Sports

Fishing Report

The Fourth of July week looked awfully good for fishing, all the way from the Peconic Bays to Fishers. At Captain Marty’s Fishing Station in New Suffolk there were lots of scup, fish to 16 inches, around Robins Island. Blowfish and kingfish (northern whiting) were in the mix as well. Most bluefish are still in the Jessups Neck area with some cocktails in the North and South Race. Weakfish to 22 inches are consistently taken by porgy anglers using clams (for scup) or bucktails. Suggestion: Try Roses Grove or Buoy 22.

Nighttime bass fishing during the period around the Fourth of July impressed Bob Haase at Orient by the Sea Marina. Ramp traffic has picked up thanks to scup action, and specialists return daily with catches of bluefish anywhere from three pounds to slammer sizes. Steven at WeGo Fishing on the Main Road in Southold advises serious scup anglers to chum rather than pick fish on the drift. Rocky Point and Trumans Beach areas are excellent as well as Plum Island and slack water in the Gut. He described the night bite of striped bass as an “ebb, not flood” situation. Gardiners Island has the steadiest fluke fishing for specialists working Eastern Plains Point, not the Ruins, with a recent 9.65-pounder weighed at the shop.

On a busy Tuesday, Bill Czech at Jamesport Bait and Tackle Shop in Mattituck told us that scup were everywhere in the Mattituck-Southold area, with favorite spots from Mattituck Inlet back to the Pipeline. The best fish still approach 16 inches. In the Peconic Bays, Czech likes Buoy 22 for porgies, and advises anglers who pursue summer weakfish to try little tins or bucktails. Except for a few larger fluke near Bug Light, keeper summer flounder are hard to find in the Peconics, with smaller fish making up all but a few percent of the catch. Long Island Sound beaches are relatively quiet save for cocktail blues.

Stan Hentschel at the Rocky Point Fishing Stop figures that most keeper fluke in the western area have dispersed with shorts now dominant. Bluefish are sporadic, and boat fishing is best now for both blues and stripers with larger bass in 70-foot depths. A two-day shot of weakfish, four to six pounds, and the sight of scup anglers catching kingfish and blowfish made the week interesting. Triggerfish are already numerous off the South Shore.