Striped bass push hard across Long Island after the storm

What's biting

What's next

Look for the striped bass push to keep building through the weekend. WeGo Bait and Tackle on the North Fork reports striped bass came on strong during the nor'easter itself, and that pattern is worth watching: these early-season blows tend to trigger the next wave of migrating fish rather than shut a bite down. With water in the low-to-mid 60s and still cooling, more fish should stage along North Shore structure, where Shamrock Charterboat and Rip Tide III are already seeing black sea bass improve behind the storm, with a few weakfish mixed in at the rail.

High tide at Montauk falls around 6:51 AM with the next low near 1:30 PM, putting the early morning and early afternoon in play for working inlets and rips this week. Fluke anglers have one more week to work the remaining bite before the October 15 closure tightens the fleet's focus onto striped bass and black sea bass. With the Waning Crescent moon limiting tidal extremes for now, expect a steady rather than explosive bite into the weekend, with afternoon high tides worth planning around as the week progresses.

Context

This is right on schedule for early October on Long Island. The fall striper migration typically peaks through this window as bait pushes south and water temperatures slide into the low 60s, and a nor'easter arriving now is a classic trigger rather than an interruption. Fluke are in their usual late-season holding pattern before the mid-October closure, still catchable on the better tides but thinning as water cools. Black sea bass and weakfish showing well on North Shore structure also tracks typical fall behavior, as those species group up on reefs and wrecks ahead of winter. Overall, the region is squarely in peak fall-run conditions.