Porgies stack thick around Shelter Island as the bay slides into full summer mode

The Peconic did what it always does the last week of June into the Fourth — it warmed up fast and settled into that thick, soupy calm that tells you summer's here for real. We had a run of light southwest wind days, a couple of afternoon pop-up thunderstorms that came through and dropped the barometer for an hour before clearing out, and the bay water pushed well up into the low-to-mid 70s in the shallower coves around Noyack and Sag Harbor. Deeper water out toward Orient and the Gut is still running a few degrees cooler, which is exactly the kind of gradient that gets fish moving between zones depending on the tide and time of day. That warm-shallow, cool-deep split is the whole story of this week's fishing, honestly — it's why the porgies are piled up tight around structure in 15 to 25 feet, and why the bass have gone quiet and lazy through the heat of the day but still show for an hour around first light.

Looking ahead, the tides are building toward bigger swings as we work through the week, and that extra current is going to matter more than the weather. Bigger water means faster sluice through Plum Gut and around the Shelter Island reefs, which stirs up sand eels and spearing and gets the bait moving — that's when the bluefish and the occasional early weakfish show up chasing it. Wind's supposed to stay light out of the south-southwest through the weekend with maybe a sea breeze kicking in by afternoon, which is good news for anyone running a small boat out to the reefs or drifting the flats off Jessup's Neck. No fronts on the immediate horizon that I'm worried about — this is about as stable a stretch as you get in July, which usually means slower but steadier fishing rather than a big blowup bite.

Porgies are the story right now, and it isn't close. Shelter Island's the epicenter — the reef off Hay Beach, the rockpile off Cedar Island, and the drop-off along the Ram Island side are all holding scup stacked two and three deep on the bottom. Standard rig is doing the job: two-hook bottom rig, size 4 or 2 hooks, a couple ounces of lead depending on the current, and squid strips or sandworm pieces. Fish it right on bottom in 15 to 25 feet on the last two hours of the incoming tide and you'll load the cooler. Guys anchoring up tight to the structure are doing better than the ones drifting through it — porgies hold, they don't chase, so precision beats coverage here. Some quality mixed in too, fish pushing a pound and a half, which for scup is a nice fish.

Fluke fishing is more of a grind, and I'll be straight about that. The channels between Shelter Island and the North Fork — the stretch off Greenport and down through Southold Bay — are holding fish, but you've got to work for them. Best results have come on the last of the outgoing into the start of the incoming, drifting 4-inch white or pink Gulp Swimming Mullets on a 3/4-ounce bucktail, bounced slow along the channel edges in 18 to 30 feet. Nothing's come easy — for every keeper you're picking through short fish and the occasional skate. If you want a better shot, focus on the deeper cuts near Jessup's Neck and the mouth of Three Mile Harbor, where the current funnels bait tight against the drop.

Stripers have gone into that classic early-July pattern where they feed hard for a short window and then disappear into deeper, cooler water for the rest of the day. Best action's been right at first light in Gardiners Bay off Orient Point and along the rips near Plum Gut, working topwater plugs and soft-plastic swimbaits over structure in 8 to 15 feet before the sun gets up over the trees. Once that sun's up, those fish slide off into 25-30 foot water and sulk, and you're better off targeting them on bucktails bounced deep near the Gut itself on a strong tide stage rather than beating the shallows. Bluefish have been mixed in with the bass on the early bite, chopping up rigged eels and poppers alike — good numbers, but nothing exceptional in size, mostly 2 to 4 pounders.

Blackfish season's closed this time of year in most of these waters, so that's off the table until fall, and weakfish have been scarce — a few reports of fish in the 3-4 pound class taken on bucktails tipped with squid strips down deep in Sag Harbor Cove on the evening tide, but it's not a pattern yet, more a handful of lucky drifts.

If I had one day this week, I'd be on the Shelter Island porgy grounds at first light before the day-boat traffic gets thick, then I'd run out to Orient for that dawn bass window before the sun climbs and shuts it down. The bigger tides building through the week should help push more bait through the Gut and could trigger a better weakfish showing if the pattern holds — that's the one I'm watching closest. Otherwise, keep your expectations realistic on the fluke, be precise on the porgies, and get out early for the bass. That's summer on the Peconic.