Finally made it out to Peconic Bay

[Pangaroo]

Went out and launched at the DEC ramp in Southold. Left my house about 4:30 AM , got out there about 6:30AM . Went to WEGO Bait and Tackle and bought clams and chum. Asked how the fishing was, said it was almost all porgies now , said the weaks and fluke were pretty much gone. Asked if the porgies were at the Greenlawns and WEGO said yes. So I went out and figured I'd go a little further South down about 3/4's of the way over to Noyak Bay hoping I'd catch some Bluefish , Maybe Weakfish/Stripers , saw birds diving and I caught a small cocktail blue. Hard staying with birds, so I went back North and went porgy fishing off the Greenlawns. Drifted a half hour before I started chumming , caught small to medium sized porgies with 10-12 inch blackfish mixed in. Nice steady action, but the porgy season is almost over and wasn't non stop action. Plenty of bites, hard hooking the smaller fish. Incoming tide until 11 AM or so and then outgoing. Me and 1 other boat about 2 miles away were the only boats bottom fishing. A bunch of guys were drifting the Greenlawns for fluke and didn't see any fish caught. After the porgy fishing slowed I tried drifting for fluke, Nothing. Hey, if porgies were biting this good inside Jones Inlet/ Fire Island, there would be a massive fleet there fishing for them. So I'm not complaining. Finally took my 25 Panga out there for the first time and the Boat Ramp was pretty good. All day long there were rich people cruising on their yachts , one after another all going over towards Greenport . Big waves . Probably 90 percent of the Boats weren't fishing.
Thought about fishing out of Mattituck and trying by Hortons Point. But I'm kind of nervous going to new places by myself, so I went to Peconic Bay that I'm very familiar with. My 2025 Nissan Frontier got 15 MPG towing 2800 pounds. I can live with that. Next spring I'll be out there in May when it's the best. Would've gone out there last May if my Motor was working good. The Porgies I caught in May were 2-3 times bigger and doubleheaders !!!!!!!!! This is the first time I ever fished Peconic in October , waited too long to go out there . One time I fished in the fall out there, but near the Shinnecock Canal Area when I had my 31 Downeaster out there for the fall.. I think it was $300 for the dock slip - 3 months in 1995. Cost me $500 for a dock slip out in Montauk for 3 months in the fall of 1993, 1994. Now it's so expensive out there.

 

[captmike28]

Went out and launched at the DEC ramp in Southold. Left my house about 4:30 AM , got out there about 6:30AM . Went to WEGO Bait and Tackle and bought clams and chum. Asked how the fishing was, said it was almost all porgies now , said the weaks and fluke were pretty much gone. Asked if the porgies were at the Greenlawns and WEGO said yes. So I went out and figured I'd go a little further South down about 3/4's of the way over to Noyak Bay hoping I'd catch some Bluefish , Maybe Weakfish/Stripers , saw birds diving and I caught a small cocktail blue. Hard staying with birds, so I went back North and went porgy fishing off the Greenlawns. Drifted a half hour before I started chumming , caught small to medium sized porgies with 10-12 inch blackfish mixed in. Nice steady action, but the porgy season is almost over and wasn't non stop action. Plenty of bites, hard hooking the smaller fish. Incoming tide until 11 AM or so and then outgoing. Me and 1 other boat about 2 miles away were the only boats bottom fishing. A bunch of guys were drifting the Greenlawns for fluke and didn't see any fish caught. After the porgy fishing slowed I tried drifting for fluke, Nothing. Hey, if porgies were biting this good inside Jones Inlet/ Fire Island, there would be a massive fleet there fishing for them. So I'm not complaining. Finally took my 25 Panga out there for the first time and the Boat Ramp was pretty good. All day long there were rich people cruising on their yachts , one after another all going over towards Greenport . Big waves . Probably 90 percent of the Boats weren't fishing.
Thought about fishing out of Mattituck and trying by Hortons Point. But I'm kind of nervous going to new places by myself, so I went to Peconic Bay that I'm very familiar with. My 2025 Nissan Frontier got 15 MPG towing 2800 pounds. I can live with that. Next spring I'll be out there in May when it's the best. Would've gone out there last May if my Motor was working good. The Porgies I caught in May were 2-3 times bigger and doubleheaders !!!!!!!!! This is the first time I ever fished Peconic in October , waited too long to go out there . One time I fished in the fall out there, but near the Shinnecock Canal Area when I had my 31 Downeaster out there for the fall.. I think it was $300 for the dock slip - 3 months in 1995. Cost me $500 for a dock slip out in Montauk for 3 months in the fall of 1993, 1994. Now it's so expensive out there.

Glad you made it out to Southold on such a beautiful day. Indeed, no time of year can match the consistency in numbers and overall size as the May/June bite on Scup in the Peconics. There are still some quality fish to be caught in the fall, but they are not as widespread as the Spring and it usually takes a more concentrated effort.

If you want to try this area again in the future, I recommend trying the last week or two of September and early October for the best chance at a good score. Also, fish a little further north, as the Greenlawns does tend to hold smaller fish this time of year.

As i mentioned before on my Monday charter there last week it was "lights out" fishing with easy full boat limit and many medium to large/Jumbo sized fish. Tuesday was not as good with about half as good a haul although the crew was 2 hours late and we missed the better stage of the early morning tide. Also goes to show it's critical to be a bit more precise in the early fall in this area.