North Fork Anglers Enjoy a Spectacular Fall Fishing Season

Blackfish runs continue to be one of the best in years, with anglers reporting fast-paced fishing at changing tides.

Black fishing in Long Island Sound off the North Fork's rocky shores provides perfect cover and feeding habitat for these tasty, hard-fighting game fish. Most keepers are in the 4 to 5 pound range with fish up to 7 pounds. There are many shorts in the mix, with most anglers limiting out quickly once the action kicks in.

Green and hermit crabs work well in Long Island Sound, and proper rigging is critical to a successful day, so check with your experts at our local bait and tackle shops for the proper leader, line test, bait and rigs. Rod and reel choice is also very important, and the most successful blackfish anglers develop a feel for a blackfish strike and set the hook at just the right time, crucial for landing North Fork bulldog blackfish.

Last weekend's weather conditions were less than perfect for anglers. Brooklyn Girl II reports: "The weekend started tough. Strong westerly breezes and strong tides meant you had to bring your A game to put together a respectable catch. Saturday, we made over 20 drops and put together 36 keeper blackfish to at about 6 pounds each by trip's end. Some of us did some early damage during a quick flurry of a bite and all limited. The rest of the group picked away on a tough day.

"Sunday, the anchoring conditions were just ideal, the fish chewed hard and a light open boat crowd of just six fishermen hammered the tog, limiting early, 44 keepers in all. We finished out the full day by catching and releasing some beautiful blackfish to 7 pounds off a local wreck. White crabs were the hotter bait on this day."

Brooklyn Girl's captain added that this coming weekend should feature some nice slow tides and Halloween Sunday's open trip still has room. November trips and the Veteran's Day trip are filling fast.

Open boat blackfish runs out of Greenport aboard Peconic Star Express have remained productive. On a recent run, Capt. Dave Brennan reported "good fishing throughout the day with a pick of fish on all drops accounting for a boat limit by the end of the trip."

This week's highlights from the Peconic Star Express include:

Steve Santorufo of Southold caught two quality fish weighing in at 7.13 pounds and 6.09 pounds. Steve had 11 fish in total but released some keepers in hopes of larger fish and he was rewarded with two other fish in the 4 to 5 pound range class fulfilling his limit.

Joel Lopardo of West Islip proved that even though he was new to North Fork fishing, he quickly caught on to the bite catching his limit of blackfish to 4.2 pounds.

The Stanley Steamer fishing boat run by Keith Burtis had a nice day of mixed bag fall fishing. They started out drifting for bass and put a nice catch together consisting of six keepers and 15 shorts to start out the morning. In the mix 40 blues were caught, keeping rods bending from start to finish. After sore arms and plenty of fish the group opted to give the blackfishing a shot. After making a few drops 28 quality keepers were brought aboard with some shorts in the mix.

With the passing of a vigorous cold front this week, the weather, combined with slow-moving tides, will improve this weekend providing perfect North Fork fall fishing conditions.