Fishing Report: Try a Bucktail and a Pork Rind

Eric Huner from Setauket went out on Thursday and had a solidly productive day. If you remember, Huner won the Greatest Bluefish Tournament on Earth last year.

“I took my son and a friend and we caught around 18 fish in four hours,” he reported back to Patch. “Ten bass (seven keepers) and eight big blues.”

The biggest fish of the day was a 27-pound, 41-inch striped bass.

“Beautiful fish,” he said. 

Huner let all the fish go.

On Tuesday night, Patch editor Lon Cohen went fishing on the Sound out of Mt. Sinai Harbor along with Steve Cohen and Sean Reilly. First stop was to see if there were any porgies hiding between Port Jefferson and Mount Sinai Harbor. Three short fluke came up on the porgie rigs but nothing else.

Next, it was over to the middle grounds looking for the blues and the stripers. Along with bunker chunks they tried a system suggested by a fisherman out in Montauk earlier in the summer who said he was hauling in the big stripers with it. It consisted of a bucktail rig with a pork rind on the hook.

The trick is to cast it out, let it sink down and then reel it in slow. No striper took the bait but they took in three pretty bluefish using the system, all of which were released.

Candy Caraftis from reported to Patch that the “fishing is good” with porgies at all the usual places.

“Old Field, Crane Neck, middle grounds and even in the harbor,” she said.

She also reported that the middle grounds are “alive with keeper bass and big bluefish.”

“Bunker chunks and worms are working for the bass,” she said. “Blues will bite on anything.” 

Fluking is still the same, with plenty of action but mostly all shorts (as we found out above.)

“Plenty of snapper around for the kids,” Caraftis said. “Off any dock, mooring or just out and about on your boat.”

She also wanted to remind everyone they need to register to fish with the DEC whether it be on line or if they want to call or go to any store that sells hunting or fresh water licenses. It’s free.

Call the DEC at (866) 933-2257 or go to the DEC website and register for the permit online.

“Don't forget the WICC bluefish contest is only two weeks away,” she said.

The WICC Greatest Bluefish Tournament on Earth will take place on August 26 and 27. You can register at Caraftis or online here. The fee is $42.

The prizes are big. First place takes home $25,000. Second is a $10,000 prize, third place is $3,000, and fourth and fifth are $1,000. The next 15 places (6th through 20th) get $200 each. The heaviest fish weighed in at each official weigh station also gets a port prize of $200.