On The Water, 7/7/05

1. This week, some large bass and more consistent striper action have finally shaped up around Fishers Island, in the eastern end of Long Island Sound. There is still a large body of stripers in western Long Island Sound that will be moving eastward as water temperatures rise and force them into cooler water. These fish are chasing schools of adult menhaden, which is a good sign for the remainder of the summer, especially if some of those schools make their way eastward and take those big bass in tow. Fluke have also penetrated deeper into the Sound and are moving in closer to the shoreline as temperatures increase with the summer heat. Porgy season is open in both states, but not very many anglers are chasing them at this point with bass so abundant. Fluke are in, with big fish being reported everywhere, but at best the action is spotty – good one day, terrible the next.
2. Cheryl Fee of Shaffer’s Marina, Mystic told us the best fluke for the past week have consistently been caught off Misquamicut Beach and vicinity. It was a quieter than expected weekend as far as major catches were concerned, and she felt this was due to the number of boats out there that were getting in each other’s way. The Mystic River is finally producing fluke, primarily during the week when boat traffic is lower.
3. They saw a big blackfish that was caught near the dumplings by an angler who was targeting scup, which is the typical scenario for blackfish catches this time of year. Anglers fishing with clams for bait most frequently catch the blackfish.
4. Striped bass are hitting well around all the local reefs and rock piles on tube and worms or eels after dark. They didn’t see many big bass this weekend, but many mid-size 10- to 20-pounders were caught over the holiday.
5. Plug casters seem to be catching mostly bluefish, probably due to the small size of their offerings and the equally small size of the majority of blues around. The bigger bass are being caught on eels and by tube-and-worming. The Race has big bass in its depths, but many of the anglers out of Shaffer’s avoid this madhouse place in favor of calmer, more lightly fished local spots that produce nearly as well with a fraction of the effort and gas expenditure.
6. Scup fishing was so-so this weekend. Cheryl said they must not be in very thick because the fluke fishermen are not complaining about them yet.
7. Captain Jack Balint of The Fish Connection, Preston on the Thames has finally been catching big stripers. Last week he was crying about how many miles he had to cover to catch a few rat bass; this week his clients caught fish up to 40 pounds, mostly on tube and worms. So far, there have not been too many scup and small blues getting in the way. These two species become a huge negative factor as the summer progresses and their numbers increase.
8. There was a bunch more bait around in the areas he was fishing. Most of it was tiny sand eels, but he also saw some sort of small herring in a few places he fished that he could not accurately identify. Lots of bait always bodes well for the near future, as well as for later in the summer, especially if temps don’t rise too high in August.
9. Fluke fishing has picked up around Seaflower Reef and over to the mouth of the Thames River. Jim Venti did well over The Fourth in the Mystic River, catching a limit of fish topped off by an 8-pounder and a couple of fives.
10. Porgies are around, but not many anglers are chasing them at this point. Jack said he caught some big ones on tubes over the weekend, and they were not so thick that they were ruining the fishing, but it probably won’t be long before they become a major pain in the butt.
11. Loads of little blues – acres of them – are all over the place, feeding largely on tiny sand eels and those little herring that are universal at this point. There are some blues running around in the Thames River, slightly larger than the one- to two-pounders dominating the scene out in the Sound.
12. Lou at Hillyer’s Bait and Tackle, Waterford said they have been weighing in some big fluke and stripers lately. Black Point produced fluke of 10 and 12 pounds, 29 inches, for Craig Andrews over the weekend. Craig is one of the area’s premier big fluke specialists. Robert E. Lee, let’s call him “general,” caught a 10.5-pound fluke out off Black Point on Sunday. Two Tree Channel is producing nice fluke in 40 to 42 feet of water directly outside in front of the Millstone Point discharge. One angler caught a decent (20-incher) fluke off the jetty at Pleasure Beach. One problem off Black Point is that there are lots of big dogfish getting in the way for every fluke that is hooked.
13. I don’t know about you, but I’d pick through a few doggies to catch a 10-pound doormat fluke!
14. Jerry Boiseclair has the lead in the Hillyer’s Fishing Tournament that goes till July 10, with a 22-pound striper. And William Rios caught a 21.25-pounder. One angler caught a decent 30-incher off the railroad bridge Monday evening that Lou saw while taking a walk along the boardwalk. They also had a 47-pound striper that was brought in to the scales from parts unknown by a very closemouthed but proud fisherman. Groton Long Point produced three 30-inch-class striped bass on tube and worms in the middle of the day on Tuesday for a husband and wife team who went out for a short fishing/boat ride.
15. The fact that keeper bass are being caught about everywhere means that even though it’s about a month late, it appears like the migration is finally here. Problem is no one knows how long the fish will hang around or if they will push through. This will be a direct result of water temperature and food availability.
16. There are loads of small bluefish to catch out off the Millstone discharge that are mixed in with striped bass, as usual. The discharge is always a productive and interesting place to fish, but most anglers use it as a last resort when they are having a tough day out on the Sound. I know it’s saved me from a skunking more than one time.
17. Hickory shad showed up inside the bay in force recently, but they seem to be thicker more up inside the river than they do between the bridges. These little scrappers are fun to catch on light tackle, a great way to train a kid to use light tackle or flies. They also make good live, chunk and strip bait for big bass and fluke.
18. A couple good-size blackfish were caught off the rocks between the bridges earlier in the week by anglers fishing for porgies.
19. One customer came in with a half bushel of blue crabs from the Thames River. This was the first mention of crabs in the area all season. Hopefully more reports will follow over the next week or so.
20. Mark Lewchik of River’s End Tackle, Saybrook said there were a few smaller fluke starting to show up in the river with large fish being reported from drifts outside the mouth. John Clark caught a 12.05-pound fluke from parts unknown. Overall, he said the fluking has been a slow pick inshore, with no hot spots anywhere in the area other than the south shore of Rhode Island and from Misquamicut Beach to Point Judith.
21. Bass fishing is spotty around the river due to increased water temperatures, and there has not been much surface activity lately. Mark himself said he’s caught a few schoolies from the beaches in Lyme but has had to work for them.
22. There are small blues on the Old Lyme beaches with bigger fish being reported from the lower Connecticut River from time to time. Blues are more abundant than bass in The Race and Plum Gut.
23. There are many small sand eels at Harkness and along the Old Lyme Shores area. A seine haul Mark pulled over the weekend produced two-inch-long herring, big striped anchovies, silversides and small sand eels. All good stuff that will eventually attract and hold some sort of predators wherever they settle in along the coast.
24. A few sea bass are showing, but there have been no red-hot spots and no reports on blackfish at all since early spring.
25. Captain Jerry Morgan of Captain Morgan’s Tackle, Madison said they are seeing more and bigger fluke in closer to shore. Still no big doormats but fish up to four and five pounds are being talked about or brought to the scales every day now.
26. Weakfish up to 32 inches have been caught on bucktails south of Falkner Island. These fish showed up suddenly a few days ago and are doing their usual swing through the area from Madison to Milford.
27. The biggest striper this week weighed in the low 40s from Southwest and Six Mile reefs. A few customers have been coming in with torn up gear lately, an indication something big is in the area. Problem is, the foggy weather has made it difficult to get out early and later in the day.
28. Bluefish are in thick all over the place, but they are mostly small stuff. However, farther offshore out around places like Six Mile Reef, larger blues have been caught.
29. Madison, Kimberly and Reefs do have a few local anglers who target blackfish, and they have been catching nice fish weighing in at eight pounds or so. Porgies are also in around these same reefs to provide some action. Customers reported catching a few big tiderunners since the season opened, but most of the pressure has been on stripers, fluke and blackfish.
30. Blue crabs are showing up in the East River and the Hammonasset River, coincidentally with that first report from the Thames River. These may be local crabs, which means the winter and cold spring didn’t kill them all, but they may also be early migrants from the south. Normally, if we have local survival, fishermen start seeing them hanging off dock pilings and in shallow bays beginning in May.
31. Captain Morgan’s is an official weigh station for the Nor’east.Com fluke shootout on July 16 and 17. It is a regional contest that includes Connecticut, Rhode Island and Massachusetts. The combination of the heaviest two fluke will win the $10,000 first place prize. There are sizable prizes back to 5th place, with 6th through 15th places getting $100 per spot. Fees are $25 for the major event, and at Captain Morgan’s another $5 buys a piggyback entry at the shop for a nice fluke rig.
32. Chris Fulton, owner of Stratford Bait and Tackle, Stratford weighed in a few weakfish that were caught behind Charles Island over the weekend. The fish he saw were taken by a family out fluke fishing. In addition, they caught a couple of decent fluke along with the surprise weakfish.
33. He noted that the striper catches slowed over the weekend. The fish are still around but have moved out to deeper, cooler waters as inshore temperatures kick up to uncomfortable levels. The anglers fishing deep around Buoy 18, “DH” Buoy and Penfield are taking bass on live eels after dark on three-ways, drifting eels in close and by chunking. Those who pay attention to the tides and fish after the sun sets are doing well; for everyone else it’s been mediocre. A couple of Chris’s friends from Waterbury fished the south side of Fishers Island Saturday and caught 39 bass to about 29 pounds on tube and worms. Locally, the tube-and-worming has slowed down with only five or six fish per morning, nearly all under 24 inches in the local prime spots that have cooled a good deal over the past week. It’s been slow since the weekend – the bigger fish have not concentrated in this area but seem to be holding to the west and offshore.
34. Fluke action locally has been spotty, with anglers reporting that for each dozen fish caught they are taking three or four keepers.
35. Chris said a state record 7.5-pound black sea bass was weighed in on Saturday by a charter boat that fishes wrecks located somewhere out off Clinton.
36. Nick Mola from Fisherman’s World, Norwalk said those bigger bass are still moving through his area, but like off Stratford they are deep, in 80 to 100 feet of water. He noted that surface temperatures got too hot for them. George Sascala caught a 35-pounder on a fresh bunker chunk off Buoy 11-B. Anthony Macey, 13 years old, caught a 17-pounder off 28-C, also on a chunk. Seven-year-old Gage Sessell caught a 12.7-pound bluefish, and his grandmother caught a 12-pound striper off Cockenoe Island on chunks. Dino Faroni and Pete Jarvo chunked 28-C and caught fish of 41 and 42 inches, 29 and 31 pounds, along with six other keepers.
37. As has been the case along all of the Connecticut coast, fluke fishing is hit and miss around the Norwalk Islands, with fish coming from the Middle Passage and various channels but no noteworthy local catches so far this summer. The best fluke continue to come from the north shore of Long Island, where Dave Mckee caught four fluke up to five pounds from the west side of Eaton’s Neck.
38. Porgies are just getting started, but with the big bass around, only a few anglers from shore are targeting them.
39. Best bet this week will be striped bass pretty much anywhere along the entire coast. This week things look more favorable in the Sound and around both Fishers and Block islands. Fluke are also a good choice, with more fish being caught as they push inshore and into Long Island Sound with each tidal change. The waters from Niantic Bay and Black Point to Mystic appear to be ripe right now for anglers looking for a shot at a jumbo doormat, with fish to 12 pounds being caught off Black Point last weekend.