Eastern Long Island Fishing Report- August 24, 2023

Eastern Long Island Fishing Report

• Great bottom fishing this past week. Outstanding fluking out east. Pretty big weakfish getting caught.
• Some bigger bluefish (and sharks) on the north shore.
• Huge amounts of bait around the island. Peanuts, adult bunker, anchovies, sandeels.
• Hardtails: Bonito reports from the beach. Albies at the windmills.
• Bunker schools are loaded with sharks: spinners, sand tigers, browns… a grab bag.
• Summer bait-stealers invade the surf: dogfish, sea robins, skates.

Captree Bait and Tackle reported a 252-pound bluefin tuna weighed-in at the dock this past week.

The Fishfinder of Captree reports: 
 
“We fished outside on the reef the past couple trips. There’s plenty of undersized fluke there, plus some keepers to 6 pounds. We picked some sea bass, scup and mackerel while out there. Over the weekend, our pool fluke went 4 pounds and ate a salmon red gulp on a rig. We picked some good fluke in the bay on Friday, including a nice 21-inch keeper on the first drift. Sea bass, scup and triggerfish were biting alongside the fluke at the beginning of the week.” Give them a call for trip info.

Captain Stu Paterson of Northport Charters reports: 

“It has been a great week for the fishing campers, as we’ve encountered lots of big porgies, beautiful fluke and cocktail blues. Those bluefish got bigger as the week progressed, and the kids brought home a good amount of meat for their families!” 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: 

“Lots of large porgies have been coming up this week, alongside some quality weakfish. Tog were chewing on our clam rigs, and some big sea bass came over the rail to mix up the bag. Gator blues are still in the area, pulling hard, and some big dogfish came over the rail. All our anglers got to take home a nice bag of fillets this week.” Call them for booking info, or check the website/Facebook for more info.”

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

Dave spent most of the week chilling with his newborn baby boy! Congrats Dave!! He finally got back on the water a bit, and the fish were there waiting for him! A northeast wind in the AM necessitated some last-second plan changes, but there were some nice blues near home, and a fluke willing to take a Nomad squidtrex. Dave’s back in action and looking to book trips. 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!

The Peconic Star 3 of Greenport reports:

“Porgy fishing exploded this week! We filled buckets and limits with 13-18 inch scup. Alongside them were some hungry sea bass, fluke, and other denizens of the deep. We’re mostly fishing in 30-40 feet of water. We fished the LI Sound the other day and found some hungry porgies there. They seem to be new fish moving into the area. Bluefish have been party of the mixed bag. In the Block Island Sound, we crossed it with red clams while targeting scup, sea bass, kingfish and one fluke. We’ve been finding porgies to 3 pounds in those waters. We’re running full day trips daily, from 7:30 to 3. The weekends have half-day options, from 7:30 to 12:30, targeting a mixed bag.” For booking info, call Captain Paul.

Bill at Chasing Tails Bait and Tackle in Oakdale reports:

“Fluke reports are mainly from the inlet and the ocean this week, as they begin moving out of the bay and into deeper water. Some impressive fish are finally around; we have had lots of reports of fish in the 5-7 pound range. Bucktails or jig heads tipped with your artificial-of-choice seem to be doing the best. Although, we did have a customer pull a 6.8lb flatty on a pink shop rig with the classic squid and spearing combo on the hook this week. Sea Bass reports are as good as ever. Coolers are full of beautiful fish, and the wrecks are loaded with them. Jigging seems to pull ’em best, or you can stick with old reliable and fish a rig with a nice chunk of clam on the hooks. A few nice bluefish and even some stripers are already poking their heads out, this fall should be another banger. 

In the lakes, we are catching lots of big largemouth as the weather cools down. Senkos are doing the best during the day and in all conditions. The topwater bite during those beautiful sunrise and sunset hours is still going strong. Toss a frog in the pads, or work a jitterbug through the open water and get smashed! Pickerel are lurking as well, and they love all of the same lures, plus anything shiny you can throw at them. Spoons and inline spinners work very well. There are plenty of sunfish and yellow perch roaming the banks of the lakes as well. Grab the smallest rod you have, and dangle a worm under a bobber and you’ll be sure to have a blast. Trout are certainly more active right now, the cooler temps have helped a lot. They’re still rising every morning and evening, and they love a well presented nymph.”

The Shinnecock Star in Hampton Bays reports:

“The fish gods have blessed us with a good fluke bite in the bay. We’ve been picking fish to six pounds. There’s a ton of bait and lots of fish. The bite’s been on all week. Even when it rains, we’ve been sticking it out and getting on the chew pretty good. Blowfish are all over the place. Fluke are targeting some of the smallest squid we’ve seen. Sea robins are targeting tiny fluke. There are lots of short fluke chewing, but the keepers are in there if you put in the time. The keepers can typically be found on the drop offs or edges.” They’re sailing out of Oaklands Marina daily from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. Text or call Capt. John for info.

Chris Albronda from Montauk reports:

“It was an extremely exciting week fishing off of Montauk. On the days that we could get out, there was epic bottom fishing from giant black sea bass to gigantic fluke, and lots of them. Captain Tommy Lasala of Hammertime reported a stellar day on the fluke grounds, with over 40 keepers caught, and many released. There are still some very big striped bass around, and there are a lot more slot-size fish coming over the rail. Albies were spotted near the windmills and even coming around the point. There have been some bonito in the mix as well.” Shoot Chris a text at 631-830-3881 to book a trip. He’s available for offshore trips, and to privately captain your vessel.

Bill Wetzel of the Surf Rats Ball reports:

“Bill fished the south side two nights ago for a couple hours into dark. With perfect conditions and clean water, he picked a slotstriperon a wonder bread hydro minnow on his first cast. Two big seals popped up immediately after, killing the bite for a bit. 15 minutes later, he had a nice bluefish take a pencil popper. A seal grabbed that bluefish and gave Bill a run for his money, breaking off eventually. Once the seals moved on, the stripers began biting small presentations. He had 7 fish and a lot of hits. Later in the evening, he saw a big shark come up to feed 3 times, about 120 yards from the beach.” Subscribe today at www.longislandsurffishing.com.

Montauk’s Viking Fleet reports:

“Today’s trip began around the lighthouse, targeting large porgies. We found nonstop action, and had mostly big fish on the boat. We didn’t find many sea bass, so we ran towards Block a bit. We had to pick through lots of little fish to get our keepers. Tom Wynn from Valley Stream won the pool with a 2.6-pound porgy. The morning trip kept busy catching the whole trip. We had a number of large sea bass, giant scup and nice keeper fluke. Mike Moran won the pool with a 3.7-pound fluke.

Our whale watching trip yesterday was fruitful. We ran into whales and dolphins almost as soon as we rounded the point. There had to be 45 bottlenose dolphins chasing bait and feeding. We ran a bit farther and caught up to the same humpback we saw just over a month ago, a mile south of there. The 20 to 30 whales that were hanging out to the east for a couple weeks had moved elsewhere.

On Wednesday, we found some mackerel along with our usual catch. Bob Mitchell caught a 4 pound bonito to take the pool in the morning. Candice Hansen from Brooklyn picked a 9.3-pound fluke to win the pool the day prior.” To join the action, call the office or book a trip online.

• 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!

Eastern Long Island Fishing Forecast

Ah man, so I feel like I’ve missed out on telling you folks a lot. I had an art show I was preparing for last week. I printed a bunch of my photos for the first time… a bunch of fishy drone stuff. I’ll add a couple below to give you a peek.

I couldn’t find the time to write, but I couldn’t help but take the time to observe the ocean. After all the days-in-a-row of torrential rain we saw, I watched the surf turn yellow. It was the nastiest I’ve ever seen the waves. I spoke with a lot of Long Islanders to see if they were seeing yellow water in their areas. Turns out there was yellow surf at both Long Beach and Smiths Point. There was yellow water 10 to 15 miles east of me, and even farther to the west. I heard that a specific body water had been let, meaning they opened the drain. The water pours from Southampton Village’s Lake Agawam directly into the ocean, bringing the water level down in the lake and polluting the coast. The nearby beaches were closed. Far away beaches were not closed, but were probably just as nasty. There seemed to be a lapse in the fishing during the water’s yellowing. The surf got large shortly after, and then we eased into this week’s kinda-calm spell.

I love when we get into these calm spells.The conditions are more friendly, so the fishing is easier and the filming is better. I’ve gotten some awesome footage these past few days. Whales have been swimming within 50 feet of the beach, and jumping clean out of the water a little ways off the beach. Sharks are getting more and more riled up, I believe. They pushed the fish so close to the beach this morning. Ever hopeful for a cobia, I targeted the bunker schools on the open beach this morning, and ended up foul hooking a spinner shark. The 7 foot shark went airborne like a tarpon a few times, making for an insane show and a wild fight. It was hooked just behind its pectoral fin, so it became very difficult to reel over the beach lip. Thankfully I had my friend Justin with me, who was able to dehook the shark as soon as a swell pushed it over the lip. I dropped my rod, swooped in and grabbed the shark by the tail for a quick release. That was an insane way to start the day.

I usually guide a bunch of kids throughout the summer. If the surf is too big, we fish a local creek. We mostly catch small stuff, but it’s a fun experience. We might catch a lot of perch, a snapping turtle, a giant eel, a sizable carp, or even some saltwater species. It’s real pretty back there, and there’s lots of life (even if the fish aren’t biting), so it’s easy to stay entertained. This past week, we were able to fish the surf again. A couple kids who go to camp for the summer were back and ready to fight some fish. The conditions got gradually better over the three days we fished, and the fishing improved concurrently. On day 1, we caught sea robins and dogfish. These were the first of these species I’d caught all year out front. I feel like it was kind of weird for them to show so late in the season. I figured there might be some fluke with them too, as the last fluke I caught was in June on the fly. Gotta go to know. So far, I still haven’t found a fluke. The stripers have been around though; when I was reeling in a snagged bunker the other day, I had a decent-sized shadow follow it to the lip and give it a taste or two. I’m pretty sure that was a striper. But then I ended up picking a couple stripers with the kids, to just over ten pounds probably. The dogfish far outnumber anything else out there, in my opinion. Especially in low light, they come en masse to the shore. I was filming this school of peanut bunker last night; they were running along the beach lip, getting hit by a variety of predators along the way. I could hardly make out the predators, but I could see probably hundreds of dogfish as I flew over the clear shorebreak. It was a pretty neat sight. Kind of bittersweet, as I don’t want to be catching and snagging dogfish all the time. We’ll just see how that goes. 

The main thing on my mind has been bonito. I could tell they were in the vicinity when I saw all the terns start diving after the weather calmed down a bit. There are tons of terns and other birds too. It feels like the fall run out there. Furthermore, there seems to be an increased presence of a new bait. I haven’t gotten a great look at it yet. I’m pretty sure I’m seeing peanut bunker, but I think there are probably a huge amount of bay anchovies as well. 

I don’t know if it was the anchovies that caused this, but yesterday someone sent me a video of a blood-red ocean. I had been flying my drone just a few hours prior to receiving this video. The pilot was even flying from the same beach. In just a few hours, the world changed. There was miles of this bloody-looking material on the surface. I hit up my go-to guy, Chris Paparo of @fishguyphotos. He thought the best explanation was comb jellyfish. Chris had videos of a similar red mass from a couple years ago. His best guess is way better than mine, so I’m assuming he’s correct. “Pretty cool!” Thanks Chris.

So, back to the anchovies. And the peanuts. I suspect this small bait has the hardtails hot on their tails. I’ve been seeing some bonito reports coming from boats these past couple weeks, and I just saw my first report of one from the beach, caught by Bill Jakob. I am jealous. One of the best fish cuts I’ve ever had was raw bonito. I’d like to relive that, so I’ll be keeping a sharp eye out for them, plus an epoxy jig in my pocket.

I think I’m going to finally start seeing cobia east of Shinnecock this week. We’re looking at some east swells and a couple north winds forecasted for this week. I can’t trust the forecasts, but to see those combos is encouraging. It’s looking like the rain is going to catch back up with use as well. That’ll calm down the ocean, but it’ll also make the water dirty. Hopefully we don’t get the same kind of squalls we got last week, so we don’t get that same disgusting water.

Regardless of what’s coming weather-wise, I am feeling really optimistic about what’s coming fish-wise. I feel like I’m going to come upon an awesome opportunity soon. Stay tuned!

And go find your own opportunity! They’re out there for any one of us, and I feel like they’re abundant right now.