Long Island New York Fishing Report - May 23, 2019

There’s lots of 40-plus-pound bass being taken on trolling lures in Central LI; there are big bluefish all over the island, and trophy fluke are being caught, some going over 10 pounds. The East End is seeing more big bass into the 30-pound class, but not many. You can experience excellent fishing for different species whether you stay in the bays, or make it out into the ocean. Big porgies, fluke and weakfish are in the bays, and giant stripers are in the ocean. Smaller table fare such as blowfish, kingfish and sea robins are in for the taking.

NASSAU COUNTY

Anglers checking into Bay Park Fishing Station in Oceanside did a number on the big bass this past weekend. Fishing South of Debs Inlet, anglers trolling mojos and big bunker spoons had their pick of bass from the mid-20 to mid-40 pound range. Many big fish were taken last weekend. That action has continued through this week, with one 44.25 pound bass being trolled up yesterday by Captain Don Cariencke of Amber Jayne and Justin and John Weinman.

Near the Rockaway Reef, Captain Tim Kennedy trolled up a 42.25-pound bass using a white TGT spoon.

Captain Brad Phillips of Run-Off caught a 28-inch long fluke (with a 13-inch girth) that weighed 9.25 pounds. The fish inhaled a spearing on a 4-inch mylar teaser in 26 feet of water right next to Long Beach Fire Department in Reynolds Channel.

Chris at Causeway Bait & Tackle in Wantagh says anglers are catching big bluefish on the backside of Jones Inlet, around the construction dock and the Coast Guard Station.

Fishermen chumming clams at the bridges have sparked a bite of stripers. Most of the bass are schoolies, but a bunch of keepers have also been landed.

Boat fishermen trolling for stripers off of Long Beach are killing it, catching tons of big fish using spoon-fed bunker spoons and Mojos.

There’s a decent fluke bite in the bay, but it’s still mostly shorts. It sounds like almost everyone takes home a keeper or two, after picking through 20 or 30 fish.

Paul at River Bay Outfitters in Baldwin says bluefish can be thick in the inlet, you just need to luck out and show up at the right time. There are a good amount of bluefish in the back bay as well.

In Long Beach, captain Frank from Firefly Charters has been doing well throwing poppers at the sod banks. He’s been hitting the early morning tides, as the bite usually dies out around 8am.

Paul hosted a trip to the Peconic River this week. It was a great time, albeit very windy. Most people caught fish, and they caught just about everything one can find in “Long Island’s Jewel,” except for the main attraction, bass.

Kathy at Freeport Bait & Tackle had an angler weigh in a nine pound fluke that he caught off of Magnolia Pier in Long Beach at noon. The successful rig was a bucktail tipped with a sea robin strip. Well done.

Captain Jason Fosco of Team Cannonball Charters fished with Captain Paul Neiderauer and first-mate James Lombardo. They limited out on bass, and big ones at that. One fish was 46 inches and weighed 37 pounds. Another fish weighed 31 pounds. They caught these fish while trolling Mojos in 30-50 feet of water south of Debs. On Sunday the same crew experienced a slow bite but still pulled a 21 pounder on board. Kenny Towey was the lucky angler that day.

Tony Lemos caught a 29-inch keeper bass while fishing for fluke at Robert Moses Bridge around sunset.. His rig presented gulp, clams, and a pink mylar teaser.

Porgies are dense near the Bayville town dock, and also at Sunken Meadow park.

Fluke are willing to bite at both Guy Lombardo pier in Freeport, and also in Jamaica Bay. It’s still mostly throwbacks, with the occasional keeper.

SUFFOLK COUNTY

Bill at Chasing Tails Bait & Tackle in Oakdale heard about the fluke bite in the bay. There’s lots of them willing to chew on bucktails and jigheads tipped with Gulp. One angler weighed in an 11 pound summer flounder this week.

There are lots of bluefish in the bay. It sounds like they’ll eat just about anything; Bill heard of anglers catching them on poppers, SP Minnows, bunker chunks, and anything metal.

Teenage customer Chris Lomangino brought in a bluefish that was almost as big as he was. That fish weighed 15.6 pounds.

Plenty of weakfish are being caught on the running tides early in the morning. The bait of choice for these fish is anything pink, whether it be bucktails, fin-s fish, or Gulp.

It’s an exciting time to be on the freshwater side. Bill says just about anything will eat, and you’ll likely see a large mixed bag of fish. He’s been doing a number on just about everything that swims in the sweetwater. Bass and carp are spawning, which can be a really cool sight. In fact, Matt Magic out on the East End caught some spawning carp on video the other day and put it on his instagram. It was a very cool video!

From Lindenhurst Bait & Tackle: As most seasoned anglers know, fishing usually breaks wide open and multiple species come alive in the Spring. Lower water temperatures from excessive rain earlier in the week have pushed fluke, weakfish, blues, and striped bass to seek shallower depths. Cocktail blues are all over the South side of the G.S.B. taking fluke baits and jigs.Shop regulars are hooking into quality fluke and weakfish inside the Great South Bay East and West of the Robert Moses Bridge. On Thursday Tom D’Amico weighed in a 7.42-pound fluke that jumped on a bucktail tipped with XL local spearing. On Friday evening the “Hi-Hook” crew of Billy, Joe Biscardi, and Joe Jr. caught a few “tiderunners” for the Squaw Island Fishing Club’s Weekend Weakfish Contest. Billy’s weighed 3.22 pounds, and Joe had a 4.86 pounder. Next morning, East near the ferry channels Billy had a weakfish at 3.74 pounds. and his son Joe caught a 4.24 pounder and 6.68 pound fluke that jumped on a Bass Assassin. Billy went back for a few hours on Sunday and scored with another 4.64 pounder. S.I.F.C. members aboard Richie Kehoe’s “Crazy Legs” also fished Saturday. Bobby Karman caught a 5.10 pound “tiderunner” in the same area on Saturday along with an 8 pound bluefish. Don Johnson also managed a 9 pound “chopper”. On Saturday Drew Maniscalco drifted the outgoing tide close to the North side. In a few hours he had 2 fluke at about 3 pounds and a healthy 5.24 pounder while jigging. Reports of striped bass up to 40 pounds have also started this week. Several crews including staff member Tom Cornelia have been putting in time locating striped bass outside Jones Inlet. The “Roundhouse” and “Pink Hotel” areas are seeing bass in the teens to 20 pound class. Gary Nankervis and his crew have been into bigger fish further West. It looks like we’re faced with a tough decision. Do we stay inside and target big fluke and weakfish or do we run West and troll for trophy Stripers?

Scott at East End Bait & Tackle in Hampton Bays heard about a mixed bag coming from the Shinnecock Canal. Anglers are harvesting blowfish, fluke, weakfish, and cocktail blues. If you want bigger gator blues and larger stripers, you’d have better luck at Shinnecock Inlet.

The fluking has been pretty quiet throughout Shinnecock so far, although there are shorts being pulled from the skinny water areas.

Up in the Peconic, giant porgies are still in pretty thick. Greenlawn is usually one of the top fluke-producing spots this time of year, but it has been very tough and slow there.

If you want weakfish, they’re waiting for you near Jessup Neck.

From Rick at Harbor Marina of East Hampton: Weather, weather, weather..

Rick from Harbor Marina of East Hampton reports that when the weather cooperates we are seeing improved catches of both keeper sized Striped Bass and Fluke. Striped bass are starting to make their way onto some of the local flats and light tackle spots. The deeper channels are still holding better quality fish. Reports of nice-sized Fluke have been more frequent and once a good school of springtime sand eels moves into the bay, we should see the fluke bite really turn on.

Porgy fishing continues to attract the local head boat fleet west to Great Peconic Bay, with the occasional weakfish in the mix. The weekend weather outlook is promising, at least for the moment. Be safe, have fun, and catch ’em up.

Ken at Tight Lines Tackle in Sag Harbor said the only report from the ocean this week was that the gill nets are back in town. These commercial boats are devastating to surf-based fisheries, as they prevent schooling, natural movement and most predatory feeding behavior in the shallow water along the shoreline.

Kenny saw some crazy action at Shinnecock Inlet yesterday, despite the brutal cross-cast winds. He wasnt even staying in the strike zone with 2.5 ounces, but people were still able to catch lots of big bluefish. One close to him went to 13 pounds on a Boga grip.

The western peconic is the hotspot in the back bays. Anglers saw the Viking boat from out in Montauk perusing west of Jessup, and another boat in there from Niantic, CT. It must be pretty good to draw boats from so far away. If you’re boating in the peconic this weekend, hit those big points around the bay: Cow Neck, Jessup, Paradise Point, Robbins and Nassau Point, etc. At the end of the long sand spits, there are holes 30-70 feet deep, where most of the fish hang. Use a big jig to drop down in there, like a diamond jig.

Kenny said that this past week, the Peconics came alive with the warm weather. Fluking was good, with many fish over 5 pounds, the biggest being 8. Good weakfish roam the peconics, as well as some larger bass finally. More catches of 30+ pound fish are being reported. Lots of porgies in the mix, and a lot of them are still pretty huge.

Tight Lines Tackle is fully stocked in preparation for this weekend. If you need anything at all, hooks, bait, you name it, check out Kenny’s. He’s also got excellent info and tips on how to productively fish the local waters.

Jeff at Whitewater Outfitters in Hampton Bays had a similar scoop to Scott above. I know Jeff is catching stripers and blues just about every day, with some true gators in the mix. They are around in all shapes and sizes.

The peconics are seeing the nicest bass locally. Recreational and commercial fishermen alike are seeing numbers of bigger bass during their outings.

The Shinnecock Canal will produce a mixed bag, with lots of blowfish. Jeff says it’s more than we’ve seen there in a long time. There are some kingfish in the Canal at this point as well.

Get down to the Shinnecock Inlet for a decent shot at a bigger bass. Jeff says the bigger bass and blues kind of stationed themselves in that strong inlet current during this recent full moon period.

FISHING FORECAST FOR LONG ISLAND

On the east end, you have to put in your time to get the fish. They’re here and there, but never for very long.

The bluefish aren’t as predictable as they’ve been in years past, and there are way more small bluefish than I can recall catching in mid-May for the past 5 years. If you want a trophy blue (like I do), you’re likely going to have to go for at least a few days and pick through a bunch of smaller blues, under ten pounds.

Huge Bass have been stationed to the west so far, but now the amount of 40 pounders being caught in Central Long Island gives us guys on the east end hope. Usually there’s a crazy bite of monster bass out here around memorial day. I’m afraid that may be a bit delayed, as was our gator bluefish bite. Contrarily, I also think that bluefish could just be starting a down cycle, which could potentially make for better bass fishing. So, although I was looking forward to big blues, and lament not having caught one yet, I remain optimistic that this situation will improve the striper bite. If you have a boat and are in central Long Island, get the heck out on the water this weekend. It’s cow time for you, and trolling is insanely effective. Surf guys should definitely try the night bite there, probably in or near the inlets.

The 3 biggest stripers I’ve ever hooked, most likely due to dumb luck, all came to me in between the new and full moons. We’ve just surpassed the full moon, and are heading into a period of less radical tides. Surfcasting is generally less strenuous during this interim period, as the best spots get filled with much less water. It can be pleasant, easy nights, only to be disrupted by a tremendous hit; if you are very hardworking and have a bit of luck, you could have a 50 to your name this week. Get ‘em.

There will definitely be lots of people out fluking this Memorial Day Weekend, so be careful when boating through that heavy traffic, and good luck! I’m sure there will be plenty of doormats to report next week. Tight lines everyone!

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