The albies are under the Light, the bass are stacking up in the rips, and the fluke are staging on the deep edges for the last days of the season. September at Montauk is the best fishing of the year, and the first week has started strong. I have fished the Montauk striper run more falls than I can count, and this is the week I start watching the water temps and the wind every morning.
What’s Hitting
What’s hitting this week: false albacore blitzing on the bait from Turtle Cove to the Point and around to the north side, with bonito mixed in on the calmer mornings. Striped bass are in the rips off the Point on the moving tides, and the surf at the Light and Camp Hero is producing on the night tides. Bluefish are in the rips and along the south side beaches. Fluke are on the last of the season on the deep edges south of the Point and around the Frisbees. Sea bass and porgies are on the rocks and wrecks, and there are still bluefin on the offshore lumps for the tuna fleet.
Where to Find Them
Albies are working the north side from Shagwong to the Point and around the Lighthouse on the incoming. Bass in the rips off the Point — the Elbow, the Pollock Rip, and the south-side rips on the ebb. Surfcasters should work the rocks under the Light, Turtle Cove, and Camp Hero at night. Fluke on the deep edges south of the Point and off the Frisbees in 60 to 80 feet. Porgies and sea bass on the Cartwright grounds and the inshore rock piles.
Tides & Conditions
Water temps are in the upper 60s to low 70s, which is prime for the albies and just starting to move the big bass. The ebb tide through the rips is the striper tide, and the incoming on the north side is best for the albies. Northeast wind days push bait to the Point and stack the bass. Watch the tropical forecast — a distant hurricane can build a swell that closes the rips to small boats.
Tackle & Tactics
Albies want small metals, Epoxy jigs, and soft plastics on 20-pound braid and 20-pound fluorocarbon, retrieved fast. Bass in the rips take a diamond jig or a bucktail with a pork rind on the drift, or a live eel at night. Surf anglers throw bucktails, darters, and needlefish. Fluke want a bucktail tipped with a Gulp or a strip of squid on the deep drift. Porgies take clams on a high-low rig.
Local Intel This Week
Public ramps: the Montauk town ramp on East Lake Drive at Lake Montauk, the Gin Beach area ramp, and the Three Mile Harbor ramp in East Hampton. Shore anglers have access at Camp Hero State Park and Montauk Point State Park. Fish are concentrating in the rips off the Point for bass and on the north side for albies. New York striped bass rules include a slot and circle-hook rules for bait, and fluke season closes in September — check current NYS DEC regulations before keeping fish.
This Week’s Tip
In the Montauk rips, the bass hold on the down-current side of the rip line where the current breaks. Set up the drift so your jig is in the zone as the boat crosses the rip, and be ready — the strike comes in the first ten feet on the far side.
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