Well, it had to slow down sometime. Striped bass fishing has reached the point where there are certainly a few fish to be had in the surf, but the fish are basically all schoolies. They’ll be biting on slowly retrieved bucktails, metals and especially, teasers. Tying a teaser above your main offering this time of year might be the difference maker between getting skunked and finding a fish or two. You can buy them at the store or have a little fun and tie your own. I personally favor the 3/0 SPRO teasers in chartreuse and white; they’re small enough to trick any finicky bass, with a large enough Gamakatsu hook that I’m not worried about losing the fish to weak hardware. I’ll be on the Island this weekend, and as cold as it might be out there, I think I’ve gotta hit the surf at sunrise for one last shot at bass on the open beach in 2022. Sounds like my odds are pretty good from Jones Beach to Rockaway. If you’re still catching fish on the West End from Nassau to Brooklyn, shoot me a message on Instagram @hefftyfishing and let’s wet a line.
There are still blitzes popping up here and there for anglers who still have their boats in the water, but the fish are all short, which typically signifies the final days of the fall run. This is the time of year that New York surfcasters pretend they’re New Jersey surfcasters, but even in northern New Jersey things are slowing down as the bass push south.
Tautog fishing has seen a shift in the bite from shallow structure out front to deeper structure, and with heavy winds this week, it’s been difficult for most boats to put a bite together. Some quality fish have come up from both the western Long Island Sound and the NY Bight region in weeks past, but it really seems to be hit or miss. Many captains are reporting they haven’t seen the size they’re looking for in numbers like they have in years past. Let’s hope that is not a continuing trend in the seasons to come.
It’s the time of the season where fishing reports start running thin in saltwater. Boats are being pulled, wrapped and stored for the winter, and freshwater fishing elbows its way to the forefront of the fishing scene. Even though we might not be out in the surf or on the boat daily, our local bait and tackle shops need the support, especially during the off-season. If you plan on doing any holiday shopping for yourself, think twice before putting in an order on Tackle Warehouse and take a 20-minute drive instead to the nearest Mom and Pop shop. Our shops do a lot for us during the busy season, so wintertime is the time to return the favor. Shop local whenever you can!
On the freshwater fishing front, trout, white perch, pickerel and largemouth bass should still be active in many of our ponds. One thing I enjoyed doing when it got cold out was putting my kayak in shallow ponds so I could access the deeper water where fish hold as temperatures drop. If you don’t have a kayak, that’s okay; many of the lakes and ponds on Long Island are part of larger river systems and were only formed due to man-made dams and spillways. While these dams inhibit the natural flow of our rivers and hinder fish passage of migratory species like river herring, they create deeper water immediately behind the dams, which can usually be accessed by shoreline. In past years, I have found fat largemouth bass, brook trout and yellow perch stacked in these areas.
Yellow perch were the most common catch alongside the brook trout. I mentioned in last weeks report that brook trout are incredibly aggressive—at least the stocked ones are— and on many occasions they’ll hit lures like crankbaits, paddletail swimbaits and jerkbaits intended for bass. I release all my brook trout even though they’re stocked, so if you plan to release your fish too, do these three things:
- Get a net, keep the fish wet while removing hooks.
- Crush your barbs if using treble hooks to minimize damage to the fish. (Always have pliers ready)
- Wet your hand before grabbing the fish, and kept them out of dirt, sand or gravel.
Brook trout will bite all winter long whether you fish for them in stocked ponds or the Connetquot River. But there’s plenty of other species to look to when fishing slows in the winter.
Yellow perch like to eat small 1/16th-ounce paddletails, tube jigs and grubs slowly crawled on the bottom. I’ve caught some of my biggest yellow perch doing this, and although it can be grueling to drag a bait painfully slow along the bottom in bitter cold, its a technique that catches fish.
That being said, inline spinners are one of the best wintertime lures you can throw. They move as fast as you retrieve them, but the trick is to keep the retrieval steady enough that it doesn’t sink too deep to snag and doesn’t ride on the waters surface. A Mepps Aglia or Rooster Tail spinner will have a slight weight to it, allowing you to cast further. Trout and panfish will strike these baits despite their moving faster than a small jig on bottom.
Speaking of small jigs, white perch are another wintertime favorite that favor grubs, paddletails and hair jigs. They’ll even eat spinners and lipless crankbaits. There are so many places that house white perch on Long Island, and I’ve had a handful of inquiries about where, when and how to catch them.
Start looking in tidal portions of rivers that have a relatively high salinity and move inland from there. White perch can survive in high salinity, but they also live in some freshwater lakes, which is why brackish areas seem to be the most productive areas to target. If you’re catching stripers in the rivers before perch, it doesn’t mean you’re in the wrong area, stripers will just beat a perch to the offering 9 times out of 10. Try moving further inland. On many of the rivers, there are small brackish ponds or deep, slow-moving portions of river that hold white perch because they are predominantly freshwater, but they flood and mix with saltwater on king tides around the full and new moons. If you’ve got a boat or kayak, one popular technique is to chum with grass shrimp which usually leads to fast and furious action. I haven’t done this myself, but it’s a proven technique, especially in New Jersey’s backwaters.
Enough about panfish and trout. You’ve got all winter to target them. There are still bass around, and tautog are still biting too. Here is the rundown from our local shops, and our Captains who are still on the water.
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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 continues to be hit or miss with some days better than others. The ocean bite really hasn’t come into full swing yet, but any day it should bust wide open. We are still putting together respectable catches on most days when the weather cooperates. Only a couple of weeks left to get in on the action.” Call/text (516)659-3814 for info and reservations.
Captain Rich of Rockfish Charters in Brooklyn reports:
“Weather sucks, but that’s normal for this time of year. The majority of bird blitzes are short bass which is an indication of the end of an epic run. There are still many keepers to be had for the more experienced fisherman. As for tog, more of the same in the NY bight. Basically a collapsed fishery. This is the six year in a row where so many huge areas of bottom are lifeless or only have small shorts.”
The Super Hawk in Point Lookout reports:
“The weather isn’t looking too great for this weekend, but the good news is we’re sailing every day next week! Fishing has been great when we’ve been out, with plenty of sea bass and jumbo porgies still making up the bulk of the catch. Recently we’ve had a couple cod and pollock in the mix, along with a flurry of weakfish and bluefish. Reservations are required for all trips , reservations are made over the phone with a credit card. Boarding is done in the order the reservations are made. Call the office (516) 607-3004 or go to superhawkfishing.com for more info.”
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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
Brandon at Causeway Bait and Tackle in Wantagh reports:
“The boat crowd is still doing well with stripers from Jones Beach to Long Beach, and there are still some fish off of Rockaway that might have a bit more size to them. The surf has been pretty quiet overall. Blitzes are popping up here and there, but there are lots of small fish in those feeds. As for the reefs, they’ve finally been producing some good tautog as the fish seek out deeper structure. We were in tog limbo for a few weeks with the fishing in the bay dying off and the reefs not producing, but both Hempstead and Atlantic Reefs should hold some good fish.”
Paul McCain at River Bay Outfitters in Baldwin reports:
“I had a tough trip to the Salmon River this week, it was pouring rain and not many anglers saw action. Back here on the Island, there are still stripers in the surf, although they have gotten much smaller over the last couple weeks. Teasers and tins will get it done for the spin fishermen. In other news, freshwater streams on L.I. are fishing well after the recent trout stocking. The Connetquot River in particular is fishing fantastic after a breach in their tanks upstream that sent hundreds of fish between 12 and 14 inches barreling downstream, so anglers have been reporting “banner days” at the expense of a fault on the hatchery end. Otherwise, chain pickerel fishing is going great as they’re fired up by the dropping temperatures, so hit the ponds and throw spinners, spoons and jerkbaits to get in on the action.”
Freeport Bait and Tackle reports:
“Tog fishing has been picking up out front, and there’s a good run of schoolies on Jones Beach this week biting bucktails and Little Neck Poppers if you catch them at the right time. There have been some good blackfish coming up from the reefs, but we had a 7.35-pound tog brought into the shop this week that was caught from one of the nearby bridges. Out on the wrecks there have apparently been a couple nice cod mixed in, too. If you’re looking for a few more stripers under the belt in 2022, and you need a Christmas gift, we just got MagicTail surf rods in and we’ll be getting a bunch from Jigging World very soon, so swing by the shop!”
Lindenhurst Bait and Tackle reports:
“Congratulations to Bobby Karman on his personal best blackfish. He duped this 12.5 pound white chin on a spinning rod with 10 pound braid and a jig.”
Western Long Island and NYC Fishing Forecast
The beaches should give up some bass for the next week or two if air temperatures remain relatively temperate by December standards. If you’ve still got a boat in the water, bundle up and head out front at sunrise with some topwaters, tins and bucktails and you’ll likely find some feeding schoolies.
Prying the reefs out front has finally proven to be worth it, with some good sized tautog reported this week at Freeport and Lindenhurst Bait and Tackle. With the exception of a few fish, the masses have migrated to deeper water.
After trout ponds received their final stockings in recent weeks, the rivers should be fishing particularly well as temperatures continue to drop. Pickerel have been biting well in the ponds, which is great because largemouth bass fishing is slow. If you’re not on trout or pickerel, target white or yellow perch.
Wherever fishing finds you this week, respect each other, respect the fish, be safe and fish hard. Catch you next week!
I stand with tackle warehouse.