Long Island Fishing Report – August 8, 2019

Pictured Above: A nice striped bass caught on Stu Paterson’s boat Northport Charters.

Long Island Fishing Report

A school of tarpon has been rolling around in a south shore bay. Big stripers have showed back up in Montauk after a short lull. Big bluefish are in Montauk and on the North shore. Snappers are in thick, as are blue claw crabs. Spanish mackerel and bonito have invaded a bunch of areas along the south shore. Some decent fluking across the island, especially in Shinnecock Bay. Catches of cobia around the south shore. Tunas (bluefin, yellowfin, albacore, bigeyes) are being caught in good numbers, especially at the canyon. A good amount of marlin and mako sharks are offshore as well.

Nassau County

Paul at River Bay Outfitters in Baldwin says there is all sorts of bait everywhere, and the bluefish are ravaging them. You’ll find the small blues inside most of the bays, and the big ones out east. Anglers are running and gunning for them around Jones Inlet and the surrounding beaches. That’s pretty much the same situation I am seeing here on the south fork also.
Fishing guides on the east end are targeting the big blues. Tim O’Rourke has been on some huge bluefish out in the Montauk rips. Andrew Derr, is targeting some big blues near Orient. He is also on some small bass in the estuaries out there. In a couple weeks, he’ll be making his way to Montauk more often. Paul sang praise for the fluking being done in Shinnecock Bay right now.

Kathy at Freeport Bait & Tackle got a report from Stingray Steve Kopp of a 19-inch fluke he caught at Jones Inlet using a bunker for bait. Check his video out on his youtube page, StingraySteve.

Henry James fished Teddy Roosevelt Park in Oyster Bay, slamming the porgies and seabass around low tide. Spanish mackerel have been eating shiny Hopkins-like tins near the construction barge at Jones Beach’s WE II.

People are catching lots of sting rays these days. We had both seen a picture of one, caught by Chris Stefanou, that had to be 300 pounds, maybe more. There are some absolute monsters out there. They’ve been known to break rods. Both the snappers and blue claw crabs are in thick right now.

Fluke and tuna made up the bulk of Bay Park Fishing Station’s report in Wantagh. The “Shoebox 2” crew of Ralph, Reno, Ryan and Steve sailed to the Coimbra for some tuna fishing. They landed some bluefin up to 75 pounds, and a 17-pound pollock! Their fish went after purple side tracker bars, and a Mad Mantis jig.

The “Pino II” crew of Pino, Peter and Tom concluded their run to the McAllister with five fluke up to nine pounds. Their bait of choice was chartreuse Gulp swimming mullets. Father-son duo Tom & Tom Walls of the “Kara Jean” fished the AB Reef for two keeper fluke and a seabass. The larger fluke went 3.2-pounds, and the fish ate Bay Park spearing and cut squid.

Anthony Palizzotto and John Winters of “Deluxe” limited out on fluke while fishing the McAllister Reef in around 55-feet of water. They used chartreuse Gulp grubs tipped with local Bay Park spearing for some really nice fatties. Three weighed in at 6.5-pounds, 8-pounds, and 8.3-pounds. The fish of the day was caught by Anthony, and it went 9.45-pounds.

Gary McEntee, Cayleigh and Brian of “Off the Sauce” fished in 180 feet of water by the Atlantic Princess. They jigged 12-ounce gold Stingo jigs and had a nice 93-pound bluefin tuna. Nick Savene of “No Time” took the Owens boys out to the McAllister grounds for some fluke fishing. They used bucktails tipped with 6-inch grubs to catch five keeper fluke, one of which weighed in at 8.1-pounds!

Gary of “Git Err Done” soaked some peanut bunker at the AB Reef Sunday morning, and landed two keeper fluke up to 3.85-pounds.

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Suffolk County

Bill at Chasing Tails Bait and Tackle in Oakdale says the Spanish mackerel and bonito have invaded the inlets and are getting caught off of all the jetties. Jake Farino and Anthony “Gary” Minieri made quick work of the bonito on Sunday morning using Deadly Dicks. Jacky put a hurting on the macks using diamond jigs and kastmasters on Friday.

Some big fluke have moved into the bay, and a few anglers managed to find where they are hanging out. Aodhan McGuinness landed an impressive four pounder on Friday afternoon, using a bucktail tipped with a Gulp mullet. Jon Knoll found a fat 24-incher on Sunday morning while fishing with his dad.

Sea bass action on the reef and wrecks is non-stop, and full of nice fish. Rob Steward hit an offshore wreck on Friday and crushed the biscuits all day on shop rigs with clams. He brought home his limit of fish to 5-pounds and threw back tons of shorts. Will Ganshaw hit the Fire Island Reef on Sunday and brought home his limit as well, using the same rig and bait. Ling and fluke were seen there as well.

The town docks are lit up with small snappers, which are growing daily. Snapper poppers, kastmasters, or the classic spearing on a hook will produce numbers, and tons of fun for the whole family. Follow the shop on social media for updates during the week: @chasingtailsbait.

If you’re fishing freshwater, go in the early morning or evening for bass. Top water lures, such as frogs, poppers, ploppers and wake baits are producing. Bill from the shop had a 3.2-pounder on Wednesday morning using a Live Target popping frog. Vinny Cagnina had luck with a whopper plopper, which was eaten by a 2.5-pound bass. During the heat of the day, slow it down with senkos or jigs.

Pickerel are out lurking, and they will crush swim jigs, swim baits, tins and top water. Yellow perch and sunfish are out in big schools and can be caught easily with worms under a bobber.

Lindenhurst Bait & Tackle reports that there’s been some signs of improvement with the fluke bite this week. Marla Harman drifted on a Captree boat near Robert Moses Bridge, fishing a hi-lo rig with a bucktail below and gulp/spearing combo up top. An 8.2-pound fluke jumped on the top teaser. On Saturday, Squaw Island Fishing Club members Bobby Karman, Dan Jorgenson, Richie Kehoe, and Don Johnson drifted outside Jones Inlet. This “Schaeffer City’ crew proved there’s life outside by boating eleven keepers up to 4.5-pounds. Jigging with soft plastics on the incoming tide was the key to their success. SIFC member Bob Carniello reported an excellent triggerfish bite outside the Fire Island inlet on fresh clams. On Sunday, SIFC members Billy Biscardi, Anthony I, and Joe Biscardi fished outside Jones Inlet using live peanut bunker. The crew had plenty of action catching eight keepers with a 5-pounder and an 6.46-pound fluke topping off the catch.

Kevin Bartow and Bob Fiorella fished the FI Reef on Sunday with large baits. The guys had five keepers, including Kevin’s doormat of 8.24-pounds that took a whole sardine on a shop-tied slider rig.

Eddie Klein and Tom Foster anchored up on the Kismet Reef and let the chumpot work. They used fresh clams and sandworms to catch three kingfish, two triggers, 16 porgies up to 14 inches, and nine blowfish.

Marla H. came back on Sunday to report excellent snapper fishing at the Wellwood Avenue dock.

Crabbers have also reported great catches of 12-30 blue claws per trip off all local docks on the north side of the Great South Bay.

Phil at Cow Harbor Bait & Tackle in Northport says anglers are still finding some decent bass, at 15 to 20-pounds, fishing with chunks. Get through the dogfish in the early morning or late at night, and you could get one of these bigger stripers. There is SO much bait concentrated, so you might want to find an area with a little bit less.

Tons of cocktail blues have moved in, and there are a couple bigger bluefish out in the triangle, about 12 to 15-pounds. The bigger ones are pretty tough to find, but the cocktails are endless.

There’s a lot of peanut bunker in the bay, and plenty of snappers along with them. They’re mostly hanging around the marinas and the beaches.

There are still lots of porgies. The smaller ones are hanging out around the mussel beds. If you find concentrated schools of peanut bunker on the beach, you’ll likely find the bigger porgies.

There are a few anglers getting some good fluke, but it’s been slow. There aren’t very good numbers of them around, but two anglers brought in fish this week that weighed about 7-8 pounds. Phil thinks that if you tried a method like live-lining snappers, you’d stand a better chance at finding a big fluke.

There are some seabass out in the shipping lanes and triangle. Lots of small ones are hanging out with the porgies, but you’re going to want to head deeper for the keepers.

Captain Stu Paterson of Northport Charters has been seeing tons of bait all over the Huntington/Northport area. Spearing and bay anchovies are the predominant forage.

Stu is finding teen-sized stripers, fluke to five pounds, and porgies to three pounds. Keeper seabass have been stationed deep, on the wrecks and rock piles. Call him today at 631-707-3266, or check his website, www.NorthportCharters.com to get in on the bite!

Captain Dave Flanagan of North Island Fly in Smithtown tells me he’s starting to see lots of different bait, such as huge spearing, tiny bay anchovies, and other small rain bait. Some big blues have pushed their way into shore also, and he has been all over them. He is focusing on rocky shorelines and points, at the high and low parts of the tide. Check out Dave’s website www.northislandfly.com for booking information.

Jeff Lomonaco at Whitewater Outfitters in Hampton Bays says the fluking inside the bay as been really good. There’s tons of action with plenty of shorts, but anglers taking the time to work through them are finding seven and eight pounders in the mix. Ocean fluking has been hit-or-miss, with some quality fish and inconsistent action.

There are a ton of fish in the bay, mostly schoolies. A new class of fish recently showed up though, and Jeff has been catching some 33 to 34-inches.

The bay is absolutely loaded with small bait, like anchovies, spearing and peanut bunker. When the little tunies show up, it could be epic. An angler fishing the Shinnecock canal recently brought in a cobia to weigh. The fish was caught on a porgy rig and weighed sixteen pounds!

A bayman saw a school of tarpon rolling in the bay within the past couple weeks. The tarpon have been spotted by multiple crews.

The offshore scene is great, with lots of tuna cruising the canyon. Bigeyes and yellowfin are in pretty thick. Lots of marlin have been getting hooked. The inshore bluefin bite is beginning to taper off, but the mahi bite is picking up.

Kenny at Tight Lines Tackle in Sag Harbor says it was quiet this week. The peconics are still filled with porgies, weakfish, snappers, blues, and fluke, but they’re mostly on the small side. A few keeper fluke have been picked. Very few. Kenny heard that the hot water from the gulf stream moved into Montauk point, pushing a lot of fish out of the area. It sounds like the big stripers may haved moved towards Block Island during this warm water flush. Inshore was challenging, offshore was good. There are a few surf anglers picking small bass around 20 inches along the beach, using sand fleas.

Matt Heckman was fishing my area (South Fork) on Tuesday and picked about eight bass and fought a ~65-pound stingray. He says there are pods of bait cruising the open beaches, and he pulled a bunch of cocktail blues from them. I caught and cooked a couple of those guys this week.

Matt took his boat into the peconics on Saturday during some nice weather, but the wind vs. tide made for a slow bite. He caught porgies, weaks, and blues, and they were mostly smaller fish. The water back there was pushing close to 80 degrees.

Matt’s friend Oliver Saul went offshore this weekend to the canyon and brought aboard a nice northeast Wahoo.

Rick from Harbor Marina of East Hampton says the striped bass fishing has improved a little bit along the Fishers Island Chain, particularly in The Race. Bluefish are mixed in with the stripers, making for some good action.

Porgy and sea bass fishing remains strong in areas of rocky bottom in Gardiners Bay and western Block Island Sound.

Some fluke are being caught in the local channels; a 24 incher was reported earlier this week.
Snappers and blowfish are biting in the local harbors and we are seeing a lot of bait congregating in the harbors as well. The ocean fluke and sea bass bite remains the main event. If you have the horsepower to make the run, Cartwright, Frisbies, etc. are holding some really nice fish.

Captain Chris Albronda, first mate of Double D Charters in Montauk, tells me the XL stripers have returned, and are biting on a wide range of baits and lures.

Anglers fishing the bottom are pulling up lots of limits of fluke and sea bass. This week, some of the most epic porgy fishing occurred.

Moving offshore, you’ll find a good amount of Makos. The Double D crew boated six of them this week, keeping one for dinner. Double D has one day available for shark fishing this month.
The tuna fishing has tapered off a bit, but not by much. Albacore have showed up, and bluefin and mahi are still being caught.

Long Island Fishing Forecast

My favorite lure to throw this time of year are deadly dicks. Unfortunately, they break pretty easily if you’re smashing them into the rocks, but they’re a great tool on the open beach. They mimic a large spearing very well, and most of the funny pelagics that don’t normally come into shore will attack one. August, for me, has been the ultimate month for funny pelagics. All sorts of mackerel run out of the gulf stream to cash in on the abundant skinny baits that are near shore. Right now, according to many avid anglers, there is a plethora of small skinny baits. Many other exotic fish, such as cobia, tarpon and bonefish find their way into the Long Island surf zone during this time of year as well. You won’t catch the biggest, or the most fish on a deadly dick, but you could luck into one of these funky species, which you’ll certainly remember forever.

In case you haven’t noticed, we’ve been in the midst of a subtle east swell for the past week or two. The long period waves push lots of water into the surf zone, which gets sucked back out swiftly. The backwash along the shoreline is intense, and therefore the rips that form in the surf are very strong and large. This is another factor that brings funky fish into the surf zone. All of the backwash and rip currents help create eddies in the gulf stream current, which I believe brings exotic fish very close to shore. I am therefore not too surprised to hear about the tarpon in Shinnecock, nor the cobias being caught. I just wish I was the one catching them. I’m thinking this swell will die down soon though, and the water will become a bit calmer. This time of year, it is easy to see stripers cruising along the beach lip, as long as the water is clear, and the swell is down. It’s fun to try and spot them with the kids; it’s especially fun to stalk them with a sand flea rig.

The appearance of all the small bait has everyone talking about albie season. I have a feeling it’s going to be an early one this year. We’ve seen quite a few early appearances by a variety of fish this year, and I think the albies will follow suit.

I want to end with a good tip for bluefish. I ate two cocktail blues this week, and they were delicious. To make bluefish taste good, you just need to cut the gills and bleed it out right after you catch it. Then cook it however you want. I was feeling lazy, so I just filleted it, skinned it, and cut out the red pieces. I spread some oil on the meat and put a few spices on it (salt, pepper and garlic are my go-to). Broiled for a couple minutes and had a delicious meal. The second one I overcooked a bit, so I put a bunch of spices (some hot) into a little mayonnaise and made a dip, that made the meal perfect. Two good nights of blues this week = a good week. I hope some readers will try this out and enjoy it!
Tight lines!

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