Long Island Fishing Report – June 20, 2019

Long Island Fishing Report

40 to 50-pound stripers are being caught by boat and surf fishermen from the Rockaways to the Montauk rocks. The tuna bite continues, and the whales, dolphins, fish and bent rods are making for unforgettable offshore fishing trips. Fantastic fluking can be found in the eastern bays and Montauk. Big porgies are feeding on sandeels in the central north shore. Local trout fishing looks promising this summer, with our current high-water.

Nassau County

Paul at River Bay Outfitters in Baldwin fished a lot of freshwater this past week. The Long Island Flyrodders had their monthly trip to the Connetquot River and brought many trout to hand. Vice president of the club, Mike, had a bunch of really nice fish there. Paul fished the Carmans one day and was humbled by the tiny, wild brook trout there. They can offer a real challenge, as they are easily spooked in that crystal clear, shallow water. He did manage one wild brookie, a beautiful 12-incher. There were lots of bugs, and the fish were willing to eat his caddis dry fly imitation. The water in our spring-fed creeks is very high right now, which bodes well for the rest of the summer. Contrast that with the Freestone rivers upstate, that flood easily from rain. When we get a lot of rain, save yourself the few hours of driving upstate and hit a local river instead.

On the saltwater side, Paul heard word from Dave Flanagan up on the North Fork that there are big bluefish in the Long Island Sound. There are also big pods of bunker in the Sound. On the south shore, there are plenty of blues as well. Bass can be found in the surf, and on the flats along with fluke. There are plenty of opportunities for surfcasters.

Kathy at Freeport Bait and Tackle had the goods on the Hudson Anglers shark tournament this past weekend. Two of her customers have charters and took six people out. Captain Jason Fosco of Team Cannonball Charters fished southwest of Monster’s Ledge, and caught a short mako and three blue sharks, all of which were released.

Captain Ray from Carolann P Charters came in 6th place, with a big blue shark. He said there’s still a good tuna bite going on in 20 fathoms. He’s running charters for the tuna and sharks.
Manuel Espegel fished in Jamaica Bay near the high school using bunker. He caught two big bluefish. A third bluefish spit the hook on the way in, taking half of the bait with it. As he was reeling in what remained of the chunk, a 19.5-inch fluke ate it!

Dominic Patrizzi has been catching stripers off of the Magnolia Pier. Porgy anglers are still buying their bait from Kathy and bringing it up to a few spots on the north shore, which have been producing very well for them. Sunken Meadow and Port Jefferson seem to be the hot spots. Apparently, there aren’t very many porgies in that area on the south shore.

There’s another shark tournament this coming Saturday, hosted by the Woodcliff Fishing Statin at the end of the Nautical Mile in Freeport.

Lloyd Malsin checked into Bay Park Fishing Station in Wantagh this week after fishing on his “Nansea II”. He fished open bottom, hoping for ling, and ended up boating 55 of them using salted clams as bait. On his way home, he put out a yellow/white TGT spoon. A big bass hit it, and he caught a 45-incher that weighed 35.75 pounds.

Sean Barry and Mike Redmond of “Lil’ Mist III” were fishing in the Rockaway Reef in 40 feet of water. They each caught over twenty fluke and Sean caught the only keeper at 3.7 pounds. They used a pearl KO single hook rig and Bay Park spearing and cut squid.

Theo at Causeway Bait & Tackle in Wantagh says people are still getting bluefish off the beaches, and a bunch of schoolie stripers as well. There are even some keeper bass mixed in. A few guys fishing deep in Massapequa cove have been chumming clams and catching keeper bass up there. One surfcaster caught a 42-pound striper at Jones Beach Field 6. Another caught a 22-pound black drum off Gilgo! Crazy fishing.

There have been a few threshers spotted just off the beach. Tuna have been pretty close in as well, with anglers catching them anywhere from a half mile out, to 20 miles. They are feeding on bunker, and there are a lot of 30 pounders. One 90-inch fish was caught; Theo reckoned it was about 400 pounds.

Seabass season is about to open up, and people are more-than-ready to fill their coolers. They’re catching some big ones, and lots of them. You can buy seabass rigs at Causeway.

Suffolk County

Striper surfcasting guide Bernie Bass had a consistent week in the surf. He had good numbers of small bass, with a few nicer ones mixed in. He’s still looking for those big girls but is just content catching. Big blues would come in at nighttime to test his tackle; they put many of his soft plastics out of commission. His best-producing lure this past week was the blurple Super Strike needlefish. Every fish he caught was safely released. That’s what’s up!

Bill at Chasing Tails Bait & Tackle in Oakdale fished with Vinny Cagnina at the Carmans River and caught a handful of wild brookies on dry flies. Those wild brook trout are a beautiful spectacle.

The local fluking is still pretty good in the canals and rivers, and the cuts and channels. Basically, any skinny water is worth a shot. The fluke are loving contrasting colors: put a white gulp on a chartreuse bucktail, or vice versa. Bill had a big fluke hit one of these rigs in the Shinnecock Canal the other day. The fish was about 24-25 inches.

There are big bass out in the ocean still, but they are growing more finicky and scarce by the day. The Ocean Beach weakfish bite is still going, with consistent action on Bass Assassins and jerk shads. Kismet Reef is a hot spot. All the fun little fish, like porgies, kingfish, and blowfish are around in good numbers. Bluefish are at the local docks on the north side of the bay, eating bunker and all sorts of small bait, namely sandeels and spearing.

Phil at Cow Harbor Bait & Tackle in Northport tells me bigger bass are being caught near the central north shore. Yesterday, one angler had a 45 pounder, and Phil’s buddy had a 30+ the other day.

There’s a ton of sandeels all over the north shore, right on the beach. Try casting plugs on shore around the Coast Guard Station, or Target Rock in Caumsett. You can find bass, fluke, porgies and cocktail bluefish on this bait.

The bunker is offshore, but you wouldn’t know it just from looking. They’re mostly hanging out underneath the surface, so you’re more likely to mark them than see them. There are bass 15 to 20 pounds hanging out underneath them. Anglers are taking those bass on chunks and the troll.
Porgies are everywhere, and when they’re feeding on sandeels, they can get huge! Check by the coast guard station, get a clam chum going and you’ll be in business. Some other spots worth checking are Buoy 13, and rocky spots such as Target Rock and Caumsett.

The fluking has been good, you just have to, once again, focus on the sandeels!

Phil was out trolling and chunking for the big bass the other day. On his way back to shore, he marked sandeels near the coast guard station and dropped a jig down. First drop he had a 17-inch fluke. He proceeded to catch many more fluke, all of them shorts. It was very quick work, and he had the rod bent the whole time.

Rick Drew from Harbor Marina of East Hampton reported the porgy fishing remains excellent in Cherry Harbor. Loads of Sand Eels are present in the harbors and along the ocean beaches. Lots of just sub-legal stripers are along the Fishers Island Chain, with a few keepers mixed in. The full moon bight underperformed and may be indicitive of a smaller population of bigger bass this year. Bluefish are settled into the usual spots and will provide great action for light tackle advocates.

Please try to avoid using treble hooks when catch and release, light tackle fishing for schoolie stripers and bluefish. They cause massive damage and mortality to the fish you catch.

Fluking is improving but is not on track with the past few years. All eyes are on the upcoming Seabass opener on Sunday, and by all accounts should be a good one.

Over at Lindenhurst Bait & Tackle, high winds limited anglers to fish mostly in the mornings and evenings this past week. Trophy bass are still being caught west of Deb’s Inlet on white Mojos and spoons. Jack did some clam chumming at the Robert Moses Bridge and was rewarded with a 32-inch striper. Others are reporting keeper bass at the Wantagh Bridge and Fire Island Lighthouse areas. For fluke it’s been a tough pick in the bay, but the ocean bite may be starting up. On Wednesday, Rich from the shop and Jeremy Kurtz drifted a reef outside Jones Inlet. They caught four keeper fluke to 3.8 pounds. and released six sea bass from 14-19 inches. All action was had during the first hour of the outgoing tide. Billy and Joe Biscardi fished near Ocean Beach inside the Great South Bay on Saturday. Billy reported a solid weakfish bite. He also weighed in a quality 6.68lb. fluke that jumped on a jig intended for “tiderunners”. Rich Pepa and his son Gianni fished the same area that morning catching over a dozen weakfish. When the tide slowed Gianni jigged up two decent keeper fluke. Dock anglers are steadily catching blowfish at Wellwood Avenue dock, Tanner Park, and Babylon Town Pool using a chum bag, fresh clam and sandworms. Crabbing is getting good with 6-12 blue claws per trip.

Kenny at Tight Lines Tackle in Sag Harbor also blamed the wind for the few reports this week. There are promising signs of good fishing though. One customer sent him a picture of their GPS, which showed an unbelievable amount of life on the bottom at Jessup’s Neck. He said the whole screen was lit up, with a huge variety of fish in 30-40 feet of water.

To avoid the wind, one customer fished right there in the harbor, and caught a mess of nice sea bass. He also caught fluke up to 6 pounds!

Between the wind, local mechanic Tom Brennan made it out for a quick session, and filled up his cooler with fluke, weakfish, porgies and a bluefish.

Tucker Schiavoni had a 36-inch bass that he caught at Jessup’s, after picking through a ton of bluefish. He dropped a diamond jig straight to the bottom, and almost immediately had the bass hit.
There’s a lot of activity in Montauk. A few customers who work for Suffolk County Water Authority had a steady pick of good fish on Saturday night. The fish were 30-40 pounds, and they were extremely finicky. Every time they caught one, they had to switch up the lure, color and retrieve, and figure out a new “key to the bite” many times over.

The bigeye tuna bite has been awesome. Captain Bob Hallock and Brian Murphy, of the Lunasea 2, have been all over it. Another customer lauded the tuna bite, after fighting a 110-pound bluefin on a spinning rod. He was feeling nice and sore after the hour and forty-minute fight. There are bass in Shinnecock in the middle of the night, otherwise you’re probably going to find bluefish.

Chase at Montauk Marine Basin says the big fish are out there. Anglers have been catching bluefin tuna on the Coimbra wreck all week.

Boat fishermen closer to shore are finding bass and blues on diamond jigs around the lighthouse. Guys trolling wire are catching bass to 40 pounds. The local fluking has been steady, with some fish going into the double-digits.

Captain Chris Albronda, first mate of Double D Charters in Montauk had a killer week, landing his personal best bass of 2019. The bigger bass moved in this week and anglers were catching them on a variety of methods. Diamond jigs with light tackle, eels, and casting plugs all produced. The wire produced the biggest bass, into the high 40s and over, with a few 50 pounders landed out there.

Fluke anglers that put their time in have produced a number of double-digit fish this past week. Bluefish are plentiful and very large porgies are keeping rods constantly bent.

Want to get in on the bite? Find an OTW-approved Charter Fishing Captain for Long Island!

Long Island Fishing Forecast

It’s time to head east! The stripers are heading to their summer haunts, seeking residence at inlets, bridges, and rips along the south shore, especially in Montauk. If the Montauk cow-slaughter proceeds as it has for the past however-many years, there will be no big bass left in the future to catch! So, get out there and fish for them while you still can, and practice catch and release! With the ASMFC’s designation of stripers being overfished for the past decade, killing a 30+ pounder is irresponsible and immature.

Black Seabass opens this weekend. Often, most of the big fish will head out as soon as the season opens, so you’ll want to capitalize on the opportunity right off the bat.
Bass upwards of 30 pounds are raiding the inlets and bays right now, so surf guys like me will have a good chance at catching one, if lady luck is feeling generous. For many of the big fish I’ve heard of locally, anglers just happen to be in the right place at the right time. Just be on the water.

This past full moon was pretty insane fishing-wise. The week ahead should produce a number of very large fish, for both surf and boat anglers. Good luck!