Long Island - New York Fishing Report - December 21, 2017

Happy holidays, everyone! For the second straight week in a row, herring is the main attraction on Long Island.  North and South shore, and even metro NYC have reports of them on their local docks and piers.  The school size striped bass are still around for the guy who still wants to target them.  Offshore we are still hearing good reports of sea bass and cod on the wrecks.

Metro NYC

At Stella Maris Bait & Tackle, the report on herring has been very good around all of the local piers and usual spots for this time of year.  They have also heard some mackerel being mixed in with the herring as well.  They mentioned that the Ocean Eagle headed out this week off of Rockaway targeting cod and reported a decent catch. A few boats over the weekend did well with the sea bass but that season comes to a close on December 31^st.

Bernie’s Bait and Tackle in Brooklyn, follows up about the herring saying the fishing has been great.  Once again, many anglers are targeting herring daily at the local docks in the area.

South Shore

Causeway Bait and Tackle reports, schoolie striped bass are still being caught in the surf around Jones Beach.  Anglers are enjoying themselves catching these fish on light tackle while using small lures such a small plastic sand eel imitations.  They also report the herring fishing has been very good around the Jones Beach fishing piers and construction dock.

Paul at River Bay Outfitters told me that members of the Long Island Fly Rodders Association were out on the Connetquot this past Monday had a great time catching trout.  He said that the nymph fly out-fished any other fly that was thrown that day.  Kenny “The Hat” had a big rainbow trout that day caught on a fly that he made in one of Paul’s fly tying classes held at the shop.  Paul said on the saltwater side, he heard of an angler in Breezy Point still catching striped bass in the surf from as small as 12 inches and up to as big as 24 inches.

North Shore

At Miller Place Bait & Tackle, Jim said in the Mt. Sinai area, anglers are still catching herring on sabiki rigs.  Fishing continues to be very good as in weeks’ past.  He reports that anglers are also still getting schoolie size striped bass in the back of the harbor as well.

In Huntington, Carmine at the Camp-Site Sport Shop told me that his anglers are also targeting herring, fishing in many of the harbors in the Huntington area.  He said mixed in with the herring is still your occasional schoolie bass or shad.

East End

At White Water Outfitters, they said the boats heading offshore targeting wrecks in 20-40 fathoms are doing very well with both sea bass and cod.  In the surf, things have been a little slow but still there are some schoolie striped bass hanging around.

Fishing Forecast for Long Island

If you are heading out over the holiday this weekend it seems your best bet would to be grab a bucket and a few Sabiki rigs and target some of these herring that seem to be everywhere. Friday or Sunday seems like your best bet to get out this weekend.  Heading to a local pier to catch some fish is a great way to get out of the house with family in town.  Just wanted to take a minute, to wish everyone a Happy Holidays and a big thank you for reading these reports every week.