The water temperature is slipping and Long Island's southern beaches are heating up. Fish are moving and feeding on a variety of baits.
Action is intermittent, but all signs point to a strong finale to the season.
The smorgasbord of bait includes anchovies, bunker, snappers, silversides and sand eels. Bait Bay anchovies are coloring many beaches maroon. The diminutive appearance of the bay anchovy belies its importance. Enormous numbers of these pinkish munchies attract many baitfish, but small bluefish are the primary predators right now. Mullet are all but gone.