It has been a tough week for fishing. Long Island anglers have faced fluctuating temperatures and several weather systems over the course of 7 days. The conditions have made it difficult for safe ice to form, leaving many local lakes and ponds with a slushy, watery layer of skim ice. These conditions are like purgatory for anglers; we can’t fish through the ice, and with the slushy mess left amongst the surface, we can’t fish from the shoreline either. Stuck between a rock and a hard place and looking to wet a line, now is the time of year to expand your horizons. There are a few options remaining for freshwater and brackish fishermen on Long Island, but this is typically the time of year that I wake up before sunrise for a short, caffeine-fueled road trip to New York City’s Reservoirs.
Fishing in NYC Reservoirs requires 2 special permits: one for legal permission to fish there, and one for parking access. The lakes are a great opportunity for adventure, as many of the roads around them feature small, muddy, unmarked pull-off areas that lend themself to meandering footpaths through the woods. Lake trout and big brown trout patrol these waters, with the addition of some stud yellow perch, largemouth and smallmouth bass. Most of them are vast, deep waters with plenty of rocky structure to provide good winter shoreline fishing in comparison to Long Island’s sandy, shallow ponds.
Jigging soft plastic paddletails, spoons and blade baits slowly at these spots were some of my favorite ways to target the fish; if I hooked a fish, the darkness of the deep held my catch a mystery until it came up far enough to show colors. It was a fun game of freshwater roulette. Smallmouth bass continue to bite well into the winter here because these lakes don’t typically freeze over, although it was no surprise when my guides would freeze. If you haven’t given it a shot, I highly recommend it as a way to get out and wet a line. The best way to find a spot is to take a look at the map of New York, choose a species to target, and explore the waters dotting the landscape between the Bronx and Brewster.
The lakes in this area aren’t the only opportunity for fishing though- fly anglers frequent the many streams that act as tributaries to the lakes. They provide quality rainbow and brown trout fishing for both spinning anglers and fly anglers.
If you’re not up for the drive, that’s quite understandable. Depending on your location, white perch are still a readily available option across much of Long Island. Soon enough, we will begin to see river herring in many of the same areas as white perch, which may also feed some of the holdover striped bass in our backwaters and salt ponds.
As usual, the Connetquot and Carman’s Rivers are great places to target trout. Rainbows feed consistently in the Connetquot while the browns are harder to find- but play your fly close to overhanging trees and strainers, and you may pluck a pretty brown. The Carman’s River has a more steady population of brown trout, and the only population of native brook trout on Long Island. Certain segments of the river have specific regulations pertaining to the time of year they can be fished, in order to protect those brookies, so check the NYSDEC website beforehand.
For offshore anglers, the headboats have been docked for much of the last week or two as heavy winds, and dangerous, freezing conditions have forced them to cancel trips for safety concerns. Last week, the Laura Lee fleet out of Captree cancelled it’s Saturday trip due to extreme cold and wind. We’ll have to see air temperatures closer to the freezing mark or high 30’s for these trips to be an available option.
Long Island Fishing Forecast
In hopes that the slush ice will dissipate, keep your freshwater bass and pickerel rods ready. There’s no telling when a full thaw is coming, but when it does, the bass will be chewing. Until then, keep the ice rods rigged up in case of a few low overnight temperatures, and continue to err on the side of caution when ice fishing until we see consistently freezing temperatures.
The big update in the report this week is not so big at all.; brown trout fishing has been going surprisingly well in the Carll’s River of Babylon. A good portion of this river winds through the woods, with brief crossings and narrow, shallow pools that are difficult to fish. Browns have been coming on small trout magnet soft plastics, nightcrawler and flies.
If you don’t feel up to a quick drive North you can still fish on Long Island, but it will take some scouting. The best bet for getting onto fish this week, is going to be targeting white perch in tidal creeks and salt ponds, or trout in moving water. Hopefully we will see a shift in the conditions for ponds by the end of next week, whether they’re safely iced over or melted entirely.