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Montauk Fishing Report

Updated Fri, Oct 23, 2026 from live gauge and weather data

The End: America's surf-casting mecca, where the fall run becomes a religion under the lighthouse.

3/5
Fair. Fish the windows.A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.
Next tide
High 7:41 PM
Air / High
58 / 58 F
Wind
NNE 9 mph

Sources: NOAA tides 8510560, Open-Meteo, solunar calculated for these coordinates.

Satellite view
Friday
23
October 2026

Today's Fishing Report

Generated this morning from live readings: gauge, weather model, sun and moon. A fresh report is published here every morning.

3/5Fair. Fish the windows.A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.

Montauk feels the season turning: shorter days, grouping fish. Today brings clear skies, wind NNE around 9 mph, steady pressure near 1028 hPa and a high of 58. Tides: high 7:30 AM and 7:41 PM, low 1:19 AM and 1:55 PM: the moving water either side of each change is when this place feeds. Water sits around 64 F for the season (estimated). With the waxing gibbous, the solunar majors run 9:21 AM-11:21 AM and 9:50 PM-11:50 PM: the windows to build the day around.

The plan, species by species

Striped bassExcellent

Spring and fall are the shoreline seasons: ODWC points to windblown points, riprap and dams during the May shad spawn and the pre-winter feed.

BluefishExcellent

Fall turns the migration south toward the South Atlantic Bight, and fish feed along beaches and inlets on the way. Follow the bait and the birds.

Tomorrow: Similar at 57 F. The solunar majors shift about 50 minutes later.Next report: Sat, Oct 24, 6:30 AMHow this report is made β†’

Before you go

New York requires a fishing licence from age 16, from $25.00 for residents, and salt water needs its own licence here. What a New York licence costs and where to buy it β†’

Chasing striped bass here? Check the size and bag limits with DEC before you keep anything. The season dates for New York, read off the agency, are on the New York seasons page.

Water and weather

Live readings.

Tides

NOAA station 8510560 (Montauk). Fish the moving water either side of each change.

Fri
LOW1:19 AM0.3 ft
HIGH7:30 AM2.4 ft
LOW1:55 PM0.3 ft
HIGH7:41 PM2.1 ft
Sat
LOW1:58 AM0.2 ft
HIGH8:05 AM2.7 ft
LOW2:43 PM0.1 ft
HIGH8:20 PM2.2 ft

Right now

Latest readings

Air temp58 F
High / Low58 / 47 F
WindNNE 9-16 mph
Pressure1027.6 hPa, steady
Sky / Rain0% cloud, 0%
Sunrise / Sunset07:08 / 17:55
MoonWaxing Gibbous, 91%
Water temp (seasonal)~64 F est.

Bite planner

Hour-by-hour bite forecast for today. Tap a bar to see why.

5 AM8 AM11 AM2 PM5 PM8 PMsunrisesunsetPRIMEPRIME

Which day to fish Montauk this week

The best day on Montauk this week looks like Sunday Oct 25, at 4 out of 5, against 3 today.

Best day this week: Sunday, Oct 25 β€” good at 4/5, falling pressure, usually the best window of a week.

Today, Oct 23 β€” Fair

A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.

Solunar majors
9:21 AM-11:21 AM and 9:50 PM-11:50 PM
Minor period
3:43 AM-4:43 AM
Sun
07:08 to 17:55
Moon
Waxing Gibbous, 91% lit
Sky and wind
Partly cloudy, 14 mph
Rain chance
0%

Forecast-based scores, less reliable further out: how the score is built.

Species guide

The species that matter on Montauk: seasons, structure and how to fish each one. Today's ratings live in the report above.

Striped bass illustration

Striped bass

Best: spring and fall inland; on the coast, during the seasonal migrations

The largest of the temperate basses, a sea-run fish of the Atlantic and Gulf coasts that now also lives in reservoirs across much of the country after hatchery stocking. Inland, it follows schools of shad and herring through open water. Spring and fall are the shoreline seasons: ODWC points to windblown points, riprap and dams during the May shad spawn and the pre-winter feed.

Bluefish illustration

Bluefish

Peak harvest: May-Oct, most in Jul-Aug (NOAA)

Bluefish (Pomatomus saltatrix) are sharp-toothed schooling predators that move up and down the Atlantic coast with the seasons and feed in surface blitzes on menhaden, silversides and squid. Fall turns the migration south toward the South Atlantic Bight, and fish feed along beaches and inlets on the way. Follow the bait and the birds.

When to come: the Montauk calendar

Activity by species and month, and how the water warms through the year. Tap any cell.

Species activity by month

1 = slow, 5 = peak. Current month highlighted.

J
F
M
A
M
J
J
A
S
O
N
D
Striped bass
Bluefish
SlowPeak

Water temperature through the year

Typical surface temperature for this water type; today is around 64 F (estimated, not a reading).

4050607080JanMarMayJulSepNovOct, ~64 F now

Angler reports

Real reports from real anglers, reviewed before publishing. The water log below tracks each day automatically.

No angler reports yet this weekBe the first: your report helps every angler who checks Montauk today, and we feature the best catch of the week.

Water log, last days

Auto-logged from live data
Thu, Oct 22

3/5 Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day. Striped bass led the card at excellent. High of 65 F, wind to 17 mph.

Wed, Oct 21

3/5 Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day. Striped bass led the card at excellent. High of 57 F, wind to 20 mph.

Tue, Oct 20

3/5 Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day. Striped bass led the card at excellent. High of 64 F, wind to 20 mph.

Where roughly, what depth, what bait. Skip anything you want to keep secret.
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Before you go

License

New York requires a valid fishing license for adults. Buy online from the state agency; one-day options exist for visitors.

Regulations

NY requires (free) marine registry. Striped bass: one fish 28-31 inches under the coastwide slot. Wetsuit-and-korkers culture on the rocks: real gear matters here.

Access

Montauk Point State Park (the rocks under the light), north-side coves, Ditch Plains, and the harbor jetties.

About this water

Montauk, Suffolk County, NY. The eastern tip of Long Island: "The End", surf-casting's American home water.

Fishing Montauk: the full guide

The rock at the end

Montauk Point is the cathedral of American surf fishing: boulder fields under a 1796 lighthouse where stripers, blues and albies corral bait against the rips every fall. The town's harbor fleet doubles the menu: fluke drifts, sea bass wrecks, and offshore tuna, but the wader-clad faithful on the rocks are the soul of the place.

The blitz calendar

September: false albacore burning through bay anchovies: light tackle heaven. October: the main striper push: white water, mullet and bunker, plugs at dawn under working birds. November: last big fish on sand eels as the water cools through the 50s. Summer offers fluke, resident bass at night, and the quiet bayside flats few visitors notice.

The fall run capital

Montauk's October is the East Coast's great convergence: striped bass, albies, and blues corral bait against the point's rips while gannets dive-bomb the show. Surfcasters in wetsuits work the boulder fields under the lighthouse; light-tackle boats leapfrog the blitzes. When the run peaks, fish feed within a cast of the beach for weeks: saltwater fishing's most reliable spectacle.

Common questions

What makes Montauk's fall run special?

Geography: every migrating fish on the coast must round the Point, where rips concentrate bait against the boulders. On the right October morning, acres of striped bass blitz within casting range: nowhere else on the coast is it this reliable.

Is fishing good at Montauk right now?

Check the daily report at the top of this page: it is regenerated every morning from live data. Today's read: Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.

Nearby waters

Block Island22 miPawcatuck River24 miThames River24 miNinigret Pond27 miWatchaug Pond27 miPoint Judith33 mi

Where this page's numbers come from

Tide predictions
NOAA CO-OPS 8510560 β€” Montauk
Harmonic predictions, datum MLLW, local time. 12 high and low events returned for today and the next two days. A prediction, not a measured water level: wind and surge move the real thing.
Weather and pressure
Open-Meteo forecast model
Queried at 41.0480, -71.9590 in this water's own timezone. A model, not an observation.
Moon and solunar windows
Calculated on this site
Astronomical calculation from these coordinates and the date, not a third-party feed. How much weight it deserves.
The written guide on this page
Pablo Ruiz Quintero
How this page was made. The daily report is computed by our scoring engine from live readings; nobody types it. The written guide was drafted with AI assistance. Unlike our newer pages, it does not yet list the official pages its facts were checked against: that audit is under way, and anything it cannot verify will be taken out. Pablo Ruiz Quintero sets every guideline, the data-verification system and the minimum standards a page must meet to be published, reviews page structure and approves what goes live; the responsibility is his, and the AI carries out the work. We work this way because it is how one person can keep every page current with named sources. Errors are published in the verification log; the full policy is in the editorial policy.

Readings refresh on a 30-minute window. The full method, with every figure and its source, is on how our reports are made. Something wrong here? Tell us and it goes in the log with the date.