Pictured Above: Stephen Lobosco with a robust keeper this morning.
Long Island Fishing Report
Small schoolie stripers are all over Long Island beaches, and some better quality bass showed up this morning. Surfcasters were catching thirty-inch fish around high tide this morning on the open beach. Gannets indicate the presence of larger bait, maybe herring. I know some surfcasters who broke off some good bass in the past few days.
Blackfish and black seabass have been providing anglers around the island good, consistent action. Black seabass are out in deeper water, and blackfish are around all sorts of rocky areas. Cod has been a somewhat common bycatch.
Nassau County
Robert at LI Outdoorsman in Rockville Centre says there are still lots of stripers there. It is mainly schoolie bass up to 28 inches. East Rockaway inlet was filled with them. Both boat and surf anglers alike are getting in on the action. Small tins and teasers, bucktails, and slim profile lures are most productive. A few guys are trolling mojos in deeper water and getting into slightly larger fish, from 30-35 inches. The bite is mostly a daybreak occurrence, as the primary forage is sandeels.
Robert had a couple nice blackfish on the reef the other day. Green crabs fished on either the Atlantic, Hempstead and Rockaway reefs should be a productive approach.
A little farther out, anglers are getting in on some real good seabass action. Everybody is getting a limit, and the fish have been pretty big. When the weather cooperates, the fish are there.
Get it in while you can, because the incoming weather will create unfriendly seas for a while. We’re supposed to have high winds for about a week.
Kathy from Freeport Bait & Tackle said there’s a lot of schoolie stripers around, and people are even finding some keepers. One customer had good luck at the Atlantic beach pier. Kathy is still selling a good amount of live eels and clams for anglers looking to fish with bait.
The shop is also carrying plenty of green and white crabs, as anglers are going for blackfish regularly. Boat guys are hitting them on the reefs, and the surf guys are doing well with smaller fish on the rocks. The underside of a bridge is a good bet. Other anglers are heading to the north shore for tog.
Porgy fishing efforts have ceased.
The offshore scene seems to be producing, as evidenced by Jason Fosco’s marlin caught in the Wilmington canyon.
There’s just one report from Bay Park Fishing Station in Oceanside this week. Anthony Proto of “The Beast” fished the highlands reef in 47 feet of water and caught a 10.5 pound blackfish. He used white crabs paired with KO blackfish rigs to catch the fish.
Brian Spreckels has been fishing a significant area from the western north shore to the south shore beaches. He’s been finding ravenous bass most mornings at first light on the sand beaches around central LI. Lime green A27’s and lime green hex jigs are the ticket, just retrieve slowly and bounce the jig along the bottom. He’s been staying on top of this bite because the western north shore is a little slow this time of year. Check out his youtube page (Bsprecks fishing) to see what kind of methods are getting the job done these days.
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Suffolk County
Dave Flanagan of North Island Fly guide service in Smithtown says it was a slow week, although he did get some good blackfish. It was a tough bite, but when they found the fish, they found a number of them.
He reckons there are still some schoolie stripers hanging around the north shore, but it seems most of the bass have passed and gone way west by the Throgs Neck, and up into the rivers of Connecticut.
Lindenhurst Bait & Tackle says the stripers were biting real well last week. Tom Cornelia from the shop and his crew caught a bunch of solid keeper bass from the boat.
Drew Maniscalco made it out on the Captree Princess and caught a twelve-pound cod to take the pool money.
Jeff at Whitewater Outfitters in Hampton Bays says there’s still tons of bass around. There are a lot of small ones, but anglers this morning were finally getting into some keepers up to and around 30 inches.
People are getting some seabass in about 200 feet of water by the wrecks.
The blackfish bite is still going on, but the effort has begun to dwindle as the temperatures decrease. The reef has a slow pick of them. Waters off Montauk and Block have them. Fishers and Orient would be good bets for anglers sailing from the north fork.
Chris from Double D Charters in Montauk, says striped bass fishing is still real good, with plenty of surface action.
Tog fishing is excellent right now, with a lot of double digit fish being caught. They ended up doing a lot of catch and release the other day. They’re planning on hauling out soon too, so book your trip ASAP if you plan on getting a shot at a double digit tog.
Black seabass fishing is lights out, with plenty of monsters being caught. There’s typically an occasional cod to mix up the bag.
Stephen Lobosco and Matt Heckman were those surfcasters I mentioned catching keeper fish in the east end surf this morning. I met up with them for a bit, and watched Matt catch a few. I got one hard hit in the half hour I fished. The tide was high, the wind was low, the gannets were out and the water looked luscious. Matt caught a few solid bass on soft plastics. Stephen and his wife fished up the beach a few miles and got into some real nice bass as well. Once I’m done here, I’ll be right back out there in the suds.
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Long Island Fishing Forecast
There aren’t very many reports today, so I did a little casting this morning before I wrote. As I said, we found some fish. It’s been a while since there has been any size to these surf bass. The ones I saw this morning were thick, and I’m betting there’s gonna be some even bigger fish raiding the surf tonight. I finally feel motivated to get back out there. I haven’t caught a striper in a week. The monotony of catching endless short stripers pushed me towards the freshwater.
I’ve been throwing poppers to largemouths, flies to carp, and all sorts of stuff to perch. I did quite well in all three of those situations, but they all presented serious challenges.
I know I could’ve ditched the challenge and hammered 40 twenty-inch bass in just as many casts if I went to the ocean. I would not have enjoyed that nearly as much as taking 40 casts for one 14-inch fish. I find fishing a lot more enjoyable when there is a challenge, and I have to improvise to overcome it. That is when learning occurs, and the joy of providing myself with this kind of knowledge/education is what keeps me coming back every single day.
That being said, the monotony seems to be gone, with the arrival of some larger surf bass in the past few days. Back to the salt I go. I’m mixing in a lot of white perch fishing now, though. They can be very tough, and we’ve got some of the biggest in the world. Catching a giant white perch on light tackle after attempting multiple baits and presentations is very much like catching a giant striped bass in the surf after the same trials and tribulations. Pure stoke.
No matter what kind of fishing you’re into, there are a lot of good reasons to keep some rods in your car right now. When one fishery gets closed down due to weather, you can learn how to bend the rod with another species. The more you diversify, the more you’ll learn, and you’ll forever become a better angler. Never stop forcing yourself to learn!!
Tight lines, ‘til next week.
To contact the author, please email him at TKRegan12@gmail.com