(Above) Here is Spencer, tight to his first bluefish on one of my guided surf trips.

Eastern L.I./Suffolk County Fishing Report

• Suffolk County Fishing Report
• Fall run activity. Albies, Striper blitzes, bluefish on the beaches.
• Weakfish bite coming alive for surfcasters. Boats are getting them on the north shore.
• Yellowfin Tuna bite is all time. Swords and Bigeyes at the canyon.
• Bottom fishing remains strong. Good scup and fluke.

Captree’s Laura Lee reports:
 
We cancelled many of our trips this week due to forecasted rough seas. The weekend provided some good fishing though.

Monday was our most recent, and the bite was exciting. The morning began with 111 sea bass, 126 porgies, 7 bonito, 54 mackerel, 12 fluke, 2 triggers, 22 sea robins and one dogfish. The 8am trip produced 118 fluke to 7.8 pounds, 62 sea bass, 41 porgies and 20 sea robins. The 2pm trip produced more of the same, plus 13 blowfish, 2 kingfish, 1 weakfish and 1 bluefish. Sunday’s trips were pretty much on par with Monday’s. One false albacore came up that morning though. Squid were biting that night too; the 11pm trip caught 38 of them.

Captree Bait and Tackle reports:

The Island Princess ran a bay fluking trip on the 1st. There was nonstop action with some nice keepers mixed in. Mike Capone was high hook, with 3 keepers and 15 shorts. They’re running night trips from 6-10pm for bluefish and weakfish.

John came in to weigh a 5.5 pound fluke on the 1st. We reckon we’ll be seeing large fluke through the first week of October.

• Looking for the western L.I. and NYC Fishing Report? Click here to read what’s happening around Nassau, Kings and Queens counties!

Bill at Chasing Tails Bait and Tackle in Oakdale reports:

“The talk of the town this week is weakfish! They’re back in the bay in numbers, just no great sizes quite yet. We are catching tons of shorts while out targeting fluke. A few lucky anglers have found some nicer fish in the keeper size range. My buddy Bryon Detwiler had some keeper weaks on Labor Day. Fluke action is still good in the bay, from the bridge to the inlet being the most consistent for size. Bucktails have been the go-to for bigger fish. A Fat Cow shad or Gulp! grub on a jighead will also get you plenty of good fish. Outside wrecks and reefs are holding great fluke, along with plenty of keeper sea bass. Shop rigs with clam are the local favorite. Epoxy jigs and bucktails for mondo knuckleheads have been increasing in popularity as well. 

Bluefish in all sorts of annoying sizes have invaded the bay. From snapper to cocktail, they are all over in great numbers. They’re eating just about anything, including your pricey soft plastics. The same news down at the local docks. Voracious snappers are all over, quickly getting bigger. Blowfish and kingfish are at the docks is great numbers as well.  Striper action is slowly creeping back to us. Up north, schoolie invasion has begun. There are tons of schoolie bass on the feed, and no peanut bunker, spearing, or sand eel is safe! Out east in the Striper Mecca, good fish are getting pulled from the surf and up over the boat rails. The homie Chaz has been climbing rocks and shooting flies at 30+ inch fish for the last few days. Hardcore anglers know the real start of the fall run is now! Say goodbye to your family until Christmas, it’s the time of the year to pull all night fishing shifts.

Freshwater action is about to heat up as the temps cool down! These cooler mornings and nights are getting the fish charged up. Bass and pickerel fishing has improved greatly in the last week. More fish are eager to eat, especially topwater lures in the crisp early mornings. Swimbaits, inline spinners, lipless cranks and senkos will pull fish. The panfish are charged up too! Sunfish and perch are ravenous for nightcrawlers! Hang them under a bobber for lots of fun action for kids of all ages and fishing abilities. The trout are very happy too, river temps are dropping thanks in part to that rain we got this week and also the cooler mornings and evenings. Swing dries or dry droppers for your best bet at a good hit.”

Rosie Fishing of Moriches Bay has been picking a ton of keeper fluke off the bottom this week. Even last Thursday, with the wind fighting the tide, preventing any potentail for a good drift, they managed to put 25 keepers into the buckets. They were biting in both dirty water and clean water.

They run private charters and open boat trips alike. Give them a call for info.

Surfcasting guide Bernie Bass is back on the beach to catch some stripers after a long summer hiatus. His first weekly update of the fall is a positive one, with a good quantity of small bass ripe for the picking. Some decent fluke were chewing on the night tides. Bluefish weren’t around to cause any trouble, and there is a ton of bait around to spark some wild fall action. Bernie’s expecting some good activity in the upcoming weeks.

The Celtic Quest Fishing Fleet of Port Jefferson reports:

Some nice stripers are starting to come over the rail! Tuesday’s trip was our last, and a nice slot striper came up along with a bunch of nice porgies. The weekend produced a ton of solid porgies as well, chewing heavily on clams. Sunday’s trip was especially awesome, with lots of quality sized scup, a few sea bass and a nice weakfish. The folks from the Farmingville Fire Department scored a bunch of scup and weakfish that day also. Weakfish were biting extremely well throughout the weekend. Just before the weekend we ran some bluefish and bass night time trips. We picked 6 keeper bass out of a few dozen, plus 25 blues and sea bass. The following day, we had a nice bass come aboard after eating a diamond jig.

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

Capt. Phil of Fishy Business in Orient reports:

The Amaya group got out with us for a combo trip this week. The guys got an early workout battling big bluefish, keeping a limit and releasing he rest. We finished the day picking a load of sea bass and porgies to take home.

They sail out of Duryea’s in Orient. Give Phil a call to book a trip: 516-316-6967.

The Shinnecock Star in Hampton Bays reports:

Flaking has been excellent both inside and outside the last few weeks. There are lots of triggers, porgies and mackerel outside as well. Sea bass fishing is still a bit off locally; we’re getting into them but getting the right size consistently has been a battle. Fluke were coming up to eight pounds earlier in the week. Call Capt. John for trip info and reservations: 631-728-4563.

Montauk’s Viking Fleet reports:

Labor Day fishing was great, with lots of fishing consisting mostly of porgies and sea bass. We picked a few fluke to 7 pounds. The story in the morning was pretty much the same. Sunday’s catches consisted of sea bass in the mid-high 3 pound range. Juan Garcia took the pool on the morning trip with a 5.3 pound fluke. Porgy fishing is excellent, as experienced by anglers on Saturday. Mr. Park from the Bronx took the pool that day with a 2.9 pound scup. Mike McFeely from RVC took a pool on Friday with a 4.2 pound sea bass. 

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

Chris Albronda from Montauk reports:

The highlight of the week is definitely the tuna bite. It is the best Chris has ever seen. Fish are being caught on the troll, jigs and bait. The yellowfin bite could not get any better. The canyons are stocked thick with swordfish, bigeye and blue marlin.

The inshore fishing has been good too. Striped bass are being caught from shore and boat alike. The boat guys are picking them using light tackle in the rips. Within another week the fall run should be in full swing. The fluke fishing has been hit or miss lately. You’re either on them and crushing it, or it’s dire straits. The black sea bass and porgy fishing, on the other hand, has been phenomenal. 

Give Chris a call at 631-830-3881 to book a trip. 

Captain Paul Dixon in Montauk got his old friend Dr. Charles Rosen on some albies a few days ago, the first of Paul’s season. Check his page out for booking info: www.flyfishingmontauk.com.

Bill Wetzel of the Surf Rats Ball reports:

The amount of sharks around Montauk this year is unprecedented. Bill cautions surfcasters against making long swims to deep rocks. He says there are spots he won’t even wade to anymore because of the amount of teeth out there.

On the fishing front, Bill and Pete found a ton of spearing stacked up on the south side late one night, and in it was a weakfish willing to grab Pete’s mag darter. A small striper took a needlefish earlier in the night.

Bill’s taking a couple weeks to do some PT for his arm and back so he’s ready togo gung ho when the time comes.

In the member reports, John D. recounted his sunrise on the east end sand beaches the other day. There were dolphins and a whale moving through, with tons of bunker and sharks under them. He couldn’t get any bass to take plugs, so he switched to a deadly dick to target the blues. The day prior, he saw a chunker harvest a slot bass, so there should have been some there. John just enjoyed catching blues and getting the hook thrown by shad. That day, the beaches got closed because some angler caught a 4 foot spinner shark near some bathers. John wishes he had brought lighter tackle to the beach to target the smaller fish that were readily available.

John F. hit the Fire Island inlet area from 1-3am on 9/3, fishing the last of the incoming. Lots of spearing were being harassed, along with some peanut bunker. He got a few hits on bucktails and swimmers, but the only hookup came on an SP minnow. Unfortunately, that fish broke him off in some sticky structure.

Timmy hit the peconics on 9/3 for the bottom of the incoming. The water was warm, but the fish were biting. He picked a schoolie on a bucktail, and then another short on a soft plastic. A bunch of large needlefish were there, as well as snapper blues. The next night resulted in similar activity, with a slower bite. 2 bass came to hand before the night was through. Subscribe today at www.longislandsurffishing.com.

• Looking for the western L.I. and NYC Fishing Report? Click here to read what’s happening in Nassau, Kings and Queens counties!

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

Eastern Long Island Fishing Forecast

Happy fall!

For me, the transition from Labor Day Monday to Tuesday was like arriving in paradise for vacation. A huge load off my shoulders. Now, on to bigger and better things: the Fall Run.

The start of the fall run does not necessarily mean the end of summer fishing. In fact, I don’t think the actual fall begins until the equinox on September 22. It sure feels like fall out there though. The winds of change I’m accustomed to feeling on and around Labor Day Weekend are now arriving. They come from the north and the east, cooling the air temperatures down to the 60’s at night. They roil up the ocean, and they rile up the stripers. Small bait runs the surf zone, and the striped hounds chase them down. 

I haven’t seen that just yet. I’ve seen bluefish, bonito, shad and albies take up that particular helm this week, but the stripers have yet to join in on the action. I’ve heard of striper blitzes elsewhere, just not on my beaches. To me, it seems like the bulk of the topwater action will be found in the bays. As of a few days ago, the water was still very warm back there, so best bet would’ve been going at night or low light. The rains and cool air temps should’ve brought that water temp down a good bit though. Be prepared for good potential all day. 

PLUS, it’s about to be albie season, if you can’t call it that already. I received multiple reports from individuals who were hammering them just off the beach this past week. A number of boats are finding them here and there; their sporadic sightings are widespread all along the south shore.

All I’m talking about is fall stuff, but like I said, we’re definitely not out of the summer fishing pattern yet. I saw sharks all through September last year, although they gradually dissipated throughout the month. Fact is, they and others are out there hugging those bunker schools, and should be for some time to come. I suspect that both the stripers and the albies will come in waves for us surf folk, so targeting those bunker schools to fill the lulls between waves will be on my mind. Furthermore, September is the month when tuna come closest to the beach, in my experience. I’ll be looking daily for signs of that.

This is the time of year where I want to run all over the east end, looking for the best action. I reckon I’ll probably do a bit of that, seeing as I have a lot more free time now that summer’s done. I think the potential is extremely high in multiple areas right now. A variety of species could provide some incredible action: big fluke, potential albies and bonito, big stripers around the moon, slot stripers blitzing before then, weakfish, offshore pelagics, sharks, etc. The list goes on, and the potential only grows as the time goes.

I haven’t even mentioned the freshwater.

I was considering targeting large carp on the fly before the saltwater takes over my life. They pulled harder for me this summer than any other species. A couple of carp made a couple of kids’ summers. I haven’t forgotten how much harder they pull than stripers in these warm water months. I could use a little more of that before I call it quits on them until winter. 

The greenest, hardest pulling bass I’ve encountered have always been from late September to mid-October. So there’s nothing else that’ll take precedence during that time, besides daytime albies.

It’s all about prioritizing. How can I make this fall the most fun and productive ever? Gotta put lots of time into your strategy, and implement it.

Let the obsession commence. Tight lines.