Sometimes summer fishing is referred to as the time of “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 as evident by our weekly reports. Some may require you to deal with a bit of heat, but if you utilize the performance gear available these days designed to handle these conditions from the likes of Huk, Columbia, Bimini Bay or another favorite brand of yours, 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 13 pounds in the bays! More specifically, the end of the island in 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 or party boat captain for a shot at that double-digit fish you’ve been looking for. One of our report contributors, the Ebb Tide, just had a 10.8-pound fluke last week which is featured on the cover of this issue, and if that isn’t good enough for you, George from Steiger Craft landed a 13-pounder in Fire Island Inlet!
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. The action is great in these areas, and the occasional summer doormat from 6 to 10 pounds can be mixed in also.
Besides the fluke, you still have a wide range of targets. Along the South Shore, the triggerfish has been active around the rock piles and just about any structure near 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, too. Not a bad idea if you get your fill of fluke while out on the East End. Also more frequent reports of sheepshead have been popping up along the South Shore. Shark Bait and Tackle in Mastic just weighed in a 9-pounder.
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 also shown themselves in the offshore reports, with additional word of swords, marlin, and wahoo. And if it does blow, you can stick close to the shore on the West End and potentially tangle with a cobia over 60 pounds.
The summer weakfish run should further develop along the South Shore in the coming weeks 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 consists of snapper, kingfish, and blowfish for anglers of all ages. 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.
You can try these things in the area in the coming weeks despite the heat and the phrase “summer doldrums.” So whether 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.
