Fire Island Fishing Reports 2005

12/28/2005 We finished the shooting season for the North East Angling TV show seen on Fox sports NY and NESN. The forecast called for light winds and seas of 1 foot or less. We left Sheep head Bay and headed south for the Blackfish area known as 17 Fathoms. By the time we arrived in the area the wind picked up to 20 knots and the seas where 3 to 4 feet. Our guest was Captain Henry Feeney a very experienced fisherman from the Brooklyn area, despite the wind and sea conditions Captain Henry was able to put us on some real productive bottom and we caught some great Tog up to 14 pounds. Be sure to check out the show on Fox Sports NY and NESN click here for show times. Tim C. Smith

12/17/2005 I just returned from Florida and have access to a high speed connection so I uploaded some more photos from the last week of fishing out of Marco Island. This shot and the one below are of a 300 pounds goliath grouper being brought to the boat aboard Captain Bob Herman's Captain Liver. This fish was trolled on a diving plug on an offshore piece. Just a note about this awesome fishing. The Shimano Tekota 600 LC reel is a must for accurate depth control using PowerPro Line and deep diving Mann's Magnum plugs. It's smooth, strong just the right piece of equipment for this fishing

This is a better shot of the fish at boatside. These monsters can reach 700 pounds. They are protected and must be released.

This is a shot of the catch from the day we went snapper fishing on a wreck 25 miles out of Marco. It was a nice bunch of Mangrove and Lane snapper. We caught all kinds of other stuff and there was a ton of action all day. Once again it was on Bob Herman's boat.

This is a real good shot of me and Bob with a couple of nice black grouper. This is the day that we trolled 18 grouper with 9 keepers. Captain Al Lorenzetti

12/15/2005 Wes Little and I fished today for a short time from 1 pm to 4 pm. We did have a good time however. Wes caught this nice 30 pound Goliath Grouper (jewfish). We also had another keeper black grouper and dropped two other fish one of which was probably another goliath as he ran me into the debris and I broke him off. We spotted and hooked up a triple tail also. No tarpon hook-ups today however but it was beautiful, about 80 degrees, sunny and with 10 mile per hour winds. It was another great day on the water. Captain Al Lorenzetti

12/14/2005 I fished today with Wes, Scott and Wayne. We had a good time and yet put nothing in the boat. Oh, excuse me, we did boat a permit about 10 pounds caught on a jig. We then went trolling for grouper but did not catch any. Instead, we hooked up 3 tarpon up to 150 pounds. This is one about 100 pounds taking a jump with the plug in its mouth. Scott fought it for about 10 minutes and had him right to the boat when the hook pulled. It was fun.

This is a shot from the other day. Harry and Bill ready to release a small Goliath Grouper (jewfish). This is just a baby. They grow up to 700 pounds. They can swallow a man whole when fully grown. They are protected and cannot be kept.

This is Wes with a small triple tail we caught. Scott spotted the fish hanging by a pot buoy. Wes fed him a live shrimp and he jumped on it. A very good fight and they are great eating. We released it however. Captain Al Lorenzetti

12/13/2005 I fished with Wes Little today and we had a good time. It was a little cool and windy in the morning but it got much better as the day went on. We caught a couple of grouper on the troll. One was a throw back and one was a good fish at about 29 inches and 12 to 15 pounds. One of our fishing buddies Alan, had a good day with a couple of keeper grouper, a 100 pound tarpon and a 33 inch snook on the troll all on a piece out in the Gulf. We took a run south to White Horse Key looking for tarpon and permit but didn't connect. We did get a good report about tarpon and permit in another area so we will hit that tomorrow. Yesterday I didn't do a report but we only fished late in the afternoon after Wes flying in from NY. We caught a few jacks, mangrove snapper and a small snook. I forgot to mention that at the end of the day today while running back to Marco we ran across a huge school of bluefish from 1 to 3 pounds. We caught a bunch and headed for the barn. I think that tomorrow has the potential to be a good day of fishing. Captain Al Lorenzetti

12/10/2005 This is HARRY! He is happiest when he is fishing with his buddies and catching some good fish. We had a great day today. I fished with Bob Herman, Harry and Bill. We ran 26 miles into the Gulf to a good spot with hard bottom and a couple of small wrecks. We set up a chum slick and got the snappers coming. We were fishing bottom for a while and caught a few grouper and an assortment of other fish. Bill finally hooked up on a nice mangrove snapper on the top so we all joined in for the fun. A real small hook, a piece of cut bait, no weight, just drop it back with the tide and wait for the pick-up. It was real fun. We caught our limit of mangrove snapper and lane snapper. The seas were calm and the company was great. You can't ask for more. Captain Al Lorenzetti

12/9/2005 I am down in Florida, Marco Island, and fishing with my buddies Bob Herman, Alan and Bill. We had a great day today with perfect weather conditions. It was windless and about 85 degrees. We fished the 5 mile reef and trolled for grouper. I am new to this fishing but these guys have it pegged. We fished two trolling rods with Shimano Tekota line counter reels and magnum diving plugs. Power Pro line was a must. We also trolled two downrigger setups and they caught about as well as the straight trolling setups. We had 18 grouper with nine in the keeper range and a couple of fish in the teens. Here is Alan showing off a couple of nice ones. They hit like a freight train and it was excellent fishing. Tomorrow we are heading to the snapper grounds a little farther offshore. What a treat it is being down here and fishing with a great bunch of guys and catching some top quality fish. Captain Al Lorenzetti

12/1/2005 I said it was over but I guess I lied. It was going to be a good weather day and I had a good fishing report from yesterday so I hooked up with Artie Cipoletti and Chris Madonia and we went looking for striped bass. We caught one fish and it was pretty quiet. I consider it a success and the end of a very good season for us all.

We fished on Artie's 38 Fountain and this is what it looks like at 50 knots off the stern. It was a quick ride home to say the least. Another good day on the water with good friends. Back to duck hunting in a few days. This will probably be the last report on the fishing page unless things really happen. I do think it is about over and time to move on and plan for next spring. I will also be sending reports and posting them from Florida this winter. Captain Al Lorenzetti

11/23/2005 As you can see there are no fish photos here. I am now in the hunting mode and finished with charters for the season. I might fish a day or two before I haul the boat and I will report what happens if I do fish. Jim Conte, Pete Johnston and I had a great opening day of duck hunting at the Peconic River Sportsman's Club. We bagged 10 ducks, black, wood and mallards. Click here to see the 2005-2006 Hunting Reports Good fishing and hunting to you all. Captain Al Lorenzetti

11/17/2005 I fished with Gary Arnold and his clients Jerry and Mark. What a difference a day makes. See the fish they are holding? Right, there are none. Jerry was high hook however because he had two fish hit his plug but blew them both. That's OK Jerry, we know you dropped them on purpose so as to not make us look bad. Lunch was excellent thanks to Mark. It was cold and windy and the water was all churned up for most of the day. It made fishing tough. No bait could be found so we plugged it all day. I am sure there is still bait in the bay but when they will show and where they are is a mystery as of today. It was still a good day on the water with a lot of laughs. Captain Al Lorenzetti

11/16/2005 I fished with Fred McKibben of the Grace Bar and Restaurant and his head chef Carlos. We had a great day of fishing for bass with plugs despite the horrible weather conditions. We plugged 6 fish to 25 pounds and dropped at least four more with a lot of follows and short hits. We were limited as to the places we could fish with the wind blowing 20 to 30 knots but it worked out anyway. There are a lot of fish around and the bait is really moving out fast. We found a small patch of peanut bunker moving in the tide and plugged the school. Fred hooked up with a real good fish of at least 30 pounds but it pulled the hook. In two minutes the school was gone. I think the next few days could be real hot with the fishing as the bait heads out the inlet. This is the time of the month when I expect to see a real crazy couple of days with bait moving to the inlet and bass all over them. Of course Carlos brought a great lunch that he prepared especially for the trip. We all had a good time. Another good day of fishing Fire Island Inlet. Captain Al Lorenzetti

11/14/2005 I fished with Anthony DeBlasio on his birthday trip. I won't tell you how old he is. We had a good time with some nice bass on plugs. One was about 30 pounds and the other about 23 pounds. We had a few others and dropped a few more. The weather was very beautiful today. It was very warm and comfortable. We both had a good time and it was a fun day of fishing. I think it was Anthony's first shot at big bass on plugs and I think he is hooked now. Another excellent day on the water. Thanks Anthony and Happy Birthday! Captain Al Lorenzetti

11/12/2005 I fished with Joe Tropia today. We always have a good time. Today we spent a lot of time plugging for bass. We had a great time and a great catch. We ended up with about 12 fish on plugs and live bait, most on plugs. We had fish to the mid 20's but the big one about 40 pounds hit the plug, came completely out of the water and missed the hook, never to return. I guess that's how the big ones get big. We also caught a tagged fish of about 15 pounds. I will send it in and find out when and where it was tagged, probably the Hudson River. Also of not is that it was a beautiful day on the water. It was cold in the morning but it warmed up and I didn't get beat up like I did for the last week. Another good day on the water and this was one of the better ones. Captain Al Lorenzetti

11/11/2005 I fished with a good bunch of guys today. Boyd Ridell on the right, Joe in the center with the fish and Daryl on the left. Conditions were very tough. Winds were a steady 25 out of the NW. It was cold and the water was not very clean. We found good bait and worked the outgoing and incoming tides. We took one fish and dropped another. It was very tough to fish where you wanted to be. There are certainly fish and plenty of bait but mother nature is making it very tough to get on them real good. Thanks guys for being good sports about it. Another interesting day on the water. An interesting note is that I only saw about 10 other boats today, that's how bad it was but we still put a fish in the boat. Captain Al Lorenzetti

11/9/2005 I fished today with some really tough guys (putting up with nasty weather) who could fish. Gerard in the center, his brother Frank on the left and their buddy Sal on the right. We braved the elements of cloudy skies and 20 to 30 knot winds out of the east. They were good sports about it and we worked hard to find bait and fish. We eventually did accomplish both. We put two good fish in the boat and had some fun doing it. Both fish were in the 30's with empty guts. If we caught them yesterday in the Riverview they would have been in the top five and maybe first place. What a difference a day makes. We had a great lunch that the guys brought and the pickles were especially good. Overall it was a fun day and a good day of fishing. Thanks guys for toughing it out. Tha catch phrase for the day is "Captain Al -get the ###0##0## cast net ready!!!! Captain Al Lorenzetti

Riverview 2005 Results 1. Joe Grosso IDA-G 34.6 2. Billy Turnbill Snapper 32.7 3. Brian Murn Summersalt 30.6 4. Matt Ervoline Snapper 29.0 5. Chet Striplin Sleepy Dog 28.3 6. Pat Grosso IDA-G 27.2 7. Sharkey Shark Bite 26.4 8. Jim Hahn Miggie Nuff 26.4 9. George Grahm Crab Mobile 26.0 10. John Dooley Romp 25.1 11. Mike Saurese My Jule 25.1 12. Bill Maiorino Carpetbagger 24.8 13. Nicky Polanco 24.2 Loco Joe 14. Rob Colarusso Quest 23.3 15. Capt. Al Lorenzetti Team Regulator 23.2 Click Here to see all the images

11/8/2005 Captain Al Lorenzetti fishing with Team Regulator Caught a 23.2 Pound Striper on a plug late in the day of the Riverview Tournament to take the last spot in this years competition. Tim C. Smith Click Here to See ALL The Images

11/5/2005 I fished today with Artie Cipoletti and his buddy Nick Racanelli. We worked hard with live bait looking for the elusive striped bass. We finally found a fish of about 20 pounds. I call it a success considering the way fishing has been for the last few days. We are due for another shot of fish to come through the inlet. Hopefully it will be tomorrow. There is still plenty of bait in the bay so I know it will happen but just when is a tough guess. Artie's 38 Fountain with triple 275 Mercury Verados ran like a charm through 3 to 6 foot seas in the ocean and topped out at about 65 MPH. Quite a fishing platform. It was a good day and finally one that did not blow 30 knots. Another good day on the water. Captain Al Lorenzetti

11/4/2005 I fished today with Rick Ramsay and his buddies Kevin Harding and Kevin Schmutz. What a difference a day makes. Today was tough with little bait and few fish. We caught a couple and kept a small keeper for the table. Other than that it was stiff all day. It probably had something to do with the churned up water from the big blow yesterday. Hopefully things will settle down a little and some fish will move in. We had a good time however and worked it hard at all the good spots. I don't think much was caught today by anybody. Things will get better. Captain Al Lorenzetti

This is a shot of joe working a nice fish that he plugged. It was a lot of fun.

11/3/2005 I fished today with Gary Arnold and his clients Bill Scotti and Joe Mangiapanello. We had a good day fishing with live bait and plugs. The wind was howling 30 to 40 knots which made fishing tough to say the least. All were good sports and dealt with the conditions. We ended up with a great catch of 13 bass, most 18 to 22 pounds and a few 12 to 15 pounds. The plugging was excellent. The ride home was not. And by the way, Bill Cancel, we really missed you and wish you were with us. RRRRRRIIIIIIGGGGGHHHHHHTTTTTT! It was good fun with good guys. Another memorable day on the water. Captain Al Lorenzetti

10/31/2005 I fished with John Dall today. We had a good time as usual. We had to work hard for some good fish but it worked out. We had fish on bait and plugs up to about 23 pounds. The wind was opposite the tide most of the day and that made fishing tough. Another good day on the water with good company. Captain Al Lorenzetti

10/30/2005 I fished today with Mark Lessing and his son Noah. We had a great day of fishing with some nice bass on live bait and plugs. The fish in this photo is about 25 pounds and was caught on a plug on the ebb tide. Mark and Noah could really fish. They were great on catching on to the techniques that I use and I really had an easy day fishing with them.

It was a little tough early in the day with a lot of wind and a slow bite. As things warmed up so did the fish. We found good bait mostly shad and fished them hard in all the spots. Most places were pretty dead but we found a good place and caught some fish. We ended up with six fish, three on plugs and three on bait. The warmer weather should get things going this week. I look forward to a good bite the next couple of weeks. Mark and Noah had a good day and so did I. Another good day on the water. Captain Al Lorenzetti

10/28/2005 Today I fished with Gary Arnold and his clients Mike and Dom. We had a great time catching some bass, at least some of us did. Dom had his shots but sadly I must say he came up short (no pun intended) on the fishy end. Mike couldn't do a thing wrong. As they say "even a blind squirrel finds a nut sometimes". Gary was solid and Dom provided the laughs if not the fish. Comraderie, chuckles and some good striped bass make the day memorable. The food was pretty good too. Thanks guys for a great day. Oh, by the way, Gary is on the left, Mike in the middle and Dom (where are you) is on the right. By the way Dom is normal size, Gary and Mike are BBBBBIIIIIGGGGG! Captain Al Lorenzetti

10/27/2005 I fished with David Salkin and his buddy Dave Yazback. I haven't fished with these guys for four years. Previously we fished over the last 15 years so it was good getting out there again with them. We had a good day. Bait was a little tough to find but we managed to get it on a short day of fishing. We worked the baits in a few spots and finally found a place holding fish. We caught a bunch of fish and all were nice size. They were all between 20 and 25 pounds. The wind was blowing and it was pretty cold but catching fish makes you forget about the elements. We quit early so the guys could beat the traffic back home. It was a good day of fishing. Captain Al Lorenzetti

10/22/2005 I fished the Kismet Tournament and the Babylon Tuna Club Tournament for striped bass with Gary Arnold. The weather conditions were horrible with rain and wind to 30 knots out of the east. We caught a lot of fish both on plugs and live bait but couldn't get one in the high 20's which was needed to place in the tournaments. Both events were won with fish in the high 30's. Gary had a good fish but pulled the hook which came back with a partially digested blowfish stuck on the hook. The hook and bait went into its stomach and hooked into the fishes previous meal. With the hook buried in the blowfish it couldn't set into the fish very well and pulled before we could get him to the boat. It was an interesting day of fishing. In hindsight I obviously should have fished a different area but I spent most of my time in the spot where I had caught big fish all week. Sometimes it just doesn't work out the way you would hope. That's fishing. The photo is of Gary and myself having a beer at the Kismet Inn after the Tournament. It was a fun time regardless of the outcome of the tournament. I always have a good time fishing with Gary. Captain Al Lorenzetti

I fished the Kismet Inn tournament with my good friend Mike McGrath. We managed 5 Bass Despite the horrendous fishing conditions Mike's largest fish even out-weighed Captain Al's and Gary's catch by a few ounces but still not heavy enough to place. The Inn put on a great spread of food with a bunch of nice door prizes. Bass 1. Will Bennett 36 Lbs. -Capt. Surly 2. Joe Pagillo 26.11 Lbs. -Miss Natalie 3. Jack Crawson 25.10 Lbs. -Key Largo Bluefish 1. Matt Kohler 7.9 Lbs. 2. Mike Mahoney 7.3 Lbs. 3. Michael Dunn 7.2 Lbs. -2 Iron Tim C Smith

10/21/2005 I fished with Gary Arnold and his customers Andy and Bob. We had a great time fishing for striped bass with live bait. We boated about 8 bass up to 32 pounds and all were good fish well over 20 pounds. We dropped a few others and had lots of action. We had a little rain but no wind and that made it comfortable. The food was great as Bob Manheimer brought his usual ton of specialty food from a top notch Italian Deli. We piged out on food and bass. It was fun and another excellent day of fishing the Fire Island area. Captain Al Lorenzetti

10/20/2005 I fished today with Joe DeVito on the right, Don on the left and Jimmy in the middle. We caught a nice bunch of striped bass on live bait. We had about 10 fish up to 32 pounds. It was cool and breezy then it got real nice in the afternoon. Fishing is good and we had a good time of it. It was an excellent day of fishing and a lot of fun. Captain Al Lorenzetti

10/19/2005 I fished today with Gary Arnold and his customers John Haulk and Rich Nelson. We beat on the bass pretty good and had a great time. The best fish of the day was 52.64 pounds when weighed at Augie's Custom Tackle in Babylon and was caught by Rich Nelson. It was a great fight. A couple of lines got wrapped when the fish took a long run toward the stern of the boat and we had to improvise as the fish kept running all over the place. All kept cool heads and we finally got it to the boat. Proud Rich is at the far right in this photo.

We had about 10 or 12 fish with the other fish all in the 20 to 28 pounds range. I would say the fall run is now happening. The fish were all caught on live bait. Rich and I took a photo for the records. It was a memorable day by all accounts and I look forward to fishing with these guys again. Tomorrow is another day with a lot of promise for good fishing. Captain Al Lorenzetti

10/19/2005 Bass fishing is Hot! Fish up to 52 lbs. today. Captain Al will complete the report when he gets in from his day. Tim C. Smith

10/15/2005 I fished with John Dall and his father Bill today. It was tough on the weather side early in the day. We plugged for bass and had four fish on. We boated one and pulled the hook on the others. The fish was pretty nice at about 22 pounds. It was pretty good action for the conditions. We had a good time and it was great to finally see the sun after a week of rain. Captain Al Lorenzetti

10-15-2005 Surfside 3 Marina had the grand opening of their new Sport Fishing Center today. Paul and Matthew Barbara along with their Mom and the Mayor of Lindenhurst Tom Brennan got the festivities going after cutting the ribbon.

The location is the old Lindenhurst movie theater located on Montauk Highway and Wellwood Avenue. The 6000 square foot space will have fishing boats on display from Boston Whaler, Polar, Sea Ray and Sea Pro. There will also be a Mercury Store opening in early 2006. If you are in the area stop in and check the center out. Tim C. Smith

10/5/2005 I fished with Rick Ramsay and his buddies Billy and T. We pretty much plugged for bass all day. We had three fish in the mid 20's and had fun on a beautiful day. We fished live bait for a while but it wasn't really happening when we were there. The plugging is the best and they really enjoyed it. So did I. Captain Al Lorenzetti

10/4/2005 I was shooting again with the North East Angling Crew today and we did something I never have done before, sight fishing for Bluefish. The morning fog and still water was the perfect conditions for this kind of fishing. We where out with Paul from Yo-Zuri and had a great morning casting to fining fish in Little Neck Bay. This will be a very exciting show cant what for it to air!! Tim C. Smith

10/4/2005 I fished with Fred McKibbin and Carlos today. Fred owns a restaurant in Manhattan and Carlos is his head chef. The restaurant is in Tribeca and is called "Grace". I am going to give it a try soon. We had a good day with the bass. Bait was plentiful but we did better with plugs. We had one fish on bait and the biggest fish and two others on plugs. Here is Carlos holding his 28 pounds fish just after landing it on a plug.

Fred and Carlos were good at working the plugs after a little instruction. We had two real good takes with the fish following the plug before striking it real hard. It was a great fight in shallow water. The weather was perfect and so was the day of fishing. Captain Al Lorenzetti

This is not a generic photo, it's for real but it's not very good. At least it is a bass. I caught three nice bass today on plugs. All were over twenty pounds. I was trying to get the camera to take a photo while in video mode and dealing with a lively fish. All fish were released today and hopefully I can catch them again tomorrow. The fishing was good with fish on rips taking plugs. Bait was also plentiful but I only fished it a little while so no real report on that scene. Captain Al Lorenzetti

10/2/2005 Another generic photo. I had to drop off at Tequila Jacks and couldn't get a photo. I had George Wilkensen, Rob and Jeff fishing with me today. It was a tough day. We caught bluefish but no bass. I found good bait but there wasn't much happening on the bass front. We plugged bluefish on the West Bar and had about a 20 pound bass hit a plug and flip out of the water and shake the hook. Noteworthy is the fact that in the ocean west of the inlet there is a red tide and I mean horrible deep red from 20 to 40 feet of water. It was really disgusting. The water in the bay is not so hot either. It is kind of brown and murky. The boat traffic today was the worst. It really made things tough and spooked the fish. Such is a day on the water. Better luck next time but it was a beautiful day. Captain Al Lorenzetti