Intro | Favorite Four | Seasons | Gear | Long Island Map (3.47 MB .pdf)

The Favorite Four
Striped bass. In the Sound, striped bass are king. They are strong, adaptive fish that come readily to a fly. You can find them throughout the Sound and as many as 60 miles up the large rivers on the Connecticut side.

Hickory shad (shown above) are one of Long Island's "favorite four." These members of the herring family act like tiny tarpon and area joy on light tackle.

Two years ago, Paul Apuzzo, a skilled fly rodder and shore guide from New Haven, Connecticut, beached a bass just shy of 50 pounds. And I remember years when shore anglers could land five or six bass a year over 36 inches. Godzilla bass on a fly are always a possibility. Now, however, the average striper in the Sound is from 22 to 27 inches long. In fact, bass that size probably make up over 90 percent of the entire Atlantic coastal population.

Bluefish. Few gamefish possess the raw power of a bluefish. On the end of a line, they run, jump, and pull far out of proportion to their size, and their razor-sharp teeth can sever your leader in an instant. Although they lack the striper's ability to venture into fresh water, blues are highly adaptable. You can find them running down schools of bait in open water, or prowling bays, beaches, and harbors. They are widespread in the Sound and their numbers are improving after a major decline in 1991.

Sound bluefish are typically between four and eight pounds--a fun-to-catch size--but they can be huge. In the late 1980s fly rodders tangled with 10- to 14-pound blues regularly. Believe me, that's a war! A few teen-size blues are taken on a fly every year, and their numbers are steadily improving, so pack your wire shock tippets.

Atlantic bonito and little tunny. For many anglers, Atlantic bonito and little tunny are seasonal highlights. These two speedsters can sizzle deep into your backing; they're nothing short of lightning on a line. You owe it to yourself to experience these incredible fish at least once. These two fish feed on the same bait and are found in the same water, but the bonito arrive about three weeks sooner, tolerate colder water, and leave about two weeks later, depending on the weather and availability of bait.

Bonito arrive in July. They have mouths full of small needle teeth (you don't need a wire leader) and feed cautiously. They pinch food between their teeth, often grabbing it by the tail. Use short flies to increase your hookups.

Little tunny show up close to Labor Day. They are stronger than bonito, don't have significant teeth, and are more willing to take flies. They inhale food like a bass, so it's easy to get solid hookups.

Each year the number of bonito and little tunny varies, probably due to changing weather conditions. In July and August, bonito run about six pounds, but later in the season bigger fish appear. Eight- and nine-pound fish fall to the fly every October, and bonito over ten pounds, while rare, have been caught.

Little tunny are heavier; six pounds is a small one, and seven to nine pounds is average. In many years, these ballistic missiles run from 9 to 11 pounds or more. Hook one over 12 pounds in a swift rip and you'll watch your 10-weight bend into the corks.

Unlike bass and blues, the bonito and little-tunny action happens in isolated pockets. You must search for them. The biggest bite is at the Sound's east end, where the currents are swiftest. Try the rips known as The Race and Plum Gut. You can find the rips by drawing a line on your chart from Orient Point through Plum Island to Fisher's Island. You'll need a seaworthy craft and a careful captain in these waters, which occasionally become wild.

On the north shore of Long Island, look for bonito and little tunny to visit inlets, harbors, and bays at least as far west as Port Jefferson. Along the Connecticut shore, these speed demons swim westward as far as the Thimble Islands, but frequently they are much more plentiful east of Madison.

Other Species
Hickory shad. A relative of the American shad, hickory shad are, on light gear, acrobatic gamefish. Many anglers think of them as tiny tarpon. They average from 16 to 18 inches long, although some go well over the 20-inch mark. Ten years ago, hickories were scarce in these waters; then around 1995 the population exploded. Hickories may fill the niche left by the declining bluefish, and, if I am right, when the blues return in force, it should be adios to these tiny tarpon. Weakfish. After nearly a 25-year hiatus, weakfish (also called weaks, gray sea trout, and squeteague) are on the rebound. There are few of them, but they run to six or seven pounds. The Sound once held weaks in excess of 15 pounds, and I hope we will see those days again.

Spanish mackerel. These tropical fish are occasional visitors in the Sound and need water temperatures of 68 degrees F. or warmer. They show their faces only for a short while during extremely warm summers, especially in August and September. The ones that make the trip north are about seven pounds. Who knows? If the present warming trend continues, Spanish mackerel could become popular targets.