Montauk fishing report for the week of September 17, 2026. The fall run is on at the End. The bass have filled into the rips, the albies are breaking off the Lighthouse, and the surf under the Light has had fish every morning this week. I have made the Montauk run in September for more years than I want to count, and this week has the feel of a good one.
What’s Hitting
What’s hot is striped bass in the rips. Fish from schoolie size to the 30-pound class are stacked in the rips off the Point from the Elbow to Shagwong on the moving tide, with the bigger fish on the bottom and the schoolies breaking on top under the birds. False albacore are blitzing bay anchovies off the Lighthouse, along the south side beaches, and in the harbor inlet, with bonito mixed in. Bluefish are everywhere in the surf and the rips. Sea bass and porgies are steady on the rocks and the wrecks south of the Point, and the fluke season is in its final days on the south-side flats.
Where to Find Them
Stripers are in the rips off the Point on both tides, with the Elbow, the Pollock rip, and the North Bar the most consistent spots this week, and under the Light and along the north side beaches at first light for the surf crowd. Albies are off the Lighthouse rocks and along the south side from Ditch Plains to the town beaches, and in the Lake Montauk inlet. Sea bass and porgies are on the rocks in 40 to 80 feet south and east of the Point.
Tides & Conditions
Moderate tides this week between the moons, which softens the rips a little and stretches the fishable window on each tide. Water is in the mid to upper 60s and dropping, right where the bass and albies want it. Winds have been light out of the northwest most mornings with a manageable sea around the Point, and the surf has been fishable most days.
Tackle & Tactics
In the rips, a diamond jig or a bucktail with a pork rind trailer worked on the bottom for the bigger bass, and a topwater or a soft plastic for the breaking fish, on a 7-foot heavy spinning or conventional rod with 40 to 50-pound braid. Live eels drifted through the rips after dark take the largest fish. Albies want a small epoxy jig or a metal on 20-pound fluorocarbon retrieved fast. In the surf, a bucktail, a needlefish, or a darter under the Light on an 11-foot rod with 50-pound braid. Sea bass and porgies want clam or squid on a high-low rig.
Local Intel This Week
The Lake Montauk public ramp at East Lake Drive is the main launch for the Point, with the Gin Beach and Navy Road access points on the north side for surf anglers. Under the Lighthouse, Turtle Cove, Camp Hero, and Ditch Plains are the main surf spots, and the south side beaches give access to the albies. Fish are concentrating in the rips on the moving tide and in the surf at first light. Striped bass have a slot limit and the fluke season closes shortly; check current NY DEC regulations before keeping fish.
This Week’s Tip
In the rips, the biggest bass sit on the bottom at the head of the rip, not in the white water. Drop your jig up-tide of the rip line so it reaches bottom just as the current pulls it over the edge, and be ready. The take usually comes on the first two cranks.
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