Long Island, Metro NY - East End Fishing Reports

The Caprice of Montauk is booking for upcoming trips. Captain Bob will start with fluke. Give him a call at (516)671-7690 or 1-800-678-“BASS”

Capt. Ron of Montauk reports he won’t be sailing until Memorial Day weekend.

It was a short week aboard the Ebb Tide II, due to the storm. Fishing started off a bit slow on Thursday with dirty water and lots of weed, however fares picked away at porgies, some quality sea bass, and a 6-pound pool fluke for John T. Friday morning was double digit day when regular Marek Sochki, aka “blue eyes” landed the Ebb Tide’s best fluke of the 2020 season, a 12.8 pounder. Fishing improved on Saturday morning with plenty of big porgies nice sea bass, and some keeper fluke. Terri was best with a 5.75-pound flattie. As the ground swell settles and the water quality improves so will the fluke fishing.

Over at Tight Lines Tackle in Sag Harbor, Ken Morse reports apart from loads of big crabs, snappers big enough to catch, and kingfish in local waters, most of the bite is located east of Gardiners Island. Some small stripers are hitting surface plugs during the evening by Lazy Point and east of Cedar Point. Sea bass and porgies have moved into Plum Gut in big numbers and of enormous size slamming diamond jigs intended for bluefish. Hopefully, the big biscuits will settle inside Plum Gut, which will make easy pickings for small boat anglers. Stripers of assorted size are also in Plum Gut and the Sluiceway slamming diamond jigs and bucktails on 3x3 rigs. Closer to the shop, snappers are at all the docks as are big blue claw crabs and kingfish.

Over at East End B&T in Hampton Bays they let me know the shop is open all week and beginning April 1st they will be open 8 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Monday to Saturday and 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Sunday. They will have flounder bait on hand. They also are hearing of some holdover striped bass being caught in the back bay areas at night but not much else to report in the fishing front.

Scott over at East End Bait and Tackle reports the fluke bite has really turned on in the bay. The bite was great west of the bridge but has now seemed to spread further to the eastern areas and near the inlet. They are feasting on the huge bait clouds throughout the bay. Pick your bait, spearing, squid, peanut bunker, snappers, and Gulp are all putting fish in the box. Other positive news is the sea robins are beginning to thin out. Cocktail blues are also feasting on the baitfish bounty, especially on the massive schools of spearing and rain bait around the bridge and the inlet. Anything shiny should catch the attention of the choppers. The albies have made their way to town and have been active during the incoming tide, but that can change at any time. The albies will gladly whack Joe Baggs "Resin Jigs", Daddy Mac’s Jigs, Slim Waves by Tsunami, and Deadly Dicks, which are all in stock with a good supply on hand in the shop. School size striped bass continue to bite on the night tides in the western bay taking top water baits. Dedicated anglers who endures perseverance have been rewarded with a few keepers. Porgies are at the base of the old bridge taking clams. Out on the reef, fluking started to bust wide open, until Mother Nature had other intentions, such as large SE swells for the next week or so, which will make coming through Shinnecock Inlet quite challenging, and the swells will certainly shut down the fluke from biting until seas settle down and the murky waters along the bottom cleans up. Let’s hope once all that happens the flatties will still be here. The tuna bite near the Coimbra has slowed, however there still some action near the Ranger area, which was on fire earlier in the week. Reports of trophy size bluefin and yellowfin to 90-pounds with the bluefin taking jigs and yellowfin best on the troll. Let’s hope they stick around for a bit. Shore bound anglers have found the Shinnecock Canal being fairly quiet with some small sea bass and blowfish stealing baits along with a few snappers which are good size. The Ponquogue Bridge has reports of fluke, porgies, cocktail blues during the daylight hours, while schoolie bass are being caught on the night tides. The Shinnecock Inlet is producing good fluke, porgies, triggerfish, cocktail blues, schoolie striped bass, and false albacore. The ocean beaches east and west of the inlet have schoolie bass and cocktail blues. With cooler nights starting to crisp up to fall mode, action will certainly begin to heat up along the beaches as the baitfish begin to flush through the bays and into the ocean. In the Peconic’s the weakfish have shown a very promising resurgence with reports of many keeper size fish being caught in some of the old haunts of the deeper holes, and also in Noyack Bay. Hi/lo rigs with strips of squid has been catching the sea trout. Good showing of kingfish, blowfish, and porgies around Robin's Island and near Jessup Neck. With conditions as they are in the ocean, now is a good time to take advantage of both the fluke bite in Shinnecock Bay and the weakfish bite in the Peconic’s.

Lanny at Molnar’s Landing reports fluke fishing has been good in the bay, although a mass of sea robins moved in by the end of the week. Nonetheless marina boats have been coming back with two to five nice keepers per trip. Bucktails dressed with squid strips, spearing and Gulp have been best. Striped bass has also been good with a lot more keeper fish being taken by the bridge during outgoing tide on live spot. The “Bumbalini” nailed two keeper bass and 4 keeper fluke on one trip this week all on live spot. The reef is producing a lot of porgies, short sea bass and some triggerfish. On the offshore scene, a few of the marina boats have traveled to the Ranger Wreck for yellowfins to 160-pounds, while a couple of boats have been slamming red hake and some cod off the Dry Dock.

On the party boat Shinnecock Star, Capt. John continues to put his fares over shallow waters where anglers are banging away at short and keeper fluke. Highlights this week include a joint effort by 6-year old Szilvia and Capt. John where little Szilvia drilled out a hefty 6.5-pound fluke in 6 feet of water. Nice job young lady. When conditions permit the Star has been fishing the Big Pond where anglers are keeping busy with sea bass, scup, triggerfish, red hake, mackerel, bluefish, and some quality fluke to keep everyone guessing what is next to come up. Most days see either a fluke or jumbo sea bass grab the mug of cash. The boat mixes the trip according to the tide; however the boat stays in the bay on Tuesday’s and sails twice daily with 3-hour charters available every evening. Call or text Capt. John at (631) 728-4563 for info and reservations which are a must.

Capt. Phil Kess of the Fishy Business out of Orient reports the Nebrezny group came out for a combo trip, putting a limit of jumbo sea bass, a good shot of porgies, 3 slot size stripers in the box and released 24 big bluefish. The Francese group also came out for a combo trip battling bass and big blues culling a couple of slot size bass and putting 20 blues in the box for the dinner table. The switch to bottom fishing put a limit of chunky sea bass and a load of porgies in the box. The Essex Plumbing group came out for a half day bottom trip and the crew had great action with sea bass, icing a limit along with a load of porgies. Nice trip Capt. Phil still has some prime dates available for charters and will also be doing open boat specials throughout the season. To get on the Open Boat text list, send the captain a text with your name, number and put Open Boat Text at (516) 316-6967

Capt. Rich of the Nancy Ann IV out of Orient, reports another week of super sea bass and blue fishing with sea bass to 5-pounds and chopper blues to 18-pounds. Striped bass fishing has also been fast pace with some trips seeing limits of slot fish. Porgies are thick as fleas for anyone who would like to catch a bunch. There still a few trips available in early October for stripers, blues, sea bass and scup. Please call (631) 774-5580 to book and info.

On the Peconic Star out of Greenport I heard from Capt. Dave Brennan and he said fishing has been lock and load with full boat limit of scup, along with a mix of other tasty sea treats every day. Please note that besides the super-fast Peconic Star Express, the all-new 78-foot super-fast Peconic Star III will be joining the fleet within the next 3 or 4 weeks. Stay tuned.

Liz at Mattituck Fishing Station and Marina in Mattituck tells us porgies remains excellent in 40 to 60-feet of water, especially at all the rock piles at those depths. Porgy rigs baited with clams anywhere from the Firing Range and off the Motels remains red hot. Sea bass are at Hortons, Mulford and Rocky Points in 80 to 90 feet of water. Use 3-ounce diamond jigs and drift at these depths until you located the sea bass, which most are in the 3 to 4-pound range. Gus Kouasias had a limit of sea bass on Saturday. Some stripers, blues, and even some weakfish are just west of the inlet by Coopers Rock and to the east by Hortons with an occasional small fluke coming up.

Capt. Tim of the open boat Timothy J Fishing in Mattituck reports phenomenal sea bass fishing with every angler limiting out and releasing many others. The Timothy J is located at 5675 West Mill Road in Mattituck. The boat sails open, no reservations needed from Wednesday to Sunday at 8 a.m. returning at 3 p.m. For more information, please visit his website at timothy-j-fishing-open-boat or give Capt. Tim a call at (631) 960-8204.

Chris at Blue Water Ventures in Southold said small bass are still all over the beach on the North Fork hitting small bucktails and soft plastics. Chris got out himself for some blackfish action off the shore and nailed a keeper before he went home. The shop will be open selling tying materials for those looking to keep busy during the slow months.

Robert from We Go Fishing Bait and Tackle in Southold reports the North Fork is alive with sea bass, porgies, weakfish, stripers, kingfish, blowfish, and gator blues. The bay remains packed with summer weakfish especially off buoy 17 and inside Noyack Bay. The deep-water off Nassau Point in 70-feet of water is also holding a solid body of weakies. Hi/low rigs tipped with squid strips or Fishbites EZ Squid both working remarkably, especially during the outgoing tide. Porgies remain abundant at Jessup Neck, the Middle Grounds, and Roses Grove. You can drift porgy rigs baited with clams or you can anchor and chum with clam logs, either way works. Sea bass are in the deep cooler waters by Fishers Island, Pidgeon’s Rip and in the Sound off Rocky and Mulford Points. Hortons Point in 80-feet catches the biscuits also. Use diamond jigs during slack tide and clams on hi/lo rigs while the current is swift. Big porgies remains solid in Plum Gut and along the northside of Plum Island on clams and porgy rigs. Big sea bass have also showed the past few days inside Plum Gut hitting diamond jigs intended for bluefish Fishers Island and the Sound are also chock full of scup. Striped bass of mixed sizes and gorilla blues are at all the usual rips inside Plum Gut, the Race, and the Sluiceway on diamond jigs and 3x3 rigs armed with bucktails or swim shad. Fluke fishing was slow this week off Montauk due to the dirty water left behind by Isaias but should bounce back this coming week. Blowfish, kingfish, snappers, and crabs are all in good supply in the bay, docks, and creeks.