AW Marina

Karen at AW Marina told me the best bite going locally is for striped bass. Whether you’re fishing from shore or a boat the bass fishing is keeping most of her customers busy. The shore crowd is catching linesides from the Fort Trumbull Pier and there are also bass coming from the structure adjacent to the mouth. The boaters she’d talked to were catching both bass and bluefish in the mouth. Other folks had been heading out to the Race and Valiant Rock where the striper fishing is lights out one day and tough the next. Still, there seem to be lots of fish in that area. Karen also said she’d heard a report from Watch Hill of stripers of various sizes gorging on sand eels. There are plenty of squid in the region and to the east as well and there have been a few reports of bunker around the river mouth. Many customers are patiently waiting for the arrival of porgies to local water but they will likely have to wait another week or two and for the water to warm up a bit. She suggested taking a trip on one of the headboats that have been consistently catching scup over at the Peconics. Fluke reports have been hit or miss to start. Most have come from the south side of Fisher’s Island where short fish have been the norm. The shop is open seven days a week for the season.

Karen at AW Marina told me that local fishing had been good for many customers especially for striped bass and bluefish. Lots of reports of both species had come in from the mouth and it seemed that while bass outnumbered the blues, both species were well represented. Both bait and lures were working well. Karen said they were all stocked up with a variety of frozen bait and they got some nice fresh mackerel in over the weekend. Chunked bait was catching both species while sandworms were producing more bass. Lures including swimmers, topwater plugs and soft plastics were all effective on both species. While the local shore crowd patiently waits for porgies, many of their worms are being snatched up by out of season tautog. Karen reminded her customers that blackfish can’t be kept again until July 1. Reports coming in from the Race are mixed. It seems there are no shortage of stripers there but results vary by day and even tide. Some tides have been lights out for flutter spoons, Diamond jigs and big paddletails while others have been frustrating. Either way, the number of fish there seems to be promising. There is a good amount of squid in the area and beyond and customers boarding head boats to go catch them have reported really good action. Fluke reports are off to a slow start. There are a few keepers around but seemingly they are vastly outnumbered by short fish. That should start to change and more flatfish move into the region. The shop is open seven days a week for the season.