FISHING the deep blue waters of the continental shelf appears to be filling out the saltwater picture, making fishing both inshore and offshore a good bet for the weekend.
From Hudson Canyon to the Fishtails and the Dip, trollers took both yellowfin and longfin tuna as well as mahi mahi last weekend. I also got word of bluefins to 150 pounds feeding on tinker mackerel south and east of Block Island, but they were hard to catch.
Sharkers are catching makos and threshers, including the 415-pound thresher caught in one of the South Shore tournaments last weekend.
The unknown factor will be the storms that passed through here most of the week and what effect they will have on fishing this weekend.
Inshore fishing has been pretty good for the most part, with striped bass still providing lots of nice action from the New York Bight to the East End. Bluefish are abundant as are the porgies, which seem to be everywhere. Fluke fishing has been up and down and we got word of some nice weakfish action on the Napeague beaches.
Sheepshead Bay party boats that target porgies and bluefish enjoy good action. Boats sailing at night are scoring with stripers and weakfish, while the day fluke trips have been fair to middlin’.
In Long Island Sound, the scup fishing has been good in many areas from Prospect Point to Rye Playland. Bluefish in many of the harbors and bays in the Sound, while the striper action has let up a bit off Hempstead Harbor and Manhasset Bay.
Fluke fishing has fared better off Jones Inlet in 50-70 feet of water while the local wrecks near Jones Inlet are giving up sea bass and porgies. The Atlantic and Rockaway Reefs are also good spots for bottom action on porgies and sea bass.
Lots of school bluefins at 24 Fathoms and they’re on the move. Sharks being caught at the Linda and Virginia wrecks.
Striped bass fishing at Fire Island Inlet producing fish to 35 pounds, while the fluking inside Great South Bay is producing lots of shorts – it’s better outside in 60-70 feet of water. The keeper ratio on fluke was good this week in Moriches Bay, where one in four is a keeper.
The East End offers an excellent mixed bag of fishing. In Shinnecock Bay you’ll find blues, fluke and stripers, while across the channel into Peconic Bay there are loads of porgies to be had.
Along the North Fork, porgies, fluke, stripers and bluefish can be had. The bass fishing continues at Plum Gut and the Race, but all the weekend traffic makes for difficult fishing. Fluke fishing has been on the north side of Gardiners Island, while the bluefish seem to have the island surrounded. You can find porgies just about everywhere in Gardiners Bay, from Three Mile Harbor to Accabonac.
Harvey Bennett, from the The Tackle Shop in Amagansett, always has a secret to divulge and this week it was the weakfish along the beaches from White Sands to Indian Wells. Montauk is the place to be for big stripers. They seemed to be from Shagwong to the Lighthouse and they’re all big.
