Western Long Island and NYC Fishing Report- August 10, 2023

Keeper fluke and cobia are caught in the back bays, schoolie stripers and snappers hit the salt marshes at night, and south shore bunker pods host sharks and larger cobia.

by Nick Cancelliere
Peter Ranieri (@pran1211) caught this big bass on a 7-inch Elias V. shad in 35-feet of water this week.

Western Long Island and NYC Fishing Report

  • Snappers fill the harbors, bays, and beaches. On the opposite end – a new wave of gator bluefish make for topwater fun on both shores. 
  • Fluke, sea bass, and porgy continue to put meat on angler’s tables.  
  • Cobia inside the bays – some are even being caught from the piers! 
  • Bunker pods continue to attract large fish like sharks and tuna. 

Jamie from Bay Park Fishing Station in Oceanside said: 

“Fluke bite has been consistent inside and at the reefs. Lots of shorts with quality keepers mixed in for anglers willing to put in the time and effort. Squid and spearing along with white and pink Gulp! Is what’s hot right now. Declan Calahan had a great day of fluking on the bay side. He reported over 20 fluke in the 17 to 21 inch range. Schoolie bass are up against the marshes at high tide. Chicken scratch SP Minnows and yellow or bone poppers make for fast, non-stop action.  


The bunker pods are seeing plenty of action still. From dolphins, to bluefin, to gator bluefish, cobia, and of course multiple species of sharks. It’s guaranteed to be a fun day if you’re with the bunker. Bay park carries everything you need for inshore and off shore fishing, we’re open 7 days a week.” 

Paul McCain from River Bay Outfitters in Baldwin said: 

“There is a ton of bait right now in the back bays. At the inlets recently I had non-stop action with the cocktail bluefish. I have no doubt there are bigger ones out there. The snapper schools lining the shore make for a ton of easily accessible fishing fun. For snapper fly fishing, I tie on a gurgler topwater fly, then I tie 12 to 13 inches of heavy mono behind it with a small streamer. Generally I use a 3 weight rod up to a 5 weight. Sometimes you’ll get larger cocktail blues so it isn’t a bad idea to use a heavier rod.” 

Petey Trovato from Lindenhurst Bait and Tackle reports:

“Cobia were blitzing offshore by Rockaway Reef, but they’re also inside the bay. Our owner, Rich, caught some while live-lining killies in the bay. No need to go out into the ocean if you don’t have the boat for it! We stock live killies in the shop so stop by to get cobia ready.” 

Brandon Weitz from Causeway Bait and Tackle in Wantagh told me:  

“It’s been brutal with this weather, I haven’t been able to get out much while waiting for my boat to get serviced. There’s still plenty of life out there from cobia, to tuna, to bluefish and fluke. Still plenty of opportunity to fish from shore for blues and fluke, even if it’s blowing out.” 

 

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A post shared by Brandon Weitz (@bweitz1)

John from Freeport Bait and Tackle reports: 

“We’re seeing some cool catches lately including kingfish, blowfish, and spot getting caught off the piers. Now’s a great time to be pier fishing especially since we’re hearing about cobia being caught off of them. Nice size fluke continue to be caught outside the inlets and the inlets themselves are flooded with bluefish. We have everything you need to catch ‘em up from snappers to sharks.”   

Captain Adrian at Rockfish Charters in Queens reports:

“This week we’ve been fishing our local bluefin bit close to home and saw some epic feeds but didn’t hook up. They still haven’t come in in large numbers yet, but that should change over the next week or two. Huge schools of bunker have inundated our local beaches and the the bluefin and cobia should be right behind them. On the striped bass front, we’ve been doing really well, loading top both live wells in the ocean and then steaming up to Manhattan catching easy limits and lots of releases. We’re currently booking September tuna trips and fall run bass trips, call us (347) 661-4501 to reserve!”

Captain Josh at Gypsea Charters in Brooklyn reports:

“Fluke fishing continues to be red hot, producing quality catches on all trips. Summer fishing is definitely in full swing! Get in on it before it’s over. This past week we hosted our annual kids summer camp, in which the young ones were treated to great action catching fluke, sea bass, porgies, weakfish and more! We will resume open boat fluking by reservation only this coming week. Call/text (516)659-3814 for info and reservations.”

Big fluke, and lots of them, hitting the deck aboard the Gypsea! (@gypseacharters)

Here’s what anglers around NYC and the West End are catching this week:

 

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A post shared by Michael Urbaez (@bx_sharkman)

This week, the snappers arrived in full force at the docks and beaches. I haven’t had much time to fish due to moving into a new place, so snapper fishing has kept my fishing withdrawal at bay. 

I took my girlfriend fishing for the very first time Wednesday and she caught some of her first ever snappers. I started off teaching her the basics of how to cast, and within a minute she was casting a snapper spoon with one hand while holding a German shepherd on a leash in the other. She picked casting up pretty quickly, and I was impressed. Still, she wasn’t super thrilled to be fishing. That changed when she hooked her first snapper.

Her first snapper managed to shake the hook at the beach, giving her a quick glimpse at the fish before it darted back towards the Sound. After that, she made dozens and dozens of casts trying to catch another. Each cast was further out and more accurate than the last, and I didn’t have to give her any more pointers. I could see from then that she had a familiar feeling, a desire to catch another fish or die trying; where nothing else mattered in that very moment. 

She eventually did land a snapper and was more excited about it than I thought she’d be; Naturally, I show her a lot of fish pictures and she tends to call every fish ugly, including our beloved striped bass, but to my surprise she said snappers looked kind of cute. I couldn’t convince her to hold it in her hands for a picture, but once we threw it back she immediately started casting for more. I sat there in the sand with our dog watching her cast with a dorky smile on my face as the sun slowly set in the background. 

Bluefish from snappers to gators have been the star of the inshore show lately, with a wave of big bluefish blitzes taking place on both shores. Birds give away blitzes as blues ranging from cocktail to gator size have been smashing into peanut bunker, spearing, and other baitfish schools on the surface.  

A friend of mine caught a limit of sea bass and fluke in one day on the North shore last week, just by vertically jigging a paddletail over the rocks he spotted on sonar. Seabass love paddletails and so do keeper-sized fluke. Its one of the most effective and versatile baits you can use.  

What to Expect

With snappers abound you may want to rethink your fluke presentations. Snappers will very easily bite the tails off of Gulp jerk shads, curly tails, and swimming mullets. If you find yourself getting frustrated with swarms of snappers following your jig – consider live lining one for a doormat fluke as revenge, or use larger, more durable paddletail lures like the Z-man ElaZtech DieZel MinnowZ.  

Larger, 5- to 7-inch paddletails vertically jigged on the bottom will weed out porgies and short fluke and attract strikes from the larger fish, while keeping away the snappers. You will still need to watch out for the odd cocktail bluefish, but chances are you’ll hook it should it decide to strike. These staple lures also provide the opportunity to attract a striped bass bite if they’re in the area. 

The most versatile and effective bait you can use is the good ‘ole paddletail shad. Vertically jigged, or worked mid-water on a steady retrieve will attract all of the popular gamefish. And at this time, you have a good chance of hooking schoolie striped bass, bluefish from cocktail size to gator size, larger sized fluke, and keeper black sea bass. I’ve even seen jumbo porgy hit a paddletail shad and peel drag. 

The wind and storms have been a bummer this week, but it seems like after today we’ll start getting some more easily fish-able weather into next week. Temperatures don’t looking completely miserable, and mornings have been pleasantly cool. The weekend looks terrific.  

Thanks for reading, good luck, and may your lines be tight.  

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