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Home › Waters › New York › Shinnecock Bay
Estuary · Eastern Long Island, Suffolk County, the south shore barrier bay system at Hampton Bays · New York

Shinnecock Bay Fishing Guides

A shallow south shore barrier bay behind the Shinnecock Inlet, with strong tidal current through the cut, eelgrass flats inside and a striped bass and fluke fishery that runs all summer.

Low marsh grass and open water on a southeastern tidal river
Gauge location. Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Guides on the Shinnecock Bay

Claimed profiles take booking requests. Unclaimed profiles are built from public records so the river is never empty; the guide can claim or remove one any time.

About the Shinnecock Bay

Shinnecock Bay lies behind the barrier beach on the south shore of eastern Long Island, separated from the Atlantic by a narrow strip of sand and connected to it through Shinnecock Inlet. The gauge at Ponquogue reads tidal elevation, which is the number that governs everything here: this is a shallow system where the tide, not the weather, decides where fish will be and when they will feed.

The bay is broad and shallow, with extensive sand and eelgrass flats, dredged channels, and marsh fringe along the mainland side. The inlet itself is the dominant feature. Water moving through that cut on a running tide creates the strongest current in the system and concentrates bait and predators against the jetties and along the channel edges. Most of the bay’s reputation is built on what happens within a mile of that inlet.

Striped bass are the headline fish and are taken through the inlet, along the jetties and up inside the bay on flats and channel edges depending on the season and the state of the tide. Bluefish arrive in numbers and are often the easiest fishing available. Summer flounder work the sand channels through the warm months, and blackfish and black sea bass hold on the structure. Weakfish, blue crab, American eel and northern kingfish fill out a genuinely varied list.

This is heavily worked water in season. Hampton Bays supports a substantial recreational fleet, and the inlet is busy with both anglers and traffic moving in and out. Fishing the edges of that pressure, either early in the morning or well after dark, usually produces better than competing for the obvious water at midday.

Shallow draft matters here. The channels are marked but the flats are unforgiving, and local knowledge or careful chart work is essential away from the marked water.

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Read the full license

Version 1.0, dated 6 September 2026. Applies to every photograph submitted to GuidedFloats through the contact form, a species page, or the community board.

1. What you give us

By ticking the box on the form you grant Guided Floats, LLC (“GuidedFloats”, “we”) a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free license to store, copy, resize, crop and display your photograph on guidedfloats.com, in GuidedFloats’ own social media accounts and mobile apps, and in material that promotes the site itself, in connection with the fish, water or community feature you sent it in for. The license lasts until you withdraw it (section 4).

You keep the copyright. The license is not exclusive, so you can use the photo anywhere else and license it to anyone else. We will not sell your photo, license it on to anyone else on its own, or use it in paid advertising for a third party.

2. What you confirm

You confirm that you took the photograph yourself (or otherwise own the rights to it), that you have the right to grant this license, and that publishing the photo does not infringe anyone else’s copyright, privacy or other rights.

If any person is recognisable in the photo, you confirm that they have agreed to its being published here, and that a parent or guardian has agreed on behalf of anyone under 18. Please do not send photographs of other people’s catches, screenshots, or pictures copied from other websites or social media.

3. Credit

We print the credit name you give us beside the photo wherever it appears on the site, and record it as the photo’s creator in the page’s structured data. If you leave the credit blank we use the name you gave us on the form. Write “Anonymous” if you prefer no name at all. Your email address, phone number and the exact spot the photo was taken are never published.

4. Withdrawing the license

You can withdraw the license at any time by emailing hello@guidedfloats.com, or by using the contact form, and telling us which photo you mean. We will remove the photo from guidedfloats.com within 7 days of receiving your message and stop using it in anything new. Copies that are already outside our control — search-engine caches, social posts that have already gone out, printed material already produced — may take longer to disappear or may not be recallable, and we are not responsible for those.

5. What we may do

We choose which photos to publish and may decline any submission without giving a reason. We may crop, resize, sharpen or colour-correct a photo for display, and we may remove a photo at any time. We will not alter a photo in a way that misrepresents the fish, the water or you.

6. Your details

We keep your name, email address, the credit name, the water and date you gave us, and the network address the submission came from, with the submission record, as our evidence of this license. We hold that record for as long as the photo is published and for the retention period described in our privacy policy. Location data that your camera or phone embedded in the file is removed before the photo is published.

7. Versions

The version of this license you accepted is stored with your submission and printed with the photo. A later version does not apply to a photo you have already sent unless you agree to it.

Fished this water? Add a photo

Reviewed by hand before it appears. Pick the water, not the spot — we never publish exact locations.

Never published. We use it only if we need to ask about the photo.

Posting to Shinnecock Bay.

JPG, PNG or WebP, up to 12 MB. We resize it and strip the location data out of the file.

The name shown under the photo. Leave blank to stay anonymous.

Reader photo license v1.0 — the short version:

  • You grant Guided Floats, LLC a non-exclusive, royalty-free license to publish, resize and crop your photo on guidedfloats.com and in GuidedFloats’ own social posts and apps. You keep the copyright and can use the photo anywhere else.
  • You confirm that you took the photo yourself, that publishing it does not infringe anyone else’s rights, and that anyone recognisable in it (or a parent or guardian, if they are under 18) is happy for it to appear here.
  • Credit is printed beside the photo wherever it appears on the site, using the credit name you give us. Leave it blank and we use your name; write “Anonymous” for no name. Your email address is never published.
  • Withdrawing is one email to hello@guidedfloats.com naming the photo. It comes off the site within 7 days.
Read the full license

Version 1.0, dated 6 September 2026. Applies to every photograph submitted to GuidedFloats through the contact form, a species page, or the community board.

1. What you give us

By ticking the box on the form you grant Guided Floats, LLC (“GuidedFloats”, “we”) a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free license to store, copy, resize, crop and display your photograph on guidedfloats.com, in GuidedFloats’ own social media accounts and mobile apps, and in material that promotes the site itself, in connection with the fish, water or community feature you sent it in for. The license lasts until you withdraw it (section 4).

You keep the copyright. The license is not exclusive, so you can use the photo anywhere else and license it to anyone else. We will not sell your photo, license it on to anyone else on its own, or use it in paid advertising for a third party.

2. What you confirm

You confirm that you took the photograph yourself (or otherwise own the rights to it), that you have the right to grant this license, and that publishing the photo does not infringe anyone else’s copyright, privacy or other rights.

If any person is recognisable in the photo, you confirm that they have agreed to its being published here, and that a parent or guardian has agreed on behalf of anyone under 18. Please do not send photographs of other people’s catches, screenshots, or pictures copied from other websites or social media.

3. Credit

We print the credit name you give us beside the photo wherever it appears on the site, and record it as the photo’s creator in the page’s structured data. If you leave the credit blank we use the name you gave us on the form. Write “Anonymous” if you prefer no name at all. Your email address, phone number and the exact spot the photo was taken are never published.

4. Withdrawing the license

You can withdraw the license at any time by emailing hello@guidedfloats.com, or by using the contact form, and telling us which photo you mean. We will remove the photo from guidedfloats.com within 7 days of receiving your message and stop using it in anything new. Copies that are already outside our control — search-engine caches, social posts that have already gone out, printed material already produced — may take longer to disappear or may not be recallable, and we are not responsible for those.

5. What we may do

We choose which photos to publish and may decline any submission without giving a reason. We may crop, resize, sharpen or colour-correct a photo for display, and we may remove a photo at any time. We will not alter a photo in a way that misrepresents the fish, the water or you.

6. Your details

We keep your name, email address, the credit name, the water and date you gave us, and the network address the submission came from, with the submission record, as our evidence of this license. We hold that record for as long as the photo is published and for the retention period described in our privacy policy. Location data that your camera or phone embedded in the file is removed before the photo is published.

7. Versions

The version of this license you accepted is stored with your submission and printed with the photo. A later version does not apply to a photo you have already sent unless you agree to it.

Access

Hampton Bays - the main town on the bay, with lodging, tackle, fuel and charter boats.
Ponquogue Bridge - the gauge location and a well used shoreline and pier access.
Shinnecock Inlet - the connection to the Atlantic and the focus of the fishery.
Shinnecock East County Park - ocean and inlet beach access on the east side.
Road K and Dune Road - shoreline access running the length of the barrier beach.
Shinnecock Canal - the connection north to Great Peconic Bay.
Southampton - the nearest larger town, with full services.

Seasons

Spring: striped bass arrive and the inlet begins to fish as water temperatures climb.
Summer: the peak, with fluke on the channels, bluefish throughout and bass working the inlet on the tides.
Fall: the strongest stretch of the year as bass and blues feed hard on outgoing bait.
Winter: the bay empties out, with the fishery effectively closed until spring.

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Questions

What species can you catch on the Shinnecock Bay?

Anglers target American Eel, Black Sea Bass, Blue Crab, Bluefish, Northern Kingfish, Striped Bass, Summer Flounder, Tautog, Weakfish on the Shinnecock Bay in New York.

Are there fishing guides on the Shinnecock Bay?

GuidedFloats lists 3 guides and outfitters on the Shinnecock Bay. Claimed profiles accept booking requests; unclaimed profiles are built from public records and link to the business.

Where can you access the Shinnecock Bay?

Hampton Bays - the main town on the bay, with lodging, tackle, fuel and charter boats. Ponquogue Bridge - the gauge location and a well used shoreline and pier access. Shinnecock Inlet - the connection to the Atlantic and the focus of the fishery. Shinnecock East County Park - ocean and inlet beach access on the east side. Road K and Dune Road - shoreline access running the length of the barrier beach. Shinnecock Canal - the connection north to Great Peconic Bay. Southampton - the nearest larger town, with full services.

When is the best time to fish the Shinnecock Bay?

Spring: striped bass arrive and the inlet begins to fish as water temperatures climb. Summer: the peak, with fluke on the channels, bluefish throughout and bass working the inlet on the tides. Fall: the strongest stretch of the year as bass and blues feed hard on outgoing bait. Winter: the bay empties out, with the fishery effectively closed until spring.

Where are the fishing regulations for the Shinnecock Bay?

Regulations change by season and section. Read the current rules on the New York agency site: https://dec.ny.gov/things-to-do/freshwater-fishing/regulations