Long Island Fishing Report - May 16, 2019

Pictured Above: Brian Murphy holds up his big striper!

Long Island Fishing Report

Big bass have moved into local bays. Most bluefish have been concentrated to the west, but they are invading the east end in large numbers the past couple days. There are fat fish mixed in with the racers too. There are blitzes happening on the ocean. Lots of fluke, most people seem to get a keeper or two, and a bunch of lucky fishermen have fish over 5 pounds. There are blowfish everywhere, a pinfish was caught on the east end, and a good amount of weakfish are in certain spots. Porgy fishing is spectacular as well.

Nassau County

At Bay Park Fishing Station in Oceanside, Chris and Mike of Keep Reelin checked in after a great day fluking near Point Lookout & Jones Inlet. Using bucktails tipped with Gulp, they pulled up a couple flatties that went 6.4 and 3.2 pounds.

Rico & Anthony Ranieri of Goldfish fished southwest of Debs Inlet in 55 feet of water. They caught a 27.3-pound striper and a large bluefish; both fish ate a loaded tandem Mojo/White 24-6.
David Titor of 19 Trophy fished in the State channel on Saturday and had a lot of fluke action, with fish up to 17-inches. He managed to land an 8-pound bluefish as a bycatch as well.

Lloyd Malsin took Alan, Paul and George out on the Nansea II fishing for bass on Saturday. They boated six beauties in 31 feet. They then dropped anchor and caught three cod, six ling, and a blackfish.

Brian Brown of Flying Fish fished near the church at 50 feet. He fished a chartreuse Mojo and managed to pull out a 39.6-pound bass.

Chris at Causeway Bait & Tackle in Wantagh said there’s a decent striper bite going on from Debs inlet to Breezy Point. It’s primarily a trolling bite, and people are finding success with Mojos, bunker spoons, and other things of the sort. West of Jones Inlet, boat fishermen are catching bass from 15 pounds up into the thirties. Shore fishermen are mostly dealing with the smaller lot of bass.

There was a decent bluefish bite this past week near Gilgo & Cedar beaches. People were catching large bluefish from eight pounds to the mid-teens.

As for fluke, it’s the same story as last week: good numbers of shorts in the bay, with the occasional keeper. It sounds like the amount of keeper fluke is increasing though.

Paul at River Bay Outfitters in Baldwin heard of bluefish coming through Jones inlet. The fishing guides Paul is in touch with are speaking of larger stripers and blues on the mud flats. These fish are working their way west.

On the freshwater front, the water is high due to the recent rainfall. I know the streams in Massachusetts are equally high, and a fisherman up there scored big time on the trout using streamers in these conditions. Don’t let “poor” conditions stop you from trying!

Paul has seen a reduced effort due to the rainfall, so hopefully there’s some a good amount of weather in this week’s forecast.

Kathy at Freeport Bait & Tackle had one customer come in after scoring a big bass and two big blues in Jones Inlet, near West End 2. While down there, the fisherman saw a dogfish caught that was at least 5.5 feet long.

At Guy Lombardo Marina, anglers are hooking a good amount of large fluke right at the town dock. There are a ton of fluke inside the bay, but not a lot outside. Many are shorts.

Stripers can be caught at Bay Park in Oceanside at night. Someone caught a keeper weakfish around dusk under the Loop Parkway. The angler was fishing for stripers with clams when the tiderunner hit his bait.

Suffolk County

Frank at Chasing Tails Bait & Tackle in Oakdale had an epic night this past Tuesday. He caught over 20 bluefish and had multiple stripers up to 30-pounds from shore. The bunker schools are crazy right now in the Great South Bay. There seem to be lots of weakfish down by Ocean Beach. Large blowfish, around 12-inches, moved in everywhere, thick.

The trout fishing is phenomenal, as evidenced by Frank’s son Bill. Bill weighed in a 7.5-pound male brown trout that he caught out of some local water. If you’ve been following these reports, you’ll know where. Bill has also been catching green sunfish and alewives. That’s some eclectic fishing Bill, very cool; keep up the good work!

Fluke are over by the Fire Island lighthouse. It was really good in the State Channel for about 10 days prior to my conversation with Frank.

Jimmy D is tying fresh and saltwater flies for Chasing Tails. His mop flies are flying off the shelves, as they are cleaning up around the island (no puns intended).

From Lindenhurst Bait & Tackle: There’s been many reports that fluke are abundant in the Great South Bay, but there hasn’t been many days of good weather to target them. Most party boats are drifting the State Boat Channel and have been picking a few fish. On Monday Steve Blaskey fished the Bay for a few hours of the incoming tide and scored a 4.5-pounder near the “Lindy Cut” in less than eight feet of water. The fish jumped on a green bucktail that he loaded with a Salmon GULP and XL local spearing. Rich from the shop and Jeremy Kurtz went fluke fishing on Tuesday. The duo noted a very slow bite on the morning’s incoming tide. Once the outgoing began they revisited the same few spots with better results. Rich managed a limit of fluke to 20-inches and Jeremy topped off the catch with a 3.22-pounder. White glow grubs and Bass Assassins tipped with XL local spearing produced best. Rich added a bunch of medium sized blowfish to the catch shortly after they anchored East of the Robert Moses Bridge and put down a chumpot. For best results use sandworms and small long shank hooks on a Hi-Lo rig.

On Saturday Eric Kopf and Mike Leonick hopped on Mike Miller’s boat and headed West of Debs Inlet in search of trophy striped bass. The guys trolled spoons, resulting in two keepers at 34 and 31-inches. Small bass continue to feed on spearing and other bait throughout the back bay areas. Jeremy Kurtz let us know that there’s some chopper blues hanging around near the Robert Moses Bridge when he came in to weigh in a 12.52-pounder. He and Mike Hearns locked into battle with several blues that attacked Bass Assassins on Wednesday’s outgoing tide.

Rick from Harbor Marina of East Hampton reports some bigger stripers are starting to trickle into the Peconic Bay Estuary, schoolies are still around too. The Fluke action has started to improve with some quality fish being caught, The Peconic Bay Porgy fishing is in full swing with the occasional Weakfish in the mix. No real reports on Bluefish yet, but I expect to see them any day. Given that we can get some decent weather,I think we will see some pretty good fishing over the next couple of weeks.

David at Westlake Marina in Montauk said it’s still a bit early for Montauk reports; not many boats are even sailing.

Four boats, however, made it out on Saturday and all returned with nice keeper fluke; no limits but enough for dinner. The boats saw plenty of action, there was just a few too many shorts, a common theme around the island. People are catching bass in the surf; David had some small bass in the surf two nights ago and caught some shad that were actually bigger than the bass. He says the reports of big fish are right around the corner, a week or two away.
That isn’t to say there aren’t big fish here already.

Brian Murphy of Bridgehampton is the first I’ve heard to catch a 20+-pound fish on the east end. He got on some FAT bass with Captain Bob Hallock this past week. The fish he showed me was about 37-inches and must’ve weighed in the upper twenties. He caught it live-lining a bunker. Great catch Murph!

Captain Chris Albronda, first mate on the Double D, had the goods on the east end this week. In the peconics, fishermen were pulling keeper-size bass out of Jessups on the wire this past weekend. There are also a decent amount of weakfish being caught. The fluke bite is tough, but there are a few large flatties being taken. Porgy fishing is phenomenal, the best bet if you’re looking for action.

In Montauk, tiny stripers have invaded the surf, alongside a few keepers. The party boats are reporting plenty of action on the fluke grounds. Lots of shorts are being caught, with fish up to 8.5-pounds. Blowfish have shown up in big numbers as well.

Ken at Tight Lines Tackle in Sag Harbor checked out Shinnecock Inlet a couple times this week. One day he had a schoolie striper and bluefish around 8-10-pounds. The bluefish wasn’t really a normal spring “racer” because it was rather robust. There seems to be a good amount of those thicker fish this spring.

The other day he went to Shinnecock East, and quickly saw that the west side was the better play. 15 anglers were lined up on the west jetty, casting into the pocket. Kenny saw a few rods bent. He described the scene as “full mayhem” with birds dive-bombing and fish exploding on the surface.

Jeff at Whitewater Outfitters in Hampton Bays says there’s a good amount of schoolies around with a few keeper-sized fish starting to show up. Shinnecock Canal has seen a ton of action, with a mixed bag of fluke, porgies, kingfish, blowfish, and even some flounder. Fluke fishing is decent in the peconics, and it seems to be getting better each day, especially as the weather improves. Surprisingly, there hasn’t been much word of bluefish yet.

Matt Feldman had a great night with Jimmy O’Brien and Donny Frankenbach fishing the flats of Shinnecock a few nights ago. The three guys all caught bass and blues. All fish were released. Jimmy had a solid keeper fish, and Matt had a 13-pound bluefish. Good work boys.

Last but not least, local sharpie John Skinner slammed the giant porgies this past week. He even boated a surprise visitor from down south, a Pinfish! Check out his YouTube page (John Skinner Fishing) for his video of that session, and you’ll surely learn a great deal; he may even help you catch more fish this weekend!

Fishing Forecast

With the full moon staged for this weekend, you can rest assured there will be some huge fish being caught. Don’t actually rest though, get your butt out there and fish. I would (and certainly will) target the big fish spots. From shore, you’re going to want to fish deep, fast water; think bridges, inlets, choke points, peninsulas. I’m primarily a surf guy but assume the same should be said for boat fishing, especially considering this week’s reports: work the big rips or find the bunker pods.

I’m hoping my local tiderunner bite takes off this week. The water is primed with a tremendous amount/variety of bait, just about everywhere on the island.

It will also be worthwhile to target the flats. I targeted some in Shinnecock on the fly with my friend LI Flies Mike, and it was pretty fast and easy fishing… not to mention very exciting watching the fish blow up on our flies in clear, shallow water.

The east swell is settling down. I’ve been watching it intently the past week. Its effects will be lasting, as the long-period swell picked up and reorganized literally tons of soft structure. As the bottom churned, critters in the sand were dislodged, essentially creating an enormous chum along shore. When the waves receded, one could see that the entire inshore area was dense with life. I find it pretty tough to catch on artificials during an east swell, but I know people do well on bait. The backside of an east swell is often spectacular. We’re on that back end right now.

Immediately after writing the above paragraph on Thursday morning, I stepped outside for 10 minutes. There were blitzes occurring 200 yards off the beach, with fish flying out of the water everywhere. Whales were breaching. It is fully on.

Whichever kind of fishing you pursue this week, do it safely. Consider the bloated tides due to the moon and swell and plan your trip accordingly. There’s gold out there. Go get some.