Even with the hot weather, anglers have been heading out on the water this past week and being rewarded. The porgy and seabass action remains strong, while there has been a good tuna bite. There also seems to be an invasion of thresher sharks in Montauk. Each shop I talked to out there said they had big fish weighed in. Here is what your local tackle shops and charter boats had to say for this week.
Long Island Fishing Report
Hudson Park Bait and Tackle reports the porgy fishing is still red hot in the area and doesn’t show any sign of slowing down. Anglers are still picking away a keeper sized striped bass at night on chunked bait. The fluke action has been okay, with the biggest fish weighed this week being 6 pounds. The area is loaded with bunker schools, which will hopefully stay around until fall when the bass start making their move down south.
Stella Maris Bait and Tackle reports that the fluke fishing has seen an improvement as of late, with bigger fish coming from deeper water. Sea bass fishing has been good offshore on the reefs and inshore the porgy fishing is still going strong. Also, offshore, they have been hearing of more thresher sharks.
Captree Bait and Tackle reports, in the surf around Jones Beach, anglers have been having fun with keeper fluke and plentiful sea robins. The best action seems to be coming off the local piers, where anglers are catching fluke, kingfish, and even pufferfish. The snapper bluefish are still around all the major docks and piers. Out in the ocean, the boats have been doing very well with the sea bass, while some big fluke have started to show up.
Bay Park Fishing Station reports, fishing the AB reef aboard the Nansea II, Owen Carr angled two keeper fluke up to 4.65 pounds. The fish were landed using spearing and squid. Also, yesterday, fishing the outgoing tide at the AB Reef, the Two Lefties crew landed five keeper fluke up to 23½ inches in. On Monday, Capt. Chris Lamastro and crew of Michael J had a nice trip out to the Hudson Canyon catching seven yellowfin up to 60 pounds by chunking, one White Marlin trolling with a plug, and a 70-pound bigeye trolling with the new Chatter Lures side tracker bars.
Rick at Harbor Marina of East Hampton reports, boats from Three Mile Harbor that are fishing the deeper waters around Gardiners Island and Orient Point are scoring on sea Bass, porgies and some nice fluke. The striper fishing is pretty much a night time endeavor for the next couple of weeks. Those of us willing to burn the midnight oil should be rewarded with some quality fish. You will find Rick somewhere along Fishers Island, as long as we don’t have thunderstorms in the forecast. Rick recently outing on the “Daniels Lane” out of Three Mile Harbor to Block Island, proved worth the trip with jumbo sea bass aplenty.
Gone Fishing Marina reports, that the thresher fishing has been amazing. The biggest shark caught this week was by Scott Shapiro on the Scott Free and it weighed in at 350 pounds. Mark Hiller on the boat Fish On fished the butterfish hole and caught three thresher sharks. On the way in they fished the rips and limited out on fluke up to 7 pounds. Also caught were 8 nice seabass.
West Lake Marina reports, the thresher sharks have moved in force into the area. Most of the action has been within ten miles of the shore. They had many fish weighed in this week weighing from 170 to 299 pounds all caught close to the bunker pods. They had a 49.5-pound striped bass caught this week on the boat the Bloodline. The fish was caught at night, using live eels. Bluefish are in the area with the biggest one taking the lead on their board weighing in at 18.5lbs. Seabass and porgy fishing remain outstanding with bigger seabass coming up by the day. Many big fluke have hit the deck this week as well with many in the 6- to 7-pound range.
Montauk Marine Basin reports, the thresher sharks have moved in and are feeding on the bunker pods not too far off Montauk. The sea bass and porgy fishing remains very good. As in previous years August it one of the best months for fluke out in Montauk. Lately a lot of big fish have been coming in and many boats are limiting out.
Miller Place Bait and Tackle reports, anglers have been finding the striped bass the last couple days in the middle grounds. Earlier in the week they had one customer head out for bass and caught 8 fish up to 28lbs, all of them were caught trolling. They received a report from another customer yesterday fishing the same area, who also caught at 28-pound striped bass. Porgy fishing is great still in the cranes neck and old field areas. Sea bass fishing has also been good around buoy 11 with anglers using squid as the primary bait for these tasty fish. Locally around the piers the snapper fishing has really improved and should get better.
Terminal Tackle reports that the porgy fishing remains your best bet. They reported the porgies seem to be just about everywhere you can fish. Fluke fishing has been slow closer to shore, but the anglers fishing deeper water have been catching some bigger fluke on live snappers. Snapper have moved into the harbor and some are even been taken off some of the beaches.
Warrens Tackle Center reports, fluke fishing locally has been spotty but most of his regulars have been heading to Montauk to target the big fish. Locally, porgy fishing has been good and in deeper water the seabass action has been good as well. In the local harbors anglers have been having fun with snappers.
Fishing Forecast for Long Island
If the weather cooperates and you can get out there do so. As for most of the past month or so, the action inshore to offshore has been great for a variety of species. Seabass and porgy fishing should remain hot on all your reefs and structure. Locally the local piers and docks are loaded with a variety of fish and also blue crabs and is a great way to spend the day with the kids. Like last week, if you are looking for one place to fish this weekend it looks like Montauk again is your best bet. There are still big striped bass and bluefish around and now with this invasion of threshers you never know what you might hook up with. August is a great month out at the end for big fluke and should start to see even more big fish soon. Good luck everyone this weekend and tight lines!