NY Newsday 5/12/06

1. Western Long Island Sound: The stripers continue to hit hard as R&G in Port Washington reported action on everything from live bunker to pencil poppers with fish to 25 pounds in the bay. Jack's B&T in City Island weighed a 34.5-pound bass taken between the Throgs Neck and Whitestone. A few bluefish are moving in, mostly in the Sound, and some bottom anglers are still finding blackfish or flounder.

2. Huntington / Northport bays: Decent striper activity with fish to 23 pounds taken from Cold Spring Harbor and keepers off Eatons Neck and in the Triangle, according to Four Winds in Huntington Station. The big excitement was over sightings of mackerel schools yesterday morning; the bluefish should be right behind them. Fluking has been steady with keepers up to 21 inches, and Bill Joyce brought a 10.44-pound fluke into Four Winds that was caught off the Greenlawns of Shelter Island.

3. Smithtown Bay: A lot of fish to catch but not a whole lot to keep. Most of the striped bass are schoolies with a few up to 30 inches, and they are coming on clams and worms according to Swaine's B&T in St. James. The fluke have also been short as anglers reported many 17-inch throwbacks on squid and spearing or sand eel and squid combos.

4. Port Jefferson to Mattituck Inlet: Rocky Point Fishing Stop reported small striped bass taking cinder worms in the harbors while bigger fish have been working clams and worms off the beaches. The fluke opener saw plenty of action, but not a lot of keepers unless you went to the east. Bluefish are starting to pop up.

5. Orient Point to Fishers Island: A very steady fluke bite with about a 50-50 keeper ratio and the bigger fish in the 5-7 pound range. Capt. Mike of the Prime Time III said Tom McKeever had a 7.5 pounder on opening day. Look for the doormats to start coming up this weekend with the full moon. The moon should trigger some striped bass and bluefish action in the Gut and Race, too.

6. The Peconics and Gardiners Bay: A nice flow of keeper fluke marched into Wego Fishing in Southold this weekend. Jean Rogers was first to hit the scales on Saturday with 7.4 and 6.5 pounders. Mr. Swiskey had a 10.85-pounder taken off Greenport and Jeff Mayo caught a 9.1-pounder on the Isabella. Linda Riedner brought in fluke of 8.15 and 6.95 pounds on Saturday and had a 13.55-pound weakfish on Monday.

7. Montauk Point: A lot of fluke coming up just short of the 18-inch regulation, but they'll grow to keeper size by the middle of June. The action is top-notch and there are nice fish to 7 pounds along with steady blackfish. Johnny's Tackle Shop in the Village reported sparse striper action for the boats but surfcasters under the light and at Ditch Plains have found some good schoolie action.

8. Shinnecock Bay: Fluke season opened with a bang as Bill Nixon took a 9 lb., 4 oz. fish on opening day Saturday and there were other fish over 8 pounds on the Shinnecock Star. Capt. John reported the bite was just outside the inlet in 25-55 feet of water and while it was furious action at times with some shorts and fish from 3-5 pounds, the bigger fish generally came during slower paces.

9. Moriches Bay: Flounder action was hitting a peak last weekend before the weather kept most anglers on land this week. Silly Lily's reported Kenny Dinkel and Phil Kelly found a nice pod of fish around buoy 15 with the biggest flounder at 2.48 pounds. The action has been between buoys 14 and 20 and should continue through the month.

10. Great South Bay / Fire Island Inlet: Capt. Ken of the Laura Lee reported terrific striper action at the bridges on Tuesday night. Ten anglers hooked about 100 fish and Jim Brown had 16 keeper-sized fish. Augie's in Babylon reported similar bass highlights as Conrad weighed a 25.3-pounder on Sunday with most of the action on live bunker.

11. Jones Inlet / Western Bays: Anglers who ran outside for live bunker then brought them back inside for fishing in the rips and off the jetties found nice striped bass from 15-25 pounds over the weekend, according to Woodcleft Fishing Station in Freeport. The Codfather has been limiting out on keeper bass at Debs using clams. Boats on the reef have been finding sea bass from 4-5 pounds.

12. East Rockaway Inlet: Bay Park Fishing Station reported Gene Tripodo decided to throw some bucktails during his lunch break on Wednesday, made four casts and pulled up a 4.42-pound fluke. There have been some fluke to 22 inches on squid and spearing. Striped bass action has been very good and Hans Coflesh had a 6.26-pound sea bass from Rockaway Reef.

13. New York Bight: Premier striped bass action in Raritan on bunker chunks and live baits with fish to 30 pounds and up gobbling the bait. Jamaica Bay is also seeing its share of 20-25 pounders, especially around the bunker schools. The Angler in Howard Beach reported lots of just-short fluke in the bay along with some fat keepers to 5 pounds.