Long Island Surf Fishing

The marine forecast for northeast winds of 25 to 30 knots, combined with nighttime temperatures dipping down into the 40s held some semblance of promise for the weekend, but winds that often blew more north than northeast, high pressure and clear skies except for a brief period on Friday morning, fell way short of triggering any hoped for blitzes. Big surf from the passage of hurricanes Teddy and Paulette were and will continue to be an issue going through the first half of this week. The cool nights did get mullet moving, with large numbers of the baitfish swarming through most of the Island’s ocean inlets. Here and there, there were some shots of action with school bass, but nothing resembling traditional mullet run action. Instead, it looks like another mullet run with plenty of mullet but not enough resident fish, or cool enough water, to generate any memorable action. The North Shore did see an increase in bass and bluefish activity in a couple of areas. Montauk saw some sporadic mini blitzes of small bass over the course of the week, and both Moriches and Shinnecock inlets did produce a pick of bass at times over the last few days. Albies have been very hit or miss, with dirty water at least partly to blame for the lack of consistent action. Hopefully, some of the fish fueling the good action in RI and MA will find their way down here before too long.