Bill Czech at Jamesport Bait and Tackle in Mattituck told us the South Shore between East Hampton and Smith Point is alive with bass while the Sound in our area hosts only small schoolies to 18 inches. Blues can be found off Horton’s Point. If you find structure on the Sound in 30-40 feet of water and fish green crabs, you find tautog. The reef off the Motel will produce some sea bass along with the ‘tog. A report last Tuesday detailed a nice catch of scup off the Firing Range. The Peconics have a few tautog, too, if you know where to look, i.e., off boat basins, off the Greenlawns or in the Brickyard.
Captain Bob Ceglowski said the Captain Bob boats out of Mattituck Inlet are done for the season, so he was headed south. He’s taking charters for the 2014 season, however. The final trips were very good with a great mix of tautog, sea bass, bluefish, stripers, and, yes, jumbo scup well over two pounds. Fishing was solid between the Motel in Mattituck and Horton’s.
Stan Hentschel at the Rocky Point Fishing Stop saw lots of small bass around the local beaches with a few keepers after dark. Bluefish are seldom larger than seven pounds when you find them, while tautog are in 15-30 feet of water. Look for stripers and blues, but, again, not large fish, off Buoys Nine and 11. If you can get to mid-Sound the sea bass fishing is also good.
From the Silly Lily Station in East Moriches comes word that there are sea bass and tautog outside Moriches Inlet with some bass in the bay off Buoys 24 and 26 and the Coast Guard Station. Live bait produces bass in the Inlet itself. Captain Scott Jeffrey’s report from East End Bait and Tackle in Hampton Bays says the bass bite both east and west of Shinnecock Inlet remains “on fire” even after two weeks. Fish are tight to the beach for trolling; jigging can be good, too. AVA jigs with white or green tube tails do the best job from the sand. There is also a night bite on bass to 25 pounds for anglers using needlefish. On the local reef and wrecks off the Inlet, sea bass fishing has been “great” although blackfishing is “slow.” Any heave puts “lockjaw” on the bottom bite, however.
