Long Island - New York Fishing Report - June 18, 2020

30-plus pound striped bass are getting caught by boat guys on the bunker schools, and sharpies in the nighttime surf.

Big fluke are becoming a regular occurrence. 10-plus-pounders are being taken in Montauk.

The offshore bluefin tuna bite this week has been great.

Big humpback whales have been lunge-feeding (breaching) very close to shore.

Some big threshers are coming to the scales.

Solid cod fishing.

Red hake marathons offshore.

Good weakfish run mid-island.

Vinny from CrossBay Bait and Tackle in Howard Beach says the bite hasn’t changed very much. The porgy action is very slow right now. There are some bluefish here and there.

Fluking has been okay. There are lots of fish around, but you only get about one keeper for every eight fish you catch. Gulp has been working well. Guys will tip a light spro ducktail with a nuclear chicken Gulp grub. 

The shark bite has been worthy of mention. One guy from the shop went out the other day and caught a 280-pound thresher. He’s back at it again today.

The striper bite is still on, but it’s quite slow. You can find them in back by the airport, and by Breezy Point as well.

The sea bass bite is hot on the reefs, but we are still unable to keep any. The season will open up on 6/23, and hopefully they remain ravenous.

Paul at River Bay Outfitters in Baldwin said the LI Flyrodders trip to the Connetquot this week was pretty tough, but chock full of big fish. Most guys got 4 or 5 brooks/rainbows in a 4-hour session. Paul informed me about the stocking program, which has excluded brown trout for the past 4 years or so. Browns and brooks spawn at the same time, so the stocking of brown trout became detrimental to the brook trout population. The Park removed all the spawning brown trout in the river and relocated them to Belmont Lake. Despite rumors I’ve heard that all trout die in Belmont annually, Paul informed me that some browns find holes and colder water pockets to survive the full year. Pretty cool!

Some fellas went up to the Farmington River with Paul this week. The beautiful weather was enjoyable, but made for some tough fishing for most anglers. Dennis, however, stayed there three days and brought about 30 fish to hand. He was throwing a lot of size 22 and 24’s. A ton of sulfurs came up, which made for a good bite at one point.

On the saltwater side, Paul’s been getting word from guides like Dave Flanagan and Tim O’Rourke (Montauk) that the bite has been consistently good. These guys have been able to get some sight fishing in this week.

Paul reckons the cooler weather we’ve been experiencing this past month will extend the period fish will remain active and on the feed.

Paul is doing a Zoom call tonight at 7pm, all about trout and where to catch them. He’ll be covering topics like “gear to bring,” and the different locations one can find trout in NJ, CT, Putnam and Westchester counties. If you’re interested in trout, do not miss this! Zoom meeting ID: 886 3309 8414.

Bay Park Fishing Station in Oceanside had a nice mix of solid reports this week. On Friday 6/12, Matt French fished the Bay of Fundy. He picked up a nice fluke at six pounds using the KO “killer fluke rig.”

On Saturday, Captain Noel and Jeff of Betty’s Ayes caught and released one 40 inch striper, and kept one fish at 34 inches. These bass came from 45 feet of water to the west of Debs while trolling a white bunker spoon.

Michael Flynn fished aboard the Atlantic Pearl of the Captain Lou Fleet on Tuesday and boated a 35 pound cod on a Bay Park KO “killer cod rig.” The photo of him and his fish might be my favorite fishing picture I’ve seen this year.

Nick and John Hanechak of Reel Devocean drifted by the cement block this Tuesday, targeting fluke with Bay Park spearing and cut squid. They brought a 6.25 pound fluke to hand.

On Wednesday, Scott O’Starch of “Emilee T” bagged a 190-pound thresher in 180 feet of water at the Mud Hole. The whiptail devoured a fresh bunker and fought Scott for over two hours.

Phil at Cow Harbor Bait & Tackle in Northport says there’s a lot of slot-sized stripers in the Triangle area right now. The porgies have likely bailed on the Triangle because of this fact. You’ll find those porgies closer to shore now (and that bite is great).

Back to the bass though. The slot-sized fish are mostly on sandeels. You can find them anywhere from Huntington to crab meadow. The bigger fish are in the Triangle for the most part, haunting bunker schools in the Sound. Guys who are trolling have to keep their eyes on the fish finder. The bigger fish are coming on bunker spoons. If you want a slot fish, switch to an umbrella rig.

Guys who are chunking from the beach have been doing quite well at night. The average size of their fish is between 30 and 40 inches.

Fluking has been pretty good. A couple double-digits were weighed in this week. A lot of fluke are spitting up baby porgies. Lots of short fluke can be found adhering to the sandeel clouds. Bigger fluke are scattered around the rock piles. Fishing for them will be good throughout the rest of June. Once July hits, we’ll see fewer doormats in this area.

Last but not least, the shad have been around and aggressive. Light tackle guys, get out there and enjoy.

Bill at Chasing Tails Bait and Tackle in Oakdale says lots of big stripers have moved into our local waters, and they are hungry! Most are adhering to the bunker schools, so live bunker and trolled mojos, bunker spoons and umbrella rigs are getting tons of action. Popping plugs and big swim shads are also getting action. There are plenty of fish in the thirty pound range, and lots of real solid 40+ pound fish coming up.

Bluefish are still around in big numbers and sizes, as 5- to 8-pound fish are to be expected, and 12-pound fish are still crushing everything in sight.

Fluke action is heating up with more keeper-sized fish being caught. The classic squid/spearing combo on a rig is putting good fish in the boat. Bucktails and gulp jigs are getting hammered too.

Weakfish are running heavily on the tides, and they are all over the soft plastics. We have both cocktail and bruiser blues cruising the docks area. Plenty of kingfish and solid blowfish are getting caught as well.

If you like party boat fishing, keep an eye on the website for Captree’s Laura Lee. On Thursday they recommended people come aboard for Friday’s Hake Marathon. Great call, because 910 BIG red hake were caught the next morning. 96 sea bass, a cod, lots of dogfish, 37 ocean pout and 6 cunner were also landed. The other trips Friday saw about 100 fluke, a few dozen bluefish, and a handful of stripers.

The rest of the weekend, anglers saw many more fluke and sea robins, some whiting, ling, bluefish, and about 20 weakfish.

The same species occurred in comparable numbers throughout the beginning of this week. 

Yesterday consisted of another hake marathon at 830 fish. You could call the bite for other species marathons as well. They boated 320 sea bass, 42 cunner, and 155 ocean pout. They added 2 silver eels to 35 inches, some cod and flounder to that bag.

Surfcasting guide Bernie Bass had a good week in the suds. He discovered good numbers of striped bass, with some decent fish in the mix.

The bluefish bite did not cease, although the fish have shrunk. He was catching mostly cocktails this week. The night bite did produce a good amount of blues, and some better ones as well.

Bernie’s been observing lots of bunker along the south shore and in the peconics.

Tyler at Wego Fishing Bait & Tackle in Southold says the fluking has been better in the bay as of late. Sea robins are beginning to push out, so they’re not jumping on the hook immediately as soon as it hits the bottom, allowing for more frequent fluke catches. Guys are seeing some bigger fish finally. A bunch of fish were reported this week up to 9 pounds.

Gardiners is supposed to have better fluke than the bays. One client this morning remarked “the farther east you go, the bigger the fluke are.” Tyler tells me that Montauk has been the best by far.

There are tons of porgies in the bay still. Guys are getting some big ones off the Sound beaches.

Speaking of the Sound beaches, Rob Koch (who won the Surf Rats Ball June tourney a few years back with a 60 pound bass) nailed a couple 40 pound stripers one night this week, using a NorthBar plug.

There are bass and blues in the bay. Bigger bass are here; there are plenty of slot fish now, and some over-slot fish.

Bluefish are typically outworking the bass during the day, especially at Jessups. When the light falls, though, the bass take over the bite.

The blowfish bite has slowed down a touch. That’s typical: they’ll show up, then depart, and return after a brief hiatus. So don’t give up on them!

Jeff at Whitewater Outfitters in Hampton Bays says there’s a crazy bluefin tuna bite going on offshore. “Really good. Like really friggin good,” he says. There are lots of fish; plenty of smaller ones in the 30-40 fathom range. The shipping lanes area seems to be filled with them.

We’ve been seeing lots of big bass on the bunker pods inshore and guys have not had much trouble catching them.

If you want big blues, you’ll find them on those bunker schools as well. They’ve departed the bays for the most part. Now the bay is inundated with cocktails and schoolie bass.

Fluke fishing has been a bit slow. The ocean’s been mostly unproductive, but the bay has been improving. 

There have been some good porgies in the canal, as well as a few fluke here and there. Blowfish are also in.

Sea bass season starts soon, and the bite has been stellar. We’re hoping that will continue right into the season opener.

Rick from Harbor Marina of East Hampton reports: the east winds have hampered the nearshore bluefin bite, although a few fish have been picked at the Butterfish Hole and down west at the Coimbra. Hopefully the shift back to a southerly flow will turn the bite back on.

Some better reports of weakfish are coming in from the central Peconics. Porgies are still hot in Cherry Harbor and a few jumbos are starting to be caught in Montauk.

The June new moon should start the hunt for trophy Striped Bass for the 2020 season…. Remember that this year’s regulations are 28 to 35 inches. Let’s switch up the treble hooks to single hooks and always use circle hooks with eels and bait.

Rick is personally looking forward to some Father’s Day fluking fishing this weekend. Tight lines!

Bill Wetzel of the Surf Rats Ball fished the late night flood tide on Montauk’s south side this Friday. His charter quickly hooked into a bass on a SS needle, and then a few more. At midnight they moved to the north side to target fish chewing on sand eels. An olive SS needle produce Bill’s first fish, which was close to 20 pounds. The rest of the night produced about 6 more bass.

The next day Bill took his daughter out fishing in a canoe for pickerel, largemouth, and perch.

Back to Montauk for the night shift with Dave and co. Light southwest winds and calm seas promised potential. Two small fish came from the south side rocks; the north side was the next destination, where they hooked into fish immediately on SS needles. A northeast wind picked up and shut the bite down. Bill reckons winds from the north shut down the potential for a sand eel bite.

One member report from Chris S showed a stout southwest wind that pushed a ton of seaweed into Montauk’s south side. The water was too dirty to be productive under those conditions.

Andrew Caruana currently leads the SRB June trophy tournament with a 48 pound striper taken on an eel jig this week.

Matt Broderick joined the leaderboard with a 36-pound fish he caught on 6/17.

Bill’s in Cuttyhunk now, so I’m excited to see what next week’s report brings!

David at Westlake Marina in Montauk says good numbers of bluefin were taken this past week. The kid’s board got bested with a 74.2 pounder, taken by 15 year old Parker Catena on his father’s boat “Gotta Fly.”

A bunch of nice fluke came to the docks as well. George Medlin weighed in a 10.95 pound doormat that he caught aboard his “Barbara Ann.” Many other fluke in the 7- to 10-pound range were weighed in this week.

The striped bass bite has lit up. There are plenty of slot fish in there, but a lot of charter clients are complaining about throwing back the 30- and 40-pounders they’re landing. I understand how spending $700 on a half-day of fishing, then having to throw back your big fish can be daunting. Unfortunately, many years of greed & over-harvesting have necessitated these new regulations. “If men were angels, there’d be no need for government.”

One cool thing that’s been occurring is giant porgies hopping on to diamond jigs intended for bass.

Another cool thing: someone caught a big sturgeon this week. David informed me that this is the third or fourth sturgeon caught this year by someone launching from Westlake. Word on the street is the gill nets have been catching them for years. Perhaps they’re making a long-anticipated comeback?

The surf bite has been hot, although it’s been kept pretty well under wraps. Nice bass have been taken from the rocks, by those willing to put in time. Some have been taken on the sand beaches in the evenings as well.

Long Island Fishing Forecast

The Surf Rats Ball tournament is exhilarating to watch right now. I feel like fewer fish were submitted around the moons for the past few years. The big surf bass reports seem to be pouring in during this past lunar cycle though. Anglers are really capitalizing on the current situation.

There are lots of big bass spread out all across Long Island, north and south, and guys are picking the big ones from many different areas.

The potential over the next five-or-so days is probably the highest it will be all year for catching trophy striped bass. Just get out there, and offer up some large baits. Do it often and long enough, and your bait might be lucky enough to cross paths with a giant.

I’ve been doing some 12-hour workdays this week, playing catchup, so I haven’t spent as much time fishing. I hate it when the “real world” interferes with the “real good world.” Although my fishing effort has waned slightly, I am still watching the bunker schools pretty regularly (when they’re visible) and getting some cool drone footage.

I can see the bluefish on top, the big bass coming up from below, and if I’m in the right area, multiple humpback whales lunge-feeding through the massive bunker schools. If you want to see what those whale breaches look like, check out my recent posts on my instagram page, @SouthForkSalt. One of my favorite parts about being on the ocean is regularly watching the whales. Scan the horizon diligently, and you’ll probably see a spout of salty mist being blown into the air on any given day. Tell the people around you that they’re there. Most beachgoers have no idea that there are whales IN our water! You can make somebody’s year if you help them witness just one. It’s an excellent feeling. The more people know about what our water holds, the better we can protect it.

Stephen Lobosco watched a couple sharks breach yesterday morning out east, not very far from shore. He believes they were Great White pups.

All that being said, I think that if there is one weekend out of the year to fish until you fall down, we’re coming up on it right now. No excuses.

Happy Father’s day to all you dads out there!! Enjoy!!!

Tight lines.