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the last cast of the trip! photo courtesy of conway bowman

montauk bass blitz, photo by Al Q

Kuddos to my buddy Conway Bowman (host of Fly Fishing the World, Bowman Bluewater) who just got back back from his first fly fishing trip to Montauk. He fished with my buddy Capt. Paul Dixon. Conway walked into the fall run with perfect timing and had a great week of landing large bass and blues. I look forward to watching the episode it when it airs. Dixon is one of the best in the business when it comes to consistently staying on big fish. I know Paul a long time, he was the first guy to introduce the fly fishing industry to daytime flats, sight fishing for stripers and blues back in the early nineties in Montauk. I was very fortunate to be there during that period and it was very special time.

If you have never experienced the early Montauk or east coast fall run, it is pretty sick. It is like the great wilder beast migration across Africa only imagine acres of striped bass slurping tiny rainbait on the surface. If you are fly fishing off the surf, it is all about timing and luck for the fish to get into casting range. If you are on a boat, they have no where to hide and it can be like fishing in a barrel providing you position yourself properly.  A good boat guide will know how to anticipate the movement of the fish especially after a few yahoos drive through them and in Montauk it can get nutty this time of the year.  Most of the time the good guides try to stay clear of the mosquito fleet and find smaller less obvious blitzes so they can get their clients hooked up without drama. As a kid I usually preferred fishing the beaches and staying away from the crowds. This was my favorite time of the year growing up, the beaches were empty, the air crisper, the shadows longer and the bass got bigger!