North Shore Long Island Fishing Report
There seems to be a never ending supply of scup on the North Shore at just about every piece of structure you can think of. With the fluke bite leaning toward mediocre, Captain Stu of Northport Charters out of Northport switched gears and hit the porgy grounds at Eatons Neck hard this week filling buckets with 35-40 keepers to 3 lbs on several trips. Plenty of nice sea bass were in the mix, and he will add them to the trips once the season opens this week. John at Terminal Tackle in Kings Park received a number of reports from scup anglers fishing for them from shore. Once the sun starts getting low after around 7 pm, the schools move in thick to the beaches with rocky structure or mussel beds and are then accessible from the surf. On the fluke front, John added that the fishing is good in front of the Nissequoge River boat ramp east to Mount Sinai, but the waters west of the River are sparsely producing. Mark from Cow Harbor Bait & Tackle in Northport said that anglers must realize that summer flounder are a migrating fish and may not be in the same place that you hit last week. With the consistently hotter weather, you’ll have to travel to deeper structure of 50-70 feet to find some big ones.
There continues to be a significant amount of bait in the water, including a new influx of peanut bunker and butterfish. However, the bass bite is often unpredictable, but nice fish of 25-30 lbs have made their way back to the shop scales this week. A good majority of the stripers are coming from deeper water over 50 feet, and drifting sandworms, trolling, and bunker chunks can all be effective at times. Anglers looking out for birds working up and down the beaches and further out on different pieces of structure are finding some 4-6 lb bluefish underneath them, and larger fish are at times stacked up enough at the Triangle to jig.
South Shore Long Island Fishing Report
Bill from Combs Bait & Tackle in Amityville said the best spots for fluke right now are the deep holes in the bay and throughout Fire Island Inlet as the warm water is driving the fish to cooler spots. Captain Joe of the Jib VI out of Captree reported that the boat has hit up to 20-30 keepers to 5-6 lbs on trips this week where they can fish the good tides in the bay and ocean. Plenty of sea bass are mixing in, and the boat will start consistently targeting them on Tuesday, Thursday, and Sunday trips. Bay Park Fishing Station in Oceanside received reports from anglers fishing the AB Reef and Buoy 7 for keeper fluke from 18 inches all the way up to 6.5 lbs on squid, spearing, and fluke belly. The eastern South Shore ocean bite picked up in the past couple of days, according to Mike at White Water Outfitters in Hampton Bays, with accounts of scattered summer flounder and sea bass caught anywhere between 40-100 feet of water. Shinnecock Bay is also holding up well with fish in some of the deeper pockets and around the bridge.
Bass fishing has slowed a great deal on the South Shore, but there are still fish to pick at in Shinnecock Inlet and around Ponquogue Bridge. The Jib VI has not had much luck on their night trips for stripers, but have come across a number of good sized bluefish.
The offshore bite has been considerably better with bigeye, yellowfin, bluefin, marlin, and mahi out at Hudson Canyon and guys hitting sharks out at 10-20 miles. This past Sunday, Chris Paparo, our Naturalist’s Logbook columnist, went offshore shark fishing with 10-year-old Hal, his dad Ed, and their friend Lee aboard Reel Science Charters. Shortly after setting up about 15 miles south of Shinnecock Inlet, the deep bait took off screaming and Hal got to battle with his first ever shark, a 60” fork length mako. Fighting the fish like a seasoned pro, 10 year old Hal quickly got the mako boat side, where they were able to not only tag it, but also collect a DNA sample for the shark research program at Southampton High School. Hal later went on to catch, tag, collect DNA samples, and release two big blue sharks.
Metro Long Island Fishing Report
John from Hudson Park Bait & Tackle in New Rochelle said the shop is selling tons of sandworms as there are loads of big 17-19 inch porgy around Huckleberry Island, David’s Island, Pea Island, and many of the western Sound rock piles. Stretch at Stella Maris Bait & Tackle in Brooklyn added that the Tin Can Grounds are a productive spot right now, even at night. Fluke on the other hand are good at the Coney Island Flats, and out of season sea bass are stacked at the East Reef making anglers anticipate a good opener this week.
The bass bite has slowed down in western Long Island, but fish in the 30-60 lb range were hitting live bunker at dusk in the Ambrose Channel, according to Stretch at Stella Maris. Josh from Jack’s Bait & Tackle in the Bronx said there are schools of bluefish are popping up every so often around the Whitestone Bridge, and John at Hudson Park reported big 14-16 lb choppers hitting bunker schools in the western Sound with a few 30-35 inch stripers underneath them.
East End/North Fork Long Island Fishing Report
The incredibly good porgy fishing continues on the south side of Montauk, off the Lighthouse, and at Ditch Plains, according to Captain Lou at Star Island Marina in Montauk, and guys on the North Fork are also hammering scup at the Gut and off the Motel. Fluke is still spotty, but holding up out a Frisbees. Tonya from Westlake Marina in Montauk said anglers are seeing such thick numbers of 3-4 lb sea bass that they are having a hard time getting down to the fluke.
Striper numbers are incredible on the East End with fish over 30 lbs being hit from the surf, according to Paul at Paulie’s Bait & Tackle in Montauk. Captain Lou of Star Island Marina echoed that for the boat guys with 30-40 pounders taking eels during the day and at night off the Point in the Rips and up at the Gut and Race. Bluefish are mixing in on occasion, but anglers are not getting too bothered by them at the moment.
Best Bets for the Weekend
The rough sea conditions we are seeing right now will lay down by the weekend, and the weather looks good making for a perfect opportunity to be out on the water. Porgy is pretty insane on most of the shores, and there is a good chance you can come home with a bucket of fillets for dinner. Fluke is getting tough at this point, but many will not mind too much with the opening of sea bass finally upon us. I do not have any solid reports on the opener for this week, but I have few doubts that good fish hit the decks with how many out of season fish guys were hitting for the past couple weeks. Depending where you are fishing, the sea bass will either be on the porgy or fluke grounds so nice mixed bags are a good possibility.
For stripers your best bet is to head east. The Forks have the most consistent and largest fish, and at times the action is quite impressive. Either the boat or beach will do depending on what you prefer, but some tides will have better activity than others. Live eels will get you the best results, but trolling works also. With both fluke and bass occurrences waning, you will need to get in the last of the action before the summer doldrums are in full swing.