On The Water 7/14/05

1. Weather, mainly strong winds, was a major negative factor influencing the angling this past week. However, since the winds have died, reports are beginning to come in, but few have been really glowing. In a word, fishing, especially for fluke, has been and continues to be “spotty.” Bass fishing is better, with most shops continuing to report a pretty steady stream of keepers to 20-pound fish, with occasional bruisers. Right now the middle portion of the Connecticut coast from Guilford to Madison is apparently producing consistent catches of large fish, same thing for the south shore area of Rhode Island.
2. It happens that other weakfish reports have come in from areas to the west, including New Haven, Falkner Island and Norwalk. All of the catches were about the same size, eight pounds.
3. Cheryl Fee of Shaffer’s Marina, Mystic said that not many people got out because of the wind over the weekend. The rentals and small boats did pretty well out by Gate’s Island to Stonington, and all came in with nice keepers.
4. There must only be a few blues around the river because no one was complaining about them getting in the way of fluke or bass fishing. The fishing is good around Mason’s Island, where locals are catching decent bass right up tight to the rocks by trolling tube and worms. Her brother Al caught a 35-incher in the river itself on a Storm Shad the other day while out goofing around. Most of the action has been with tube and worms, more so than eels lately.
5. Porgies are just getting started, but anglers aren’t having any trouble taking them when they want and sometimes even when they don’t want to see these bait stealers.
6. Rennie of The Fish Connection, Preston said the Thames has been producing small bluefish and schoolie bass. Buoy 27 has been a popular spot, but fish are being caught pretty much all the way up and down the river as they move in and out with the tides. There’s been nothing of any size, but no one is complaining about the action. No word so far on crabs in the river.
7. Rennie himself said he fished Barn Island the other day with his grandchildren and caught five stripers up to 24 inches and about 20 harbor blues in the one- to two-pound range. It was great fun fishing action for the kids. I have been seeing anglers in small boats and kayaks who are also going out and fishing around Sandy Point and inside Napatree and doing well on small blues and schoolie bass with flies and soft plastics.
8. Larger stripers are being caught on a regular basis from the depths of The Race on three-way rigs with jigs or live eels after dark. Anglers have also been doing very well fishing for bass off Bartlett Reef, Hatchet Reef and Black Point after dark. Bluefish are increasing in abundance out in The Race, with the spillover moving inshore where they seem to be pretty much anywhere and everywhere in the Sound and along the beaches. Definitely a banner year for bluefish of all sizes but dominated by the little guys that are only a year or two old.
9. The mouth of Mystic River and around Barn Island has been good for fluke. One of their regulars fishes this area frequently and has been doing well. No big stuff but anglers are happy for the most part.
10. Shane at Hillyer’s Bait and Tackle, Waterford told us that fluke fishing is good and improving. Many five-pound-plus fish are being caught in 75 to 100 feet off Black Point, off Isabella Beach, Fishers Island and locally in Two Tree Channel.
11. Stripers are really good, with bigger fish in The Race, Bartlett Reef and Hatchet Reef. Schoolies are all around the area and not too hard to find when the tide is running. Tuesday morning they weighed in a 55-pounder caught by Mike Briggs of Oxford, CT. He caught his monster in The Race about 1 a.m. on a live eel fished from a three-way rig.
12. They also had Sean Harrison bring in two monster winter flounder, fish of 3 and 3.48 pounds that he caught from a honey hole of his somewhere around the mouth of the Four Mile River.
13. Bluefish are all over the place and being caught in good numbers from Pigeon Rip, The Race, Plum Gut and locally at the warmwater Millstone discharge.
14. Porgies are doing well from Two Tree Channel, Red Bell #6 in the bay and around the rocks off Harkness Park on worms and squid.
15. “Q” of River’s End, Saybrook said they also saw Mike’s 55-pounder. Black Point has had some decent fluke lately. Anglers are not quite limiting out every time but are doing well on large fish. Craig Andrews, who is the guy who caught two monster fluke, one of 10 pounds, the other of 12 two weekends ago, has even been having a tough time of it out there.
16. Captain Jerry Morgan of Captain Morgan’s Tackle, Madison said that the wind made things tough. He’s weighed in fluke from 11 to 13 pounds that were caught shallow in along the shore, probably around the Hammonasset Beach area over the past week.
17. There are lots of bluefish out around the rips, with bird action over the top. All sizes from dinkers up to 14 pounds. After this weekend, with some bunker moving into the area, he expects to see even bigger blues and bass. It looks like those larger bass that were to the west in the Stratford area a week or so ago have moved eastward.
18. There have also been decent weakfish in the 8-pound class caught from Falkner Island, as well as inshore to the West Haven area.
19. Bigger bass seem to be coming in from Westbrook to Madison, with bass up to 40 pounds reported from the local reefs and rip lines. Most are being caught on eels after dark. Tube-and-worming has also been producing decent bass.
20. Chris Fulton, owner of Stratford Bait and Tackle, Stratford said those bigger stripers have left his area since the last report. But they have been replaced by loads of blues in 40 to 60 feet of water. The “B-H” Buoy, Buoy 18 and The Dumping Grounds near Penfield Reef are all loaded with decent bluefish. Fish caught were up to 14 pounds, and he saw blues over 10 pounds caught from the Housatonic River on bunker chunks by the crew that fishes from the shore. Small blues are in along the beaches in Bridgeport and around Stratford, so anglers casting from shore are consistently taking fish, with the oddball fish up to 10 pounds showing up. At least anglers are finally having fun from the shore because until recently it’s been pretty dead.
21. Bass fishing has been spotty, with mostly smaller bass hitting poppers and soft plastics from the beaches.
22. Burt from Fisherman’s World, Norwalk said they continue to experience some excellent fishing for bigger bass over around 11-B. Burt, who does some chartering, said he and customers caught 10 bass to 38 inches and bluefish to about 10 pounds by drifting sand worms in 110 feet of water. Burt Cooper, a regular in the shop, caught a 42-pound bass and a blue shark of 225 pounds on a weekend trip to Montauk Point, Long Island. Anthony Incerto caught a 41-inch, 29-pound bass on a chunk. Nick Kansas caught a weakfish of eight pounds while bass fishing with a sand worm.
23. They still have schools of bunker in the harbor that have bluefish and good-size bass on them. Bigger blues are coming in from the waters out around Sheffield Island, while the bunker school over in Southport is producing big bass.
24. Fluke fishing is better lately in the Norwalk area, with the channels all holding fish. Outside around Buoy 28 and Buoy 24, fishermen are catching a few more fluke, up to about 5 pounds max so far. The best action from these summer flounder is still across the Sound at Sunken Meadows near the golf course.
25. A few porgies are just beginning to move into the area and settle in around Buoy 28.
26. The best bets this week appear to be fluke fishing in the waters from Green Hill to Charleston Beach, bass around the breachways and rock piles along the entire south shore, bass around Block Island (but watch out for the dogfish) and bigger stripers in The Race, Bartlett Reef, and west to Madison. It looks like the large bass are on the move and may well reach the eastern end of the Sound within the next week or 10 days.