This week Montauk is doing what Montauk does in late August. The rips off the Point are holding bass on the night tides, the fluke fishing on the rough bottom is producing genuine doormats, and the porgy fishing is so good it borders on comical. The first bonito and false albacore reports have started drifting in from the south side, which means the best month of the year is about two weeks out.
What’s Hitting
Striped bass are in the rips on the moving tide, best at night and in the first light of morning. Fluke are on the rough bottom and the wrecks, with the better fish in 60 to 100 feet. Porgies are stacked on nearly every piece of structure and will save a slow day. Black sea bass are mixed in on the same bottom. Bluefish are around and occasionally thick. Bonito and false albacore are just starting — early reports only, but worth keeping a light rod ready.
Where to Find Them
The rips off Montauk Point, the North Bar and the Elbow are the classic bass water — fish the down-current side on a moving tide. For fluke, the rough bottom off the Point, the Coxes Ledge direction and the wrecks in Block Island Sound have produced the biggest fish. Porgies are on any structure in Gardiners Bay and around the Point. Watch the rips and the tide lines off the south side for the first albies and bonito working bait.
Tides & Conditions
Tides are strengthening through the week off the waxing moon, which is what the rips want. Water temperature is in the upper 60s to low 70s. Mornings have been calm with a southwest breeze building through the day, which stacks up against an outgoing tide in the rips and makes for a real sea — respect it. Fog has been an issue on some mornings. Plan around the tide stage rather than the clock.
Tackle & Tactics
For rip bass, a stout 7-foot rod, a 6000-size spinner or a conventional, 50-pound braid, and a three- to six-ounce bucktail worked in the wash of the rip — or a live eel drifted through it at night. For fluke on the rough bottom, a four- to eight-ounce bucktail with a teaser tipped with squid or a whole spearing, jigged rather than dragged. Porgies want a simple high-low rig with clam or squid and a small hook. Keep a 4000-size spinner with a small epoxy jig rigged for the first albie sighting.
Local Intel This Week
The Montauk Harbor ramp at the end of West Lake Drive is the main public launch and fills early. The Three Mile Harbor ramp in East Hampton is the practical alternative and gives good access to Gardiners Bay. Shore anglers work the Point from the lighthouse rocks — a genuine Montauk tradition, and a genuinely dangerous one in a swell, so wear a belt and studded soles. Fish are concentrating where the current does the work: the rips, the ledge edges, the structure. New York striped bass slot and circle-hook rules are strict; check current NYSDEC regulations before keeping any fish.
This Week’s Tip
In the rips, cast up-current and let the bucktail sink as it drifts back into the wash. Everyone’s instinct is to throw down-current and reel — that pulls the jig up and out of the strike zone. The bass are sitting behind the boulder in the trough, and they see your bait tumbling toward them the way real bait arrives.
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