Home Living Outdoors Fish this moon — it’s magic

Fish this moon — it’s magic

Scupasaurus aboard the Brooklyn Grill. Courtesy photo: Ken Holmes

Bye bye fluke, hello fall. Fluke fishing season in New York ended September 21. We still have blackfish season to look forward to, opening October 5, with a 16-inch, four-fish limit. Fall is also the best time for diamond 2015_brian_nigro_badgejigging for bass and blues.

Diamond jigging has always held a warm spot in my heart. I cut my teeth in the fishing business working on a party boat in Huntington that spent most of its season diamond jigging. It was there that I discovered the joy of the September full moon. So many fish would be caught that customers would catch their limit and we would be left with around 1,000 pounds of fillet, per trip, to be sold to Greek diners in the area, a tidy bonus at a dollar a pound for bluefish fillet, at that time.

The September full moon magic has continued since that time, in all different places. It is something to count on. I always try to get out and do some jigging around this time. It is simple, clean fishing (no bait mess anyway). I hope to get out on one of my favorite fall boats, the Lazy Bones in Montauk, for this moon. Trust me. Get out there this weekend. Fish this moon. It should really be a national holiday. (Obama, are you picking up what I’m putting down here?)

Sea bass on the Brooklyn Girl  Courtesy photo: Ken Holmes
Sea bass on the Brooklyn Girl Courtesy photo: Ken Holmes

Locally, all the captains are going to be gearing up for this moon, hoping to get out and fish hard. Here are some reports from this past week:

Ken Holmes on the Brooklyn Girl had a fantastic weekend bottom fishing in Block Island Sound. Porgies to 3.5 pounds and sea bass to 4.75 pounds. Ken said it simply, “It’s as good as it gets.”

Captain Rob Thompson says the bunker are making a mass exodus out of the Peconics. The false albacore have moved around to the sound, and Rob is excited to get out there this weekend.

Many captains had a hard time getting out this week, due to wind. It appears that there will be more of the same for this weekend, with small craft advisories in effect through Sunday for ocean waters and wind blowing straight east for that duration. Yuck, I hope that forecast is wrong!

Full Moon: September 27 at 10:50 p.m

High tides
Mattituck Inlet:
Saturday high tides: 10:25 a.m., 10:52 p.m.
Sunday high tides: 11:15 a.m., 11:43 p.m.

Greenport:
Saturday high tides: 9:15 a.m., 9:38 p.m.
Sunday high tides: 10:02 a.m., 10:27 p.m.

Tight lines everyone — and play hooky Monday 😉

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