The Day 5/26/06

1. If you want some winter flounder before the season closes on May 31, now is the time said Lou at Hillyers Tackle in Waterford. On both Tuesday and Wednesday, two gents in a small boat had their limits to 2 pounds right in the Niantic River.
2. Small boaters also headed to the Millstone discharge for bluefish and school bass or trolled the tube and worm at Inner Bartletts for chance at larger stripers. Shore anglers landed blackfish between the Niantic Bridges but all had to be tossed back because the season is closed. A local dragger towed up a 17-pound fluke off Harkness but catches to date in our waters with rod and reel have been fair at best.
3. Greenville Dam produced a 41-inch bass last Friday to a shore fishermen and another cast to a swirl in the water he thought was a bass but had a 17-inch squid grab his striper lure. No bunkers were seen in Niantic Bay in the last week or so. The Race is loaded with bass and a few more blues, both diamond jigging and bucktailing. Unfortunately the Pleasure Beach ramp area is closed due to repairs to the railing.
4. Al Golinski of Misquamicut got out for fluke on Sunday. Fishing off the local beaches in 30-45 feet, he landed 29 total with six keepers along with a 10-pound striper. His friend, Capt. Ben DeMario, used a spinning rod and bucktail on the Watch Hill Reefs Wednesday evening for 22 bass, four keepers.
5. Shore fishing, on the other hand, has been on the poor side from Watch Hill Light up through East Beach. The catch has been mainly a few small stripers, squid that grabbed the striper lures and a couple of smaller bluefish.
6. Capt. Don's over in Charlestown reported sporadic catches of fluke in 35-45 feet off the Rhode Island beaches, mostly shorts with a few keepers. Black fishing isn't bad from the rocks at Quonny Breachway. Fly fishermen are getting hickory shad on very small streamers from the beaches and in the ponds. Last Saturday, a worm hatch in Quonny Pond produced 100 small stripers for two flyrodders using small flies that matched the hatch.
7. King Cove Outfitters in Stonington summed up the fluke catches along the Rhode Island beaches, saying the guys are coming back with a few keepers and lots of shorts tossed back.
8. As of press time, Isabella Beach has the chance for a larger fish. Wednesday morning saw a 30-pound bass landed around Catumb Reef, method unknown.
9. We had a busy weekend, said Cheryl at Shaffers Marina. Ron Behnk used a diving Rapala plug off the Napatree Point bell for a 29-pound striper that was chocked full of squid.
10. The first keeper fluke of the season, 19 inches, was landed around the Stonington Breakwater. Warren Firtion and Pepperoni Joe from Enfield went to Misquamicut, returning with three keepers and tossed over several too small to keep.
11. Capt. Brad Glas of the Hel-Cat finished up the 2006 cod season last weekend “with more of a whimper than a bang.” The catch was a few codfish, some hake, a bunch of eel pout and of course, dogfish. On Saturday through Monday, they will switch to bass and blues, sailing at 9 a.m., returning around 3 p.m. They will also sail next Saturday and Sunday then switch to daily fishing on June 10, leaving at 9 in the morning.
12. Anchoring up and chumming heavily off Harkness and Pleasure Beach were the places and method to catch winter flounder before the season closes on May 31 said Bob's Rod & Tackle in Quaker Hill. River fishermen landed small bass and a couple bluefish but nothing to get excited about. Most of the fluke boats stayed tied to the dock or on the trailer because of all the windy weather through Wednesday.
13. Stephanie Cramer fished in the upper Thames but landed only a scant few small stripers in all the wind. Last Sunday afternoon into evening she got out with Capt. Al Anderson in the Point Judith Salt Pond for 39 schoolies then ran for cover as the hail started coming down out of ominous black clouds.
14. Capt. Joey on the Mijoy is back with us, starting his trips last weekend. Bass were up to 32 pounds on Saturday and on Sunday they caught a 30-pounder on the last drift of the morning trip.
15. They will sail on the weekend and Memorial Day at 6 a.m. and again at 1 p.m. If you want a chance for striped bass on the grill, now is the time to go.
16. Capt. Kyle Douton at J&B in Niantic noted their charter boat had good trips to The Race, both trolling and bucktailing with bucktails or Sassy Shads. Last Friday night they also had good numbers of smaller bass on their first night trip of the season.
17. Fluke reports from Peconic are mostly shorts with a keeper here and there. Fluking on the backside of Fishers is just now starting, maybe developing into a steady fishery for the long weekend. The only sign of surface casting was at Race Rock at first light for small bass.
18. River's End Tackle in Old Saybrook warned the Connecticut River is still high and muddy from all the runoff and fishing very poor. Outside, however, there are bass on both the Sand Shoal and East Rip and lots of short fluke, a few keepers and a few doormats for those running over to New York.
19. Already people are landing big porgies on their fluke rigs, drifting on our side of the Sound; that fishery opens in Connecticut waters on June 1. [Tim Coleman is The Day]