(Above) Young angler, Bryce, with a 22 -inch weakfish from Southampton.
Eastern L.I. / Suffolk County Fishing Report
- Offshore scene is insane. Enormous yellowfin sharked by a giant hammerhead.
- Manta rays offshore and inshore.
- Hot fluke bite on the south shore.
- Big bass on the north shore, plus bluefish galore!
- Big porgies and sea bass in Montauk.
- Whispers of bonito and false albacore out east.
- Sharking remains strong.
Captree’s Laura Lee reports:
Yesterday’s morning trip caught 88 ocean fluke, 147 sea bass, 61 scup, 2 bluefish and 1 blackfish. The 1pm caught 152 fluke, 55 sea robins, 1 kingfish, 1 scup and 1 dogfish, and tog and a ray. At 2 they caught 164 fluke, 42 sea robins, 3 sea bass and two dogfish. The 7pm ocean express caught 236 big sea bass, 31 porgies, 6 mackerel and 2 squid. Today’s trips will hit the prime time bay bite for fluke.
Some solid fluke came up the rest of the week, like the 6 pounder on Tuesday’s trip, and the 6.5 pounder the day before. That 6.5 pounder was caught along with 365 other fluke on one trip. Insane. Big numbers of sea bass came up for most of the week too, and sea robins were a consistent nuisance. Some cod appeared over the weekend, and some triggers came up every few trips. Porgies were also coming up in pretty good numbers. Plenty of meat for the table.
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Bill at Chasing Tails Bait and Tackle in Oakdale reports:
Fluking finally flipped on in the local waters! The bay and inlet are loaded with solid flatties, and the outside wrecks and reefs are holding some thick doormats. Bucktails are the go-to lure for summer fluke action, tipped with either a Fat Cow strip or a Gulp! of your choice. A classic shop rig with a combination of squid and spearing will always get the job done as well. Sea Bass and big ocean fluke are chilling out there on the reefs and wrecks too. Sea Bass are crushing big epoxy jigs, and bucktails tipped with Gulp soft plastics. Wild little cocktail bluefish are running around all over the bay, in the same spots their much larger cousins were this spring. If you want a striper, head out in the ocean and go past all the whales, dolphins, and sharks, and find a bunker pod. Toss the cast net at some live ones, bridle them up, and send them back out. Jigging and popping plugs are working very well too. Cobia are hanging out in the ocean out west, taking all sorts of baits and lures. Live bunker or eels work well, and so do bucktails, epoxy jigs, and small poppers. There are lots of 20-40 pound fish, with some absolute mondos hanging out with them. The snapper action at the local docks is getting better by the day! Lots of little ones around, and they’re getting bigger every day. Kingfish and blowfish are down at the docks too. The snapper will smash up small shiny lures, snapper poppers, and spearing on bobber rigs. For the kingfish and blowfish, use some clam on tiny blowfish/flounder hooks and bring a chum pot along with you for non-stop catching.
Freshwater action is best in the early mornings and evenings before the sun goes down. Night fishing is also a great option. Topwater lures for bass and pickerel like frogs, poppers, mice, wake baits, and weightless swimbaits are best during this time. For mid-day fishing, you’re going to want to go slow and low, dragging jigs or senkos across the bottom. For consistent action, go after the sunfish and perch. They are plentiful, and easy enough to catch with a classic worm and bobber rig. Don’t forget about the common carp, these mud missiles can be so frustrating to catch, but such a blast once they are hooked! Bread or corn will get the ones more used to seeing people, in the more cutty spots, they are more difficult to get ahold of. They are a totally diffrent beast on a fly rod, they love to peel line right off the spool, headed toward the other side of the lake.
Phil at Cow Harbor Bait & Tackle in Northport reports:
Bluefish of all ages are around in good numbers. Guys are picking some larger ones in the Sound, mostly in the Triangle. They’re jigging ‘em up in the afternoon, and trolling has been culling some too. Phil says “know your tides so you can plan for an easy ride back.”
In the harbors, look for the diving birds to find the cocktails. Snappers are in the back of the harbors, going wild for small bait like spearing and peanut bunker. All this bait could produce great potential for this coming fall run. It’ll help those snappers grow quite quickly too. We’re really hoping some giant blues show up again this fall. The WICC bluefish tournament is coming up (August 27 and 28), so come by and register at the shop, and buy some bait while you’re here.
Porgies have been biting well off the docks and beaches. Boat guys are getting them too. Lots of people are catching scup. If you’re on the boat, bring chum. The water temp is high, at 80 degrees, so you could be running through a block of chum an hour.
Stripers are in the Sound, and there are still some impressive specimens around. Guys are picking bass to 30 pounds on fresh bunker chunks. Get out whenever you can, and you stand a chance at finding a good bite.
Captain Stu Paterson of Northport Charters reports:
The fishing on the north shore is outstanding! Our waters are chock full of bait, whether you’re hunting the Sound or the bays. Bay anchovies, spearing, peanut bunker, adult bunker, and tinker mackerel are abundant. The return of the tinker mackerel to our waters is very uplifting, as it’s a definite sign our local marine ecosystem is improving. We found a pocket of bigger keeper fluke this week in the Sound. Everybody went home with fresh bags of fillets, a nice treat for August.
The porgy fishing is still fantastic, with keepers to 2.5 pounds coming over rate rail regularly. Sea bass are constantly coming up with them. Snapper blitzes are occurring all over the place, causing a real ruckus on the surface. Bigger blues are reportedly deep in the Sound, so Stu’s after them today.
Call/text Stu at 631-707-3266 or check out Stu’s website to book a trip: northportcharters.com.
The Celtic Quest Fishing Fleet of Port Jefferson reports:
“A perfect combination of events led to a very rare opportunity! After a pick of scup in horrible conditions, we decided to tie on the jigs and boy… were we in for a surpise! Many oversized striped bass were released with eight slot size fish going home for a small crowd. A bunch of blues were also eager to eat the metal. This doesn’t happen often, but when you go fishing… you never know!”
The rest of the week, they were dropping diamond jigs for bluefish and stripers, with mostly shorts. The bluefish were around the same size as the bass. Some triggerfish came up, and the porgies were chewing hard. Some fluke and weakfish were the cherries on top of a productive week.
The Shinnecock Star in Hampton Bays reports:
We’ve been picking a few leucistic (or partly albino) fluke the past few weeks, which has been an interesting sight to see. Some big fluke are chilling in the shallow bay waters; Mike picked a 6 pounder from just 7 feet of water yesterday. The water’s not only filled with big fluke though. We dissected a sea robin the other day, and it had a juvenile fluke in its stomach!
Tuesday saw nonstop action for most of the day when we fished int he bay. There was a mix of keepers, shorts, and sea robins. Triggerfish came over the rail the day prior.
Call Capt. John for trip info and reservations: 631-728-4563.
Montauk’s Viking Fleet reports:
Offshore fishing has been mostly steady this season, but the last few trips saw a consistent improvement on the tuna front. Tilefishing remains strong. Our last trip saw a quality boat limit of yellow fin, 4 big eyes, a bunch of mahi and a load of tiles. The remainder of our offshore season is mostly booked, but we have a waiting list.
Inshore, the fishing was excellent this week. It was consistently productive, even when conditions weren’t ideal. Tuesday saw some strong winds, but we picked fluke to 5.8 pounds. Big and bountiful sea bass were caught regularly, and the scup were always hungry. We picked some big porgies this week, like Kate Deutsch’s pool winner on Sunday. It went 3.2 pounds. We lucked into a couple quality triggers as well. Paula Flattop of NYC caught a 3.5 pound trigger to take the second place pool on Monday.
Sunday’s fluke fishing was off the charts, with our top three fish going 7, 8 and 9 pounds! There were several others over 5 pounds. Bob Caffiero took the pool with an 8.2 pound fluke. Later on Sunday, Nick White of Hempstead took the second place pool with a 4 pound sea bass. Overall, it was an outstanding week of fishing.
Call the office to book at 631-668-5700, or book online at vikingfleet.com.
Chris Albronda from Montauk reports:
Inshore, the fluke fishing continues to be the highlight of the week. Miss Montauk had a stellar week with a handful of double digits. Chris was aboard, picking jumbo sea bass on every drop, plus fluke to a little over eight pounds. Some of the anglers were only targeting porgies, and they were picking jumbos every drop as well.
Striper fishing is still producing well. There are massive fish afoot, plus limits of slot fish being caught on many trips. Chopper blues are often blitzing alongside stripers, so keep your eyes peeled for the surface activity. Offshore, the yellowfin, bluefin and bigeye tuna bites are on fire right now. Now is the time.
Give Chris a call at 631-830-3881 to book a trip. He has availability of Sundays.
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Eastern L.I. Fishing Forecast
For me, it’s not like the fishing is incredible, but something about it feels incredible. I’ve been doing a lot of chartered trips now that kids are back from camp. I have a bunch of mainstays from over the years who are really into it, and have improved immensely over time. Trying to catch fish in the surf the past few days has really put them through the ringer. We had inconsistent conditions and stripers with lockjaw. We kept seeing them swim by, and would practically sight cast to them; it has never felt so hard to catch those fish though. It could be the insane amount of anchovies I’m seeing in the surf. I wouldn’t be surprised if that’s localized, as one of the salt ponds emptied into the ocean last week. Whatever it is, I couldn’t get my clients to buy any bites.
Although we caught nothing but a hard time in the saltwater, the freshwater provided a consistent bite from multiple species. All it took was a little bit of chum and we kept the rods bent for hours. We’ll usually only catch 1-3 species when I fish the creek with kids. There is a large variety of fish to catch in there, but we’re typically sticking to one or two fishing methods, which narrows the scope of what we’ll get to eat.
Here’s how it goes back there.
We are most likely going to catch white perch. That is what we are targeting, and it’s what’s most abundant in the creek…. unless you count the bait species, which we certainly do.
Sometimes there’s no perch there. Sometimes, there’s nothing but crabs. Although crabs can keep a fishless day somewhat interesting, if you bring the same kid to catch fish twice and all you catch is crabs, the kid is going to feel disappointed. So, you have to accomplish the goal you set out to do: catch fish.
We’re imagining there aren’t any white perch in our vicinity. If they’re not available, then we might catch an American eel, or two or three, or none. They go for the shrimp we’re offering. I’ve caught stripers, fluke, and pumpkinseed sunfish back there as well. The mightiest fish I’ve caught back there is a carp. Then, there’s the tiny fish.
Mummichogs and spearing abound in the creek. Although they are tiny bait species, usually never measuring more than a finger’s length, they are meat eaters. This is the secret to keeping the kids entertained. Use a little bit of chum to get those bait fish feeding. Once they’re in feeding mode, they’ll hit anything in the slick. Like their larger cohabitants, they will spit out an artificial offering if they sense it’s not real food. So you have to do this smart.
No rods I have are sensitive enough to feel the bites from these small fish. I tie a hand line out of 2-4 pound fluoro, and tie a loop knot in one end of the line for the kids to put their wrist through. Otherwise, they drop the line and lose the rig. Its tough to find skinny fluoro and tiny nymph flies. About 4 feet from that, I tie a small nymph on the other end of the line. The nymphs are on tiny hooks, about size 16.
The kid holds the line in both hands. The top hand, whose wrist is wrapped with the line, acts as the retrieving hand. The bottom hand acts as the point of leverage. You feel the hit in the bottom hand, and pull up quickly to set the hook.
Many of the fish are under 2 inches long. We get some slammers though, that actually threaten to break that small line. Even a nice sized white perch will hit those tiny nymph flies, and it can turn into an intense fight!
I tell you what though, this has to be the evidence proving that the most exciting part of fishing is getting the hit. My heart rate increases big time once I feel the little nibbles on the nymph. I’m talking about inch and a half fish getting me super excited. How about that?! The kids love it too.
So, you caught some fish. Now the monkey is off your back. Some of the kids want to keep doing that though, so I let them. Meanwhile, I work the shrimp on the jig, or I use the bait they’re catching under a bobber. While they’re entertaining themselves with bait, I’m aiming to blow their minds with a fish way bigger than the ones we’re catching on the hand line. Thing is, it’s an easy task, because you’ve got nowhere to go from 1.5 inches but UP.
So yesterday, we were doing all of this. We caught dozens of white perch, dozens of bait fish, and 2 huge common carp on ultralight tackle.
After striking out with these two boys in the ocean a few days prior, this is exactly what they needed to be reminded of how awesome an activity fishing is. Ultralight freshwater fishing is the true “old reliable.”
On my off time, I’m soaking sand flea flies in surf, waiting patiently for these fluke and stripers to cooperate. Clousers are getting some time on the line, but nothing much has cut it for me lately. I’m catching shad, and cocktail blues, which is all good fun. But stripers are the goal, and they continue to elude me.
From my eye in the sky, it seems there’s a lot going on. The past few days saw a pretty large ocean, that picked up quickly and then settled down just as quickly. The bunker hardly moved. They’re stacked up just off the beach, plagued by predators. Bluefish and a whale were my most recent sightings, just this morning. I saw a couple sharks too, but they were very far off the beach, unlike the blues harassing the surf bound bunker schools.
Judging from all the brown “smoke” in the water (really just sand and sediment whipped off the sea floor by the tails of attacking predators), there’s still a ton of teeth down there. You never know what you’re going to pull up from a situation like that, but it seems that spinner sharks are the most likely culprit as of late.
I saw some insane scenes from Fire Island recently. There were more sharks on those bunker schools than I’ve ever seen. It’s wild.
The tuna bite right now is wild as well. I heard whispers of yellowfin within ten miles of the beach, and bluefin getting caught even closer than that. There are some huge ones at the Canyon, as evidence by the anglers fishing in the Hamptons Offshore Invitational. Steve Fernandez of 5 Seas posted this incredible synopsis of his encounter with an Allison Yellowfin losing 40 pounds to a 15 foot hammerhead.
The fish would’ve gone over 200 pounds had it not been sharked so badly. The tail was bitten off, and a huge chunk taken from its belly. I’m happy to see it left the top sickle on for us to admire.
Here’s Steve’s words:
“First leg of the Hamptons Offshore Invitational wound up being one fo the best canyon trips of our lives. Ended up fishing some purple Gulf Stream water absolutely stuffed to the gills with life. Whale sharks, manta rays, and endless topwater tuna feeds. Had a slammer trip with 25 yellowfins, a nice Bigeye, and this unicorn of a fish, a true Northeast Allison Yellowfin. Marked the fish at 75 feet, turned around and watched it detonate on a TN-Tackle creamsicle head and the old trusty worm, a pink Ronz Lures LLC. After a wicked fight by my boss Albert and an hour-plus on the rod, we had the leader on the rod 4 times. Just when we thought we broke the fish, an estimated 15 foot Great Hammerhead charged the back of the boat with its gint dorsal fin pushing a wake. Just as it disappeared behind the boat, the tuna sensed it and sounded burning 500 yards off the reel. Unfortunately, as the tuna slowed the hammerhead made its move. By the load on the rod and the consistent gain, I knew the fish was either tail wrapped or motorless. It was the latter. We stuck 2 gaffs in the fish and pulled her through the door. From the highest of highs to the lowest of lows. Our dream fish was stolen from us, not entirely, but as far as tournament fishing is concerned, robbed. The fish was DQ’ed for being mutilated. The fish tipped the scales at 171 pounds, making it 200-210 whole.”
Unreal. Besides that, I’ve seen a bunch of other awesome pictures coming from many miles out. I’m getting the itch to head offshore.
People keep asking me for tuna charter recommendations, so I figured I’d mention in this report the two businesses that intrigue me most.
Stephen Gifford of “Fire Island Sportsmen” on instagram posts the craziest fishing content, mostly coming from offshore. The blitzes these guys find, and the rod bending action they experience is second to none. You have to check out their videos; they’re like visual crack for tuna folks.
John McMurray of “One More Cast” is the other charter I recommend most. I went out with them in December, and had an incredible time. His success rate is as high as they come, evidenced by the consistent catches he posts on instagram. Check them out if you’re looking for a charter, or just looking for some fishy content to make you salivate.
And hey, if you’re looking for the latter, check out the YouTube videos I’ve been posting lately. They’re nothing fancy, just short clips (mostly a minute long) surveying the bunker and what’s after them. Also, check out the video I shot with BlacktipH this past week. It’s his most recent video, with a thumbnail picture of a whale breaching. We got my buddy Will Husband onto his first shark ever, a 7+ foot spinner shark. We sent a bunker out with a drone, hoping to drop it on the head of a Cobia. Unfortunately (but awesomely still) we ended up catching that shark. Hey, Will was happy, and the rod was bent. I couldn’t have asked for more. That was a cool experience. Check it out!
I’m hoping this recent chilly weather we’re experiencing will get my surf stripers back on the daytime chew. I’ll def keep jigging marabou for carp, but I gotta get keyed in on the bass. I’m kind of counting on this north wind to keep the bunker close to the beach too. I’ll have some more chances to mess with whatever’s underneath them if that pans out. The reports of big fluke these past couple weeks, plus the reports of snappers and the cocktail blues I caught this week, all make me want to soak some snapper blues for big fluke. I’m going to try to make that happen in the surf this week. I’ve got my sights set on some cool fishing this coming week. Potential is high, no matter where you are. Make sure you get out and enjoy it. The summer’s coming to an end soon!
Tight lines.