Scales and Tales

Monday, September 1, is the last day for fluke fishing under the current regulations. If you are planning on heading out in search of keepers, target the ocean waters from Montauk to Ambrose Channel along the South Shore. Many of the best scores have come around inshore wrecks, and the artificial reefs east of Shinnecock, and off Moriches, Fire Island, Jones and Debbs Inlets.

Action to the east, from Montauk to Moriches, has been best of late in 50- to 70-foot depths. Whole squid have accounted for an occassional doormat, but fish strips, squid and spearing combos, and small, live snappers have put plenty of 20- to 24-inch summer flatties in the fish box. In most areas, outgoing water has had an edge on incoming over the past few days.

I got out late last week on the Miss Montauk (www.missmontauk.com) and had a pretty good day. Although a lack of wind and, later, wind against tide conditions kept the action to a steady pick, I saw about 25 keepers come over the rail for roughly 30 anglers with a pool fish of 6 pounds. Captain Jaime Quaresimo kept the search active all day long - no skimping on the gas - and his crew was waiting with a net right alongside any angler with a decent fish at the end of the line.

By day's end, I had tossed back seven fluke ranging from 17 to 20 inches, and put a 4- and 5-pounder in the cooler. Not a bad day at all when you consider that's at least four meals for the Schlichter household. Several anglers also connected with nice sea bass. Spearing and squid was the hot ticket.

How do you measure a trip like this, when most anglers took home one fish, but many fat shorts had to go back over the rail? A rail mate put it well. With one keeper in his bucket at the end of the day, he turned to me and said with a smile: "I'll be back out on this boat for fluke season next year - that skipper and his crew worked their butts off."

I shook my head in agreement. I'll be on the Miss Montauk again next year, too. Hard-working crews are a big draw in my book.

Since snappers and blue crabs often share the same inshore waters, it's fun to try for both on the same trip. Once you've got the snappers figured out, catching a few blue crabs shouldn't be much trouble.

● Start by bringing a long-handled crab net. Although blue claws are known for swimming near the surface after dark, they also come to the top on occasion during the day. Having a net handy will allow you to scoop up any crab that happens to swim past.
● Blue crabs can often be found hanging onto bulkheads. Simply peak over the edge and look carefully, especially in areas where a ladder enters the water, the bulkhead comes to a corner, or a loose plank juts out into the water. Here the crabs will perch in the shade, picking away at small organisms which lie hidden in the moss or weeds that grow on the submerged wood or concrete. (Be careful not to trip over dock lines, boat cleats, etc., while looking over the edge).
● Bringing along a crab trap is probably the most effective way of taking crabs while snapper fishing. Simply toss out a trap or two and give a check every five or ten minutes. Some days it's possible to take a dozen or more crabs in this manner while collecting enough snappers for dinner. Bait the trap with chicken wings, a whole bunker or a fish rack secured to the trap floor with a length of wire.
● For more sport, leave the traps at home and use a simple drop-line with a chicken leg for bait. You’ll need a net to scoop any crab that takes this offering – and you'll miss as many as you catch – but it is a lot of fun.

Snapper season is in full swing and these feisty little bluefish are a pleasure catch, especially if you target them with light tackle. Here are a few tips to keep in mind when heading out for these tiny but tasty critters:

● Choose a lightweight spinning pole with four- to six-pound test line.
● Use a “snapper popper” tipped with a single spearing or sand eel as a lure/bait combination. Hook the baitfish once, through the eyes.
● Work the popper by chugging it along the surface so the baited tube and hook rides just below the surface. Keep reeling as you get bites, forcing the fish to commit to a solid strike.
● Rigging for bait fishing is best kept uncomplicated. Opt for a simple, silver-colored snapper hook tied directly to the end of the main line with a clinch knot. Suspend the hook two to four feet below a small float. The standard snapper hook comes with a long shank, making it easy to remove from the toothy jaws of this tiny predator. Bait up with a two-inch long piece of spearing or sand eel.
● Live killies, suspended two to four feet below a float, are a great bait for large snappers.
● Small, silver, Johnson Sprites and KastMasters will produce fewer but bigger snappers, especially during September.
● Snappers are especially fond of feeding at creek mouths at the start of outgoing tide. They often prefer incoming water around shallow beaches and marsh edges.
● As with most species of fish, dawn and dusk are often very productive feeding periods.

For the first time in several years, there appears to be a solid set of juvenile weakfish mixed in with the snapper crop. Be careful when snapper fishing that you don’t accidentally take the small weaks, which must be released if they measure less than 16 inches total length, 10” filleted, or 12” dressed. The possession limit for weakfish is 6 and the season is open all year.

A quick inspection makes it easy to tell the weaks from the snappers:
● Snappers have forked tails, weakfish have broad, broom-shaped tails
● Snappers have a full set of even teeth, weakfish have a pair of small fangs at the front of the mouth
● Snappers are blue and silver, weakfish have yellow pectoral fins with some speckles and slight hues of purple on the body

With snapper and blue crab season now in full swing at local docks, beaches and bulkheads, this is probably a good time for a reminder about size and possession limits. They are more detailed than some anglers realize.

You can find New York State Fishing Regulations for all species of salt water fish at: http://www.dec.ny.gov/outdoor/7894.html.

Crabs:
● Season open all year
● The maximum possession limit for any species of crab caught in NYS waters is 50 per day
● Hard shell blue crabs must measure at least 4.5”, from point to point, across the shell
● Soft shell blue crabs must measure at least 3.5”, from point to point, across the shell
● Peeler or “shedder” blue crabs (those about to bust free of their hard shells) must measure at least 3”, from point to point, across the shell
● Blue crabs smaller than the minimum sizes may not be kept – not even for making sauce

Snappers:
● Snappers are juvenile bluefish and fall under the bluefish regulations
● Season is open all year
● No minimum size for the first 10 fish. The next five fish must measure at least 12 inches in total length
● Daily possession limit is 15

In Friday's Outdoors column, I noted the fine action with porgies and blues aboard the City Island open boat, Island Current. While Captain Chris Cullen had fun putting his fares on the action last Tuesday, he also enjoyed watching his three-and-a-half year-old daughter, Marie Helena Cullen, jig her first bluefish before she put a dent in the porgy stocks. Grown-up anglers, noted Capt. Cullen, also took home plenty of fillets.

Shinnecock fluke fishing is still pretty-good in the areas just east and west of Ponquogue Bridge, according to Scott at East End Bait and Tackle in Hampton Bays. Sand eel and Peruvian spearing have been the hot baits of late, with bucktails accounting for most of the keepers. School stripers, and an occassional keeper, are also at the bridge, although these have shown a preference for clam bait.

Outside, in the ocean, short fluke litter the sea floor but keepers remain scarce. If you want something to take home for dinner, try for Peconic Bay porgies in the South Race, off Robins Island. Some bluefish are there, too. Snappers are starting up inside Shinnecock Canal but they are still running too small to keep. Give it another week or two on that front.

Offshore, seveal makos in the 100 to 120-lb range were caught and released during the past week. Most have come from within only 10 or 12 miles of teh beach. Tuna action has been only fair.

Striper fishing has been tough on the western South Shore of late, but some fresh school bass have now taken up around the Wantagh and Meadowbrook bridges. The stripers, most in the 18 to 24-inch class, are smashing soft plastic shads and Hopkins Shorty tins. There are also a few bass now to be clam-chummed in the deeper pockets along the edge of the Black Banks. If you have a little free time after dark this week, you might be able to pop a few of these fish by working surface lures.

A nice shot of North Shore fluke seems to have turned on in the waters east of Port Jefferson. Action has been solid at buoy 11, and on Mount Misery Shoal. Plenty of fish, enough keepers to squeeze out a dinner or two. Bucktails have been good, but spearing and squid combos have been even better. It's possible this is the same shot of fluke that was off Riverhead just a few days ago. Certainly worth investigating once the rain comes to an end.

To the west, the bite is also pretty good right now inside Smithtown Bay. Look in 12 to 14 feet of water, or move deeper and probe slopes in 25 to 35 feet of water. Plenty of small blues here, too, so bring along some poppers or small tins.

With the water a bit roiled and off-color in some ports today, a little added color on your teasers and bucktails should help excite the fluke. I usually prefer white for my teasers and bucktails, but late summer often sees hot pink hit a productive streak, especially if there is a strong hatch of calico crabs in the area. Hot pink is also highly visible in waters where brown tide is well established. As for chartreuse, it's always worth a try when the water is murky. To increase your chances of the fluke spotting your offering, make the teaser chartreuse and your bucktail pink. This combo works especially well in the shallow south shore bays, and in less than 20 feet of water on Long Island Sound. Give it a try if the waters are still cloudy tomorrow or later this week.

Check back later for more reports.

I had some time last week to poke around on the south shore between Patchogue and East Moriches and found some great crabbing taking place. If you are in the mood for a crab dinner, now is the time to head out. West Sayville Dock, Browns Creek, Bayport Dock, Bluepoint Dock, Carmans River and the Smiths Point Marina all had plenty of crabs available. The biggest ones were the furthest east. Chicken seemed to be the top bait for those working traps and drop lines. Some of the crabs I saw measured more than six inches across the shell.

It was pleasing to see that so many crabbers were tossing back the females.

Check back later today for more reports.

Fluking continued it's torrid pace along the south shore on Friday and Saturday. Inside Fire Island Inlet, plenty of action kept rods bent on the morning tide. Outside, there are fewer shorts, but the action is still fast-paced and the percentage of keepers is better. Capt. Paul Risi, of the Trade Winds II out of Captree (www.tradewindsfishing.com,) said he has been picking between 150 and 300 shorts on each full day ocean trip, along with 28 to 35 keepers. Most of the action has been south of Fire Island Inlet.

Out in the Moriches, there are still plenty of short fluke in the main east/west channel, especially around buoys 14 and 15. For a better shot at keepers, head one-half mile southeast of the inlet and drift in 35 to 50 feet of water.

With small snappers now roaming both Great South and Moriches Bay, this should be a good time to try using the baby blues for doormat fluke bait. Remember, however, there is a 15 fish limit on blues of all sizes.

Michael Potts, skipper of the Montauk charter boat, Blue Fin IV (www.bluefiniv.com,) has been trolling limits of striped bass on a daily basis, with most fish falling to parachute lures. According to Potts, "there are stripers in most of the rips at Great Eastern, on The Flats and at The Elbow.

Offshore, Potts has been having good luck wtih sharks, a bit south of Block Island. "We've had makos, plus some blue sharks, on each of our past four trips," revealed Potts. "The biggest mako weighed in at 208 pounds. The blue sharks have ranged between 100 and 180 pounds."

I received a phone call from Captain Neil Delanoy this afternoon. The skipper of the Captree open boat, Laura Lee (www.captree.com,) was excited about what he called "the best fluke fishing he has ever seen!" This from a captain with a lot of years on the water.

"We had 812 fluke on the morning trip today, fishing right under the Robert Moses Bridge," said Delanoy. "We kept 15, up to 4.44 lbs. and many people caught and released between 20 and 30 fish. Eight-year old Natasha Daeger caught 32 by herself!'

According to Delanoy, the best action has been on the last of the flood and the first of the ebb. That means the fishing should be best in the morning for this weekend, and in the afternoon next week. If you have been waiting for the perfect time to take the family fishing, this may be it.

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.

If you've taken a look at our Newsday cover story about the brown tide on Great South Bay, you might also want check out my recent video clip: Fishing Through The Brown Tide. From www.newsday.com, go to Explore LI and then click on "Outdoors." You'll see the clip toward the bottom of the screen. Hope it helps.

Just got a call from my buddy, Paul Demchuk. Despite the wind this morning, he and fishing partner, Gary Zuhoski, decided to make the run to Hortons Point in search of stripers. The trip paid off big-time as Paul decked his biggest bass ever, a 35-pound cow. Gary also had a keeper. Several more nice bass, plus some hefty blues to 10 pounds, rounded out the morning.

Fishing on another boat, but within shouting distance of his Dad all morning, Demchuk's 15-year old son, Jordan, drilled a 21-pounder with his pal, Rob Pisano.

"All the fish were caught on live eels during outgoing tide," noted the elder Demchuk. "It was a bit rough on the Sound today," he added, "but we stayed out there and gladly took the pounding."

Plenty of action taking place in the Nor'east Fluke Smack Down. Some nice Long Island entries, but a lot of competition from across the Sound and down along the NJ shore. Leaders as of 2:15 p.m. on Sunday are as follows:

Place; Name; Weigh Station; Weight in lbs.:
1. John Schopey, Jack's Shoreline Bait & Tackle, 11.28
2. Walter Morgis, Westlake Fishing Marina, 9.85
3. Joe Fischler, Crabby's B&T, 9.5
4. Jack Castella, Westlake Fishing Marina, 9.35
5. Karen Sorrentino, Captain Morgan's Bait & Tackle, 9.21
6. Patrick Mcendrick, Barnegat Light Bait & Tackle, 8.69
7. Diane Moore, Causeway Bait & Tackle, 8.58
8. John Morelli, Snug Harbor Marina, 8.0
9. Scott Andalome, Captain's Tackle, 7.8
10. Marc Deptula, King Cove Marina, 7.56

A few nice stripers were caught at Horton's Point this morning. Check back later for details.

Slipping through the cracks last week was news of a 15.6-pound fluke caught in the ocean west of Moriches Inlet on Sunday, July 5th. John Yander of Middle Island was the angler. Some might call him lucky, but John's previous best summer flattie weighed a bit over 10 pounds so I figue a bit of skill has to be in play here. The huge doormat took a live killie and squid strip combination in 50 feet of water.

"For a big fish, there were no complications once I lifted it off the bottom," said Yander. "It fought okay, but I've had eight- and 10-pound fish fight harder. John Willis gets the assist for a perfect job with the net."

Yander was back out yesterday, this time working outside Moriches Inlet "toward Westhampton." He reported fast action but tallied only one keeper among 40 shorts.

Day one of the Nor'east Fluke Smack Down complete. Current standings, from www.noreast.com, are as follows:

Place; Name; Weigh Station; Weight in lbs.

1 John Schopey, Jack's Shoreline Bait & Tackle: 11.28
2 Joe Fischler, Crabby's B&T: 9.5
3 Jack Castella, Westlake Fishing Marina: 9.35
4 Patrick Mcendrick, Barnegat Light Bait & Tackle: 8.69
5 diane moore Causeway, Bait & Tackle: 8.58
6 John Morelli, Snug Harbor Marina: 8
7 Eric Hannon, Westlake Fishing Marina: 6.9
8 Bob Reese, East End Bait & Tackle: 6.48
9 Allan Beaudion, Jack's Shoreline Bait & Tackle: 5.8
10 Brian Knight, Causeway Bait & Tackle: 5.62

Had a chance today to catch up with John Montione at J & J Bait and Tackle in Patchogue. He said that blue claw crabs were starting to show pretty well at the docks between West Sayville and Bellport. You'll need to pick through a few to gather a meal, but enough keepers are in the mix. Even better, dock fishermen using two- to three-inch segments of sandworm have been catching tasty kingfish. Most of the kings are just big enough to provide a decent fillet.

I can confirm the at the kings are biting, having seen a few taken on Thursday at Cranbury Dock in Mastic. Snappers are also flooding the eastern portions of Great South Bay, but the tiny bluefish measure only four or five inches long at this point.

Top fluke in Nor'east Smack Down Fluke Mania contest later tonight. Check back.

Poking around the North Fork today, from Mattituck Inlet east to Town Beach in Southold, I noticed plenty of small baitfish holding just outside the surf line. The bait was thick this morning, and is still fairly consistent as of 3:45 p.m. Cocktail blues to about four pounds are making occassional charges into the schools of tiny spearing. Anglers tossing 007's are connecting with the choppers with pleasant frequency. I had a few myself this afternoon, although I was tossing a Yo-Zuri popper with a mackerel finish. The bait and bluefish combination is set up well for solid action this evening. Give it a try if you have the time.

Check back later for a Nor'east Smack Down Fluke Contest report.

A few notes on West End action as the weekend gets under way:

Fluke fishing has been decent in Ambrose Channel with the better scores being made on the on the first quarter of the ebb. Not too much action, but a fair number of keepers with some pushing six pounds. Jamaica Bay has also produced a few keepers, mostly in 25 to 40 feet of water, and in the shadows of the bridges. Local spearing have bee out-producing Pruvian baitfish in most areas. A green teaser, tied a foot above a white-bucktailed fluke bullet, has been the hot ticket on big fluke in most areas.

On the striper front, the Tin Can Grounds are producing a pick of fish, although skippers with solid GPS numbers can put together a good catch. More important than tide has been getting out at dawn or dusk. The morning bite has been over by 8:00 a.m. while the evening bite starts around 7:00 p.m. Bunker chunks have been the top bait, although some sharpies are now clam chumming at the bridges.

Bluefish are still inside Jamacia Bay, taking bunker chunks on the bottom at the North Channel and Atlantic Beach bridges. Cocktails show ealry and late, most days, at Jones and Debs inlets, but also sometimes put in an appearance at at the top of the ebb. Cast a Hopkins Shorty or a blue/white Atom popper for the cocktails. Breezy Point has offered a occassional bluefish blitz at the start of ebb tide.

The topwater feeding binge continues on the freshwater front. Sweetwater fans tossing Hula Poppers, Jitterbugs and deer hair frogs have all reported success when fishing in the early morning, late evening or after dark. The bass in Patchogue Lake, Forge Pond in Riverhead, Swan Lake in Calverton and Kahlers Pond in East Moriches have been particularly receptive.

Austin Rutcofsky, fishing at the Wantagh Twin Ponds on Monday, took advantage of some lily pad edges to prompt some big surface strikes around 7:15 p.m. Austin was working a Spro topwater frog and said he had “a really good feeling about the area” when the lilies parted and a 19-inch, 4-pound bigmouth exploded on his lure. Twenty minutes later, a 22-inch, 5.2-pound lunker took the same lure in the same spot. The second fish was the teenaged angler’s biggest bass to date.

More to come later today, check back.

Some big stripers have fallen on the east end over the past few days. Several fish in the 40-pound class have been pulled from The Race, east of Orient Point. At least one fish topping 40 pounds was taken over the weekend from around Ponquogue Bridge in Shinnecock Bay. Over at Montauk, Mike Didyk of Westbury drilled a 51-pound, 50-inch striper at 9:30 p.m. on Saturday night. According to Jack Yee, Didyk used a darter at Ditch Plains to dupe the huge bass while casting from a rock in front of the Montauk Shores trailers.

Saturday witnessed a big fluke caught inside Manhasset Bay aboard Captain Steven Laura Fallon’s charter boat, Swedish Princess (www.fishswedishprincess.com.) Fallon had set up to dunk bunker on the drop-off at Plum Point when Phillip Aurfielo sank the hook into the 29-1/2”, 10-pound doormat. The big summer flattie inhaled a bunker chunk and is one of the largest to come from inside the bay in recent memory. Fallon’s fares also accounted for a dozen stripers to 20 pounds during the outing.

Speaking of the bass, Fallon noted that big bluefish had driven the stripers and bunker out of the bay a few weeks ago, but both the baitfish and linesiders have returned. “The bass bite is solid right now,” he noted, “my fares have decked approximately 100 stripers over the past week.”

Fishing in the Shinnecock area full hit stride over the past few days. According to Scott Jeffrey at East End Bait and Tackle, Hampton Bays, a new body of striped bass moved into Shinnecock Inlet and around Ponquogue Bridge. Incoming water has seen the best catches made with surface plugs, clam and live bait. Most fish are in the 22" to 25" range, but a few keepers are mixed in as well. There are also plenty of cocktail blues both at the inlet and inside the bay. Look for diving terns to give away the choppers. Toss small, slender tins to score.

If bay fluke are your desire, Jeffery recommends hitting the flats and channel edges around Rampasture Point, or in the East Cut. For ocean fluke, try in 40' to 50' of water off The Cheese House. Bucktails and fluke bullets are both working well with the summer flatties.

Are you a hot-shot fluke sharpie? Then prove it by entering Nor’ east Salt Water’s 4th Annual Fluke Mania Smack Down, July 12 and 13. The heaviest keeper takes home $10,000. Entry is $25 per angler and you can fish from party/charter boat, private boat, surf, or pier. This year’s contest features additional port prizes.

Speaking with Captain Brennan reminded me of another point porgy anglers should note: Be extra quiet when setting up in shallow water. If the scup, as porgies are also called, are in less than 20-foot depths, you’ll need to quietly double anchor well uptide and then drop back slowly until over the fish. Look for porgies to hold over submerged rock piles and mussel-covered humps on the bottom.

More to come. Check back.

Dave Brennan, Captain of the Greenport open boat, Peconic Star (www.peconicstar.com,) is one of Long Island’s top porgy skippers. He offers this tip as an important first step in becoming a porgy expert: “Hook ‘em before they bite.”

It’s no joke. If you wait for a porgy to try and rip the bait from your hook, you’ll likely miss the hit. That’s because scup, as porgies are also known, usually taste a bait before they strike in earnest.

“Porgies swim up to the bait, gently taste it and spit it out once or twice, before trying to tear it off the hook,” explains Brennan. “As soon as your line hits bottom, lift the sinker up two or three inches and feel for extra weight at the end of the line. If the line feels a bit heavy, start cranking – that’s a fish mouthing your bait."

There is no need to strike hard, added Brennan. Swing your rod and you’ll pull the hook right out of the fish’s mouth. Most porgy sharpies simply give a smooth and stead lift to set the hook.

The Peconic Star is currently fishing for fluke, but will make the switch to porgies on Wednesday.

More to come. Check back later today.

Montauk fluke are hot now, too, with some real bruisers decked over the past few days. The Viking Fleet (www.vikingfleet.com,) Lazy Bones (www.montauksportfishing.com/lazybones,) Miss Montauk (www.missmontauk.com,) and Marlin 6 Princess (www.marlin6princess.com,) have all hung doormats weighing in excess of 8 pounds, with several over six pounds on some days. Of course, the stripers are always hot at Montauk, and both the charter and private boat fleets are scoring well with linesiders to 40 pounds.

On the West End, a nice set of fish has just moved into the New York Bight. The Howard Beach open boat, The Angler (www.theangler.com,) had excellent fishing with a good number of keepers on Thursday.

You might remember Sigmund “Ziggy” Nogiewich from a column last June. He was 91 at the time and still fishing hard aboard the Captree open boat, Laura Lee (www.captree.com). I’m happy to report that Ziggy is still fishing and still catching. Now 92, he drilled a 41-pound striper aboard the Laura Lee while fishing for sea bass last Friday. The big striper inhaled a tiny size 2/0 gold, beak-style porgy hook. No doubt Ziggy used all his experience to make that point stick until the bruiser was lifted over the rail.

I spoke with Captain James Schneider of the Huntington open boat, Captain James Joseph (www.jamesjosephfishing.com,) while he was on the water Wednesday afternoon. To prove his point that the fluke were biting fast and running large, he put nine-year old Thomas Gritthart on the phone. The excited youngster had just taken the lead in the daily pool with a 28”, 9-1/2- pound doormat caught at Target Rock. “I love party boat fishing,” Gritthart told me, “my dad and I go out at least once every week.”

Gritthart’s fish topped the 8.9-pounder that Bill Mazer drilled just seven minutes into the trip. Schnieder’s fared pulled 60 keepers on Monday, 50 on Tuesday, and 27 on Wednesday with just 10 anglers aboard. Over 20 keepers were already in the box by 1 p.m. on Thursday.

The big fluke, explained Schneider, have been around the Northport/Huntington area for more than a week - but they are steadily sliding into deeper water. “We first found them in 12- to 15-foot depths, tight to the beach,” he revealed. “Today, the best action and biggest fish came from 17 to 33 feet of water.”

The skinny: Get on these fluke now before they slip away.

More to come. Check back later today.

If you thought the fishing action seemed a bit slow this week past, you weren’t alone. It’s not unusual for catches to slip slightly toward the end of June as various fish species transition from their spring to summer patterns. Stripers, weakfish and fluke seem particularly prone to feeding shifts, the first two moving to deeper water as temperatures increase while the latter may perk up over shallow flats.

That would seem to be the case in Shinnecock Bay where stripers, which were on the eastern flats, have worked their way back into deeper waters around the inlet and off Ponquogue Bridge. At the same time, fluke have come alive in the shallows, smacking bucktails along channel edges at mid-bay.

In the Moriches area, the fluke bite has been slightly better inside the bay than in the ocean. The keeper ratio is better inside, too, especially around buoy 14, where several fish in the four to six-pound class have fallen to bluefish and sea robin strip baits. If you are looking for stripers, get out early and work the west bar, just outside Moriches Inlet, with clam baits.

Up inside Great South Bay, fluke have been responsive from Fire Island Inlet east to the Fire Island Lighthouse. A few weakfish have fallen to sandworm baits off Ocean Beach. According to John Mantione, at J & J Bait and Tackle in Patchogue, blue claw crabs are in good supply in the eastern bay at Blue Point, Mascot, West Sayville and Patchogue docks. There are also plenty of crabs being caught on rising tides at Babylon Town Dock.

On the West End, some keeper fluke have been caught in the shadow lines around the Atlantic Beach and Marine Parkway bridges. Fluke are best in 50-foot depths southwest of Jones Inlet. The large stripers that had been patrolling the south shore in search of bunker between the Jones Beach Needle and Cedar Beach have become difficult to find, as have the bunker. Some decent bass have, however, fallen to clam chum and bunker chunks at the Wantagh and Meadowbrook Bridges. Night tides have been the key.

On the North Shore, the waters outside of Hempstead Harbor and Oyster Bay are still producing plenty of bluefish, plus some stripers, on bunker chunks. Look for the best action to be early and late in the day. Fluke are around, but picky anywhere west of Port Jefferson. Porgies are now setting up off most prominent points with Eaton’s Neck and Oldfield producing well for those anchoring in 20 feet of water.

Heading east, Jordan Demcheck and his dad, Paul, have been culling keeper fluke from among a reasonable supply of shorts, in 20-foot depths about a mile west of Mattituck Inlet. Bluefish continue to visit the beaches between Wading River and Southold just about every evening, although they do take a night off now and then. Poppers and tins have both tempted the blues. Out at Orient, stripers remain hot and heavy in The Race while blues dominate the action at Plum Gut. Fluking is decent off The Ruins and around Gardiners Island. Porgies are now the mainstay inside Peconic Bay. Try for the scup off the southwest corner of Robins Island, or in South Race.

Over at Montauk, the charter fleet is hauling limits of stripers on a daily basis. Most of the linesiders are falling to trolled tubes, umbrellas or parachute lures, but some have fallen to chunk bunker. Fluke fishing has been inconsistent in the North Rips and along the south side, but a pleasing number of fish weighing more than six pounds are coming over the rails. The open boat Marlin 6 Princess (www.marlin6princess.com) ran offshore on Thursday where more than 60 cod to 37 pounds, plus 20 big pollack and dozens of ling, hit the deck.

Speaking of offshore action, Rob Michalowski and his father, Joe, took their 24-foot Hydro-Sport center console out to the Glory Hole on Wednesday. At 10:00 a.m. they enticed a 480-pound thresher shark to inhale a bluefish fillet in clear, 60-degree water. The big whiptail took four hours for the father and son team to bring to the gaff – and then it took six hours to tow in to Bay Park Fishing Station where Mark Keller served as the official weigh-master.

In my last blog entry I wrote about using black Jitterbugs to imitate cicadas when targeting largemouth bass. My son, Ryan, and I proved the theory again last night, catching six solid bigmouths. Ryan drilled the top fish for the evening, a very healthy six-pounder, which he gently released. Like stripers and weakfish, largemouth bass are fond of feeding after dark during the summer months. They are also suckers for big night crawlers, which is what Chris Moffett used at West Lake in Patchogue to fool a 6-pound 10-ounce bigmouth on Wednesday.

Correction:
In today’s Outdoors Column, “State sues feds over unfair fluke limits,” the minimum size limit for New Jersey fluke was incorrect. The correct minimum size is 18 inches.

I remember seeing my first hatch of the 17-year cicadas back in 1973. Just entering my ‘teens at the time, I was already a die-hard largemouth bass fan, and enjoyed catching pickerel, bluegill and pumpkinseed sunfish as well. It was sometime during that June when I read a piece in a fishing magazine about “matching the hatch,” for trout. The basic theory held that trout favored whichever hatching fly or terrestrial insect was in the greatest supply at the moment, and matching your flies to that particular insect would virtually guarantee fishing success.

Well, it didn’t take long before I was casting grasshoppers, butterflies, moths, caterpillars and just about any creepy, crawly bug I could find to the captive audience of fish in Sayville Mill Pond, Bayport’s Lotus Lake, and even Cow Pond, a small puddle toward the south end of Sayville’s Broadway Park that once held a few panfish, bass, bullfrogs and leopard frogs. Cow Pond has dwindled to a tiny puddle over the years, and biologists fear that leopard frogs may by now be extinct on Long Island, but the lessons learned fishing that summer have held with me to this very day.

So it was that I found myself thinking back to those glory days while examining cicadas from the woods of Ridge late last week. As I pondered how to match their size and shape, I recalled using them for bait that long ago summer. When the hatch ran its course and my supply of free bait came to an end, I struggled to keep the action alive by tossing various surface poppers. Eventually, I settled on casting a small, black Jitterbug. I would toss it out near weed beds, twitch it gently once or twice, and then reel it back with a slow and steady retrieve. The bass smacked that little lure right through the end of the summer – and I was forever hooked on topwater action.

I’m happy to report Jitterbugs are still included in my freshwater arsenal, and they still work great, especially for tempting largemouth bass after dark. Over the past two weeks, however, I’ve been throwing a one-quarter-ounce size during the day on several ponds and the surface strikes have been furious, especially in the late afternoon when cicadas are most prone to take to the air. My guess is that the cicadas have become the hatch to match on some freshwaters in mid- and eastern Suffolk County. If you have a black Jitterbug rattling around inside your tackle box, break it out for a few casts. You may find the response tremendously explosive.

Sunday, June 15, is Father’s Day, which means many of us will be shopping in a panic over the next few days. If you are looking for the perfect gift for your outdoors Dad, consider that he can never have enough fishing, hunting, boating or even camping gear.

With time running short, your best bet is to head to Dad’s favorite tackle or outdoors shop. If he’s known at the counter, chances are the help can steer you in the right direction. Even if your Dad prefers to remain anonymous when purchasing bait and gear, you can at least pick the brains of staffers to get ideas.

Following are just a few possibilities to consider:

● A couple of small, clear utility boxes are a great, inexpensive gift for Dads who need organization in their fishing life. Dad can pop his favorite lures in a box or two and keep them in the truck or on the boat, where they will be easy to find when needed.

● Hunters can be very particular about their gear, so stick to gift cards or small accessories. $15 to $30 will get you some scent eliminating soap or cover scent, which is always in need by hunters targeting deer or bear. A hot seat for stand hunters, or hand warming packets, are also useful. For $50, you can buy a decent hunting knife.

● Surf Fishing Dads can always use another plug bag, belt pouch or pork rind holder. Bronco, Precision and Aqua-Skinz all make plug bags that hold up well over time. Plug bag prices start at about $30 and rise accordingly, depending on size and style.

● A nice fishing shirt is something Dad isn’t likely to pick up for himself. Dress him up in comfort with a lightweight, breathable shirt designed to be cool in the high humidity of summer while also offering protection from the sun. Columbia and Simms offer durable, good-looking fishing shirts sporting specialized pockets for leaders, pliers and small items of tackle. Fly fishermen will be just as happy with a quality fly-fishing vest. Expect to spend $50 to $100.

● To keep Dad looking cool while maximizing his opportunities for just about anything from trout to tuna, give a pair of polarized sun glasses. These help anglers see deep into the water while also protecting the eyes from harmful UV rays, stray hooks, branches, etc. Check out Flying Fishermen, Action Optics or Costa Del Ray, ranging in price from $25 to $250. Buy scratch-proof glass lenses if you can afford them.

● Serious anglers love to read and learn about their favorite past time. Pick up a copy of The Complete Kayak Fisherman by Ric Burnley (Burford Books, $16.95); Fishing Soft Baits in Saltwater, by Pete Barrett (Burford Books, $16.95); Long Island Fly-Fishing by Angelo Peluso (WW