Long Island Fishing Report – August 26, 2021

Inshore bluefin bite off the Rockaways rages forth. Albie reports dispersed all across the island. Southwest Ledge picks up.

“Fall blitz action” already occurring in several areas. Bunker weathered the storm, and are still being attacked regularly. Real good bluefish bite on the north shore.
 

Long Island Fishing Report

Frank from Bernie’s Bait and Tackle in Brooklyn reports:

The picture has not changed much, despite some big rains and surges from Henri. The storm could’ve radically changed the picture, but it moved east and left the fish along. Guys were rushing to get out before the storm to capitalize on the inshore bluefin tuna bite. There were lots of fish to 200 pounds, and even some over 300 being caught. They were as close as the Rockaway Reef, spread out from Ambrose channel, to the Fisherman’s buoy and elsewhere. Guys are still running out there and scoring on some big bluefin today. Lord knows if it’s as rock-n-roll as it was prior to the storm, but everyone’s optimistic enough to get out there and get lucky. It’s easy to get motivated when you don’t have to run a bunch of hours to get to the grounds. Everything else that was available prior to the storm is pretty much still available. The big predators that were around, still are. The bluefish that were elusive before the storm, still are. Spanish Mackerel, porgies, fluke and stripers are still chewing pretty good. There really wasn’t much change at all in that respect. Snappers have come in strong. A lot of guys are coming in and buying poppers/lures/bait to catch them. Frank would remind you that the limit is three fish, whether they’re adult bluefish or baby snapper blues. Blue claw crabbing remains productive. There haven’t been any albie reports just yet, although the albie fiends tend to keep their lips sealed when the bite occurs. Barring any major storms or weather occurrences, we could very well be looking at some good, consistent fishing right through Labor Day. One last important note, is it got really buggy after this storm. The heat and moisture have been very kind to the mosquitoes and green flies. It would be smart to bring some bug spray along for a fishing trip, or even just a beach day.

Josh at Gypsea Charters in the Rockaways reports:

Good fluking continued before and after the storm with plenty of life and many keepers being decked throughout the day. Some nice sea bass are in the mix, and everyone has been going home with plenty of filets. We’ll continue fluke fishing when the weather allows, and target striped bass when the weather won’t let us into the ocean. Text 516-659-3814 for info on availability.

Bay Park Fishing Station in Oceanside reports:Lloyd Malsin of “Nansea II” joined the inshore bluefin fleet last Wednesday. After a thresher shark whomped their bait and jumped ten feet out of the water, a 75 inch tuna took the hook. After an hour fight, the leader was in hand and the hook pulled free.

Captain Willie of the Capt Lou Fleet in Freeport reports:

The fishing was very lively yesterday. We could have used a few more keeper fluke, but there was a ton of action. Some nice sea bass have been coming over the rail. It’s been an excellent season so far. They even pulled up a bonito this morning. The whale watching tours have also been excellent. The pictures coming from the Capt. Lou Fleet are beautiful. The Starstream VIII is sailing two 1/2 day trips daily. Book your trip at www.captloufleet.com.

Point Lookout’s Super Hawk says that lots of jumbo fluke were caught this week. Big porgies and sea bass rounded out the catch. Since the fish weren’t targeted during all that rain recently, they should be very hungry during this spell of nice weather. Call Capt. Steve to make a reservation: 516-607-3004.

Bill at Chasing Tails Bait and Tackle in Oakdale reports:

Albies and the rest of the hardtails are officially in! There is a lot of bait out there getting harassed by all sorts of pelagics, and now is the time to get on ’em! Hit them with diamond jigs, epoxy jigs, or small baitfish flies like Surf Candy and Albie Snax. Jacob from the shop was on ’em all morning on Wednesday. The shop is loaded with jigs, rods, and reels ready to crush these fish before they’re gone. Fluking inside the bay is still hot! The bigger fish have a subtle bite, so lightweight gear will help find those solid fish. Bucktails tipped with Fat Cow strips, and Gulp! mullets and grubs are getting smashed hard, and we are fully loaded with both. The classic squid and spearing combo will always do the trick on the flatties too of course. The ocean bite is going well on the reef and local wrecks. Just size up your bucktails or sinkers to get down there quickly. Sea Bass action at the wrecks is also pretty awesome, with lots of big fish coming up over the rails. Clams on the shop chicken rigs always do the trick. They also love big diamond jigs and bucktails sent straight down to them. Bucktails, diamond jigs, and epoxy jigs will all get smashed. For bigger fish, head to the wrecks farther off. Stripers still require a bit of local knowledge to find right now, especially anything of good size. The back bays and skinny water seem to be the best places to find a solid summer bass. Some really solid fish are starting to show face in the local waters. Freshwater action remains with the same summer advice: stick with swimbaits, lipless cranks, jigs, soft plastics, and topwater lures for bass and pickerel. Throw topwater lures for the morning and evenings for the best luck, and everything else mid-day since the water is still pretty warm. Work the grass lines, lily pads, stumps, logs, and any other structure you can find for the lurking bigger fish. For the sunfish and perch, all you need is some worms and bobbers and you’re set to fish all day, or you can throw an inline spinner, small soft plastic or marabou jig for some really fun active fishing! These little fish are tons of fun for any angler no matter the skill level or age, especially on an ultralight setup.

It’s been the same story most days this week on Captree’s Laura Lee. Full boat limits of sea bass, plenty of porgies, and good numbers of mackerel were coming over the rail on most trips. Yesterday morning’s fluking went well, with 36 fish to 6.8 pounds. They also had 160 sea bass, 5 big triggerfish, 15 porgies and four sea robins. Barrelfish were also quite a common catch yesterday. A couple bluefish came up this week, plus some cunner and silver eels.

The Celtic Quest Fishing Fleet of Port Jefferson hammered some quality weakfish yesterday. They were chewing hard around slack tide, along with the porgies and sea bass. Big scup and sea bass have been biting regularly this past week.

They’ll be sailing regularly, weather permitting. Go to celticquestfishing.com to buy a ticket.

Mark at Cow Harbor Bait & Tackle in Northport reports:

The weather is beautiful, just in time for the WICC World’s Greatest Bluefish Contest. There’s a $25k bounty on the table for the biggest bluefish this weekend, and our local waters are looking like they could hold a winner. Dave Flanagan has been getting on some serious specimens. He put Marcello on a 37-inch bluefish that weighed 17 pounds. Plenty of other quality fish have been coming up as well.  Meanwhile, porgy fishing is just nonstop. There’s some big ones around, with plenty of sea bass in the mix. Stripers and blues are starting to stir. There’s a lot of bait around, like butterfish, snappers, spearing, and peanut bunker. The larger peanuts are bringing in some 6-8 blues. Larger blues are in the mix, into the teens. There’s a lot of good topwater action to be had right now. Sea bass fishing is going great at the normal spots, like 11B and 28C.

Captain Stu Paterson of “Northport Charters” reports:

More bait moved in off Eaton’s Neck this week, with pods of tiny peanuts all over the LI Sound and bays. The schools stretch as far as the eye can see. There are also adult bunker schools and spearing in the area. This should set us up for an outstanding fall run. We’re currently catching keeper fluke, one after the other. There are plenty of shorts in the mix too. We found big, aggressive bluefish from 10-12 pounds this week in the Sound. They were hitting jigs, and the kids had a blast with the battles; screaming drags and bent rods were the norm. The porgy bite is still holding strong, and keeper sea bass are coming in on the bottom fishing trips. Call or text today to make reservations: 631-707-3266. Or check out Stu’s website at northportcharters.com.

Kenny at Tight Lines Tackle in Sag Harbor says there have been limited reports since the storm. The sea had a good heave afterward. The fluking has been a bit off, and hasn’t really come back together. The best fluke were found out east this past week. All the most impressive specimens were taken in Montauk.

There has been lots of activity up at Plum Gut. There’s some interesting pre-fall blitz action going on there. One customer called Kenny from the gut the other day, talking of a popper bite despite there being no surface activity. The angler caught 11 slot-sized fish all on topwater. That was before the storm. Yesterday, another customer called from the Gut and was hammering the blues, with short bass in the mix. He was surprised at the amount of bass in the mix. Another customer ran 60 miles south of Montauk looking for tuna. He found them, in the form of three 70+ pound yellowfin. He also caught three 25 pound Mahi out there, 20 miles south of the Block canyon. A strange report came from a customer in the harbor, who came upon many large schools of snapper blues. The snappers have been practically nonexistent back there as of late. It seems they arrived all of a sudden. Another interesting report came from two guys bait seining in Shinnecock. They scooped up two cobia the size of their palm. Kenny reckons that these fish are not migrators, but were rather born in these waters. The waters, they are a’changing.

David at Westlake Marina in Montauk says there are a ton of boats offshore today, so he expects some good reports to be coming in this evening. Besides that, there hasn’t been much going on this week. Fluking began a bit of a downtrend, with sea bass coming through to save the day. Over at the SW Ledge, the fishing has been picking up as more stripers arrived the past couple days. The sea bass by the ledge have been biting less frequently, but they have gotten larger. Snappers have been in, finally, which has been great fun for the kids. One boat just returned from Nantucket, where the angler saw “more striped bass than he’s ever seen.”

Chris Albronda gave me the goods on Montauk:

After the storm, the striped bass reentered our local waters. There are a lot of over-slot fish being caught currently. Bottom fishing was tough right after the storm. Now, anglers are picking away for their Black Sea bass limits, and catching some big fluke in the mix. Today, the tuna were biting very well. There are bluefin and yellowfin, as well as false albacore. Chris is doing open boat trips with Tailwrapped Sportfishing charters. Check them out on social media, and/or give Chris a call to book a trip at 631-830-3881.

Montauk’s Viking Fleet found some changes in their fishing grounds yesterday, as a result of Henri. They found a few smaller sea bass by the light, and then ran east hoping for better luck. They received it, in the form of many sea bass and good size porgies. The pool was tied by Samuel Gomez of Islip and K.T. Morris of Westchester; they both caught 2.3-pound sea bass. The other morning trip had even bigger fish. The pool-winning fish was Tom Byrnes’ of Port Washington; his sea bass weighed 4.5 pounds. Zachary Maligres of Riverhead took the afternoon pool with a three-pound sea bass. Whale watching before the hurricane was excellent, with good visibility and comfortable seas. They spotted a minke whale right by the lighthouse, and spotted spouts from a humpback in the near distance. 100 common dolphins rounded out the day, trying to ride the boat’s bow wake.

Surf guide Bill Wetzel of the Surf Rats Ball reports:

Peter R. tested the post-Henri waters of the eastern south shore, primarily to scout for new/changed structure. He found plenty of bait in the water, but not much love from the fish. He threw darters, bucktails, eels and diamond jigs, and SP minnows for just one tap. Another angler hit a south shore inlet prior to the storm’s landing, and found a bunch of hungry fish in both the bay and ocean. The bass in back were pushing spearing into the shallows, and he picked two under the slot on a Redfin. Bugs were biting too, so he made moves to the ocean side, where stripers from 24-28 inches were hungry, and biting anything that was slow-moving and able to hold fast in the strong sweep. Bill got out with Branden this week to target some large bass with eels and darters. Bill dropped a fish at his feet that took the darter. Branded hooked into a real nice fish when the moon rose, but it ended up breaking his line. There’s a ton of fall baits in the water, like spearing and anchovies. Bill expects blitzes to occur imminently.

Steve at Wego Fishing Bait & Tackle in Southold says everybody is going offshore for tuna. That’s the hot ticket right now.

In the bay area, you’ve got your usual: porgies, kingfish, and blowfish. The blowfish bite exploded, which has been great for the kids fishing off the docks. There’s snappers in the bay too, another great target for the kids. Head out to deeper water for some big bluefish in the bay. A lot of guys are still fishing Bug Light for fluke and weakfish. For sea bass, head east to the Race or Pigeon’s Rip. Guys are doing real well with the sea bass lately. There are lots of bluefish and tons of small bass in the Gut. Along the shore, you can find porgies, bluefish and Spanish Mackerel. The mackerel bite has been great this year. They’re everywhere from Goldsmiths up. The Albies should be here in full force any day now. The big bluefish tournament is coming up, and Steve is running a sale on some quality bunker chum. You can get a 4 gallon bucket for 15 bucks. First come first serve, until it’s gone. He’s also got plenty of frozen bunker in stock.

Long Island Forecast

Every time there’s a big storm, I always freak out a little bit and say “maybe this will drive all the current bait out, and ruin the fishing.” I’ve probably wondered that three or four times this year, and every time, the fishing has only improved. I’m sure that’ll cease to be the pattern once I begin expecting good post-storm fishing, so I’ll just shut up about it for now.

There’s an awesome amount of life in the water. Bunker schools are extremely thick, and they all seem very afraid. I’ve noticed lots of small bait within these schools now, and it could be peanut bunker or white bait. The peanut bunker would have probably come out of the bays this past week, as a cut was open, pouring tons of the mini menhaden into the ocean. The anchovies were here long before that, attracting the many mackerel on the east end. It would seem that they may be attracting albies now, as well. There are lots of lightning-fast fish plowing through these small bait schools. This morning I was watching some rapid, frequent explosions that were reminiscent of albie/mackerel blitzes. I couldn’t see the culprits, but there was something fun and furious under those bait fish. The bait was moving west, although I can’t say whether they’re just getting pushed in that direction, or they’re thinking about their migratory mandate. Time will tell, but it could get pretty radical in the meantime.

I wanted to get up this morning and hit the Shinny rocks to see if there would be any albies. These days, though, I’m relishing every opportunity to catch an extra 20-30 minutes of sleep. I hate doing that, and the feeling associated: “I definitely missed the bite.” Next chance I’ll get is next Thursday morning.

Back on the beach, though, the fishing has been pretty awesome! If I can see the stripers, I know they’ll eat, so I pretty much consider that to be just as fulfilling as a fish caught; yesterday, I boogie boarded right over one…so boom, count it. When I have wet a line, there have been plenty of small-to-medium fluke chewing my clouser minnows. I know if I put in the time, I’d be getting some keepers, like my friend John did this week. There’s some solid fluke on the sand beaches.

It feels like it’s time for some funky blitzes on the open beach. The coolest one I dealt with was albies on the sand, and I’m hoping for that to happen again. It could occur in September or October (or not at all), but I do have a funny feeling that something like that will go down sooner than later. I heard whispers of sand eels getting pushed up on to the beach as the swell picked up prior to Henri. That’s always fuel for something cool. There could still be some shark blitzes left in the tank; I saw some big explosions this morning that were reminiscent of the frenzies this summer. I’d love to see some bonito in close, and on the end of my line. And one of these days, I feel Neptune will plant a tuna in front of me.

It’s crazy how we’re only about ⅔ of the way through the fishing season, and it feels like it’s been so much longer. It’s been a great year in the suds. I know it’s been phenomenal for you boat guys too; I’m kind of jealous, to be honest. Giant fluke, endless weaks, tons of tuna, with albies inbound. Sharks galore, and many more! Long Island is an incredible place to be. Even Henri must’ve known it was too precious to stir the pot. Merci my stormy friend.

Hey, whatever you’re after, enjoy. It’s felt like primetime for a long time now, but get out there now while the getting’s still good! Tight lines you fishy folks.