Montauk Trip 8/28/25

The weather and the fishing has been so great over the last couple of weeks that I couldn’t resist the call to go fishing at Montauk for the third time in as many weeks..  I posted the trip and Ken Welter, Bob Hassett, and Bob Moore [Who is newly retired] decided to join Steve Baker, and after meeting at the commuter lot we made our way to Montauk.  We arrived about 8am, purchased our tags, and went to the naturalist cabin to gear up.  We then went our separate ways on the stream with plans to meet for lunch at noon.

At lunch, everyone reported catching fish. I stayed with fishing a sinking fly line with a wispy and sparkle caddis or crackleback and picked up fish while working my way from the cut bank down to just upstream from the power lines. Ken was fishing a dry dropper and managed to net fish all morning at the power lines. Bob H. was trying the soft hackles from the spring and down the ways with some success. Bob Moore fished from the Blue hole and down stream and although he seemed a little disappointed was able to net a couple of fish.

After enjoying our lunch, it was back to fishing and once again splitting up to figure out where the fish were and what they wanted to eat.  Bob M. who has not fished much at Montauk since the flood was still trying to figure it out. Bob H. decided to switch to the deadly three stooges combination and did very well in the afternoon.  Ken was, uh, well I lost track of Ken until I saw him down by the boulder shortly before quitting time. Apparently, he was continuing to have luck in the afternoon, but I am not sure what he was using.  I decided to stick with the sinking fly line and went down to above the spillway to try my luck. There were not as many fish there as normal but I was able to get one on Pat’s rubber legs. I decided to make my way back up to the boulder area and started walking the trail that used to be along the bank. Not one of my smartest decisions. A lot of that trail has been washed away so it was like walking a tight rope most of the distance.  I was finally able to get back into the stream and wouldn’t you know it. Someone was fishing my honey hole; I went further upstream by the boulder and was able to have more success on the sinking line.  I then decided to tie on a size 24 dry fly.  After a couple of casts, a small trout hit it with a vengeance, but that was the end of that success. A dry dropper was my next attempt and it paid off, picking one up on the dry and three more on a Frenchie dropper. This was the end of the day and where I finally ran into Ken. Calling it a day we walked back to the car to meet the others and to get ready to head to dinner. Bob M. was already there so we told him he could choose the place for dinner as long as it was American Taco. I don’t think he was disappointed.

The drive home went quick and as we were all dragging our butts out of the car and saying our goodbyes we realized what a great fellowship we have in FATC. Farewell until my next trip.

Let’s Go Fishing
Steve Baker