Memorial Day Weekend traditionally kicks off the summer season, but anglers should be careful not to jump the gun. With the cool weather we've seen some fish species are still holding in their spring hot spots.
This can be a good thing, prolonging the sweet, early season, shallow water bite while keeping heavy boating traffic to a minimum.
"The cool temperatures have kept winter flounder chewing," said Gary Grunseich of Silly Lily Fishing Station in East Moriches, N.Y. "The season runs through Tuesday and you can still catch your limit of two on incoming tide between Moriches Bay buoys 21 and 23. Set up in 8 to 10 feet of water on the south side of the main channel," he advised.
Also loving the cool spring have been weakfish, which are showing up with surprising regularity in Moriches Bay between buoys 30 and 31. Scattered weakfish catches have also come from Peconic Bay off The Greenlawns and The Brickyard, and between Riverhead and Goldsmith Inlet on Long Island Sound.
Porgies are still hitting with spring abandon as well. "We have super scup action right now at Cherry Harbor," said Capt. Mike Boccio of the Prime Time Fleet in Orient Point. "A lot of fish are in the 2- to 3-pound class and we've decked a few 4-pounders as well."
Actually, everything seems to be biting well on the East End. Boccio's recent fares also connected with fluke to 9 pounds and stripers to 35 pounds. The latter have moved into The Race, Plum Gut and the Montauk surf.
In the western South Shore bays, fluke are hitting best in shallow water on warm, outgoing tides. Target The Narrows around Smith Point on Moriches Bay, Ocean Beach in Great South Bay and Baldwin Bay in South Oyster Bay. For North Shore fluke, hit Northport Bay, Port Jefferson Harbor or the waters right outside of Mattituck Inlet.
Port Jefferson has also been a hot spot for school bass. Last Saturday, Alex George of East Setauket jigged Got Stryper soft plastics and Panther Martin BigFin paddletails to hammer bass to 27 inches just inside the harbor entrance. "The action was awesome," George said.
