On The Water, 6/30/05

1. This week a combination of fog, wind and heat, plus the earlier moon tides that were strong enough to hamper some anglers, have combined to hamper angler participation further. Those who have ventured out have been giving mixed reviews ranging from disappointment to bragging. Dense fog has been the clincher, keeping many would-be anglers at the dock, which means fewer reports for columns like this.
   
2. Keeping this in mind, with a few exceptions, it looks again like the best fishing is taking place at the two extremes of this reporting area from Charleston, Rhode Island, east to Narragansett and from Madison, west to Norwalk. In-between reports have ranged from improving to poor fishing for bass and fluke. Bluefish are everywhere and they are small, just like last season. As of July 1, the Connecticut scup (porgy) season opens, which adds another species to the menu for sport fishermen to enjoy.
3. Cheryl Fee of Shaffer�s Marina, Mystic said her customers have reported excellent fluking off Misquamicut lately, but nothing much inside the Sound. On Friday, they weighed fluke of 6.5, 7 and 7.5 pounds that were caught off the south shore beaches over the weekend by various anglers. With the 17.5-inch limit, they are picking through four or five short, but not small, fluke for each keeper. Of the 11 we caught Tuesday, not a single one was of legal size, but three were over 17 inches.
4. Stripers were caught off the reefs between Watch Hill and Fishers Island, but no real big numbers or high-quality fish lately. One regular at the marina said he caught eight fish to low-end keeper size off Sugar Reef on tube-and-worm rigs early in the week. Little blues were all over the place and getting in the way of would-be-caught bass.
   On my way out to Misquamicut on Tuesday, we saw terns working over 1- to 2-pound cocktail blues everywhere from the mouth of the Pawcatuck River, Little Narragansett Bay and the Watch Hill Reef Complex to along the beaches and on the south side and inside of Fishers. They�re everywhere!
5. Captain Jack Balint of The Fish Connection, Preston on the Thames said the fishing has been dismal in most of the places he�s been taking his charters lately. There are bass here and there, but with the light-tackle clientele he specializes in, they have had to work much too hard for a few scattered bass. There have been a few bass in the 40-inch range around the island lately but not with any real consistency.
   
6. He also reported tons of tiny blues all over the place around Fishers Island. And there are lots of blues in the Thames River that are much larger than the �dinks� being caught outside. The fish in the Thames are averaging 5 to 8 pounds, while those outside are in the 1- to 2-pound range.
   Fluke fishing has been so-so lately. His dad Joe and Dennis who works at the shop have been catching fluke but working hard for the fish they are taking. Paul Weeks caught a 9- pound fluke off Mystic the other day, the biggest they�ve had in the shop so far this season.
7. Shane at Hillyer�s Bait and Tackle, Waterford said that striper fishing has been very good.
8. The Race has been the hot spot and has consistently been producing fish in the 40-inch-plus range on bucktails and live eels fished deep after sunset or early in the morning, depending on the tides. Bartlett and Hatchet Reefs are also holding decent fish, but not in the abundance being reported from the riled waters of The Race. There are schoolie bass around the rocks at Black Point, in the Niantic River, lower Connecticut River and lower Thames, as well as in the Millstone Point discharge.
   
9. This year, Hillyer�s �company trip� to The Race produced two fish over 40 inches, with the dozen anglers each catching a keeper or two, plus some smaller bass and blues. A good time was had by all. Last week, Fred Douglas caught a 38-pounder on an eel off Bartlett Reef � the biggest striper brought in lately to the scales at Hillyer�s.
   
10. Bluefish action has been very good for small blues in Niantic Bay and around the Millstone Outflow, with some larger choppers up to 10 pounds being taken from The Race by anglers fishing deep with diamond jigs, Baited Drail rigs and bucktails out in The Race and Plum Gut.
    
11. Fluke fishing has improved locally, with Millstone Point and Black Point producing decent fish. The best since last report was an 8-pounder that was caught from Two Tree Channel. Misquamicut has also been producing for their customers, with Isabella off Fishers also accounting for some fish. No one is slaying them, but there have not been many complaints from customers, either.
    
12. Not much from blackfish around local rock piles since the season opened, but no one is really after them right now. Scup season opens on July 1. But due to cool temperatures until recently, there haven�t been many anglers talking of catching scup incidentally while fluke fishing or trolling tubes like they will be later in the summer after they invade the region.
    
13. Q of River's End Tackle, Old Saybrook said the lower river is producing schoolie stripers and small bluefish. The big news this week was a report that came in from Plum Gut. It seems a group of anglers was there fishing deep for bass and blues when they saw a school of huge bass chasing full-size, small keeper fluke to the surface near shore. The fluke were reportedly actually jumping clear out of the water in an effort to escape from the stripers. The fishermen rigged up tube and worms, and trolled through the action, catching around 10 big bass that ranged from 30 to 48 pounds. As Q said, this is a very atypical catch, this crew of anglers was in the right place at the right time and it happened to be right at the bottom of the low slack tide. The fish they kept had fresh, keeper-size fluke in their bellies.
    
14. Think about it, there must not be much around for stripers to be chasing a hard-to-swallow prey like fluke. They are omnivorous and opportunistic. I�ve heard of and seen juvenile flatfish and fluke in striper stomach�s but never heard of them eating legal-size-class fluke. They must have rolled them up like a taco to get them down. An event I'd like to witness with a camera.
    
15. Captain Jerry Morgan of Captain Morgan�s Tackle, Madison told us that the fog, wind and storms have had a negative effect on business. The best fishing has been mornings for bigger bass. Midsound and offshore reefs such as Six Mile Reef, Southwest Reef, Falkner Island and The Race have all been named as producing decent stripers by his customers over the past week. Fish in the mid-30-inch range were the norm, but a handful of 40- to 50-pounders have been caught. One of the monsters was caught off Long Sand Shoal on an eel after dark, and another was from Southwest Reef.
    
16. Bluefish are all over the place. Mostly small stuff under five pounds, with occasional 10- pounders being hooked, particularly in the rips around the same deep-water reefs and rock piles listed above.
    
17. Fluking has been picking up. Not much in the way of bigger fish, but the numbers are improving. They are being caught by those who are targeting them off places such as Hammonasset Beach. The ratio has been 4 or 5 shorts to each keeper, like elsewhere in the region. Of course, along with the fluke, expect to catch dogfish, sea robins and skate.
    Blackfishing has been good with a great deal more catching going on than last year at this time. No big fish reported. Ten-pounders have been talked about but not brought to the scales.
    
18. Seabass are in spawning around the reefs, with fish to 22 inches and up to 5 pounds being caught in 45 to 75 feet from Long Sand Shoal out around rock piles and bumps on the bottom to mid-Sound.
    
19. Captain Morgan said he�s started seeing blue crabs in the Hammonasset River area. Water temps are in the mid- to high 60s in the Sound and warmer than that in the bays, so it�s summertime and the fishing is easy.
    
20. Chris Fulton, owner of Stratford Bait and Tackle, Stratford said they finally had a week with some good action on a consistent basis from both bass and blues for the anglers who cast plugs. The action is pretty much all over the place, so it looks like something good has happened since the last report. I suspect the influx of large stripers is due in part to the eastward movement of that large body of big bass that was stalled along the New York/Connecticut border for the past three weeks. There have been some bunker in Bridgeport Harbor which is another reason the bigger bass have moved in. Those fish down in Rye, New York, had the bunker cornered, but with the bait and bass moving, this sort of sudden influx of quality stripers will take place anywhere adult bunker appear along the entire coast.
    
21. Thirty some years ago when I first started writing, the bunker would show up in the Sound by the millions, and they would attract and hold large numbers of both bluefish and jumbo stripers. After bunker were wiped out by the bunker boats, all that easy big bass fishing came to a screeching halt. It�s nice to hope on hope this is the beginning of the return of adult bunker to our waters. If so, we can look forward to fishing like the younger anglers out there have never experienced.
    
22. Chris said that Sunday evening, Ponds Dock on the Housatonic produced a bunch of 30-inch-class keepers for the crew that was tossing plugs and chunk baits. One angler caught a 21-pound striper while fluke fishing off the breakwall on Monday or Tuesday. Charles Island has been producing fish for pluggers and fly-rodders since this recent influx of fish.
    Fluke catches are still so-so but improving. Chris himself took a youngster out fluking by �PJ� Buoy and caught 9 keepers up to 20 inches.
    
23. Luke of Fisherman�s World, Norwalk told us that those big bass that have been holding to the west off Rye, New York, have finally started to move into their area and seem to be pushing the bunker with them.
    
24. Fresh whole, live and chunk bunker have been catching big bass off Buoy 11-B, the Cows and 28-B for a week now. Bunker schools are also a constant sight off Westport and are being harassed by these bigger bass that are running up to the mid-30-pound size range. Trevor Harvey, age 15, caught a keeper bass up to 32 pounds and 42 inches over at Hempsted Harbor, New York, over the weekend. Ed Kaminski caught a 28-pounder on mackerel in Stamford Harbor, which also holds adult bunker. George Saskala caught a 35-pounder off 11-B on a bunker chunk.
    
25. Fluke fishing has improved around Middle Passage and Green�s Ledge locally, but the best catches are still being made across the Sound off the north shore of Long Island.
    Here, like elsewhere in the region, there are tons of smaller bluefish all over the place, mixed in with the bunker schools. Lots of one-pounders but there are bigger fish caught on occasion.
    
26. This week, expect to see more decent-size bass caught along the Connecticut shoreline as this mass of big fish from the Hudson River is pushed eastward by rising water temperatures in the western end of the Sound. This movement has been delayed by the oddball weather, but it�s finally happening, better late than never.

Conn Post, Frank McKane 6/25/05

1. The local fishing scene seemed to stabilize over the past week. Most anglers are reporting fair to good action, but the number of trophy-class fish dwindled slightly. Striped bass offer the best angling on Long Island Sound while panfish are making sweetwater casters very happy.
2. Striped bass hunters are finding loads of small sub-legal schoolie bass in all the tidal rivers and harbors. The beauty of these fish is they can be caught on almost anything. Small mackerel or bunker chunks work well for the bank sitters. Lures and flies are scoring with the beach waders. Dawn and evening hours are the best times to go looking for the schoolie bass. Since most of these fish are below the legal limit, crush the barbs on your hooks flat to facilitate quick releases.
3. Larger "cow" striped bass in the 35- to 45-inch range are on the offshore reefs and in the strong tidal rips. Free lining eels or hickory shad is a hot live bait tactic for the giants. Also, mackerel chunks, white or red tube-and-worms, and small 7-inch wide umbrella rigs are taking the reef fish. Some of the typical striper haunts include the reefs off Watch Hill, Fishers Island, Ram Island Reef, the Race, Plum Gut, Bartlett Reef, Hatchett Reef, Long Sand Shoal, Southwest Reef, Sixmile Reef, Browns Reef, the mouth of the Quinnipiac River in New Haven Harbor, Smith Point, Sunken Island, and the outer perimeter of the Norwalk Islands.
4. Greg Rentz and Tim Osborne, both of Bridgeport, went striped bass fishing off the BH Buoy last week. According to Jimmy O's Bait, they each caught a trophy-class striped bass, weighing 35 and 27 pounds, respectively. The fish were fooled with mackerel chunks. John Dederer of Stratford stopped by Stratford Bait & Tackle with his first keeper bass. The fish weighed 11.92 pounds and came from the mouth of the Housatonic River.
5. Bluegills and sunfish are biting extremely well throughout the state. Anyone armed with a can of nightcrawlers, bobbers and hooks can catch a nice batch of fish. Some good places to try are Putnam Park Pond, Great Hollow Pond, Nells Rock Reservoir, Lake Mohegan, Lake Housatonic in Indian Wells State Park, Perry Mill Pond, Mondo Pond and Bunnell Pond.
6. Also on the panfish front, crappie are cooperating in Lake Zoar, Lake Saltonstall, Stillwater Pond, Park Pond and Upper Moodus Reservoir. Carp, often exceeding 10 pounds, are bending rods at Lake Zoar and Lake Housatonic. White perch are available in Lake Lillinonah and the Connecticut River.
7. Boaters traveling across Long Island Sound report large schools of spawning bluefish. While these fish are often difficult to catch, their presence is a good sign of things to come. We should see plenty of five- to eight-pound bluefish in all the harbors and tidal rivers after the spawning period. The good spawning season should also translate into a super snapper fishing period in August and September.
8. Trout are still a very viable angling option in the Farmington, Housatonic, Willimantic, Naugatuck, Scantic, Salmon, Quinnipiac, Pootatuck, Mill and Saugatuck rivers. Bait fishermen are finding a corn kernel/mealworm combination is most productive. Fly casters have had decent luck with March Brown nymphs, Light Cahills, Blue Wing Olives, Caddis flies, Green/Brown Drakes and stoneflies.
9. Those anglers looking for a new adventure, New York is having a free fishing weekend starting Saturday. You may fish any freshwater body of water without purchasing a fishing license. The Empire State is blessed with numerous fishing waters. This weekend would be a great time to sample that state's offerings.

On The Water 6/23/05

1. This week, reports indicate improvement in the overall fluke fishing scene, although pretty much across the board everyone is saying the catches are generally a disappointment. Striper action from those larger late-run bass appears to have suddenly come to life in the areas around the perimeter of Block Island Sound and the island itself, with shops in this area pretty much all weighing in or hearing of fish in the 40- to 50- pound range since the weekend. Bluefish are increasing in abundance and appear to be of medium to small average sizes, although there are some 8- and 10-pounders to be caught. Scup season doesn’t open for another week, but these little bait stealers are starting to interfere with anglers targeting fluke in some areas. No one is complaining, other than the fluke meisters who are working way too hard to catch a few keepers no matter where they are making their drifts.
2. Cheryl Fee of Shaffer’s Marina, Mystic said her customers have been complaining about high numbers of bluefish getting in the way of the stripers they are targeting. The anglers fishing close to the river are catching striped bass on squid imitations like Slug-Gos and Hydro Squirts. Those who know the spots are catching and releasing 20 to 30 fish per night, but not many of these fish are much over 28 to 30 inches. Those who are traveling to fish the Watch Hill/Fishers Island Reef complex are reporting catching lots of bass by trolling with bucktails or plugs. So far this season, there have not been many really big fish brought back to the docks.
3. Lots of throwback fluke off Misquamicut and Isabella Beach at Fishers Island lately. Cheryl said that two small boats that fished locally at spots in and around the Mystic River did better than those who burned the gas to hit Rhode Island or Montauk. One caught something like seven keepers, along with a few porgies and skate. Porgies are starting to show and get in the way of the fluke, which means anglers are busy all day catching something, which is not all bad.
4. The scup season opens July 1, and it looks like another banner scup year is in the offing for local fishermen.
5. Rennie of The Fish Connection, Preston said the fishing on the Thames has been slow since the heat wave two weeks ago. Anglers are taking some scattered bluefish and small stripers, but overall the river has been quiet.
6. He said that a few customers have been out looking for blue crabs but not finding them. No one has so much as seen a crab in the Thames so far this year, but one guy said he saw some over at Bluff Point.
7. Jack Balint said he fished everywhere from Watch Hill to The Race with a couple of his fishermen and caught over two dozen bass to about 32 inches, along with a bunch of small bluefish. They did some casting in key spots, but most of their catch was made on tube and worms. He said that in a couple of areas the bluefish were so thick he had to leave to save baits and lures. These blues are averaging about five pounds. The bite from the larger stripers has generally been a night bite due to the full moon, summer solstice and all that sort of stuff.
8. Fluke fishing is getting better with each change of the tide, but it is still a good deal slower than normal for this point on the calendar. Jack said that a couple guys went to Montauk and only landed five keeper fish, saying they could have done as well locally and saved a bunch of gas and a long bumpy boat ride. Jack mentioned that one reason he thinks the fluke catches have been so poor lately is the fact that, much of the time, the winds have been against the tides. Plus, surface temperatures are still chilly, only in the 57- to 59-degree range. He said that most years the surface temperatures are 62 to 65 degrees by this time.
9. One positive note is that Jack said he’s been seeing acres of sand eels in spots like the outside Fishers, around Napatree Point and off Watch Hill Reef. This abundant forage will attract and hold bass, fluke and bluefish, especially if water temperatures remain cool like they have been.
10. John at Hillyer’s Bait and Tackle, Waterford said the best fluke-catching area their customers have been talking about has been off Misquamicut Beach. Isabella is so, so, and Montauk Point is not the hot spot it was a couple of weeks ago. Locally, Two Tree Channel, Niantic Bay itself and Black Point are producing more fish. So far, not many big ones – the best was an 8-pound-plus fluke that was caught from Niantic Bay by Tom Scarzynski.
11. Striper catches have been good in The Race, Hatchet Reef and Bartlett Reef. Tube and worms, three-way bucktails and umbrella-rig trolling have been accounting for the majority of the large stripers being reported. In addition to the large bass, there are schoolies all over the place around Harkness Park, up inside the Niantic River, off Black Point, Millstone Point and over along the mouth of the Thames.
12. Bluefish action is picking up nicely. It looks like it is going to be another banner year for bluefish, like last year. Last season, those blues were in two distinct size groups: 1.5 to 3 pounds, and 4 to 6 pounds. However, with a year of growth on them, there will be more bluefish of 8 pounds or better, plus a good number of 2- to 6-pounders. The Millstone discharge has been full of blues and schoolie bass lately.
13. The Race has also been producing bluefish on a regular basis.
14. Blackfishing is fair, but remember that the prime time of spring fishing when they come inshore to spawn is pretty well over. Hillyer’s has weighed in some decent blackfish since the season opened on the 15th. The best was a beautiful 11.5-pounder that was caught between the bridges on a sand worm. John also recommended trying the rocks out at Black Point and Sara’s Ledge for blackfish.
15. “Q” of River’s End, Saybrook said fishing is very slow in the lower river, with only a few small bass and bluefish biting early and late in the day. Plum Gut has been producing blues, along with a slow pick for bass, both there and in The Race.
16. Overall, fluke fishing has been a disappointment. “Q” said the fluking locally is as good as anywhere at the present time. There are a few fish being caught from the lower Connecticut River and east to Sound View. Across the Sound, The Ruins has been O.K. but nothing special. No place is really hot for this species, so anglers are better off saving on gas and travel time and working the spots closer to home more thoroughly if fluke is their primary target species. There are tons of skate out there to molest baits when drift speeds become too slow.
17. Captain Jerry Morgan of Captain Morgan’s Tackle, Madison said the fluke are finally picking up on this side of the Sound. Nothing special, but catches in closer to the shoreline have improved over the past week. There has been some improvement in the catches of blackfish in both number and size since the season opened. No big tiderunners have been brought in to the scales yet, but he said the catches have been better than last year’s opening week.
18. There is a mix of bluefish of all sizes being reported from all the local reefs and rip lines from Kimberly and Six Mile reefs out to Falkner Island and into New Haven Harbor. Most are medium and small stuff, but there are a few 8-pound or better fish being caught.
19. The striped bass action has waned since last week. He noted that “the bass take some searching” at the moment. Eels after dark is the most productive method for taking large stripers, but they aren’t coming easy like they were a week or so ago. He also noted that he’s been seeing some of those bunker moving into the area from the western part of the Sound that has been full of adult menhaden for a couple of weeks.
20. The captain had an interesting tale to relate. One of his customers was fishing just outside Wicopesset Passage earlier in the week for stripers. He was fishing chunks on wire line in the current and hooked into something big. He and his buddy had either two different fish or possibly the same fish on at the same time and pressured the monster for two hours before it sawed through the wire and got away. The guy said the fish was so big that as they started to chase it with the boat and got right over the top of it, they could not pull it off the bottom.
21. Without a photo or body for proof, it’s hard to speculate as to what it could have been. Usually stray hookups with sharks don’t occur until much later in the summer when temperatures have hit seasonal high levels. Right now it’s not even 60 degrees in the area he was fishing. It was probably a shark of some sort, possibly a dusky or maybe even a thresher that had followed migrating schools of bluefish (a favorite food item) inshore. Who knows what the great fish was, but for sure it was not a tuna or they would have been stripped, or a blue shark or they would have at least seen it in less than an hour with 50-pound-class tackle.
22. Chris Fulton, owner of Stratford Bait and Tackle, Stratford, said they finally started catching some bigger stripers in the Housatonic River this week. He saw a 20-pounder that was taken on a fresh bunker chunk on Tuesday and two other stripers of 11 and 14 pounds. Much better quality fish than the schoolies that have been caught for the past three weeks. One customer caught stripers of 24 and 29 pounds on a roadtrip to fish the Stonington area over the weekend. It’s not crazy fishing by any means, but Chris said he’s starting to see signs of life in his area that indicate some better fishing is probably not too far off.
23. Chris caught some small blues and bass off Penfield Reef on poppers and bombers the other night. This was the first successful trip he’s had at this reef in a while. He tried fluking on Friday morning but hit heavy winds and seas, so he had to retreat to the protection of the Housatonic and fish for stripers. Unfortunately, those larger fish seemed to have shown up since Sunday, so all he managed was a handful of small schoolies.
24. Fluke fishing has been spotty at best in his area. Charles Island, which was producing a few fish a couple of weeks back, has slowed considerably. New Haven Harbor and the breakwalls have also slowed in their fluke production since last week. Most of the successful fluke fishermen Chris has been talking to are running across the Sound to fish the north shore of Long Island.
25. Bert at Fisherman’s World, Norwalk said they have been catching bass over at Westport, where a school of bunker has been set up since last week. These fish are running up to about 36 inches, with the best one he’s heard of weighing in at 25 pounds. A few customers said they were catching bass in that same size range off Calf Pasture Beach on chunk mackerel over the weekend. Buoys 28“C” and 11“B” continue to produce striped bass in the 15- to 25-pound range on a regular basis, but nowhere near as well as the area around Rye, New York, just across the border. That big slug of bass Nick Mola has been talking about for the past two weeks are still hung up in that area and feeding heavily on menhaden. These fish are feeding on adult bunker that normally move through fairly rapidly when pushed by stripers like this, but for some reason, they are stuck a long boat ride from the anglers in Norwalk who patiently await their arrival. Locally, around the islands, fishermen are catching a few large fish, but the mass of big bass is to the west, where anglers will catch four to five fish over 30 pounds per trip. Trolling with tube and worms has been a very good method for taking bass up into the 20-pound range around the islands, but that’s nothing compared to the action fishermen will enjoy if – or, hopefully, when – those bunker move into the islands.
26. Fluke have been caught off the Norwalk Islands, but there have not been very many of them and they have not been of notable size. The best catches are still being made off Mattituck, the golf course and other places across the Sound, along the north shore of Long Island.
27. With temperatures rising and fish on the move, it looks like the best fishing this weekend will be west of Norwalk for big stripers. In the eastern end of the Sound, try fishing the reefs and rock piles from Niantic Bay to Point Judith, with the waters out around Block Island and the south shore beaches being the most likely places to tie into a 50-pounder. The Rhode Island Beaches and Block Island appear to be holding the most fluke, but at best, anglers everywhere are working hard to take a limit or near limit of keeper-size fish.
28. Tides will be slowing down as we get farther away from the June moon, so it will be easier to deal with current speeds whether you are fluke or striper fishing. Concentrate efforts after dark for the big bass and in shallower waters for fluke. The best one this week came from only 40 feet, but don’t hesitate to move around in order to find the depth where the fluke are most active..

Norwich Bulletin - Fishing Report

• What we and other holiday-weekend fishermen can expect is good striped bass action around any reef, rip line or rock pile. Catching 10- to 30-pound fish is not out of the question this weekend, especially deep in the Race or around rocky areas after dark.
• Bluefish will be thicker in the major deep waters of the Race and Plum Gut, but are likely to be mixed with the bass. The gut was reportedly full with bluefish last week and the Race has been producing bluefish consistently for two weeks now.
• Fluke fishing has been a major disappointment so far this spring. The best place is Montauk Point. But even there, fishing -- or rather catching -- has not been consistent.
• Most of the fluke on this side of the Sound are shorts. There have been some very large fluke -- up to 10 pounds -- caught off Misquamicut but they are few and far between.
• One report from that area indicated that two anglers caught 50 fluke last week, but only five of them were 1 1/2-inch keepers. Last Saturday, my son, Jared, and his girlfriend, Julie Feeney, and I managed to land only 10 fluke with three keepers in about four hours of bouncing on some riled waters of Misquamicut.
• The worm spawn event over at Ninigret and the other salt ponds across the border are pretty well shot for this season. Look for the bass that had been inshore and feeding in such places, or up inside major rivers such as the Connecticut and Thames rivers, to be feeding either lower in major rivers or outside the river mouths on squid near reefs.
• The Watch Hill Reef Complex, Bartlett Reef, Black Point, Ram Island Reef, and other likely spots are holding some bass in the 15- to 30-pound range, but those 50 pounders that come through every summer are not here yet.

Conn Post, McKane 6/16/05

1. The summer heat has been altering the fisheries both in Long Island Sound and the inland waterways. Fish have two options to avoid the heat and sun. They can migrate to deeper water or wait to feed in the evening and right at dawn. Anglers must alter their tactics accordingly to intercept the summer striped bass, largemouth bass and trout.
2. Striped bass fishing has separated into two classes — nearshore and offshore. The nearshore anglers are catching plenty of sub-legal bass. These schoolies are fun to catch on light tackle, but remember the size minimum is 28 -inches. The Fort Hale fishing pier, West Haven Sandbar, Gulf Beach, the state boat launching ramp on the Housatonic River, the fishing pier at the Dock Shopping Center, Bonds Dock, Short Beach, the western end of Seaside Park, the St. Mary's Seawall, Penfield Reef and Sherwood Island are giving up good numbers of short stripers, along with an occasional keeper.
3. Bigger bass are more offshore near Long Sand Shoal, Southwest Reef, Six Mile Reef, Duck Island, the mouth of Branford Harbor, the reefs off Branford, New Haven Harbor, south of Charles Island, the perimeter of the Stratford Shoal, Buoy 28C, around Sheffield Island and the Cows off Stamford. Al Rosenthal of Shelton stopped by Ted's Bait & Tackle last week with a 39-inch, 20-pound, 8-ounce striped bass. He caught the fish on a fresh bunker chunk off the Port 5 dock in Bridgeport.
4. The state Department of Environmental Protection reported that anglers and boaters are seeing many dead striped bass in the Connecticut River. These fish appeared to have died from the stress brought on by rising water temperatures and lengthy angling battles. To minimize stress to any catch-and-release release fish, shorten the amount of time you spend playing and handling fish. Also, use circle or barbless hooks.
5. Fluke action is still slow, but improving in New Haven Harbor, off Penfield Reef and around the Norwalk islands. Ian Smith, 11 of Stratford, caught his first fluke last week. While fishing in New Haven harbor with a squid/spearing combination, the youngster landed a 1.98-pound fluke.
6. Blackfish season opened Wednesday with modest reports off the New Haven Harbor breakwaters and Townshend Ledge. Bluefish are becoming plentiful in all the western Sound harbors. Weakfish apparently have vanished with the summer heat.
7. Largemouth and smallmouth bass angling is fair to good. Look for largemouth bass in Ball Pond, Lake Chamberlain, both the Upper and Lower Moodus Reservoirs, Gardner Lake, Bantam Lake, Hatch Pond, Long Meadow Pond, Hop Brook Flood Control Impoundment and Wood Creek Pond. Smallmouth bass are found in Gardner Lake, Bantam Lake, Coventry Lake, Candlewood Lake and Highland Lake.
8. Charlie Tesla of Stratford scored a double at the Saugatuck Reservoir last week. He caught a 3.18-pound walleye and a 3.25-pound smallmouth bass on live minnows. The fish were weighed at Stratford Bait & Tackle.
9. Trout action has dropped off with the summer heat, but fair numbers of fish can still be caught in the evening in the West Branch and mainstem of the Farmington River, the Housatonic River Trout Management Areas, Naugatuck River, Pootatuck River, Candlewood Lake, West Hill Pond, Black Pond, Highland Lake, Wononscopomuc Lake and East Twin Lake.
10. Also, chain pickerel are biting in Long Meadow Pond, Upper Moodus Reservoir and Wood Creek Pond. Crappie fishing is good in Upper Moodus Reservoir, West Thompson Lake, Wood Creek Pond and Lake Zoar. Kokanee salmon are ripe in West Hill Pond.

Herald, Bob Salereno 6/17/05

1. June is a time of stabilization for both the fish and the fisherman. The fishing season is now in full swing for trout, large and smallmouth bass, migratory stripers, bluefish, shad and summer flounder. The weather has stabilized allowing anglers to fish in less bulky clothing. Water temperature has reached the upper fifties driving most species to a consistent feeding pattern. Spring runoff is no longer swelling rivers and streams over banks.
2. The stocked trout that survived the early season onslaught have now settled into comfortable lies that allow for a steady food source and protection from predators. Newly stocked fish adapt much faster with little or no shock to their system. Aquatic insects such as caddis and stoneflies tend to be active throughout the day providing fly fishermen with reliable action. Consistent evening hatches bring up some of the bigger trout adding to the dry fly experience. Stream or lake fishermen that are willing to put in some time after dark on warm June evenings are often rewarded with a bragging size trout. Warming temperatures and increased daylight drive bass and sunfish into the deeper structure filled water, challenging even the most knowledgeable anglers.
3. In the briny, stripers lead the way as the most sought after gamefish. June brings the peak of the large striper migration. The best opportunity for a novice as well as experienced anglers to hook a big bass happens during this special month. The big fish are attracted inshore by the immense populations of sand eels that are in spawning and hatching cycles. The new and full moons of June trigger reproductive activity in this baitfish luring stripers to the sandbars and sloughs off beaches and in shallow bays and salt ponds. This feeding frenzy takes place on both sides of the new and full moons of the month. During the low light hours (dawn and dusk) and overcast days stripers will herd sand eels into the shallows. Look for tailing and finning bass as stripers tend to gorge themselves on the bait in a subtle relaxed manner, not the explosive tail slapping activity often associated with feeding bass.
4. Bluefish also are attracted to the same areas and baits at this time of the season and like bass, are notorious for early morning blitzes. The difference is that bass prefer to feed on the surface during times of low light and bluefish like it best after the sun rises.
5. In the later part of the month baby bunker move into southern New England waters creating a bigger menu for stripers, summer flounder and bluefish, and another challenge for anglers trying to match the bait.
6. June is also a good time for quality fluke fishing. Traditional fluking waters are the South side of Fishers Island, the flats from Stonington to Napatree, off the Mystic River, Groton Long Point, Harkness and Ocean Beach Parks. The Western Sound also produced noteworthy catches the last several years.
7. For the offshore enthusiast, June marks the start of the tuna and shark season for bluefin, porbeagles, makos and blues that are following the migrating schools of bluefish and mackerel.
8. June is a perfect month to get out on the water whether your preference is fresh or saltwater. For those of us that share an addiction to both trout and stripers the choice becomes more difficult. The only answer is to put yardwork and sleep on hold and bust out fishing as often as possible during this special time.
9. Fishing Report: Trout anglers are reporting good fishing in the Farmington, Housatonic, Willimantic, Natchaug, Naugatuck, Scantic, Salmon, Quinnipiac, Mill, and Saugatuck Rivers, and Lead Mine, Carse and Hop Brooks. Bait fisherman are finding the corn/mealworm combination the most productive. Fly fishermen report March Brown nymphs, Vitreus,Light Cahills, Isonychia, Gray Fox Blue Wing Olives and Caddis imitations are fooling trout on the Farmington River.
10. Many of our lakes are producing large fish. Expect peak action this week from Candlewood Lake where many 3-5 lbs. fish are appearing. Other good reports include Lake McDonough, Lake Saltonstall, Wonoscopomuc, Amos, Rogers, Cedar, Highland, East Twin and Crystal Lakes, Beach Pond and West Hill Pond.
11. Largemouth bass fishing is reported as good in many areas including Lake Lillinonah, Upper Moodus Reservoir, Amos, Mashapaug, Cedar, Highland,Rogers, Quonnipaug, Silver, Billings, Congamond, Coventry, Bashan and Bantam Lakes, Beach, and in the lower Housatonic River. Good action for Smallmouths are reported from Lake McDonough, Colebrook Reservoir, Gardner Lake, Bantam Lake, Highland Lake, and in the Housatonic River. Good walleye catches reported from Lake Saltonstall and Saugatuck Reservoir.
12. Striped bass fishing remains good for schoolies in the tidal rivers. Larger "cows" in the 40+inch range are on the reefs and tidal rips. Dawn and evening hours are the best times. Live lining eels and hickory shad are the choice baits along with trolling the tube and worm combo. Typical striper haunts include the reefs off Watch Hill to the eastern tip of Fishers Island, Ram Island Reef, the Race, Plum Gut, Bartlett Reef,Hatchett Reef, Long Sand Shoal, Southwest Reef, Sixmile Reef, New Haven Harbor, Charles Island, the Norwalk Islands, and the Cows off Stamford.
13. Bluefish fishing is fairly consistent with choppers ranging in size from 3-9-pounds. Look for bluefish chasing and feeding on bait fish at the surface during early morning and dusk. Bluefish spots include the Race, warm water discharge at Millstone, the Sluiceway, Plum Gut, Niantic Bay, Long Sand Shoal, Sixmile Reef, north rip off Falkner Island, New Haven Harbor, Charles Island area to the entrance into Milford Harbor, Bridgeport Harbor and the Norwalk Islands.
14. Summer Flounder fishing has improved in Fishers Island Sound off Stonington and the mouth of the Mystic River, Niantic Bay, Soundview Beach, Westbrook area, and New Haven Harbor.

On The Water 6/16/05

1. Last week’s heat wave definitely raised water temperatures throughout the area, pretty much killing what was left of trout fishing inland. In major rivers it’s been pushing the temperatures to uncomfortable levels for striped bass and the anadromous species that were around spawning in places like the Connecticut River. Worm spawns also seem to be slowing down in the salt ponds at this point, but the fishing is still holding up as bluefish and hickory shad move in to take advantage of the warmer waters to be found in these sorts of places. Bluefish action has picked up across the board, while fluking is still spotty to poor or at best disappointing, all the way down the coast from Newport to Norwalk. However, the area’s striper fishermen don’t seem to be complaining. The bass fishing appears to be holding up or improving in most areas, as migratory stripers continue to push through the region. This week the two extremes of this report, Narragansett Bay, Rhode Island and the Connecticut / New York border in western Long Island Sound, appear to be holding the greatest concentrations of 20-pound-plus stripers for the moment.
2. Cheryl Fee of Shaffer’s Marina, Mystic said she’s been hearing nothing but complaints about draggers off Misquamicut, especially from her customers who go out and don’t catch what they expect they should be catching at this time of year. Fluke fishing has been slow throughout the region, with anglers catching mostly throwbacks wherever they are fluking. Throwbacks are not exactly a bad thing because they are the future of the fishery, but they do become tiresome if that’s all you are catching. One angler said that he caught 50 fluke, five of which were keepers. That’s a pretty action-packed outing for any species, so even though the ratio of keepers to shorts is kind of high, I’d take that many fish any time. Saturday, one group caught a 5-pounder off the beaches, but all the others they hooked were short. In other words, if you go fluke fishing, bring plenty of bait and expect to do some culling to catch a few keepers for the freezer.
3. I’ve discovered over the years that an abundance of short fish usually means more missed hooksets. There was a time when missing fish, whether they were stripers or fluke, would get me frustrated. However, most of the time it simply meant that the fish being dropped were too small to handle the baits and hook sizes being used, and in the case of fluke, I’d rather not hook and have to release a sublegal fish in the first place. Keeper fluke of 17.5 inches will have no problem inhaling a typical 3/0 or larger hook that’s loaded with bait. When that big guy comes along, it will have no trouble taking even a very large bait. It appears that fluking will be more of a waiting game this year than it has been in the past. But also be aware that among those shorts are some real big doormats to be had and they are worth waiting for.
4. Blues are popping up all over the place as they begin moving inshore from their spawning grounds offshore. These fish are averaging four to five pounds, with some fish weighing 10.
5. In The Race, diamond jigs and three-way rigs with bucktails or eels are consistently producing bass down deep, especially after dark. Closer near-shore reefs and rock piles such as Watch Hill, Sugar Reef and Ram Island Reef have been producing stripers from medium schoolies down, for anglers tossing poppers, soft plastics and swimming lures. One batch of stripers taken around the Mystic area were those tiny little foot-long and smaller fish that dominated the early spring action in the Thames this past winter and spring. The stripers are said to be full of squid and herring. Eels after dark in these same areas are much more likely to catch larger fish.
6. Rennie of The Fish Connection, Preston on the Thames said things have slowed a good deal lately in the river as water temperatures have risen into the low 70s in the shallows. For some reason, possibly the oppressive heat, there haven’t been many reports coming in about either bass or fluke fishing. Rennie fished Stonington Harbor on Monday, saw fish swirling near the surface on something small, but only managed to take a single 24-incher. Captain Jack Balint said the fishing has been on the slow side lately in the waters from Watch Hill to the Gull Islands that he’s been working with his clients. After our fluke trip to Misquamicut on Saturday, we tube-and-worm trolled a few spots on the protected inside of Fishers Island and caught only six schoolies that maxed out at about 26 inches. I suspect that if we fished until dark, the size range would have expanded some, but a serious fog bank began descending around 6 p.m., so we ran home like little cowards.
7. Fluke fishing has been slow off Fishers Island and the south shore beaches. No one came in bragging from any place since the last report, not even those who burned the gas to get to Montauk Point. Montauk continues to generate the best fluke success reports in the region, but even a percentage of the anglers who make the commitment are not doing all that well.
8. Freshwater fishing action has slowed tremendously for trout with rapidly rising water temperatures. River levels are low and temperatures high, which quickly switches trout fishing over to that summertime pattern of tiny flies fished early and late in the day. Anglers catching trout in warm waters must be aware that even released fish may die due to the lactic acid buildup caused by exertion in hot water, so serious catch-and-release anglers often choose to chase other species or refrain from targeting trout until fall when water temperatures come back down. There has not been much in the way of bass or walleye reports coming into the shop lately, either. I know anglers are out, but either they are not talking about their catches or they are not doing very well. Largemouths are in their postspawn pattern and should be recovered enough to put on the feedbag for that good early summer surface bite that takes place late in June most years.
9. Matt at Hillyer’s Bait and Tackle, Waterford said the fluke fishing is better than last week but still not meeting the expectations of local fishermen for this point in the year. He said that depending on whom you talk to, reports range from good to lousy. Montauk Point is the most consistent place to catch fluke, but nowhere seems to be red-hot all the time this season. It’s been hit and miss pretty much everywhere. Seven out of ten anglers are having difficulty catching their limits, and the other three have been lucky, according to Matt. In other words, those who hit the right place at the right time and tide are doing well; in-between it can be a slow pick.
10. Blackfishing opened up on Wednesday, June 15 and a few people were taking them between the bridges, but none were big enough to bring to the scales at the shop.
11. Bass fishing has been good but not as good as it should be this time of year. The boats fishing deep in The Race, especially after dark, are connecting with 20- to 30-pound-class stripers on a regular basis. However, places such as Black Point and Bartlett Reef, although holding fish, are not red-hot like they normally are at this time. Bear in mind this has been far from a typical year as far as weather and temperature are concerned.
12. Bluefish are all over the place. Earlier in the week, Plum Gut was loaded from top to bottom with them. These are the fish that will break up and assault all the inshore reefs and beaches over the next few weeks.
13. Pat Abate of River’s End Tackle, Saybrook said the river has been good to very good fishing lately, with top-end fish up to 40 inches and an occasional bluefish coming in out of nowhere to puree one’s Slug-Gos. He said that during his last trip, the bass were swirling and reluctant to hit the larger offerings but readily inhaled 6-inch Slug-Gos when they were cast to them. Ebb tide is the best time to fish the lower Connecticut River.
14. I suspect that the warm temps last week are partially responsible for the improved bass fishing in the lower river, as these fish head to the ocean to avoid water temperature levels that were uncomfortable and approaching dangerous.
15. Captain Jerry Morgan of Captain Morgan’s Tackle, Madison told us he’s seeing more fluke lately but still no doormats coming through his door. The bottom line is there are more fluke around to catch off the local beaches. Water temperatures in this part of the Sound are in the low to mid-60s since the heat wave.
16. Stripers are hitting well, but no real heavy fish have been taken. Top-end bass this week have been under 40 inches, with fish coming in off the rocks from shore, as well as from the offshore rock piles and reefs.
17. Bluefish are all over the place and hitting well off Southwest Reef and Kimberly Reef, as well. Again, there are no major-league choppers around, but the 3- to 5-pounders anglers are catching are fun on light tackle and fly-fishing equipment.
18. Despite the recent rise in inshore water temperatures, the captain said he is still seeing winter flounder being caught from local river channels and mouths. These fish are coming in around the top of the tide, biting for an hour or so and suddenly leaving. He said that it is a short window of opportunity around the top of the tide that a few local sharpies are taking advantage of. They come in, bite, and then they are gone. If you don’t have a chum pot set at the right point in the tide, it’s like these fish never existed.
    Blackfish opened Wednesday, but no one brought any in to the scales as of this report. Being that the best of the blackfish season took place while the season was closed, most anglers are now targeting bass and fluke and only taking the blackfish they catch incidentally.
19. Locally, a few anglers in the know are taking sand sharks in the Thimble Islands. The captain said that every summer these hard-core shark fishermen consistently catch a few small blue sharks and even an occasional brown shark by chumming and chunking through the night in specific areas south of the Thimble Islands.
20. Chris Fulton, owner of Stratford Bait and Tackle, Stratford said that, “Not a hell of a lot has been going on” down in his neck of the woods. It seems like they are between the biggest concentrations of bait at the present time. Bass seem to be out in deeper waters off the mouth of the Housatonic River.
    No weakfish for two or three weeks. Fluking has been mediocre, with a few fluke coming in from the mouth of the river, Charles Island and around the New Haven breakwalls. He noted that the trouble is no consistency in catches because the bait is moving around and not holding in one area long enough to set a consistent pattern that anglers can follow. He used an example of how one guy took four 5-pounders one day off the West Haven Breakwall, and the very next day, a couple of anglers who know the area and how to fish it didn’t catch a single fluke.
21. Charles Island produced two bass one night around its entire perimeter, while the following night one customer sat in one spot and caught six or eight fish. It’s like that, Chris noted, one day it’s slow, next night the fishermen kill them.
22. My guess is that this could be due to the movement of fish through the area in slugs. The inconsistency could also be due to the heat that has overtaken the area lately, heat that will move bait and predatory fish out of some areas just like it will people.
23. Nick Mola of Fisherman’s World, Norwalk reported that there are tons of bunker off Rye and Maroneck to Hempsted, New York with some bigger bass feeding on them. There have been a few of these bunker and the stripers are spilling over into the Norwalk area around Greens Ledge and other local spots. But things are just shaping up for some major bunker/bass blitzes. The fish are still migrating, but nothing has settled in so far.
24. Blues in the 2- to 5-pound size range are on top off Smithtown Bay, as well as around the Norwalk Islands and off Calf Pasture Point. Some bigger blues are naturally being caught underneath those same stripers, holding bunker schools to the west.
25. Fluke fishing is still better across the Sound off Sunken Meadow, Port Jefferson and the Golf Course. These spots are all producing fluke but at a slow pick. Seven- and eight-pounders have been the largest fluke he’s seen since they showed up three weeks ago, which is nothing to get excited over. It’s been such a screwy spring that all we can really do is sit and wait to see what happens next.
26. The positive thing is that the good early summer fishing is just beginning. This week expect fluke fishing to continue to pick up on all fronts, and begin looking for and expecting to hear of giant stripers caught off Block Island, Montauk Point and along the Rhody Coast and the south side of Fishers Island.

LI Boating World, Bob Sampson, July 2004

1. YES I KNOW IT'S A 2004 REPORT BUT IT'S STILL USEFUL
   
2. July is midsummer, with the torrid doldrums taking over weather patterns in the northern hemisphere. Temperatures rise, rainfalls drop and conditions stabilize for a brief period before the patterns start shifting around with the approach of fall. It is the time of year when literally anything can be caught in our waters, with all the seasonal migrants present in good numbers usually by mid-month.
3. This spring has been a little cooler than normal, but not quite as cold as the spring of 2003, which created some truly unique fishing by the time July rolled around. This year is shaping up to be an echo of last year, but an echo that is of a lower magnitude.
4. As of June 6, 2003, Long Island Sound off Mystic was a chilly 49.5 degrees F. As of
5. May 28, 2004, it was in the 54- to 55-degree range, cool, overcast, cloudy, with overnight temps below 50, conditions which were delaying the warming process as these words were being written, but not off the charts like last spring.
6. Last year, the extremely cold water temps, which persisted until mid-June created
7. a situation where the big bass that normally move through the region as water temps rise, appeared to stay. The water did not get above 70 on the surface out in the ocean, so it was ideal temperature and there was plenty of bait to hold them. This combination meant that many big stripers did not migrate north. Their presence created some of the best big fish action fishermen in this area can ever remember.
8. From late July through August and into September there were more 50-pound stripers
9. caught and reported to area shops that I can recall in the 33 years I have been writing fishing reports. For about six weeks in a row there were 50-pounders brought in by area charters and private fishing boats.
10. Last year’s spring fishing was horrible, but the summer and fall was as good as it gets. This year is shaping up to possibly have some of the same qualities as 2003, but maybe not to the same degree. Could be we will have a protracted period of that great early summer action, but the odds are we won’t duplicate the unique conditions of the summer of 2003 again in our lifetimes.
11. Typically, some of the largest stripers of the season are caught during the month of July in this area. These are the mature breeders making their way northward out of Chesapeake Bay and the Hudson River. All the seasonal migrants are in or will show up by the end of the month and typically, the hot weather brings with it the first good offshore action of the summer.
12. The first big striper of 2004 came in to Shaffer’s Marina on May 24. The fish was a 50- inch, 53-pounder with a 30-inch girth was caught from the Pawcatuck River on a live eel after dark.
13. Bass to the low 40-inch range were being caught in the Race, and along the coast there were good numbers of 30-inchers to play with along with a smattering of 20-pound-plus fish by late May, so things were shaping up nicely at that time. Squid
14. came in on time, but were weak in numbers in some places. The squid always bring with them the first decent fluke catches of the year along with this slug of larger stripers noted above.
15. This month, especially early on, try fishing after dark with live eels, live menhaden or live hickory shad, whichever is easiest to catch. Either fish them in the location they are caught or run them out to the nearest deep water reef, stick a hook in them, set them gently in the water and hold on.
16. In the Race, Sluiceway, Plum Gut, and the Watch HIll/Fishers Island Reef Complex many
17. anglers successfully catch big stripers by drifting along after dark with a three-way rig that is baited with a live eel, rigged squid, menhaden or hickory shad, weighted enough to hold and tap bottom. It’s a hard way to fish that requires big tackle, but it accounts for a large percentage of the jumbo bass that are weighed in every night throughout the area.
18. Also, try drifting a rocky shoreline or wading in the surf while casting and retrieving a live eel like it was a soft plastic bait. This is my favorite way to catch big bass on light tackle. It is very effective in water under 20 feet deep. Add a slip sinker or a length of lead core line to get them down deeper, if necessary.
19. Until the porgies come in so thick that they get in the way, tube and worm trolling along any rocky stretch of shore along the coast is a great way to pick up stripers this month.
20. If the scup come in so thick it is impossible to keep a worm on the tube, wait till after dark to reduce the amount of bait that will be ruined by these abundant bait stealers. Once the live baits are gone try using Berkley Power Sandworms, strips of squid, even night crawlers on the end of your tubes.
21. Fluke fishing is always excellent this month. Despite the fact they have been aroundsince late May, by July they have moved into all the areas they will invade for the summer.
22. The best fishing this month typically comes along the South Shore beaches of Rhode Island, along the south side of Fishers Island, out around Block Island and west into Long Island Sound as far as Madison. West of there, fluke action is not quite as consistent for some reason, though these fish are taken throughout the Sound all summer long. Fishing always seems to be better across the Sound on the Long Island side, no matter out of what stretch of Connecticut coast one fishes.
23. Niantic Bay and the deep waters mid- Sound from there are always a hotbed of flukefishing activity. But fish can be caught from literally any of the sandy beach areas, river mouths and estuaries along the coast. Later this month, when the peanut bunker arrive in force, fluke will begin following them right into the surf break to feed, often chasing this rich food source for great distances up inside coastal rivers.

New London, Tim Coleman, 6/10

1. From those waiting for improved fluke catches closer to home than Montauk, we have some encouraging news. Within the last week numbers and sizes of summer flounder from both the backside of Fishers Island and the Rhode Island beaches is on the rise. Unfortunately, we still have but a dribble of fish coming from the waters inside eastern Long Island Sound.
2. Al Golinski of Misquamicut took his boat east of Watch Hill on Monday for a fluke limit that included an 11.65-pound doormat that took a very large strip of fresh mackerel on a bucktail worked slowly up and down near the bottom. He also landed three stripers around 25 inches apiece.
3. Allen at Shaffers in Mystic reported Bob Kearney with an 8.8-pound fluke from the Rhode Island beaches on a trip with Larry Troutman at the wheel of his boat. They also weighed a summer flounder of 8.12 pounds, that also somewhere around Misquamicut. On the bass scene, people buying eels told of lots of medium bass but not too many over 25 pounds.
4. Tom C. and friend fished the shallow water on the south side of Race Point casting eels for a catch of stripers and Allen fished last Saturday evening with a popping plug for a 36-incher on the south side of Ram Island just off where someone stuck an upright oar (as in rowing) into one of the shoreline rocks. This writer got out on Wednesday morning just after sunrise with Dave Jermain of Manchester, Mass. We fished the last two hours of the ebb tide in The Race for nine stripers from 5-12 pounds and six blues on diamond jigs.
5. Don at King Cove in Stonington weighed in a 9.30-pound fluke this past Sunday caught off Isabella Beach. Smaller boats had a few keeper fluke just outside the line of pot buoys off the East Breakwater. Randy Ziano came back from an early morning trip to the Watch Hill Reefs with a 38-pound striper fooled with a live eel. John Syrus used a spinning rod and popping plug around sunrise yesterday for a catch of small and medium bass to 25 pounds at Sugar Reef. Shore anglers landed schoolies from time to time at the Monsanto jetty and Stonington Point. Flyrodders at Lamberts Cove early or late in the day were sometimes rewarded to find themselves right in the middle of a worm hatch.
6. Sherwood Lincoln of East Lyme fished Isabella and other beaches on the south side of Fishers Island for most of a day for catch of five keeper fluke and six shorts. He used two rods: one with squid strip and shiners drifted from a rod holder, the other with bucktail and squid strip worked slowly near bottom. On the way back to Niantic he stopped in The Race to bucktail a couple medium stripers.
7. Jack at Ocean House Marina said one of their dock customers came back Thursday morning for two bass in the 30s and two in the 40s, caught with live shad not too far outside the breachway. Chunk bait, either herring or mackerel, is also working on larger bass if you can't find hickory shad for live bait. Best fluke of the week was a 9-pounder landed down toward Point Judith. On Wednesday the boats came back with fluke catches including two that weighed 4.80 and 5.60 pounds.
8. Capt. Al Anderson of Snug Harbor had good numbers of bass to 42 inches fishing both the Sub Buoy rips and Endeavor Shoals along with some 3 to 5-pound blues, all feeding on small silversides and all hitting parachute jigs on 300 feet of wire line. He also made some trips to the North Rip, one foggy morning using diamond jigs in the deep water by the IB1 bell then two evenings, using spin and fly tackle in 10 to 15 feet of water on the inner bar on the flood tide.
9. Capt. Brad Glas of the party boat Hel-Cat sent in his first e-mail of the season saying they are now running seven days per week for bass and blues to The Race, leaving at 9 a.m. and returning around 3 p.m. Blues were more plentiful as week wore on and the bass action was “inversely proportional to the number of small boats orbiting us.”
10. Stephanie Cramer was on one of the trips with Capt. Anderson to the inner bar of the North Rip, landing several bass to 31 inches on trolled squid flies. Casting along the upper reaches of the Thames has been pretty poor even for people dunking chunk bait along the bottom.
11. Capt. Kyle Douton of J&B Tackle said the pros had some good trips for bass and blues in The Race but also some off ones depending on the strength of the tide. On a couple night charters the fish didn't really get into gear until after dark and then took bucktails better than eels. You might also try trolling at Inner Bartletts just at dusk to pick up a few bass that way. Fluking is best by far at Montauk compared to Niantic Bay but be advised you'll need a full day in the former spot to put together a decent catch.
12. Hillyers Tackle reported more blues in the area, both in The Race and also in the shoreline rips taking trolled bass lures and diamond jigs. You can still come up with a flounder or three in Jordan Cove and off Sandy Point by anchoring and chumming then baiting with pieces of sandworms. Black fishing opens on June 15 in state waters; porgy season on July 1.
13. Bringing up the end of the column was Pat Abate of River's End Tackle who said there is a dribble of fluke coming back from the Connecticut River, Sand Shoal and Sound View. There was also a small number of winter flounder caught around The Brothers and off Harkness State Park. Diamond jiggers had blues in The Race during the day and also some better bass on the flood tide at Pigeon Rip.

Conn Post, Frank McKane 6/11

1. Summer arrived this week in full force. This sudden weather change had a profound effect on the state's fisheries, especially when it comes to fluke. Also, saltwater anglers have been enjoying striped bass, bluefish and weakfish. Fresh-water fishers scored well with largemouth bass, northern pike and trout.
2. Most of the better fluke action has come from the New York -side of Long Island Sound. Montauk Point, Peconic Bay, Gardiners Bay and the Mattituck area have been producing nice-sized doormats. Rick Filicko of Stratford traveled over to Port Jefferson last week, where he caught a 10.76-pound fluke. This fish now leads the annual "blackboard" contest at Stratford Bait & Tackle. Ed Forester of Milford also went across the Sound to bag a 10.12-pound fluke.
3. Closer to home, a few fluke have been coming from the New Haven Harbor channels that run between the breakwaters, around the eastern side of Charles Island and off Penfield Reef. Another week of good weather should also bring the fluke into Bridgeport Harbor, Pecks Ledge and the Middle Passage between Shea and Chimon islands off Norwalk. Bucktail jigs, Sea-Match Squid Rigs and baited spinner rigs are popular fluke lures.
4. Both striped bass and bluefish are cooperating in New Haven Harbor, off Bradley Point, Gulf Beach, along Long Beach, off all the fishing piers on the tidal Housatonic River, the eastern end of Seaside Park, Penfield Reef and Calf Pasture Beach. Those in boats are doing well with tube-n-worms, shad grubs, bucktail jigs, small 7-inch umbrella rigs and swimming plugs. Shoreline casters have had their best luck with mackerel chunks, wooden poppers, swimming spoons and small plugs, like Redfins, Lil' Mommas and Rat-L Traps.
5. Blackfish season will open Wednesday. Porgy season is closed until July 1.
   
6. You can fish the reefs for black sea bass with good results. Last week, Kelly Wallace of Stratford landed a 3.88-pound sea bass in New Haven Harbor.
7. Trout anglers reported mixed results last week. Some places seem devoid of fish while others continue to produce. The better trout fishing was found in the West Branch and Mainstem of the Farmington River, the Housatonic River Trout Management Areas, Ball Pond, Candlewood Lake, Wononscopomuc Lake, Highland Lake, East Twin Lake and Southford Falls State Park Pond. Kevin Dunnigan of Stratford opted to fish in the Trumbull section of the Pequonnock River. While drifting a mealworm, he hooked a 25-inch long rainbow trout.
8. Largemouth bass fishing is very good in the smaller ponds where the bass are wrapping up their spawning season. Some of the hottest bass fishing can be found in the Bantam River, Winnemaug Lake, Burr Pond, Moodus Reservoir, Winchester Lake, Mohawk Pond, Nells Rock Reservoir, Perry Mill Pond, Lake Housatonic and Wood Creek Pond.
9. Elsewhere, walleye fishing is good to excellent at Squantz Pond, Saugatuck Reservoir, Coventry Lake and Lake Saltonstall. Some nice northern pike are coming out of Mansfield Hollow Reservoir, the Connecticut River and Pachaug Pond. Crappie catches are reaching their spring peak in Lake Zoar, Lake Lillinonah and Candlewood Lake. Avid crappie anglers often report double-digit catches on tube lures, marabou jigs and tiny crankbaits.

Herald, Bob Salerno 06/10

1. Trout action remains steady at most of the states streams and rivers. On the Farmington the morning hours are a challenge to fly fishermen as micro olives are the predominant hatch.Successful anglers are fishing flies in sizes 26-28 on 8 and 9x tippets.In the afternoon, tan caddis are bringing fish to the surface.The Vitreus hatch is the king of the river in the evening. The hatch is inconsistent from pool to pool, but if you can put the right combination together you will have a good evening. Try the Usual in size 14. Large Isonychia should start by the weekend. Fly anglers are coming into the best fishing of the season.
2. Trout fishing is reported as good to excellent at Mashapaug, Crystal, Ball Pond, Candlewood, Beach Pond, Wononscopomuc, Highland, East Twin, and the Saugatuck Reservoir.
3. Shad fishing continues to improve on the Farmington River in Windsor and at the Holyoke Dam.Best reports for largemouth bass are from Bantam, Gardner, Amos, Lillinonah, Lake Zoar,Mashapaug Lake.Smallmouths are hitting at Highland, Candelwood, Squantz Pond and the Connecticut River north of Hartford.
4. Striper fishing ion the Connecticut has slowed down north of Middletown. Action is good in the lower River.
5. Saltwater fishing for striped bass is rated as good at the Race, Hatchetts Reef, Plum Gut, Millstone, Long Sand Shoal, Bartlett Reef and on the Watch Hill reefs. Bluefish have moved into the Eastern Sound with the best fishing in the Race.
6. Summer Flounder action is improving at Long Sand Shoal, Millstone, at the Dumplings and off the south shore of Fishers Island.

On The Water 6/9/05

1. This week’s heat wave pushed up water temperatures up, especially in shallow saltwater ponds, bays and rivers. Tackle shops along the Rhode Island and Connecticut coastlines all report improved angler activity levels and corresponding increases in catch rates for striped bass, bluefish and fluke, with the greatest improvement in the fluke and bluefish departments.
2. Al Fee of Shaffer’s Marina in Mystic, Connecticut, reported that the local fluke picture has improved and anglers are catching a few more keepers lately, but they just need more of them. The fishing for fluke is still spotty along the south side of Fishers Island and in the eastern end of the Sound around the Mystic area, but seems to have picked up along the South Shore beaches of Rhode Island. Normally, the fluke reach Mystic within a week to ten days after they show in force off Misquamicut Beach. One boat landed 7 keepers off Misquamicut on Saturday, while others drifting along Fishers Island only reported shorts, so things are looking up as far as fluke fishing around Mystic is concerned for this weekend or certainly by next. Bass action is also improved with big fish, a 40-pound, 47-inch long striper being the best of the season so far. This fish was caught by Bill Zanks of Enfield by wire line trolling off the Watch Hill area on Monday. Other anglers from the marina reported taking bass to 37 inches along the east end of Fishers Island while seven year old Clayton Andrews of Stonington caught a 30-incher on a popper off Masons Island while fishing with his dad. Al goes out and fishes the lower river and reefs outside the mouth before and after work a couple times each week and said there are bass all over the place. He has caught fish over 30 inches several times so far this spring on poppers and soft plastics. He said that water temperatures were 63 in the Mystic River, up to 56 or 57 off Ram Island but only in the 52 to 53 range mid Sound, closer to Fishers Island where waters are deeper.
3. Joe Balint of The Fish Connection, Preston told me that his son, Captain Jack of Fish Connection Charters caught a striper out in the depths of the Race that was 47 inches and 40 pounds along with a few other decent fish out toward Gull Island and the Sluiceway. There are also increasing numbers of stripers on the Watch Hill/Fishers Island Reef Complex, mixed in with smaller bluefish that are mostly less than six pounds. Bob Veach and Joe fished Montauk Point on Monday and easily limited out on fluke at a rate of about one keeper for every three throw-backs. That’s better than late last summer, when anglers in that area reported a four or five to one, shorts to keepers ratio. Joe fished Gardiners Island Wednesday and caught a limit of fish from 5 pounds on down to about 19 inches on baited jigs. He hasn’t seen anyone fishing the local ledges such as Seaflower Reef, Vixens Ledge, or Sara’s Ledge. However, last week a friend told me he caught fish to 8 pounds off one of the ledges off the mouth of the Thames; take your pick as to which one it was, the point is there have been some fluke in this are for over a week, it appears few anglers are targeting them. Dennis who works at the shop said he caught seven fluke, all average keepers on Monday while fishing with a friend off Misquamicut Beach.
4. The Thames River has a few small bass and small blues to catch but it’s pretty warm at this point and the action in the river will not rev back up until early fall. American shad are running up at the Greenville Dam but not in huge numbers again this season. To date, according to the DEP’s fish lift count at Greenville Dam, there have only been 1,427 shad passed over the fish lift this year. This is sad, because there are two newly commissioned fish lifts upstream at Taftville and Occum that will allow these fish to reach spawning waters up the Shetucket River that have not had ripe shad on them for over two centuries. Over time it is hoped that these dams will increase the dwindling populations of shad, river herring and other species that come in from the ocean to spawn in the Thames watershed each spring and fall.
5. Joe mentioned that a customer who works for Sea-Tow told him that the new additives in gasoline have been causing problems in the big outboards because lately he’s been pulling many more of them than usual back to his home port in the Niantic Bay area.
6. Richard at Hillyer’s Bait and Tackle in Waterford said that many more anglers have been out fishing since the warm weather hit. There are small blues in the Niantic River and around the outflow at Millstone Point. Bigger bass are in at Bartlett Reef and in the Race, where jigging three-way rigs with eels or bucktails down deep, or wire line trolling with big swimming plugs have been the best ways to catch them so far this season. There are finally a few fluke in Niantic Bay itself. Not a whole lot of fluke are in the local drifts yet, but fishing is much better than last week. No hickories yet in Niantic Bay or the river; they seem to come after the fluke show up in force, after waters have hit summer time levels. This means the hickory shad run shouldn’t be too far away if the heat continues.
7. Mark Lewchik of River’s End Tackle in Saybrook said he fished the Stonington area late last week and caught stripers to 21.5 pounds on flies. His partner had about an 8-pound fluke follow his fly but the fluke missed the fly. Too bad, because it had the potential to be a tippet-class record had the fish struck and stuck. Mark noted that there are still many striped bass in the lower Connecticut River but for some reason, they are not on the feed. Anglers say they are seeing fish swirling behind, but not hitting their lures. The recent moon tides may have something to do with this situation, or maybe they are on a small worm spawn of some sort - water temperatures are at the proper levels.
8. A few fluke have been caught locally around Black Point and The Brothers, but these fish have been generally few and small. Customers who made the run across the Sound to fish the south side of Montauk Point did better. One group who ran all the way to Block Island said they did not do very well on the fluke but caught a few sea bass. There have been fish on top at Plum Gut, a mix of bass and small blues while the Race is producing bigger fish, but down deep on the bottom where they are hitting diamond jigs and three-way rigs.
9. Captain Jerry Morgan of Captain Morgan’s Tackle, Madison said that the heat has improved the bluefish action and brought in some more bass, plus more skate, which is not a good thing. The stripers are moving around a bit so action is hit and miss at times in a given spot, though over the course of a day, fish are coming in from all the reefs and rock piles in his area all the way out to Falkner Island. He saw stripers between 36 and about 44 inches over the weekend, coming in from the rock piles, reefs and along the shoreline structure. Water temperatures have finally hit 59 to 60 degrees so it’s moving in the right direction. Bluefish are starting to tear things up a bit with fish to ten pounds caught on occasion, though most are smaller fish of six pounds and less. Things are just getting started as these fish finish their off shore spawning activities. Later this month bluefish will move inshore like invading conquers, these fish right now are like the early scouting parties.
10. Captain Morgan said that to his surprise after a slow spring, he recently saw some limits of winter flounder that were caught by anglers in boats fishing in tight along the Madison shoreline. He said that the successful anglers were barely a long cast from shore and fishing specific spots around the top of the tide. These fish were running up to about 16 to 17 inches and nearly two pounds in weight. The successful fishermen caught their flatfish on the top of the high tide for about an hour or so and then they were gone: “If you were there too early or late it was like they (the flounder) did not exist.”
11. Fluke fishing is still spotty on the Connecticut side of the Sound but a few fish are being caught. He’s not seen any really big ones so far this spring -the top end fluke have been only in the 20-inch size range. Anglers are catching fish but nothing to get excited about. After this week he expects fluke catches to pick up in both quantity and quality.
12. Chris Fulton, owner of Stratford Bait and Tackle told me that he’s been seeing tons of fluke since the heat wave arrived. His buddies and he have been limiting out on decent sized keepers off the Housatonic River for a few days now. One friend’s wife caught a black sea bass that was 3.8 pounds, along with three nice fluke on Tuesday. Chris has weighed in a number of fluke in the 8- to 10-pound range since the weekend, but practically nothing before. Bass and bluefish action also picked up though not to the extent of the fluke. No really big bass lately, catches have primarily been small to medium sized schoolies. The bluefish are numerous but only 2 to 4 pounds on average. Bluefish catches have picked up tremendously along with the fluke.
13. Chris and his girlfriend fished Charles Island one evening for weakfish and they caught fluke of 19 and 20 inches while bouncing jigs with soft plastic teasers. The weakfishing has been slow for the past two weeks. Chris said the weaks seem to come and go randomly. They usually hit better at night when it’s hot. He’s been surprised by the fact that when he travels to open the shop each morning there are few or no boats off the Bridgeport Power Plant lately, no one is fishing that area. He concluded that angler participation is still low due to all the rain earlier this year, so many who would be fishing from boats are still not in the water even now! Using his issuance of boat ramp passes as proof, he had issued 38 all month, but gave out 41 Friday and Saturday alone over this past weekend.
14. Nick Mola of Fisherman’s World, Norwalk said they still have some larger stripers moving from west to east through the Norwalk area, following some schools of adult bunker that have moved into the western end of the Sound. Nick noted that customers said they hit them off Captains Island over the weekend and caught stripers in the 27- to 30-pound range. They also heard of stripers up to about 25 pounds caught off Buoy 11-B Tuesday on the outgoing tide. Bunker are moving through the Westport area as well. Stamford Harbor also has loads of bunker but the bass don’t seem to be on the fish that are up inside the harbor or those more toward the outside in the Sound. I bet it won’t take long for that situation to change if the bunker remain cornered in Stamford Harbor. Blues and decent sized striped bass are chasing them in most other places. If the bunker stick around, it looks like western Long Island Sound anglers could be in for some fun, at least early on this summer.
15. The fluke fishing continues to be productive at Sunken Meadow, Port Jefferson, and Eaton’s Neck across the Sound. The action is not so good on the Connecticut side of the Sound. There are a few smaller fish being caught off Bridgeport but nothing has been reported off Norwalk to this point in the season, but maybe anglers are more interested in the bunker-chasing bass than fluke. Obviously, those fluke that moved into the Stratford area and the lower Housatonic River have not spread westward yet, but they are not very far away from Norwalk and vicinity.
16. As temperatures rise, stripers will be pushed out of the Connecticut River to area reefs and along the coastline. The migration of Hudson fish is still to the west and moving, and according to reports from Rhode Island, bigger bass are moving through their area as well. So this week, striped bass fishing should be a wise choice around the offshore reefs and deepwater areas that normally produce early summer fish. No one spoke of squid this week but odds are they are or will be a prime bait source around the reefs of eastern Connecticut.
17. Fluke fishing is shaping up slowly but indications are that fishing will continue to improve on the Connecticut side of the Sound. It has already picked up along Rhody’s south shore beaches.
18. Porgies have not yet become a nuisance so it looks like the next couple of weeks will provide a window of opportunity to fish for fluke and stripers with tube and worm rigs, relatively unhampered by porgies and bluefish. However, very shortly, as temperatures climb, both of these species will arrive full force and the easy fishing will suddenly become challenging as baits are torn up and chopped, so enjoy the relatively unhampered fishing while you can—I plan to.

TheDay, Tim Coleman 6/3

1. What a difference a week and some settled weather made in the local fishing picture. Since the three-day northeaster went by, bass catches in The Race jumped dramatically Capt. Kyle Douton at J&B said their charter boat is catching well every day, both trolling and diamond jigging on both tides. Best of the week was a 47-pounder. On Wednesday evening another boat trolled up a pair of 30-pound bass plus others at Inner Bartletts and the boats that fished in The Race that night with bucktails and eels did well also.
2. Fluking at Isabella and the Rhode Island beaches was spotty with one boat finding the fish but others not doing much at all. Montauk is better for larger fluke but be ready to fish in a fleet especially on the weekend. And, for you offshore people, we had news about a confirmed catch of six yellowfin tuna to 70 pounds and one mahi at Hydrographer Canyon in a warm eddy that broke off from the stream. However, since then the water moved west, degraded, turned green and cold.
3. Hillyers Tackle in Waterford weighed in a 50.10-pound bass for a surf angler, location unknown but it's suspected to come from a Rhode Island beach. A husband and wife team each caught a limit of winter flounder along the Niantic River channel and a shore angler had a flattie around 2.8 pounds right near the Sunbeam dock. Flyrodders landed some larger bass around the Seaside beaches and a kid who works in the store had a bass and bluefish between the bridges on a popper early in the day before the boat traffic picked up.
4. Al Golinski of Misquamicut nearly has his boat almost ready to fish. He heard about a surfcaster seeing bunker on the inside of Napatree Point so maybe there's some bass bait in the Pawcatuck River. The Race is loaded with fish for diamond jiggers and people three-waying eels after dark. Fluke results down along the Rhode Island beaches were OK for some but not for the majority.
5. Capt. Al Anderson of Snug Harbor fished around the Sub Buoy on Sunday morning before the tide started cranking. Using parachute jigs and long wires his party landed 15 keeper bass in 1 hour, 45 minutes. Once the tide peaked, the bite stopped and they went elsewhere. During the week he fished in the Salt Pond, trolling flies on lead core line for school bass plus a few weakfish to 24 inches.
6. Jack at Ocean House Marina said the bass catches in Ninigret Pond were good one day and very poor the next. Live baiters had large bass along the ocean beaches. Fluking is better for a few with fish now in 30 feet of water and loaded with two to three-inch squid. No scup seen just yet, ditto for any sea bass.
7. Things are picking up here, said Cheryl at Shaffers in Mystic. Bill Kelsey trolled a deep diving swimmer at Ellis Reef for 30 stripers, smalls and mediums and others came back from Montauk with large fluke. Allen Fee and his wife made a run over there on Wednesday, landing 10 keepers to 25 inches and one bluefish. Another boat tried in Fishers Island Sound between the Monastery and White Rock but only had four shorts. Allen also got out striper fishing, landing six fish to 37 inches on poppers and Slug-Gos at Six Penny Island and the backside of Ram Island. This writer fished The Race on the Wednesday afternoon flood tide for 13 bass from 5 to 24 pounds and one bluefish on six and eight-ounce diamond jigs.
8. The people at the Fish Connection said small bass and blues are scattered up and down the Thames River for those who don't want to fish in The Race. Fluking is still rated as slow along the Rhode Island beaches with bigger and better results from Montauk. Casting with spin and fly tackle on the Watch Hill Reef is still slow though some fish were caught around Race Point and Race Rock Light.
9. Stephanie Cramer said she caught five bass to 20 inches wading and casting in the upper Thames River. Her co-worker at the Mystic Aquarium continues to catch nicer stripers from the shore at a Rhode Island salt pond. He wades and casts plugs at sunset and into the night.
10. Mark Turek of the Connecticut Surfcasters was on his way to a weekend of surf fishing at Martha's Vineyard when I got a hold of him on his cell phone. He said members traveled to the West Haven sand bar for weakfish but found the action very sporadic. They did catch six fish to 13 pounds between four of them one evening but little else on other trips. The mouth of the Housatonic River continues to produce stripers from 24-28 inches. A third duo of members fished the middle of the Connecticut River in a small boat below the Enfield Dam for a 44-inch bass.
11. We also had news from various sources about some good surfcasting along the Narragansett shoreline. One of the regulars up that way landed 10 bass from 28-40.8 pounds after last week's northeaster on nine-inch black Slug-Go. He said it was the best night of casting he had from a beach since a trip to Block Island in the mid-1980s. The fishing was so good he stayed up most of the night, got one hour's sleep and headed off to work at a busy tackle shop on Memorial Day weekend. Two days later the school was gone, the big fish just a happy memory.
12. Pat Abate at River's End Tackle in Old Saybrook reported decreasing numbers of stripers in the lower Connecticut River but better sizes. Best time is at first light with an ebb tide. They landed some fish at dusk but the morning was better by far. Worm dunkers off the DEP Pier had schoolies of various sizes, and small boaters the first fluke of the season inside the river and others in 50 feet of water between Hatchetts and Black Point. Is this the start of a run of summer flounder on our side of the Sound? Trollers had bass to 46 inches on most of the local reefs with the old reliable tube and worm. Tim Coleman

Conn Post, Frank McKane 6/3

1. The saltwater fishing scene kicked up a notch over the past week with striped bass, bluefish and fluke keeping anglers quite enthused about the sport. Weakfish, though spotty, are also making a few memorable trips. Even the weather has been cooperating lately.
2. Several nice striped bass were reported over the past few days. Mike Manente of Bridgeport picked up a 20.30-pound striped bass off the former Remington Gun Club. He caught the fish on a bunker chunk and weighed it at Stratford Bait & Tackle. Jack Potochney, 6, of Norwalk, scored with a 38-inch striped bass. He caught the fish on a Storm Shad and had his catch verified by Fisherman's World.
3. Striped bass action is very good. Most of the fish are catch-and-release schoolie bass, but plenty of fish in the keeper 28- to 32-inch class are available. Some of the best bass spots are Sandy Point along the western edge of New Haven Harbor, the rocky points along the Milford coastline, the mouth of the Housatonic River, the Stratford Shoal, Buoy No. 18, Buoy No. 20, Fayerweather Island, Penfield Reef, South Pine Creek, Sherwood Island State Park, Buoy No. 11B, Buoy No. 28C, the tips of Sheffield Island, and the Housatonic River off the Stratford boat launching ramp, Bonds Dock, the Devon power plant, and the river's confluence with the Naugatuck River.
4. Fluke action is steadily improving along the Connecticut coast, but New York still holds most of the doormats. Albert Smith of Easton and Ed Sabo of Bridgeport did manage to catch two nice fluke last week in local waters. Smith's fish weighed 4.90 pounds and was taken from the "BH" Buoy. Sabo's fluke tipped the scales at 5.50 pounds and was caught off Fairfield Beach. Both fluke were weighed at Jimmy O's Bait & Tackle.
5. Elsewhere, small one- to three-pound bluefish are biting poppers and spoons off Seaside Park. Weakfish have been taken intermittently on lures and sandworms off Long Wharf, Charles Island and Penfield Reef. Black sea bass are showing up in the channels of New Haven Harbor; and blackfish season is closed until June 15.
6. Saturday is free fishing day in Connecticut. Anglers can fish on this day without a freshwater fishing license. This day would be a great time for experienced anglers to introduce friends to the sport without the added expense of licenses. Also, the state Department of Environmental Protection will open the observation area at the Rainbow Reservoir Dam fish ladder on the Farmington River in Windsor (Exit 40 off I-91). The observation area will be opened Saturday from 10 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Visitors might see migrating shad and Atlantic salmon in the dam's fish ladder.
7. Anglers are still enjoying good trout fishing around the state. Bob Casella of Milford caught a 2.20-pound rainbow trout last week from Wolfe Park on a nightcrawler. Bob Coyle of North Haven got a big surprise in the Naugatuck River where he caught a 4.80-pound Atlantic salmon on a Kastmaster spoon. Stratford Bait & Tackle weighed in the salmon, which was originally stocked into the river last fall.
8. Those looking for trout this coming weekend should visit the Farmington River, Hammonasset River, Pootatuck River, the Trumbull section of the Pequonnock River, Quinnipiac River, Wepawaug River, Mill River, Saugatuck River, the Blackberry River, East Aspetuck River, East Twin Lake, Wononscopomuc Lake, Highland Lake, Southford Falls State Park Pond, Great Hollow Pond, Candlewood Lake, Lake Mohegan and West Branch (Hogback) Reservoir. FRANK MCKANE JR.

On The Water, Bob Sampson 6/2

1. Despite the fact that water temperatures are still on the chilly side, in this area striped bass are pushing up from the south, pretty much on schedule, and they are being joined by some large fish that are moving eastward out of the Hudson River. It’s that time when a random cast literally anywhere from a river mouth, to a beach, to a rip line over a major reef is liable to yield a fish of 20 pounds or more. Fluke fishing has improved on this side of Long Island Sound and along the Rhode Island Beaches but not by much as of midweek. However, this is the time of year when a tide or two can make the difference between a slow pick and a great trip in the fluking grounds.
2. Thomcat of Quaker Lane Bait and Tackle, North Kingstown told us the striper fishing up inside Narragansett Bay and vicinity has been the best they have witnessed in many years. The good action started a couple of weeks ago and seems to be building to a crescendo with the arrival of some “super size” stripers. Over at Mountain View on Tuesday, in front of Ed’s house, an angler caught 17 decent-size schoolies. Midweek, Captain Jim White of White Ghost Charters caught five fish, and all were medium to large stripers, with the biggest tipping the scales to 44 pounds. Steve, a hard-core angler who works at the shop, caught five fish on Tuesday evening somewhere in the Narragansett area, after dark and from the surf that ranged from 29 to 40.5 pounds. All his fish were caught on the double hook, 9-inch Slug-Gos that he constantly casts into the surf. Steve will be demonstrating his Slug-Go rigging methods on Tuesday, June 7 at 6 p.m. This presentation will be the start of a series of weekly seminars every Tuesday at this time that will include Thomcat Pelletier, Captain Jim White and other local anglers over the next six weeks.
3. Fluking is improving but is still pretty much a hit and miss proposition in the bay and around its mouth. He said Pt. Judith has been doing OK recently, but has generally produced sporadic catches all season. The catches being made are comprised of fluke that are either really big or undersized. Thomcat said he is going to fish Nomans Land this week and will probably have an interesting report for us next week. There have been fluke up to 11 pounds taken off Green Hill since the weekend. Thomcat himself hasn’t caught anything over 6 pounds so far this season and is hoping that Nomans Land will break his jinx.
4. There are a few blackfish around off breachways and rock piles from Jamestown to Deep Hole and other rocky areas along the Rhody coast. Remember, the season is closed across the border in Connecticut, so boats from the Nutmeg State will need to release blackfish they catch in Rhode Island waters or face possible fines if they take them back home.
5. Rob at Saltwater Edge, Newport reported that there have been some bluefish and quite a few bass being caught all over the place at the present time. Most of the stripers are schoolies, but he’s seen anglers catch fish and taken them himself up to 15 pounds. Rob said that earlier in the week he caught a bunch of schoolies at the Cape Cod Canal himself and heard of a few bigger bass weighed in at Red Top Tackle on the canal.
6. At Breachway Tackle, Charlestown, Roe, who is a worm spawn enthusiast, said that with the rise to 63 degrees in Ninigret Salt Pond, the worms have begun to come back out to play. The bass and a few hickories are on them whenever they come out to spawn. The fish that are eating the worms up are typical mid- to small-size schoolies, with anything over 30 inches bringing in bragging rights. On the outside later last week, Fred Bowman, a regular at the shop, caught two beautiful bass of 41 and 47 pounds, probably on eels somewhere in the area around Green Hill.
7. Fluking off Charlestown has not been anything to get excited about lately. The fish are OK one day and lousy the next. No one seems to be consistently catching keepers at this point in the season.
8. Captain Don of Captain Don’s Tackle, Route 1, Charlestown, Rhode Island reported fluke fishing was slow on Wednesday and lately in general. Keepers have been caught off Quonny Breachway in about 40 to 50 feet of water, and some of the keepers are big doormats. The biggest fluke weighed in this week was a mat of 10.2 pounds. Tuesday a 10-pounder was caught outside the breachway at Quonochontaug in around 50 feet of water. He said there have also been reports of fluke inside the wall at Point Judith, but overall the fluking has been generally spotty so far this season. The hickory shad are in Quonny Pond and the worms have begun coming out again in the evenings, conditions that generally bring with them some pretty good opportunities to catch striped bass. The captain says that everywhere in the area there are tons of fish up to about 15 pounds, with occasional catches topping the 20-pound mark. Tube and worms have been slamming the bass up inside Quonny Pond and other spots along the coast. Tautog are moving up inside the breachway and salt pond at dead low tide to spawn, creating opportunities for anglers who are targeting this excellent-eating fish. Captain Don says that “Right now all over the area there is some exciting fishing going on. People can come down and catch fish no problem.” (To that I would add, if they hit the tide right.)
9. Cheryl Fee of Shaffer’s Marina, Mystic said that Bob Shelly caught and released 4 short fluke between Monastery and White Rock. Nothing to brag about, but a sign that there may finally be some fluke moving into the Mystic area. The best fluke catches are still being made across the Sound off Montauk Point, for those who want to burn off last year’s fuel. Bill Kelsey was deep trolling near Ellis Reef on Friday and caught 30 small- to medium-size stripers on a deep-diving swimmer. Her brother Al caught six decent bass early Saturday while casting Slug-Gos and Creek Chub Poppers to the spots from Six Penny Island to Ram Island Reef. Two of his fish were 35 inches and another was 37 inches. This week the surface temperature outside the bridge finally made it over 50 degrees, while the mercury was a comparatively torrid 63 inside the river.
10. These sorts of radical temperature differences are common this time of year, especially when the weather has been cold and rainy. Shallow spots like rivers and salt ponds always warm faster and to a much higher level than deep-water areas.
11. Joe Balint of The Fish Connection, Preston on the Thames told us that he has been hearing that The Race and vicinity are finally kicking into gear when it comes to producing those 20-pound-plus striped bass it’s famous for this time in the season. The larger bass are being caught by deep jigging off Valiant Rock and Race Rock, while smaller fish are being caught off Race Point itself. The stripers are dominating catches with scattered schools of bluefish being encountered from time to time. Bass fishing in The Race is finally picking up nicely for fish in the 25- to 30-pound range. Joe says Connecticut boats that fish The Race and Fishers Island must remember that recreational fishermen in New York waters can only keep a single 28-inch striper, so catching two to bring back to Connecticut could theoretically get a cheater pinched. The bigger fish are not just being caught in The Race. One of his regulars said that a friend of his caught a 35-pounder from the Connecticut River earlier this week.
12. The Thames River is still holding small stripers and blues all the way from Norwich Harbor and up the Shetucket a ways, down to New London and the bridge. The herring runs are dying out, and water temperatures are rising rapidly, two factors that have killed the action at the Greenville Dam. Poquetanuck Cove is loaded with jumping and swirling carp, which are great fun on light tackle or to shoot with bow-fishing equipment. Joe said he had a good laugh the other day when he drove by the cove and saw an angler in waders obviously creeping up on the carp with a surf pole and striper plug. Bet he was disappointed after negotiating all the mud and slop to get to where the carp were busting.
13. Fluke fishing is still slow off Isabella Beach, along the south side of Fishers Island and even up along the southern end of the Rhode Island Beaches. Dennis, who works at the shop, had a tough day earlier in the week when he hit all the fluke spots he knows of in both of these areas. Montauk Point is still being hammered by draggers, but the fluke fishing is holding up very well off the point.
14. Matt at Hillyer’s Bait and Tackle, Waterford said that the winter flounder bite that had been pretty good began to slow down this week. Most of the action had been up inside the Niantic River and in Jordan Cove.
15. Striper action has picked up in The Race since last week, with higher numbers of big bass and bluefish being reported. Twelve-year-old Nicole Skinner of Waterford caught a 30.25-pound striper from The Race while fishing with her dad to prove this fact. The bluefish have taken up residence in the warm water discharge off Millstone Point since last week and will be there till the snow flies next fall. When the blues are in at Millstone Point, one can be sure summer is not far behind.
16. Fluke fishing is currently slow in the Niantic area. Local anglers are catching a few, but over all, like in most of the region from Point Judith to Norwalk, the fluke action is disappointing on this side of the Sound. Anglers are taking a few keepers but are working hard for every fluke they manage to boat. Greenport and Montauk Point have been the places to go lately.
17. Captain Jerry Morgan of Captain Morgan’s Tackle, Madison said that over the weekend Six Mile Reef was a circus, with many bass up into the 40-pound range showing up, especially in the catches of those who fished the reefs with eels after dark. A few more bluefish appeared off places like Six Mile and Kimberly Reef, as well. The weather was cooperating and anglers who got out did well.
18. The hickory shad are moving up into both the East and West rivers, which is a good sign and great source of live bait for those jumbo bass that are hanging around the outside reefs. Montauk Point has been red-hot lately, and many of the captain’s customers are making the run across the Sound to take advantage. Just this week he’s beginning to see a few larger fluke coming to the local rivers and drifts, with most of the fish just over the minimum keeper size of 17.5 inches.
19. Bass and trout are still hitting, due to the cool, 60-degree waters. The last trout stocking took place prior to Memorial Day, and it appears many of those fish were big breeders that seemed to appear suddenly in his customers’ catches this week.
20. Chris Fulton, owner of Stratford Bait and Tackle, Stratford weighed in a 20-pounder for Mike Manante, who caught his fish from the Gun Club Point on a mackerel chunk.
21. Nick Mola of Fisherman’s World, Norwalk said that the larger striped bass he’s been hearing of to their west finally hit the islands this week, with places like Buoy 28 C and the Obstruction Buoy suddenly producing bass up to 25 pounds. These fish are on the move and are being caught in slugs off Greenwich and Stamford, as well. Small blues moved in around Calf Pasture Point Pier, mid-Sound near Stratford Shoal, in New Haven and off 28 C, as well.
22. Fluke fishing has been and continues to remain good at Eaton’s Neck, Mattituck and Port Jefferson. Frank McKane said there were fluke caught over the weekend off Bridgeport that weighed up to about 4 pounds.
23. Any sun that shines will help kick both the fluke and striper fishing into high gear any time now. It looks like fishing for stripers of all sizes is the best bet this weekend, unless you want to burn off some old gas on the way to Montauk Point for fluke. Bob Sampson, Jr.