New York deep sea fishing: Montauk and the Long Island canyons

What you fish off Long Island, and when

Montauk’s fishery is a tuna, shark, and striped bass story, with a bottom fishing season under it. The offshore grounds turn on in late June, when the first bluefin tuna show, and by July bluefin, yellowfin, bigeye, and albacore are around with the sharks, running through the fall, 25 to 35 miles off the Point and the canyons 60 to 70 miles out at the edge of the shelf. Striped bass is the signature inshore fish, worked on the rips around Montauk Point from spring, with the famous fall run in October and November the highlight of the year. Under all of it is the bottom fishing the party boats run: fluke (summer flounder) through the warm months, black sea bass and scup (porgy) from spring into the fall, and tautog and cod on the cool weather wreck trips.

One headline fish has changed. The shortfin mako, once the signature Montauk shark, is catch and release only now, with a zero retention limit in place since 2022, so plan a shark trip as release based for mako. The bottom seasons shift year to year against the federal quotas, so whether you can keep sea bass, fluke, or tautog depends on the date you fish, and the striped bass slot is a tight one fish window. Confirm the current rules with NOAA Fisheries for the offshore species and New York DEC for the state seasons before you book around any one fish.

Montauk, the state’s offshore port

Montauk sits at the very end of Long Island, and it is the one New York saltwater port with the reach and the fleet to fish the whole calendar. The run to the tuna and sharks and the long haul to the canyons is what sets it apart, so the boat and the captain carry the day. The fleet splits two ways. A famous set of party and open boats sell seats by the person for bottom fishing, led by the Viking Fleet, which runs a 140 foot boat and the only multi day canyon trips in the port, and the half day Lazybones. The rest is a deep bench of private sportfishers, booked by the whole boat, that chase tuna and sharks on your own schedule. Twelve operations were assessed and seven ranked, each scored on the same national standard as every other port on the site.

The rest of New York’s saltwater scene, the party boat fleets on the South Shore and in Sheepshead Bay, the site does not rank yet, so Montauk carries the state for now.

Getting to Montauk

Montauk is a long trip to the end of Long Island, a long drive from New York City or the Long Island Rail Road to the end of the line, and almost the entire charter fleet docks along West Lake Drive on Lake Montauk. Confirm your marina when you book, since the boats run from several basins along the lake, and arrive 30 to 45 minutes early to park and board. No separate license is needed: on a licensed party or charter boat the vessel covers you, and New York otherwise runs a free registry for anglers fishing on their own.

New York sits in our Atlantic Northeast region, the Mid-Atlantic canyons up into New England. The same offshore and bottom fishery runs south to New Jersey at Point Pleasant and northeast to Massachusetts at Cape Cod and Gloucester. The cost guide lays out the per seat and per boat math before you book.