Long Island and NYC Fishing Report
Eastern Long Island
The Eastern Long Island Fishing Report is compiled and written by writer/blogger and fly-fishing industry professional, Jack Larizadeh (@jack.lariz).
Bill at Chasing Tails Bait and Tackle in Oakdale reports: “Another solid week in the books for fluke season. The bay is loaded with flatties and some impressive fish have come up over the rails. Bouncing jigs on light tackle has proved to be the most effective. Colorful soft plastics hanging add a little extra enticing movement to the jig. Fish light, because some of the bites are very subtle. Sea bass fishing on the outside reefs and wrecks has been insanely good. Drop down a slow-pitch jig, bucktail, or regular ol’ rig. The bite is hot! Summer striped bass fishing action is starting to pop up here and there if you know where to look. They’ll be keyed in on specific baits, so match the hatch and you’re in! Snappers and blue claw crabs are showing up at the local docks and providing lots of summer fun for the whole family. The tuna bite is insane. Jigging, popping, trolling, it’s all working. Tons of solid yellows and mondo blues are out lurking and making for some incredible days on the ocean.”
Sean Conway (@long_Island_fishing_guy) on the North Shore reports: “Tons of porgies off the open beach by me on the north shore. It’s almost impossible to not catch one. I’ve been tying a dropper loop for a teaser, tipping it with Gulp, and using a bucktail on bottom. Small fluke and keeper porgies are all hitting the high hook with Gulp. I’ve also been getting a bunch of small blues, bass, and fluke on the fly, too.”
Captain Tommy LaSala (@montauk_fishing_charters) in Montauk reports: “The fluke are here and biting pretty good. We had fish to 8 pounds along with a mess of smaller keepers this week. There are still some big sea bass mixed in with them on the rock piles. The porgies are everywhere and there’s still a few stripers and blues around, but the majority of the bass have moved east toward Block Island.”
Captain Stu from Northport Charters reports: “Presently, we’re catching lots of fluke and porgies during our Kids Fishing Camp. We are mainly concentrating on bottom fishing now in the bays and LI Sound, and we are bending the rod and culling through lots of shorts to get to some larger fluke over the rail. So far this week, Dylan and Aiden have hooked some beautiful fluke in the 3- to 5-pound range. There are massive amounts of medium-sized bunker schools now in our bays and locally in the Sound. We’re also starting to see signs of snappers moving in—lots of bait! Plus, some croakers are coming up when we’re targeting porgies with clams.”
Captain Chris at the Montauk Anglers Club reports: “It was a tough week for the striped bass fisherman in Montauk; the bass have moved on to other grounds, but they will be back soon. Luckily, there were plenty of other species to catch in the meantime. Big fluke, big porgies, black sea bass, and triggerfish. Bottom fishing is really good right now. If you can get through the porgies when you’re fluking, you can get your limit easy! My good friend Cristina DaCosta came back for a quick visit from her home and job in the Florida Keys. She fished with Tommy on the Hammertime and caught her limit of jumbo fluke. Offshore, the tuna fishing has been very good, with mahi-mahi, showing up, and wahoo!”
Mark at Cow Harbor Bait and Tackle in Northport reports: “Bass are still out in the Sound in deeper water and if you can find bunker, you’ll find the bass with them. Bluefish are everywhere in the Sound and there are smaller ones in the bay. Fluke fishing from 40 to 60 feet is most productive this week.”
Steve at Wego Fishing Bait and Tackle in Southold reports “The bass fishing is still as hot as the weather. The race and the gut remain insane. The most conducive lure is the white & yellow bucktail. Chartresuse was hot and isn’t anymore. Bass aside, monster blues entered the race at 12 pounds and up.”
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This past week in Nantucket was a scorcher—hot and muggy is an understatement. In the beginning of the week, I focused my efforts on land-based shark fishing. Action was non stop, drags were screaming and rods were bending. For bait I used hickory shad, mackerel, and squid, however, for one reason or another the sharks seemed to favor squid over the oily baitfish. The challenging thing about using squid is that it’s fairly soft, so it takes some extra rigging steps to make it stay on the hook. My favorite way to rig squid is to thread the hook through the head so that it sits flush on the shank. Next, I double over three rubber bands and secure the top, middle, and bottom sections of squid to the hook. As a result, the bait can withstand long-distance casting and strong current.
When the weekend rolled around I hopped on a local charter boat by the name of Captain Tom’s Charters. The owner, Jason, put us on an epic bite in the rips. Fish blasted squid flies, pencil poppers, and extra-large Slug-gos; the key was to cast into the foamy whitewater.
Double-up after double-up ensued. As I look toward August, I’m excited to tuna fish. I’ve got plenty of trips lined up to get it done!
Eastern Long Island Fishing Forecast
Wow, it’s been a hot one! Over the next week temperatures will remain hot and muggy. With continuously rising water temps, it’s all about timing your outings. If you’re looking for bass, I’d recommend fishing during or after a rain storm as water temperatures will quickly drop and fish activity will temporarily spike. As for presentation, slow and steady is going to win the race. You can’t go wrong with a Slug-go, NLBN, or twitchbait.
While finding striper, bluefish, and fluke action might be tough, the porgy bite is on fire. Head over to your local rocky beach or jetty and catch ’em up. With a light setup you can cash-in on hours of hard-fighting fun and a tasty meal. I’d reccomend a 9-foot light action rod paired with a 5000 sized reel and 10-pound braid tied to 20-pound leader. I’ve always found the most fun light-tackle action fishing tog jigs for porgy—my favorite is the 1⁄2-ounce bottom sweeper jig in chartreuse. The shape of the jig minimizes snags while helping to present the bait upright at all times. As for bait, you can’t go wrong with clam strips; thread them onto the hook, then simply pitch the jig out and wait for the right thump!
Looking toward the near future, I’m hoping bonito push into the Sound during the late summer/early fall!
The Eastern Long Island Fishing Report is compiled and written by writer/blogger and fly-fishing industry professional, Jack Larizadeh (@jack.lariz).
Western Long Island & NYC
The Western L.I./NYC Fishing Report is compiled and written by NYSDEC licensed kayak fishing guide, Nick Cancelliere (@nick_onthewater).
- Cobia on the South Shore, with some even in the back bays!
- Bunker flood the North Shore, with bluefish, stripers, and weakfish underneath them.
- Stripers continue to bite on flutter spoons, trolling lures, and live bunker.
- Fluking remains steady on both shores. Peanut bunker fill the back bays of the South shore.
Jamie from Bay Park Fishing Station in Oceanside said: “The fluke bite is still on fire in the bay. Cobia have arrived in force with some even being caught in our back bays! Trolling bunker pods with mojos and spoons have continued to provide anglers with consistent striper action. Crabbing has been great as well with a lot of blue claw crabs to be found.”
Brandon Weitz from Causeway Bait & Tackle in Wantagh told me: “Fluking has been pretty good in the bays and canals. I’ve had 10 fluke over the last 2 days just fishing from my dock; a lot of shorts, but it’s still plenty of fun. My biggest so far has been just over 18 inches. By the bridges, bluefish have been around and biting on metal lures and plugs. A few guys have tried for sheepshead locally but haven’t had any luck. The best action is further west. Peanut bunker have really filled the canals lately too, and cocktail bluefish have been chasing them. Snappers have started to show up as well. ”
Captain Josh Rogers of Gypsea Charters out of Brooklyn reported: “Good fluking continues on almost every trip! More experienced anglers have been limiting out with ease while the less-experienced still catch a keeper or two. As long as the conditions are ideal, the fish are chewing on bucktails & bait. Biggest fish of the week went to Ren, with a 7-pound, 12-ounce beauty. We are sailing daily for fluke by reservation only at fishgypseany.com.”
Al Rotunno of the Staten Island Fishing Club reports: “Inshore fishing reports have been scarce this past week as again, strong southwest winds have kept most anglers tied to the dock. Those who have gone out in Raritan Bay have caught bluefish, fluke, and some striped bass as well. Cownose rays, brown sharks, and sand tiger sharks have popped up in Raritan Bay this week per reports.
Offshore fishing seems to be coming together and the weather pattern seems to be turning for the better. Many smaller bluefin tuna were landed by way of jig and pop or by trolling around the Chicken Canyon this week, with larger fish taken within 15 to 20 miles of NJ. Yellowfin are sticking around the canyons, but there have been opportunities midshore as well. Hopefully the wind will die down and we’ll get a good stretch of nice weather and great fishing trips ahead. Tight lines all!”
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Here’s what local anglers have been posting on social media:
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Most of my fishing worth speaking about occurred this past Sunday; I spent the afternoon baking under the sun on my paddleboard and jigging a 1/2-ounce Jigging World ball-head jig with a Berkeley Gulp jerk shad on it. I caught a few porgy, a short fluke, and a small weakfish for a lazy day of fishing in the heat. I only paddled maybe 100 or so feet from shore, casting towards Connecticut and working my jig slowly on the bottom. There were a lot of bunker around, but I didn’t have any snagging or live-lining tackle with me—just my medium-light rod and bottom-jigging gear. I did try working a paddle-tail around them for a bit, but it didn’t seem anything was feeding on them at the time.
Later that afternoon around sunset, I spotted the frenzied action of bunker being chased from the beach. Their heads poked out of the water, and every now and then they did a movement that looked as if somebody slashed the water with their arm. I’m sure that blitz action only picked up as the night progressed. But, fishing for stripers & blues wasn’t in the plan that night.
I got the text to go chunking from my buddy Nick (@surfcasting_the_island) to target some big-game from the surf. We rolled the dice on a new spot, hoping to hook a shark species we’d never caught before, but thick seaweed and a lot of bird activity made for a tough afternoon of fishing. Ultimately, we landed 1 roughtail stingray before calling it a night after a couple of hours.
Still, rays put a great bend in the rod and keep things interesting during a slow chunking session. Few things beat hearing that screaming drag and seeing that deep bend in the rod when a shark picks up a chunk though.
Western Long Island and NYC Fishing Forecast
The heat is finally breaking and the weather looks better over the couple of days. Now is the time to break the summer doldrums with bottom jigging, surf chunking, and jetty fishing.
On the North & South shores, weakfish have become a bit more common and can be found in the channels and the bays. Cast pink bucktails, soft plastics, and shrimp lures depending on where you are and the local forage. Rapala X-Raps are surprisingly effective weakfish lures as well; I’ve caught two unexpectedly while trolling in my local back bay.
Schoolie stripers can be found during the day blitzing on bait, but more likely after dark or during dawn and dusk. Big stripers will be staged up behind rocks and require a fair amount of effort to coax into biting. Slow-trolling a tube-and-worm rig around a boulder field is an effective way to find big striped bass in the heat of summertime. But if you have schools of bunker around, there are few better ways than live-lining to catch a truly big fish. Just beef up your leader in case you run into bluefish, or even sharks. Last year, while live-lining a cocktail blue, I hooked into a mystery fish that I’m 90% sure was a shark. My drag was tightened to the max, yet this fish still managed to take 100 yards of line without a pause. The 50-pound monofilament leader eventually gave way. This was in the Long Island Sound, where last year, a paddleboard angler caught a brown shark while fishing for blues.
Fluke action has been steady on both shores. Snapper bluefish are due to arrive over the next couple of weeks, making for easy action off the docks and the beaches using spoons and snapper poppers. They also make a great meal—for both humans and large fluke. They are an excellent bait especially when looking for a doormat. Keep in mind, however, that regulations limit you to 3 bluefish per day of any size, including snappers. In the late summer, you can spot a snapper blitz, catch one on a spoon, and quickly transfer it to a circle hook to be live-lined for fluke. When you see snappers jumping in shallow water, there could be big fluke underneath creating the chaos.
Shark and ray action continues to pick up, with big rays and some scary-looking sharks popping up on social media. I’ve even heard rumors of bull sharks being landed over the past week or so. Yikes. I don’t know how some people find swimming beyond the outer bar to be a relaxing experience. Maybe most of them don’t fish. Stay up to date on the recreational shark regulations by visiting the New York DEC website.
Sheepshead have been biting well on the bridges on crab, clam, and other popular bottom-baits. There are a lot of other exotic species popping up on the South shore, including banded rudderfish and small, lesser amberjack, which were somewhat common last year. Give micro-fishing a shot if you’re into catching new things. A sabiki rig can catch some seriously interesting creatures off a dock this time of year.
Enjoy the improved weather over the next few days, and fish as much as you can. Thanks for reading & tight lines.
The Western L.I./NYC Fishing Report is compiled and written by NYSDEC licensed kayak fishing guide, Nick Cancelliere (@nick_onthewater).
Just so all editors know that we old timers are not fooled by all the”fishing is great”
Comments.
Flu
King is spotty at best foe keepers this season. Some extremely persistent southern winds have caused unusually cold water temps in the deeper drops.
Some fluke have been very active in the bays.
For any editors that claim fluking is great need a reality check.
Example 2021 and 2022 seasons were much better than 2023 and now. Because no dragging the shelf in the winter commercially killing the offshore fluke biomass.
0lse spot hyping up the fishery that happens to be on a very deepdecline
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