Long Island Fishing Report – September 5, 2019

Pictured Above: Noah Saxton’s almaco Jack.

Long Island Fishing Report

That swell we just had made the bays gush out a ton of bait, ushering in the offshore species. Those fortunate enough to be there had a heck of a time with the tropical species. The first confirmed albies were caught from the rocks, and mixed bags became the norm: multiple jack species, banded rudder fish, bonitos, Spanish mackerel and infinite cocktail blues regularly hit the rocks.

A new school of strong, healthy striped bass has moved into Montauk for the boat crowds. There are some pretty big ones in the mix. Shore bound anglers are toying with the smaller stock of schoolies.

Stripers up to about 32 inches have been biting along the south shore ocean beaches. Fluking in Montauk was awesome this past week, with more than a few double-digit flatties. Offshore scene is still producing well, with catches of wahoo, yellowfin and marlin.

Nassau County

Fluke and Mahi made up the catches at Bay Park Fishing Station in Oceanside this week. Glenn and Will Keller fished aboard the Huntress at the AB Reef and got eight keeper fluke, the largest being 5.5 pounds. They caught an additional 40 fluke using spearing as bait.

This weekend on One More Cast, Tom McKelbey, Sue Bertolline, and John McMurray got into some keeper dolphins. Sue’s went 19 pounds and 44 inches; Tom’s was 17.25 pounds and 41 inches.

Steve Sanders fished aboard the Nansea II and got a 9.5 pound fluke. Steve caught the doormat using Bay Park spearing and squid.

Kathy at Freeport Bait & Tackle had a crazy weekend where the whole world went out to fish. A lot of those people found the fish as well, making for a good week in the suds. The only report with a name to it comes from Devon Fosco, fishing with Captain Jason Fosco of Team Cannonball Charters, aboard the Solitude. The eight year old had a triple hook up of sea bass, all on one rig! They were fishing in Montauk when Devon had his awesome catch.

Some bigger bluefish moved in, so it’s not just cocktails on the scene. There’s still plenty of schoolie stripers. Anglers are starting to keep their lips sealed about their catches, but nothing big to speak of yet. The fluking has been going very well, with plenty of fish both outside and inside. Snappers are good all over.
The blue claw crabbing has been awesome as of late. There’s a ton of them, and they’re quite large. There are triggerfish and Spanish mackerel hitting near the construction dock inside Jones inlet. The mackerel were a welcome surprise when one angler landed four while fishing the bottom with a fluke rig.

Paul at River Bay Outfitters in Baldwin has been having a great year of fishing, in both the salt and fresh waters. He says the amount of bait in the back bays is incredible. He’s optimistic that the incoming storm will not blow it all out.

The snappers in the bays are huge, at about 12 inches now. The stripers, which are usually very elusive and lethargic this time of year are, on the contrary, very present and sprightly.
Elwood Flies Bill fished the Peconic freshwaters for a couple days this week and got into some awesome fishing. Everything was out and about, chewing on his flies. Fly fishing from his kayak, he scored plenty of bass, pickerel and panfish.

The Farmington River trip that River Bay hosted was successful as well, with many fish coming to hand. Paul heard the albies started biting in Montauk, but they are few and far between.
On Thursday nights, River Bay hosts guest speakers who give seminars on all sorts of different types of fishing.

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Suffolk County

Bill at Chasing Tails Bait and Tackle in Oakdale has been hearing reports of schoolie to keeper-sized bass lately. Diamond jigs, bass assassins, and bucktails have been catching stripers.

Weakfish have been running the tides as well, taking bass assassins and small bucktails. The bay is loaded with shorts, with an occasional keeper from 4-6 pounds. Bucktails with Gulp or the classic squid/spearing combo on a rig will do the trick.

At the jetties, Spanish Macks and bonito are smashing the resin/epoxy jigs, diamond jigs, and kastmasters.

Seabass action on the reef and wrecks is on fire with nice fish. Ling and fluke are hanging out there as well. The town docks are holding snappers, which are still growing by the day. Snapper poppers, kastmasters, or just a plain old spearing should produce numbers.

Move to the lakes in the early morning and evenings for a fun topwater bite. Frogs, mice, poppers, ploppers and wake baits are all getting destroyed by big, hungry bass. Slow it down with senkos or jigs during the day.

Will Ganshaw landed a 4-pound bass on Sunday morning while tossing frogs into the lily pads. Pickerel are still aggressive, biting on anything that swims in their path.

Yellow perch and sunfish are out in big schools and can be easily persuaded by a worm under a bobber. Vin Cagnina had a ton of fun on his 3wt fly rod playing with the perch the other day. The fish couldn’t say no to his small olive wooly buggers and leeches.

Mark at Cow Harbor Bait & Tackle in Northport says the action is red hot all around this week. There are a ton of boats out there getting into some good fish. There are some beautiful fluke, nice sea bass, and the porgies are red hot. There are lots of snappers in the bay, and the weakfish are coming up regularly, to about 15 inches. The biggest weakfish Mark’s seen was about 19 inches.

There are plenty of puffers and bluefish as well. Mark was dropping rigs to the bottom and getting immediate hits from its of 4 to 5-pound bluefish. He expects the false albacore to hit the shores and beaches soon, perhaps very shortly after the storm’s effects wear off. Keep your eyes peeled!

Captain Stu Paterson of Northport Charters is still catching nice porgies to three pounds in the Northport/Huntington region. There is a ton of small bait in the harbors, such as spearing, bay anchovies and peanut bunker. Move out to the bay and Sound and you’d find lots of adult bunker. He’s also been putting his charters on some fluke, kingfish, and cocktail blues.

Steven at Wego Fishing Bait & Tackle in Southold weighed in some really nice weakfish taken from the Greenport area and buoy 16 by Noyac. In those areas one would also find some nice porgies, kingfish, and tons of nice-sized snappers for the kids. The blue claw scene has been awesome this year, and still is.

The Sound side is starting to pick up. There seem to be infinite cocktail blues, at 2-3 pounds. Small bass are also showing up along the Sound. Steven says the albies have showed up, evidenced by the epoxy jigs flying off his shelves.

The seabass on the Sound side are huge right now, near the north side of Plum, Pigeons, and Little & Big Gull. All your blackfish spots will hold them right now. The water is getting cooler, so they are all grouping up.

Guys who made the run to Montauk had an amazing day on Sunday. There were lots of fish 4-6 pounds, and even some way bigger. Most anglers left them biting, sailing home with limits after a phenomenal day.

Jeff at Whitewater Outfitters in Hampton Bays says the fall run activity is starting. There is LOADS of bait moving around, especially bay anchovies. There have been bass blitzes surfacing here and there, and a few albies have shown up as well. It’s been a pelagic fest, with lots of bonito and Spanish mackerel. Jeff recommends every angler get off his/her hind quarters and wet some lines.

Rick Drew from Harbor Marina of East Hampton reports that the recent northeast winds over Labor Day Weekend did a great job of stirring up the waters of eastern Long Island, but did not deliver the usual strong bite at Montauk.

Block Island delivered on Friday for both quality stripers and jumbo seabass in the morning, until the southwest winds kicked up around noon. Saturday was a nice day on Gardiners Bay, with good bottom fishing along the Fishers Island chain for both seabass and porgies. In addition, the bluefish bite was pretty good in the Race, but the stripers weren’t present.

Sunday showed 15-20 mph northeast winds, creating rough, short period seas (which were much higher than forecasted), and standing rip lines off Montauk Point. Unfortunately, the absence of both stripers and blues along the rips was quite troubling. Noreasters tend to produce great fishing along the Montauk rips and east-facing shoreline.

Rick remains hopeful that Dorian will act as a “reset button” and move some quality gamefish back into the waters of eastern Long Island. We should get at least one more good stretch of fluking before the season comes to an end, likely after Dorian’s turbulent seas relax.

Given the very inconsistent striper bite this year, and a relative absence of certain year classes, Rick concurs with recent studies that the striper population is down considerably from a few years ago. Some studies show that it is down as much as 40%. The ASMFC is taking public comment for new striper regulations for the 2020 season. Everybody is encouraged to participate in this public comment period, which goes until 9/27/19. To learn more visit: www.asmfc.org
Thanks for the info Rick.

Chris at Westlake Marina in Montauk lauded the offshore scene, as he and many others found success in the blue water. A blue marlin was caught and released by 17 year old Max Polsky on his dad’s boat. The fish was measured at 90 inches, which is an estimated 227 pounds. 12 year old Richie Rade III caught a 219 pound thresher about three miles off the beach.

An 11.6 pound fluke was weighed in this week, caught on Frank Nato’s boat. Another blue marlin was caught on Ron Catina’s boat “Gotta Fly.” That fish was estimated at 300 pounds, and he caught three yellowfin to go with it.

A nice Wahoo was caught aboard Chris’ boat by Lance Snead about 75 miles out. That fish went 45 pounds, and they caught a bunch of mahi mahi as well. Inshore, there has been some better striper activity around the point lately. Sea bass activity remains very strong, and the fluke fishing has also been pretty good.

Captain Chris Albronda, first mate of Double D Charters in Montauk, says the striper fishing is top notch. He saw a new school of bass move in this week, with a lot more healthy looking fish. They are hungry, and there is no shortage of them.

The false albacore have arrived, along with the Spanish mackerel and green bonitos.
Fluke fishing remains world class, with many double digit fluke coming over the rails. There are also some very large sea bass in the mix.

Surf fishing guide Bernie Bass is back on the bite, with good numbers of surf stripers this week. He’s caught a lot of fish, but nothing big yet. There is a ton of bait in the water, with bass and small blues all over it. The fish have been on both sides of the tides, and active during both the day and night tides. He thinks it’s setting up to be a great fall. Fish were taken on a variety of lures this past week: bucktails, needlefish, SP minnows, and soft plastics.

Noah Saxton had a nice Almaco jack hit his four-inch Fin-S fish at the top of the tide at Shinnecock a few days ago. He was snap jigging tight to the rocks with a ¾ ounce jig when the jack hit. There was tons of bait present. Awesome catch Noah!

Long Island Fishing Forecast

Stripers are blitzing along the south fork beaches, typically during turbulent times. I caught a few 30-inch bass on Labor Day while tornadoes were tormenting the island. The bass were blitzing alongside huge hickory shad, violently tearing through the enormous amount of spearing.
A seemingly endless supply of adult bunker and spearing can be found along almost all the south fork beaches. Whales and dolphins have provided the main show around these massive schools. If you’re very lucky, and have a rod on hand, you might be able to pull a large bass out of the bunker schools. My boss texted me from the lifeguard stand on Monday “grab yer popper,” when he saw a school of large bass sending adult bunker flying. I got to the beach within 3 minutes of that text, and the bass had disappeared.

Most of us will get blown off the water this Friday and Saturday when Dorian’s effects reach us. The hardcore will fish Montauk Point during the most hellish weather. Hopefully the weather won’t dirty up the water too much and send all this bait a’running. If I was a betting man, I’d go all in on the inlets around this time. Whether you’re looking for big bass or albies, or anything else, you’re going to find it in those strong currents.

Tight lines. Stay safe out there.

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