Eastern Long Island Fishing Report- September 21, 2023

Eastern Long Island Fishing Report

• Nor’easter inbound, perhaps with an epic striper bite in tow.
• Big bass getting caught in Montauk and near the inlets.
• Weakfish, bass and cocktail blues in the back.
• Great fluke bite as they leave the bays.
• Big blues on the north fork lately. Cocktails inland. Great bottom fishing up there, and some big albies too.
• Great bites offshore when boats can get there.

The Captree Pride reports:

“We’re running a special pelagic trip on Friday to target bonito, albies and bluefish, with the ever-present possibility of tying into a tuna. If we can get out in the poor weather this weekend, we’ll likely do some bay fluking. The fluke have been biting really well in the back.

Yesterday’s tuna trip saw some poor conditions, but some excellent fishing. We got nearly 20 big yellowfin, with our high hook catching 4. We’ll be running these trips through October. Sunday’s fluking trip produced over 150 fluke with 31 keepers. Sea bass have been coming over the rail on those trips.”

The Fishfinder of Captree reports: 

“Sunday’s 10am trip saw a good bit of keeper and short fluke. Several limits were culled, and several more were nearly reached, with the pool fish weighing 5 pounds. In the off-color water, the best Gulp colors have been salmon red, chartreuse and nuclear chicken. Over the weekend, we had a nice pick of fluke to 4 pounds too, with a big triggerfish hitting the deck. Fluking in the bay has been solid, with nonstop action on some trips. Vicky landed a limit, plus 23 shorts to throw back.”

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

“Joe joined me on Sunday to target some hardtails on the north shore. There were loads of anglers out doing the same, so we ditched the crowd and found some promising looking water away from the masses. Joe caught his first albie on the fly, and we proceeded to pick at them for the rest of the day on fly and spin gear.” Check out Dave’s website to book him for a charter!

Captain Stu Paterson of Northport Charters reports: 

“There are lots of peanuts swimming around my marina, in the bay and the LI Sound, plus lots of spearing. The blues and stripers are blitzing on them in the bays, with some slot bass in the mix. The porgy bite is still holding strong, with fish to 2.5 pounds. The sea bass bite is not in full swing in the LI Sound. On yesterday’s trip, we saw some beautiful, hard fighting fish to 3.5 pounds in the Sound. My deckhand MJ’s dad Michael and his grandpa Joe and co. had a banner day out there. The fall run is setting up to be a darn good one with all this life around!” 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: 

“The UConn softball team joined us on Sunday to stock up for their team barbecue that night. Lots of porgies and some quality sea bass came over the rail for them. Porgies on Sunday were of the large/jumbo variety, and we saw some massive scup this week. Sea bass fishing has been producing some large fish when they’re on the chew. Bluefish have been chewing well too, just a little larger than the cocktail variety… perfect eating size. A nice slot bass came up during that bluefish feed.” Call them at 631-928-3926 for booking info, or check the website/Facebook for more info.

• 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:

“Tuesday’s trip was red hot on the porgy front, with double headers flying over the rail all day. While targeting sea bass, we pulled up some more large porgies, some really nice sea bass and a bunch of 2-4 pound cocktail bluefish. It’s basically been the same story all week, with lots of fish available to fill the box. Fall run fishing is in full swing on the North Fork. 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.”

Brooklyn Girl in Orient reports:

“Robert’s group of 9 joined us on Sunday after the storm passed. We were targeting sea bass primarily, and we did well on that front. The bite started strong, then paused once some dirty water poured in. Then it took off, with jumbos and doubles coming up on a lot of drops. There were a ton of shorts to pick through, but we picked a boat limit of 66 keepers to 4+ pounds. The porgies provided us a good mixed bag of fish. Then the anglers battled many gator bluefish in the 8-14 pound class as a cherry on top. We’ve got a couple Wednesday evening Striper/Bluefish trips coming up, and on Columbus Day weekend we’ll be targeting sea bass, porgies and stripers.”

Bill at Chasing Tails Bait and Tackle in Oakdale reports:

“Fluke are on their way out and the fishing couldn’t be better! Lots of solid flatties are held up by the bridge and inlet area, holding tight on structure. Bucktails and jerk shads are the lures of choice. Shop rigs tipped with bait or artificials put in work too. Weakfish are being spotted scattered around the bay, and holding with the fluke. Use lightweight rods and line, with the same lures and bait setups as fluke. Sea Bass action is best on the outside wrecks. Plenty of keeper sized fish, with some gnarly knuckleheads popping up occasionally as well. We’re dropping big jigs down for the best action. Epoxy jigs, slow pitch, diamond jigs, and bucktails work very well when targeting aggressive sea bass. Cocktail blues have taken over the entire bay, they are all over the place, and making quick work of peanut bunker schools. You can pull ’em with swim shads, tins, and small topwater lures. Pelagics like albies, bonitio, and spanish mackerel are ripping around the inlets, chasing schools of bait around. Epoxy jigs are your best chance for one of those. Stripers are coming any day now. The water is cooling off, and there is plenty of bait around. They’re showing up in Montauk pretty well, now they just have to reach us and hopefully pull into the bay!  

The lakes and rivers are alive with action as we transition into fall. Bass and pickerel are searching out meals and going crazy for swimbaits, senkos, jigs, spoons, and crankbaits. Top water lures are still super effective this time of year too. Trout are up and active early, and stay up later into the day. Dry flies are very effective, you can hang a nymph underneath for an extra chance at a hookup. Big trout are also chasing streamers all along the banks. Sunfish and yellow perch are out doing their thing, and are a lot of fun to catch on ultralight tackle! A worm and bobber rig will do very well, or you can throw inline spinners and small jigs if you’d rather use a lure.”

Nick from Haskell’s Bait and Tackle in East Quogue reports:

“There’s not a whole lot to report this week, but some anglers found success when the conditions cooperated. Fluking seems to have slowed inside the bay, but some anglers are still picking away at keepers. The albie bite has been inconsistent, but when it’s on it’s on. Lots of cocktail blues are getting caught inside the bay. Bigger bass are showing up in both Moriches and Shinnecock inlets, but the bite primarily occurs during the nighttime or early morning hours. No word on the offshore front.”

The Shinnecock Star in Hampton Bays reports:

“We parked the Star in the backwaters this week to protect it from the storm surge from Hurricane Lee. Once the swell settled down, we headed back to Oaklands and got back to work! The bite was on immediately. Fluke began coming over the rail just ten minutes into our first trip on Tuesday. We’re sailing 12-4 p.m. trips in the next few days.”

• 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!

Chris Albronda from Montauk reports:

“The weather threw us a curveball last week, but the boats that were able to get out did very well. Light tackle anglers did especially well, targeting albies and bonito. There was some great bottom fishing to be had as well, with monster sea bass and scup. The striper fishing was on fire, especially the night bite for those using live bait.

Offshore, the yellowfin, bluefin and bigeye tuna bites have been firing. Trolling, chunking and jigging were all putting fish on the boat. Mahi-mahi were scattered about all over the place; weed lines and floating gear/debris were covered in fish.” Chris is available for offshore trips, and to privately captain your vessel on Sundays and Mondays.

Bill Wetzel of the Surf Rats Ball reports:

“Vinny joined me for a double header last week, on Wednesday and Thursday night as the surge from Hurricane Lee reached our coast. We fished RonZ’s on light-(ish) jigs on the south side, and Vinny caught and landed one of his biggest fish, a low 30 pounder. The fish ended up breaking his rod, so we ran back to the rig to gear back up. We picked two more fish over 30 and one over 40. The 40 came on a chicken scratch SP minnow.

Thursday night into Friday, we found a few good fish into the high teens on RonZ and SP minnows again. We didn’t see any spearing this night, but the night prior they were all over the place.

Mike D joined me for the Saturday night shift, and we lucked into some fish quickly using an SP minnow on the south side. I ended up picking a low-30 after we made a move. Mike picked another fish in the low-20s.

On Monday, John and Matt joined me for the sunset session on the south side. I picked one schoolie while the sun was up on a 1.25oz white bucktail. We looked all over (north, south, sand beaches) and didn’t find another fish the rest of the night.

Mickey got out on Friday to find a lot of spearing tight to the beach on the north side, but managed only one bass there. He ran to the south side and found some deeper water with some wave action; there, he pulled out a fat 36 inch bass. On Saturday, he tried the same spots, finding two small bass on a 1.25oz bucktail. After jumping around a bit, he headed back to that deeper water and pulled 3 quality bass on a yellow darter. Tyler fished Friday too, targeting the north side diligently for zilch. On Saturday morning, he ventured south to find one cocktail bluefish.”

Join OTW in Falmouth, MA on Saturday, 9/23 for our annual StriperFest! Live music, free boat rides with Yamaha, hourly prizes and more! Click here for event details.

Eastern Long Island Fishing Forecast

Some awesome opportunities have arrived here on the east end. Big bass have begun to cruise the sandy coast of the south shore, and anglers are picking them off near the major structure points. Fish to 40 pounds have been reported by surfcasters who are targeting the night tides. Mullet are running the beaches, so bucktails and topwater lures are getting eaten by bass in low light and during the day. Bay fishing has turned on too, so anglers are finding some big stripers in the back targeting peanut bunker and spearing, among other baits. Schoolies seem abundant, and there are some weakfish working those bait schools as well. Cocktail blues have been a mainstay both in front and out back; they are mixed in with the hardtails near the inlets, and the stripers in the back waters.

An east swell moved in overnight. The water was very calm yesterday evening before sunset, so I figured I’d get up to fish first light this morning for some migratory large. I should’ve checked the swell report, as the wave action was a bit too heavy for the light tackle I planned on using. It’s crazy how fast the landscape can change. I threw a bucktail I tied up to imitate the mullet I’ve been seeing. I bought some BKK jig heads from White Water Outfitters that I believe are specifically made for tuna. They have an eyelet on the bottom of the jighead to attach a flasher, so I did just that.

The result is a jig that not only flashes light in clear water, but sort of jingles and rattles in dirty water. It didn’t get the job done for me this morning, but the other day I was fishing some very dirty water and I tied into three stripers on the beach lip. It was a tough bite and I don’t think I would’ve caught fish without a little noise on my bucktail. The bucktail had feathers as a trailer replacement, and it had a spun deer hair collar, which helps push water (like mullet do). Great success.

I’ve got a lot going on these days, so I chalked the rest of the day up to a loss and got to work. This fishing report is part of that work. I took a break to check out the ocean, and met another drone pilot on the beach. I added this guy’s drone photo of a huge mass of comb jellies to my report a few weeks back. His name’s Zeke, and he said there were lots of bunker today with sharks on them. I haven’t really seen any sharks in a while, so I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to check them out.

As soon as I got the drone over the water, I thought to myself “this is a tuna day.” There’s a special way the bunker congregate that signifies the presence of tuna, and there was no mistaking it today. I flew for about 45 minutes, and saw probably 5 or 6 tuna within 250 yards of the beach. A couple of them were absolute monstrosities. I’ll put up some of the footage of these impressive specimens tomorrow. All of them were running through the bait balls, and then through these smaller silvery fish that I could not ID. They very well may have been mullet, but we’ll see when I upload the footage.

I feel like whenever there’s an east swell preceding a storm, we get those tuna close to the beach. We have a storm coming this weekend, which seems like it will coincide perfectly with this early run of large stripers we’re seeing. The storm is a nor’easter, so expect cool winds and rough seas. The wind has already begun to rise. We had glass water yesterday evening; this morning there was some swell, but a light wind; the wind has become moderate throughout the day, and will continue to rise through Saturday. Strong winds should persist into the beginning of next week, and there is a good bit of rain forecasted throughout that timeframe. 

Nor’easter bites are very hit-or-miss. You can wear yourself out and make yourself sick by trying to fish every day and night of every storm of the fall… I’ve been there. I just didn’t want to miss out on an epic bite. In the past ten years, the September storms have been duds on the striper front for the most part (for me, at least). Right now, though, I think we’re coming into something very special. Big bass are in Montauk, they’re showing at the inlets, and they’re getting caught off the sand beaches on the east end. There is no question that a good amount of good fish are on the move; we might even see some quality weakfish come to hand during this storm. With all the bait I’m seeing, I don’t think there’s any question that there will be a good bite during this storm. Lucky for most anglers, the weather’s occurring over the weekend, so everyone should have a chance to put some time in. I reckon we’ll see a good day bite, but that’s just a hunch. Just trying to manifest one here. All of you, do the same, por favor. Keep your ear to the ground, because this might be one of those bites for which you need to call out of work sick.

The ocean’s already getting pretty huge. The swell is impressive. The weather should not turn sour until Saturday though. We’ll even have some very light winds tonight. I don’t think there will be a better chance to fish comfortably with the possibility of catching a cow, than there will be during the next two nights. So get out there and make it happen! Be safe on the rocks, and make sure you’re wearing korkers. Don’t wander out to the tip of the jetty if there’s waves breaking over it. I’ve seen some nasty results from that; it’s a stupid move. Good luck!