Eastern Long Island Fishing Report- October 20, 2022

Suffolk County / Eastern L.I. Fishing Report

• Big Bass for the boats on the south shore.
• Big bluefish on the north shore, plus some albies and stripers.
• Decent schoolie bite on the south shore beaches. Potential for a sandeel beach bite. New moon on the horizon too. Time to fish very hard!
• Excellent tog fishing on the north shore. Awesome opener on the south shore. Bottom fishing remains great (scup, sea bass, toadfish). Tough cod bite though.
• Giant tuna for the taking.
• Awesome freshwater fishing available.

Captree’s Laura Lee reports:

Tog and big striped bass made for some awesome reports this week. Yesterday, 13 anglers on the 7am Local caught 320 blackfish and 14 sea bass. The 1pm trip caught 370 tog. The 6pm trip targeted striped bass, catching 16 and releasing 3 overslot fish to 38 pounds.

The day prior, the 7am trip caught 374 tog to 6.4 pounds. Along with them came 14 sea bass, 2 weakfish, 1 fluke, 1 triggerfish, and two toadfish. That’s a fun bag. The 1pm caught 285 tog, 4 sea bass and 1 striper. The evening fishing was solid on the striper front; the 6pm trip kept 6 bass and released 6 overs to 32 pounds. The next trip kept 16 bass. The Monday evening trip caught 11 stripers, keeping a full boat limit. The rest were overslot, weighing up to 38 pounds, so they released those and one short. The two days prior were pretty much the same story as the rest of the week.

Captree Bait and Tackle has been seeing some nice keepers come to the weigh station this week. Max Fracchioni and Bruce both brought in some keeper tog before taking them home for dinner. The short tog bite has been absurd, and it can be serious work trying to pick through them.

Bill at Chasing Tails Bait and Tackle in Oakdale reports:

“Fall run 2022 remains one of the best we’ve seen in a while. Schools of massive stripers have invaded our shores, and local anglers are having a blast with them. Beachgoers and boaters alike are doing extremely well. There are thirty inchers in the bay, and thirty pounders in the ocean. Get at them with pretty much anything imaginable. Jigs, popping plugs, swim shads, bucktails, and SP Minnows are getting inhaled. Trolling umbrella rigs is popular again this year, the bigger fish love to chase down an easy meal of an entire school of bait. I have a feeling this is just the start, and we will be seeing these fish around for another month or so. Some solid fish are just starting to move into the bay. 

Tautog season is open on both shores and these fish are hungry! These crab crunchers will hit hard, fight harder, and give you a run for your money. Rigs and jigs loaded up with crab will get the job done, it’s all on you to have the skill to land them. South shore opening day was a great success for me and my buddies, we had well over 100 fish and had to leave them biting since we ran out of bait. At one point, we were tossing back 17 inch fish in search of the 19 and 20 inchers. They are so aggressive this time of year, the bait barely has time to hit the bottom before you’re getting whacked by a chubby white chin. Get out there before they move far out into the ocean. Weakfish haven’t shown back up since that last nasty storm unfortunately, so now we are just hoping for a strong return in the spring. 

The action in the local lakes and rivers is remarkable. Bass and pickerel are very active, and aggressively taking down lures. Lipless cranks, swimbaits, jigs, and topwater lures are the go-to presentations for this time of year. Yellow perch and sunfish are schooled up and hungry for some fall food before winter hits. They’ll chase inline spinners and small jigs around, plus a classic worm and bobber rig will always work. Trout are loving this weather, and feeding throughout the day. Nymphs and streamers are your best bet for a catch. Bugs will hatch and fish will rise as the morning warms.”

• Looking for the Western Long Island and NYC Fishing Report? Click here to read what’s happening around Nassau, Kings and Queens counties!

• Want to get in on the bite? Find an OTW-approved Charter Fishing Captain on Long Island!

Capt. Dave Flanagan of North Island Fly in Northport reports:

Dave hid from the wind in the backwaters the other day, and had fun catching stripers with his client on topwater lures, along with big bluefish. Paul, Gordon Jake and Chris joined him the day before to beat up on some bottom fish. They had a productive day catching jumbo porgies, sea bass, toadfish, and blackfish to five pounds. The few days prior were spent hunting albies. Steve took off for his birthday to join Dave on one of those days. He caught his first albie ever, and spent the next 5 hours getting his drag smoked by the speedsters.

Check out Dave’s website to book him for a charter at www.northislandfly.com.

The Celtic Quest Fishing Fleet of Mattituck reports: 

We had some very good days to start the week. The blackfish were very active. Light tackle anglers did very well, and lots of keepers went home. Some other solid fish were biting as well, porgies, sea bass and even weakfish. The fish finder showed a huge amount of life under the boat. The past three days were pretty much off and on. We caught fish, some tides were just better than others. A school field trip got lucky and hammered the scup in some safe harbor from the wind. Yesterday, the tog bite was off a bit, but there were plenty of porgies and a few nice sea bass that clients got to bring home.

Call them at 631-928-3926 for booking info.

The Peconic Star of Greenport reports:

Togging has been great this week. There are a lot of shorts in the 13-15 inch range, but plenty of keepers in the mix. Most anglers are getting 20-50 short tog per trip. Keepers are mostly 3-5 pounds, but pool fish have been 6-8 pounds this week. We’ve caught easy boat limits every day this week. We’ve been seeing some huge sea bass in the mix too, weighing up to 5 pounds. Don’t let the weather keep you off the water; the bite has been awesome even when the wind’s blowing! 

Steve at Wego Fishing Bait & Tackle in Southold reports:

Blackfishing off the beach has been very good lately. Guys have been bringing in fish to weigh, and they’re reaching 6-8 pounds. The biggest we weighed at the shop was 8.35 pounds, but some bigger fish weren’t even brought in to the shop. If you get on the boat, you’ve got a decent shot at a ten pounder. There are some very nice sea bass to be caught as well, both from boat and beach.

The striper bite picked up substantially this week. Albie fishing hasn’t been too crazy though. For stripers and bluefish, best bet is getting on a boat and heading to the Race or the Gut. Steve tells me they’re all big blues.

Capt. Phil of Fishy Business in Orient reports:

The Eastern Anglers group got out with us to target some tog early this week. They enjoyed steady action throughout the trip, and put many tasty tog on ice, and released a good number of them. The Herold group joined us a few days later, and the fishing was good. The weather was perfect too, making it a nice trip where we were able to cull a limit of tog. We returned many shorts safely. They sail out of Duryea’s in Orient. Give Phil a call to book a trip: 516-316-6967.

Surfcasting guide Bernie Bass found some good bass on the night tides this week. Decent fish were chewing consistently, willing to take parrot SS darters and white bottle plugs. With tons of bait around, there’s no time like the present to get out there. Bernie thinks a solid bite will persist in the weeks to come. 

Kenny at Tight Lines Tackle in Sag Harbor reports:

Last week’s blackfish reports were very strong. Most guys Ken knows that went to Plum got their legal limits. Reports didn’t mention anything huge, but mostly fish to 6-ish pounds. There were a lot of throwbacks in the mix, around 15-16 inches. Most guys came back saying they had a very good day. 

Everything else seems to have fallen apart though, locally. There were very few reports other than blackfish last week. There were even more surf reports than boat reports. The beaches by Shinnecock were very quiet when Kenny went poking around. He ran into Steve Petras, who got into a bit of a bite. Apparently it’s been hit or miss there, and when the fish are chewing they are acting very picky. There’s some nice structure over there, nonetheless.

Kenny will be running a sale on a lot of his inventory beginning November 1.

The Shinnecock Star in Hampton Bays reports:

The tautog opener provided us some awesome fishing this week. We had a mix of blackfish and sea bass on the reef, along with a bunch of triggerfish to mix up the bag. Russ even picked himself a keeper striper on a crab meant for a blackfish.

They sail out of Oaklands Marina on the west side of Shinnecock Inlet. Call Capt. John for trip info and reservations: 631-728-4563

David at Westlake Marina in Montauk reports:

Striped bass fishing has picked up off the point. It has been a little spotty on big ones, but there have been lots of slot fish taken this week.

It seems like everyone is out targeting blackfish this week. Limits have been coming in, but there haven’t been a lot of big fish to speak of yet. Six pounders are about the biggest we’ve seen so far. There’s a pretty high catch-keep ratio, but you definitely have to wade through a bunch of small ones to acquire a limit. It’s good action.

Cod is a bit slow. David knows a few guys went out of Montauk this week and came back sad. 

One giant bluefin tuna was taken this week. The core weight was 606 pounds, making it about 8 and change when it was in the fight.

Chris Albronda from Montauk reports:

It was another epic week for stripers, as acres of fish stretched across the surface from the south side all the way to the inlet. Chris’ weapon of choice was the diamond jig. Black Sea bass were chewing alongside the stripers, and they were about as impressive as the ones you could find deep.

Blackfish reports were solid this week. There were some reports of personal best, double digit fish (which were released for the most part, thankfully). The average size of tog brought in was around 6 pounds. There are some bluefish around, and the squid are back.

Offshore, you can find some sharks and giant bluefin. Give Chris a call at 631-830-3881 to book a trip.

Montauk’s Viking Fleet reports:

We had a tough go with the weather yesterday, but the fishing turned out to be great. We ran to Block Island to pick at some large tog, cod, sea bass and jumbo porgies. Bruce Lee from NJ won the tog pool with a 8.5 pounder. The sea bass pool went to Luke Torres from NYC with a 5.25 pounder. The Sunday morning trip’s pool went to Admir Capric from Staten Island, who caught a 3.5 pound porgy. We had a bunch of mackerel and cod on that trip too.

Fishing was up and down over the weekend, with some of the same catches: good sizer porgies, keeper cod, some nice sea bass and lots of little ones, and a keeper striped bass or two.

Call the office to book at 631-668-5700, or book online at vikingfleet.com.

• Looking for the Western Long Island and NYC Fishing Report? Click here to read what’s happening around Nassau, Kings and Queens counties!

• Want to get in on the bite? Find an OTW-approved Charter Fishing Captain on Long Island!

Eastern Long Island Fishing Forecast

Structure is so clutch. It’s crazy how many fish hang on it, and the variety of species that can be caught. Whether you’re fishing from a jetty, a rocky shoreline, a bridge, a wreck, or even a dock, you’ll find many different fish that have gravitated towards the pieces of structure as if they were desert oases.

I fished one rocky spot a couple times this week. Although there weren’t any visible signs of fish, the amount of life underwater was staggering. Each time I dropped my jig, I was getting hounded immediately by an array of life. Tog was my target, but when you’re soaking meat, you don’t have much of a say in what grabs your hook. I must’ve been bitten a thousand times in the two days I targeted tog. There were definitely an absurd amount of shorts down there, but I managed to hook a few really nice fish. As is tradition, most of those keepers broke me off on the structure.

I brought my friend Steve with me to try this fishery out, and I’m surprised his head didn’t explode. The bite was terribly frustrating, with the shorts stealing our bait over and over and over for hours. I’m going to try to get him back out there for some redemption, but I wouldn’t blame him if he never targeted tog from shore again. It was a tough one. They’re a tough fish to catch!

The first day, I had a decent pick of fish, and brought home my first keeper tog ever. I’ve never tasted blackfish before. As soon as I finish this report, I’ll be cooking the fish whole with salt, pepper, and garlic, and serving it with some rice and broccoli. I’ll squeeze a little lemon over the whole dish, and sprinkle some cilantro flakes on top. My stomach just began grumbling intensely as I wrote those sentences. I can’t wait.

I was with Saverio the first day, and he had caught a big oyster toadfish from the rocks. Other guys in other spots were catching the same this week, with some other bonus fish to boot. Sea bass is a pretty common bycatch when you’re targeting tog. Saverio told me he’d be happy catching only sea bass, as they’re the best tasting fish we have on LI. I’ve caught them as tautog bycatch, and also had some striped bass when soaking green crabs. Since you’re bait fishing, the hits come very frequently. Productivity is insane when you’re using bait.

My favorite method of targeting striped bass is actually using bait: sand crabs. Odds are, I’ve already talked your ear off about this on multiple occasions, but it’s pertinent now… sand crabs are the most effective bait with which one can target stripers from the open beach. They’ll also catch all those other species I just mentioned as well!

The stripers on the beachfront now aren’t too focused on the crabs though. As I heard Craig Cantelmo say in his podcast with Saltwater Edge, the stripers stop looking down [for crabs] at some point when the weather cools, and begin looking up [for fish]. When there’s a lull in the bite, I’ll always try soaking a sand crab; it often results in success. Right now, though, the stripers passing through are intently focused on finding fish. You might know that it’s been a tough fall for me, as I love to complain when I’m not catching a lot. I did have a couple of great sessions this week though. 

The stripers are smaller than they were last week, but probably easier to catch (they must be if I’M catching). There’s a good amount of fish just under the slot size, and some within the slot range. Pick one and you’ll probably pick a handful of them in the same spot. They’re on the move though, so don’t expect the bite to last too long. You can reasonably expect to encounter multiple waves of fish. Some waves will potentially hold some large bass. If the large bass come and go, run west and try to stay with them.

Surprisingly, I haven’t seen any blitzes yet! The past two weeks, I’ve been expecting the scene to blow wide open. Odds are very high that the gill nets on my beaches are preventing any momentum from occurring. It’s crazy, and blatantly obvious, and quite depressing, that the blitzes just do not occur when there are gill nets present. They’ve been in for like three weeks now, and they usually pull them from the water when a storm comes. At least one net got left behind and couldn’t be collected for a few days when this week’s swell occurred. I filmed the scene with my drone afterwards. One striper had to be 60+ pounds, dying in the wash just behind the wave. A short bass floated out at sea, getting its guts picked out by a group of seagulls. I only mention these because the drone shots I got from them are pretty cool (albeit unfortunate).

The blitzes will occur eventually. There should be some voracious bass bites coming up. If you’re on them, stay on them; the big girls will find your line eventually. If you’re striking out and just can’t take it anymore, know that you can go buy some green crabs and head to some sticky structure for a good chance at getting bent on a hard-fighting tautog. It’ll turn your frown upside down.

Get out when you can this week. Weather will be nice the next couple days, so take advantage. After that there will be a mix of high winds and rain, so it’ll less comfortable being out there; that doesn’t mean the fish won’t be biting though. The October new moon this week could produce the best bass of your life. Brave the conditions and go get her.

Tight lines.