Found Nemo
Cod and sea bass continue to be the best bets for Long Island anglers, and the good news is, whenever the weather has allowed a trip, the fish have been quite cooperative.
Bryce at White Water Outfitters said the cod bite has been good to decent, with a good-eating school size fish regularly being taken in the waters off Montauk and around Block Island. Clams continue to be the go-to.
Offshore black sea bass fishing, in 30 to 40 fathoms, is excellent, reports Bryce. In addition to a good catch of large sea bass, anglers fishing the far wrecks and rockpiles are catching the occasional cod, pollock, ling and other unusual bottom fish. In fact, you never quite know what you might pull up from the bottom on a winter offshore trip. On the last offshore sea bass trip I took, there were two monkfish and a giant white hake caught, though the real oddity, at least to me, was the 5-pound bluefish that ate a clam bait 220 feet down 60 miles offshore in February.
The word at Causeway is that there is a decent pick of cod locally off the South Shore of Long Island. These codfish are hitting in 50 to 70 feet of water. While many commercial rod-and-reel tog fishermen were catching them, it seems as though the cod have been numerous enough for private boats to target them, on the right weather day. Some boats have reported catching 20 to 30 cod in an outing fishing the inshore waters off the South Shore.
Herring continue to provide action for shore-bound anglers. The Magnolia pier has been the hotspot, but Jones Inlet may have silver bullets moving through as well.
Customers at Bernies have been doing a bit of freshwater fishing for perch and sunfish to keep busy through the winter. A few herring have been caught locally as well, but overall, angling effort around Brooklyn has been pretty low lately.
Best Bets for the Weekend
Long Island, and the rest of the Northeast is bracing for what reporters are touting as a historical winter storm. I think we’ve had enough “historical” storms for one lifetime. Once we see how Nemo shakes out, hopefully the seas will calm and cod and sea bass fishing will resume. If you get the chance, hop aboard an offshore sea bass trip before the season closes at the end of the month. Cod fishing will likely last until April, so given the choice, I would go for the long range sea bass. If you’d rather break out some light tackle and fish from shore, head for the Magnolia Pier and drop some sabikis to the sea herring.