Bass blitz fires the western Sound as bunker schools stack thick off Matinecock

The western Sound finally woke up this week, and when it did, it came alive with a vengeance. After weeks of scratching for fish, the bunker schools that should have been here in May finally showed up off Matinecock Point, and the bass followed like they were reading from the same playbook I've been watching for three decades.

The action kicked off Tuesday morning when the first real schools of peanut bunker pushed into the bay on the flood tide. By Wednesday, you couldn't miss them — thick clouds of bait stacked up from the Matinecock flats all the way to the Stepping Stones. The bass moved in right behind them, and suddenly every boat from here to City Island was marking fish.

I've been working the 25 to 35-foot zone off Matinecock on the incoming water, and it's been lights out for slot fish. These aren't the schoolies we've been picking at all spring — we're talking solid 28 to 32-inch bass that are feeding hard on those peanuts. Live-lining the bunker on a simple fishfinder rig with a 6/0 circle hook has been the ticket. Keep your sinker light — just enough to get down in the current — and let that bait swim naturally in the tide.

The key has been timing the flood tide right. Start fishing about an hour before the turn and work through the first three hours of incoming water. The bass are staging on the channel edges where the deep water meets the flats, ambushing bait as it gets pushed up by the current. I've been finding the best action in 28 to 32 feet, right where the bottom starts to slope up toward the shallows.

Execution Rocks has been producing too, especially on the back side where the current breaks around the structure. The outgoing tide there has been money — bass are sitting in the eddy waiting for bait to get swept past. Same rig setup, but you need a bit more weight to hold bottom in that current. Three-ounce bank sinkers have been perfect.

The Throgs Neck Bridge pilings are holding fish on both tides, but you've got to be precise with your positioning. Work the up-current side of the pilings on the flood, the down-current side on the ebb. The bass are using that structure to break the current and conserve energy while they feed. Bucktails tipped with pork rind have been deadly when the live bait bite slows down — 1-ounce white bucktails bounced along the bottom.

Fluke fishing, on the other hand, has been a grind. The water's warming up nicely — hitting 68 degrees in the back bays — but the flatfish just aren't cooperating yet. I'm marking plenty of shorts in the usual spots off Lloyd Neck and the Huntington flats, but keepers are few and far between. The few decent fish I've seen came on white Gulp Swimming Mullets rigged on 3/4-ounce bucktails, drifted slow in 20 to 25 feet of water.

The problem with the fluke bite seems to be bait-related. There's plenty of spearing and small snappers around, but not the sand eels and larger baits that really get the big fluke excited. Until we see more substantial forage move in, it's going to stay a pick-and-choose game with the summer flounder.

Porgies have been a bright spot for family fishing. The reefs around Hart Island and the structure off Sands Point have been loaded with scup in the 10 to 14-inch range. High-low rigs baited with clam or squid strips work best. Fish the bottom on the slack tides when the current isn't ripping too hard.

Looking ahead, this new moon cycle should keep the bass bite hot. The spring tides are going to push more bait around, and with water temperatures climbing into the low 70s, we should see even more activity. I'm watching for the bunker schools to spread east toward Huntington and west toward the Bronx — when that happens, this whole western Sound is going to explode.

The weekend looks promising with light winds and calm seas. Get out there early, find the bait, and you'll find the fish. After a slow start to the season, the western Sound is finally fishing like June should feel.