Long Island and NYC Fishing Report
Captain Adrian Moeller of Rockfish Charters (@rockfishcharters) out of Queens reports: “Fishing inside Jamaica Bay took a temporary turn for the worse last week because the city decided to flush out one of the creeks behind JFK Airport, filling the main part of the bay with gross stagnant water and giving the bass lockjaw. We still marked a lot of them, but they didn’t want to eat. They seem to be done with the project now, and a few fish were caught yesterday, but we pushed out into open water to find tons of hungry bass inhaling our live bunkers. There’s bass on all the usual late spring/early summer spots, and as long as you have live baits, you’ll crush ’em! Since the water temps are still pretty cold, these fish should stick around through June until we switch over to full-time tuna fishing in July. We have a few mid-June bass dates left, and the really big fish haven’t even shown up yet.”
From Western Long Island Sound, Andrew Bernat (@tactical_bassin26) reports: “The bunker have arrived, and the big bass have followed. After weeks of inconsistency and scattered life throughout much of the western Long Island Sound, the system has finally flipped into a far more stable and promising pattern. The biggest development—and the one driving nearly everything right now—is the massive influx of adult bunker pouring into the bays, harbors, and open Sound. With that forage now established in serious numbers, quality striped bass have moved in behind them, and the fish being caught are no longer just scattered schoolies. There have been multiple confirmed fish pushing and surpassing the 45-pound mark this week, and for the first time this season, it genuinely feels like the trophy-class migration is beginning to settle in. One of the more consistent patterns developing has been the topwater bite surrounding slack low-tide windows, particularly during low-light periods when the larger bass are corralling bunker into shallow water. These fish are using the calmer water and reduced current to trap bait effectively, often creating explosive surface feeds that can erupt without much warning. Anglers that stay mobile and cover water during these tide transitions are being rewarded with some truly visual fishing.”
Captain Desmond Scanlan (@gracious_depths) reports: “It has been a spectacular week of fishing in the western Long Island Sound, with an abundance of over-slot-sized striped bass moving in early in the week. Kenny and I left the dock at 3:00 a.m. and headed to a consistent spot that’s been producing fish. We fished until 6:30 a.m. before heading to work and managed 11 fish while dropping a few others, surprisingly with only one making slot size. On that trip, I broke my personal Western Sound record with a 43-inch, 25.5-inch-girth bass that weighed in at 35 pounds. I’m still stoked about it and still hunting for that 40-pounder, but beggars can’t be choosers.
Eager to repeat the success, I headed back out the next day with my good buddy Vito to get him on his first keeper of the year. We spent a bit too much time hunting for bait in the bay, but it only took one throw of the net once we found them to load up on over 50 bunker. The minute we pulled up to the previous day’s spot, we had instant action, though the bass were incredibly finicky and we lost more fish than I can count. Still, we managed a slot, and an over-slot fish around 24 pounds. Vito was eager to get one on live bait, and I was surprised by how dialed in the fish were on live bunker over chunks, hitting them instantly on a three-way rig with light lead. Once the tide switched, we tried bunker spooning inside the trolling fleet but didn’t get any bites.
The following morning, Kenny, Pete, and I ran an open-boat charter. With the heavy boat traffic, we steered clear of the crowds and covered ground from Kings Point to Plum Point to find our own fish, successfully landing two slots and five overs on chartreuse mojos. The bite was significantly better at the top of the incoming tide compared to the bottom, and it was awesome getting a group of kids on some of their personal bests.
Later that evening, Kenny and I took my uncle and a father-daughter duo out. Live bait was tough to come by as the schools from previous days had moved, but we hit our first spot with only a half hour left before slack tide and quickly pulled out three fish—two overs and a slot. The next two hours were a grind as we bounced around marking fish without any bites, but just after sunset inside the bay, we pulled up two more: the biggest of the night, around 26 pounds, on a live bunker, and another over 20 pounds on a chunk, making it a great trip while the rest of the fleet struggled.
Finally, last night Kenny and I took Stefan and his son Eli out for a quick two-hour sunset chunking trip. We were thrilled to break Eli’s personal best not once, but twice, with a gorgeous 32-pound bass. It was a slow pick, but we put four fish in the boat ranging from 18 to 32 pounds. While the recent new moon seemed to temporarily shut down the bite for a few days, things seem to be picking back up. The smaller slot fish aren’t around in the numbers we saw a few weeks ago, as these larger quality fish have moved in heavily. I’m confident the bite is only going to improve as we come off this new moon and that we will be putting a few more personal bests in the boat while these big fish are still around.”
Mark at Cow Harbor Bait and Tackle in Northport reports: “A lot of great stuff is going on. Flutter spoons, the Freak plug, and Docs are working well for bass. Some nice fish are chewing mackerel, squid, and bunker too. Bait is leaving the harbor and should be entering the Sound soon, enticing a good fluke bite. Guys are definitely picking up keepers here and there, but we need water temps to increase. Porgies are chewing for the boat guys. Big stripers are still the name of the game.”
Sean Conway (@long_island_fishing_guy) reports: “My local North Shore area has been slowly coming to life. In the back bays, grass shrimp fry are increasing in numbers, as well as spearing. I’m finding stripers in the 20-pound range out front in the Sound, but they’re sitting deep. Porgies and fluke are starting to make an appearance as well on the North Shore beaches. The South Shore is also productive, with anglers jigging inlets or working large plugs on the bay sides where there’s strong current.”
Wulber Alberto Ruiz (@the_striper_hunt) reports: “The heat wave that rolled in seems to have drastically slowed the striper bite compared to the days leading up to those high temperatures, but that isn’t to say the spring run is over. I have had some amazing nights with tons of quality fish hitting big 8-inch metal lip plugs and Super Strike darters all night, so if you’re willing to sacrifice your sleep schedule or hit the early sunrise, those are your best bets for landing some quality fish in the surf or maybe even breaking your personal best.”
Nick Cherkas (@surfcasting_the_island) reports: “Both sides of this new moon produced many quality stripers on the sand. While high-teen- and low-20-pound fish have been the norm for many surf anglers, breaking 30 pounds is not out of the question either. I was able to lock in this past week and get in on the action during both the day and night shifts. In my experience, the nighttime ebb seemed to produce the best results, with many of these bass taken on metal lips and darters.”
Scott Monahan (@bonesyfishing) reports: “Fishing continues to be hot on South Shore beaches and inlets. Prior to the new moon, my crew was treated to big, healthy solitary fish in the 25- to 35-pound range. The new moon brought a steady pick of nice fish, with a new body of bass moving in on the backside of the moon with all sizes mixed in. Swarters and Cowdozer metal lips have been my biggest producers the past two weeks. Following the patterns I’ve dialed in with weather conditions and tides has proven to put some good fish on the beach. Every detail matters.”
Aqualina Charters (@aqualinacharters) out of Moriches Bay reports: “Over the past weekend, we had our first charter of the season—a party of two—with a nice fluke limit for each angler. Warren and his wife, Stephanie, had numerous shorts all day and culled out six keepers. Stephanie was high hook and had the big fluke of the day at just under 5 pounds. We had to move around a lot and use the right presentations to get bites. It was a great start to the season.”
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Nick at White Water Outfitters in Hampton Bays reports: “Everything is a little late. Fluking is slow, there are porgies around, and very few weakfish. The blues are trickling in—in past years, bluefish would already be raging by now. There are definitely a lot of bass, but they’re spotty. When you are on fish, they seem to be large. The inlet and ocean are both producing some nice bass. The day bite is just as good as the night bite! We just got eels in, and the bass should be hot on the eels pretty soon. Peconic has had solid moments of big fish, but it hasn’t fully materialized.”
Capt. Pete Douma (@doum_flies) of Windward Outfitters out of Montauk reports: “After what seemed like the longest winter in recent memory, Montauk is finally starting to heat up with a consistent bite. We have had a bass bite for the last few weeks, but as water temps finally surpass 50°F, it’s becoming more automatic. There are a lot of really quality bass chasing a whole bunch of bait. Small spearing and butterfish seem to be the most common, with bunker, squid, and sand eels in the mix too. Getting down under the herring gulls with bucktails, shads, or heavy sinking fly lines has been the most productive, but there’s some good topwater action too, mostly on the flood tide. We’re starting to see some bluefish as well. This has the look of a very good spring.”
Captain Rob Lehnert of North Fork Adventure Charters out of Southold reports: “Peconic Bay lit up with fish. They were stacked up. Out of the 12 fish I caught yesterday only 2 were slots. A heavy storm came through last night, so I’m hoping the fish are still there. The water hit 60° and the fish started to eat!”
The Author’s Experience
This week, my good buddy Andrew and I went on an absolute fishing bender. On Saturday at 2 a.m., we ran 20 miles down the South Shore in the calm ocean in search of giant fish on reefs. Striped bass love these inshore reefs due to their rigid contour, steep drop-offs, and abundance of bait.
Upon reaching our destination, we were greeted by a gnarly swell. While the water was calm, we watched as a wall of water approached the boat and swallowed the horizon in 8- to 10-second intervals. As the boat rocked over the swell, the light and sight of the beach disappeared. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t a little scared—haha. But hey, whatever it takes to catch fish.
As we ran our first drift, familiar marks lit up the screen. We were armed with a murderer’s row of tackle—from live eel rigs to metal lips and glide rods. Andrew opted for a live eel most of the night, while I switched back and forth between a Personal Best deep-diving troller, Scabelly shallow troller, and Carroll’s glide bait.
At around 4 a.m., Andrew decided to ditch his standard three-way eel rig and began casting a simple circle-hook rig weightless. On his third cast, Andrew’s 24-inch eel was swallowed. As his rod tip loaded up and his drag sang, I knew he hooked the right fish. After a five-minute battle, Andrew was victorious over a 40-pound fish.
As 4:45 a.m. hit, the familiar red sunrise poked over the horizon. I knew it was time to clip on my 14-inch Surface Freak—an absolute force of a topwater plug with two large assist hooks off the nose. At 5:15 a.m., I made the perfect cast. Twin 40-pounders rushed toward my plug with ill intent when one of them finally committed 20 feet from the boat.
Armed with a Tranx 500, 100-pound braid, and 150-pound Yo-Zuri leader, I laid into it three times and let her run. Within two minutes, I had a 40-pounder boatside. I quickly popped out the two singles and released her.
Sometimes you’ve got to empty the energy tank to find the right bite—but it sure is awesome when the hunt pays off.
Long Island & NYC Fishing Forecast
Folks, the Western Sound is LOADED with extra large bunker. The bunker are the fattest I have ever seen. If you’re on your boat you can find them slowly flipping on the surface in some of the deep channels. Even if they look happy, there might be fish underneath or around the edges of the school. A common misconception is that there needs to be fish actively blowing bunker out of the water in order to catch them. In reality, the bass stalk the bunker from a distance and wait for the right moment to pounce. Fishing in or around bunker schools is a sure fire way to get a giant fish to eat. The plugs for the job are large gliders, and large surface swimming metal lips. When it comes to gliders, short chops and long pauses have been very productive. The glides move laterally extremely well and often turn sharply to the side, revealing their depth and body to large stripers that lurk and follow on the plug. As for metal lips, a slow and steady surface retrieve is killer, these plugs create giant V wakes while waddling across the surface. One technique that has been killer is digging the metal lip in and pausing it once and every while. Simply sweep your rod and slowly reel in the slack while the metal lip digs in a few feet and rises up. This pauses the plug’s forward motion while allowing it to slowly rise through the column, which can trigger some vicious eats!
In the Eastern Sound, the North Fork is slowly starting to see more fish. Porgies are moving in, which makes for a super fun bite. It’s only a matter of time until a huge biomass of fish moves through The Race and The Gut. I’ve fished this bite in years past and oh boy, is it fun when those fish are stacked in deep water and willing to pounce on bucktails, jigs, and topwater plugs.
As for the South Shore it’s still happening on the open beach and inlets on minnow-style plugs, bucktails, metal lips, and darters at night. Typically, we have a solid run of blues by now, but I just haven’t seen or heard much about them.