For saltwater sportsmen, the Columbus Day weekend looks like it can be as close to perfect as you can find.
Most species are on the feed preparing for their long migrations, and the weather appears to be ideal, in fact, it may bit a bit too nice.
Top-water anglers will find stripers, bluefish and false albacore are plentiful and cooperative. The porgy run has been the best in more than a decade, and, with the extended season, anglers should enjoy catching these fish right through the fall. There also is some decent blackfish action both in the New York Bight and in Long Island Sound.
For the boys from Brooklyn, there are bass and blues from Norton’s Point to the Breezy Jetty, and there are porgies and blackfish at the Rockaway Reef and in Jamaica Bay at the bridges.
Those fishing close to the beaches will find bass and blues around the bunker schools that can be anywhere from the Rockaways to Jones Beach.
Porgies and blackfish were big targets in Long Island Sound. The porgy fishing has been great and most anglers are limiting out near City Island and the smaller islands in the area. I hear the best blackfish action has been from Rye to Connecticut.
South Shore action from Freeport to Moriches has been on the plus side for most of the week. Boats in Great South Bay found decent blackfishing both close to shore and in deeper holes with a health number of keepers coming over the rails.
Many anglers will be heading to Montauk to get in on the surf action, but it also will be a busy time aboard the party boats, with fishermen taking a mixed bag of blues, striped bass, porgies and blackfish.
The North Fork is offering more of the same. In the Peconics it is excellent porgy fishing and in the Sound, from Mattituck to Orient, you have your choice of big bluefish, stripers or porgies and blackfish. Both party and charter boat skippers from the area have been extremely pleased with this fall run of fish.
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The New Jersey Division of Fish and will start stocking some 21,000 extra-large, hatchery-raised trout in rivers, streams and lakes across the state. This increasingly popular fall-fishing event provides lots of great fishing for freshwater anglers.
The schedule of stocking dates and stocking locations is posted on the division’s website at http://www.state.nj.us/dep/fgw/.