THE weather pattern we are in is having an effect on the fishing, and it hasn’t been positive.
While the storms don’t seem to have that much of an effect on the fish themselves, they do tend to keep anglers tied to the dock. There were very few boats offshore this weekend with boats being socked in Saturday morning with fog before the winds picked up and blew threw Sunday, followed by storm after storm.
There has been some fishing inshore, and those that tried were rewarded. From the Breezy Jetty south to the Tin Can, trollers were taking stripers to 40 inches in the early morning hours. After that, they ventured off to local reefs for porgies or to the channel for fluke.
Anglers who ventured out of Jack’s Bait and Tackle Shop on City Island with rental skiffs found good fluke action off Throgs Neck, Steppingstone, Sands Point and Hart’s Island. Those looking for bass or blues fished Execution Light and Steppingstone and scored with choppers to 12 pounds and bass to 18 pounds.
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The New York State Dept. of Environmental Conservation and the State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation are teaming up to offer a free freshwater fishing clinic from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Aug. 16 at McDonald’s Pond in Hempstead Lake State Park.
The clinic is open to children ages 8 to12 and their parents, and will feature instructional sessions on basic freshwater fishing techniques, fish identification, care and preparation of the catch, and environmental law and ethics and the pond environment. Bait, tackle and instructional materials will be provided.
The clinic is limited to 100 participants, and pre-registration is required on a first-come, first-served basis by calling the DEC’s Bureau of Fisheries at (631) 444-0280, or e-mail gekozlow@gw.dec.state.ny.us.
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There were two state records set recently in New Jersey. A 614- pound thresher shark taken by Louis Riemer Jr. in June at the 28-Mile Wreck off Cape May, which was 25 pounds more than the previous record taken two miles southeast of Monster Ledge in 2002.
It appears that lobsters are growing at a record pace off the Jersey Shore. A lobster, weighing 15 pounds, 3 ounces, was taken by William Sharp off the Almirante Wreck when he was scuba diving July 4. This tops the previous state record of 11 pounds, 8 ounces taken off the San Jose Wreck in June.