Water temperatures are sky-rocketing through the mid 70s across Long Island’s coastal fisheries, and we’re definitely on our way to a quick transition into summer fishing patterns. The phenomenal striped bass fishing off Long Island’s South Shore remains constant, and even a few 200- to 300-pound class thresher sharks are making their presence known just a few miles off Jones Inlet. Fluke fishing is also heating up across New York’s saltwater fishery and even a few weakfish are showing up off Brooklyn. If you can stand the heat and have the patients for some finesse-fishing tactics, we’re looking at another solid week of angling across the state.
East End
Luckily for anglers on Long Island, just when water temperatures to the west are getting bathwater warm the fishing in Montauk is kicking into full gear. Large bass have once again become plentiful in the rips off the lighthouse and they’re falling to a variety of mid-summer techniques. During the day, trolling umbrella rigs and parachute jigs on wire-line setups has been producing easy limits of striped bass for the charter fleet off the point. At night, live eels are the option of choice, and producing plenty of large linesiders. Live eels have even been producing well during the day, a good option for those without a pair of good wireline setups. Bass fishing remains a little on the slow side in the Hampton Bays area, although clam bellies around the Ponquogue Bridge is still producing the occasional fish. There’s still plenty of keeper-size porgies hanging in the Shinnecock Canal, and the fluking inside the bay has been on the up-swing over the past week.
South Shore
It’s been a great few months for angling off Long Island’s south shore, and just as the stripers are beginning to be chased off by the warm water, the fluke fishing has picked up significantly. The abundance of spearing inshore has drawn plenty of keeper-size fluke and even a few doormats into inshore waters. Nice fish are even being caught inside the bays in 10 to 15 feet of water. A great opportunity to do some light-tackle bucktailing with spinning gear. This is one of my favorite ways to target large fluke during mid-summer months. A ½-ounce Spro Prime bucktail of my go-to option for this type of fishing, paired with a medium-light spinning outfit with 20-pound Power Pro and a three-foot leader of 20-pound fluorocarbon. This setup is deadly for drifting fluke over shallow mud flats.
North Shore
Although there’s still a few patches of relatively-cool water to be found in the Long Island Sound, temperatures for the most part are now running into the mid to upper 70s. There’s still plenty of fish hanging around, however, they’re just beginning to become a little more selective about when and where they’re feeding. Captain Chris of the Island Current Fleet has been fishing off Long Island’s north shore this week and reports that the quality porgy fishing has continue through the water temperature spike and will likely continue through the rest of the month. The Island Current even continues to see a few nice keeper-size black sea bass coming over the rail on each trip. The nighttime chunking trips also continue to be productive, although it’s been more bluefish than linesiders on recent outings. Even the fluke fishing has kept up through the persistent heat, and even improved as more summer flounder move in to feed in the abundance of forage inshore.
Metro
Although opportunities for shore-bound anglers has significantly decreased in recent weeks around the city, there’s still some fish to be found not far from the city lights. The Marilyn Jean IV out of Brooklyn continues to find decent numbers of black sea bass on the local wrecks as well as plenty of jumbo ling. They have even seen some nice keeper-size cod on the deeper drops this week, an interesting development considering the sea-surface temperatures in the New York Bight are pushing the 80-degree threshold. There have also been some nice keeper fluke in the mix this week. At night, solid action continues with plenty of bluefish, stripers and even weakfish in the mix. Most of the bass have been on the smaller side recently, but there’s been a few around on each trip making it past the 28-inch mark on the tape measure.
Upstate
The persistent 80-degree days and warm nights are also started effecting the sweetwater fisheries upstate. Some of the trout water in the Catskills is now too warm to fish, and the word “sluggish” best describes the tone of the upstate fisheries overall. However, the deepwater trolling in Lake Ontario is still producing big brown trout and chinook salmon, and live-bait fishing for panfish, largemouth bass and northern pike continue to be viable options across the region.
Best Bets
This is the first week of the season where water temperatures are really beginning to effect the forecast, but the fish are finally beginning to react as temperatures flirt with the 80-degree mark. For striped bass, there’s three solid options still available. There’s plenty of bass hanging off the rips on Montauk, and many of them are in the 30- to 40-pound class. Orient Point has also been producing a good amount of large linesiders during the overnight hours. The third option would be catching the tail-end of the bite outside of Jones Inlet. They’re still a good amount of bass in the area feeding on the large pods of bunker that are still in the area. An added bonus to the striper bite over the past week has been the large amount thresher sharks inshore, burning out plenty of drag washers and creating more that an a few lifelong “one that got away” stories.