On The Water 5/12/05

• High winds have been the story since the weekend’s big blow, which brought 30 to 50 mph gusts into the area on Saturday, with steady winds of 15 to 20 from then until midweek. Despite the fact things are starting to shape up, reports were minimal, though generally hopeful in nature. Bottom line, which could change with each and every passing tide, fluke are still not abundant on this side of “the pond,” bass are plentiful throughout the area and keeper-size fish are few and far between. The first decent striper was caught in The Race on Wednesday, which is a sign at least that fish are on the move, and it will not be long before this famous area fills with bass, as larger fish invade the Connecticut and Rhode Island shorelines.
• Cheryl Fee of Shaffer’s Marina, Mystic said that on May 5, local angler Bob Lamphere caught five stripers of at least 23 inches way up inside the Mystic River, near the I-95 bridge. He also caught what her brother Al called “the only winter flounder in existence from the Mystic River.” All of these catches were on sand worms. Monday evening, Al and his buddy Bill caught a few schoolies from the various spots in and around the lower river during their “Mystic River orientation trip.” Tuesday morning they hit all the reefs outside the river and didn’t catch much.
• It’s interesting to note that on Tuesday, which had a crystal-clear sky, a cool northeast wind and a high and rising barometric pressure, not only did Al and Bill have a slow trip in the lower Mystic River, but Corey from Saltwater Edge and my friend Jack who fished the Thames River also had poor showings for their efforts. Further evidence that bluebird weather will make fishing difficult to horrible whether it’s for largemouth or striped bass.
• The most significant report came from another regular customer, Jim Meacham who caught a 35-inch striped bass from Valiant Rock on a Diamond Jig during flood tide on Wednesday. Jim had made the same run earlier in the week and didn’t get anything that trip, so the presence of a decent-size striper is a sign the migration is at least beginning to reach this area and fish are on the move. Another customer caught a single keeper fluke on the south side of Fishers Island earlier in the week, but but again, he worked for that one miserable fish. No one hit Montauk Point due to weather.
• Squid seem to have invaded the region because everyone mentioned their presence in some way, shape or form this week. Al Fee of Shaffer’s said that he heard something splashing down at the docks early Wednesday morning. What he found was a bunch of squid that had apparently been attracted by the dock lights and had become stranded by low tide. Cheryl said that “People are starting to get out, which means more reports will be generated as this takes place.”
• Rennie at The Fish Connection, Preston on the Thames said it’s been fairly quiet since the big Dime Bank Striped Bass Tournament that was held Friday amid high wind warnings and gusts that hit over 50 mph in the afternoon. I know, because I was out in that blow. There hasn’t been much action on the river from the larger fish, but Jim Vinte caught a few small fish in Horton Cove midweek, and a couple of friends who fish the river regularly have made catches ranging from 27 to 100 fish, depending on tide and time of day. The regulars are catching a few larger fish after dark on eels at Greenville Dam.
• The fishing was difficult Saturday during the tournament, due in part to the weather and in part to the lack of large bass in the river at that time. The winning fish was only 33.5 inches and about 15.5 pounds. I believe only eight keepers were caught in the separate boat and shore divisions during the entire event, along with scads of tiny “dinkers.” There has not been a decent striper reported from the Thames for a week before the May 7 event and nothing bigger than the winners since. The river is loaded with fish, but the majority are small.
• The high point of my day was not any of the 30 or so under-20-inchers my partner and I each caught, but rather the opportunity afforded me by a 50-mph tailwind, which lasted for a few minutes late in the afternoon, to make the longest cast of my life. I happened to be casting a ballistically perfect, 5-ounce Salmo Fatso looking for a big bass when one of the highest gusts of wind blew down the river from the north. I took the opportunity to make an “olympic” cast that went so far, it literally took about half the line off my reel. Retrieving that cast was like spooling up and took two or three minutes. Incredible. If I’d hooked a big fish at the end of it, I’d still be reeling.
• Rennie said that one customer who came in Wednesday with a two-man limit of winter flounder weighing up to about 1.75 pounds was the only person to accomplish this “trick” in weeks in this neck of the woods. The angler did not divulge where he caught those fish, but with water about 58 degrees in the river, my guess is they probably came from somewhere off the mouth of the Thames River or off Groton.
• Squid are in all over the area, with Stonington and Mystic being mentioned by name. Peconic Bay, Long Island is also full of them at the moment and attracting some attention from fluke, weakfish and stripers. Calico bass are running well in the area’s freshwater lakes. Anglers who are targeting them are doing well in all the ponds that hold these fish, as they are in tight to cover and spawning right now in most places.
• Richard at Hillyer’s Bait and Tackle, Waterford said there hasn’t been much change in their reports lately. Still lots of small stripers in the Connecticut, Thames and Niantic rivers. Six or eight boats went out scouting the local reefs on Wednesday, but there was no word on how they did when I made the call.
• Richard said there had been a slow pick on winter flounder up inside the river. Tuesday, a few customers reportedly did well with fluke off Montauk Point, but on Wednesday the Sunbeam went to the point to fluke fish and had a very slow outing. Ten keeper fluke were caught total that day by about 20 anglers with a 20-incher winning the pool. His conclusion: “It’s still a tad early, even for Montauk Point.” Surface temperatures were a cool 48 degrees off Bartlett, as reported by one of their regulars who was out there looking for bass and catching nothing on Monday.
• Reports of loads of squid in the region in general, which is a good sign. They will eventually attract and hold the bass and fluke everyone is looking for.
• Mark Lewchik of River’s End, Saybrook said it’s mostly schoolies in the “Big River” this week. Anglers fishing deep in the channels are doing better for larger fish than those fishing shallow or on top. There have been a few bass in the 30- to 36-inch range reported. Fish over 30 inches seem to be chasing herring upriver at the Enfield Dam.
• No good reports of fluke yet. One of the party boats (probably the Sunbeam) caught only 7 keeper fish for 20 anglers (probably the same report as the one from Hillyer’s, though the numbers don’t jive, but they’re so low it doesn’t matter). Other boats that made the Montauk run earlier in the week said they saw 7 draggers and caught no fluke. Discouraging reports to say the least.
• Captain Jerry Morgan of Captain Morgan’s Tackle, Madison said he’s been out a few times scouting for bass, fluke and weakfish. Loads of schoolies are in along the shore and running up inside rivers and coves, and a few larger bass to 40 inches were caught out at places like Southwest Reef, Falkner Island and Six Mile Reef. Not much in numbers from the bigger fish, just occasional decent bass. Like elsewhere, the majority of stripers being caught are small ones, under 20 inches. In the Thames, 80 percent of perhaps 1,000 fish accounted for in the past 10 days by personal friends have been under 13 inches! That’s a world of “dinks” out there, so if you are missing strikes, you will know why – these midgets can’t get their mouths all the way around a small Slug-Go.
• Trout are hitting well in fresh water. Captain Morgan said he’s been seeing and hearing of catch-and-release catches of decent prespawn bass in the 6- to 7-pound range. No one is complaining about the trout size this year, with many decent fish averaging 1 to 2 pounds.
• Chris Fulton owner of Stratford B&T, Stratford said John Posh, the store’s previous owner, said that Wednesday he saw an angler catch five keepers to 34 inches off Short Beach on soft plastics while he was out giving someone fly-casting lessons. Overall, Chris said that the constant high winds since the weekend have kept many anglers at home. One of Chris’s friends caught two keeper bass while trolling a rainbow-colored Crocodile for weakfish out around Charles Island in his sea kayak. That was the only other verifiable report he had that was worth passing on.
• In fresh water, he said that one young customer said he had caught four or five walleyes up to about 6 pounds by fishing from shore somewhere near the dam on Lake Zoar, on live shiners. Trout action remains good in all the stocked rivers and ponds due to the cool temperature. Chris himself caught a 4.5 rainbow from the upper Housatonic on a Phoebe and ultralight spinning reel with 4-pound line.
• Fisherman’s World was busy but said in brief that Norwalk Harbor, up inside the Norwalk River and the islands were full of schoolies. Calf Pasture Point remains a pretty productive spot for bass under keeper size and occasional keeper winter flounder. Those drifting for flounder in the channels and deeper holes continue to take a few fish but no major bites at this point. There were small bluefish taken earlier in the week from Bridgeport Harbor, and the lower Housatonic had picked up in its striper production since their last report.
• With temperatures into the 70s predicted for a couple of days this week, it may be time to start sniffing around salt ponds and back bays for worm spawn activity. Ninigret began to come to life midweek and should improve over the next few weeks, along with Potter Pond, Quonny Pond, Pt. Judith Pond and other shallow spots along the coast. The key is sunset and water temperatures of 62 to 65 degrees. The best swarm activity occurs after a hot sunny day and it will turn off like a switch after a cold rain, which is the reason I contend that temperature, rather than moon phase, tide, etc., is the primary factor in creating these unique and fun-to-fish natural events.
• Fluke action will do nothing but improve as long as those fish-culling commercials left some fish for us sport fishermen to catch, after another winter of heavy commercial slaughter in the offshore wintering grounds.
• Last year was a disappointment for the most part when it came to fluke fishing. There were some big fish caught, but overall numbers of keepers were down from the previous few seasons, and I contend it’s from commercial over-harvest due to their wasteful practice of high-lining or culling through smaller fish to keep their quotas in large, high- priced fish. It’s a crime against the species that has to stop or we will be right back into scrambling to save the fluke population from commercial greed yet once again.
• Striper action will continue to be pretty good, mostly on smaller fish in the area’s larger rivers. Options are opening up and improving with every change of tide.