What a spectacular season we’ve had so far. The mild winter didn’t just treat us to not having to shovel snow but a much stronger start to things in the past two months then we typically see. June presents a ton of opportunities to get into some real solid fishing.
Early last month in an emergency action, the ASMFC implemented amendment II which has tightened the slot limit for striped bass from 28-35 to 28-31 inches. The reason for this is that due to the 2022 harvest being double what it was in 2021, current regulations had a 15% chance of the regulators’ mandate to rebuild the stock by 2029 with a plan with a minimum 50% chance of succeeding. The 28-31 inch slot for all states from North Carolina to Maine will be implemented by July 2nd and increases the odds of a stock rebuilding to 50%. The science of all of it can be confusing and I’ve had it broken down to me by several people that have a solid grasp of it. Basically, the last successful spawn was in 2015 and has been on a decline since then. Prior to 2015, 2011 was the last year of a strong and vibrant class of fish. The 2015 fish are now 28-32 inches, give or take a few inches. The 2011 fish are closer to 40 inches. Then there’s a big gap in numbers that create an abundance that leads to great fishing. It’s a bit of a chin scratcher to see regular blitzes all around the island and epic catches on a regular basis and get on board that there’s trouble in coming seasons on its way. This change in slot is aimed to allow mature fish to be part of at least one spawning. The tradition of taking one home for the table is in the fabric of generations of fishermen. I hope we get back to those times where that wouldn’t fall into question. Until then though, I for one, would rather be safe than sorry and be releasing a fish that can do more good swimming and spawning then ending up on the grill.
It was a bit of a dud opening for fluke last month with a cold and windy weather pattern across the island. That’s all changed now with flatties up to doormat size flopping on the deck regularly. Captain Mark Ryckman of the Montauk Star reports double digit fluke becoming a steadier catch on the south side from the Point to Hither Hills. Gulp and fishbites are still outfishing spearing and squid strips, and holding up better working through the usual aggravating crowd of sea robins. Beefed up high low setups of a bucktail and teaser have accounted for the trophy catches they’ve run into so far. Bycatch of black seabass is a frustrating one with the season for those starting on the 23rd of the month. Regulations this year of 3 fish at 16.5 inches from June 23 until August 31 are going to make it tough for anyone to motivate to head out to just target one of the tastiest fish around. After August 31 the bag limit increases to 6.
Skinny water fluke in Shinnecock, Great South Bay, and the bays from Jones Inlet to Rockaway inlet are going strong with a high low setup of light bucktails and teasers bringing the action. West of Montauk the ocean bite continues to improve since last month.
The stellar striper bite has not let up. In the NY BIGHT, larger migrating bass have staged and enjoyed the endless amount of bunker and various presentations have been working. Find the pods, which aren’t hard to find, and find the fish. I’ve spoken in the past of the growing popularity of flutter spoons and the hype is real. They’ve been deadly while drifting the edges of pods, and on calm days oversized surface plugs get the blood pumping with 30-pound class fish crashing on the surface.
With an early June full moon on the 3rd, the moon that historically calls the big fish in from Shinnecock to Montauk, look for those cows to show up in the second half of the month. There are bunker pods with solid fish on them from Jones Inlet to Moriches.
Gator blues from the bridges east of Jones Inlet to East of Shinnecock inlet in the bay are still doing their thing on surface plugs and are out front as well.
Talk to you next month! Get out there and fish!