Consistently catching fish is all about recognizing how and why fish move from place to place. Patterns emerge. Write them down. Fishing the same area at the same time of year will often yield similar results. We are now starting to see a typical late summer pattern. Blues are moving in, baitfish of all types are around. Bottom fishing is red hot.
In Mattituck, captain Jon of the Capt. Bob fleet has been trying his best to hammer those late summer blues. Diamond jigs have been catching loads of choppers, with a healthy mix of striped bass. Jon says many of the bass are short, but the blues get bigger the deeper he fishes. Evening trips on the weekends have been seeing some beastly porgies, with a 21 inch, four plus pound scuposaurus being the largest so far.
The Peconic Star Fleet in Greenport has also been taking advantage of late summer/pre-fall patterns. Dennis Tinnin says fishing has been automatic for sea bass, porgies and fluke. The trigger fish have also begun to arrive, right on schedule, with one caught on each of the last few trips. Dennis said Wednesday’s trip was unusual because they had to work to put together the catch!
Moving out to Orient Point, captain Dan Buckley of the Orient Star IV, says he can count on the bluefish to bend a rod in local rips. Porgies and sea bass continue to make life easy for captain Dan while bottom fishing.
It sounds like Capt. Rob Thompson is having a rip, in the rips (I’ve been waiting to use that one), catching big blues on light fly and spin tackle as he awaits the arrival of false albacore. The bait is everywhere; bunker of all sizes, sardines, tinker mackerel and anchovies. Falsies should arrive soon with that kind of menu. Rob says there is fun to be had inshore for the little ones as well, with his clamming/seine net trips. The cocktail blues are inshore, too.
Capt. Ken of the Brooklyn Girl has seen a big resurgence in the striped bass fishing. Sunday’s trip was limited out. Bluefishing has been savage on the outgoing tide. On the bottom fishing side of things, fluke, sea bass and porgies continue to fill coolers and buckets.
Tight lines!
Brian Nigro is a lifelong avid fisherman and former charter boat captain. He’s fished from Alaska to Mexico and lots of places in between, but his favorite place to fish is right here on the East End.
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