Albies Push Into Montauk as Long Island's Fall Run Kicks Off

What's biting

What's next

The pattern across this month's On The Water Long Island reports has been consistent: the nearshore bluefin tuna bite that carried July and August is fading, and everything moving in behind it — bonito, Spanish mackerel, and now the first albies off Montauk — points at an accelerating fall transition. If that trend holds, expect the false albacore push to keep building through the rest of September, spreading from the East End surf (per Tight Lines Tackle's Ditch Plains and Gin Beach reports) toward the western Sound beaches that River Bay Outfitters in Baldwin flagged as 'starting to show' small bonito and Spanish mackerel.

Striped bass are the story to watch over the next 2-3 days. Multiple North Shore surf and harbor sources — Cow Harbor, Mount Sinai, and Fishing East Coast Bait and Tackle in Little Neck — describe schoolies and slot fish showing on peanut bunker, spearing, and swim shads, with Little Neck's nighttime bite already getting a lift from a recent full moon. As water temperatures continue their seasonal slide toward fall, that early trickle should organize into steadier numbers, particularly around dawn and dusk tide changes at the harbor mouths and inlet rips.

Fluke anglers should plan around the next few weekend tides while the season is still open and fish are biting well — Bob's Bait and Tackle, Fishfinder II, and the Shinnecock-area shops are all reporting solid numbers in the bays with better average size out on the ocean reefs, but that bite typically tapers as water cools through late September. Sea bass and porgy fishing should stay a dependable backup on days fluke or blues are slow, especially on the North Shore reefs and chum slicks Shamrock Charterboat and Rip Tide III describe as already 'excellent.'

Offshore, yellowfin tuna remain available 25 to 30 miles out per White Water Outfitters, with bigeye showing in the canyons — a window worth targeting on the next stretch of clean weather before effort shifts fully toward the inshore albie and bass game. Boats are increasingly finding bluefin tuna 'more challenging to locate consistently,' per Double D Charters in Montauk, a sign that grounds bite is starting to wind down for the season.

No hard water-temperature or buoy data was available for this report, so treat timing windows as directional — check a local forecast and tide chart before committing to a specific spot.

Context

Mid-September is squarely inside Long Island's classic fall transition window, and this year's sequence of On The Water Long Island reports tracks that pattern closely: the summer bluefin tuna bite that ran hot through July and August began fading by late August, giving way first to bonito and Spanish mackerel, and now the first false albacore off Montauk — right on the seasonal script anglers expect as water cools and baitfish push out of the back bays.

That said, The Fisherman's New England forecast (covering the broader Northeast, not Long Island specifically) describes this year's albie run as 'weird' so far — strong feeds mixed with stretches of inconsistency and fish moving around more than usual. Whether that pattern extends into Montauk and the East End isn't confirmed in this week's Long Island-specific reports, but it's worth watching if the bite feels patchy over the next couple weeks.

Striped bass showing up now as schoolies and slot fish in the surf and harbors is typical for this point in September — the leading edge of what usually builds into the full fall run through October and November. Fluke remains open and productive across most reported spots, consistent with a normal late-summer-into-fall bay pattern, though anglers should check current state size/bag regulations before harvesting, as the NY DEC newsletter feed notes recreational black sea bass regulation changes are in effect this season.

No prior-year data was available in this feed set for a direct comparison, so this read is based on within-season trend across the available reports rather than a year-over-year benchmark.