TheDay 5/6/05

1. The best bet this week remains all the bass up in the Thames River. Jack at the Fish Connection said he heard about mainly schoolies but a couple nicer ones were caught in the Shetucket and Poquetanuck Cove around high water.
2. On Saturday, many anglers will participate in the Thames River Striped Bass Contest that runs from 5 a.m.-5 p.m. Hampering the event will be a winter-style northeaster bearing down on us with predicted winds of 25-30 mph on the waters from Chatham, Mass. to Watch Hill; less in the sheltered waters of the upper river but making small boat operation more difficult. On the plus side, the cloud cover and stormy conditions may help shore anglers looking forward to fishing parts of the river on the noon high water.
3. Capt. Al Anderson was on the river Wednesday, catching steady school bass on fly rods in 52-degree water opposite Stoddard Park. Plans for weekend cod fishing on Stellwagen Bank were cancelled due to the storm. They will have to settle for more schoolies in the Narrows of Point Judith Pond, another spot with numerous small bass in it.
4. Stephanie Cramer is back, her e-mail right on time. She fished the river at the end of the week before, landing, tagging and releasing over 70 fish north of the sunken barge on the west side. Her biggest was around 25 inches. On Sunday she landed more schoolies, casting and wading near buoy 27, labeling the fishery in the Thames as “amazing.”
5. Jack at Ocean House Marina in Charlestown said some of the steadies tried chunking after dark at Weekapaug but didn't even get a hit. The first fluke of the season were caught off this shore in deep water but a real fishery for them has yet to develop. Wednesday evening was a good one for school bass in Cemetery Cove along the Pawcatuck River, a spot drawing crowds at times during a week that saw very few people on the waters of Block Island Sound.
6. Cheryl over at Shaffers in Mystic said Allen Fee landed eight bass to 34 inches on poppers off Six Penny Island on Wednesday morning. That day at first light, baitfish were skittering across the river surface from Mason's Island all the way to the river mouth. Fluking over at Montauk has been very slow. The best catch to date was a group out in a 30-plus-foot boat that came back with four.
7. Richard at Hillyers Tackle has seen a few flounder to 18 inches caught in the Niantic River and in Jordan Cove. The size of the fish has been fine but the numbers leave a lot to be desired. They also had a reliable report of two 15-pound stripers and a 30-pounder caught off Groton Long Point on Wednesday morning, method unknown. Despite some cold mornings, they are starting to see more boats at the state ramp.
8. Kerry over at J&B Tackle in Niantic was sorry to say the fluking in both Peconic and Montauk has been very slow. On a more upbeat note, squid are showing up in Niantic Bay, raising hopes for a good run of larger bass in the next couple weeks. As of press time no one landed any fish from The Race. The only other news was of a small number of larger winter flounder caught in the river and the bay but it's what's left of a once robust fishery, gone to seed because of very poor fishery management.
9. Sherwood Lincoln of Old Lyme took a trip from Niantic out to the 30 Line southeast of Block Island for a disappointing catch of a 15 small codfish, numerous cunners and one lone pollock of 10 inches. This is another example of what happens when fishery managers fail to do their jobs and protect the public trust by keeping our stocks at reasonable levels.
10. Pat Abate at River's End was upbeat about the numbers of 12 to 20-inch stripers in the lower Connecticut River.
11. Some of the better boats had 50-plus in one tide and others, somewhat larger stripers on Slug-Gos around Essex. To date fluking is very poor on the New York side and yet to start on this side of the Sound.