Don’t let the cool and windy weather of the past few days get you down. Instead, think of it as a reset button for the start of fishing season. If you weren’t able to get in on the early catches of stripers and blues that chased bunker schools deep into Raritan, Jamaica, Great South and Peconic bays over the past two weeks, you might get a shot as the waters heat up again. Catches should also rebound inside Manhasset and Hempstead bays, and in the tidal creeks of Shinnecock Bay. Be ready.
The damp weather also slowed freshwater efforts over the past week, but anglers will get a second chance on this front as well. Trout, crappie, yellow perch and white perch are all very active as water temperatures rise from 55 degrees up into the low 60-degree range. Those are water temperatures you’ll likely see over the next ten days. For the trout, small gold spoons, size 01 Mepps or Blue Fox Vibrex spinners, and 1/32-ounce KastMasters are productive offerings. For the crappie and perch, two-inch segments of night crawler or small white grubs work well.
Nasty weather or not, there is always some good fishing to be found if you look hard enough. Thursday saw the large herd of Peconic Bay blues off New Suffolk and Cutchogue slide deeper into the bay. Lucky anglers working the area caught six- to ten-pound choppers until arm weary. The Route105 Bridge was the hot spot on Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday morning. Anglers also scored with big blues off Flanders, Jamesport, and from the beach at Indian Island County Park. Poppers, tins and swimming plugs all accounted for fish, as did live bunker and bunker chunks.
Too bad blackfish season had to come to an end on April 30. The City Island open boat, Island Current, and the Captain James Joseph, Huntington, as well as the Montauk charter fleet, all left them biting. It was a good spring for blackfish in terms of size, with quite a few bulldogs in the 8- to 10-pound class reported. The Island Current (www.islandcurrent.com) is now targeting stripers and blues in the evening, flounders in the morning. The James Joseph (www.jamesjosephfishing.com) will be sailing full day trips for flounder.
Last year saw some monster weakfish caught in Raritan Bay and Jamaica Bay. Most of the weaks, some weighing between 15 and 19 pounds, fell to live bunker or bunker chunks intended for stripers and blues. The action has begun again this year with weakfish of 14 and 16 pounds already reported. It makes me wonder how well anglers might score if they specifically target the weaks with large red, purple or white jelly worms? With the size of the fish weighed-in last year, it is very possible a new world record is cruising beneath the west end bunker schools this spring.