It looks like the word on the water is “black, blue, scup and stripers too.”
While the striped bass, bluefish and porgies have been receptive to this warm October, blackfish (tog) have looked for cooler locations, causing fishing predictors to conclude that togging can only get better as the water cools.
Tautog often group together above a rocky area or even an artificial reef. While several species of bottom feeders visit our local waters, blackfish might be considered as a species quite resistant to being caught. My own experience has been that the rockier the pile, the better the chances for grabbing tog. However, rocky structures are no guarantee that these fish will be feeding there. The key is probably more related to the bait, as in green crabs, fiddlers or Asians.
Shinnecock
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Scott Jeffrey of in Hampton Bays had a great report, noting that the bass bite in the Shinnecock Inlet for those drifting live baits, has been red hot for the last couple of days, day or night, flood or ebb [tides].
“Moriches has had a decent bass bite as well from the boats outside on topwater bait, with yellow pencils working best,” he said. “Blackfish at the inlet jetties has been solid with green or fiddler crabs and those who ventured out to the local wrecks and reefs have done well also out of both Shinnecock and Moriches [Inlet]."
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Montauk
Out of Montauk, fishing in Montauk is still mighty. Aboard the Capt. Ron last Saturday, the full moon striped bass trip helped Steve and Mike catch a 44-pound fish, releasing most others.
On the Elizabeth II, Anthony DiNapoli and friends fished live eels to limit out on stripers. A Wounded Warriors excursion on the Regina E. Sportfishing included the Hassett group which limited out early before the tide dropped off.
On November Rain Charters last weekend was better than expected. Mike and Dino left the dock at the end of the flood tide in pre-dawn hours and limited out on live eels. The afternoon trip with Kevin W. and friends started at the beginning of the next flood and they limited out with stripers to 40 lbs.
On Sunday, Halfback Charters held an evening striper trip for Vince Simone and friends. Striped bass to 30 lbs. was accomplished by trolling the north bar. Mark and Samantha each had huge fish, most being released.
A private boater reported that the weekend held numerous early blitzes on both north and south sides of the Point. Generous amounts of false albacore were commonplace and the overhead birds alerted anglers to where their poles would best bend quickly.
From about Oct. 8 to Oct. 11, numerous anglers fishing the late evening tide with live eels have proven how incredible that night tide can be for landing huge stripers. A surf angler working the shoreline off the Point reeled in a 29-inch and a 32-incher. Blitz season is certainly living up to its well-earned reputation.
Orient
Out of Orient Point, off Plum Island and the Race, the boat traffic became a recent problem while fishing the ebb tide. Many gorilla blues in the 8-10 lb. range
were snagged on bucktails and diamond jigs. A fishing buddy of mine told me it was tough work to plow through the bluefish blitz he encountered on Monday. A private boater and friends worked the outgoing tide and limited out on blackfish with green crabs on a double-braided line in about 40-50 feet of water.
The full moon of the Oct. 11t was eventful, yielding a 20-inch bulldog tog that
was short of six-pounds. The time is now for what our island anglers anticipate each season. This one will not disappoint, just take your pick of boat or surf angling as each has been nothing less than a thumbs-up.
