When Hurricane Sandy tore through Long Island, the “Old Inlet” west of the Smith Point Bridge reopened. This opening/inlet was there for 10 years. During that period, Great South and Moriches bays were revitalized. And, even though it has since closed, Moriches Bay has remained a clear and fruitful bay. For the last several years, points east towards the inlet have been home to fantastic action. In fact, I have heard of more and more anglers sailing out of Sayville heading to Moriches rather than across the bay and towards Fire Island. One of the hottest areas that has produced quality action on stripers, blues, sea robins and especially fluke, is Harts Cove.
What makes Harts Cove nice, besides the great action is its proximity to the inlet and very sheltered waters. There is almost no time when weather (wind) will deter anglers from fishing. Don’t get me wrong, certain winds will make for tough conditions, but not unsafe. Harts Cove is a relatively shallow cove ranging in depth from 2 to 6 feet. The cove, if you are looking at a good chart like Capt. Segull’s SLI107 is located just east of Moriches Coast Guard Station and west of Seatuck Cove.
The channel in the cove is clearly marked with buoys, but be wary as the depths, especially at the low end of the tide will have your prop dredging the bottom just outside the channel markers. The two black sticks border an extremely shallow area, so be careful.
The season gets going early, sometime in early May, as the blues begin to invade the bay. As I was penning this in early May, blues had just arrived. The choppers took over the bay, and can be found throughout, but Harts Cove, specifically the very tip near the CG Station was exploding with choppers over 10 pounds. By the second week of May, fluke and sea robins had already set up on the edges of the channels inside Harts. Bass always seem to be around the area too, but they will reside in the back bay portion, closer to Seatuck and the east-west channel running towards the West Bay Bridge. Fluke are the mainstays at Harts Cove with an ample supply of 5 to 10-pound fish landed each year, and there are a lot of keeper size fish as well.
For fluke, the cove offers great early season action on the incoming tide, but as the season moves on, the outgoing tide will also produce quite well. With a lot of boats now employing trolling motors, you can control your drift. I have always found that if you can run north towards Havens Point, down the channel, you are in doormat land. These big fluke will lie on the edge of the channel and down the small slope on every tide.
I feel Harts Cove offers a great fluke fishery, but there is another option too. Blowfish made a remarkable turnaround the last several years and are fun to catch, and the kids love catching them. For these little bait stealers, just set up in any hole you can find that is deeper than the surrounding area. We are talking 4 feet with the surrounding area 2 to 3 feet that is all it takes. Anchor up, drop a chum log over and put a small piece of clam or worm and catch them all tide long. Don’t be surprised if you catch some small sea bass and porgies too, as well as kingfish.
Moving back to fluke, small bucktails in bright colors always seem to work best. Add in a Berkley Swimming Mullet in Nuclear Chicken or pink and the table is set. For the last two years, several anglers I spoke with only used Gulp, but also set up a hi-hook, several feet above to try to ward off the blowfish.
I used to use nothing but smaller conventional outfits when patrolling the waters, but I have since switched over to an Abu Garcia VRPS6-5, which is a fast-medium, making it perfect for bucktails. On the reel end, the Abu Revo RVO3X30 or 40 spooled with 15-pound braid and a fluorocarbon leader of at least 20 pounds. With this rig, I can work bucktails well, and with a properly set drag can land those big doormats or feisty bass and blues if the need arises. Just make sure you have a good landing net at the helm!
HOW TO GET THERE
Access to Harts Cove is easiest for Brookhaven Residents as the launch ramp on Maple Avenue leads into the cove. For non-Brookhaven Residents, you can launch at the county ramp at the base of the Smith Point Bridge.
From the Smith Point Bridge, follow the buoys through Narrows Bay and head for the Coast Guard Station. Once at the Coast Guard Station, follow the markers into the cove.
