Hard to believe the earthquake two days ago won’t get much attention this week, but Hurricane Irene is on track for a major landfall sometime Sunday, and western Long Island is a likely target. The more I watch the Weather Channel, the more concerned I’m getting, but hopefully the storm will weaken significantly as it scrapes along the coast over the next several days. Either way, it looks like it’s going to be a tough situation for a lot of people.
NOAA is calling for tropical storm conditions starting Saturday night, and possible hurricane conditions Sunday. There’s already a significant ground swell along the south shore, and a riptide advisory has been posted for the entire south shore. The fish are biting, as they usually do leading up to an event like this, but getting to them will quickly become the problem. Waves will build to 5 to 7 feet by late Thursday and will stay there until Saturday, when conditions begin to really deteriorate. It’s likely many of you will be more concerned with hurricane preparation today and tomorrow, but if you can sneak out for an hour or two between buying milk and batteries, the fish will likely cooperate.
East End
Steady fishing continues for the Viking Fleet on all fronts. Bottom-fishing trips continue to impress, as big sea bass continue mixing in with the seemingly ever-present jumbo porgies. “Overall great action,” reports Captain Dave. Fluke fishing has also remained steady, with every trip producing keeper fluke, and a manageable ratio of keepers-to-shorts. As I expected, the bass fishing took a slight hit from the lackluster tides this past weekend, however, that’s only compared to the great fishing of past weeks. Even the slow trips had decent amounts of keeper-bass, and a few nice cows into the high 30-pound-class.
Steve from East End Bait & Tackle in Hampton Bays reports that the ocean fluking is still going strong. The target depth continues to be in the 80-foot range, and Steve also mentioned the action has been best to the east of the inlet. Also, because just about everyone will be at the dock through Monday, porgy fishing continues to be strong in the canal, and the approaching weather will likely get them chewing pretty heavily. Steve also mentioned he’s heard about all the lizard fish in the area this year. These toothy little hookbaits are a great live-lining option for both bass and doormat fluke, so consider catching a few for the livewell the next time you go out after this hurricane blows over. The bass fishing in the inlet has slowed significantly in recent weeks, but the occasional linesider is mixing in with the large schools of bluefish still moving through the area.
South Shore
Jamaica Bay is filling with an interesting mixed-bag of late summer edibles. Porgies, weakfish, kingfish, bluefish, fluke and triggerfish are all being taking from the warm water inside the bay. However, many anglers are turning their attention away from fishing and toward the upcoming weather event, as several of the computer models show Irene making a direct hit on the western edge of the south shore. There’s definitely going to be some good surfcasting opportunities leading up to this storm, just make sure to maintain your situation-awareness if planning on fishing the building ocean swell in the next day or so. Conditions will likely become too dangerous to fish sometime Saturday unless the storm changes course significantly, and could be potentially dangerous for anyone near the south shore by Sunday.
North Shore
Irene was on Captain Chris’ mind, of the Island Current Fleet, who was well aware his operation sits in the projected path of the storm. “Well, we’re all kinda waiting to see here,” Captain Chris said. The first trip which may be affected is Saturday night’s bluefish trip, but everything before then will sail as scheduled. Bottom fishing remains strong, with plenty of porgies and a few keeper-sea bass being found during the day and the nighttime bluefish bite continuing to steady improve, as it has over the past two weeks. Fish are averaging in the 6- to 8-pound class, with the typical night’s pool fish stretching into the low double-digits.
The approaching storm has the shoreline active with school-size bass and cocktail bluefish. I talked to one angler today on Twitter who’s had consistent action with bass and blues on the north fork beaches throwing soft-plastics. Tonight should be productive for surfcasters fishing the Sound, even if the bulk of the action consists of smaller fish.
Upstate
If you haven’t read the blog writeup about the Lake Ontario Vertical Jigging OTW TV Episode by Matt Rissell yet, it’s definitely worth checking out. I love reading about new techniques for fisheries traditionally dependent on one or two tactics, and trolling with downriggers for Ontario browns is just about the best example of that type of fishery.
Best Bets
Getting out for a quick trip to your local fishery tonight or tomorrow would be my best bet on the fishing front. The swell is already picking up along the south shore, making several of the already-dicey south shore inlets quickly impassable. Those up on the north shore will have a little more leeway getting off the dock, as waves on the sound will remain around 1-foot through the first half of the day Saturday. Conditions will quickly deteriorate Saturday night, however, with seas in the Sound building to 5-feet. These conditions will also present some quality surfcasting opportunities after a tough summer from the wash. Small bass and blues are already getting active along the north-shore beaches. Keeping that in mind, this storm also has the potential to be really severe, especially if you live in a vulnerable area, so non-angling preparations should take precedent. Irene will be arriving the same night as this month’s new moon, so Sunday night’s high tide will already be one of the biggest of the month. Hopefully Irene won’t be as bad some of the forecasts are suggesting it will be, but it’s definitely worth preparing for.