On The Water 10/21/05

1. Obviously, when the massive storm system settled off the coast last week, no one had any idea we’d be in for nine days of near constant rain, variable winds and generally miserable but fishy conditions. During most of the storm few boat anglers ventured out, despite the fact there were some windows of lower winds in which it would have been possible to make a run out to wet a line. Being an avid barometer watcher, I noticed that there were two or three periods during that storm when, despite cloudy skies and even light rain in the air, the barometric pressure actually rose. I’ve seen this happen only a few times in the two seasons I have owned my Bushnell DNS Handheld Barometer. In fact, until I saw it happen a second time, I thought my machine was on the blink, but it wasn’t. This is a well-made, durable and accurate little piece of equipment that also provides temperature, a compass and even altitude, as well as a graph with a total of 13 barometric points prior to the current reading, all in a package the size of a small cell phone. My buddies call it the oracle, which I have found to be accurate in predicting the best times to be on the water.
2. In essence, under dropping barometric pressure, go fishing. When the pressure rises (usually after a storm passes through) mow the lawn or, now, rake leaves. It turns out, as I watched the effects of this entire system and correlated it with the fishing successes and failures of a couple of friends, the above conclusions were for the most part verified yet one more time. Even under apparently excellent conditions, during those periods of high pressure, which came through like pulses in-between the rains of the long-term storm system, the fishing for pike was spotty and slow. The highs were pockets of high-pressure air blowing from the northwest, in-between the low-pressure areas that brought the downpours and winds mostly from the northeast. During these latter periods is when we caught our fish. Weird conditions that you might be able to blame for an off trip, especially if you did any freshwater fishing during those times.
3. The anglers who braved the rain, winds and big surf pretty much anywhere along the coast caught fish. There were quality striped bass to be caught, especially in the Cape Cod Canal, which was reportedly turned on during most of the storm, according to reports from the easternmost shops I talk to for this report. Decent stripers to 30 pounds were also landed along the south shore beaches of Rhode Island and west to Madison. Bluefish dominated the scene the rest of the way to the Norwalk Islands.
4. Cheryl Fee of Shaffer’s Marina, Mystic said there weren’t many anglers out to generate reports. One guy went out early, fished close to home and caught four keeper blackfish Wednesday morning. Another customer went out during a break in the winds earlier in the week and ran into some small bass off Wicopesset. She said that on Sunday morning she saw a bunch of shad busting on top inside the Mystic River near the marina. Word has it that there have been decent bass up inside the river. To me it looks like the storm drove the bait up into protected areas like the Mystic River and Rhody’s salt ponds, based on where most of the recent catches have been coming from.
5. Rennie at The Fish Connection, Preston on the Thames River said the floods took care of the river for awhile, but things were already bouncing back. Just after the floods he was out, and the water was dirty and flowing hard, but by midweek there was a ton of bass up inside Poquetanuck Cove and around the drawbridge at its mouth. Jack Balint added that as of Wednesday there were adult bunker in the river that showed up since the storm.
6. Captain Jack Balint, who fished Wednesday morning before the winds picked up, told me that they caught a bunch of blues and bass pretty much all over the place between Plum Gut and Race Point. They found albies along the way, probably in the Sluiceway, too, but they were not hitting very well.
7. Blackfishing has been all right since the season opened. One guy at his dock caught and culled through 52 blackfish on Wednesday that were all pretty good-size fish. A good omen for things to come in this department.
8. The Shetucket River was stocked with the first excess adult broodstock salmon for the fall, with many more to come between now and early December.
9. Hillyer’s was backed up when we called, so we unfortunately didn’t get their take on conditions.
10. Mark Lewchik of River’s End, Saybrook said that store owner Pat Abate went out to The Gut and caught bass and blues on Tuesday, with the bass reaching 17 pounds, and blues average size. There are lots of bluefish out there, but most are small. Mark hit bass on Friday in the slop that ranged from 24 to 30 inches off Hatchett Point. A couple of anglers who fished Niantic earlier in the week didn’t do much. The river has been tough due to the high water and dirty conditions. Mark said customers have reported picking up pumpkins floating down the Connecticut River, evidently swept out of riverside plantings – that’s a first in about 35 years of doing this sort of reporting!
11. Captain Jerry Morgan of Captain Morgan’s Tackle, Madison said that Tuesday evening there was a real good run of bass along the shore from Clinton and Guilford harbors to Branford. The fish were taking bunker chunks, and bluefish were mixed in. Lots of bluefish are in the area and are often seen busting on top. One customer caught bass to about 45 inches from a spot off or near the mouth of the Connecticut River on live bunker he managed to snag somewhere. There are good numbers of bunker of various sizes in Guilford Harbor. The water temperature cooled but is still fairly warm considering all the rain.
12. There were a few small windows for blackfishing, but few anglers took advantage.
13. Snappers and porgies are still around. Draggers have brought in fluke from the middle of the Sound, but no one with a hook and line is fishing for them at the moment.
14. Chris Fulton, owner of Stratford Bait and Tackle in Stratford, said there wasn’t too much of anything happening, due to the wind and rains. The tremendous influx of fresh water blew the bluefish and bass out of the Housatonic River for the present. In the middle of it all, before waters became too high, a bunch of local anglers were killing the stripers off Gun Club Point. During the worst of the rains these guys caught bass like crazy on anything they tossed in the water. That was midweek at the height of the rains and before the runoff from it pushed everything from the lower river. Things have slowed since, due to the extreme freshet of sweetwater that flowed out of the river. There were hickory shad at Bond’s dock and bluefish off Bridgeport Harbor.
15. Rick Mola from Fisherman’s World, Norwalk said there have been lots of birds and bluefish breaking, tons of them bringing the water to a froth like in the old days. Cockenoe Island and south of the island are loaded with fish. Greens Ledge area has also been loaded with blues ranging from two to nine pounds. Anglers are taking fish on about every cast when they get into the major surface action, which may involve acres of bluefish. A few bass are being caught around the edges, but it’s primarily a super good bluefish bite. Bass are being caught in closer to the rocks and islands, and also out around the deep reefs by diamond-jigging. The best action is at 11-B on the outgoing tide, west of the can, north of the can, the south part of the reef and west of the reef. The better fishing for bass is during the moon tides. Chunking in the same area and 28-C has been producing nonstop bluefish action, with a few bass mixed in around the edges.
16. Surprisingly, he said there are still schools of false albacore around Westport. The big porgies are also still plentiful off the same reefs holding the stripers, around 28-C and shallow waters around Copps Island. Remember the scup (porgy) season closes October 31. Lots of green crabs are being sold for blackfish, but they are smaller fish for the moment, no big ones yet.
17. Basically, everyone is waiting for the winds to die. With another hurricane possibly moving our way, all we can do is run out and cast like hell in-between the blows. The fish are out there and on the move, with bass and blues the top choice for surf-fishermen. Boat anglers may want to spend a little time fishing for blackfish, then head out for the big stuff after they take their limits.