The relatively shallow confines of Great South Bay are an ideal playground for boatmen who find satisfaction in tackling stripers, blues, fluke and weakfish on light tackle, and there’s no better time to do it than May and June. Each spring, the bay sees an influx of blues that help fuel the early action. Years ago, this “invasion” generally occurred around mid May, but more recently, the choppers have been making their appearance as early as the last week of April. School bass can always be counted on by the end of April, and while the opening of fluke season may fluctuate from year to year, they can also be counted on to bend rods by the first of May. Weakfish have been mostly a disappointment in recent years, and given last season’s almost total disappearance of the yellowfins up and down the coast, the prospects for this season are far from bright. On the other hand, the species has a way of surprising us, and there have been a few seasons when prospects appeared dim and they seemed to come out of nowhere. Let’s hope that’s the case this year.