Captain Dave Brennan on the Peconic Star out of Greenport has been working porgies and putting together “good catches” with good-sized scup for his fares. Sea bass action provides enough keepers to go around although there are quite a few throwbacks. There are not lots of places with scup available, but, notes Dave, “that’s why I’ve been at it for 40 years!”
Bill Czech at Jamesport Bait and Tackle in Mattituck told us there were some nice stripers around, especially in the Fishers Island Race. In the Sound keeper bass can still be found in 70-foot depths off Hortons Point, while schoolies can be taken off Bailies Beach, along with the occasional weakfish. Chunking produces some bass west around Iron Pier. For porgies in the Peconics, anglers should look from Buoy two to Rogers Rock.
The Brooklyn Girl II out of Orient has seen excellent striped bass fishing this past week, with many fishers having to release bass due to the sheer quantity they were being caught at. According to Capt. Ken Holmes, many of the bass caught were in the mid-to-upper 20-pound class. Other fare included “A 32 pounder, two 34 pounders, a 36 pounder, and big fish of the week, a 42 pounder!” Holmes said. Holmes also said the fluke fishing has been great too and said that five anglers were able to keep more than 50 fluke that were over the 19 inch and seven pound keeper size.
Steven at Wego Fishing in Southold suggested there were scup north of Plum Island with fluke available in 50-60 feet of water off Gardiners. Cocktail blues and scup are on Far East beaches, but there are lots of small blues on the flood off Jessups as well. Best bass weighed in this week was a 54-pounder, but a number of linesiders in the 30s and 40s were on the shop scales, too.
Mark at the Rocky Point Fishing Stop was back in the shop after a break and tried the local nighttime beaches during the weekend. The shop has run out of worms, and spearing are scarce as well. Anglers might wish to freeze any fresh bait left unused. Mark noted that, although worms are not particularly popular out East, many anglers troll the harbors for bass with large sandworms on the back end of seven- to 10-inch tubes.
The weekend report from East End Bait and Tackle in Hampton Bays described offshore action around the Coimbra wreck for bluefin tuna, trolling early and jigging during the daytime. Tuna are feeding on large sand eels. A few makos are around, but most fishers target the tuna. Clear water on the Bay side of Shinnecock Inlet has been producing fluke with fish to seven pounds in the Bay itself. There aren’t a lot of keepers in the Ocean yet. You can still chum up some small bass around the Ponquogue Bridge, but the bite has dropped off. Cow Neck in the Peconics is worth a try for scup, too.
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