Norwich Bulletin

• The big event this week is the opening of the winter flounder season today. Look for these fish to be in shallow bays and estuaries. Places such as Poquonnock River (Bluff Point, Groton) the Flat, lower Thames River, Niantic Bay, Mumford Cove, Mystic River, Jordan Cove, Quiambaug Cove (upper Stonington Harbor above the tracks) and any other dent or inlet along the shoreline are likely to harbor a few of these fish for the next couple of weeks.
• They don't call them winter flounder for nothing. This species likes it cold and spawns in the late winter and very early spring at water temperatures somewhere around 39 to 40 degrees F. When inshore water temps begin to get much warmer, adult flounder move off shore to deeper, cooler places where they wait out the heat of summer before moving back inshore for the winter months and to spawn.
• For this reason, the window of opportunity during which to catch flatfish is short, anywhere from one or two weeks, to just more than a month, depending on the area being fished. A few of the shallow "early-season spots" such as Poquonnock River (Bluff Point) are past their prime already, but may still hold a few fish. If they are not shallow, move out into bays and along inshore beaches to find these fish.
• Winter flounder fishing has been poor for more than a decade. However, during the past three chilly springs, it has improved slightly along the Connecticut coast. Last spring, a few anglers fishing out of Hillyer's Tackle in Waterford were bringing in limits of quality flatfish for a few weeks before increasing water temperatures caused the action to fade. This year, regulations call for 10 fish per day and a 12-inch minimum length, so catching a limit of winter flounder will be a feat that only a few hard-core, experts will be achieving. I haven't caught a limit of flatfish for many years. But I'm ready to take my semi-annual skunking or near skunking from these delicious little fish.
• Alewives began showing up in Bride Brook just before the latest cold snap. The sudden drop in water temperature stopped the run for a few days. However, as this week's heat takes effect, the first alewives (buckeyes) should be showing up at the Greenville Dam, Trading Cove Brook and Crowley Brook soon, if they are not there already.
• Remember, there is still a total ban on taking alewives or their close cousins, blueback herring, in Connecticut waters -- even for use as hook bait. Buckeyes were once the absolute best way to catch jumbo stripers in the Thames River and everywhere else for that matter. Now, most New England states have or are considering bans like Connecticut's, because populations have diminished so drastically during the past decade.
• However, there are a number of lures that look enough like herring, to easily fool a hungry striped bass. Fin-S Fish and Slug-Gos in the 9- to 10-inch long sizes are an excellent choice. Storm Swimming Eye Minnows in the large sizes, along with plugs like the Polish Perch, Mambo Minnow, Rapala, Salmo Fatsos and Skinners in 8- to 10-inch long models will all work. For the past couple of years, Yellow Pencil Poppers and Reverse Atom lures have been excellent big bass producers below the dam at Greenville.
• The waters in front of any brook along the banks of the Thames River on up to the Greenville Dam will be drawing some spawning alewives with big stripers in hot pursuit soon. For the best odds of success, try to fish around the top of the tide, anywhere dams or other obstacles slow their upstream migration, because pulses of herring generally move up river with the flooding tide and after dark. [by Bob Sampson Jr.]