Striped Bass BITE is ON! Back on the Boat | Fishing League Exploding

Episode 78 of Bay Rats & Buoys brings you right back where it all started—on the boat, leaving the marina and heading into our absolute happy place. There’s nothing like that first throttle up of the season, and this one felt even better knowing the boat is running flawlessly thanks to our new mechanic dialin’ everything in. Smooth, reliable, and ready to fish hard—that’s exactly how we like it.

We didn’t waste any time getting back into the action either. As soon as we splashed, the charters kicked off and it was game on. The striped bass bite is officially ON here on the North Shore, and we’re putting clients on fish trip after trip. From first-time anglers to seasoned fishermen, everyone’s getting in on the action and creating unforgettable memories out on the water. This is what it’s all about—tight lines, screaming drags, and smiles all around.

The momentum doesn’t stop there… The Fishing League is absolutely blowing up! Teams from all over the tri-state area are signing up, submitting fish, and climbing the leaderboard. The competition is heating up, and with the season running all the way through December 15, 2026, there’s still plenty of time to get your team in the mix. Whether you’re fishing solo, with your family, or running with a full crew—this is your shot to compete, track your catches, and be part of something big. Head over to TheFishingLeague.com and register your team today!

We also made a stop over at the brand new tackle shop in Port Jefferson—Port Tackle—to stock up on some fresh gear. Always important to support the local shops here on Long Island, and these guys are bringing some serious heat to the scene. If you’re gearing up for the season, definitely go check them out.

And if you’ve been watching the reports and thinking about getting out there… now is the time. Charters are booking fast as word spreads about the incredible striped bass bite we’re on right now. If you want a shot at landing a trophy fish and experiencing it firsthand, head over to SandCityCharter.com, fill out the contact form, and lock in your trip.

We’re back, we’re fishing, and we’re just getting started. Let’s go!!! 

https://sandcitycharter.com/podcast/

Transcript

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What is up, everybody? Welcome back to another episode of Bay Rats and Buoys. I'm your host, Captain Gage. This is episode number 78. From the boat, season three, brought to you in part by Seeto Huntington. Are you a member? Visit Seeto.com and join today. Also, JM Seafood of East Northport and East Satalkit. Head on over and check them out. And also Volpe Marine. Head over to VolpeMarine.com. What is up, guys? We're back on the water. We've been out fishing. We've been on the bass. It's an awesome time of year. You're going to find your windows to get out. A little windy down here right now, but at the same time, you pick those windows. You get out there. You know, that's how it works. And we found we had charters in the morning. So that was Friday morning we kicked off. Thursday, we were still tuning the boat and making her perfect and purr real nice. I got the best mechanic in the world. And if you guys are lucky, maybe I'll share them with you. But in the meantime, we're hogging them to ourselves because there's a big waiting list to get to mechanics these days. But you could always DM me and reach out to me if you do uh need some work on your boat and uh you're in the area here. So we're super proud of that. That's pretty cool. Not to mention he's in the Bay Rats and Buoys Fishing Club. So that makes it even cooler. Um I mean we got DEC, we got Harbor Masters, we got captains, we got all kinds of stuff in that fishing club. Bay Rats and Buoys Fishing Club is awesome. And uh we're looking to challenge some of the other clubs, but you know, I look around the marina and there's like almost 30 boats in the marina. You know, it was a lot of empty slips. It's the beginning of the year. The parking lot's still packed with boats that are wrapped up. And uh here we are. We've been out fishing ready. We've been on the bass. First day out, uh, we got right on them. And uh it's every year, we know where they are. Are they chewing? Are they biting? What's the water temperature? Um, so it was 52 degrees, the water temp. And uh we went out there the following day and in the same spot where it was 51, it was 48. So the cold nights and the temperature dropped and the water temperature changed. We thought we weren't gonna get anything on Saturday. Friday we got four. We got two overs and two slots. Well, lo and behold, Saturday, same thing, two overs and two slots. Friday we had two guys come down from Rochester, New York. They drove five and a half hours to catch their first striped bass. Neither one of them had ever caught a striped bass before. So uh Nick and Charlie left with fillets uh because they did get two slots, and they were super excited about that. And uh I did pick up the new meta glasses. I got the Oakley Vanguards, and I wanted the Oakley ones because the camera was in the middle. All right, you see me wearing my Oakley's all the time, but so I tested them out with the uh charters, and man, they were epic. The videos that we got were really cool. You know, there were perspectives that I probably wouldn't have had had I had the GoPros going or the Insta360. So it's really cool to see that perspective. And I can't wait to edit some of that stuff and put it up here for you guys to check out. Maybe I'll throw some here in the podcast while I'm talking about it so you can see what I'm talking about. Like when Corey's putting the fillets and I'm holding the Ziploc bag open so he could drop these fillets in from these beautiful fish that we caught. And uh we didn't have to go far to get them. Uh I still haven't been on the outside. I've been telling everybody they're in the bays, they're in the back bays. Shit, they're in the harbor here. You know, if you wanted to stick around the harbor on a windy day like this and work the harbor, you absolutely would catch fish. Um, they're here. And there's bait in the water. So that's the other good sign. We're seeing the Ospreys come down and grab bait. And um so where there's bait, there's fish, and they're here. Biggest one we caught was 35 inches. Um, so we had some decent overs, uh, which was a lot of fun. And we have we didn't see anything on the sonar, so I think I took one screenshot. If I could find it uh on the USB, if it's there, I'll pop it up on here. It was a very small uh stack of striped bass that we saw. Uh wasn't worth stopping and flutter spooning and jigging for them. We were trolling around because we weren't seeing too many marks, and we just wanted to check out and see where they were. You know, a lot of people going into the back bays and looking around. Um we were getting intel from other captains in the area that were in the back bays, just like we were giving out, you know. So we share, we talk about it all the time. Uh we want to put people on fish and help people catch some fish. And if you want to catch some striped bass, go to San CityChart.com. You know, we have dates available. You can jump on with me and Corey and get out there and have a great time. Now, what did I work on all winter? I was working on the fishing league. Well, let me tell you something. The fishing league officially blew up, it's taking off. There's over over 50 teams in the league right now between solo anglers and teams uh between the tri-state area, meaning Jersey, Connecticut, and New York. You guys can go over to the fishingleague.com and register your team today. Don't worry about the the points race for the whole season because you can win months. You can win April, you can win May, you could win June, you can win just one month and be the happiest guy in the world and be the champion of your division for that one month. Um, right now, uh, what do we got? We got Hack and Net Jobs. They're up in number one in the open division for the Long Island Sound and for the New York and Connecticut. And uh they submitted fish yesterday that they got out on. So uh, Mike, your your points are up, everything's good. The system worked. You submitted them. We saw the pictures, the pictures were taken properly. Uh you got a 21-inch tog, which was real nice. Um, and you had a bunch of bass, you know, uh to 42 inches. But you'll see the big uh well to 42 points. I forget uh what your biggest one was. I think it was 33 and a half. Um but again, I'm just going off of no notes here, just you know what I saw on the website. So it's pretty awesome, guys. All you do is you go out there, you catch a fish, it's all done via your phone, you take a picture of it with the measuring device that we supplied to you, and you register your team for the league. You take the picture, you submit the picture, and you get points on the leaderboard. And if you head over to the fishingleague.com, you can officially check it out. Each month has a featured species like April is striped bass, May is striped bass, June will be fluke, and so forth and so on. You can see all that on the website. Um, and there's a lot of frequent asked questions there. And we're always hashing things out because the league is new, but it's officially kicking ass. It it's awesome. It's great to see so many people that want to compete uh in fishing in our area in the saltwater spotlight, you know. So it's uh it's a little different than what you see on TV with the Bass Pro Tour and all that fun stuff. This is saltwater fishing in our area, and uh you guys can compete every single month with a team or solo, whether you fit from a boat, kayak, or shore. We left nobody out. So check it out at the fishingleague.com. Now, we went out trolling on Friday morning. We got out there, we got on them pretty quick. Um, and we can't say they were hitting a specific color because they hit both white and chartreuse. So a lot of times you hear me talk about the color and color mattered, and this is why when we go out for the first time, we will put out two different colors and see which one they're favoring for the day, you know? And uh, we will pull in some mojos, and again, chartreuse and white, either one, doesn't matter, you know, so get them in the water, get them down there, and uh even if you don't see the fish and you're strolling around some ledges in some certain areas, uh you should hook up. And this guy's outside in the sound now, so they're out there. You'll get on them. And that's what we were using. We did throw an umbrella rig out. That did get hit, that worked too. So the umbrella rig or the mojos is uh what I would recommend using a white or a chartreuse. And uh hopefully this week we get back out there and see the uh we have charters this week. Um hopefully we see them stacked up so we could flood a spoon and do some jigging and uh you know, even potentially do some live lining, which is always a ton of fun. But if you guys want to get out there and catch some striped bass, you could always head to sandcitytter.com. Me and Corey will be happy to get you out there. Again, these guys drove five and a half hours. We were when they got on my boat, I was shocked. I really was. And I was like, oh, so you guys are in town, and uh no, no, we just drove to be here to go catch the fish, and then they're gonna leave and go check out some stuff in the city and head back home. And uh they came down because they wanted to catch striped bass. So I'm rocking two GoPros down here today because you know the uh, you know, every and it shouldn't overheat because we're in the there's no sun here. I mean the sun's here, but it's like the wind is chilly. It says it's 50, 50 something degrees. What does it say down here? But it's blowing, you know, the wind's out of the north, and uh even when we went out, the wind was out of the northeast on Friday morning, Saturday was the south, uh, east, southeast, and uh we still got on the fish, which was really cool because those conditions usually call for not the greatest, you know, fishing's not going to be the greatest. And um again, that water temperature was uh right where we want it to be. You know, they're feeding, they're here. Guys east of us are telling me where they're going, and uh they haven't really gotten much. So let's see uh how this pans out and how it all works out moving forward. But right now the fish are here like usual. We did have some fish that had some sea lice on them, uh, so we know that those did migrate here from the uh ocean, and uh that was cool to see because that means they're traveling, they're here. Uh usually we head a little west this early in the season, usually April 15th, but again, we had that cold winter. We were expecting the water temperatures to stay a little bit cooler, but forget the cold winter, it's just been cold. It's just been, you know, we had a couple of days in the what, 70s and 80s, and that was it. You know? And I always told people when I, especially when I ran the Freedom Boat Club, I told guys, because the the club opened up May 1st, and I always said, you guys are lucky if you get two weeks of boating in in May. You know, the weather in May is usually not great. Um but in April, forget about, you know, you're lucky to get out at all. If you can get out a couple of a couple of days on some windows to get some fish, that's awesome, you know. So we'll be heading out, we'll keep you posted. You see the pictures on Facebook, I put them up uh as we get them, and uh I I still haven't even posted those to Instagram or uh TikTok. I was quick to put them up on Facebook just because we wanted people to know we were on the fish, and uh it's what we do. And man, does it feel good to be podcasting back on the boat? John and a couple of the guys from the club and uh you know just people in general that had reached out that are big loyal fans of Bear Rats and Buoys will hit me up on Thursday, on Friday morning, like, yo, where's the podcast? You know, and I was like, holy shit, let me, I got a story for you guys. So Thursday, you know, we were we were adding new parts, putting new fuel pumps. We were doing things you really don't have to do. So we were taking care of the engine. We were really, you know, uh I I love to fix some stuff and upgrade and put new things on as opposed to the normal stuff that we do, you know, with thermostats and the lower unit, the oil and whatnot, and the water pump and the spark plugs and stuff like that. That's all normal to me. You know, that's usual stuff, you know. And then we did the VST filter and, you know, some gaskets and things. So we were really, you know, making her making sure she's gonna have a good season. And she minute we fired her up Thursday night, she was purring. Uh, we launched her Thursday night around 11 o'clock. I put her in the marina in the evening, late in the night. And uh then uh me, Corey, and this secret great mechanic of mine, we headed uh we headed out for a bite to eat, uh, to have some laughs and enjoy the fact that uh she was running like a champ. And uh she's back in the slip. She's in her happy place. This is where the boat wants to be. You know, boat wants to be in the water. And uh so that was Thursday night. And then Friday morning, we know me and Corey got a few hours of sleep, and bam, we're back out on a charter. So it was like, holy shit, are you kidding me? I don't even think he got as much sleep as I did. I put my head down on the pillow before the dog even jumped on the bed. I was out like a light, you know? And uh back to back, Friday, Saturday on the fish. Ton of fun. It's great when you see the rods bend, you know. I'm like a little kid. I'm jumping around getting all excited, got the new glasses on, I'm hitting the I'm like, is my thing recording? Is there a light flashing? You see anything? Sure as shit. I'm done with the charter. I'm looking at the glasses and I'm looking at the app and I'm like, I don't see the videos. And now I'm like, oh shit. Maybe I didn't capture it. You know, maybe I didn't hit the button. Maybe the light was flashing and it wasn't recording. I don't know. You know, it was all new. I just, you know, I just got these things, you know, less than a week ago. And I'm testing them out. Well, sure enough, it did get them. It takes time for it to upload. You need Wi-Fi for the uh videos to upload from the glasses to the app. So minute I got home and was in the Wi-Fi or even in the truck, uh, they started transferring. And I got home and I saw all the videos, and I was like, oh my god, they came out amazing. These things look great, great perspective. And uh so a lot going on, you know, with getting the boat ready, waxing it, and bottom painting it, and all that fun stuff. You know, we love what we do, don't get me wrong. I am not complaining, not at all. Um but again, you want to own a boat, it's a lot of fucking work. There's a lot of shit to do. There really is. And um, you know, that's why I always say get your gear ready. You gotta get your gear ready, get in the water, and get out there and catch some fish. So, what do we get? We went out to Port Tackle this weekend. They opened up, so after the charter, me and Corey went out to lunch, and then we shot out to uh Port Tackle out in Port Jefferson. Uh Justin and the boys opened up the new shop. They turned the McDonald's and Port Jeff into a tackle shop. So we went out, we didn't have our nets. We barred one of our neighbors' nets here in the marina, and uh uh by the way, we repaired your net. You'll see it on your boat. Um, it needed some repair. So we fixed it for you. You're welcome. Kevin and uh and Chris, we used yours on Friday. But again, we were catching big fish. You guys have small nets, that's all I'm gonna say. And uh so I don't know where my net was. It was bent from a 50-pound bass that we put in it and caught a big bass and it hadn't bent the pole. So uh and it was one of the good ranger nets. So that was my main reason for heading out to Port Tackle is I needed a net. So granted, he had the ranger net that I wanted. It's a big net. We love that net, and uh, we picked one up. So, Justin, if you remember me walking around the store, I was one holding the net and uh picked up a new pair of Grundins. And some other things, you know, we just got small stuff. You know, you can never have enough spooks in your bag, and uh these things work great. I'll swap out those treble hooks and put on single BK hooks. The BKK hooks, you know, I tell you all the time they're my favorite. Uh but when they're hitting the top water, I mean, these things are absolutely dynamite. Uh I love throwing these. And then Brandon over at uh Causeway Bait and Tackle was showing a few of the uh the power baits, all right, the glide baits. So you throw these out and you uh slow retrieve and get it to swim back, it's split in half that fish. So uh me and Corey got a couple different colors uh to test out and throw, and uh we'll throw them out there and see how they do. Just to try new stuff, you know? That's what we do. And uh we got a lot of new gear on the boat this year. But as far as getting out there and catching fish, we are ready. So you want to go out right now, call me up. I'll take you out right now and put you on some striped bass. Like right now, it's Sunday. I got a hockey game tomorrow night. I'm super excited about that. The spring season kicks off. So yeah, me and my kids were over at pure hockey this morning. Uh, we were running all kinds of errands doing stuff, and uh pretty cool. So I love that part of our life. It's not just all on the water. I'm on the ice too, which is pretty cool. So yeah, fucking Friday. Holy shit. I'm down here at what, six o'clock in the morning for a seven o'clock charter. And eight o'clock, my kids are on the ice, so I'm freezing my ass off in a hockey rink, uh, you know, eight o'clock at night. Then we gotta take them out to dinner after that. And Jesus, by the time I got home, I went to it was the earliest I went to bed in my lifetime. I went to bed pretty early. And uh had a because I had a Saturday morning charter now, and supposed to be two guys coming down. It was supposed to be Patrick and Mark. And Mark was the brother-in-law in town from Michigan, and Patrick was the local that had invited him because he was coming into town. And turns out the local couldn't make it, so we had Patrick, uh, Mr. Charter, and uh Mark came out with us. Uh and he had an epic time reeling in uh some really nice striped bass. He had never caught striped bass, he hunts, he fishes lakes, rivers, all the freshwater stuff, and uh he was super excited to catch his first striped bass. So pretty incredible. The first two charters of the season got three people out that never had caught striped bass, and uh two slots, two overs on each trip. So pretty cool. And that's it. We're gonna wrap this one up quick. We're not gonna make this one long overdrawn out here on the boat, get your shit ready, get your boat in the water, and get out there. But also, if you're in the tri-state area, go check out thefishingleague.com. Guys, this is absolutely it's getting a lot of attention right now. So it's really starting to blow up. And if you really want to compete at a fun level and uh compete all season long, this isn't a tournament. It's not one weekend, it's not one week. Um, this lasts the entire season. So when you register your team, you're good for the whole season. And like I said, every month there's a new species for and a new tournament for that species, and then the monthly featured species leaderboard resets. All right, but the points that you accumulate on that leaderboard for the monthly featured species transfer down to the divisional leaderboard. So you're getting them all season long. Okay, so the divisional leaderboard is going to show who has the most points throughout the whole season. But you could win that monthly leaderboard, and then that resets. So April it resets, and May it's a whole new, a whole new tournament for May. Going after the stripe best. So I understand right now there's a lot of guys that were hesitant to join the league because their boat's not in the water. I get it. But you're not missing out on anything. So go register your team, put your team name in, throw your anglers that you want on your boat, and you're gonna have on your boat and on your team in there. You could add those in later on, which a lot of guys did, and boom, you're in. You're on the leaderboard. Okay, so everybody starts off on the leaderboard with five points. Uh, because of the leaderboard, we couldn't start it off with a zero. So we want, we gave everybody five points. When you register, you got five points and you're on the leaderboard, so you'll see your name there. Just like hacking net jobs, you're gonna see you submitted your fish yesterday, everything was good, you measured them good, you took good pictures, and boom, I hit accept, accept, accept on all three that you sent in, and your points went and got distributed in the right spots. Uh, you have an open species, 21, and then you had your uh two bass that you sent in. And let's just say, uh, because it's three three fish for the uh monthly featured species, okay? Now that let's you I'll use the hack and net jobs as an example. They submitted two so far, okay, and now they submit their third. Well then they go and catch a fourth, and the fourth one's bigger than one of the three that they submit. They submit that fourth one, and the bigger one you send in bumps out the smaller fish, okay? Which makes you want to compete more and fish all month long because you may get the bigger fish. So it's not just submit three and you're done for the month. We'll take the three biggest fish that you have that you submitted, and those will be on the leaderboard. So it's really cool, guys. It really is. Ton of fun. We're gonna have so much fun. On the sponsors that are jumping on board are absolutely awesome. We're gonna have huge news on episode 79. All right, this is the first episode of season three on the boat. Uh, I can't wait to have another Bay Rats and Buoys fishing club meeting. We're gonna get that wrapped up. I'll have a date for you guys. I'll send the email out this week, and uh, we're all gonna get together and get out on these boats. If you guys want to come out and fish with me and Corey, head over to SanCityCharter.com. We will get you out on some fish for sure. I can't guarantee anything, uh, but I don't mind the pressure. I love the pressure. Bring it on. So let's go out there, have some fun, guys. Going to be a great season. We're back. I hope you get your boat splashed down real soon and in the water. And uh, if you need any intel, go look it up somewhere else because I ain't telling you shit. So, episode 78 in the book, season three on the boat. We are back wishing everybody bent rods, tight lines, and I'll see you out on the water, Captain Gage signing off over and out.