North Shore Long Island Fishing Report
The porgy continue to dominate the North Shore, according to John at Terminal Tackle in Kings Park. They are even beginning to move into Northport and Huntington Harbors and should be in those areas thick by the first week of August where kids will be able to catch them right from the docks. Captain Mark of the Celtic Quest out of Port Jefferson reported that it is not a complete bail job on every trip for scup and sea bass, but fishing for 3 pound porgy and 4 pound sea bass was good overall this week with the lighter tides helping out. Captain Stu of Northport Charters out of Northport has been fishing the Eatons Neck Rips in 26 to 32 feet of water for nice hauls of scup to 17 inches and sea bass over 3 pounds. The boat surprisingly has also pulled up a good number of decent sized winter flounder and blowfish that are mixed in while bottom fishing.
John at Terminal Tackle said most spots are producing some numbers of fluke, but the greatest concentration still seems to be in the Nissequogue River. Mark from Cow Harbor Bait & Tackle in Northport believes that the fluke are more shallow than anglers are thinking as the fishing has dropped off for those fishing in over 30 feet of water, but improved for the anglers focusing on a depth of 12 to 20 feet. He said a reason for this might be the presence of spearing along the shallow shorelines, and the fishing seems to be more productive in sandy areas rather than rocky ones.
John from Hudson Park Bait and Tackle in New Rochelle is seeing a night bite for bass up to 50 pounds, although the average fish weighs in between 25 to 30 pounds. He said plugs, namely pink and white or chartreuse and white combinations, are starting to work for stripers in the middle of the Sound. Mark at Cow Harbor said that while the bass bite has slowed a bit on the North Shore, local sharpies were able to land bass to 30 pounds this week. It seems these anglers are playing the tides, and the bass are biting during first light for a short window of maybe less than an hour. Mark also said bunker chunks are working better than live-lining as the bass have been picking off the scraps left behind from the blues.
South Shore Long Island Fishing Report
Robert at Sea Isle Tackle in Freeport said the fluke fishing inside the bays is fabulous with a good amount of keepers being caught in the 5 pound range. However, he mentioned that the ocean bite continues to be sporadic. For anglers that did head to the ocean for fluke, the Hempstead Reef produced fish to 9 pounds on whole squid and peruvian, according to Bill at Combs Bait & Tackle in Amityville. Bay Park Fishing Station in Oceanside reported there was plenty of action at the AB Reef in 65 to 70 feet, although you have to pick through the many shorts. Anglers also picked some summer flounder off Cholera Banks. The ocean bite toward the eastern South Shore was spotty this week as well, but Captain Ryan of Grand Bahama Mama Charters out of Hampton Bays said the fishing inside Shinnecock Bay was decent.
Sea bass are being picked off at many of the same locations where anglers are fishing for fluke, but Robert at Sea Isle said the key is to find structure that has not been fished too hard yet. Bill at Combs Bait & Tackle said clams and squid are working on the Hempstead Reef for sea bass to 4 pounds, and Bay Park reported that there is a nice mix of action at Cholera and Buoy 32 for sea bass and ling on squid and spearing.
Since the bass bite on the South Shore is unreliable, Captain Ryan of Grand Bahama Mama has been sailing out to Montauk for the blitzing stripers instead.
Joe from Trophy Tackle in West Babylon said the offshore bite continues to pick up with Bigeye tuna out at Hudson Canyon and the 100 square and 50 to 90 pound Bluefin at Coimbra.
Metro Long Island Fishing Report
John at Jack’s Bait and Tackle in the Bronx said there are more porgy around than they have seen in the past few weeks. Scup are stacked up around the CVS Tower, New Rochelle, and Pea Island. Stretch at Stella Maris Bait and Tackle in Brooklyn also said the night bite for scup at the Tin Can Grounds continues to produce good hauls.
Joe at Bernie’s Bait and Tackle in Brooklyn reported keeper fluke to 7 pounds on the Reef, but the ocean is seeing some of the larger fish. John at Jack’s Bait said a good amount of fluke were found at the gas dock, around the City Island Bridge, and at the Maritime College.
The daytime bass bite has been pretty quiet with most fish being caught at night, according to Stretch at Stella Maris. However, Joe at Bernie’s reported that some of the guys from the shop caught stripers to 25 pounds during the day on bucktails at the Tin Can Grounds.
East End/North Fork Long Island Fishing Report
There are still plenty of porgy in the Peconic, especially around Robins Island, but the bite in the Sound at the Motel and Hortons is starting to get really good, according to Bill at Jamesport Bait & Tackle in Mattituck. Mike from Star Island Marina in Montauk said scup are also mixed in with the sea bass at Cerberus Shoal and the Southwest Ledge.
Maureen from Gone Fishing Marina in Montauk told us the fluke bite is decent in the North Rips and east of Gardiners Island. Paul at Paulie’s Bait and Tackle in Montauk added that anglers have been catching summer flounder off Gin Beach and in the Inlet on bucktails.
Tonya at Westlake Marina in Montauk said the incredible bass fishing they have seen the last few weeks has slowed down a bit, but good fishing can still be found in the Rips off the Point on live eels and spot. The beach bite has been a bit picky this week. Paul at Paulies said Turtle Cove had some decent fishing at the beginning of the week with a number of stripers in the low 20’s, but it died down dramatically over the last few days. He also said the bluefish are scattered around from the Bay around to the Point, and they are either very small or giant in size.
Bill at Jamesport told us that the crabbing greatly improved this week in the creeks, and snappers are getting big enough to catch in the creeks and Mattituck Inlet.
Mike from Star Island said the offshore fishing at the Dip is getting good with Bigeyes to 230 pounds, and even a swordfish that was caught weighed more than 400 pounds. According to Tonya at Westlake Marina, the shop weighed in makos and threshers over 200 pounds and Bluefin to 75 pounds caught about 22 miles south of the Point.
Best Bets for the Weekend
We are getting toward that point in the summer where the big game fish are starting to slow down, but there are still plenty of opportunity for a nice catch out there. Porgy will be a great way to go all summer with a ton of fish stacked up in many of the usual places. Now that the sea bass season has opened, you will have a greater opportunity to bring good table fare home. Most of the hard bottom around the Island can be targeted for scup and sea bass right now, and it shouldn’t be hard to fill a bucket. As the porgy travel closer to the beaches, you won’t even need a boat to catch a good amount of fish.
Fluke fishing is so-so across the board, but those who put their time in will be rewarded with a few keepers. There is plenty of short action all around, but it takes patience to weed through them. Every side of the Island has a good honey-hole for summer flounder, such as the North Rips on the East End, the Nissequogue on the North Shore, and the Reefs of the South Shore.
Montauk striper fishing is still very good and worth the trip out there, but it has slowed down a bit from recent weeks so fish aren’t blitzing as crazy. Live baits are still your best bets at landing a nice bass. I was also told by one of the captains that has been fishing on the East End that there is a 6 foot swell coming up this weekend and the wind might pick up at times, so be sure to check the weather and water conditions before leaving the dock.