Long Island Fishing Report – September 26, 2019

Pictured Above: Nick Turner’s 55.2 pound striper caught on the Double D in Montauk.

A school of bass up-to-and-over 50 pounds made their way to Montauk Point. Schoolie blitzes continue in Montauk. Mullet-fueled blitzes near south shore inlets have occurred. North shore is seeing some blitzes as well.

Doormats being boated along the south shore in the final days of the 2019 fluke season. Bottom fishing is great, with big seabass, porgies, weakfish and fluke being caught. Good dinner-fish, such as puffers and kingfish are abundant. Albie fishing slowed this week on the east end, due to dirtied water resulting from the storms. Trout are biting well, as are most freshwater fish.

Nassau County

Bay Park Fishing Station in Oceanside heard reports of good bottom fishing this week. Nick Savene of “No Time” had a good day targeting stripers, porgies and seabass using live bait.
Lloyd Malsin of “Nansea” targeted porgies on the outgoing tide, landing 75 jumbos for a six-man crew. Some keeper seabass were boated, as well as two weakfish and some cocktail blues. It was a solid mixed bag for these guys.

Paul at River Bay Outfitters in Baldwin says fishing guide Tim O’Rourke has been doing well in Montauk. He had his family out this week and they achieved a grand slam, catching albies, stripers and bluefish. Tim has had an especially good week with the stripers.

The North Fork isn’t quite there yet, but that’s typically how it goes this time of year. The NoFo is always a tad later than the SoFo. There are Spanish mackerel around Jones Inlet, and there’s still a ton of bluefish and bait in the back bays.

The LI Flyrodders and Trout Unlimited sponsored a fundraiser for Casting for Recovery at the Connetquot this week, to raise money for the organization that is raising awareness for breast cancer. The ladies all had a great time and caught some good fish.

Paul brought a group of anglers up to the Farmington this Monday. It was beautiful, hot, and the water was low. A lot of fish were caught, but you had to know what you were doing. Size 12 October Caddis was the fly of choice.

This weekend there are two events worthy of note. The first is on Saturday at Belmont Lake. It is a women’s fishing event; men are welcome, but the idea is to get more women into fishing! The other event is Castoberfest, taking place on Sunday and Monday the 29 & 30. It is at Montauk Lake Club. Demo Sage and Rio products, eat some bbq supplied by North Fork Iron Works and beers by Montauk Brewing Co. Can’t say no to that. See you there!

Kathy at Freeport Bait & Tackle had one angler report on some big porgies on the rock pile at Jones Beach Field 10. Most of the summer porgies that Kathy heard of came from the north shore, so to hear that they are now gracing the south shore is a pleasant surprise. Look for them in the rocks.

Another customer, Manuel Espegel, said he had porgies like he’s never seen before, in Jamaica Bay. He caught a boat load of 12-14 inch porgies this week. Some bigger stripers came from Roslyn, near the Viaduct.

Stripers are also coming in the Jones Inlet at West End II, slowly but surely. The big catch these days is the cocktail blues and snappers. These fish are hanging around the massive schools of peanut bunker in the bays and canals.

Blowfish are also taking anglers’ baits, near the State Channel at Pier 10. There are lots there, and they are delicious.

An important note of warning to boat anglers. The big heaves we have experienced as a result of the recent hurricanes/storms have made the inlets very difficult to navigate. One customer of Kathy’s told her of his difficulties making it out of the inlet one day this week. He had to wait for a while inside, and then follow one of the huge party boats out. Once he got out, the water was pretty calm and navigable, but the path to get there was certainly treacherous. Be careful out there!

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Suffolk County

Lindenhurst Bait & Tackle says that a variety of species move into the Great South Bay and Fire Island Inlet as the water temperatures drop. Bay and inlet fluke reports have been consistent and good this week. Many anglers have revisited their usual early season fluke spots and have scored multiple keepers. Charlie and Diane Hofer drifted the Fire Island Coast Guard and Robert Moses Bridge areas with XL local spearing and squid strips. The duo caught four keeper fluke to 22″ on the outgoing tide. Rich from the shop fished a few hours on Thursday afternoon. He boated 2 keeper fluke and a pair of triggerfish to 3.78 pounds drifting the South side of the Great South Bay.

Mike Hearns confirmed that stripers have come inside the State Boat Channel and Fire Island Inlet. Mike had bass of 28, 30, and 34 inches on the three trips he made this week.

On Sunday morning Frank Betting took his daughter Amanda to the Kismet Reef. After anchoring at the first of the incoming tide with clam chum, it was non-stop action. Fresh clam on hi-Lo rigs helped them put several jumbo porgies, a dozen blowfish, kingfish, and Amanda’s 23 inch weakfish on the boat.

Meanwhile Marshall Marinace tried a few drifts by the Coast Guard station. He caught several fluke including a 6.6 pounder that jumped on XL local spearing and squid. “Turkish Tony” has encountered Spanish mackerel, bluefish, “schoolie stripers”, fluke, blowfish, and triggerfish at the State Park Police Dock through the week. He’s been fishing fresh bunker, fresh clam and assorted jigs.

Bill at Chasing Tails Bait and Tackle in Oakdale says that weakfish stormed the bay this week. Big pods of weaks are running around the early morning tides attacking baitfish. They’re falling for small bucktails and jigs like bass assassins.

Some quality fluke are being picked up alongside the weakfish. A group of big fluke entered the bay during the week, and a few anglers got into some 5-8 pounders before they moved back out.

Seabass are still prevalent on the wrecks and reefs, taking clams and jigs. Some bigger fish have been reported this week. Albies, spanish mackerel, bonito and false amberjacks are still running around the ocean, falling for resin jigs.

Local docks are still loaded with snappers, and kingfish going a pound-and-up have been caught locally. Crabbing is also going strong.

In the freshwater, largemouth are prowling for baitfish, so now’s a great time to throw swim baits, spinners, poppers and crank baits. Top water options are also viable, and they stand a chance at success throughout the day this time of year. Frogs, poppers, ploppers, and wake baits are all getting whacked. Senkos are also a great fallback lure if nothing else is working.
Panfish are schooled up and hungry, eating worms and small jigs.

Trout action has been picking up with the cooler weather heading our way. Trout magnets, inline spinners, worms, and dough balls will all produce. For the fly guys – try tying on black caddis, midges, spinners, and sulfurs. They have been getting whacked during the morning and evening hatches. Terrestrials, beetles in particular, have been getting slurped during the daylight.

Captain Stu Paterson of Northport Charters says the porgy bite is still cranking, with 2-2.5 pound fish coming up. There is still a lot of bait, and the cocktail blues are all over it. Some stripers started to show this week. Unfortunately, the Northwest blow kept him beached most of the week.

Kenny at Tight Lines Tackle in Sag Harbor says it was a tough week at Shinnecock. The fire bite cooled down a lot with the big storm surges we received. The water dirtied up and the fishing slowed immensely.

One of the cuts was open, and that produced some okay stripers, just-keepers, but that has since closed. Mullet were running the beach this week and getting slaughtered by bass.

Savio Mizzi sent Kenny some video from Montauk that looked awesome. Lots of striped bass blowing up on the surface, making for easy, exciting action on the boat. He’s been doing work on the albies, stripers and fluke.

Kenny heard of a fluke just shy of ten pounds out in Montauk. There are a few more days left in the fluke season, and some doormats are hitting the decks. The reports from Sag Harbor have all but ceased.

Blackfish opens a little later than usual this year, which is good because the water is still warm.
He has some incredible stuff in his shop, so I’m excited to see the site!

Glen Mikkelson is dropping off a bunch of freshly-tied flies this week, so if you’re in the market give him a shout.

Rick Drew at Harbor Marina of East Hampton says the bluefin tuna bite fell off pretty hard due south of Montauk over the weekend, with some reports of a few fish being caught further to the east. The scallop dragger fleet that was consolidated south of the Cartwright area broke up on Friday, moving to different locations, and the tuna seem to have followed. There is still a lot of interest and Rick thinks it is worthwhile to give them another shot this weekend, weather permitting.

Fluke fishing is waning, but the season remains open until Monday, and there are spots that hold late-season fish. Seabass are the main event for bottom fishermen, with some real jumbos being caught in the eastern Sound and off Block Island. Porgies are fairly abundant, and they complement seabass nicely when bottom fishing.

Schoolie stripers are blitzing, keeping anglers busy around Montauk Point and the rips around eastern LI. Unfortunately, the lack of bigger fish is very troubling at this time of year. Perhaps striper stocks are actually lower than projected by the fisheries commission.

Bluefish and albies are tearing it up from Shelter Island to Montauk. If you are looking for some fast action, this may be your best bet.

Tanya at Westlake Marina in Montauk said some really nice stripers came in the past few days. There are some huge fish off the point right now. A 55.2 pounder came over the rails on the Double D, caught by Nick Turner.

On Saturday, 14 year old Garrett Lilienthal was fishing on his dad’s boat Reel Busy when e 50.9 pound striper hit the tube he was trolling. Way to go kid! A bunch of fish are falling to the trolled tubes right now, but the live bait is working just as well. Live eels and porgies are the bait of choice.

Fluke fishing is pretty decent right now, so get in on it before the season closes! We’re in the final stretch. Some swordfish have been making a comeback in the Fishtales area. Chris from the Westlake was there and had himself a great time.

Captain Chris Albronda, first mate of Double D Charters in Montauk, says the striped bass fishing is the best he’s seen it in twenty years. Fish of all sizes from schoolies to cows are biting. Albies have been thick from shagwong to the inlet, and pods of blitzing schoolie to keeper-sized bass hang around the south side with some false albacore in the mix.

Chris at Wego Fishing Bait & Tackle in Southold says the bays still have plenty of large porgies kicking around. Large snappers, borderline cocktail blues, are hanging out in Southold bay.

Chris fished the Race two days ago, and there were loads of sea bass, cocktail blues, and small bass kicking around.

NY surfcasting guide Bernie Bass had a good week in the suds, with good numbers of small bass. No big girls yet, but he’s sure they’re around; just gotta keep grinding. He had a good week with the albies, but that action slowed in the latter half of the week as the water dirtied. He had a few spanish mackerel in the mix while targeting the albies.

Eli Hamid and his son Bryce fished Shinnecock Bay this past weekend and had 6 short fluke, unable to produce a keeper. They moved up to the peconics and discovered some awesome porgy fishing. The young angler Bryce ended up boating a monster porgy all by himself. Great work fellas!

Chris Ravn sailed to Plum Gut this week and found a real nice mixed bag. He put an 11 pound fluke in the boat while bucktailing for bass. He also found lots of short bass and tons of bluefish there. Afterwards, he headed to Noyack Bay and found a bunch of weakfish, including an 18-incher.

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

Long Island Fishing Forecast

This past week was a tough one to get a handle on. The big, long-period swells created large waves and heavy currents that moved tons of sand. Water became dirty, and the fishing became more difficult. I headed towards the sweetwater.

I came upon a crazy brackish water bite that was equally difficult to unlock. I fished it for 5 days and couldn’t buy a bite from fish that were practically blitzing. Although I feel defeated, the ocean is calming down, and I’m going back into the salt with a very strong will to break the skunk.

We’ve got a nice week ahead, with favorable winds and temperatures. When the wind starts blowing primarily out of the north, we’ll see bunker come close to shore, and I always hope that coincides with a run of nice stripers. 5 or 6 years back, we saw some serious big-fish blitzes on the bunker pods when the wind blew southward over a flat ocean. First came the big stripers on pencil poppers and snag-and-drop, then enormous bluefish. I’d love to see that again… and it’s about that time.

Can’t forget about the gill nets though. They’re back, and they’ll make sure those blitzes can’t grow too large. I’m watching the beach closely, and the whales going by daily suggest that the bunker is still here.

Regardless, the ocean is calming down and it should be easier to see exactly what’s going on, starting this week. Soft structure should have changed up a good bit, so surfcasters should get back out there and do some scouting for spots.

I’m heading out to find tuna tomorrow with a couple friends, and then I’ll be in the surf at nights. During the day, I’ll watch the beach looking for nervous fish.

It’s going to be a great week for fishing. Get out there and enjoy it while it lasts!