Every week since mid-November I thought to myself “the bass bite must be slowing down back on L.I. by now” and every week, I find out I’m wrong. Striped bass continue to crash on schools of adult and peanut bunker both in the surf and out front for the boats, and there are still no signs of it slowing down. Have the fish gotten smaller? Yes. That’s to be expected. The larger cow bass have mostly moved through despite the presence of adult menhaden around Rockaway and Coney Island, and now it is schoolie city.
The beaches from Jones to Jamaica Bay are holding fish, and they’re biting everything; topwaters, diamond jigs, bucktails and swim shads are all on the menu. As expected, most of the fish are in the slot range or schoolie size, but as we’ll find out, there are still plenty of quality bass to go around.
If we want it to stay that way for years to come, there’s a VERY important meeting regarding interstate commercial striped bass fishing quotas inside Nissequogue River State Park on December 7. If you can make it, I implore you to attend. From 6-8 p.m. on 12/7, the ASMFC is holding a meeting for public comments and concerns regarding a transferrable commercial striped bass fishing quota. This addendum to Amendment 7 is an absolute slap in the face to recreational fishermen and all the work we have done to protect this resource through catch and release, stringent regulations, and educating the public. I hate to say it, but the addendum is purely a proposal in the interest of making more money for the commercial guys. Come to the meeting angry, but prepare to be composed and articulate. This is a HUGE opportunity to voice our concerns directly to the faces of the people who make these decisions “behind closed doors”. It’s a shame that we need to get this riled up in the interest of protecting our resources. So if you attend, let ’em have it.
Read More about the Addendum to Amendment 7 here!
Moving on.
The longevity of the fall run on the west end varies year to year, but the consistency of high quality bass that are still being caught is almost unprecedented. I’m no biologist, but I like to draw hypotheses, and if I had to guess, there are a lot of striped bass that have completed their migration south already. What we’re seeing out front is likely a portion of bass still heading south toward the Delaware River and Chesapeake Bay. But as the Hudson River stock contributes higher spawn percentages to the overall coastal stock each year, it’s safe to assume that a good amount of the stripers between central Long Island and central New Jersey right now are part of the Hudson stock. My guess is as good as yours, but I like to think these fish are all fattening up close to home to replenish the energy they spent swimming south to NY, before they hold over for the winter in our nearby backwaters and estuaries.
In recent years past, the Fall Run has been good, but this year is something special. I can tell you I wasn’t surfcasting regularly by this time in 2019 or 2020; instead I was making early morning drives to the NYC reservoirs to catch the sunrise bite. For whatever reason, the most productive windows of time to fish these large, deep lakes seemed to be between 5 and 10 in the morning. I’d leave Long Island around 4 a.m., bushwhack to my spots by 5:15 a.m. and be fishing not a minute later than 5:30 as first light broke the darkness.
The most effective ways to fish these reservoirs were blade baits and soft plastic paddletail jigs. A slowly crawled, 3-inch white paddletail on a 1/4-ounce jighead got this jumbo smallie to bite in early December.
That same paddletail and jighead caught me my first shoreline lake trout the following spring just a few days after Easter. The kicking tail provides a very subtle action that smallmouth bass take a liking to in cold water. Lake trout however, will follow the jig up through the water column, often biting halfway through the retrieve or following the lure to the rocks. It can be a very challenging fishery that has broken my spirits and sent me home skunked more times than I care to admit; but hiking to serene locations and catching big fish that few anglers are dialed into is what kept myself and a couple of friends from the Brooklyn Fishing Club returning every week or two throughout the winter.
There were plenty of times that I didn’t feel up to the drive, or freezing my cheeks off after a long drive in early morning New York traffic. On those days, the small trout streams and ponds kept me entertained back on Long Island.
I caught my first ever brook trout only a few years ago when they were stocked in my local honey hole in Nassau County, and ever since, I’ve been hooked on them. The first one was tiny, but they stocked some absolute hammers in there, and I regularly caught them on crankbaits and jerkbaits that were intended for largemouth bass. After a couple, I learned to crush the barbs on the trebles to protect those big brookies. Once I realized that they had an appetite for just about anything in the pond, I opted for lures with only single hooks and the lightest tackle I owned. We might not have incredibly natural trout fishing on Long Island, but the state does a fantastic job stocking a variety of waters, from deep kettle lakes on the east end to shallow bass ponds, and all the rivers and creeks in-between.
These are just a couple of your winter fishing options when striped bass decide to stop putting on this incessant feed bag. Largemouth bass and yellow perch are another common target among Long Island waters, and white perch are a challenging but exciting little panfish worth chasing around the tidal portions of rivers on the north and south shores.
Before jumping into freshwater fishing though, squeeze every last drop out of this incredible fall run. Here are the reports from the local boats and tackle shops.
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Looking for Tim Regan’s Eastern Long Island Fishing Report? Click here to read what’s happening around Suffolk County and The Forks!
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Want to get in on the bite? Find an OTW-approved Charter Fishing Captain around Long Island and NYC!
From the Boats
Captain Josh of Gypsea Charters in Howard Beach, Queens reports:
“Blackfishing and striper fishing continue to be very good. We had one tough trip for blackfish, but the stripers bailed us out big time! Other than that, the tog fishing continues to produce very good catches with loads of short action and nice keepers hitting the deck. With the recent drops in water temps, we expect it to improve even more. Highlight of the week was Chris with a jumbo, just shy of the DD mark. We are running open boat by reservation only until the close of blackfish on 12/22.” Call or text the Gypsea (516)659 3814 for more information and reservations.
Captain Vinnie of Karen Ann Charters in Jamaica Bay reports:
Captain Rich of Rockfish Charters in Brooklyn reports:
“We had decent ocean blackfishing this week, and the amazing striped bass fishing continues. It’s been so good, I even got my 4 year old out after school and he landed a 45-inch bass!” Call/text Captain Rich (347)661-4501 for more information and availability.
The Super Hawk in Point Lookout reports fantastic offshore wreck trips for sea bass, scup, cod and more. When conditions allow, they are running full day trips to the wrecks and the action continues to fill buckets, sending anglers home with buckets of fillets and smiles. It’s been very cold so dress for the weather and over prepare just to be safe. The next trip is scheduled for tomorrow, Friday December 2, which looks like it should have fantastic sea and weather conditions. Reservations are a must, so call the office (516) 607-3004 to book your spot.
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Looking for Tim Regan’s Eastern Long Island Fishing Report? Click here to read what’s happening around Suffolk County and The Forks!
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Want to get in on the bite? Find an OTW-approved Charter Fishing Captain around Long Island and NYC!
From the Shops
Jack’s Bait and Tackle in City Island, Bronx reports:
“Tautog fishing is still good in the Western Sound but it has slowed down a bit compared to weeks past, most likely due to boats being pulled and charters closing for the season. There have been scattered reports of striped bass here and there, and a couple guys even got them while tog fishing. They’re sitting low in the water column and nosing around for crabs out here, while down south they’re on big baits and hitting topwaters.”
Brandon at Causeway Bait and Tackle in Wantagh reports:
“Thanksgiving morning we did very well on bass in Raritan Bay, but we found bass all over on the way there too. We stopped and caught a bunch of fish on topwater to the West around Long Beach and Rockaway, mostly low slots and schoolies. A friend of mine reported some good fish off of Jones that same morning, and there’s still a good amount of bait around. A few guys still fishing the surf are doing decent for schoolies and a couple slot bass, which they said were feeding heavily on sand eels. the blackfish bite inside the bay is pretty much dead now, so if you’re looking for tog, head west and fish the wrecks out front.
Paul McCain at River Bay Outfitters in Baldwin reports:
“The rivers upstate have been blown out after lots of rain this week, but our rivers are actually fishing pretty well. The surf has been slow with the wind and the rain, but there are certainly bass out there around Jones Beach. That bite will usually last us until the 15th of the month, sometimes even into January if we’re lucky and no major storms roll through. It has definitely been cooling off though, today it’s very cold. However, the local ponds are fishing well, but you have to fish clousers or streamers very slow for trout or bass to take interest. Yellow perch will bite around this time of year too, and they provide some fun when bass and trout won’t cooperate.”
Freeport Bait and Tackle reports:
“The blackfish bite inside the bay has died off as water temperatures have dropped. There’s a decent crowd of surfcasters still getting fish on the beach out front around Jones, Tobay and Oak Beaches. Those fish are most likely eating sand eels, but some have been hitting topwater early in the morning before sunrise. Not many anglers are going for tog anymore because the bite out front never materialized and the bass fishing has been so good. If you’re bass fishing, we’ve got the jigs and soft plastics to mimic those sand eels. Stop in on the way down to the beach.”
Western Long Island and NYC Fishing Forecast
Striped bass fishing in the surf could last until Christmas if sand eels stick around and no major storms blow out the beaches. The topwater bite to the west around New York City continues to put slot fish in the boat, and if the adult bunker stick around that bite will last another couple weeks. Many stripers are already in the back bays ready to ride out the winter ahead.
Tautog fishing has been good around the West End wrecks and the NY Bight, but the bay bite that was hot until Thanksgiving has dropped off significantly. Very few boats are putting effort into blackfish the further east you go because the bite out front of Jones never materialized on those wrecks. Depending where you are in NYC, you may be able to sneak in a couple more shore tautog before the season ends, but it sounds like the bulk of the fish have moved into deeper waters.
Don’t hesitate to pick up an ultralight rod to scratch the fishing itch if need be. Trout, white perch and more await anglers in the local rivers along the north and south shores. Fish with hair jigs, small soft plastics like trout magnet, inline spinners, soft plastic grubs and flies to target both perch and trout in the rivers. There are also several creeks around central L.I. that host quality carp fishing if you’re looking for something a bit more sizable to tango with. Lastly, if you’ve got means of transportation, those NYC reservoirs are a great place to go fishing for larger freshwater specimens. Feel free to reach out to me with any questions. I won’t share my spots, but I’ll share everything else you need to know about how to fish them, when to fish them and what to look for. Remember, you need special permits to actively fish there, as well as a vehicle permit to legally park along the many roadside pull-offs on these lakes.
REMEMBER: If you are a striped bass angler on Long Island and you care about this resource, ATTEND THE ASMFC HEARING. Here’s the information again:
Wherever fishing finds you this week, respect the fish, respect each other, be safe and fish hard. I’ll catch you next week.