TheDay 10/21/05

1. Many residents of eastern Connecticut who travel to the Rhode Island beaches for what is usually good surf fishing this time of year has been very disappointed with results to date. A friend of mine who fishes the Weekapaug beaches every morning said this time last year he caught 10 fish per trip, combination blues and bass. This week he fished Monday through Wednesday at sunrise for two small blues. On Monday he didn't even have a bite.
2. Others who have been scouting around from Watch Hill to Charlestown said there's been a small number of fish caught at sunrise off some of the other beaches but not the expected blitzes of October. Del Barber of Westerly landed a 15-pound blue on a homemade popper on Monday between the blue roof and Watch Hill. He watched a husband and wife team in nearby buggy land three small stripers, one of them just about a keeper, also on poppers. Friends of his that fished Watch Hill Light at night caught a few tiny bass or spent three hours there without a hit on Tuesday evening, enjoying the bright full moon but not much else.
3. Al Golinski of Misquamicut didn't get out due to all the wind but said his friend Capt. Ben DeMario made it out to the Watch Hill Reefs on Tuesday afternoon for some large blues on poppers and bass to 30 inches on bucktails.
4. Capt. Al Anderson of Snug Harbor made it to the North Rip of Block Island on Wednesday morning, using flies and bucktails on wire line in very dirty water for a dozen bass and blues, biggest about 35 inches. Later in the day they scouted the beaches from Charlestown to Matunuck without seeing a single bird or having a single bite.
5. Moving over to King Cove in Stonington, Don said his slip customers did well with blackfish, weather permitting, at Latimer Light, White Rock and Red Reef. Shore fishermen around Stonington Harbor also caught blackfish though much smaller ones. Bass fishing on the reefs has been sporadic, limited to times people found a window in the stiff westerly winds.
6. Shaffers Marina didn't have any news about boat fishing but it's coming up on the time of year when you might get some bass after dark on an ebb tide along the bridges along Route One. People using light rods and plastic shads are expecting schoolies but every once in a while they are surprised by a fish over 38 inches grabbing the small lures.
7. Beach fishermen coming in for eels said the catches along the Rhode Island beaches were pretty poor. The water cleared some after the week-long northeaster then dirtied right back with it blew hard from the west for a couple days.
8. Capt. Jack Balint at the Fish Connection reported he got out on a charter — finally — on Wednesday, catching 5 to 6-pound blues in stiff tide in Plum Gut. They checked out the Sluiceway but found it barren, moved over to Race Point for school bass, smaller blues and four false albacore, all caught casting lures. Saturday's weather doesn't look good for boating so he cancelled yet another trip, opting instead to go to a football game.
9. The water is around 63 degrees, down a degree or so from the long northeaster of last week. Small boaters had blackfish at times at Horseshoe Reef. Jack also heard about schoolies caught one day off Drawbridge Road in the Thames and some schools of large bunker off Junk Island that drew in some larger bluefish.
10. Stephanie Cramer fished the upper Thames one evening for a couple tiny bass on her fly rod amidst lots of junk floating down in very dirty water. She and friend Bull Kreuger got out with Capt. Anderson on Wednesday, landing a dozen bass and blues, mostly on a boat rod with wire line and jigs.
11. Richard at Hillyers Tackle said they were busy on Wednesday morning with people taking off from work, coming in for green crabs before going black fishing. They weighed them in to 10 pounds during times the wind let up a bit. Those were caught at Hatchetts, Black Point, the ledge on the east side of the Millstone Outflow and north and east of Race Rock. The latter spot has very large porgies caught best on the slack tide. False albacore put in another appearance in Jordan Cove and there was a blitz of some type of fish, blues or bass, off Ocean Beach on Wednesday.
12. Sherwood Lincoln of East Lyme was ready to go black fishing on the next nice day but his boat sat in a stack rack for all last week. The only news about fishing was some bass to 40 inches caught from the docks in the Niantic River on live-lined hickory shad.
13. River's End Tackle in Old Saybrook said Pat Abate took the ferry over to Orient Point where he fished from shore there for a nice catch of bass to 17 pounds and smaller blues on plugs. The next day he fished Montauk Point from the beach, landing some bass but all were very small.
14. Two locals fished Outer Hatchetts Reef on Wednesday looking for bass but didn't manage strike number one. by Tim Coleman