This week marks the first day of going back to school for some, going back to work for others, but the day after Labor Day is usually the beginning of the cooling process that makes the fish in the Long Island Sound go crazy.
This summer, however, was very different — summer temperatures remained fairly cool and the hot spell that usually turns many areas of the Long Island Sound into fishless deserts did not come to the North Fork. Fishing remained consistent, although where the fish reside has changed.
In June we had a run of monster striped bass — huge keeper stripers in the 50-pound class being boated each day. Within the last week there have been few reports of stripers being taken on the Connecticut side, Orient, or Mattituck.
Bluefish, which now start to inhabit the many edges and shelves closer to shore, have only been caught in the middle of the Sound, where great numbers of smaller fish are chasing schools of small squid and anchovies.
The one fish that has been the champion of the summer is certainly the black sea bass. They have been plentiful, abundant in both shallow and deep water from 24 feet to 140 feet. There in the Sound in greater numbers than I, Capt James Wolf or Capt. Bob can remember in our combined 50 years of fishing the Sound.
But as the children are packing up their bags so are the fish — this is the beginning of the gearing up for many of the species of fish in the Long Island Sound to begin to leave, which will last into the fall months.The fishing in the next few weeks to come should be truly exceptional.
The Captain Bob Fishing Fleet is located at 5675 W. Mill Road in Mattituck. For information on the fishing fleet, charter boats and dinner and sunset cruises, call (631) 298-5522 or go to the fleet’s Facebook page.
