The Day 11/11/05

• While many put their boats away, others are still out catching blackfish on the deeper spots, traveling to Rhode Island for some good surf fishing or looking on the local reefs and The Race for the next school of bass to pass by. I also had a report of some great sea bass fishing and large porgies caught on the southwest corner of Cox's Ledge for any one with large boat willing to burn his or her fuel to get there.
• Al Golinski of Misquamicut said there are still bass around, maybe around the airport at Fishers or the reefs. He'll give it one more try this coming weekend then haul the boat for the winter.
• One of my surf fishing friends fished the Fire District Beach for four mornings, catching blues in the 4-8-pound range and schoolie bass on leadheads with white plastic worms. The only down day he had was yesterday when the surf was high and dirty from the Wednesday southeaster. The fish are not showing, breaking water as they usually do but have been there for the catching if you want to get out of bed for sunrise. There have been some fish at sunset but not in the numbers of early in the day. Chunkers, fishing frozen bunker or mackerel on the bottom, are catching blues during the day along with a few striped bass.
• One of the people who took advantage of the good surf fishing was Susan Lloyd, who fished Weekapaug with her boyfriend Ray to catch her first bluefish, an 8-pounder on light rod and 10-pound line. Many people have switched from the traditional 10-foot surf rods to lighter 7- and 8-footers which provide much more sport.
• Capt. Don's in Charlestown said several Connecticut surf anglers got into a blitz of blues and bass along East Beach in Charlestown. It started about 11 a.m. Wednesday and continued right through the afternoon. Don got out in his boat one calm morning to catch a 30-pound striper casting a plug into the Quonnie rocks east of the breachway. Mackerel chunks fished on the bottom during the day are working on blues from 4-12 pounds at various locations between here and Watch Hill. If it's too windy to get out of the breachway, you can catch mostly small bass right in the pond, and maybe a 20-pounder under them.
• Capt. Al Anderson of Snug Harbor is now fishing the Thames River for schoolie bass either trolling small tubes on small umbrella rigs or casting flies or lures on spinning tackle. Over the weekend they totaled over 200 small stripers. They didn't see a lot of surface activity nor birds working over the fish but the bass are there all the same, mostly in the lower part of the river at this time.
• Don at King Cove Outfitters said there was a load of school bass and blues off Watch Hill in Wednesday's day rough weather but out of range of the shore fishermen. Black fishing is well worth your time if the wind drops enough to let you safely ride at anchor around Wreck Island, West Breakwater or any other well-known tautog spots. If you don't like to cast while surf fishing, you can sit in a beach chair and let a chunk of bunker or mackerel rest on the bottom, waiting for bluefish to come by and pick it up.
• Over in Preston, Jack at the Fish Connection said he went clamming at Bluff Point during Wednesday's storm. Black fishing is hot now anywhere from Ledge Light to Latimer. Blues are still in and out of the Millstone outflow along with school bass in the morning somewhere between Groton Long Point and Jordan Cove. Two of his customers couldn't get out in the mid-week storm so they anchored up around the I-95 bridge over the Thames, fishing chunks on the bottom for larger blues and schoolie stripers.
• Stephanie Cramer was one of the people out with Capt. Al Anderson, fishing the lower Thames, doing her part to catch and release 121 stripers in one day. During that trip, they had a bluefish grab a hooked schoolie and bite the back end of it off before they could wrestle it away from the blue. The next day she herself boated and released 64 small stripers south of the I-95 Bridge. So far she noted there is very little going on up in the river around buoy 27.
• Capt. Brad Glas of the Hel-Cat has wrapped up the 2005 season, sending his last e-mail about Tommy Harrington of Killingworth catching the largest bluefish of the year and Tom Duchesneau of Manchester, the largest cod. Both received a custom rod and reel as prizes.
• Jimmy “The Greek” Koutalakis of Ayer, Mass., trailered his 31-foot center console to our waters last weekend. Launching in Point Judith, he ran out to the southwest corner of Cox's Ledge. Anchored and chumming heavily in 120 feet of water he and friends caught a load of sea bass to 7 pounds, jumbo porgies, a couple large blues and many pesky dogfish. On the next tide they ran over to Southwest Ledge and drifted eels on a hump up-tide from the main ledge for a quick limit of striped bass.
• Hillyers Tackle reported good black fishing dependent on the weather and schoolie bass in and out of the shoreline, taking poppers when they were in close enough. Blues are moving past also, providing fast action at times, nothing on other days. Bass fishing in The Race was about the same, great one tide and barren the next. On some of the slower days in The Race, boats did find a few bass in the low 20s at Bartletts.
• J&B Tackle heard about better black fishing now in deeper water. Prior to that, their customers had all they wanted in 10-15 feet, but now are fishing 30-50 feet; one fellow used a 20-ounce sinker to catch blackfish on a 90-foot hump. Their charter season is done for the year, ending on a sporadic basis: outstanding one tide, then nothing at all six hours later.
• Sherwood Lincoln said most of his friends are catching blackfish from New London to Old Saybrook. On the nicer days some of the more popular locations have 10 boats on them. Water temps in the Sound were around the 55-56-degree mark offering fishing for a couple more weeks.
• Pat Abate at River's End said the shore fishing was just so-so at the Causeway and along the beaches. Black fishing was generally good but he heard, for the first time this fall, about two different groups of fishermen talking about a tough time landing keepers in some of the shallower spots. [by Tim Coleman]