the rec guys do a significant toll on the stock, there are a LOT of fish down there. I'd be willing to bet that you could catch cod from the RI beaches this year. The lack of commercial pressure is going to cause them to bounce back, big time.

Kevin, you down for a shore bound cod trip?

All good points, but the herring boats are scooping up lots of cod.
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RR I think I'm gonna try it next weekend... If I go down to RI... Gotta call the shop today and pick DZ's brain about it. Might be a month or so before the best chances are, though...

Nebe you may be right... All the better reason for 100% coverage to keep the nets off the bottom. But I think it's more that they catch so much of the herring that the cod move out- no reason to stay if there's no food for 'em.

Let me know when you go?

The Frances fleet is sending one or two boats out per day and the Island Current is sailing out of Snug harbor.

Part of it is timing.
read a report from last week that the fish were full of baby batter, and getting ready to spawn.
But what the hell, whats the harm, it's all rec fishing. whats the harm in 10 fish/day x Y anglers/boat x Z Boats/day fishing....

one of these years soon, it will be 'what happened to the Jan -March cod bite south of the Island?'

I hear ya... And I definitely don't want to sound like the rec fishery isn't doing any damage, it is. But I think that fishery still holds true with the the "10% of the fishermen catch 90% of the fish" adage... Not everyone is out there limiting. But still, good point... you're right.

He said he was moving just before xmas. The week before xmas was awsome but he could not get enough people to go and canceled the Saturday trip.
Week before was ok trip about 25 pounds of meat, the few weeks before were so so and yes $250 a trip!!
My buddy went 3 times I told him he get fish fresh fresh at the market cheap!