Long Island Fishing Report - July 3, 2019

It’s short and sweet for you this week, but here’s the jist:
Big black sea bass are stealing the show, island-wide.
Fluking is excellent on the south shore.
Montauk striper fishing is red hot. Gorilla blues are also in Montauk.
Forty-pound stripers are being taken on the troll in the sound.
Sand eels inundate the North shore and South Fork waters.
Thresher sharks are coming in pretty consistently now, and some areas are seeing Makos, blue sharks, and hammerheads.
Good numbers of ling are being caught in certain areas.
Most freshwater bodies are producing a good topwater bite.

NASSAU COUNTY

Fluke, seabass, ling and threshers headlined the fishing reports at Wantagh’s Bay Park Fishing Station this week. On Saturday, Al Musella of “Nelina” caught an 8.95 pound fluke in Reynolds channel. The fluke took a spearing and cut squid.

On Sunday, Capt. Nick Savene, John Kukor, Emery and the crew of No Time pulled a 192-pound thresher shark from 130 feet of water. They fished east of the Yankee, and used mackerel for bait.

Josh, Joel and Luciano of Hot Ones got out Monday to a few local hot spots. They started in Reynolds Channel by the school and got 3 keeper fluke. Next, they hit the Cholera with diamond jigs, and limited out on sea bass. They also found a god ling bite there using clams.

The No Time crew made it out to the Yankee again on Monday to feed some sharks. They filleted a mackerel and put it out in 140 feet of water, to be taken by a 219 pound thresher shark.

Kathy at Freeport Bait and Tackle let me know there’s lots of ling offshore in the ocean. Her customer Mike was dropping green Gulp down and pulling up a ling very often. The tuna bite offshore is still going strong.
Stripers have been spotty this week.

There a lots of fluke inshore. The Duke of Fluke tournament was held this past weekend, and it was a tough bite due to all the crab weed in the water. Lots an lots of weeds were snagged in the pursuit of fluke. One customer got it done, though, with a big 22 inch fluke. Most anglers are trying for them between the State Channel and Wantagh Bridges – two very promising spots.

Paul at River Bay Outfitters in Baldwin has been hitting the small creeks in Westchester a bunch. He finds good fishing for wild trout in the evenings. You’d likely experience the same good fishing for LI’s wild trout in the Carmans River. The Connetquot River is always great. The Connetquot just recently resumed their evening session, which takes place from 4 to 8 p.m.

On the salt side, Paul has heard from some LIBBA guys that they’re catching a bunch of bonito in the inlets. Usually the earliest you’d see bonito is in August. So that’s funky.

Both the north and south shores have been productive. Montauk fishing guides are doing well fishing the rips and the flats. Apparently the flats haven’t been playing to their full potential, but guys are catching.
Fishing guide Tim O’Rourke has been catching lots of bluefish in the back bays near Baldwin, by the bridges on the top of the outgoing tide.

SUFFOLK COUNTY

Bill at Chasing Tails Bait & Tackle in Oakdale says sea bass season is off to a great start. The reefs and wrecks are loaded with life. Limits of big fish are common, and many anglers have reported fish in the 5-7 pound range. Drop clam rigs down or deep-drop some jigs for the best sea bass action. Bob Mortimer had his limit of sea bass up to 6.4 pounds on Saturday.

Fluke season is in full swing, and there are loads of flatties spread across the bay. Hit the channels, bridges, and any structure you can find. Bucktails have been putting the fish in the boat, especially when tipped with a jig strip, or Gulp mullet/grubs. A fluke rig tipped with squid and spearing will do the job as well. Jake Farino had a monster 25-inch fluke mixed in with a stack of shorts on Tuesday, using a Spro bucktail tipped with a Gulp mullet. Tracy Flynn caught fluke up to 22 inches near the lighthouse on a shop rig tipped with squid and spearing on Saturday.

Blues are still being caught all over the bay in their usual haunts; they’re even still running the town docks. Bunker chunks, popping plugs, tins, an SP Minnows are killer for the blues.

Stripers have been seen around the bunker pods, you just have to find them and hope they’re hungry.

Blowfish and kingfish are regulars at the town docks, and are lots of fun for a family day out.
Check out their instagram (@chasingtailsbait) for pictures and updates during the week.

Another solid choice for family fun is hitting the freshwater. All the local freshwater species are biting well, and the bass/pickerel are especially liking topwater lures right now. Senkos and jigs are also a good bet for this time of year.

Bill from the Chasing Tails hit the Connetquot with a couple friends, Vinny and Jacob, on Saturday morning. It was a slow dry fly bite, with just a couple fish. The real damage was done with nymphs and wooly buggers by Vinny, who had 18 fish. He had a 20-inch rainbow, as did Bill. Bill had two other rainbows and a dozen brookies before the session’s end. Jacob took the dry fly bites using an Olive Caddis

Lindenhurst Bait & Tackle has seen some excellent fish this week. This week brought signs of improved fluke fishing, and the weakfish bite continues strong. On Wednesday Rich from the shop and Rich Pepa got in on the Ocean Beach bite. They caught and released 40 weakfish to 23 inches, and Rich Pepa boated a 4.86 pound fluke. Eddie Copa and his wife Maureen had Eddie B. aboard the Reel Therapy. The crew followed Rich to the same area and caught two dozen weakfish and three keeper fluke to 22 inches.

“Kayak Nate” Matthews fished the south side of the Great South Bay on Friday. He pulled a quality 6.46 pound fluke from an area that was unproductive in previous attempts. Rich from the shop got out on the “Yankee III” for the Idle Hour Elementary School Fishing trip. While aboard the Yankee III his daughter, 5-year old Valentina, caught her first two sea robins and a short fluke while Dad jigged up a couple of keeper fluke to 6.06 pounds.

On Sunday, the Schaeffer City crew of Bob K, Dan J., and Bob C. drifted the Fire island Inlet. They managed three keepers to 22 inches jigging on the edge of the bar. Sea bass limits and large porgies are being caught at the Fire Island Reef and the San Diego wreck. Fresh clam, squid strips, small diamond jigs, and SPRO bucktails are all good choices.

Mark at Cow Harbor Bait & Tackle in Northport tells me that surfcasters are mostly dealing with smaller bass and blues that are focused on sand eels. There are some keepers, but rarely any cows or gators. Surf guys are looking at fish between 25 and 30 inches. An 8-pound fish would be a lucky catch.

If you’re fishing in water 40 to 50 feet deep, however, you stand a chance at catching a bass up to 40 pounds. Most of the fish taken on the troll are 34 to 40 inches though. Mark reckons this is the Hudson class.
It was a good week for sea bass, especially compared to last week. You’d do well fishing in 50 to 60 feet of water, which basically means the local shipping lanes.

Porgies are everywhere, in the bay, outside the bay, off the beach, on a boat.
Fluking is tough. Some nice fish have been weighed in, but guys are mostly seeing 17-18 inch fish, just under keeper size. Good sign for the future!

Chris at Blue Water Lures in Southold sold 85 rod/reel setups in the last 24 hours. Needless to say, the fishing is very good on the North Fork.

Fluking picked up in the bay, but the Sound is still hit or miss with them. The sea bass bite in the sound, however, is incredible. There are fish everywhere to 21 inches, and they’re biting like crazy. Guys going out of Mattituck are coming back from every trip with their limit of biscuits. You’d do well fishing pink jigs and teasers, tipped with squid.

Anglers are catching tons of red hake (ling) in the bay.

Blowfish and bluefish are in their usual summer spots.

The big porgies that were by Southold recently moved farther east. Any lagging behind will surely take a clam or a worm.

Striped bass are at their local haunts. Chris hasn’t heard about many big stripers locally.

If you’re on the North Fork, do yourself a favor and stop by Blue Water Lures, whether it’s for local intel, quality tackle, or one of Chris’ custom bucktails.

Captain Chris Albronda, first mate on Double D Charters in Montauk, says striped bass fishing is red hot! Fish of all classes are being caught. Stripers are working the surface at sunrise, hitting topwater and metal. On the bayside at sunset, you can catch school-sized stripers and fluke (even some keepers). Green is the color of choice of all predators this year (the author concurs that this is probably due to all the sand eels he’s seeing fish puke up).

Gorilla bluefish have moved in, and porgy and sea bass have been steady.
The fluke fishing has been consistent, if you don’t mind the occasional dogfish…take Chris’ word that it’s worth weeding through the doggies for a shot at a double-digit fluke.

Offshore sharking is turning on, with tons of blue sharks and a handful of makos, threshers, and hammerheads.

LONG ISLAND FISHING FORECAST
I just have a few things to say this week.
Please be safe this holiday weekend, whether you’re operating a boat, or driving to the water. There’s a high likelihood of people taking to the road or the water after having too much to drink. Stay sharp, keep your head on a swivel, and your eyes peeled.

Take good care of the stripers you release. Just because they kicked off, doesn’t mean they survived. Mike Wright, a good East End fisherman, found a floating bass that was almost 40 pounds in an inlet. The angler who caught it obviously had the good intention of releasing it, but the bigger fish require extra time to revive before you let them swim off. In this warm summer water, a good revival is of the utmost importance to protect our fishery. Luckily Mike was able to harvest that huge dead fish.

If you’re having a tough time surf fishing during these “summer doldrums” (which are really just a myth), don’t be afraid to pick up whatever you find on the shoreline and throw it on a hook. For more on this, see my videos from last summer on my Youtube Channel, SouthForkSalt. You’ll be pleasantly surprised by the number and size of fish you can catch on free bait.

Happy Independence Day! God bless America, and tight lines to my fellow islanders.