Weakfish Bite Continues
It’s hard to believe it’s already August, and certainly time to enjoy the late-summer fishing before it’s gone. East End bass fishing continues going strong day and night, and shows no signs of slowing up. Fluke fishing is still strong off both north and south shores of Long Island, and the weakfish bite up north has continued into its third week. There’s still plenty of angling options to be found out there, and if you can stand the heat you might as well be out there fishing. Here’s the breakdown.
East End
Bass fishing remains constant off Long Island’s east end, especially when you consider the elevated water temperature. I talked to Nick from Paulie’s Tackle of Montauk this afternoon to get the latest conditions from The End. The south side is producing teen-size bass right now with pretty decent consistency from the surf, and there’s plenty of small bass and bluefish hanging between the rocks on the north side. As always, the local crew is throwing a 1 ½-ounce white bucktail with a white-and-red Uncle Josh porkrind to entice these resident inshore fish. From the sand beaches in town, locals have been doing well with porgies and also catching the occasional bass and blue with bait and small tins. Over at Shagwong, there’s been a few decent bass and some giant bluefish caught on bunker chunks in recent days. Offshore, Nick talked to a crew who reported seeing “tons” of small mahi over at the Fishtales. Some of the other offshore boats fishing in the 30- to 60-mile range have had days where they boated over 15 yellowfin tuna in a single trip, and there’s also been scattered reports of swordfish in the local offshore haunts. Striper fishing remains consistent in the rips for the charter fleet off Montauk, and Nick reports they’ve been “crushing them” in recent days. There’s also still some big fish in the mix, and the fishing has continued despite water temperatures ranging from 70 to 74 degrees. This bite is likely to continue right through late summer and into early fall.
South Shore
Depending on where you’re fishing along the south shore, fishing is in the neighborhood of somewhere of decent to good. There’s still some fluke in the shallows, but water temperatures pushing into the upper 70s is evening beginning to test the upper threshold of the summertime flatfish. Outside the inlets, water temperatures are a little more tolerable but still warm enough to effect most fisheries. The bunker pods are still hanging outside of Jones and Debs Inlets, but the mid-70 degree water has chased off most of the linesiders. The sharks, however, haven’t given up on the ongoing buffet. If you’re new to the shark fishing game, this inshore thresher bite is a great opportunity to break in those new 50s. Fluke fishing outside the inlets has help up pretty good for the most part, and even improved to the east outside to Moriches Inlet. There’s a lot of shorts in the mix, but also enough keeper fish and even a few doormats to keep things interesting.
North Shore
The Island Current Fleet out of Island City has been fishing off of Long Island’s north shore again this week, and the porgy and weakfish bite continues to be hot. The porgies are still mostly of the “humpback” variety, and still holding in good numbers. The fleet’s been fishing been a little further east this week, in the Northport and Cold Spring Harbor area. Weakfishing also remains strong, with more fish in the area than anyone remembers seeing in recent years. Some of these weaks are legitimate tiderunners, with some this week tipping the scales at over 9 pounds. Fluke fishing also remains productive, and the bite’s staying strong right up until nightfall. The only area which remains a little on the slow side for the fleet recently has been the nighttime fishing for bass and blues. It’s most likely related to the high water temperatures in the area, and will hopefully improve when the water begins cooling by the end of the month.
Metro New York
There’s still a few viable fishing options to be found in the metro area, and party boat fishing remains at the top of the list. The Marilyn Jean IV out of Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn continues finding quality fishing opportunities for its customers on a daily basis. This week, it’s consisted mostly of black sea bass fishing – which no one seems to be complaining about. Although there’s still plenty of ling to be found on the local drops, drifting for sea bass has been providing plenty of action and quality filets for anglers. There’s even been some nice fluke, porgies and triggerfish mixed in on most of the drifts. If you’re looking to fish from shore within the Five Boroughs this weekend, there’s at least two options which might put some fish on the table. Porgy fishing the day around the local bridges and deepwater channels with seaworms should give up a few humpbacks, and maybe even a trigger fish or two. If you can fish the overnight session, chunking with fresh bunker in the same areas should entice a few large bluefish and maybe even a stray keeper-size bass – especially if you put some chum in the water. Buy an extra half-dozen bunker from the tackle shop and cut them into small chunks, toss a handful into the water every fifteen minutes. I remember a commercial captain I worked with years ago saying something along the lines of “If you put enough bait in the water, they’ll find you.” Although there were definitely a few expletives in that quote I had to clean up. . .
Upstate
There’s still some quality fishing options to be found right now upstate, despite the persistent heat and high water temperatures. Deep-water trolling on Lake Ontario continues produce a variety of trout and salmon. Down in the Catskills, the trout water was in pretty good shape overall early in the week, according to Matt at Beaverkill Angler. However, not all the rain that was forecasted arrived so some rivers like the Beaverkill and Willowemoc are once again seeing shutdowns due to high water temperatures. The East and West branches of the Delaware River remain in good shape, though the fishing is a little on the “technical” side right now. Size 20 to 24 light cahill patterns are doing the trick, and the other piece of advice Matt offered was using an extra long, thin leader. Many are casting 7x tippet material right now and some people are using fluorocarbon, although Matt mentioned that’s more of a personal preference. The nighttime bite has also been good with wet flies and streamers. When night fishing, Matt recommends fishing the spot earlier in the day and putting a piece of tape on your line to measure you clearance on the backcast. This 10 minutes during the day can easily save hours of headaches later that night.
Best Bets
There’s still two options this week if you’re looking for stripers: Montauk or Orient. The bite continues to be strong in both places and has more-or-less settled into a nice consistency. Fluke fishing is another good options for Long Islanders this weekend, especially if you don’t feel like fighting the east-end traffic. Upstate, the best bet from a boat remains trolling for kings and browns in Lake Ontario. A close second would be the trout fishing in the Delaware, just be prepared to fish some smaller-than-usual pattern or heading out under the cover of darkness. A long shot this week could be cruising for albies outside on Jones Inlet, they’ve been popping up sporadically. Make sure you’re stocked up on Deadly Dicks and have the spinning outfits fully loaded with 30-pound braid. Tight Lines.