As you can see from today’s Newsday cover story, the brown tide is still blooming on Great South Bay. While nobody enjoys fishing in discolored water, sometimes there isn't much choice. Experts note that the brown tide does not seem to harm fin-fish, so you might still catch a few if you try hard enough. Here are a couple of tips to help the cause.
● Fish near inlets. The brown tide is generally less intense where ocean water enters a bay or harbor.
● Fish on rising tides. Again, clean water from the ocean floods into the bay, diluting the tide at least a little bit.
● Use bright- or black-colored lures. Chartreuse, florescent orange, hot pink and pure black are more visible in murky water than white, silver, tan, olive, green or “natural” minnow colors.
● Use big lures to provide a larger, more easily seen, target.
● Choose lures that make a rattling sound when retrieved. If using soft plastics, insert a small, inexpensive, fishing rattle, available from bait and tackle shops or on-line catalogs, into the body of the lure. The clanking sounds emitted as you retrieve will help predator species zero in on the target.
● Fish with real bait. Fresh whole clams and bunker chunks work well for stripers and blues. Live killies or strips of squid attract fluke. School weaks and kingfish will strike sandworms, strips of squid or pieces of clam. A chum pot full of ground clam or bunker can work wonders with porgies, weakfish and even fluke when you fish at anchor.