As far as we know, The New York State DEC has not implemented any new regulations. The “PROPOSED” regulation is as follows:

Season = May 15th (05-15-08) to September 1st (09-01-08).

Size Limit = 20 1/2″

Bag Limit = 4 Fish

We know…. what a shame. Our Fisheries “Managers” are pathetic… we all know it, but legally we’re stuck with it.

However, we’re hearing of quite a few Fluke being caught accidentally by people who are Bass fishing, Flounder fishing, Weakfish fishing and bottom fishing around the bridges. This is a good sign! We had one customer tell us this morning that he was using a 007 diamond jig in the inlet yesterday, chasing the Blues, and caught (and released) a 24″ Fluke. That’s a REALLY nice fish! The commercial Rod and Reel season has been open for a few weeks now and we know that those guys have been pounding the fish in the bay since their season opened… so we know they are around!

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All we can say is that IT’S HAPPENING! For the boaters, there are fish throughout the bay now and they’re being caught clam chumming, plugging, live lining and even chunking. The most reliable way to catch them right now would probably be the clam chumming, especially on the West Bar and any of the bridges. However, there is a rediculous amount of Bluefish around and in many cases you’ll have to fight your way through the Blues to catch a Bass… but they ARE THERE!

Pete, from the shop did some plugging on Saturday morning and managed a bunch of school sized fish in the back bay. They didn’t have any keepers, but him and his partner Vinny (a.k.a. “MCV”, my cousin Vinny) said there was plenty of action between the Bass and the Blues. They were using mostly plastics like Bass Assasins, Bombers and Fin-S Fish. They also had some top-water action on the Smack-It poppers too!

Glenn, from the shop, also fished Saturday morning. Glenn fished with his crew aboard his boat, the “Kerri Lee”. They tackled the West Bar, clam chumming, and knocked the socks off em’! They had 16 Bass, 12 Blues with one Keeper Bass… he said they were mostly school sized fish but again… plenty of action.

From the surf, there have been a handfull of Bass here and there but similar to the boat reports… you have to fight your way through the Blues! Sounds like the Bass are being caught mostly on bait though, Clams and Fresh Bunker seem to be the baits of choice these days! There are Bluefish on just about every beach in our area, but we would have to say that West End 2 has been the most consistent. Charlie Graves Tins, Kastmaster’s, Hopkins Spoons habe been the deal as well as any kinds of poppers! A good popper to try would be the Super Strike Little Neck style popper or the Gibbs Pencil Poppers!

If you’re just looking for action…. NOW IS THE TIME! This should only get better as the weather get’s nicer by the day!

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Sounds like the Blackfish are still biting on the in-shore wrecks and reefs, although it seems to have slowed a little with the East wind and the Full moon over the weekend. Soft baits, like Clams are definately out-producing the crabs! Reports are coming from the Rockaway Reef, Atlantic Beach Reef, Hempstead Reef and some of the wrecks in 40 to 60 feet of water.

We have fresh clams in stock and we also have some green crabls left too.!

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Things are FINALLY LOOKING UP! Things are improving, except for the Flounder fishing in our area. Flounder action in these bays is still VERY slow… we’re telling people that if you spend the day targeting Flounder, and you get one… you had a GOOD DAY! We would still recommend looking in the creeks and canals on the North side of the bay, concentrating on the sticky mud bottoms and using LOTS of chum.

To the West, however, in Jamaica Bay and Raritan Bay, there has been some pretty consistent fishing. We don’t have many customers fishing those areas on their own, instead they’re hitting the party boats and catching their share!

Striped Bass haven’t made much of a showing in this bay yet, but we would expect to see this change ANY day now, especially with the nice weather we’re expecting this week. There are fish being caught in Jamaica Bay, Raritan Bay and in around Staten Island… typical of early spring. Sounds like mostly schoolie sized fish being caught on lures like the Tsunami Shads, small Bombers, Bucktails and assorted plastics. We have Fresh Bunker, Fresh / Frozen Clams and Live Eels in stock too!

Blackfish action seems to be improving nicely! We had a number of reports from the past weekend of fish being caught on the in-shore pieces in 40 to 60 feet of water. Spots like the Atlantic Beach Reef and the Hempstead Reef have been producing steady action using Clams. We have fresh clams in stock and a wide variety of Blackfish rigs as well.

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Fishing is still a bit slow in our area, but things seem to be picking up a little, to the West. The Flounder fishing is quite slow, no surprise, but there are a few fishing being caught… one here, one there. The few we’ve heard about are coming from the creeks and the canals on the Northern side of the bay. We had one report today from our customer “Steven”, who fished for 10 hours yesterday, in a bunch of different places, with tons of chum and had TWO fish… as far as we’re concerned, that’s a pretty good day unfortunately. There are fish being caught in Jamaica Bay and Raritan bay though, if you’re up to making the run. Haven’t heard anything at all from Captree or points east.

There are some Bass now in Jamaica Bay and Little Neck Bay but again, not much happening here just yet. We should start to hear of some Bass in our area any day now. People are chomping at the bit to catch the Bass, so we’ll post any new news we hear.

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This report came by e-mail from “Stephen”…. Thanks for the report Stephen!

“FISHED WANTAGH PARK IN THE MORNING, NO LUCK TRIED JONES BEACH FISHING PIERS FIELD #10 SAME RESULTS SANDWORMS AND CLAMS… LOTS OF CRABS “.

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