Fishing Report: Fluke Season Ending, Another Bluefish Contest

Ralph's Fishing Station and Marina in Mt. Sinai is hosting a bluefish tournament this Friday. Any boat can enter with an unlimited number of anglers on board for $100. There will be a shotgun start from their dock at 6 p.m.

Biggest blue hauled in and weighed on the dock by 10 p.m. takes the whole shebang. Winner takes all. Call Ralph's at (631) 463-6655 for more information.

Last weekend was windy and rough for most of Saturday and Sunday and according to Candy Caraftis from , there weren't too many private boats out.

"But we did have quite a few rentals out on Sunday and they caught their limit of porgies in the harbor," she said.

Worms seem to be working best at Old Field and Crane Neck. At the Middle Grounds, the porgie fishing is also good on calmer days with some sea bass mixing in.

"Middle Grounds is producing big blues and the bass bite should be starting to really get going," Caraftis said. "Diamond jigging and trolling lead core or wire line with umbrella rigs or surgical tubing."

Get your porgie fishing in now though, the season ends on Monday, Sept. 26 for recreational boaters. (Party boat fishermen can still catch untill Oct. 7.)

Fluke season is open until the end of the month on Sept. 30, and then and Blackfish (Taug) season opens on Oct. 1. You can check all the fishing regs on the New York State Department of Conservation website.

"Excellent blue fishing from the local beaches at night on bunker and mackerel chunks continues with many fish over 10 lbs.," reported Stan Hentschel from .

"Porgies and sea bass fishing remains strong at the Middle Grounds with some to 3lbs. on worms and clams," he also said.

He also said that small stripers to 30" were being caught mixed with bluefish being trolled on umbrellas and jigged at Bouys 11 and 9.