Editor’s Log: Summer Targets - The Fisherman

Editor’s Log: Summer Targets

Sometimes summer fishing is referred to as the “summer doldrums” or a slow period of the year where fishing does not yield great results. While this may be true if you’re fishing a stagnant bay on a fiery hot day, the amount of excellent fishing opportunities that still exist are overwhelming. Some may require that you have to deal with a little bit of heat, but if you utilize the performance gear available these days designed to handle these conditions, you can do it with no problems.

One of the main targets in the summer lineup is no doubt fluke. The recent report section of The Fisherman Magazine has been filled with great reports of them. Specifically if you look into the West End, South Shore and East End reports you can find the details on the good catches of the flatties in both the bays and ocean. We even got word of fish over 10 pounds in the bays! More specifically, Montauk has been a real hot spot recently, with quality and quantity catches. This might be a time to book a trip with your favorite charter of party boat captain for a shot at that double-digit fish you’ve been looking for. Staff artist Savio Mizzi has reported some great fluke fishing recently to me from Montauk. He said “we had at least 25 to 30 keeper-sized fish and we were throwing back 4 and 5-pounders” for him and a client. If that isn’t enough to get you out on the East End trying for fluke, I’m not sure what is.

Other spots that have made their way into The Fisherman reports are the western fluke grounds of Debs/Jones Inlet, Reynolds Channel and the Cholera. You can also try Fire Island, Moriches and Shinnecock Inlet areas for a good shot at some keeper fluke also. The action is great in these areas and the occasional doormat from 6 to 10 pounds can be mixed in also.

Even besides the fluke, you still have a wide range of targets right now. The triggerfish along the South Shore has been active around the rock piles and just about any piece of structure in close proximity to an inlet. If you enjoy porgy fishing like me, most North Shore beaches and South Shore inlets are doing a good job at holding the scup at the moment. Places like Montauk have a good mix of scup and sea bass being caught on the bottom fishing grounds right now too. Not a bad idea if you get your fill of fluke while out on the East End.

Even the offshore bite has developed nicely in the last few weeks. The annual pattern of yellowfin showing up south of the island continues again with good catches on the troll, pop, jig and chunk. Some bigeye and bluefin have shown themselves in the offshore reports too.

I even got word of a developing weakfish bite in the western bays. The summer weakfish run should further develop itself in the coming weeks along the South Shore and will give anglers fishing off the docks and piers another bonus fish to add to the mix when snapper fishing.

And let’s not forget about the fun dock species which consist of snapper, kingfish and blowfish for anglers of all ages of course. I still find fun in casting a small tin for the baby blues or fishing a piece of clam or squid on the bottom for aggressive blowfish and kingfish.

These are all things you can try in the coming weeks in the area despite the heat and the phrase “summer doldrums.” So weather it’s taking a trip out east to go fluke fishing for a doormat or just staying local at the dock to focus on some snapper fishing, know you will have some sort of fishing to do for the rest of the summer season.

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