New moon springs light up the Kings Point flood as sunset stripers return

New moon's coming and that means one thing on this end of the Sound — springs. Big springs, the kind that push more water through the Stepping Stones and Execution Rocks than we've seen since the June full moon. I've been watching the Kings Point tide charts all week and here's the setup that's got me excited: the high stand at Kings Point is lining up almost dead-on with sunset, Friday through Monday, the 10th through the 13th. That's not a coincidence you want to sleep on. When a good flood peaks right as the light drops, the bait gets pushed hard against structure at the exact moment predators want to feed under low light. First time we've had that alignment since the full moon in June, and it's the kind of window that separates the guys who got out there from the guys who read about it after.

Last week was a mixed bag, I'll be straight with you. Wind had some south in it a few days, laid the surface down flat and greasy off Matinecock, which is usually good news, but the bite was more stop-and-go than I'd like. Water's been sitting warm — bay temps pushing into the high 70s in the back coves, and that's pushed a lot of the fluke out of Little Neck Bay and Manhasset Bay proper and into the channel edges and the harbor mouths, chasing cooler, cleaner water. That's the same pattern we're seeing bay-wide — fluke sliding out toward the inlets and deeper structure as the shallow water gets uncomfortable. I don't fight it. When the bay gets soupy in July, I go where the current keeps things honest.

Stripers have been the story of the week, though scattered. Execution Rocks on the last two hours of the outgoing has produced the most consistent action — schoolies mostly, 18 to 24 inches, but there's been a scattering of better fish mixed in, up to 30-plus, holding tight to the rockpile on the northeast corner where the current wraps and drops bait into an eddy. I've been dragging bucktails there — 1-ounce white with a 4-inch white Fin-S trailer, bounced slow along the bottom in 15 to 20 feet, right as the tide starts pulling hard. Diamond jigs in bunker patterns have worked too if you see any surface activity, but honestly most of what I've seen has been sub-surface takes — fish nosing bait against the rocks rather than blitzing.

Stepping Stones has been quieter than I'd like for July, but it's still worth a pass on the top of the outgoing, especially around the light structure itself. A few guys working live eels at dusk have connected with better fish — one report of a 34-incher taken on a green mackerel-pattern eel, slow-trolled along the rip line where the current splits east and west of the light. That's classic Stepping Stones behavior — the bigger bass hold in that seam and let the smaller fish and bait get funneled to them.

Now, with this weekend's PM flood setup, here's where I'd put my money. Kings Point high stand hitting right at sunset means the last hour of daylight into the first hour of dark should have bait getting pinned against the rocks at Execution and along the Matinecock Point shoreline just as the light fails — that's prime striper feeding time, and with the extra push from new-moon springs, the current's going to be moving harder than it has in weeks. I'd be set up on the northeast side of Execution by 7:30 PM working topwater — a Doc's Goofy Jig or a Super Strike pencil popper — right through last light, then switch to bucktails or eels once it's fully dark and the fish drop deeper.

Bluefish have been sparse close to shore this week, which is a little unusual for mid-July, but I suspect they're following the bunker schools that haven't fully committed to Matinecock yet — I've seen pods of peanut bunker staging off the point but not the big adult schools we usually get stacked up by now. When those bunker show in force, the blues won't be far behind, and neither will the better bass. Worth checking that water daily this week because when it turns on, it turns on fast.

Fluke fishing inshore has been slow and I won't sugarcoat it — the warm bay water has fish scattered and picky. Better action has come from working the channel edges outside Manhasset Bay and off Hart Island, drifting 4-inch white Gulp Swimming Mullets on 3/4-ounce bucktails in 25 to 35 feet, outgoing tide, keeping the drift slow and the bait ticking bottom. Nothing spectacular — a few keepers to 4 pounds mixed with a lot of shorts — but it's honest work if you put in the drifts.

Porgies have been steady and reliable around Hart Island and the rockier stretches toward Execution — small hooks, sandworms or clams, anchored up on the last of the incoming. Not glamorous but a good bet if the bass and fluke aren't cooperating and you want fish for the table.

Looking ahead: this new-moon spring tide window through Monday is the best shot we've had in weeks for a real evening bass bite at Execution and Stepping Stones. If the wind stays out of the southwest and light like it's been trending, I'd fish the last two hours of daylight into dark, right on that flood-to-sunset overlap. If it doesn't pan out at Execution, I'd shift to Matinecock and look for those bunker schools finally committing — because once they do, this whole stretch changes fast.