Dave Nichols with a flats gator on the fly.
Great weakfishing continues with some 10+ pounders. Bigger bass biting around the moon. Big blues on the south shore. Solid fishing all along the north shore.
Long Island Fishing Report
Frank from Bernie’s Bait and Tackle in Brooklyn says the picture hasn’t changed much since last week. If anything, it’s just slowed down a little bit. A good variety of species are being caught, just at a slower rate than the week prior. The best reports he did get this week were coming from the back of Jamaica Bay. There’s a good mix of schoolie bass back there, and guys are getting them from the beach. The average ratio for the reports he’s gotten are about 10 shorts to 1 keeper. There’s bluefish around Staten Island, so Frank’s expecting them to show face around the Brooklyn shores in the next week.
Josh at Gypsea Charters in the Rockaways reports:
We continue to see exceptional striper fishing, with specimens of all sizes biting poppers, live bait, and trolled lures. He anticipates the ocean run of larger fish to begin in the next week or two, so if you’re looking to catch and release a trophy make sure you get on their schedule! Fluke fishing remains hit or miss, as the cold water is making them sluggish. We saw spurts of good fishing over the past week with a good amount of keepers in the mix. Pool fish over the last week weighed in at just over seven pounds. Their two boats are sailing from Howard Beach; the Gypsea is a 6-pack and the Star runs an open boat every weekend, by reservation only. Call for booking details: 516-659-3814
Paul at River Bay Outfitters in Baldwin woke up the right way today, targeting stripers before punching the clock. He got into some keeper-sized bass down in East Rockaway while fishing a half-and-half fly during the mid-incoming tide. It was a nice reprieve after experiencing some cold weather on his Montauk camping trip this past weekend. He saw some fish being pulled from the surf while he was out there. Guide Tim O’Rourke is fishing Montauk, and he’s been finding some large bluefish. The freshwater scene has been good as well. It’s prime time for trout; the parks are producing, and the hatches are taking off.
The Capt Lou Fleet in Freeport has been hammering the fluke grounds regularly during their half-day trips. This week it’ll all be 3/4 day trips in the bay. Looks like there’s plenty of keeper-sized fish to go around.
Point Lookout’s SuperHawk has been hitting the bay to target fluke. Light tackle anglers are doing especially well. Plenty of fluke are coming over the rail. The ocean trips, when possible, have been producing a great bite of cod and large ling. After Saturday, they’ll be sailing twice a day for fluke. Call Capt. Steve to make a reservation: 516-607-3004.
Lindenhurst Bait & Tackle reports:
Fishing has been gradually improving over the last few weeks. Frank Delaney has been casting small poppers in his backyard. After trying several different colors he began catching a few bass to 34″ on the Northside of the Great South Bay. Anthony Rangone has been fishing fresh bunker chunks east of the Robert Moses Bridge. We were a little skeptical at first when he admitted to landing bass to 20 pounds. Fortunately, most guys take photos of decent catches and he was able to back it up. Jake caught a healthy 16-inch flounder off the Babylon Town Pool Dock on Saturday while targeting blowfish. We’re also hearing word that “chopper ” blues are entering both inlets, giving anglers a chance to play around a little. Joe and Billy Biscardi have established that the weakfish are starting as well. The guys had several weakfish to 3.5 pounds on soft plastics. Drew Maniscalco has been scoring well with fluke. A combination of GULP and local spearing resulted in 3 keepers on his last trip. Another key factor for his success has been drifting the slow parts of the tides. The shop is proud to announce the addition of our new manager. Local sharpie Brian Parnes was recently hired and has begun sharing the local knowledge he’s acquired through his 40 years of fishing experience. His specialty is surf, shore, and freshwater fishing but he can handle his own on a boat also.
Captree’s Laura Lee had an awesome trip Tuesday that kind of epitomizes the fishing they’ve been doing. The 7 am trip had 24 anglers who caught 86 fluke to 5.5 pounds. 3 sea robins and 1 weakfish also came over the rails. The 1 pm trip had 17 guys who caught 1 cod, 2 blackfish, and 21 sea bass. Cod fishing was much better on other days. The 6 pm trip had 13 fishermen who caught 15 stripers and 56 big bluefish. Other catches this week include blowfish, shad, a sundial, skate, and dogfish.
Bill at Chasing Tails Bait and Tackle in Oakdale reports:
Striper action remains consistent in the bays, with plenty of schoolies and some solid slot fish in the mix. We are still waiting for the big ones to come around. A solid run of bluefish came through; fish from 5-10 pounds were common, with some solid tackle busters mixed in. The bass and blues can both be caught on shallow swimmers, popping plugs, bucktails, and soft plastics. Fluke action is on fire, there are solid keepers inside the bay. Bucktails with a strip on the back, as well as soft plastics and Gulp on jigheads, are getting crushed by some mondo flatties. Weakfish are outrunning the tides. Light tackle rods with small bucktails or soft plastics are key for these fish. In the freshwater, remember that bass season is still closed except for the approved few lakes that are open year-long. You can still go after yellow perch, sunfish, trout, walleye, and everything else. Walleye are out, willing to smack swimbaits, jerkbaits, and lipless crankbaits. Night fishing for them is crazy fun. The perch and sunfish are all over and will eat up small jigs, in-line spinners, and the classic worm on a bobber. The trout will go after the same things, and they love flies. Right now the mayflies and caddis are hatching and dry fly action is lit up in the early mornings and evenings.
Celtic Quest Fishing Fleet of Jamesport put an absolute smackdown on the weakfish and porgies this week. Every day since Monday saw nonstop action. They also released some striped bass, and some huge out-of-season sea bass. There are even some fluke being caught in the mix. They’ll be sailing regularly, weather permitting.
Mark at Cow Harbor Bait & Tackle in Northport says the fishing has remained red hot on the island. Bluefish have been keeping rods bent on both the south and north shores. Bass are a’biting, and there’s plenty of porgies going around. The weakfish run has been especially good; it started strong and has been slowly building. There’s a new moon tide tonight, and Mark will be out there targeting some tide runners. Weakfish always feel like a shot in the dark, but you gotta go to know. Fluke are chewing well in the area as well.
Dave Flanagan of North Island Fly has been battling the wind to get out, and finding fishy water in the sheltered harbors. He’s waiting on that big push of fish, but there are plenty of bass to keep him occupied. He’s been seeing a crazy amount of weakfish and bluefish already running through the Sound. He’s about to pull an all-day trip to enjoy these fisheries. The fluke guys have been finding good bites in the bays.
Steven at Wego Fishing Bait & Tackle in Southold says the fishing has been awesome this week. Whatever you want to target, you’ve got good odds. The bass bite has been real good at buoy 17. Some slot fish moved into the back bays this week. Squid fishing off the docks has been great as well. Fluking is starting to pick up a bit, and there’s been a few weakfish mixed in with the bass at 17. The biggest one weighed in at ten pounds. Porgies have coming in frequently, and they’re weighing as much as three pounds.
Kenny at Tight Lines Tackle in Sag Harbor said the bays are the play right now. The Peconics are still full of fish. At certain outflows you can wear your arms out fighting big bluefish. The inlets and ocean, on the other hand, are a bit quieter. Head to the back bays if you’re looking to cash in on this weakfish run; the fishing’s been great. Some fluke reports were coming from waters near the North Fork. The porgy fishing has also been very good. Kenny recommends chumming. There’s a good mix of fish, from average size to above average. No extraordinary reports on that front though. Kenny’s friend has been hitting the inlet almost every morning, and coming up short. He figured there’d be some blues to catch at least, but no such luck.
Surf Guide Bill Wetzel of the Surf Rats Ball hit the Mecca for a few footlong (stripers) this weekend. He and his charter James hit both the north and south sides, for only a few bass on 3/4 ounce bucktails. Word on the street is there were some good bites occurring out there, with good numbers of bass and blues, but nothing special size-wise. He got back out there again for the new moon on Tuesday. He and Demetri picked a few bass in solitude on the north side, using small darters. A bluefish took his alien bottle plug later in the night.
Montauk’s Viking Fleet sailed a two-day trip this weekend and cleaned up! Tilefish and dogfish were the regular catches. They also caught some barrel fish, hake, and cusk. Brad Bergen from East Islip took the 1st place tile with a 28 pounder. Next was Tom Lambert of Seaford with a 23.4 pounder. The edible pool went to Robert Gregson of CT with a 120-pound porbeagle. Saturday began the half-day fluke trips, and they found some good action with short fluke. A 3.5 and a three-pounder took the first and second place pools. Capt. Dave took a boat out to target porgies, and found some medium to large ones mixed in with bluefish. They were close to home and hungry. On Wednesday Dave put fishermen on another good porgy bite, with limits all around the boat. Joe Peponne took the pool with a two-pounder.
Chris Albronda gave me the goods on Montauk:
Fluke fishing is off to a wonderful start. Miss Montauk put some great catches together, reporting lots of action. Captain Jamie says pink was the color of choice. The bluefish have been prowling the beaches and rips. The south side has been inundated with acres of bunker. Bluefish and striped bass are feeding on them, and bluefin tuna are also in tow. Porgies have entered the fray, with some very large ones coming over the rails. Chris will be working on the charter boat “Tailwrapped” with Captain Sean this season, and looks forward to taking you fishing!
Long Island Fishing Forecast
Peak season for certain fisheries has also been underway. It may be waning for some, and getting even hotter in regards to others. Heck if I know. Those huge porgies came in, and I’ve seen/heard of a number of high-quality scup. There’s more reports of average fish now though, so that’s one I can’t really put a pin on. If it’s even half as good as last year, we’ll be in the thick of it for some time yet.
The weakfishing has been so good that I’m even finding them. They’re scattered all over the bays. News of a number of solid stripers to twenty pounds reached my ears, and I heard drags sing of fish that could’ve been larger.
The amount of bluefish in the bays trying to rip your arms off when you hook them is pretty awesome. I haven’t found anything over ten pounds yet, but I’m working all day every day; the craziest bites (of the biggest fish) seem to be occurring midday. I know Peter Leary’s hammering some on the fly as I type. He says he’s “sight casting to wolf packs on the flats.” What’s better than that?
I’m looking at the ocean as I write this. It’s very calm, very clear, and filled with fish. I saw endless bunker slapping around this morning, and large areas of the ocean would rapidly become black as something large scared fish to the surface. The seagulls were right on top of them. Tuna methinks. I’ll try to get some drone footage for you this week. A south wind picked up since this morning, and I can taste the salt and fish in the water. Tons of terns moved in as well, indicating some sort of smaller bait is on the run. I would imagine it is spearing. Couldn’t tell you for sure though.
I gave my first guided trip of the year this past Monday. I took three fellas to a back bay spot in pursuit of anything hungry. I was confident stripers would feed when the current began to flow out, and figured there’d be some blues to tussle. I was also hoping for some weakfish to bite, although I had no good reason to believe they’d be in this spot.
The new moon had filled the bay to capacity, and the water began flowing outward before the tide even reached its peak. Nothing bit at slack, or for a while after, but a nice blue took my rubber shad about 45 minutes into casting. I ended up catching a couple near-keeper bass right after that fish. Our high-hook, Chuck, began hammering fish after fish on a mambo minnow, and they were mostly stripers. Christian and Tom also had their fair shares of action.
Right after I caught and released a 20+ inch weakfish, I heard the sweetest sound coming from my left hand side: “ZZZzzzZZZzZZZZZZz!” Chuck’s reel screamed bloody murder as his rod bent under immense strain. What felt like a neverending run ceased abruptly as the fish came unhooked. It could’ve been on for ten seconds, spending eight of those at a full sprint. I don’t know how Chuck remained so cool after that. Most would have cursed the heavens and announced an immediate retirement. Chuck’s reaction, or lack thereof, was just awesome to me, and how I aim to approach this hobby/obsession/addiction: it’s all just good fun. If I land that big fish, COOL, and YES PLEASE. But I’m not going to let it ruin my good time. I’ll just let it haunt me forever, and feel cuckolded for decades to come, or something chill like that.
Now that I’ve got a decent read on the weakfish, I’m going to be targeting them in the coming week. I think the ideal situation would be a high tide in the middle of the night. That’ll be tough to accommodate, but we’ll see. Also, now that I’ve stated my intentions out loud, count on the opposite occurring.
I think some huge bass are going to be reported in the next week.
The forecast is looking warm and sunny, so count on the fishing improving. Get out there and enjoy it!
Til next week, tight lines.
