Long Island Fishing Report
Frigid gales kept boats and anglers off the water for much of the week.
Alewives and eels are moving up the creeks towards freshwater.
Freshwater fish were biting on the warmer days. They became finicky on the colder days. The same can be said for striped bass and white perch.
Point Lookout’s Superhawk is running offshore this Saturday April 2 to target blackfish and codfish. Reservations are required. On Sunday they’re targeting offshore wrecks for jumbo porgies, cod, pollock, ling and more. The next trip will be the following weekend. Call today to make a reservation: 516-607-3004.
Captree’s Laura Lee did not make it out this week. They are sailing this weekend though. They’re running for local cod and blackfish at 7am this Saturday, and then to the wrecks 30-50 miles off on Sunday to target porgies, ling, cod and pollock. You never know what you’ll pull up on those trips though.
Mark at Cow Harbor Bait & Tackle in Northport reports: We’re extending the raffle/giveaway another week. For every $50 you spend at Cow Harbor, you will receive one entry into their giveaway. The grand prize is a free custom built rod valued at $500 that Mark will build. Mark says it’s a big week for fishing, and gives us a science lesson on his instagram post today. Taking solunar theory into account, Mark suggests that all of our local fish species should start to pick up this week around the April 1 new moon. Trout and striped bass specifically should turn on. Killies have begun to stir, and shrimp should join them soon; peanut bunker are in the harbor, and adults should move in.
Bill Wetzel’s Surf Rats Ball received some reports this week from the north shore. John hit the night tide from 8:30-10 this weekend and managed a couple bass on a mag darter. The fish wouldn’t eat anything larger than that. Rob hit the western north shore back bays this weekend from 6-10pm. There were 10 guys in the lineup, and everyone hooked a fish or two. They were all throwing chicken scratch SP minnows, and hooking rats. Rob finally switched his lure to a magic swimmer, which landed him his first striper of the season, at just under slot size. John got back out the next night and picked a few fish. He must’ve been one of the guys Rob saw the night prior, as he picked a couple bass on chicken scratch sp’s. There are bunker in the area, evidenced by an angler snagging one. Bigger bass should probably show up soon.
Long Island Fishing Forecast
As far as reports go there’s really not much that went down this week. Strong, cold winds kept a lot of anglers off the water and certainly prohibited any boats from heading offshore most days this week. I lucked into what I’ll probably consider my luckiest bite of the year, so I’ll give you a little story about that. Here’s the video, too, if you want to watch:
HUGE White Perch & Holdover Stripers
I’ve been doing a bit of dog sitting this winter. Two of my furry little friends live right near some juicy water. I have fished this water maybe two or three times in the past decade, but never had any luck there. It’s one of those kinda spots that you just write off as unproductive because there’s really no outstanding features there. All it is is flat, muddy bottom, with maybe some reeds to snag off the bottom and some dock pilings to cast at. Besides that I really can’t say anything positive about this particular spot. It’s pretty deep within a brackish estuary, and there is no public access. Therefore I haven’t really had any desire to fish the spot for years.
However, on my final morning of dog watching duty, I checked my bait trap before heading out. Lo and behold, the American eels had arrived. There were three in my trap from 6 inches to 16 inches.
Right now, eels are traveling from the Sea of Sargassum, through the ocean, into the bays, high up into the briny brackish estuaries that lead to their freshwater destinations. I have noticed in years past that the eels’ arrival coincides almost exactly with the alewives’ arrival. I discovered this one March, by actually catching an alewife on a size 24 zebra midge fly. I’ve never met a fish that size who could pull harder.
Anyway, I knew the eels were here so it was pretty safe to assume that the alewives would be in there as well. The same can be said for pretty much any water body on Long Island right now. I pay particularly close attention to these bait species’ arrivals because they tend to get the bigger largemouth bass biting. If you have an Alewife stream that runs into a freshwater body, odds are pretty high that large freshwater predators are going to hang out right near that creek mouth looking for a big, easy meal. These oily saltwater bait species provide ample opportunity for largemouth bass, striped bass, pickerel, white and yellow perch to feed. The spawn will provide even more food for other species, like carp, catfish and small baits, who will happily feed upon the roe and juvenile fish.
So, it’s my last day of dog sitting. I head out to their dock and take a couple casts. There’s nothing far out. The water is surprisingly deep, and I’m reeling a bit too fast to keep it on the bottom. I realize this last second, and slow down right before the lure gets to the dock. It sinks towards the bottom, and I can tell it arrives when the line goes slack. All of a sudden there’s a thump and the line goes tight. I lift to set the hook and a friggin tank starts to move. I have a momentary freakout, as that hit was totally unexpected… I didn’t set the hook hard enough and the fish spit it. It would’ve been a monster.
I take a short cast and do the same thing as last time. The jig falls to the bottom and THUMP, another fish hits. I hammer that jig into its lip with an unforgiving hookset, refusing to make the same mistake twice. After a spooky fight on 4 pound test, I get the near-keeper bass to the dock and lip it.
I revived the fish after that tough fight, and sent it on its way. I headed back to my truck to get my GoPro and a slew of other lures I could probably use.
The eels and alewives popped into my head, and I thought that maybe I could entice an eat from a monster by using an alewife pattern. The best alewife pattern in my head is a wonderbread mag darter, so that’s what I tied on.
I wish I had taken another moment to test my knot, because the fish that hit on the first cast ripped the lure right off my line. I expect it was another big striper. Whattaya gonna do?
I played with some other lures for the next half hour, but got no hits. Finally I tied on a Savage Gear lure that was similar to an SP minnow. I don’t know the name of it, but you can see it in the GoPro video I took. That got an eat on the first cast from a little striped bass. I ended the day a short while later by switching back to my ultralight setup and feeding an olive marabou jig to a big, pregnant white perch that went about 16 inches.
That’s about 6 hours of tough, lucky fishing. I was lucky that the fish were there and willing to eat. They were super finicky, but years of failure finally paid off during this session. I was able to produce a bite from stripers focused on alewives.
This kind of fishing, the kind when you discover something new, is my favorite type. I could have caught no fish, and missed all 5 eats, and been just as happy. Just knowing the fish were there, and that I could get them to eat, was enough of a success.
It was a brutally hard rest of the week, but I rode that high the entire time. Wind kept me off the water one day, and the cold forced skunk after skunk upon me the rest of the week. I’m ready to get back after some fish today.
Some of my friends are doing well on smaller presentations also. Chris Albronda is throwing ned rigs to multiple species on the east end, and managing to stay tight.
Neil D’Acierno was able to pick some largemouths from the bank on some difficult days.
Bill Falco has been crushing the trout game upstate, as usual. With imminent stockings back home, the local fishing should explode in the next couple weeks.
Get out there on those warm days; don’t let a single one pass you by. And don’t sleep on the calm nights. There are monsters waiting to attack in the dark.
We’re in the midst of one of the year’s best periods of fishing. Take part. Tight lines.
Great report. Thanks.