Tautog fishing in Long Island Sound and Montauk

In Long Island Sound and Montauk, tautog peak April–May and November–December and are around April–December, according to Fish Scouter's month-by-month season calendar. April: New York's spring season is April only — tog in the harbors and on the Sound rocks.

1. JanuaryNot here
2. FebruaryNot here
3. MarchNot here
4. AprilPeakNew York's spring season is April only — tog in the harbors and on the Sound rocks.
5. MayPeakSeason closed in May in NY — the fish are here, leave them.
6. JuneAround
7. JulyAround
8. AugustAround
9. SeptemberAround
10. OctoberArrivingFall season opens in October (dates differ for the Sound and the Bight) — check NYSDEC.
11. NovemberPeakBig blackfish on the Sound rock piles and the Montauk boulders; green crabs.
12. DecemberPeakThe tail of the run on the south shore; tog to the end. Last stripers on the south shore beaches; tog until the season closes; winter cod trips start.

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 1,272 wreck, 3 artificial reef spots in the Long Island & the Sound map area — the kinds tautog hold on.

• Fiddler crabsA #1 hook through the back corner of the shell, dropped tight to the piling — the sheepshead bait.
• Blue crabsWhole and small for permit and tarpon; halved or quartered on the bottom for black drum, redfish and cobia.

• Leader30–60 lb fluorocarbon
• Hook2/0–7/0
• Braid30–65 lb

Feeds in 44–72°F water, best at 50–64°F.

All about tautog · Long Island & the Sound, the whole year