North Shore Long Island Fishing Report
Captain Mark of the Celtic Quest out of Port Jefferson reported that the bottom bite is pure mayhem at times, and the boat has seen plenty of anglers with double headers of porgy, sea bass, and bluefish. There are several good spots they fished this week in 40 feet of water, and clam was the bait of choice. John at Terminal Tackle in Kings Park said it doesn’t matter where you fish for scup as long as you are over hard bottom. They are stacked from the beaches out to 50 feet with a few sea bass from 2-4 lbs mixed in. Kids who were dropping their bait to the bottom while snapper fishing often hooked up with porgy to 1.5 lbs.
Mark at Cow Harbor Bait & Tackle in Northport said the fluke have slowed up a bit this week with no one specific spot holding sizable fish. Anglers had the most success fishing deep in 50-60 feet of water on rock piles using live and strip baits. John at Terminal Tackle said anglers using bucktails haven’t had much success this week, but those using live snappers pulled up fish in the 5-8 lb range. The western North Shore has also had a picky fluke bite, according to John at Hudson Park Bait & Tackle in New Rochelle. He said the summer flounder are sporadic, but all of the Points have seen fish to 7 lbs. John added that he thinks the blues in the area are chasing fluke around, so if you are not getting any bites it is time to move to a new spot.
North Shore harbors are still loaded with bunker, according to Mark at Cow Harbor. Blues are on them with the occasional bass in the mix, but they are hard to catch for those not tuned into how the fish are biting. Mark said chunks and bucktails are working better than live-lined bait. John from Terminal Tackle said many mornings anglers have been pulling stripers to 25 lbs out of Centerport Harbor, but you have to get out there before the boat traffic disturbs the fish. He also said blues are coming from Cranes Neck in 50 feet of water on chunks. Captain Stu of Northport Charters out of Northport has also been fishing for blues in deep water outside the harbors, and jigging is starting to pick up on structure for fish of 3-10 lbs at Buoy 11B. John at Hudson Park reported an abundance of blues from cocktail to jumbo size throughout the western Sound.
South Shore Long Island Fishing Report
Bottom fishing continued to hold pretty steady this week on the South Shore, although it was spotty at times. Captain Joe of the Jib VI out of Captree said the afternoon flood tides produced good fluke catches in the Bay, but sea bass and porgy fishing was on and off with some days being really good and others just having a pick of fish. Robert at Sea Isle Tackle in Freeport said fluke were biting inside the bays and on the outside just south of Jones Inlet in 40-80 feet of water. Bill from Combs Bait & Tackle in Amityville reported quality over quantity fluke fishing offshore with the key being baby squid and peruvians. He also said blue jigs with squid strips worked well for the black sea bass at Cholera Banks, and drifting over any of the Reefs with a chum pot will produce full buckets with as many porgy to 2.5 lbs as you could want. Shinnecock Bay held a few decent fluke this week on bucktails tipped with Gulp, but a lot of shorts were in the mix, according to Bill at Jamesport Bait & Tackle in Mattituck. He also reported plenty of triggerfish in the rocks of Shinnecock Inlet.
Robert from Sea Isle Tackle reported a few stripers beginning to show up in the bays, but they are not here in full force just yet.
John at Trophy Tackle in West Babylon reported red hot offshore fishing at the Canyons, specifically Hudson Canyon and Fish Tails. Yellowfin, Bigeye, and albacore are hitting on both chunks and the troll.
Metro Long Island Fishing Report
The porgy bite is still going on strong around Davids Island and off New Rochelle, according to John at Jack’s Bait & Tackle in the Bronx. Stretch from Stella Maris Bait & Tackle in Brooklyn said Floyd Bennett Field, the Marine Parkway Bridge, and the Tin Can Grounds are also loaded with scup. A few sea bass are mixed in, but they are far and few between.
Fluke fishing has slowed down considerably, and anglers really need to put the time in for a keeper. However, Vinny at Bernie’s Fishing Tackle in Brooklyn said a few can be picked off the Breezy Point Jetty, and Stretch at Stella Maris reported keepers deep in the Ambrose Channel.
Vinny at Bernie’s said a few bass have started to make their way back into the area as there was a daytime bite off the beaches by the Breezy Point Jetty on diamond jigs this week. According to John at Jack’s Bait, the night fishing around Execution Lighthouse will produce plenty of decent-sized blues, and Stretch at Stella Maris reported cocktails off the jetties and at the Mud Buoy.
East End/North Fork Long Island Fishing Report
Bill at Jamesport Bait & Tackle reported good action throughout the Peconic with porgy all over, weakfish east of Nassau Point, and blues at Buoy 17 on diamond jigs. Snappers and blueclaws are also abundant in the creeks off the Bay. On the Sound side, sea bass and porgy can be found from the Firing Range out to Duck Point Pond. Captain Lou from Star Island Marina in Montauk said huge to 4 lbs have been caught by anglers drifting the Porgy Lump, the Elbow, and Great Eastern. He added that a good sea bass bite can be found at the Southwest Ledge.
Fluke catches slowed down a bit this week, but Chris at Westlake Marina in Montauk reported a few big fish taken at Frisbees and Rocky Hill. Captain Lou at Star Island added that the fishing has been hot and cold with plenty days where they can limit out on summer flounder and other days where anglers are struggling just for a few.
Maureen at Gone Fishing Marina in Montauk said they have not weighed in many stripers in a while, but they did have one come in this week at over 32 pounds so the fish are still out there. Chris at Westlake reported that things have definitely slowed down on the bass front, but chunks are picking up a few at Great Eastern. Things are not much better off the beaches with a handful of stripers at night on darters, bucktails, and needlefish and a couple mixed in with the giant blues off the town beaches during the day on pencil poppers.
Fishing Forecast
With the unofficial ending of summer behind us, many anglers are looking forward to the infamous Fall Run. However, there are plenty of things to keep you occupied until then. The bottom fishing, especially for porgy, remains top notch, and not much has changed for them these past few weeks. Scup on all the rocky structures around the Island will continue to be the norm for a while. When that fishery starts to wind down, sea bass should be on the upswing, and blackfish season will be open before we know it.
Fluke on the other hand are on their way out. In a little over two weeks, this season will be in the books, but the fishing will probably be over before then. For your last chances at a quality fish for the table, hit deep structure from 50-80 feet and send live bait down to entice a keeper.
Bass are hard to come by these days, but that should only get better in the upcoming weeks. Even now, a few are starting to meander into the harbors mixing in with the bluefish. It is just a waiting game right now until the water starts too cool off more, but you could find the schools of bait this weekend early in the morning and drop chunks down to see if there are any stripers hanging under the blues. They are more concentrated on the East End for now, but don’t dismiss anywhere further west as there might just be a few stragglers around.