Eastern Long Island Fishing Report- August 10, 2023

Eastern Long Island Fishing Report

• Cobia infiltrate the bays.
• Solid fluking holds strong. Bottom fishing still very productive, with scup, sea bass, kingfish, triggers, blowfish and more. Some quality weakfish still chewing here and there.
• Stripers are deeper on the north shore.
• Big variety of bait all around the island.
• Best surf opportunities are at night and early morning right now.

Captree Bait and Tackle reports:

“Anglers have been catching a bunch of cobia off the piers this week! We’ve got fresh bunker available, at 6 for $10, or $2 each.”

The Fishfinder of Captree reports:

“Yesterday’s fluke trip saw a slow pick with difficult conditions (wind vs. tide and fast drifts). We pulled up a few keepers and a bunch of short fluke. The past few prime tide bay trips have produced fluke to 7 pounds. Our trips over the weekend were spent in the inlet. There we had a steady pick of keeper and short fluke, with pool fish around 5 pounds on both days. Bucktails seemed to have the edge as the tide switched, over the usual hook/sinker rigs. Chartreuse and white gulp did the best. Our evening trips have been producing fluke, plus. Bluefish and weakfish. One night saw an eight pound weakfish take the pool. Some mackerel came over the rail early in the week.”

Capt. Dave Flanagan of North Island Fly in Northport reports:

“There’s been some colder water this week, from 72-74 degrees on the north shore. The fish have been feeding in shallow water on the surface. Bass and blues are the main target, and they have been riled up! Cormac joined me with his dad and grandpa the other day for some mixed bag fishing. Cormac nailed a 5 pound weakfish on his first drift. The rest of the day, we picked away at fluke, sea bass, porgies and blues.” Check out Dave’s website to book him for a charter at northislandfly.com.

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

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

Captain Stu Paterson of Northport Charters reports: 

“Fishing was outstanding this week! We broke a fishing camp all-time record on Wednesday, when the kids caught 138 keepers in an hour and 45 minutes. 130 scup and 8 blues came over the rail that morning. Everyone on the boat limited out, and the rods were bending ten at a time. Charters also caught a lot of big porgies and cocktail blues, taking home full bags of filets. The bay has been thick with peanut bunker and spearing. They are everywhere, and birds and blues are all over them. We’re still picking away at some keeper fluke here and there, but that bite has slowed down lately. Luke had a big pork chop porgy, weighing 2.5 pounds and measuring 16 inches.” Call/text Stu at 631-707-3266 or check out Stu’s website to book a trip: northportcharters.com.

The Celtic Quest Fishing Fleet of Port Jefferson reports: 

“We had to cancel a couple trips due to the weather this week, but the porgies chewed well when we could get out these past few days. Clam was their favored food. Before the storms, the bag was a bit more diverse, with sea bass, bluefish, fluke, weakfish, tog and more. Some of the bluefish early in the week were cocktail sized, with a bigger one coming up a couple days ago. Weakfish were on the larger side (easy keepers). Clients can be seen in the comments raving about the fishing, the captain and the crew. Looks like a lot of meat was taken home this week.” Call them at 631-928-3926 for booking info, or check the website/Facebook for more info.

The Peconic Star 3 of Greenport reports:

“Yesterday we caught as many porgies as you could ever want from 12-15 inches, along with sea bass, fluke and bluefish. The fishing was fantastic. A few days ago produced similarly stellar scup fishing in the Block Island Sound. There were sea bass and fluke coming in the mix as well. The half-day trip had a solid pick of scup in the bay. Weakfish, spot, kingfish and puffers were coming over the rail as well. We picked some really big blowfish earlier in the week, along with our usual catch. Tog were on the menu as well (all released), and clams were the hot bait. We’re running full day trips daily, from 7:30-3. The weekends have half-day options, from 7:30-12:30, targeting a mixed bag. For booking info, call Captain Paul.”

Bill at Chasing Tails Bait and Tackle in Oakdale reports:

“Fluke reports were great this week, with some big fish being caught locally. The inlets are loaded with nice flatties, and the channels are holding great fish too. Find your humps and holes and keep drifting and experimenting. I’ve been having great luck with small bucktails tipped with a Fat Cow strip, or putting a soft plastic on a jig head. Keep your line in the water and keep your rig moving! Sea Bass action is on fire at our local reefs and wrecks. Plenty of nice keepers and some jumbo knuckleheads are coming up. They’re all over jigs and the classic rigs with clam. Slow pitch jigs seem to be pulling some bigger fish. Cobia fishing is incredible right now, lots of big ones are coming through. Reports are coming in from as close as Captree. I’d say within the next few years, we’ll have a run of these in our bays. Head up to the north shore if you’re looking for consistent striper bites. The sound has some great fish running around.  

In the lakes, mornings and evenings are the most fun and action packed. Top water lures are the most effective during these hours. Bass and pickerel love crashing on frogs, spooks, jitterbugs, and poppers. Later in the day, fish on the bottom with Senkos or jigs. Structures like logs, grass lines, or even a shopping cart would hold bass. All of the local panfish, like bluegill, pumpkinseed, and yellow perch are very active right now, and can be caught with a simple worm and bobber rig. Dawn and dusk bug hatches are still the best times to target trout. Keep an eye on the water temperature, anything 68 degrees and up can be very harmful for catch and release. Beetles, spiders, and ants work great, and so do mayfly patterns. When they’re done rising, hang a nymph in front of them and get back at it!”

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

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

Rosie Fishing of Moriches Bay reports:

“Our 5 to 9 p.m. trips are in the prime tidal window for the next few nights, so come on out to do some quality fluking. Fish to five pounds have been coming up, and there are good numbers of keepers chewing. Bluefish, sea robins, blowfish, and even an octopus came up this week as well. Keep an eye on our website for sailing times, reports, and trip openings, and give us a call for booking info.”

The Shinnecock Star in Hampton Bays reports:

“The fluke bite has been great inside the bay this week. Anglers are picking some quality keepers from the skinny water. Single-hook rigs tipped with fluke belly and spearing, or a small fishbite/gulp is all you needed for a steady pick of fish. Mark’s group had some creation action on Monday, with fish to six pounds.” They’re sailing out of Oaklands Marina daily from 7am-2pm. Text or call Capt. John for info.

The Hampton Lady of Hampton Bays reports:

“Our half-day anglers are seeing a variety of species come over the rail in both the bay and ocean. Fluke, sea bass, striped bass, triggerfish, porgies, ling and kingfish have been coming up regularly, and that’s not even all the species we’re catching. 5-7pm happy hour trips have been especially awesome; these are great trips for kids! Text Capt. James for reservations! We’re sailing 6am-2pm.”

Montauk’s Viking Fleet reports:

“It’s been tough with the wind the past couple days, but we’ve been pulling up the usual suspects. Keeper fluke to six pounds, sea bass and scup have been coming over the rail recently. Some mackerel made an appearance at the beginning of this week. On Sunday we ran our tenth whale watching trip of the season. We had to work a bit harder to find them this time, but there were many dolphins, a humpback whale and a fin whale. We even spotted some tuna blitzing. Our fishing trips Saturday and Sunday were productive, with fluke to 6 pounds. Again, more scup and sea bass came up, as did the mackerel. Call the office to book or book a trip online.”

Chris Albronda from Montauk reports:

“We were thrown a couple curveballs weather-wise this week, but on the fishable days, the fluke were biting. Captain Mike on the Lazybones MTK reported nonstop action on the fluke grounds. The striper bite has been best early in the morning or after dark. There have been some slot fish and jumbos getting caught. Bluefish have been holding from the south side, around the point to Shagwong. There are acres of bunker schools, and cobia are getting picked at underneath them. No matter where you go, you won’t escape the sharks.”

Bill Wetzel of the Surf Rats Ball reports:

“Bill had been fishing the few nights preceding August. The water had been dirty, and the south side was pretty slow. There were sharks everywhere, unlike anything he’s seen in his many years fishing. He and his clients caught schoolies 2/3 nights, using SP minnows on the sand beaches. Bill reckons spearing was the primary bait, although there’s a ton of white bait as well. There were some bluefish on the north side, but nothing crazy.” Subscribe today at www.longislandsurffishing.com.

Eastern Long Island Fishing Forecast

Every week it feels more like fall, and I feel a little bit more excited about post-summer life. I’m restricted to fishing a small region in the summertime, given my ceaseless work schedule. There’s better bites in different areas on certain days of the week. Most of this week, I didn’t even bother fishing the surf. It was big and dirty, providing little potential for a successful session. I’d probably have fared better in the bay or by the inlet, but I just didn’t have the time to trek over there. So, during my free time I’d cast bait and flies down by my creek, picking small-medium perch and the occasional eel. I never know what I’ll catch back there, but it’s always beautiful (although buggy). I enjoy that, but I think I’d enjoy fly casting from the jetty rocks with the potential of reeling in a stray cobia a little bit more. Summer is an insane time for fishing, and I just can’t capitalize on it too much anymore. I think I’d like to change my life around a bit so I can pursue these opportunities, and say yes to the offers I always decline due to work obligations. Tuna fishing, big stripers on the fly off Block, picking through bunker schools searching for a cobia with a big beast fleye… even giving drone fishing the old college try; these are all amazing opportunities that exist if I could just make time for them. 

That’ll be my goal for the future, to make time for epic adventures. Although I’m making more money now, life just feels a little duller than it did when I was forcing myself to learn more about new fisheries every day. 

I did catch a shark this week, which was pretty awesome. It spat the hook as I was pulling it on to the beach. After an amazing fight and an easy release, I casted again for some more action. My rod snapped in half. That rod has caught me some serious fish these past 4 or 5 years. Ol’ Reliable. Although I lamented its abrupt end, I was happy that it held true for that final fight against a 6 foot spinner shark. Rest in pieces.

The surf got big after that. The beaches I’m fishing have no great sandbar to temper the swells, so we get this huge shorebreak with nary a trough. Fishing is typically a wet and unproductive endeavor when it gets like this. The squalls we experienced throughout the rest of the week didn’t do any favors for the surfcasting either. High winds blew sand into the surf, and developed a powerful sweep. I could see some bunker schools near the beach, but the unfavorable conditions must’ve decreased visibility enough to keep the predators away. 

Of course, I was hearing about some high quality fishing in the bays for both boat and surf anglers at this time. Cobia were being caught by a number of anglers targeting the deep water near the inlets. Fluke fishing was super productive in the bays, and a variety of species are available to people fishing from piers, docks, marinas, etc. 

I agree with Bill Falco when he says anglers will be able to count on catching cobia in the near future. In a few years, they could be a mainstay in our waters. In another few years, other fisheries may pop up and outproduce long-standing ones. We’ve seen it occur with the sharks and cownose rays out east. The cobia are an established presence to the west, and should become more prevalent out east as each year passes. I think warming waters are a key facet of their northward movement, but the bunker are definitely helping play a part too. Should the bunker get overfished, there might be a lapse in “exotic” species productivity. We’ll see what happens.

I was watching some terns working bait a ways off the beach the other day. I figured there were chub mackerel pushing small bait to the surface, creating small blitzes. It made me wish I was on a boat. It made me think of other mackerel, too, and the potential for those bites in the near future. I heard of bonito a few weeks back, but nothing to write home about. I feel like bonito will be hitting some beaches in the next week or so. The mackerel’s presence is on reason for that feeling, but the weather is playing a part too. Two weeks in a row, now, we’ve had multiple mornings feeling like a post-Labor day cooldown. The fish can’t be immune to that. Maybe the colder water near shore is only preventing species like bonito from coming in; however, maybe it is suggesting to them that it’s time to feed heavily. With all the bait I’ve been seeing, I reckon they will be able to feed heavily. Hopefully some big bonito offer themselves up to surf anglers. I reckon the Spanish mackerel will do this beforehand. Those tern blitzes should come closer to shore on some days. It will feel random; it’s just one of those things for which you need to be there to experience. “Gotta go to know.”

Try to get out as much as possible. We are fishing at a very unique time. One of the most fun parts of fishing is “not knowing what you’ll reel in next.” I don’t think there has been such a high potential for reeling in something ridiculous in recent memory. It’s like we’re pioneers, exploring the great unknown. It might never be so easy again to create a lifelong memory by catching an uncommon fish. Get out there!

I think last year we saw some albies in August. I expect the same to occur this year. That feeling I have for a bonito/mackerel bite includes the albies. The coast is loaded with fish, and the amount of east swells we’ve seen this summer is unparalleled, from what I’ve observed. Those east swells produce mackerel bites. I remember catching a big bullet mackerel off the beach around eight years ago. So random. My brother said he saw some tuna coming into the surf that day. East swells are magical. Make sure you’re watching the water when the wind blows out of the east. You never know what you’ll see, but you’ll be able to see much in that crystal clear water.

Weather-wise, it hardly makes sense to plan a few days ahead. The weather forecasts aren’t too accurate after 24 hours, especially when it’s a big storm. We get these splintered storms that have crazy winds and monsoon rains. Forecasts will read 0% chance for rain that morning, and you’ll get a notification about 20 minutes after the rain starts, saying “rain will start soon.” It’s pretty funny, although kind of annoying when you’re trying to make plans. The north winds seem to persist for a few days at a time, and so do those calm spells. When the storms come, you never know when they’ll hit, and neither do the meteorologists apparently. The calm spells are my favorite, as you’ll see the most action at the beach. The north winds are perhaps even better, with the cool wind bringing the temps into the 60s. Just makes me think of Autumn. Feels delicious, and I can’t wait.

Seize the day though, carpe diem. If you can fish, go fish. Incredible opportunities abound right now. Catch ‘em up.