Long Island - New York Fishing Report

Schoolie blitzes out east, and scattered whispers of large stripers from shore. Slot-sized bass taken on live bait and trolling methods.

Real good fluke (and lots of them) were feeding in the bays during the blow.

Kingfish is a common theme, and weakfish are still on the menu.

Chopper blues are ravaging the North Shore.

Great sea bassing continues.

Paul at River Bay Outfitters in Baldwin says the Connetquot has been productive, even for those who typically have a tough time catching. The LI Flyrodders had a day there this week, and everyone was able to catch at least a few trout.

Paul ran a trip up to the Farmington. The story there is typical of most rivers north of us: low, clear water and spooky trout. The fish are getting hammered by anglers and birds, the water is like glass, and slow moving. The salmon river is exactly like this, and many fish can’t even get in to run up the river. We need rain!

One customer, Dennis, went out right by Jones beach this week and had a great day catching albies and bluefish. He saw some bass, but they wouldn’t take.

Paul says when you can get out of the wind, the fish are biting.

Surfcasting guide Bernie Bass had to grind this week to find some small bass. He slung S&S bucktails tipped with either fat cow jig strips or soft plastics.

No sign or word of albies this past week. Bernie thinks they could appear this week, along with some big bass. There’s definitely enough bait, and the temps are getting comfortable for our favorite fishes.

Captree’s Laura Lee attacked the bay before the blow. 12 fishermen on Friday had 196 fluke to 5.8 pounds, 48 sea bass, 1 bluefish and 27 sea robins. The other trips on Friday were similarly productive, with some toadfish, porgies and bluefish added to the roster.

Weakfish joined the ranks the following day, and catches made were comparable to the day before. Kingfish and blowfish were bonus catches.

Numbers of striped bass caught in the bay improved as the week progressed. Bluefish, weakfish and fluke kept rods constantly bent.

On Tuesday, 13 anglers caught 270 fluke, keeping 50. The afternoon trip only caught 95, but the fish went to 6.2 pounds. The nighttime trip produced a weakfish to 7.2 pounds, and 25 others.

Nighttime trips are being added for striped bass, weakfish and bluefish. Fluke fishing in the bay is the best of the year, with many limits being caught.

Phil at Cow Harbor Bait & Tackle in Northport says the wind hasn’t kept guys off the water. Most of the action is coming from schoolie bass at night in the surf. Some boat guys are getting out for them also.

Guys are getting out around sunset after work, and doing well throwing small poppers and kastmasters in the bay. Rubber shads are also producing. There’s lots of 2-6 inch bunker around, so the stripers are willing to strike imitations.

The wind is making it tough by dirtying up lots of waterbodies. North winds, which have been prevalent, make the water particularly dirty. Despite the murk, water temps are low enough to keep the fish biting. 

During the day, guys are getting cocktail blues along the Sound beaches, especially by Crab Meadow and Sunken Meadow. There is small bait everywhere, and there are no bad spots.

Bigger fish are tough to find right now though.

Weakfish are still getting caught, mostly by the guys who are throwing big bass worms in the back harbors. Fish are typically going to about 20 inches.

Blue claw crabs are also still in the harbors. Kings Park bluff is chock full of them.

Fluke are still in thick, hanging underneath the small bait, and the flatties are mostly small as well.

There are lots of kingfish. Those who haven’t become bored of the porgy scene have been reeling in lots of kings this week.

Dave Flanagan of “North Island Fly” had some good topwater bites this week with the bass and blues. Wednesday morning produced the most consistent action of the fall so far, with big blues 8-10 pounds destroying surface plugs. His client, Jeannine, caught her biggest bluefish ever, at 30 inches. He might’ve seen albies shortly after, but the wind picked up and pushed them back to shore. 

When the weather’s been good, the fishing has been great. Dave feels certain that the next few days will produce albies in the LI Sound. 

Celtic Quest Fishing Fleet of Port Jefferson pulled the short straw this week weather wise, as most of their trips were cancelled. Prior to the blow, they had some fantastic fishing on the porgy/seabass grounds, right into the nighttime. Trips resume as of Wednesday, and they’re hoping the fish are hungry after a half-week hiatus!

Steven at Wego Fishing Bait & Tackle in Southold says the bay is producing porgies, blowfish, and some weakfish. Head to buoy 17 for your bluefish. The Gut and Race are currently have an abundant population of bass and blues. You can go from the north side of plum all the way to Fishers Island for sea bass. There are some sea bass along the Sound as well. Hit the points for certain action; they’re all producing.

North forkers are still waiting for the albie scene to explode. It’s tough to tell when they’ll show, with all this poor weather. They have been spotted on the north side of plum though, and all the action so far has been from Gardiners to Montauk.

The bass scene is still a sunrise/sunset bite, although the cooler temps will soon kickstart the blitz season and provide potential for some nighttime large.

Bryce at Whitewater Outfitters in Hampton Bays says weather-wise, the week stunk, and that has had some ill effects on our fishing. Fret not, for there is some beautiful incoming weather that should really kick the fishing into high gear.

The fluke bite was strong going into that recent swell. The big water shut it down, but Bryce thinks we’ll finish out the remainder of the fluke season on a high note.

The bass fishing should be improving imminently and remain strong for the rest of the fall run. For now, the best bets have been dropping live baits in the inlet and by the bridge. Clam chumming is a good bet. Guys throwing plugs in the bay have been nailing numbers of bass, and the jetty jocks hucking bucktails from the inlet rocks are pulling up some slot fish.

There aren’t any reports of BIG bass just yet, but fish to 33-34 inches aren’t too rare. A good push of slot-sized fish just appeared in Montauk as well.

Although most fisheries fell off once the swell hit, the Black Sea bass fishing was phenomenal just prior. Bryce had a heck of a day in 110 feet of water, playing tug-o-war with some of the nicest seabass he’s ever seen.

Albie-wise, it’s about peak season right now, and we don’t have much to show for it. Bryce thinks this stretch of nice weather could make them show.

They’re starting to think about blackfish season at whitewater, and will be prepared with everything you need to tussle with some tautog this fall season.

Rick from Harbor Marina of East Hampton reports:

The recent Noreaster, a near-miss Hurricane and fall northwest winds have a lot of folks shaking their heads regarding when they will get out next. I do not know one person who ventured out over the past few days. I do know several who are planning to head out on the next calm day. 

While the boat fishing was shut down, surfcasting was pretty good over the weekend with fish caught along the sand beaches and out in Montauk, primarily in the coves. For the surf fishing enthusiasts, it is time to start putting in time.

It will be interesting to see how things will settle nearshore in the coming days. We may see one last shot at some nice fluke this weekend. Sea bass and Porgies should be strong well into the fall and the nice bite of stripers in Montauk should pick up where it left off pre-storm. 

When I left Plum Gut last week, Gator bluefish had just finished annihilating most of my light tackle. While I love the fight of big bluefish, I can do without the lost tackle and will bring heavier gear next time, just in case. I hope we will see more stripers and hard tails along the Fishers Island Chain going forward .

The offshore scene may be the biggest question mark facing local anglers, but if the pre-storm bite is any indication, we may see the 2020 Tuna season go out with a bang. I hope we will see an interim report on the Off-Shore scene this week?

As a passionate east end fisherman I feel blessed to have so many options during my favorite time of year.

Montauk’s Viking Fleet fished hard through the inclement weather this weekend, keeping rods bent all the while. George Valenzuela from Medford took the pool on Saturday with a 4.3 pound fluke. Some nice sea bass and porgies rounded out the catch. Joe Morek from Setauket put up a 2.7 pound porgy later in the day near Block Island.

Sunday’s edible pool was a 4.4 pound knothead sea bass, taken after a tough day. The Starship had to anchor up out of the wind to the south of Block for a while, before the conditions improved and they were able to find the honey hole.

Weather seems to have kept them off the water until Wednesday.

Chris at Westlake Marina in Montauk didn’t have any reports this week because boats weren’t getting out. The scuttlebutt all came from shore, with reports of blitzes around the point. It’s mostly schoolies from what Chris knows, although last Thursday some boats were trolling up slot-sized fish.

No word of any false albacore around yet.

Chris from Double D Charters in Montauk says this past week was a complete blowout. The days they did fish they focused primarily on stripers and sea bass. Those fisheries were both very productive.

Stranded on shore, Chris took to the surf to get his fix. There he hammered the striped bass using jointed plugs. Rockhoppers perched around the point did very well in the poor conditions, and Chris even saw some Spanish mackerel get landed and released.

This is the time of year when the bait in the harbor will exit, and the false albacore show up to intercept them. Chris feels certain they’ll show up in the next day or two, and he’s really looking forward to it.

Surf guide Bill Wetzel of the Surf Rats Ball had some hits and some misses this week. The hits were very promising though. On Friday he kicked it off with a handful of bass to 12 pounds in the early AM. The rest of the weekend was mostly a bust, but there were solid fish being caught, and lots of blitzes along the south side.

Other anglers in the ball had some success with the schoolie bite in Montauk. Plugs seemed to take more, smaller fish. Bucktails produced the larger, slot-sized fish, especially at low light.

Orient Point was productive for one surfcaster, who threw darters on the bay side before first light this Monday. Once the sun came up, he switched to poppers and bucktails which produced four more bass.

Long Island Fishing Forecast

It feels to me like the best week of the year is coming up. I’ve written this report a day earlier than usual, so that I can head offshore with a couple friends on Thursday. We’ll be targeting tuna.

This is my first time fishing from a boat in three years, and my second time in the past decade. I always feel like I’ll be missing out on some awesome surf fishing if I hop on a boat. I can’t ever shake that feeling.

The tuna bite this year has been one for the books, though, so it might be more accurate to say I’ve been missing out by NOT fishing from a boat.

I am definitely looking forward to it. There is high potential. Even if we come home empty handed, I’ll have spent the day in good company.

Regardless, I’m super anxious because I know about the potential on shore. Big stripers are being caught, and I should be casting to them.

Luckily, friends, it’s just the beginning. There will be more waves of big fish passing through. The schoolies should chew late into the season. Different bait patterns will emerge, and some might keep the big girls hanging around for a long time, right in the surf.

Albies will show. Blackfish will be a target for the shorebound. Maybe we’ll get a long-anticipated herring run, and a ton of holdovers.

Ahh, all the potential the future holds… it should be great.

However, with a stretch of nice weather coming this week, there is no time like the present.

Get out there, put in your time, and bend that rod. In a few months, if you’ve given anything less than 100%, you will be remorseful.

The drag-screaming runs these albies take will be buzzing in your brain long after they disappear. The burn a cow bass puts on your biceps will warm you up when you’re reminiscing about the fight on a cold winter night.

It feels to me like this is the week to make those memories.

Ain’t nothing to it but to do it.

Tight lines.