Blue fish, blue fish, and more bluefish. On both shores the rebounded stock of bluefish in 2021 has been a welcome site. Remember take only what you need and keep their return going! Striped bass are mixed in with decent numbers being caught. A good number of slot fish as well as overs have been caught. Both surfcasting and fishing off boats. The Ocean, Shinnecock, Huntington, Great South Bay and Moriches have been loaded as well. Diamond jigging, bucktails, and chunking have all been producing. Fluke started to venture out into the ocean during the month of June. The fluke responded well to squid spearing combs and buck tailing. Weakfish remained strong through out June and should remain this way into July. Huntington Bay, Point of Woods, and the Kismet reef have been red hot. Lead heads with red jelly tails were most productive. Tuna at the 30-fathom line finally began to take up residence for the summer. The trick is to find the bait. Trolling, jigging and popping have all worked. I would expect jigging, chunking and live bait fishing will take over in July. The Canyons heated up with two breaks that spun off from the Gulf Stream. Big eyes, yellowfin, Marlin and mahi were all caught mostly on the troll. Sharks showed up on cue in early June. First the blue sharks followed by the makos and threshers. They could be found on wrecks, rock piles, fingers and harassing inshore schools of bunker.
The Morning of June 10th anglers were treated to a show by Mother Nature. There was a partial solar eclipse that was visible all over the Island. It was partially cloudy beautiful orange ball that was just stunning!
Off Shore: The Near shore Bluefin tuna bite slowed in early June. There was plenty of bait, whales and porpoises but not many tuna. This was a little disappointing as May ended on a strong note. The problem seems to be water temperature. With the water still chilly in May the fish that came through were migratory. For the most part they just kept on pushing through. If you were lucky enough to be out on the days they were there you caught, if not you may have found the bait and life, but no tuna. The good news is like last season we have seen mounds of bait (mostly sand eels). When our waters warm a little, migrating fish will take residence here on the massive schools of bait. This will increase the odds of finding and catching them week after week.
A nice warm water eddy broke off the Gulf Stream and entered W Atlantis in the beginning of the month. This water produced yellowfin to 70 pounds, Swordfish, white and blue marlin, Mahi. As anglers pushed N to the cooler side of the break they found Bluefin tuna. This water pushed towards the tails into late June. Keep an eye on it. It won’t take much for it to move into range of smaller boats. This could mean yellowfin, white marlin and Mahi at 30 fathoms in July!
Montauk: Viking fleet has reported that a large body of 5-10 pound fluke moved in. They have been having steady success drifting for these fish. Porgies are plentiful and the top water action for striped bass and bluefish is insane. They also made some trips to the canyons early in the month tiles and bottom fishing. Tuna and mahi later in June. Charter boats did well locally trolling for bass and drifting for fluke.
Huntington: Marc Cow Harbor mentioned that bass fishing has been fairly consistent but the bluefish were slow in early June. Things picked up latter in the month around the new moon. Has been a run and gun fishery. You need to work hard to find them, but they are there. Weakfish and porgies are still around in good numbers. Easy to find and fun to catch. Fluke fishing with sea robins mixed in was insane during June mostly around structure. Tony Monk Fishing charters out of Centerport mentioned all sorts of excellent fishing going on through out June. He expects this to continue into July. There is something for everyone regardless of age and ability 631-456-1816.
Captree: Suffolk Marine Anglers 16th Annual Bass tournament was held in June. Won by Matt Urgolino he had 2 slot fish with a total weight of 29.15 pounds. Scott Roberts took 1st place Bluefish at 13 pounds. Bay Park fishing station reported the shark fishing in June came right on cue. Blue sharks showed up first. As the bunker pods moved closer to shore thresher sharks became available. 200-300 pounds
Shinnecock: The Hampton Lady reported Ocean and bay fluking remained red hot for June. Large schools of bait are keeping these fish fat and happy. Bluefish with bass mixed in have been eating the bunker in the ocean
Port Jefferson: Celtic Quest: https://celticquestfishing.com/ called in to tell us that June was a banner month. Fluke and bass fishing were a little slow in the beginning of June. But as the month progress the fishing got better. Seabass finally opened with good numbers coming over the rails. The name of the game has been porgies. A blast to catch on clam bellies. These fish offer excellent table fare and have been caught in good numbers.
Fire Island: Picky and slow in the beginning of June. Things improved as the month progressed. Best Bet is in the bays with weak fish around Point of Woods. There were plenty of bluefish that responded well to top water plugs.
Moriches: The Rossie out of Center Yacht has been doing a great job finding nice catches of fluke. The boat ride is not far and the days are long, so they are able to squeeze in 3 trips daily when weather permits. King Cod continues his skinny water bucktail trips for jumbo fluke. Steve from Fish on mentioned fluke fishing is strong and is expected to stay that way into July. Moriches Bay Bluefin Tournament was postponed from June 12th to July 9th Give Rich a call for details 631-949-1549.