1 | Staten Island Fishing Reports

… C’est la vie say the old folks…It goes to show you never can tell…

Despite opinions to the contrary, the summer doldrums are far from here yet.

Sure the bluefish are getting smaller and the bass somewhat harder to find, but that is not to say that there aren’t good days to be had. This 10lb beauty was hauled in on bunker tossed into a no-structure early morning outgoing tide. And he’s not alone…

Reports of mid-range bass have been popping up from day to day all over the island and from across the bay too.

Bunker spoons trolled over the drops and edges of the channel have produced well for boaters while it remains a meathead game for the surf crew. Plugs—from Daiwa SPs to Tsunami Chug Bugs—have done little to coax anything out to the bay. At least that’s what’s being said…Staten Island surf sharpies have been known to play it close to the vest about what plugs are working and which ones are not.

It would seem that, with the gorilla blues gone (at least in large numbers), the resident bass who’ve been fattening up on plenty of forage are on the prowl in the transitions times of sunrise and sunset. Early morning, anyones guess. After dark, expect blues. Midday? Fluke fish.

Flatties are being dredged up sporadically. Conditions haven’t been great with drifts being too fast or too slow. When skippers can get into the Goldilocks zone, the fish are there but not dinner size yet.

Surf fluke are still aways off. There are no signs of rain-bait in close nor a new round of peanut bunker. Snappers might make an appearance in the next two weeks, if so—jump on it because if it is like last year—they won’t last long.

For now…Voilà la pêche