New moon springs reopen the sunset flood bite off Kings Point

Last week the Sound did what it always does in the dead heat of early July — it went quiet in the middle of the day and came alive at the edges. We had a stretch of settled weather after the last front pushed through, seas laid down flat, and the water in the back bays climbed hard. Little Neck Bay and Manhasset Bay have been running warm, shallow-water warm, the kind that pushes bait and gamefish out looking for something cooler. That's not a guess — the bay-side pattern we're seeing mirrors what's happening across the whole South Shore, where surface temps pushing toward 79 degrees have shoved fluke out of the skinny water and into the channels. Same story here. The fluke that were sitting in Hempstead Harbor and the mouth of Manhasset Bay two weeks ago have slid out to the current lines — Throgs Neck Bridge channel, the drop along Stepping Stones, the deeper humps off Execution Rocks. Anywhere the tide runs harder and the bottom holds cooler water, that's where they went.

Now here's what matters for this week: we're running up on a new moon, and that means building spring tides through the weekend. I've got my eye on Friday through Monday, the 10th through the 13th, because the PM high stand at Kings Point starts converging with sunset right in that window — peak alignment looks like the 11th and 12th. This is the first evening flood-into-dark setup we've had since the full moon back in June, and if you've fished this beat as long as I have, you know that combination — big spring tide, high water arriving right as the light drops — is when the resident bass stop sulking on the bottom and come up to feed. I'd circle those three evenings on the calendar before anything else this week.

As for what's actually coming over the rail: it's a mixed bag right now, and I'll be straight with you — it's not been an easy pick. Execution Rocks is still doing what it always does on the outgoing, holding bass tight to the rock pile in that 15 to 25 foot depth range where the current wraps around the ledge. Guys working bucktails — the 1-ounce white with a strip of fresh bunker — down through there on the last two hours of the ebb have been picking up schoolies to the mid-20s, with the occasional better fish mixed in early and late in the tide. Nothing that's going to make the front page, but steady enough that it's worth the trip if you're patient and you fish the whole drop instead of running around.

The bunker schools that stacked up off Matinecock Point back in June haven't fully broken up — they've thinned out and scattered a little with the heat, but there's still enough bait around that the bluefish have found it. Early morning, first light, before the boat traffic picks up, I'm seeing choppers busting on top off Matinecock and around Hart Island. If you can get out there by 5:30, poppers and metal — a Kastmaster or a Hopkins — will get hit almost every cast for a half hour. Once the sun gets up over the trees and the boats start running, that bite shuts off fast, so don't sleep in.

Fluke fishing has been honest work this week, not a giveaway. With the bay-side fish pushed out to the channels, your best drift has been along the Throgs Neck Bridge pilings on the last of the incoming and first hour of the outgoing, working white Gulp Swimming Mullets on 3/4-ounce bucktails right along bottom in 30 to 40 feet. I've also had good reports off the deeper edge near Stepping Stones, same depth range, same slow bucktail drag with a strip of squid trailing off the hook for scent. Nothing huge — most fish are running 16 to 19 inches — but there's enough keeper-sized fish mixed in that a few solid drifts will put dinner in the cooler.

Porgies remain the most dependable thing going on this stretch of the Sound right now, and honestly, if you want a guaranteed bent rod for the kids, this is it. The humps off Matinecock and around Hart Island are holding good numbers in 20 to 35 feet. Bloodworms or clam on a simple high-low rig, small hooks, and you'll load the cooler on almost any stage of tide, though the bite does turn on hardest through the last two hours of the incoming.

Weakfish, I have to be honest — they're just not here in any numbers worth chasing. The water's warm enough on paper, but warm water alone hasn't been the trigger this species needs the last couple seasons, and this year's no different so far. If you stumble into a few working a bunker school at dusk, consider it a bonus, not a plan.

Looking ahead, my money this week is on that sunset flood window at Kings Point starting Friday and building through Sunday and Monday as the new moon tightens up the tide swing. If the wind stays out of the south and light like it's been, I'd be positioned on the west side of Execution Rocks or working the edge toward Stepping Stones right as the tide turns to high, fishing bucktails and swimming plugs through last light into full dark. Bass have a way of showing up right on that high-water mark when the spring tide is running this hard, and with the bait still scattered around from Matinecock to Hart Island, there's enough forage in the system to hold fish through the weekend. If that window disappoints, the backup plan doesn't change — channel edges for fluke, the humps for porgies. Either way, there's enough happening on this stretch of water to make the trip worthwhile, just don't expect it to be handed to you.