Fishing Report: Striped Bass Moving Into Shinnecock Inlet

The striped bass bite appears to be heating up out east, especially in the Shinnecock Inlet, where Don Reardon reeled in a nice, fourteen pound keeper on Monday afternoon while fishing at the Ponquogue Bridge.

“It gave me quite a fight and for a minute there. I thought I was dealing with a bluefish,” he said.

Capt. Scott Jeffrey, owner of , 170 East Montauk Highway, said both the bass and fluke were appearing at Ponquogue, a popular spot for anglers last weekend.

“Now would be the time to start experimenting with the clam bellies,” he said. “Blues are on the bait, just look for the birds. Fluke are in the bay and the ocean straight out in front of the inlet. Weed through the shorts and you will be rewarded with fish to eight pounds.”

Jeffrey said fishing on the Peconic Bay is also looking good: “The fluke bite continues to be good just east of Claudio’s.”

Jeffrey said that East End B&T has had some solid weigh-ins, including a seven-and-a-half pound fluke caught by Greg Fisher, who used a squid and spearing combo while drifting in Greenport and he also weighed in several weakfish up to four-pounds that were reeled in at the Peconics on rubber baits.

“Bass are beginning to chew a bit with fish failing to both bait and topwaters,” said Jeffrey. “The Ponquogue Bridge had a couple of keeper size bass on eels and the Shinnecock Canal has had its share of fish as well with bass, blues and fluke. We weighed in Eric Hottinger’s first keeper striped bass today, coming from the canal at 10.5 pounds. Most of the fluke have been smaller, but a few keepers have been reported.”

Jeffrey said he also heard reports of bass being caught at the south beaches.

“It shouldn’t be long now,” he said.

On a bit of a sour note, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation  has announced that it has temporarily in areas of Shinnecock Bay after detecting a marine biotoxin.

According to the DEC’s report, “The closure impacts approximately 3,900 acres covering all the underwater lands in Shinnecock Bay that lie west of the southbound lanes of the Ponquogue Bridge and west of the western side of the Post Lane Bridge in Quogue. Clams, mussels and oysters have been harvested commercially and recreationally in these areas.”

The DEC said it closed shell fishing in the effected areas after it determined shellfish samples collected from western Shinnecock Bay tested positive for the biotoxin saxitoxin although its press release indicated it will re-open the area as soon as possible based on the results of laboratory analyses of shellfish and water samples which are being collected over the next few weeks. Saxitoxin effects shellfish, not fish.

For more information on the status of the temporary shellfish closing in Shinnecock Bay, call, 631-444-0480.