Still Chilly, The Day, Tim Coleman

• Greetings, while a cold wind has blown over our waters most of the week, there is still a glimmer, a spark of a season on the move, another year in and around the waters of Long Island Sound.
• Capt. Kerry Douton of J&B Tackle reminds all the New York fluke season opened today with a bag limit of five fish per person and minimum size of 17.5 inches either from Montauk Point or Peconic Bay, the spots most people from our side will likely target. A couple boats tried The Race for bass without even a hit. You can locate small bass in the upper Niantic around Sandy Point. The Millstone plant isn't pumping water so there's no hot outflow, normally an early season choice for schoolie stripers.
• Down along the south side of Rhode Island, Al Golinski of Misquamicut heard about small stripers caught from shore and boat around Cemetery Cove and others locations along the Pawcatuck River and also the west jetty of Charlestown Breachway. The southeast corner of Block Island holds small cod and a few keepers for those who anchor down and chum and fish with clams, the fresher the better.
• Jack at Ocean House Marina had news about the small cod on the rocky bottom south and east of Southeast Light but only one in 20 is a keeper, and those caught on the rare times the wind isn't howling. There are schoolies in Ninigret Pond in very cold water but no shad nor worm hatches to date. Montauk Point has fluke but nobody has landed any with rod and reel on this side of the Sound.
• Cheryl at Shaffers Marina said they are open after a long winter that saw some of their docks damaged by ice. The only real news was seven schoolie stripers caught on Tuesday evening around Six Penny Island by Allen Fee tossing small poppers from his boat. Nobody tried for flounder along the bridges and docks this week; it was just too cold and windy for most.
• Up at the Fish Connection in Preston, Jack Balint reported lots of schoolie stripers in the Thames and Shetucket Rivers from Greenville Dam down to Pfizer. Some people are taking a chance both wading and kayaking at times when water levels are high and fast due to recent rains. No striper is worth a dunking or worse in a cold river. Biggest bass of the week were two confirmed 25-pounders. Jack heard rumors about larger fish but didn't put too much stock in such talk. Flounder news is very bleak, both from those trying from shore at Bluff Point and in small boats in all the traditional areas that produced in years past.
• Richard at Hillyers Tackle saw some blackfish caught around the Blackhawk Dock this week but please keep in mind that fishing remains open only until April 30 and closes the next day, May 1. Like most other reporting stations, there isn't any good copy about flounder fishing, offset somewhat but small catches of small bass in the deep hole by the Cliffs in the upper Niantic River.
• Capt. Joey Devine of the Mijoy made a cod trip up to Massachusetts last Sunday, April 24. Fishing in a private boat on the southwest corner of Stellwagen Bank, they landed a good count of school cod, some haddock and hangers of 45 and 50 pounds on bait and jigs. They will start their season here on May 14 with two trips daily, weekends only, to The Race for bass and blues.
• Sherwood Lincoln of Old Lyme has his boat in the water, ready to run over to Montauk for fluke if and when the wind ever stops blowing. He heard a coffee shop rumor about bunker in parts of Peconic Bay and good numbers of small bass in the lower Connecticut River from the Baldwin Bridge to Griswold Point.
• Our last stop of the first column of 2005 is River's End Tackle in Old Saybrook. Pat Abate said small boats are taking school bass around Great Island, weather permitting, and a few larger fish around Haddam. Flounder news is grim, just about non-existent but the opening of the New York fluke season is drawing early interest, giving people a reason to get their boats ready.