NEW YORK -- To the list of exotic destinations coveted by globetrotting anglers, add New York Harbour. Fishermen who spare no cost or hardship to stalk bonefish in the Bahamas, tarpon in Costa Rica and billfish in Baja can now hunt striped bass beneath the Statue of Liberty and false albacore within sight of Deno's Wonder Wheel Park at Coney Island.
"There is nowhere else like this in the world to fish," says Peter Morse, an angling writer and fishing-show host from Australia who recently fished the harbour. "Every day, something about it changes."
For about $500 for a six-hour trip, seasoned guides in sleek skiffs will pick up a pair of anglers at marinas in Manhattan, Staten Island or Brooklyn for a fly-fishing or light-tackle angling adventure on the sprawling New York Bight.
Awaiting the angler in the tidal straits, bays and estuaries of the city's harbour is an amazing variety of game fish. In the course of a day, you may encounter heavyweight striped bass, voracious schools of surface-feeding bluefish, reclusive weakfish and four members of the tuna family.
The hunt may take you next to Ellis Island or the United Nations building. Or you might chase Atlantic bonito, skipjack and bluefin tuna along the outside beaches on the Atlantic, where the only landmark is the faint outline of the Empire State Building.
"I think it is kind of edgy: quality fishing for a lot of species in such close proximity to a big city urban environment," says Chris Hessert, a captain who has fished in the Bahamas, off Cape Cod and along the Carolina Coast.
Hessert spends four months of the year trading world currencies on Wall Street and the rest of the year guiding anglers in New York Harbour. He keeps his 7.3-metre fishing boat at a New Jersey Marina, across the Hudson from the World Financial Center.
A predawn trip to the fishing grounds comes with a stunning view of a lighted Manhattan skyline, the Statue of Liberty, Governor's Island and the Verrazano Narrows Bridge.
Beneath the glass towers and Corinthian columns of Manhattan's waterfront, there's a parade of colourful craft, from ocean-going freighters, tugboats and barges to speedboats towing parasailers past the Statue of Liberty. There are sleek ocean racers, antique schooners and Coast Guard patrol boats.
Yet the harbour also offers a multitude of remote and isolated areas.
On Staten Island, Captain Frank Crescitelli of FinChaser Charters takes parties out of Great Kills harbour at dawn in his 9.4-metre boat, sometimes finding thick schools of bluefish and stripers right outside the marina. Over the course of a day, he will travel the broad fetch of New York Harbour from New Jersey's Raritan Bay to Long Island's Rockaway beaches in search of game fish.
One favourite stop for anglers is Jamaica Bay, part of a 10,500-hectare wildlife refuge along the shores of Brooklyn and Queens. Its marsh islands, channels, brackish ponds and inlets attract a variety of forage fish, which in turn draw striped bass, bluefish, weakfish and false albacore. Ospreys and terrapins are among the diverse wildlife that have thrived in the bay since measures were taken in the 1960s to curb industrial pollution and excessive development.
The bay is also home to a large tern colony, and is a stopping-off point for migratory waterfowl including Canada geese, snow geese, northern pintail and ruddy ducks. A host of wading birds can be spotted, including snowy egrets, blue herons, oystercatchers and yellow-crowned night herons.
"On a really nice weekday, maybe there will be a half dozen to a dozen boats here at most," says John McMurray, a veteran harbour guide with One More Cast Charters.
The quality of the fishing in New York Harbour is demonstrated each spring when about 150 anglers in 40 boats take to the water in the Manhattan Cup Tournament. More than 100 striped bass and countless numbers of bluefish have been landed in the one-day, catch-and-release tournament.
One of the best parts of fishing in New York Harbour is convenience. Patrick Long, an Internet technology professional from Queens, had a memorable day this spring, fishing with McMurray on Jamaica Bay. After a 4 a.m. wake-up, he was on the water and casting the shorelines just after dawn. Over the next three hours, he landed a striper, several bluefish and a weakfish nearly a metre long, and was back at his office in Manhattan by 9:30 a.m.
"It was a little pre-work fishing expedition," Long says. "I go into work and I am high for the rest of the day."
Manhattan Fly: 212-877-2038; http://www.manhattanfly.com.
FinChaser Charters: 718-317-1481; http://www.finchaser.com.
One More Cast Charters: 718-791-2094; http://www.urbanangler.com/pages/mcmurray.htm.
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