Bass push through Plum Gut as Sound water warms to summer temps

The water's finally talking summer out here on the North Fork. Been watching the thermometer climb steady all week, and the fish are responding like they should. Sound's running a good 68 degrees now, warm enough to pull bait through Plum Gut and stack it against our rocky points.

Best action's been the stripers working the approach to the Gut. Nothing massive, but solid keeper fish in the 28 to 34-inch range. They're hitting live eels drifted on the flood tide, right where the current starts to accelerate toward the Race. Key is getting your eel down to where that cooler bottom water meets the warmer surface layer — about 25 feet in most spots. Circle hook on a fishfinder rig, just enough weight to hold bottom when the tide's not ripping too hard.

Seen some decent fish taken on artificials too, but you've got to work for them. White bucktails with pork rind trailers are producing, especially early morning when there's still some chop on the water. Cast uptide and let the current work your jig down through the water column. The bass are suspended, not glued to bottom like they were in May.

Porgy fishing's been the real surprise this week. Rocky Point and the structure off Horton Point have been loaded with keeper-sized fish. These aren't the usual cocktail blues — we're talking 12 to 14-inch porgies with some real shoulders on them. High-low rigs with size 4 hooks, tipped with clam or squid strips. Fish the slack water around the tide change, when they're not fighting the current to feed.

Weakfish showed up in small numbers Tuesday night. Nothing to write home about, but enough to get your attention. Caught three keepers off the Mattituck Inlet jetty on pink Deadly Dick spoons, worked slow through the water column on the outgoing tide. Haven't seen weakies in any numbers for two seasons, so even a few fish feels like progress.

Bluefish are around but scattered. Mostly small stuff in the 2 to 4-pound range, though I did see one boat come in with a few gator blues that looked like they'd been feeding hard on bunker. They were working spoons and poppers in the early morning, before the boat traffic picked up.

Bait situation's interesting. Plenty of spearing and small snappers along the shoreline, which explains why the porgies are so active. Haven't seen the massive bunker schools that usually show up this time of year, but there's enough around to keep the bass interested. Sand eels are thick in the shallows, especially around the oyster cages between Rocky Point and Orient.

Tides have been moderate this week — we're coming off the new moon, so the current's not ripping like it will be in a few days. That's actually been good for fishing, letting you hold bottom without fighting 4-knot currents. But the full moon's coming July 1st, and that's when things should really turn on. Those spring tides will flush a lot of bait out of the bays and estuaries, and the bass know it.

Water clarity's been good despite some southwest wind earlier in the week. That chop actually helped the fishing — broke up the surface tension and made the fish less spooky. Calm days have been tougher, especially in the shallows where the bass can see your line and leader.

Looking ahead, I'm watching for the first real push of summer fish through Plum Gut. Water temperature's right, bait's starting to move, and the moon phase is setting up perfectly. If this southwest wind pattern holds, it should push warmer water up from the Jersey coast and really fire things up. Keep an eye on the tide charts — the best fishing's been two hours before peak flood, when the current's building but not yet ripping. That's when the bass set up in the feeding lanes and wait for the bait to come to them.