Western Long Island and NYC Fishing Report- September 21, 2023

Western Long Island and NYC Fishing Report

• Good run of weakfish in the Sound and South Shore this past week. 
• Pelagics continue to run from the Rockaways to Robert Moses – Albies, bonito, spanish mackerel, and more. 
• Stripers awaken with the cooler mornings and nights.
• Excellent bottom jigging on both shores for sea bass, fluke, and porgy. 

Jamie from Bay Park Fishing Station in Oceanside said: 

“Weather kept everyone in the bay this weekend but soon as it passed the bite was on for albies and bonita! Birds were working rain bait outside the inlet every morning at dawn, and both pelagics could be soon boiling up on the vast bait schools. Offshore, 2 bluefin were caught on Tuesday just south of Ambrose channel. There’s also been multiple reports of bluefin busting outside the Rockaways in 50ft of water! The fluke bite has been great in the back bays under the peanut bunker schools. Live lining peanut bunker has been a sure-fire way of catching flatties. Bay Park Fishing Station is open all fall 7 days a week! We have everything you need.”  

Petey Trovato from Lindenhurst Bait and Tackle reports: 

“Stripers, weakfish, and fluke have been feeding like crazy on the peanut bunker that have been flooding the back bays. Last night my buddy Darwin pulled a 27 incher off one of the bridges and I got a fluke over 20 inches. There have been some big bass in the surf at night too.  

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

“There’s been tons of bait around and bluefish and other pelagic fish have been going nuts on it. Bay fluking continues to be lights out with all the peanut bunker around, which saved a lot of days that were blown out by the wind and forced us to stay inside the inlets. On the days where it was safe to get on the reefs though, anglers are pulling up jumbo sea bass, porgies, and fluke. While jigging on bottom, its not uncommon to see albies and bonito roll through and start blitzing on the bait, with mackerel below them. Striped bass have been active on the bridges at night and in the early early morning, mostly feeding on peanut bunker. You can’t go wrong no matter where you choose to fish, it’s the fall run baby!” 

• Eastern Long Island Fishing Report: Click here to read what’s happening around Suffolk County and The Forks!

• Want to get in on the bite? Find an OTW-approved Charter Fishing Captain around Long Island and NYC!

Paul Mccain from River Bay Outfitters in Baldwin said: 

“This wind has been a bummer. On Monday I went out and didn’t see a single fish under the swells when the inlet got really violent. But fishing in the salt has been great outside of all these bad weather windows. Bluefish are everywhere and so are peanut bunker. Besides the blues the fluke and striped bass have been going nuts on them creating blitzes in the early morning hours. The cold temperatures have been helping and should only make things better on the striper front.” 

John from Freeport Bait and Tackle reports:

“Fluking has been great in the bays, thanks to the big schools of peanut bunker around. Matching the hatch with soft plastics like Gulp! Or live lining the peanuts themselves is a good bet for hooking into the fluke that are around. Sea bass and porgy have been chewing good at the reefs when the wind didn’t keep us in the bays. And the pelagics have been awesome and bring a lot of energy to a relaxing bottom jigging session. Albies are here! Bonito have been around for a while and have gotten much bigger mixed in with the false albacore. Mackerel have been around too and make excellent striped bass bait. Make sure you bring epoxy jigs or spoons with you and catch ‘em up!” 

Captain Josh Rogers of Gypsea Charters in Brooklyn reports:

“Excellent fluking this past week with the exception of one trip. Many limits were reached, and the fish were all quality. We had a bunch of thick flatties in the 3- to 5-pound range hit the deck, as they have ben fattening up for the winter. Friday may be our last crack at them before the storm! Call/text (516)659-3814 for info and availability”

Captain Adrian Moeller of Rockfish Charters in Queens reports:

“Yellowfin tuna fishing is red hot right now!” We’re getting them on live peanuts, mullets, chunks, poppers, you name it. The water cooled down but the fish are sticking around because of the abundance of bait. It should only improve in the next few weeks as the dragger bite gets going, and then it’s right into fall run striper fishing! Call (347)661-4501 to book a trip.”

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.

Here’s what local anglers have been posting on social media: 

This weekend Fall will officially be upon us. Unofficially, it feels like fall began sometime at the end of April. Bait has been around in huge numbers, birds have been extra fired up, and the bluefish blitzes have been everywhere ranging from cocktails to gators, providing a good fall back for when the albies won’t show or the stripers are being finicky.

On the bottom, it’s been great and only seems to get better. Larger sea bass and porgy have been getting caught on boulder fields closer to shore in the Long Island Sound, and the South shore reefs have been producing plenty of keepers. Fluke fishing has been steady, and peanut bunker has been the forage of choice on both shores. 

Weakfish have been in the spotlight this week, with a few kayak angling buddies of mine having a banner day in the West Sound catching a dozen unicorns up to and over 20 inches, with the largest being 24 inches that day. On the South shore, weakfish have made a strong showing in the bays chasing peanut bunker.  

This past weekend, I went out during a brief window to look for stripers but ultimately landed my new personal best bluefish on a trolling tube, and a few sea bass and porgy while micro slow-pitch jigging over a rock. My fish finder was lit up with fish on bottom and there was a flood of rain bait on the surface, with birds in all directions swooping down on them. 

Bottom jigging has been really great – You never know for certain what you’re going to catch on any given day, and for me that’s where the excitement comes from. While trolling a tube rig, I was marking some beautiful looking rocks on sonar and I couldn’t help myself from tossing anchor right over one and start slow-pitch jigging. It only took a few lifts of my rod tip to get bit – a 14 inch sea bass, followed by another 15 incher immediately after. Then dozens of jumbo porgies, with the biggest up to 16 inches caught by my buddy Josh, who I’ve nicknamed the ‘Porgy whisperer’ because he always catches monster scup every time I fish with him. I wish I had the time to stay and really work that rock and a few others for a keeper sea bass or two, but we had to head back in shortly after.  

• Eastern Long Island Fishing Report: Click here to read what’s happening around Suffolk County and The Forks!

• Want to get in on the bite? Find an OTW-approved Charter Fishing Captain around Long Island and NYC!

What to Expect

This freaking wind… It’s been tough finding windows to launch a kayak when the wind has consistently been at or above the 10 knot mark, and it looks like we’re in for another gusty weekend, with wind around 10 to 15 knots on the North shore and 20 to 25 knots on the South shore. Things don’t look like they’re laying down until next Wednesday.  

The consolation is that shore fishing has been awesome, so wind should only be a factor in your casting and not your decision to go out that day. Pelagics are around in force as they have been, and we haven’t reached the peak yet. Bluefish have been as prevalent as porgy on the North shore, but lately it seems the gators have come out to play a bit more than the usual cocktail-sized ones that have been everywhere.  

A bucktail could catch absolutely anything right now, whether you cast it directly into a bait school and reel it in fast to imitate a fleeing bait fish, or slowly jigged along a rocky bottom for fluke, porgy, stripers or sea bass waiting to ambush prey. Using versatile lures is a good bet this time of year, when you never know when fish will start blitzing on the bait schools at your feet, or if pelagics will suddenly show up and won’t give time for you to change lures. It’s one of the reasons I adopted slow-pitch jigging, because it allows me to quickly go from jigging a metal lure for sea bass and porgy, to casting it for albies and bluefish. 

I highly encourage you to get out early in these cool mornings to fish before work. Not only is it a fantastic start to your day, but chances are high that you’ll spot schoolie tails whipping on the surface chasing peanut bunker, rain bait and the like. Such has been the case in many of the back bays on the North and South shores, with schoolies coming alive for brief periods in the low-light hours when temperatures have been consistently dipping into the high 50’s.  

Like I said, it’s a fantastic start to your day; inhaling a crisp autumn breeze as the sun rises, when the sky is a gradient of pink, orange, and blue, and the lapping of the waves, slapping of fish tails, and calling of birds provide an ambient soundtrack. Your coffee will taste better in the cool air. You’ll be in a better mental state when you open that first email or turn that first wrench afterwards. But don’t stake all your happiness on catching a fish; some of the most memorable days fishing have come from being an observer. Sitting on a rock, in the sand, or on my kayak just watching nature do it’s thing. 

Thanks for reading, tight lines, get after ‘em.