Now I know there’s an occasional black drum caught in my neck of the woods.  Usually on a calm belly.  But I have yet to hear of such massive schools finning on the surface.  This kind of thing does indeed happen well south of me though.  I’m wondering if this is something we’ll be seeing more of.  I certainly hope so. 

Fishing Reports
In Jersey, the slaughter goes one.  I’m not sure that’s a good thing.  Large schools of bunker remain just off the beach and folks are killing a lot of big fish.  Any doubts about where all the larger-older fish are ending  up can be cleared up by looking at the garbage cans at local marinas.  Rarely does one get thrown back it seems.  Inshore there are still some schoolie bass on the flats.  In New York Harbor, the blitzes on butter fish remaining a usual occurrence in the early morning hours.  Most fish are hefty schoolies, but indeed there are some keepers in the mix.  Each day we’re getting one or two fish in the mid-30” range.  On the backside, some fish are beginning to show on the white-sand flats, but still not enough to really target yet.  There is a surprising lack of sandeels this year.  Hope that changes and I believe it will.  Jamaica Bay is pretty slow.  Not many folks fishing back there at the moment, and the ones that are , are targeting fluke.  Still, there are plenty of big bluefish in the flats, but it’s been very, very buggy back there.  So much so that it’s not really worth it.  Across the South Shore, there are blitzes erupting on butterfish and spearing.  On the North Shore its schoolie central in the usual haunts.  Bunker are really just beginning to show out there as well, so stand-by for the big bluefish.  Out East it’s been really good.  Plenty of fish on the flats and the South Side is producing some real hogs up against the rocks.  Rhode Island is fishing really good as well.  And in Mass, the talk of the town is bluefin.  Lots of these big beasts around, but very difficult to catch.  And, of course there are a ton of stripers.  In the Boston area, they’ve had pretty consistent blitz action.  And moving north, the Merrimack is fishing well.  Some big bass have been lingering around the Joppa Flats, and the mouth of the river has been as close to a “sure thing” as you can get.  In Maine, more bluefin have moved in, but the bass fishing remains substandard. 

New Jersey Fishing Reports
Capt. Gene Quigley from Shore Catch Guide Service reports: John- The bass fishing here remains extremely good. In fact some days it is down right silly fishing. The bass are starting to hit more top water plugs which is good for us light tackle / fly enthusiasts. The live lining bite is ridiculous. put a bait in the water and it usually is crushed within a minute.  This weekend we saw a HUGE lul where they shut off and no one caught a thing. Yesterday however turned on light a light switch with bass and bunker everywhere. I am hoping these warmer water temps now will warrant these fish eating flies. It has been few and far in between despite us trying a lot. the top water bite however on light tackle has been the best I have ever seen this week. All fish are over 30 lbs and exploding on bait. My charter with Ron Crisco saw over 20 fish over 25 lbs landed all on top water. it looked like someone was dropping cannon balls out of the sky.

New York Fishing Reports
Captain David Azar from One More Cast Charters fishing in the Lower New York Harbor reports: John- After spending a lot of time and fuel (at 4.95/gal!!!) searching for the elusive BIG BASS BITE over in New Jersey I got the message and settled down to fish my home waters!  The message is that while the size of the fish in our area are not as big as those over in Jersey, there are still many, very respectable fish to be caught in J-Bay and surrounding areas.  There has been a spectacular schoolie & medium bluefish bite daily for the past 2 weeks by the Breezy Point Jetty and livelining is still going strong.  Friday I livelined way in the back of the bay for stripers with modest results, but Monday, due to morning fog and thunderstorms, it was monster blues closer to the marina culminating in a 15# bluefish on light spinning tackle.  Also met a couple of young diehards, Taylor and Stefan, who got in on the livelining.  As I watched them having a great time I imagined Tom & Huck floating down the Mississipi on their adventure.  After the fog dissipated and the thunderstorms passed I headed back out to the jetty for some nonstop action on poppers and tins, with blues on top and bass underneath.  Had to leave them biting to make a 6:00p.m. appointment. 
    You should know that big mama bass, some over 50#'s, are being caught in the Garden State on a regular basis, both from boats and from shore, I observed another great bite of 20 to 30 pound stripers from a Monmouth county jetty last evening.  It is likely this action will continue for a couple more weeks as it has for the past 4 years.

Breezy Point local, David Berman reported: Hi John,   Went out to our local Rockaway Inlet flats this friday past, 6/20 and finally found striped fish. Had  a work errand to do first thing in the am so didn't get out there until about 11:30am water outgoing since about 10am, very clear, good sun, no cloud, and light breeze, pretty good seeing conditions. At first only seeing horseshoe crabs and sea robins, but then some shapes not so orangey brown in color and moving with a bit more purpose. Got the sand eel/shrimpy imitation out  in front,  couple of strips, and all was right with the world. Nice fish, not a keeper size, but not far off. Repeat of same about ten minutes later, fish a bit larger.,spotted a couple more after and had a look see by the stripes, but no more eats.  Wind came up a bit of cloud , sun angle no longer optimal, and the visibility was done. Timing is everything, a nice rewarding  couple of hours.

From the North Shore of Long Island, Outdoor artist Bob Giordano reports: Hey John, Friday morning I had TU / outdoor writer Morgan Lyle out for a quick shot before work.
This was two days off the full moon and we weren't disappointed. In three hours right inside Lloyd Harbor we took over fifteen bass on Chartreuse Clousers and Pink Jiggies. Most fish were around 20" but we had a half a dozen just shy of 28 and one fish that made it to 28.5".  Bite was shallow in water from 5-8'. Last of the drop and well into the slack. Biggest fish was caught under hi sun around 8:45 whereupon I reeled up and we headed in for work. Have to start it sometime. Tonight the North Shore Flyrodders are kicking up a gam with six or so boats taking out the members for a little fun. Will report our results next week. Enjoy the weather.

From the flats of East Hampton, Capt. Ken Rafferty from Fishing Long Island reports: Morning…Arik, Gabby and Jimmy…Spin Tackle. Lots of Bluefish…..all sizes. On the way back in I stopped on a flat to check it out. Arik had a live Eel on and ready to go. We spot a niced sized Striper and I tell Arik to toss the eel in it’s path, about 15 feet ahead. He tosses……………………it lands right on the Stripers head and he’s gone!  JUNE 11th…late afternoon…Michael and John Davis…Fly and Spin. Both anglers caught plenty of Blues with Michael landing the largest, about 10 lbs.
Both anglers at one point had a Striper on but lost both.  JUNE 12th…Early morning…John Mannix…Fly-fishing. We stayed in the inlet where John landed a few small Stripers and some Bluefish.  JUNE 13th…Justin Donovan and Billy Bednarz…Fly.  Both anglers did well with Bluefish. Justin landed the largest Blue and lost a nice big Striper in the rocks.  Billy landed one Striper and lots of Bluefish.  JUNE 14th…Morning…Arik and Gabby…Spin tackle.  Once again we found plenty of Bluefish to play with and just before we were going to head back in I reminded Arik about that big Striper and asked if he wanted to try there again…….he agreed. Just as we started on the flat I spot a large fish, it’s a large Striper, maybe 40 lbs. I direct Arik as to where it is…….look! he aims and tosses the live Eel again on the head of this big fish and it take off with a splash. I rib Arik all the way back to the dock…..two weeks, two good shots, two bad tosses.  JUNE 14th…Afternoon…Jeffery Cash and Chris Gamble…Spin Tackle. At first it was slow but finally we hit into lots of big Bluefish. Both anglers had their fill.  JUNE 15th…Afternoon…Steve Kelly, Frank and Arianna…Spin Tackle. It would be their first time fishing with light tackle using surface poppers. It was an overcast day with a 70 % chance of rain but these anglers were determined to catch some Bluefish….and they did, all sizes. They never stopped even in the rain. JUNE 18th…Morning…Steve Wright…Fly-fishing. We started out picking up lots of small Blues in skinny water, about two feet. After about an hour of this I moved down a half mile or so and we found a big school of Stripers…..everywhere! EVERYWHERE!!!  I put on a small white half & half and handed Jeff the rod…no sooner had the flie hit the water it was in a Stripers mouth…zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz hook-up, land the fish, release the fish……cast out….hook-up…so on and so on. Jeff must have repeated this a dozen times before the fish became a little shy. So I moved away for ten minutes and came back with a yellow/black flie…hook-ups again and again. We lost count but what a great sight seeing this many Stripers in shallow water.   JUNE 19th…Full-day…Jeff Strong…Spin Tackle.  I headed to the same spot I found those large Bluefish the morning before and they were there again. Jeff hooked up on the first cast as the popper hit the water.  Other then the False Albie, these large Bluefish are the best fighting fish in skinny water up here in the northeast. When they first hook-up…they run like a Bonefish and when they find there is no where to go (no deep water) they jump and walk on their tails, shaking their heads and blowing their gills like a Tarpon trying to shake the hook. Jeff played with these Blues non stop for four hours. I then headed over to another spot to find hundreds of Stripers slowly moving along the beach. At first Jeff was able to land a few using the surface popper but after a while they got shy of it and just let it ride over them. These Stripers ranged from 24 to 30 inches long and all were completely visible in two feet of water. I gave Jeff a small Swimming plug and he landed a few more but I think the most fun was watching these Bass in such shallow water all around us.  JUNE 20th…Full-day…Michael Salzhauer and his friend Neil aboard Michael’s boat…Fly and Spin. At first we had to hunt to find any fish, we must have tried three or four spots that are normally productive but were slow on this day. Finally Bluefish…Michael on the bow with the Fly rod and Neil at the stern with Spin Tackle. Both anglers hooking up cast after cast with nice fish. At one point Michael lands a Fluke, a large Sea Robin, a Porgie and two Stripers that measured just under 28 inches. With the Bluefish that give him a great Grand Slam……five different types of fish on the Fly! I took Michael and Neil over to that flat where all those Stripers are and they were there but we couldn’t get Michael’s boat in close enough. When we did get near the wind started blowing us in on them and spooking the fish away. We should have been on my boat.  JUNE 21st…Morning…Arik, Gabby and Daniel…Spin Tackle…live eels.  As the guys get in the boat at the dock I start ribbing Arik about that big Striper he missed two weeks in a row and asked if he wanted to give it a try the first thing this morning and get it over with….lol.  He agreed and said "let’s go" and so we did and even though I don’t like trying to sight fish at 8:00 am due to the sun being so low in the sky…we would try. I get to the spot, I am at Arik’s side on the bow with Daniel behind us. I see, we see a large shadow…it looks like a sand shark…it gets closer, about fifteen feet away, it’s a giant Striper in two feet of water. I tell Arik to toss the Eel…..he tosses it in the direction the fish is swimming. We stand perfectly still, quiet…..not a sound. We watch as the fish circles the eel, picks it up and starts swimming off. The bail on Ariks reel is open, the line is playing out………………………………………………………………………..at about a hundred feet I instruct Arik to close the bail but do not set the hook. As the line gets taught, the Eel and hook start sliding out of it’s stomach and the circle hook snags the fish’s lip and so it happened!…fish on, Arik is yelling, everyone on the boat is yelling. There is a small boat about two hundred feet away catching small 3 lb. Bluefish wondering what we are yelling about. It take about 15 minute and the fish is at the boat. I put my bogga grip on it’s lower lip and lift with two hands to slid it over the side of my gunnel. The fish is exhusted, Arik is Exhusted I lift the fish with the bogga that only go’s to 35 lbs. it bottoms out…….flat out…this fish is 40 lbs.

From East Hampton, Capt. David Blinken from North Flats Guiding reports: There is wonderful fishing when the weather is cooperating. We were dodging thunder storms yesterday and the previous week brought a combination of clouds, sun and rain. The good part in all this was at least the winds were down. I have seen bass feeding on shrimp and when they can sand eels, but they seem content to stay on a steady diet of crustaceans for now. There are large groups of blues all over the place and in some spots BIG daisy chainners. Things are shaping up well for the summer. Remember lets all release the one we want to keep so we can release it again!

Capt. Chris Hessert, from Manhattan Fly reports: On/off...on/off, the action has changed from day to day. Bass action was decent in early part of the week early 4:30 to 8ish or so and then the blue fish would come in by the acre, you could hear slapping and flopping all around the boat on baby bunker and silversides, fun on the 8w/9w. The early week bass were schoolies for the most part. Second half of the week noticed temps dipped a bit the the action surpassed the first week June! Like Montauk! without the traffic, well, sort of...Thursday we boated about 18 bass to 27 inches and 1 to 33 inches, still had the blue mixed in. Saturday was huge!, Had Steven  Beasley out with  his buddy and they did very well...somewhere around 25 bass to 27 inches, 1 at 33 inches and 15 lbs. The days beast came in at what we though was around 24/25 pounds and long! after a lenghty tug, Steven got this fish to the boat and during the reach it popped the leader! a really nice fish! Probably the largest bass this spring. All this action was on the fly...funny thing, could not mark any of these bass...they were all on the surface! After 5 hours of tugging on bass we tossed in the towel and Steven headed to the ball game with his son...Saturdays dont get much better than that!
I'm still watching that eddie move a bit closer and its hasnt broken up...we will see. Also getting some small B'fin tuna reports here and there...just cant say exactly where!
I do have to say, this  has been a really good bass run (except during the heat wave),
Much better than last year

Massachusets Fishing Reports
Capt. John Mendelson from Boston Fishstix Guides reports: The fishing continues to be solid in Boston.  Richard fished this morning and found breaking fish under birds before hitting the structure to find a steady pick of bass, all on the flyrod.  There also continue to be large schools of pogies scattered throughout the harbor.  Unfortunately, most the the time these schools of big baitfish are unmolested.  Bluefish have moved into our waters though the ratio of bass to bluefish continues to be very good.  Tuna are here and we have found some decent feeds out on Stellwagen Bank.  We will start targeting these fish more aggressively come July.

Farther North, Capt. Dave Rimmer reports: Gloucester to Salisbury, MA. Striped bass fishing continues to be very good north of Boston. As June unfolds, everyone is impressed by the amount of bait around, from mackerel to pogies, and sand eels of all sizes. One friend live-lining macks off Gloucester had 6 fish over 40 inches. On the Merrimack River, bass are abundant, with steady action in the mouth a constant and fish on Joppa Flats always available, although sometimes a challenge to find. We did manage to scrounge up a 22 pound, 41 inch beauty on fly in 3 feet of water on Joppa Flats on June 19. These big fish really explode when they get hooked by any means in this shallow water, but particularly on fly equipment, you must have a soft touch at the moment of impact, meaning take care not to strike the fish too hard right away. We break off several hogs each year for this reason. Best to let the fish grab the fly and go, then give it a little extra set once that fish is applying steady pressure with a bit more line out. This week of June 25 is presenting some sweet early morning high tides, so everything from the rocks of Cape Ann to the estuaries of the Great Marsh should be fishing well. Over the next few weeks bass should be transitioning to their usual mid-summer haunts and I personally will start fishing a lot harder on the outer beaches, even sight fish over the light sandy bottoms when weather permits. 

Connecticut Fishing Reports
Capt. Mike Warecke from Southeastern Connecticut Fishing Charters reports: Summers here! The reefs along the Connecticut coast are showing signs of life. Bass in the teens are thick with bigger bass mixed in. The night bite seems to be the best for larger fish. With the weak moon over the past week I took the oppertunity to chase some tuna. Saturday I found myself on Cape Cod in 200' of water with 100lb. bluefin behind the boat. Took 1 cast and put my fly right in the mix, 2 strips and a hook up. 1 minute later on a 14wt rod I landed a 30lb bass. Thought I would never be disappointed in a 30lber on the fly, but I was. In all, its shaping up to be a great summer! 

Maine Fishing Reports
Capt. John Ford from Maine Saltwater Fishing reports: Striped bass fishing, you're not missing much if you have not hit the salt yet !! It started off decent about June 15th in the Portland area rivers and some mud flats. But it's been tough fishing since... lots of bait around and mounds of Mackerel, also quite a few BIG pogies (bunker) which we have not seen in many years BUT not a lot of bass molesting any of the bait yet. Picking up a few fish here and there working hard. Water temps are marginal but ok. I have been fishing everything from north of Portland and even down towards Pine Point & Scarb and it's the same everywhere. You get a decent day of seeing some fish and they are gone the next ? Weather has been LESS than perfect with dense fog every morning which makes searching tougher. There has been a lot of worms hatches and worms around and maybe the fish are keying in on these and avoiding the other baits ? It's set to bust open any day now and the tides of the next few days may change things...