Noreast.com Western Sound

Week of June 11 through June 17

• The fishing in the western sound is about as good as it gets! The new moon brought a massive body of stripers into the area. The bluefish are starting to blitz the bait and can now be taken by just about every method imaginable. The fluke bite was also unreal with a huge invasion of sand eels really making them aggressive! The porgies continue to hold their ground a little further east off Bayville, Oyster Bay and Oak Neck, but the ride is worth it, with some scup pushing the 4-pound mark.
• Captain Joe from Moontide Charters got in on the awesome striper fishing earlier in the week before the new moon. “We had 4 bass pushing 30 pounds on Wednesday night in some pretty nasty weather,” Joe said. Joe also hit pay dirt on Friday, when he and his clients had a 36-inch keeper followed up by a 33-incher. The bunker are spread all over the Sound making it a little tough to find a school with something working them, but I have a feeling that is going to change sooner than later.
• John Knight from Hudson Park B&T was very enthusiastic about the fishing after the banner week he had! John and his crew headed out on the Gatto Go and slammed some serious bass to 38 pounds! “We had a 34, 36 and 38, along with a bunch of smaller fish,” John said. The three evenings before the new moon produced all the fish! “We fished after the moon and the only thing willing to eat were the bluefish, but that should change in a few days,” John said.
  
• Trolling is also producing some very nice fish off Rye and Mamaroneck. The bunker are thick, but the bluefish aren’t thick enough to start pushing them around the Sound. The fluke bite really picked up nicely outside Hempstead Harbor, Hart’s Island and the local points. I landed a nice 24-inch fluke on a Tidal Tails bucktail while jigging for small blues and bass off Stamford Lighthouse.
  
• Captain Steve from the Molly Roze was enjoying the phenomenal porgy fishing going on in the western sound right now! “I haven’t seen porgies this big in a long time,” Steve said. Steve was referring to fish that could easily fill a frying pan. Bayville, Oak Neck and Oyster Bay have been producing a “ton” of quality fish on both worms and clams. Steve was also very encouraged about the fluke bite after this past week. “We saw plenty of last year’s keepers get tossed back,” Steve said. The good news is that there are plenty of fish out there so anglers can cull through for their limit of keepers.
• The bass bite started very late in the evening this week and only lasted for a few hours due to the moon. Steve and I are both confident that things should be back on track by Monday or Tuesday and the bass will be back on the feed! There are also plenty of bunker around, but unfortunately not much is happening underneath them.
  
• John at Jack’s B&T weighed in some monster bass this past week! Melvin Medina took the big fish of the week with a 38-pounder, which was accompanied by a 29-pound linesider. Anthony Thompson landed over 7 keepers, releasing all except the biggest, which weighed in at 25 pounds. Most of the big fish came at the top of the tide. Anglers also did extremely well fishing off Buoy 42 off Mamaroneck in anywhere from 50 to 30 feet of water. There are also plenty of bluefish cruising the Sound in search of their next meal.
  
• The porgies are all stacked up off the points, with even bigger fish holding further to the east. The big story of the week was the fluke bite, which has busted wide open. Rueben and Anthony loaded up with squid and spearing from Jack’s and returned a few hours later with their limit of fluke to 23 inches! “We have some nice fluke holding off the Blousers, Big Tom and the local points,” John said.
  
• Captain Chris from the Island Current Fleet enjoyed an awesome week of fishing in the western sound. “The night fishing really turned on going into the new moon,” Chris said. The big fish of the week was caught by Jesse Calone and tipped the scales at 32 pounds. The week also produced a ton of bluefish, which are starting to reach the low-teens and are really putting anglers to the test!
  
• The porgy bite remains hot off Center Island, Bayville and Smithtown. Chris was also happy to see the fluke bite explode off Bayville! “We had a ton of sand eels in the water and the fluke just went nuts,” Chris said. The boat limited out on fluke to 7 pounds in a very short period of time.
  
• Diane at Duffy’s B&T also weighed in some very nice fish this week. The trip of the week was an early Father’s Day outing with Buddy Cook and his son’s John and Ricky. The trio teamed up for a 46, 38.2 and 34.3-pound striper, with dad fittingly catching the biggest fish. Charlie Parker landed a nice 30.4-pound striper fishing fresh chunks off Manhasset. Vinny from Manning Imports fished with his buddy Kevin for his bachelor party and landed 16 bass to 27 pounds. The fluke fishing was also very good, with Joe Arena limiting out with fish to 4.3 pounds.
  
• Captain John Marino from American Sportfishing Charters reported a week of tough fishing for those anglers targeting bass during the day. “The bite wasn’t kicking in at all until the sun went down,” John said. Rich King and his buddy Donnie still managed to catch some nice bass to 25 pounds while fishing with Captain John. John Packes and friends, Christian , Mack, and Melissa sat through a tough five hours of no fish until the sun dropped, then the group enjoyed a frenzied 1 ½ hour bite to save the night.
  
• Lloyd, Frank and Frank Sr. drifted live bunker and on the second drift all hell broke loose, three fish up smacking and crashing and one 25-pound fish in the boat. A few more drifts resulted in a few more fish before the bite shut down after the sun came up.
• Jeff Syzmanski and his dad Norman fished with Jeff’s father in-law, Mr. Reese. The group fished along with the bunker schools and landed fish in the 30-inch range.
• After the sun got up the bass bite shut down and the group finished the day fluking with 80 year old Mr. Reese landing 2 keepers. (by Craig Koproski, Noreast.com).