Long Island Fishing Report
Huge bluefish have shown their faces in some waters. Good numbers of slightly larger striped bass, into the mid 30-inch range, have moved into local waters all across the island. Short fluke are extremely abundant, and most anglers can walk away with a couple keepers. There are consistent catches of weakfish and flounder in certain haunts on Long Island. Giant porgies are being caught pretty regularly, if you can keep the sea robins off the end of your line. Finally, a good number of blowfish have been caught in the central south shore.
Nassau County Fishing Report
At Bay Park Fishing Station in Oceanside, Richie and Robert Franks reported a good day fishing. They caught 11 fluke in the Reynolds Channel this weekend, with two keepers up to 21 inches, all on spearing. Prior to that, they targeted a bunker pod and managed to crank up six blues from 10 to 14 pounds. All this catching was accomplished before 9:30 a.m.
Jack Candiotti started his fluke season with a bang, boating a 5.1-pound flattie in 15 feet of water, on his boat Lucky Catch. The fluke ate a pink gulp combined with a spearing.
Captain Matt Roth of Beast fished southwest of Breezy Point and caught bass up to 43 inches (around 35 pounds). That big girl was taken on a 12/8 chartreuse Mojo in 45 feet of water. 10 more were taken on the fly and on 6.5-inch Tsunami shads. Shawn Jones of Poor Deluxe fished 50 feet of water southwest of Deb’s Inlet and had a 28-pound striper take a white, 24/6 tandem Mojo. Some nice cod were reported by Steve Howell and Joey Leggio of Total Chaos. These fish were taken using fresh clams on the Atlantic Beach Reef.
In Baldwin, Paul at River Bay Outfitters in Baldwin hyped up the freshwater. He had organized a local canoe/kayak fishing trip, where he and his customers hunted the giant trout of Belmont Lake. Unfortunately, they found no trout, but they did come across hundreds of spooky carp. These carp were willing to eat, albeit difficult to trick, and at least one fish was caught on the fly.
The saltwater near Baldwin sounded equally challenging this past week. The fish aren’t always around, but those fishermen putting their time in are doing fine. Paul made it out a couple days around low tide, with no luck.
“Stan the man” took his kayak into Island Park and found some big bluefish, weighing into the mid-teens. Those are some early bluefish for the area. One of Paul’s customers ventured into the back bays hunting fluke. He managed ten fluke during that outing, with 1 keeper. It seems the back bays are saturated with fluke.
Kathy at Freeport Bait & Tackle says the action is heating up. We would be in the thick of it, if the weather would cooperate.
One customer fished on the Captain Gillen out of Captree. He caught a four-pound fluke on opening day. He reported that a few other big fluke were caught on that trip.
Another customer got big porgies on the Fin Chaser out of Greenport. Everyone on the boat caught his/her limit.
People are catching big bluefish in and around the inlet at Point Lookout. Stripers are still here, near the round house by Rockaway Inlet. There are bigger ones in the area now, in the low-to-mid 30-inch range. There are a ton of fluke in Hempstead bay: lots of shorts, and a few keepers. One man caught a five-pound flattie from the Guy Lombardo pier in Freeport. Should you need any spearing, Kathy has been getting some very large ones in. They come fresh off the boat and she packages them. Stop in and get some of this spectacular bait.
Robert at Sea Isle Tackle in Freeport lauded the fluke fishing in his local bays. There are tons of fish to be caught, although many of them are throwbacks. His customers have been catching in the Reynolds Channel, the inlets and the back bays. There are more keeper-sized striped bass being caught locally. Your best bet is targeting the bridges and inlets. Expect more reports in the near future, as the improved weather will prompt more people to get their boats in the water.
At Causeway Bait & Tackle in Wantagh, Theo gave me the same story about fluke: lots of short fish in the bay, with a keeper here and there. The stripers are still around, and they’re mostly schoolies. People are catching them around the bridges and bays, as well as in the surf.
There are scattered bluefish, but the full racer-blue invasion has not yet commenced. Keep an eye out for them.
A couple reports took both me and Theo by surprise: people are catching blowfish already. They have been caught from the piers at Jones Beach and Captree.
Suffolk County Fishing Report
Over at Lindenhurst Bait & Tackle, some excellent reports were delivered by customers. The Great South Bay has started to offer several opportunities for anglers. Some guys are focused on the back bay and State Boat Channel run of striped bass. Daiwa SP Minnows, Bass Assassins and Guidessecret Baby Bottlepop plugs will produce 30-50 shorts with an occasional 28-30-inch bass mixed in. In the early morning large schools have been attacking bait on top with birds working like crazy near the “Amityville Cut”. Casting up onto the shallows and retrieving slowly should get the action going.
Fluke had a decent start on Saturday with fish caught in the State Boat Channel, North side of the GSB, and bridges. Rich Pepa fished a few hours and managed two keepers about three pounds each. Chartreuse bucktails and XL local spearing worked for Dustin and Joe Pocillio. They jigged four keepers up to 23 inches near the Robert Moses Bridge. Meanwhile Rich Figlia and Denise caught a mixed bag in the SBC. The duo had several school sized bass, a 20-inch weakfish and two keeper fluke. Flounder are still in Dickersons and West Channel. Hank Mathes nailed a fat 2.66-pounder. Joe Tyminski weighed in a 2.26-pounder for the Squaw Island Fishing Club Weekend Flounder Contest. As most know the next few weeks will have some of the best fishing so make time to get on the water.
A bunch of blowfish were caught locally as well. There’s a lot of them in the Great South Bay. Anchor up with the kids in West Channel or the Copiague Hole and be prepared for non-stop action. All you need are some sandworms, a chumpot with clam chum, and blowfish rigs. For full details on how to catch, clean and prepare them stop by the shop.
Bill at Chasing Tails Bait & Tackle in Oakdale weighed in an absolute monster of a spring bluefish this week, tipping the scales at 17 pounds. This was no racer; it was a thick, angry death machine that was taken from the ocean surf by Smith’s Point. A good number of people are getting in on the big bluefish action. Find them in the surf, and up by the town docks.
You’ll find stripers in both those areas as well. Bill has been catching plenty of bass, even a few around the mid-30-inch range. There’s lots of them, and they can be taken on swim shads and popping plugs. Bill caught some of his bigger fish on the popper. There are fluke in the channels, and up on the flats. They are biting on bucktails and jig heads tipped with Gulp! curly tails. Weakfish are being caught as well, during the early morning tides by Fire Island.
Kenny at Tight Lines Tackle in Sag Harbor got out on a boat last weekend with his daughter and two friends, Bert and Bill. They drifted all around the Peconics looking for fluke and porgies. It was tedious to pick through all the sea robins, so they moved quite a bit. They found a ton of porgies, and some very big ones at that. Bill’s daughter Hannah weighed in a 3.89-pound porgy that was 19.5-inches long. The fish were chewing on clams and squid. Not many people were out fishing in the foul weather, but those who braved it found the fish. Kenny fished with the same group again on Tuesday, and Bert had a 3+ pound porgy. They fished at depths between 15 and 50 feet.
Two of his other customers had a couple keeper fluke on opening day. Those fluke were 20 and 22 inches. No bluefish reported yet, but Kenny says they are usually here on Mother’s Day, which is this coming Sunday. In contrast to past years, more fluke are being caught farther east in colder water, than deep in the Peconics. Harold, a Tight Lines customer, reported stripers on the beach in East Hampton, with a handful of keepers caught
Ed at Warrens in Aquebogue said just a few fish are being caught by him. The porgy fishing has been okay. A couple customers went fluking in the Peconics around Shelter Island on opening day, and it was very slow. They only scored two fluke, among the seemingly endless sea robins.
Rick from Harbor Marina of East Hampton reports large schools of bunker in the local bays. It is great to see a strong population of forage for our favorite species of game fish. The Gannet air show continues with awesome displays of aerial maneuvers as they hit the water preying on these large bunker schools.
Good quantities of Butter fish were also seen getting worked by Gulls in the western reaches of the Peconics.
A few quality fluke have been taken around shelter Island. The fluke bite should pick up over the next week or so. Schoolie stripers are in the local bays and creeks. Please treat this future resource with the utmost care and respect if you are catch and release fishing. Bigger bass should start to reach Eastern Long Island as water temperatures near the magic 60-degree mark.
The porgy bite is on in Great Peconic Bay and other local bottom fishing spots and should only get better. Bluefish have yet to make a significant showing and we are hopeful for a better year in 2019 for these hard-fighting tackle busters. The Harbor Marina Ship Store on Three Mile Harbor is loaded up with bait, tackle, ice, fuel and supplies. Transient slips are also available for short term trips to Eastern Long Island.
Fishing Forecast for Long Island
The bluefish are sneaking in quietly here and there across most of the island. My friend’s birthday is May 15, and for the past six years we’ve celebrated by catching gator blues on the east end until our arms were sore. I feel confident we’ll be able to keep that tradition going.
In the ocean, numbers of small baitfish that I didn’t recognize kept washing up; they are not species that typically hang in the surf. I think the recent east swell swept some peculiar species into shore, so I won’t be surprised to hear about some awesome catches this week. It could potentially make for some tough fishing, as our go-to lures might not represent these exotic species very well. Furthermore, the gannets have been harassing the outer bar, and moving in closer, daily, as the swell relaxes, and the water clears.
The big-fish bay spots have been reliable at night for producing numbers of bass. I think some bigger fish will move in and/or become active at these spots very soon. It’s not a bad idea to chunk or eel these spots.
There is usually a quick, strong weakfish bite this time of year, so I’ll be trying to locate that. Grass shrimp have been the forage of choice at my regular bay spots on the south fork through most of this moon phase; try using the fly, or a small teaser if you’re having trouble catching. It’s looking like a lot of April showers this week, so take advantage of any nice weather you can. Also, don’t let a bit of rain deter you from getting out; the fish don’t mind.
Best of luck to you all this week. Go get ‘em!
Why no north shore reports?