Gone Fishing: Opening the season

Here’s the debut of our new fishing column: Henry Cruise, proprietor.

This time of year, as rising spring temperatures slowly force back the last vestiges of winter’s chill, the question on every fisherman’s mind is: When? 

The waters surrounding Shelter Island are still very cool, about 44 degrees, meaning the anticipated “spring run” is yet to come. Local blackfish, or tautog, haven’t come out of their wintering state, but with the sunny, warm days forecasted, it shouldn’t be long before everything turns on. 

WHAT TO EXPECT 

April often starts off slow, and it’s been no different this year. But as the water temperature rises, Peconic Bay will come to life. As an angler whose cabin fever often gets the best of him, my first catches of the season are often blackfish. As the water temps creep closer to 50, Peconic Bay’s residential blackfish begin to actively feed again. For anyone looking to get an early start to the 2026 saltwater season, use soft baits like clam belly and sea worms threaded on a blackfish jig to lure these sedentary fish. 

Location is everything when targeting “tog.” They are drawn to structure, so places like the Greenport public dock and the rock piles off the Green Lawns are excellent spots to try and find your first fish of the season. 

Patience is important for any kind of fishing, but especially when targeting springtime blackfish. Last April, my first tog trip in the bay resulted in only a single bite. Luckily, it was a keeper. The water temp was 48 degrees midday, so the metabolism of the fish was still slow. If you find yourself in a similar situation, understand that your offering of clam belly or sea worms is likely going to be one of the first opportunities a blackfish has had to feed since the fall. Expect it to be not only slow to react, but skeptical of your bait. 

When you‘re only getting a handful of bites each time on the water, it’s important to make the most of them. Consider your choice of tackle; given the tautog’s skepticism of any offering, the bites you’ll feel will be soft and hard to notice, so braided line and a monofilament/fluorocarbon leader are essential. Braided line doesn’t stretch and has a much thinner diameter than its counterparts, giving the angler better understanding of what is happening to the jig. I recommend a blackfish jig no heavier than two ounces on a sensitive medium-heavy spinning rod. 

Also, always take tides into account. I’ve had most of my luck with springtime blackfish at the very beginning of an outgoing tide. This allows complete control over where the jig hits the bottom while there’s still enough water movement for the fish to want to feed. 

If you’re not a fan of the smell of clam belly or waiting long periods of time for a bite, then I recommend waiting a couple of weeks for the first migratory species to enter the bay: Striped Bass. 

Catching these fish requires a different approach, especially when it comes to tides. Bass feed heaviest when the tide is moving. Many times, I’ve seen a striped bass bite die completely as the tide slackened. Jessup’s (at the mouth of Little Peconic Bay) is a great place to pick up your first striper of the season. This is often the place where the first schools of sizable bass will be found, as its fast-moving waters make baitfish vulnerable. Diamond jigs and bucktails are often most effective here, imitating a dazed butterfish very well. 

In the early days, these fish are usually few and far between. But with every tide cycle, more and larger fish show up, as the Peconic Bay becomes a pit stop for stripers on their northward migration. In the bay, they will gorge on the newly arrived squid and butterfish. 

For the inexperienced angler, targeting an early-season striper may seem intimidating, so it’s important to remember how much these fish move. If you fish a spot and don’t catch anything, don’t deem that spot fishless! Every tide cycle counts in the spring, so that same spot the next day might have stripers blowing baitfish out of the water. 

When it comes to what to tie to the end of your line, some safe options are diamond jigs, swim shads, and any kind of swimming plug. But what I find most effective in the spring is “matching the hatch:” If a striper throws up a half-eaten squid, bounce a diamond jig off the bottom. If you see stripers chasing butterfish, throw a white shad. While these adjustments may seem small, imitating what striped bass are feeding on can turn a one-fish day into a double-digit fish day. 

When targeting striped bass, I still have a preference for braided line, but both monofilament and fluorocarbon can be fished effectively. I like having a conventional rod with a diamond jig to effectively fish the bottom of the water column, and a spinning rod rigged with a swim shad in case I spot a bass feeding on the surface. 

Early spring around Shelter Island can be very tough for the angler, but when everything lines up, it offers some of the best fishing of the year.