Striped bass fishing in Long Island Sound and Montauk

In Long Island Sound and Montauk, striped bass peak April–June and October–November and are around year-round, spawning in April, according to Fish Scouter's month-by-month season calendar. April: Hudson River spawn from Croton to Kingston; New York's Hudson rules differ from the marine district — check NYSDEC.

1. JanuaryAroundHoldovers in the Hudson, the Harlem and the Connecticut rivers; slow plastics.
2. FebruaryAroundWinter flounder spawn in the harbors; cod on the wrecks. Blackbacks in the harbors and bays (mind the season); cod trips on calm days.
3. MarchArrivingFirst stripers stir; mackerel and cod. Warm afternoons in the back-bay creeks for schoolies; spring mackerel off Montauk if the run comes.
4. AprilSpawningHudson River spawn from Croton to Kingston; New York's Hudson rules differ from the marine district — check NYSDEC.
5. MayPeakPost-spawn fish and migrants feed on bunker in western Long Island Sound and Jamaica Bay; topwater on the flats.
6. JunePeakMontauk and the Race light up; eels at night on the rips, bunker in the Sound harbors.
7. JulyAround
8. AugustAround
9. SeptemberArrivingAlbie season at Montauk; the biggest fluke of the year. False albacore off the Point and Shagwong from about the third week; doormat fluke on the ocean humps; snapper blues in every harbor.
10. OctoberPeakFall run: sand eels off Montauk, bait balls along the south shore beaches; birds everywhere.
11. NovemberPeakThe Montauk blitz — stripers and blues under the birds at the Point and along the south shore.
12. DecemberLeavingThe tail of the run on the south shore beaches; the fish slide toward New Jersey.

New York Harbor, Jamaica Bay and the lower Hudson; Long Island's south shore surf and inlets backed by Great South Bay and the Moriches and Shinnecock bays; the Peconic and Gardiners bays between the forks; Montauk Point's boulder fields and rips; and Long Island Sound — rocky reefs, harbors and the Connecticut river mouths on the north side, the Race at the east end. Offshore to the Hudson and Block canyons.

Fish Scouter charts 44 reservoir, 30 lake, 3 artificial reef spots in the Long Island & the Sound map area — the kinds striped bass hold on.

• Live eelsHooked through the lips on a 5/0 to 7/0 circle hook and sight-cast to a cobia or dropped to a cobia on a ray — the eel is the cobia bait.
• Menhaden (pogies)Nose-hooked on a circle hook and free-lined or slow-trolled; cut in chunks for the bottom.
• HerringCut-plug for salmon: head off at an angle, guts out, two hooks in tandem so it spins slow behind a flasher or a banana weight. Whole and live on a circle hook for stripers where the herring run.
• BloodwormsA piece threaded on a #2 to 2/0 hook on a hi-lo or fish-finder rig — the striper, spot, croaker and white perch bait of the Chesapeake and the surf.
• Sand eelsFree-lined or on a light jig head for stripers, fluke and bluefish; strips teased on a fluke rig.
• Minnows (fatheads, shiners)Hooked lightly through the lips or behind the dorsal on a #6 to #2 hook under a slip bobber for crappie, perch and walleye; a big golden shiner on a 2/0 to 4/0 for largemouth, pike and stripers.

• Leader10–20 lb fluorocarbon
• Hook#2–3/0
• Jig head1/8–1/2 oz
• Braid10–30 lb

Feeds in 42–80°F water, best at 50–68°F.

All about striped bass · Long Island & the Sound, the whole year