Gone Fishin’: It's a Fluke of a Season so Far

All of the bays and inlets have been producing scores of fish, especially fluke this past week.

Fire Island Inlet has shown itself as a great angling location, and the ocean beyond it has yielded some really large keepers. Equally exciting has been the porgy and sea-bass action which really exploded over Father’s Day weekend.

Pete Ruziecki, Suffolk Bait and Tackle in Babylon, reported a great evening of fishing from Matt Bacchi and his nephew Matt Amato who fished the night bite using bunker chunks to land a nice 24-pound bass along with three bluefish.

Ruziecki also noted Frank and Kathy Anibell’s fishing expedition in 40 feet of water just south of the Tobay pavilion, which saw each of them hook up with a striped bass to 30 pounds last weekend. Their catches were made using live bunker.

East End Bait and Tackle regular Chris Messina and his wife Sonja were successful fishing the inlet area using live spots as they landed with bluefish to 12 pounds, as well as a 22-pound bass, marking Chris’s first keeper.

Two fishermen – John Marley and Mike Jordan – angling just outside of Captree last week, caught two keeper fluke, as well as some nice cocktail bluefish, while Paul Pesali worked the Gilgo waters with live bunker to catch several stripers to 37 pounds.

Ruziecki also pointed out two more regular shop customers – Marty and Tony from West Babylon – were fishing last Thursday evening with live eels when Tony hit a 26-pound striper at the Coast Guard rip. Marty was reeling in numerous bluefish, too.

East End B and T’s fluke report was very encouraging as Ruziecki said the fluke scene in the bay is producing some nicely sized keepers at the moment, and both local squid and local spearing are doing the trick.

Some keeper fluke have also been reported using large Peruvian smelts in the 45 to 50 feet of water range, south of the head buoy.

Over the past weekend a boater off Fire Island inlet was disturbed by the lack of bunker pods in the water, and decided to move off shore into the Fire Island ocean reef.

It appears that this location was well-stacked with sea bass to almost five pounds, and non-stop action took place on the changing tide, with quality fish reportedly coming over the rail.

Another boater, also fishing on Father’s Day, left Fire Island inlet at dawn and noted several small schools of bunker, as well as a large pod of dolphins in the deeper ocean waters. This angler did well with bluefish and a few nice keeper fluke.

For those interested in sharking, the 50th Annual Bay Shore Mako Tournament will be held on June 25. The Captains’ meeting takes place on Friday at Nicky’s on the Bay at the Bay Shore Marina and additional information can be had by calling the tournament hotline at 631-650-7280.

Editor's Note: Patch would love to include your fishing tales in the next fishing report. E-mail Richard Smidt here.