Nor'east Mag W. Sound 6/12-18/06

1. The fishing is the western sound is as hot as the weather right now! We are still seeing scores of fish feeding their way through our area before heading to open water. The only thing that could put a damper on the bite is the hot weather forecasted for this coming week. Captain Steve from the Molly Roze is particularly worried about algae blooms. “If we get an algae bloom these fish will stop feeding and just move through our area undetected,” Steve said. In spite of all the “what if’s” Captain Steve has been doing very well on his night trips. “We had some great fishing every night last week except Wednesday, which wasn’t even that bad,” Steve joked. Stefford Carson had the biggest fish of the week at just over 34 pounds. The fish have been stacked up from Captain’s Island to Hempstead and they are moving daily with the schools of bunker. “We get some bait in the lights and start chumming, it doesn’t take long for the fish to find us,” Steve said. Steve Manaldo and Roy Carnall also had a great night with Steve; the pair limited out on bass to 29-pounds and also caught a load of bluefish. Steve also reported a pick up in the fluke bite off the local points. Steve is available the weekend of the Flukemania Smackdown, so give Steve a call to book your shot at $25,000!
2. Peter Cheng at Fisherman Depot also saw his share of bluefish this past week. “These are not your normal early season cocktail bluefish,” Peter joked. Peter was referring to bluefish that weighed in at 15 pounds and are turning live-lined bunker into chunks! The bass bite has seemed to slow during the day with the arrival of the bigger bluefish, but at night the bass are dominating. Peter saw bass to 30-pounds being taken on live bunker and fresh chunks. The fluke bite has been picky in the College Point area, but the porgies are picking up the slack. “Every little rock pile out there seems to be holding some nice scup,” Peter said.
3. Captain Dan from the Northstar II has been chasing porgies all over the western sound. “These are some of the biggest porgies I have seen in quite a while,” Dan joked. The bigger fish have been congregating in the Bayville area, but there are plenty of fish from Todd’s Point, 32A and most of the local points. Chumming has been key to holding fish to the boat, while clam and worm baits are doing a job on scup to 2.5 pounds. Captain Dan also had some good success off Rye’s rocky shoreline, so don’t think you have to travel too far for some fantastic porgy fishing!
4. John Knight at Hudson Park B&T gave a bittersweet report this week. John (and I happen to agree with him) thinks this might be the peak of the spring run. Once those 90-degree days get here and the water temperatures shoot up these fish that have been cool, fat and happy will be long gone. There are plenty of bluefish to fill the gaps for anglers, along with plenty of resident bass, but the main body of fish will head to open water. If you are heading out this week, John suggests focusing on the night bite, since the bluefish have been actively feeding during the day. The fluke bite has been picking up, with some quality fish showing off Matinecock, Bayville and off Hempstead. “Regardless of the weather, conditions and all other factors you have to get out and fish the bunker schools for big fish,” John suggests.
5. Captain Joe from Moontide Charters had another solid week of bassing in the western sound. Chunking in and around Hempstead anywhere from 30 to 60 feet has been Joe’s method of choice. This method produced bass to 28 pounds and more bluefish than Joe would care to remember. “There is plenty of action to be had right now, and if things slow down just throw some chum over in any moving water and the bluefish will be there in minutes,” Joe said. Another option is to find the bunker schools (which is sometimes easier said than done) and drift your chunks along with them. The bigger fish have been staging at the edges and underneath these schools just waiting for the opportunity for an easy meal. Bunker heads have worked particularly well in this scenario!
6. John at Jack’s B&T reported that the bass bite is about as good as it gets! Dave from the Skipjack has been limiting out daily on both the day and night trips with some very beefy bass. The bigger fish have been showing at night, but don’t let that stop you from heading out, if you have a window to fish just get out and do it! There are also tons of cocktail bluefish infesting the western sound. These fish really seem to enjoy surprising fluke fishermen by annihilating their baits! The bigger bluefish can be found harassing just about every bunker school in the sound. John also commented on the fluke bite and how the local points are starting to produce some very nice fish. Bayville has been the “go to” spot for jumbo porgies, but be sure to stock up on plenty of chum to entice the bite.
7. Captain Pat from the Shamrock IV is starting to see some bigger fluke on his sunset fluke trips. “The last couple of weeks it seemed like every fish was just shy of a keeper, then somebody flipped the switch,” Pat joked. These fish are not only bigger, but they are also aggressive when attacking the squid and spearing. Fluke are not the only fish attacking the baits; bluefish to 6 pounds, which make for a very interesting interruption in fluking, has surprised anglers. Pat’s boat is also available for private charters, so if you are looking for the perfect outing, you can look no further than the Shamrock IV!
8. Captain Rich from the Fishunter also had a very good week fishing the western sound. “The big bass are here and they are hungry,” Rich joked. It seems another wave of fish are making their way through the College Point area and into the western sound. The good news for Rich is that he is right there to intercept them. “We were out looking for some bunker schools when my screen lit up,” Rich said. To his surprise the screen wasn’t lit up with bunker, instead it was a big school of bass and bluefish. The bass and the blues seem to collaborate when working a bunker school making it a fisherman’s dream when there is an all out blitz!
9. BJ from the Sea Otter West was very happy with the results from this past week. “The bass bite is in full swing at night,” BJ said. The big fish of the week weighed in at 37 pounds, with plenty of fish in the 20’s. The fluke bite has been picky so BJ and Glenn are going to start running some extended fluke trips in search of bigger and better fish. This Saturday there will be a special extended trip that will leave the dock at 6 pm and return at 2 am in search of monster bass. For more details on these special trips give BJ a call at 516-456-7939.
10. Captain Chris from the Island Current Fleet had another great week on the water. Monday, Christine Berscoor and her group from Stew Leonard’s had a great outing for porgies, with most anglers leaving the boat with 10 to 25 fish each. Tuesday, John Burke from the FDNY had a banner day fluking off Bayville with fish to 4 pounds. Tuesday night, Pat Amandolla booked a bass charter, where he and his group did very well with a 32-pound fish taking the pool. Thursday, Mike Ogle had a phenomenal day fluke fishing off Prospect Point. Thursday night, it was all the bass and blues the boat could handle outside of Hempstead Harbor. Louis Rivera and Frankie Cabrerra booked Captain Chris and had a ball pounding away at the porgies in the morning and drifting up some very nice fluke off Prospect Point in the afternoon.
11. Captain Chris has tickets available for the 4th of July fireworks trip, so if you want a comfortable ride and a front row seat for a world class fireworks display give Chris a call at 917-417-7557! Technorati Tags: connecticut fishing reports "long island sound" stripers bass porgy fluke flounder freshwater "connecticut river"