Some areas of the Long Island Sound seem to be coming back to life with bass and blues in the final quarter of the season. For some it may seem like a “two-minute” drill since the key will be to capitalize quickly on the often-fleeting opportunities. There were also a few confirmed reports of sparse and fleeting pods of little tunny recently roaming western and central Sound areas. A friend got into some decent albie action during the week with fish that were mixed in and feeding with the big bluefish. He managed four fish during a couple of morning sessions. Not bad fishing considering the time of year. Hard tails also made a brief showing along a couple of the beaches out on the North Fork. Two current realities about these fish is that the few that are lefe are spread throughout the Sound, and when they give the angler a shot, it is often a brief one. Consider yourself very lucky if you find a few of these fish in the Sound right now that are willing to play. The milder weather and earlier SW winds may have contributed to some renewed actvity since albie fishing is a visual experience with more fish being spotted in calmer conditions. And it is a lot easier to get a fly or small lure to hard tails when the wind isn’t cranking at 30 mph out of the NE, not to mention negotiating the waves in a small boat! Those fish were not aroundat the end of the week when the weather kicked in.
Water temperatures and bait concentrations are still favorable for bass nd blues so I suspect we will see some continued action with them until they decide to move out altogether. During the 2003 season I caught pelagics on flies well into November so you just never know when you will bump into some. That year the bait stayed, the water temperatures were ideal and the fish hung around. If you’d like to try your hand at these late season fish, concentrate your late season efforts at locations where bait congregate and where current or tidal flows force bait out from inlets and harbors, or against rip-rap, jetties or other structure, or around contour breaks along beaches. And be prepared with small anchovy-style flies and some larger flies if bigger silversides patterns should large spearing show. Albies are not at all shy about eating larger flies and baits. Vary your retrieves and try both intermediate and high-density sinking lines. On the other side of the Island both Shinnecock and Moriches were a hot ticket earlier in the seasons but that bite is headed south.