On The Water 10/13/05

1. I thought this week’s report would be a short one due to lack of angler participation. There hasn’t been much activity along a good portion of the Connecticut coast. However, the surf-fishing clan along Rhode Island’s south shore has been fishing in-between the high winds or in protected spots when it was howling, and they are for the most part being rewarded for their efforts. It’s pretty obvious that the huge storm system that has stalled off the coast was a major influence on the fishing this week. It was a positive influence in that it has the fish moving but a negative one in that many anglers have not been out due to high, intermittent winds and heavy rains.
2. Rennie of The Fish Connection, Preston on the Thames, said the rains have slowed fishing in the river due to high flows and the amount of debris the river is carrying. There have been a few stripers, small schoolies, caught in the upper river by a few of the hard-core river rats, but otherwise the river has been slow since the rains started.
3. Shane at Hillyer’s Bait and Tackle, Waterford said not many people have been going out due to the weather. Said he went out on Sunday afternoon from shore in the Niantic area and did well on bluefish. Blackfish have been hot between the bridges, with anglers catching them on green crabs and sand worms.
4. Captain “Q” at River’s End, Saybrook said that pretty near everyone down this way is waiting for the storm to blow over. Q went blackfishing Monday under fairly calm wind conditions and caught two fish of five and six pounds, plus four shorts. After the tide let out, they targeted scup and had no trouble catching a few slammers to add to the fillet material they had collected. Blues are abundant and cruising all along shore and are fairly easy to catch. Monday he saw bunches of them busting on top all the way from Seaside and Harkness Park west to Black Point.
5. Captain Jerry Morgan of Captain Morgan’s Tackle, Madison said that a few customers have been fishing the shoreline from places such as East and West Wharf and Hammonasset Beach and are taking bluefish, but action has been spotty. Blues, blackfish, porgies and hickory shad were around in good numbers prior to the storm and should still be around after it passes.
6. The Hammonasset was scheduled to be stocked with trout on Wednesday, but the captain wasn’t sure if they did it or not. Chatfield Hollows pond was stocked earlier in the week, but the brook wasn’t, due to the low flows and warm temperatures prior to the recent rains. The captain, who always has a humorous comment, said the ospreys are doing better now than most of the fishermen he’s talked to lately.
7. Chris Fulton, owner of Stratford Bait and Tackle, Stratford said there has been a good number of small- to moderate-size striped bass and bluefish caught about every evening up inside the Housatonic River. On Tuesday, fish to 32 inches were caught in good numbers, along with a fair number of small stuff. The wooden, handmade, 1-ounce, 5-inch-long Tattoo Swimmer has been the hot lure in this area for the past couple of weeks. Chris said the fish have been creaming them.
8. Basically anyone getting out to Seaside Beach in Bridgeport has been doing well along the beach on bluefish during the days. Unfortunately, the place has been closed after dark, so it has been difficult to get out for serious nighttime striper fishing.
9. Blackfishing was great prior to the storm and will probably be great again once things have had a chance to settle down.
10. Nick Mola of Fisherman’s World, Norwalk told us that no one was doing much fishing down his way due to the weather. Before the rain, buoys 28C and 11B were wild with bluefish and anglers targeting them with diamond jigs. Tube-and-worming in the island was hot for schoolie bass to 15 pounds, with some fish even being caught on plugs.
11. Blackfishing was just getting going when the storm hit.
12. There were tons of albacore to Cockenoe and around the Obstruction Buoy, but Nick wasn’t sure if they would still be around after this huge system blows out.
13. This weekend is still up in the air, according to the weatherman. However, based on the fact that the bass and bluefish appear to be active and feeding heavily, any break in the winds should be taken advantage of over the coming weekend and the next week or so.