TheDay 10/14/05

1. As you might expect, news about boat fishing was almost nil this past week due to all the wind and rain. Even many of the larger six-man charter boats stayed tied to the dock with winds gusting over 30 mph for three straight days.
2. The surf set was out and about but the steady northeast/east winds dirtied the waters like a cup of coffee by late Tuesday afternoon into Wednesday. Here's what we could dig up on a day with many of the tackle shops closed, waiting for the sun to come back out:
3. Capt. Don's in Charlestown is seeing people from all over the northeast stop by, hoping for a bit of news about surf casting between Watch Hill and Point Judith. Overall, catches have been sporadic in big, dirty surf. People out early on Wednesday at Misquamicut Beach landed a few bass from 20 to 39 pounds on poppers, darters and large Spooks. The shop also weighed in a 20-pound striper caught right in Charlestown Breachway on a day with wild, windy weather. A few large blues mixed in the catch, those caught with plugs for the water was just too weedy for bait fishing. Prior to the lengthy storm, there were blackfish in 25 to 40 feet of water taking green crabs and soft baits if a porgy didn't get there first.
4. This writer got out on Monday and Tuesday afternoons before the water got really roiled up for 11 bass from 21 to 31 inches on 7-inch plastic shads by Stanley Jigs and had the usual couple lures chopped up by bluefish. This was at various spots along the Rhode Island shoreline.
5. Al Golinski went from the Pawcatuck River to Charlestown on Monday afternoon, maybe the “best” day of the week, looking for sea bass but found the water roiled and dirty and had very few fish for his efforts. He lasted until the early afternoon they gave up the idea as a very bad job.
6. Capt. Al Anderson of Snug Harbor said his mate and friend drove from Wakefield (R.I.) up to the Cape Cod Canal on Monday, landing over 50 stripers at both ends of the canal Krocodile and Crippled Herring lures. The trick was to let the lure sink a bit before starting a retrieve. Some of the charter boats and smaller center consoles found schoolies and bluefish off Green Hill on Tuesday morning early but were chased back home as the wind cranked up. His last trip out was prior to the weekend, catching a few blue sharks to 300 pounds and some bluefin to 42 inches thanks to very heavy chumming in great looking water at the south end of the Dump.
7. Don at King Cove didn't have much to talk about. A few of the locals braved the wind one day to fish in the lee of one of the Stonington breakwaters for small blackfish. Others got in some fishing time by staying inside Sandy Point, casting to schoolie stripers with both fly and spin tackle. Others went to Watch Hill, fishing in crowded conditions for schoolies and blues in high, booming surf by week's end.
8. Joe at the Fish Connection reported all the fresh water runoff from the rain pushed bass and blues out of Norwich Harbor, much further down river. Some of his surf crew landed blues along the Rhode Island beaches on plugs but others came home saying the beaches were too dirty for their tastes. His son Jack cancelled charter after charter as the weather went from bad to worse on Tuesday through Thursday. Shore anglers landed hickory shad around the Niantic Bridges and others caught white perch at Poquetanuck Cove.
9. Stephanie Cramer wished the weather would turn but in the meantime she got out along the banks of the upper Thames, catching snapper blues and schoolies stripers on spinning tackle
10. Capt. Brad Glas of the Hel-Cat said they lost two days to weather even with a large party boat. The rest of the time the blue fishing in The Race remained good to excellent plus the blues are getting larger as time goes on. Biggest chopper of the week weighed 16.8 pounds; the biggest fish of the week was an 18.8-pound striper landed by Roland Trailor of Norwich.
11. Capt. Howard Beers was minding the store at Hillyers Tackle when I called, saying business was at about a dead stop thanks to all the wind and rain.
12. On Tuesday, beach anglers enjoyed a bluefish blitz at Pleasure Beach but all boats, even larger charter boats, stayed home. We should see some good black fishing when the weather pattern finally breaks but be ready for westerly winds when it changes.
13. Mark at River's End fished from the beach at Hatchetts Point on Tuesday for 14 bass on fly and spin tackle. He also heard a report about bluefish from shore locations around Niantic Bay but couldn't pin it down any more than that. Blues were also caught from the beach at Old Lyme, one day right in the teeth of the worst of the storm. Harkness Park provided some schoolies for casters out at sunrise on both Monday and Tuesday. [org pub The Day, Tim Coleman]