Look to the Sound for an early shot at the biggest porgies of the season.
Depending on water temperatures, porgy schools of various sizes migrate into our estuaries between the end of April and early May. Among them are some schools of very large porgies that, except for a quick spring spawning visit, are more typically caught on deep water reefs or wrecks. However, for a precious week or two they are widely available for light tackle anglers on traditional shallow inshore grounds.
Timing Is Everything
Timing is critical and dependent on both the weather and the ability of anglers to get out on the grounds. For example, if the early spring is warm and the big spawning fish arrive at the end of April, they’ll likely be gone by the time the season opens on May 1st. Also, if the fish arrive in May and the weather is windy, stormy, and small craft warnings are flying, we could be forced to remain in port. I’d say, on average, that my son Drew and I get the right weather, and find the right school, perhaps once in three years.
Keep in mind that although most big fish arrive, spawn, and beat feet out into deeper places, there are a few pods of monsters that hang around in the estuaries all summer. For instance, I’ve written about how my friend Rich Lazar has sought out and found a few big porgy areas on specific shallow structures in summer every year, and often in less than 10 feet of water.
So, where are they? Since giant shallow-water porgies are scarce in summer, they are difficult to locate. They tend to move up onto sand and mud bottoms on the flood tide where either pilings or boulders are present. The spots are dry at low tide, but feature 6 to 8 feet of water at high tide. Once located, the fish will be catchable every day during the last couple of hours of the flood tide and an hour or so of the ebb.
Searching For Porgy Pods
Okay, that said, let’s get back to the point. Although their short visit is easy to miss, in my opinion it’s well worth the effort. As a bonus, the porgy grounds are almost devoid of anglers in early May because most fishermen are focused on fluke. Without competition from other anglers, we have the opportunity to bounce from spot to spot until we find the right school.
We give each spot about 20 minutes with aggressive chumming before moving. I understand how annoying it can be to spend significant time searching for fish. However, I suggest you hang with it. It’s especially frustrating in spring because recent cabin fever makes us hot to catch fish. The reality is, however, that if we want a load of big porgies, we have to pay a price. Let me go even further. If any of us wants to catch big fish of any species, we must pay the price in time, effort, and frustration.
Chumming is essential if you want to hold the schools close to the boat. Like everyone else, we use logs of minced clams for chum in a weighted pot. Unlike the summer when warm water melts and empties the pot quickly, colder water in spring means a log will last quite a while. We jiggle the pot from time to time to help maintain a continuous chum slick. We don’t chum in strong currents because the chum is carried away far behind the boat. However, we do chum in a gentle current which is where we usually find the big ones. It is possible to keep the pot close to the boat and control the release of chum in a mild current by adding a little extra lead to the pot and tying it to a forward cleat.
Clearly, many anglers might just ignore a chance for monsters in favor of fluking or anchoring and catching numbers of smaller porgies. However, if you’re the type of angler who can appreciate the challenge of hunting for big fish, and understand how special it is, then you’ll also get a unique pleasure from the hunt.
Reading The Machine
In spring, we look for hard bottom with a combination of pebbles and scattered rocks (not boulders) in Smithtown Bay. Rocks between the size of soft balls and bowling balls with gravel between them seems to be best. It’s easy to read bottom configurations with today’s modern sonar units and that helps find potential good spots. Of course, we’ve created several waypoints over the years. Happily, there are many areas in the bay that feature productive bottom, and that’s where we start. However, porgies don’t always come back to the same spots every year, hence the need for a yearly patient search. By the way, this type of bottom produces sea bass in late summer and fall, as well as blackfish in autumn.
Tides And Depth
We prefer water that’s between 20 and 30 feet, but as low as 15 feet. It is important to understand that tidal ranges are large in Long Island Sound during the full and new moon periods. The range can be as much as 10 feet on the moons, whereas between the moons, the range is around five or six feet. Therefore, if you fish the incoming tide during the full moon and measure a depth of 30 feet at low tide, it will be close to 40 feet at high tide. In our experience, that’s a little too deep. Similarly, a high tide depth on the moons of 25 feet is closer to 12 feet at low tide, and maybe too shallow.
We take tidal range and match it to either flooding or ebbing tides when we select a spot to anchor. So, when we fish during moon tides, we anchor in 15 to 20 feet at low tide, or 30 feet at high tide. If we follow this generalization, we spend most of our fishing time within the range we prefer.
Freshwater-Like Tackle
I can’t speak for all fisher-people, but my family and friends enjoy light tackle shallow inshore bottom fishing, because for us, fishing is first and foremost about fun. We use 6 to 6-1/2-foot freshwater-like rods – not the heavy ones that largemouth fishermen use to pull bass out of cover, rather those with medium power and extra-fast action. Likewise, our reels are very light too. Examples include the Okuma Stratus, Okuma Avenger, and several Daiwa models. The size number designation depends on the manufacturer and model, but equivalent reel sizes are 30 to 40, 300 to 400, or 3000 to 4000. We spool the reels with 15-pound-test Sufix Performance Braid or Daiwa J-Braid braided line. These lines have proven to be reliable, strong, and user friendly on the spool. That is, the line is supple and doesn’t tend to twist into loops, form knots, or flow off the spool too fast when the lure is dropped to the bottom.
Jigs First
We prefer to use small jigs whenever possible, but there are times when depth, current or wind make that impossible. When possible, we use Gotcha jigs in quarter and either-ounce sizes but we will use heads up to a half ounce if necessary. In order to use the lightest heads effectively in 30 feet of water, the day needs to be rather calm and the current very light or non-existent. The deeper the water the harder it is to feel bottom and nibbles using light jigs.
We prefer jigs over traditional porgy rigs because they are more compatible and effective with the finesse hooking system we use. Although the hooks are small, they are quite strong. We select a jig light enough to be able to detect the slightest nibbles yet heavy enough to fall quickly and allow us to remain in contact with the bottom.
Simple & Effective Rig
Preferring to fish with light jigs is our choice, but sometime no matter what we do, maintaining contact with the bottom and detecting subtle hits is impossible. That’s when we switch to single-hook bottom rigs and sinkers. We use single hook rigs because although it’s nice to a catch a double header, it isn’t worth all the time it takes to rebait two hooks or unravel knots generated by twisting porgies. Anglers can purchase bottom rigs at any bait and tackle store, but I have fun tying my own rigs during the winter. I use 30-pound-test mono for the leader, make a loop for the sinker and a dropper-loop knot about 6 inches above the sinker loop. I use either 1/0 Mustad baitholder hooks or Gamakatsu 1/0 Octopus hooks. I Snell these hooks on an 8-inch length of 30-pound test mono and then tie this onto the dropper lope. Finally, I pull against both the hook’s leader and dropper loop at the same time ensuring a strong connection.
Hooking And Fighting
Many anglers believe that bigger porgies strike hard and smaller fish nibble, but that isn’t always true. In the past when we’ve complained about nibbles from small fish, one of us would catch a 16-inch porgy just as we were about to lift the anchor. It’s much the same with big fish of any species except during rare hot bites. That is, the bigger the fish the more wary and cautious they are. There have been times while catching only big fish that the hits were barely detectable, and a quick strike will not hook the fish. Patience and a finesse technique is key to success.
| ANCHORING |
| Although many anglers enjoy drifting for porgies, we don’t believe this is the time of year to do it. Remember we are looking for a school of monsters, and this time of year they don’t roam around a lot because the females are full of eggs and focused on spawning. If we do anchor near a school of big fish, we’ll be able to hold and catch them for a few hours. When we drift, we move into a school and out of a school, then into another, and so on. You may catch a few big ones, but the chances are much greater that you’ll end up with fish of mixed sizes. |
The water is cold, the fish are lethargic, and they are in spawning phase. So, sometimes they nibble like sand porgies, because they may be distracted by neurological and hormonal drives to spawn. By the way, you’re in the right sport if the porgies squirt eggs all over the bottom of the boat as you unhook them.
I’ve written about this before, but here’s a quick summary: don’t strike every hit. Instead, lift slowly if fishing a jig. If the porgy holds on for a foot or so, then strike. If the fish drops off, lower the jig immediately and start over.
The fight is hard, long, and dogged on the tackle we use and we love it when they take drag and bend the rod into the water. It’s also a hoot when they charge to the bottom or shoot off to the side. I admit, I’m an action junkie, but this time of year I manage to stifle my desire for hot fishing in favor of enjoying a once-a-year opportunity to catch monster porgies.
