AS the marine waters of New York get warmer we begin to see more and more species that anglers can target for the coming weekend.
Weakfish made a big showing this past week, while we continue to see more and more stripers moving along the beaches. Bluefish are growing in numbers and blackfish can be had at a number of pieces around Long Island. Winter flounder can still be had with a few snowshoes being taken south of Block Island.
The fluke season starts tomorrow and although the regulations leave us with only three fish at 17 inches, expect to see some big doormats coming from the East End.
Fishing in Lower New York Harbor continues to be hot, with stripers, weakfish, flounder and bluefish around in healthy numbers. Last I heard, the flounder were still biting at Romer Shoals and the Cedars. Expect a few boats from Sheepshead Bay to stay with the flounder until the fluke fishing gets going. Inside Jamaica Bay you’ll find weakfish, stripers and blues and they all seem to be chasing bunker.
The weakfish that are moving into the South Shore bays have been big with fish to 16 pounds being reported in Jamaica Bay. Since there are no smaller fish on hand, this does not bode well for weakfishing in future years.
Quite a number of party boats will be targeting striped bass this year and for good reason – they are everywhere. In the New York Bight you can catch them from Raritan Bay and Sandy Hook, into the channels and up the Narrows to the 69th Street Pier.
Blackfish are being caught in the shallower areas around City Island. There are lots of big bass in the western end of the Sound with fish to 30 pounds coming from Manhasset Bay and Hempstead Harbor. Big bass have also moved into the Huntington area with a 42-pounder coming out of Cold Spring Harbor last week.
Back along the South Shore, lots of bass and small blues moving through Jones Inlet and the beaches. Same story at Fire Island Inlet, where you also have good weakfish action off Ocean Beach. Fluke are definitely in Great South Bay and will be targeted this weekend.
There was a lot of activity at Shinnecock Inlet where weakfish are moving into the bay and heading for the canal. The weakies were being taken this past week in the canal and off Jessup’s Neck along with some cocktail blues.
The North Fork should be a fluke hotspot for the opener as reports from Orient Point have quite a number of anglers releasing fluke to 6 pounds this past week. Blackfish are also in the area with fish to 6 pounds being taken at the Rockpiles.
Montauk is always slow to get started, but the water off the East End is warming up and we’re seeing bass and blues moving into the lighthouse area and along the Southside beaches to Amagansett. There are still some cod being caught southeast of Block Island and one report had some snowshoe flounder being taken south of Block.