Bay hits 74 degrees as fluke crash the Captree drift and bass stage for full moon

The bay hit 74 degrees this week and everything changed. That's a full seven degrees warmer than the ocean side of Fire Island Inlet, and when you get that kind of thermal gradient, bait gets confused and fish get aggressive. The Captree fleet has been cashing in on fluke that are stacked up like cordwood on the ebb tide, and with the full moon hitting Sunday, we're about to see the kind of fishing that makes you remember why you live on Long Island.

I ran out Tuesday morning and found the fluke bite absolutely on fire from the inlet mouth to the Robert Moses bridges. White Gulp Swimming Mullets on 3/4-ounce chartreuse bucktails were the ticket, dragged slow on the drift in 25 to 35 feet. The key was staying with the outgoing water — as that warm bay water dumps out on the ebb, it's carrying spearing, sand eels, and juvenile bunker right into the mouths of doormat fluke that have been waiting in the cooler ocean water.

The party boats have been limiting out on keeper fluke, with fish to six pounds coming over the rails. I watched the Captree Pride work a drift off the lighthouse Wednesday where they were pulling doubles and triples on every drop. The technique that's been working is a simple fishfinder rig with a 3-ounce sinker, 18-inch leader, and either squid strips or those 5-inch white Gulp baits. Let it hit bottom, then lift and drop — the fluke are sitting right on the sand waiting for that bait to flutter down.

What's really got me excited is the striped bass staging that's happening as we build toward Sunday's full moon. I've been seeing bass marks on the finder from Democrat Point all the way to the Fire Island bridges, and they're starting to show that pre-spawn restlessness. The water temperature is sitting in that perfect 66 to 74-degree range where bass feed aggressively, and the lunar pull is going to trigger some serious movement.

The surf has been producing too, especially on the incoming tide with this northwest wind pattern we've been locked into. I walked Democrat Point at dawn yesterday and found bass working the first gut, crushing spearing that were getting pushed against the beach. Bucktails with white or chartreuse trailers were getting hit on every cast for about an hour window right as the tide turned.

One thing to watch this weekend is the enforcement situation. Word around the dock is that DEC has been stepping up boarding activity after some overcrowding issues on the party fleet. Nothing that should affect your fishing, but if you're running a charter or party boat, make sure your paperwork is squared away and you're not pushing capacity limits.

The thermal structure is what's really driving everything right now. That 74-degree bay water is like a magnet for bait, and when it meets the 67-degree ocean water at the inlet, you get this mixing zone that concentrates everything. I've been seeing massive bait clouds on the sonar, mostly spearing and juvenile bunker, and where there's bait, there's fish.

Looking at the weekend, Sunday's full moon is going to be the key. Full moon means big tides, and big tides mean serious water movement through the inlet. I'm planning to be on the water before sunrise Sunday to catch that last hour of the flood tide, then ride the ebb out as the sun comes up. That's when the bass bite has been most consistent — right at that tide change when the bait gets disoriented.

For the fluke fishermen, stick with the proven pattern: white or chartreuse bucktails with Gulp trailers, fished on the drift in 25 to 40 feet of water. The Robert Moses area has been most consistent, but don't overlook the deeper water off the Captree channel where the bigger fish have been holding.

The northwest wind pattern we've been in is perfect for small boat fishing. Seas have been 2 to 3 feet, and the wind has been laying down by afternoon, making for comfortable runs and easy drifts. Water clarity has been excellent too — that thermal gradient is keeping the water clean and green, which is exactly what you want for sight fishing.

Next week I'm watching for the post-full-moon period when the bass really start to move. If this thermal pattern holds and we keep getting these northwest winds, we could be looking at some of the best June fishing we've seen in years. The bait is here, the water temperature is perfect, and the fish are staged and ready. All we need now is to time the tides right and let the moon do its work.