Long Island Fishing Report – October 25, 2018

It seems I have said this way too many times this year. Due to the wind and rain many anglers were not able to get out this week. The great news is, the ones that did get out caught fish! Blackfishing season has got off to a great start on both north and south shores. Striped bass continue to be doing well in Montauk and around Shinnecock. This week, more bass have been reported west, which is a great sign for the anglers who fish the south shore. These bass have been feeding on huge schools of sand eels. Here is what the local shops and marinas had to say for the week.

Fishing Forecast for Long Island

Hudson Park Bait and Tackle reports, an insane tog bite this past week. Usually, there are a lot of small fish when the bite is this good, but this year has seen a lot of keepers make anglers happy. There have been numerous double digger fish taken so far this year, with the biggest being around 12lbs. Striped bass fishing has been good in the river and also around the bridges at night. Chucking cut baits or live eels are the best baits when targeting these bass.

Stella Maris Bait and Tackle reports, the Albie fishing is very good in the area, with anglers catching most of the fish on epoxy jigs. Blackfish fishing continues to be very good this past week. Many of the fish have been taken in shallow water, on green and Asian crabs. Your normal blackfish rig has been working well, but the jigs seem to be doing better. On the wrecks with the blackfish have been porgies and seabass as well. They have started to see more schoolie striped bass in the area with the cooler temperatures. Some bigger fish have showed up this week and are being taken from both shore and boat. Surf fisherman have been doing very good at night.

Bay Park Fishing Station reporter this past Saturday Captain Nick Savene on the boat No Time, had a great split charter tog trip with the three Johns, Chris Malaka and Ron . They produced a boat limit of 28 tog mostly in the 3 to 6 lb range with countless shorts released. Many were caught on the jigs and lite spin gear. Next up was James and crew. In nautical conditions the boys boated 4 big bass in the 23 to 32lb range.

River Bay Outfitters reports, many fly fisherman stayed indoors this week, due to the high winds and rain. Paul did hear of some shad in the inlet however this week. Paul said some customers have been fishing the east end of Long Island and doing very well with striped bass and albies. On the freshwater side of things, all of the lakes and ponds have been stocked with trout for the fall. Great time to get out there and catch some trout before the winter.

Captree Bait and Tackle reported, the striped bass have really showed up over this past week. The boats are seeing most of the bigger fish, though the surf anglers have been getting into the action as well. Diamond jigging and chunking fresh clams on the boats has been producing the best results. In the surf, the bass have been targeting sand eels, any small or slender profile lure should do the trick. Blackfish season started off strong and continues to do so. Green crabs on either a jig or your normal single hook rig, have been working best.

White Water Outfitters said, the sand eels are thick off the beach and into the ocean, making for some outstanding striped bass fishing. The fish have been a variety of sizes, but there have some been some really nice size fish in the 30lb range. The shop received some Fat Cow Jig Stripes in a sand eels color which is exclusive for the shop. They said that combined with a darker green bucktail Fat Cow Jig Stripes have been producing a lot of fish. For the boats that were able to get out this week, they were rewarded with some very good blackfishing. Again, most of these fish have been on the jig with green crabs.

Miller Place Bait and Tackle reports, blackfishing action has been good this week. Matt brought in a 6.8lb blackfish, taking the lead in the shop’s blackfish tournament. They also had John weigh in a 5.4lb blackfish and another angler weigh in a 5.8lber. They heard striped bass fishing has been very good along the south shore. One of their anglers came in the other day weighing in a nice 14.4lb bass caught on an SP minnow around Shinnecock. The biggest bass this week weighed in was caught by Neng weighing in at 35.9lbs.

Terminal Tackle reports, there have been some schoolie bass in the river. There have been some keepers mixed in and it seems bigger fish are starting to show up. For the boats that are able to get out, the bottom fishing continues to do well. Blackfishing, porgies, and seabass are all being taken.

Fishing Forecast for Long Island

Nor’Easter surf fishing in the fall is what surf anglers dream about all winter. This storm might keep many anglers at home this Saturday, but I guarantee you there will be many trucks parked in the lots along the beach and in Montauk braving the storm and fishing. Once this storm gets out of here anglers should be able to get into the action. It seems the fall run has really started to turn on no matter where you are on the island.