Rivers End 6/130/06

1. STRIPED BASS- The Connecticut River had some surprises this week. Even with the rain and flooding there were some good to very good catches in the morning and evenings, you can also have some good catching after dark without crowds.
2. The live bunker and shad crews are doing well on some jumbos at Long Sand Shoal and Hatchetts Reef, you've got to be at the River Mouth at daybreak to score on the bunker. Some days they are thick enough to snag but don't count on it.
   
3. Night tides are producing some bass on the Shoal and Hatchetts with eels. The Race has some good daytime action on drifted bucktails.
4. The RI South Shore beaches have been slow except for some schoolies inside Napatree.
5. BLUEFISH- Diamond Jigs and Krocodiles are doing good to very good in the Race. Theres some blues hitting on the surface at Great Island and the Mouth of the River. Millstone still has its resident blues.
6. FLUKE- Its a bit better this week. Some better reports have come in from Fishers and Gardiners Islands. The Connecticut River has had some mostly shorts with some keepers. The deeper waters off Hatchetts has had some doormats caught on bucktails meant for bass.
7. PORGIES- Its not last year. Action on the reefs has been on the slow side. Theres some schools of bigger porgies at Hatchetts and Bartletts but you have to hunt them down before you anchor. Chumming helps.
8. BLACKFISH- Good reports came in this week from Inner Southwest .
9. BLUE CRABS- They've been getting some at the Oyster River. Its just starting.

On The Water

1. Best Bets for Connecticut and Rhode Island: The best bet this week may be to fish farther east, off the Madison and Connecticut River area, and to look for bunker if big bass is the target species. Expect the fish that are in western Long Island sound to move east rapidly as temperatures begin to rise. Fluke fishing is still a good bet, but all you can do is play the numbers game and cull through the shorts to catch those rare few keepers that are out there. Porgies may be a great way to bring home fillets for the table if there are not enough keepers in a given day’s catch. They will become more of a factor with every changing tide.
   
2. The big picture is, everything is on the move. Big stripers continue to move eastward from Long Island Sound and points to the south, with a slug of big fish in the Newport area and a body of 20- to 40-pound bass still up inside Narragansett Bay chowing down on adult menhaden. South of Point Judith to Madison, partially as a result of reduced angler participation due to the inclement weather and partly due to an apparent lack of fish, catches of bigger bass have declined. There are still plenty of 30- to 40-inchers, but 30- to 40-pounders are not so abundant as they were a week or two ago throughout the region. The big fish seem to be stalled temporarily in 60 to 80 feet of water in the Stratford/Milford area and will hit readily on “fresh” bunker chunks or live bunker when they can be maintained. To the west as far as Norwalk and Greenwich there are still fish in the 20- to 25-pound range being caught but the 30’s that were so prevalent for the past month seem to have passed through and are the fish that the anglers fishing out of the Stratford/Bridgeport area are having fun with for the time being.
3. Fluke continue to move in from offshore with reports indicating at least limited improvement in the size ratio of shorts to keeper fish, with a slug of keepers in western Long Island Sound. There are plenty of fluke out there to catch, the trick is finding fish over 18 inches to bring back to Connecticut or 17.5 inches if you are a Rhode Island angler. Remember, the law is a “possession limit” so you can’t catch 17.5’s, bring them in to a Rhody launch, and legally possess them in Connecticut – even in your vehicle.
4. Thomcat Pelletier of Quaker Lane Outfitters didn’t even get out fluking over the weekend. He said that Wickford Harbor was producing 20-inch weakfish prior to the recent bout of storms, but he hasn’t heard anything about these fish still being in that area so far this week.
5. Earl at Saltwater Edge, Newport said there’s been some action around Newport. Bay anchovies are in Jamestown as a primary bait source. A week earlier it was sand eels off Fort Adams so there’s various kinds of bait around the area, which is a good thing. He said that Point Judith was fishing well from the beaches last week, but those fish apparently ran through the area and settled into the Newport area over the past few days. Ocean Avenue has been holding some decent fish since the weekend. The surf fishing slowed down in Narragansett and Point Judith at the same time. Anglers who are fishing from boats farther offshore continue to catch some fish in the 20-pound range, with some “scary big” monsters coming up behind baits and plugs from time to time. No one reported actually catching these monsters lately. There are still some big stripers up in the Bay around Prudence Island feeding on large menhaden.
6. Earl ran up on a school of fish off Ocean Drive that were feeding on tiny krill earlier this week. This large source of tiny food made fishing difficult. They managed to find a rip line where the microscopic feed was scattered by currents, and they drew strikes from some 30-inch-plus fish that swam up top to whack large poppers. Earl, Pete and the crew from Saltwater Edge like to throw those jumbo Poe’s walk-the-dog-type lures that are essentially huge Zara Spooks. Last year they discovered these musky baits were excellent big bass catchers. Earl says that at least for the moment, and it could be only for a moment in my guesstimate, Newport and vicinity is the place to fish for big bass.
7. Phil at Breachway Tackle, Charlestown said Ronnie is still doing well on big fish in the morning using live eels. There was a 40-pounder caught on a live eel off the Charlestown Beach this weekend. Eels at night and worms during the day are the ticket for bigger bass at the present time. The salt pond is producing mostly schoolies since the worm spawns died out. The big stuff is outside along the beaches and around the area’s reefs. Scup are beginning to hit pretty well. Fluke action remains good from Point Judith to Nebraska Shoal and Charlestown Beach, with most of the fish being caught in 30 to 60 feet of water. The short to keeper ratio remains at about to 10 to 1 for most anglers. Bluefish are moving in now. Most are less than 8 pounds, but there have been a few big choppers caught recently. There was a supposed “20-pound chopper” caught on Tuesday night off the Breachway. A bona fide 20-pound bluefish is a giant any time any place, especially this time of year when the adults are post spawn and tend to be racy. This giant blue was not weighed officially on any scales, so 20 pounds was an estimated weight by the guy who caught it, which in my experience means the fish was probably closer to 14 pounds in reality. Bluefish always look larger than they really are. Any time I catch a blue that is over 10 pounds, to get an estimated weight, I make a guess at its weight then subtract four pounds. Most of the time this is pretty close to the “real weight” when the fish is put on a Boga Grip.
8. Weather probably helped the fishing, but killed reports on fishing due to reduced angler activity out at Block Island this week.
9. Farther down the coast King Cove, Stonington and Captain Don’s Tackle, Charlestown, Rhode Island reported that fishing is good, but few anglers have been out to take advantage. Scup have shown up and fishing for them has been pretty good, though most fishermen are targeting fluke and stripers. At daybreak anglers are taking smaller bluefish off the Quonny Breachway on a regular basis but the bass action has slowed since last report.
10. Al Fee of Shaffer’s Marina, Mystic said that last week he was doing combo bass and fluke fishing prior to the recent bout of storms and doing pretty well on both species until last Wednesday. Since then the fluke have held up pretty good along the south side of Fishers with a short to keeper ratio better than the 10 to 1 most areas are reporting. But as of Thursday jigging and casting to stripers in The Race around Valiant Rock and around the reefs and the island has slowed down some.
11. Anglers fishing out of Shaffer’s Marina have not been going much, though on Tuesday one customer caught bass to 36 inches by drifting with live eels over Ram Island Reef.
12. Captain John Planeta owner of Frank’s Tackle, Marlborough said the Connecticut River has once again turned brown and dirty. Saturday he caught some short fish, but nothing of any size. This week has been poor for info due to the rains. This same sentiment was echoed by the guys at River’s End, Saybrook and Fish Connection, Norwich.
13. Richard at Hillyer’s Bait and Tackle, Waterford said the same thing, but noted that blackfishing in their area has been excellent. They had an 11.75-pounder taken from shore off Harkness Park on Monday. The docks around the Black Hawk head boat and under the bridges are consistently producing blackfish that are 5 to 8 pounds for the crew that fishes from shore. Any and all of the area rock piles seem to be holding blackfish. Remember last week there was a 14.75 and 14.25 weighed in at Hillyer's. Fluke fishing locally is spotty and slightly better off Fishers Island and across the Sound off Montauk Point, with the large minimum lengths being the main problem. There’s plenty of fluke out there to catch. Ed Morelli caught a 9.5-pound fluke from parts unknown, but Richard suspected that this fish was taken locally due to the weather conditions on the day the fish was brought to the scales.
14. Bass fishing has been fair to good. One of my friends easily caught bass up to 30 pounds off Bartlett Reef earlier in the week using live bunker and hickory shad he found somewhere he’d rather not talk about. They are still taking some stripers from Bartlett Reef and in The Race. Another friend caught fish to 40 pounds from Plum Island and the Sluiceway late last week, but remember any report more than a day or two old may not hold true at the present time when bass are on the move. A few 40-inch-plus fish have been caught by anglers fishing at the mouth of the Niantic River and out along the beaches near by on chunks in Niantic.
15. There are some big porgies to be caught out off Black Point and a few other spots in the Niantic area, but most anglers are chasing fluke, blackfish and stripers. Captain Jerry Morgan of Captain Morgan’s Tackle, Madison said there are loads of bluefish in the area, but they have been struggling to catch bigger striped bass lately. There are some big bunker around which means some of the fish to the west are filtering to the east. Where there’s bunker count on big stripers (and now bluefish) to be down below chowing down on them. The stripers that are being caught are big fat fish, but nothing of any notable size came into the shop since last week.
16. The Fluke Mania Tournament is starting to gear up. There is a new twist this year. Organizers have a separate side pot of $5000 for biggest fluke caught west of New Haven. Otherwise the biggest fluke taken anyplace during the event wins $10,000. Captain Morgan’s is also the local weigh-in location in this part of Connecticut for On the Water’s Striper Cup Tournament.
17. Porgies are huge and abundant in the Madison area, for those who target them. The biggest so far this year was a monster 17.5-inch humpback. Expect the smaller fish to move in as the summer progresses. Based on the 2005 season porgy fishing will be pretty much a “gimme” throughout the region again this year. They will be abundant and of good quality for anyone who wishes to go out to a reef or channel marker and drop a baited hook. Problem is, they were so abundant last year and will probably be about the same this year that it becomes difficult to impossible to drift for fluke or troll tube and worms without having baits stripped by scup. Sand sharks to 3 and 4 feet long are being caught off the Thimbles and in the Madison and Guilford area by fluke fishermen along with loads of skates.
18. To the west, Chris Fulton owner of Stratford Bait and Tackle in Stratford said he did a special boat-fishing trip to Saugatuck Reservoir and caught a bunch of Seeforellen brown trout. John Posh, previous owner of the shop, had his personal best trout fishing day with seven big brown trout that weighed between 5 and 7 pounds. The biggest brown was 30 inches and well over 7 pounds. These fish were caught by trolling lures on leadcore line to get down to the cool water where these big fish were suspended. All Chris’s trout were in the 13- to 14-inch range.
19. Chris said they weighed in a 10-pound fluke over the weekend that had been gorging itself on the huge schools of sand eels that are presently in the Port Jefferson, Long Island area.
20. A few anglers are catching smaller bass to just over keeper size by casting Red Fins and Bombers along the local beaches. The best striper fishing is to be found by fishing in deep water, 60 to 80 feet, with fresh bunker chunks. These boat fishermen are consistently catching bass between 30 and 40 pounds along the area’s drop-offs and humps. These big bass are part of that huge body of fish that had been stalled and feeding on adult bunker in the Hempstead, Long Island to Norwalk area a few weeks ago.
21. Bert of Fisherman’s World, Norwalk told us that they are still taking big, quality striped bass off buoys 28-C and 11-B on chunks, but the top-end size was about 25 pounds this week. Their fish moved east to Stratford and the waters off the Housatonic River mouth, which still has schools of bunker around, but they are smaller and broken up for the moment as the stripers have begun to drive them out of the area. Westport, Cockenoe Island and around Greens Ledge, by the light, are the best spots to find bunker and hence big bass. Fish to 25 pounds are being caught underneath these schools when they can be located. Dave Krouser caught a 30-pound striper on the south side of 28-C on fresh bunker chunks from bait they snagged themselves. But this week the size of the average “decent bass” has diminished as these fish push eastward with the bait.
22. From shore, anglers were catching harbor blues and stripers to 36 inches off Calf Pasture Point Pier like crazy on Tuesday using chunks of bunker and mackerel. More evidence that fish are on the move in this area as water temperatures rise.
23. Burt, who runs a charter fishing business, has been catching bass at Cockenoe and 11-B by drifting in 60 to 80 feet of water using those three-way rigs baited with a whole sand worm, the bigger the better. Three-way fishing in deep water with whole sand worms rather than eels, like they do throughout most of the state, is a technique that I have not tried here in the east. There seems to be too many scup around for it to work effectively. However, Burt said that the key to success is fishing in deep water where you catch mostly bigger stripers. The next time I fish The Race I will give this technique a try.
24. Anglers are catching fluke locally out in the Middle Passage and around Pecks Ledge, in the Norwalk Islands. As always, the very best fluking is to be found across the Sound along the north shore of Long Island.
25. Jason Ulicky caught 40 fluke between 3 and 6 pounds in the waters off the east side of the golf course across the Sound in North Port. All the fish were keepers. The next day they caught the usual bunch of small fish for every keeper.

Danbury Time 624

• If you’re of a mind to get in on the June marabou bite action, plan on spending some time on the water this week and next.
• I’m not really sure why we still call this the “marabou” bite, as jigs tied with some type of hair (usually artificial polar bear hair or “craft hair”) have all but replaced marabou as the material of choice for these alewife imitators.
• Most area tackle shops have an assortment of jigs that ranges from plain white marabou or craft hair to custom tied alewife imitators that really strive to match nature. All of them will catch trout when the fish are bunched up in the deep holes as they appear to be right now.
• All it took to get the much anticipated June-marabou bite going was water temperatures getting into and staying in the 70s. Typically, trout anglers think of colder water as better for trout fishing, but there are any number of conditions that can contribute to good fishing for any species. In the case of Candlewood’s brown trout, the arrival of summer water temperatures almost always triggers a period of good catches.
• Ironically, part of the reason trout fishing there is so good at this time of year, is that Candlewood is not classic trout water. If you go by the book, Connecticut’s largest lake is too warm and too low in dissolved oxygen to support a quality trout fishery.
  Yet, due largely to its alewife forage base, the lake grows big browns, and plenty of them. That’s where the little white jig — tied of artificial or real polar bear hair or of marabou feathers — comes in. It seems to imitate an alewife in the eye of a brown trout a lot better than many seemingly more realistic lures do. But casting a tiny white jig into Candlewood’s 5400 acres in hopes that a trout sees it is kind of a needle in a haystack proposition. At least it would be if the fish were scattered randomly.
• When the surface water quickly warms past the trout’s comfort and tolerance level as it does somewhere around the end of spring each year, the biggest trout head for deeper, cooler, water. But much of the deepest water in Candlewood doesn’t hold enough dissolved oxygen to support the trout. Certain relatively small areas do though, and the biggest and baddest browns in the lake take possession of those areas. There’s a lot more fish than cold, oxygenated water though, and the competition gets fierce. When food (or your jig) wanders into a patch of water crowded with big, hungry brown trout, nature takes its course.
• Most of the best areas to find the aggregation of trout that this pattern depends on, are found fairly close to steep, rocky, bluff-like shorelines on the western side of the various arms of the lake. If you can sit in 35-feet of water and be an easy cast from a boulder strewn bank, odds are, you’re in a pretty decent area. If there’s a stream of brook coming in nearby, that’s another plus. But position your boat near that rocky bank, and cast your jig out into the deep water. When it hits bottom (evidenced by the line going slack) start a herky-jerky retrieve.
• As important as the right jig, is a good pair of polarized sun glasses that allow you to see through the surface glare, and into the fish’s world. Watch for the jig to come up out of the depths as you retrieve, because often the trout will be following it, and can be “teased” into biting it with a little creative rod tip jiggling. Sometimes though, catching one when there’s four or five chasing the jig can be tough.
• Sometimes it’s a matter of the aquatic version of buck fever. Seeing a bunch of trout following your lure — they might only be two and three pounders, but they always seem much bigger in the water — does things to your concentration and your reflexes. Sometimes, it’s a matter of them getting boat shy, and turning away as your boat comes into their field of vision. After a while though, it becomes easy to guesstimate when the jig is about to come into view, and to give it a couple second long pause at the appropriate moment, to trigger a reaction from a following fish before they come into view.
• The days of limits of 8 to 10 pound trout loading up on this pattern in Candlewood are likely history. In recent years, there’s been a few in that size range, but not many. And last summer’s long heat spell resulted in a lot of overcrowding in the limited cool, oxygenated waters, and that took a toll on the biggest fish, so there’s fewer yet. But there appear to still be plenty of 2- to 4-pound browns available, and even at that size, when you watch your jig disappear into one’s mouth just a few feet from the boat, the adrenaline definitely starts pumping.
• [Rich Zaleski, 6/25/060

Conn Post 6/23/06

1. Summer arrived this week in full regalia. Hot and humid weather, along with the occasional thunderstorm, greeted anglers all week. This climate change has improved angler success rates. Those fishing during the heat of the day are reporting good luck with blackfish, porgy, trout and freshwater panfish. Once the sun sets, striped bass, largemouth bass and walleye become more cooperative.
2. In spite of the heat, trout fishing is fair to good in the Mianus River Trout Management Area, the mainstem of the Farmington River, Pootatuck River, the Saugatuck River and the Blackberry River. Fly fishers are having good results with March Brown nymphs, Isonychia, Sulphurs, tan and green Caddis, Green Drakes, Blue Wing Olives and stoneflies. Baiters are scoring with corn/mealworm combinations.
3. Largemouth bass action has improved significantly over the past week. According to state Department of Environmental Protection reports, bass weighing more than five pounds were taken last week from Quonnipaug Lake, Beach Pond, Lake Saltonstall and Candlewood Lake. Other noteworthy bass spots are Lake Zoar, Lake Stibbs, Lake Winnemaug, Lake Lillinonah, Highland Lake, East Twin Lake, Tyler Pond, Bashan Lake, Congamond Lake, Lake Kenosia, Silver Lake, Rogers Lake, both the upper and lower Moodus Reservoir, Scoville Reservoir, Dog Pond, Ball Pond, Black Pond and Batterson Park Ponds.
4. Those fishing after dark are catching largemouth bass on poppers, twitch baits, 12-inch long soft plastic worms and live minnows. During the day, try spinnerbaits, four-inch long soft plastic worms, tube lures, crankbaits and buzzbaits.
5. Walleye continue to delight anglers at Squantz Pond and Coventry Lake between sunset and sunrise. To a lesser degree, walleye are coming out of Lake Saltonstall, Gardner Lake and the Saugatuck Reservoir. Lake Housatonic is also stocked with walleye, but very few fish have been reported this year. Walleye are easy to distinguish from its look-a-like yellow perch cousin by their sharp canine-like teeth. The northern pike, another toothy fish, are biting well at Pachaug Pond, Mansfield Hollow Reservoir and the Connecticut River. Both walleye and pike can be taken on live minnows.
6. Blackfish season opened very successfully last week with plenty of four-fish limits coming off the reefs and rock piles east of New Haven. Locally, the New Haven Harbor breakwaters, the Middleground area, Greens Ledge and Copps Rocks are yielding blackfish. Many of the same areas are also producing porgy. Wise anglers use a tandem hook rig baited with crab chunks for blackfish and sandworms for porgy. The tactic often produces a mixed bag of fish, including an occasional black sea bass.
7. Striped bass are now in their summer feeding patterns. During the day, it is possible to catch numerous short sub-legal bass in the local harbors and tidal rivers. Anglers looking for daylight 28-inch keepers should fish out at the harbor mouths or along the near-shore reefs, like Penfield Reef and Sunken Island. As the sun drops, bass anglers will find a mixture of shorts and keepers off Lighthouse Point, the West Haven sandbar, the West Haven Beach jetties, Charles Island, in Bridgeport Harbor, off Penfield Lighthouse, along Sherwood Island State Park, off Frost Point, in Southport Harbor and off Calf Pasture Beach.
8. Elsewhere, fluke are being caught off Black Point, in Niantic Bay, along the New Haven Harbor channels near the breakwaters, and at the mouth of the Housatonic River. Bluefish are feeding off Sixmile Reef, along the western edge of New Haven Harbor, around Pleasure Beach and off the Norwalk Islands. Hickory shad are bending rods in Niantic Bay and the lower Connecticut River. [Connecticut Post, FRANK MCKANE JR.]

CT DEP Weekly Fishing Reports 6/21/06

1. TROUT: RIVERS & STREAMS - Trout anglers are generally reporting good fishing. For bait anglers, a corn/mealworm combination has been productive. There are a number of major insect hatches on the waters of the state at this time of the year, so finding the correct fly can be challenging. This year, variable flows and temperatures have affected hatch timing, adding to the challenge for fly anglers.
2. Farmington River water temperatures remain in the mid 50’s °F. West Branch flows are clear and very fishable, about 370 cfs at Riverton. The Still River is currently providing an additional 100 cfs.
3. A number of hatches are typically expected at this time of the year. March Brown (almost over) nymphs (#12-14), Light Cahills (#12, morning), Isonychia (#10-14, evening), Gray Fox #12-14, afternoon), Blue Wing Olives (#18-22, mid-late afternoon), Sulphurs (#18-20, afternoon to early evening for spinners), Caddis (tan #14-18, all day; green #22-26, evening), Midges (#22-32, morning), Black Ants (#14-18, morning) and Pale Evening Duns (Epeorus vitreus #14-16, afternoon & early evenings) should be the successful patterns. However, currently there is little to no surface insect activity on the river and hatch conditionsare more like those expected during August. A recent DEP insect survey indicates that flow/weather conditions haveimpacted hatches somewhat. Look for hatches to improve as weather patterns become more seasonal.
4. Housatonic River- Some of the best trout action this year on the river has been in the past week. Water temperatures are in the upper 60’s °F. Flows are clearing and dropping again (currently 1,130 cfs at Falls Village and 1,700 at Gaylordsville, call NGS at 1-888-417-4837 for updated flow information). Barring heavy precipitation (which there is a possibility of) the river should be quite fishable for the weekend. Insect hatches include Alder Caddis (#10-12, afternoon-evening near overhangs), Light Cahills (#12, evening), Green/Brown Drakes (#8-12), Sulphurs (#14-16,evening), Blue Wing Olive (#18-22, early morning; spinner fall in evening), Isonychia (#12-14 evening is the most active hatch), Light Cahill (#12-14, evening), Adams (#12-14, evening), March Brown (#10-12), Gray Foxes (#14-16) and tan & green caddis (#14-16, early morning & evening). Expect Midges and stoneflies at the mouths of streams. Streamers (morning & evening) are catching some large fish.
5. Anglers are reminded that the thermal refuge areas on the Housatonic, Naugatuck and Shetucket Rivers are nowclosed to fishing and will reopen on September 1. There is no fishing within 100 feet of the mouths of posted tributaries to these rivers.
6. LAKES & PONDS – Many of our lakes are still producing good trout fishing. Areas to try include Colebrook Reservoir,
7. Highland Lake (30+ fish for one angler), Wonoscopomuc Lake, Candlewood Lake, Crystal Lake(Ellington, 4 lb brown by Ed Fuller of Tolland) and West Hill Pond (26 trout for one angler).
8. LARGEMOUTH BASS fishing is reported as good. Areas to try Lake Saltonstall (many 4-6 lb fish), Mansfield HollowReservoir, Black Rock Flood Control Impoundment, Wonoscopomuc, Candlewood (has slowed down a bit), Congamond, Wyassup, Gardner, Bashan (20” bass), Amos, Bantam, Quonnipaug, Bolton Lakes (5.25 lb bass by MarkSol, Middletown, CT) and Pattagansett Lakes, Hatch Pond, Mudge Pond and Moosup Pond.
9. SMALLMOUTH BASS action reported from Candlewood Lake and Gardner Lake.
10. NORTHERN PIKE fishing is reported to be good in Bantam Lake, Pachaug Pond and Mansfield Hollow Reservoir.
11. For KOKANEE try West Hill Pond at 4 colors of lead line or use corn/meal worms in the deep holes.
12. WALLEYE are being reported from Lake Saltonstall (getting tough, but catches include a 6.1 lb, 25” walleye), Squantz Pond (6.75 lb walleye), the causeway between Squantz Pond and Candlewood Lake (although action is slowing as fishmove into deeper water) and Mashapaug Lake. A few anglers have also been having some luck at Lake Housatonic and on the Housatonic River downstream of Derby Dam.
13. CALICO BASS action is reported in Silver Lake (Meriden) and Park Pond.
14. CONNECTICUT RIVER – STRIPED BASS fishing in the river up through Windsor is still good. Fish are being taken on cut shad, and early in the morning and late in the evening on poppers and soft plastics. Tube and worm is being successful in the lower river. Big fish are being taken at night in the lower river on live eels.
    
15. NORTHERN PIKE action reported from White Oaks Cove, the Windsor area, Haddam Meadows and from Hartford downstream to Haddam.
16. CATFISH are being caught on frozen herring & cut/chunk bait.
17. REMINDER TO ANGLERS- The only areas open to fishing for Atlantic salmon are the Naugatuck, Shetucket, andHousatonic Rivers (these salmon are expected to be the stocked broodstock Salmon). Atlantic salmon caught in anyother rivers and streams (especially the Connecticut River drainage) are wild Atlantic salmon and should be releasedimmediately with as little handling as possible.
18. MARINE FISHING REPORT: STRIPED BASS fishing remains good on the major reefs and rip areas for cow bass. Trolling the tube and worm combination and live-lining eels, hickory shad, menhaden (bunker) or scup work well. Productive spots include the reefs off Watch Hill, South side of Fishers Island, the Race, Bartlett Reef, Long Sand Shoal, Sixmile Reef, the reefs off Branford, Stratford Point area, Penfield Reef, Norwalk Islands, and the Cows off Stamford. Schoolie fishing is still good in the tidal rivers such as the Pawcatuck River, lower Mystic River, Thames River, Niantic River, Connecticut River by Great Island, Sandy Point area in New Haven Harbor, Milford Harbor, Housatonic River from the Devon power plant to the Derby Dam, and Norwalk Harbor.
19. HICKORY SHAD can be found in the Niantic River.
20. SUMMER FLOUNDER fishing is fair to good although a lot of sub-legal throwbacks are being reported. Fluke spots include Fishers Island Sound, Black Point and Niantic Bay, Long Sand Shoal, Westbrook-Clinton area, off the NewHaven Harbor breakwaters, and the Milford area to the mouth of the Housatonic River. Best spots include MontaukPoint, south side of Fishers Island, Horton Point, Mattituck Inlet, and Port Jefferson.
21. BLUEFISH fishing is consistent in the Race and off Wilderness Point (Fishers Island), Plum Gut and Millstone Point. Other spots include Sixmile Reef off Clinton, New Haven Harbor, the Milford-Charles Island area to the mouth of the Housatonic River, and off the Norwalk Islands.
22. SCUP and TAUTOG fishing has picked up on the major reefs and rock piles throughout LIS.

Norwich Bulletin 6/24/06

1. Locally, people are fishing for and catching good numbers of flounder, but they are of the "summer persuasion." The best fluke fishing is still taking place along Rhode Island's south shore beaches from Point Judith to the "Pink House," east of Watch Hill and along the south side of Fishers Island. Niantic Bay, Ocean Beach, Mystic and Stonington also hold some fluke, but not in the abundance of the areas outside the Sound and along the north shore of Long Island.
2. All reports echo the same message. Lots of fluke around but most are under-sized. The "keeper" problem is due to the high minimum lengths that recreational anglers must adhere to.
3. Most of the fluke catching is taking place in water between 40 and 52 feet, with some larger fish being caught in deeper waters. The short-to-keeper ratio everywhere is ranging from 10:1 to 5:1.
4. This week a number of area shops reported weighing Father's Day fluke from 7 to 11 pounds, which is a definite improvement in quality, but none were the 10 pounder I asked for as a present from mother luck.
5. Blackfish action has been good from the season opener on June 15. Hillyer's weighed in a pair of 14 pounders that were caught on green crabs from shore off the mouth of the Thames River and in Niantic Bay.
6. Striper fishing was also a pick. We didn't see any surface action around the island but managed to troll up a few stripers on Fish Connection tube and worm rigs. The biggest was a 35-inch striper that weighed about 13 to 15 pounds. [Bob Sampson, Norwich Bulletin]
   

The Day, 6/24/06

1. Black fish season opened in Connecticut waters last week, giving people more options for their day off.
2. The first reports have been very positive with two outstanding fish caught from the beach. Capt. Howard Beers at Hillyers Tackle said they weighed in a 14.8-pounder caught by Bob Silva fishing from Pequot Avenue along the Thames River. A few days later they weighed in another fish the same size, this one caught by an unknown angler between the bridges in Niantic.
3. In other news, they heard about a few more keeper fluke from the home waters but better results for keepers from Rhode Island or the south side of Fishers Island. Yesterday morning three fellows stopped by for ice to take care of their catch of six medium stripers caught early in the day not too far from the mouth of the Niantic River.
4. Al Golinski of Misquamicut reported pretty slow going for large bass on the Watch Hill Reefs. His best day in three trips was two fish, one of those a 15-pounder. One morning he ended up with a 31-pounder and almost 20 live bunker left in his well. He ran down to the Rhode Island beaches on another morning for a nice mess of fluke to 4.8 pounds. The beaches there are full of small fluke but if you fish through them you can cull a fair amount of keepers. Scup are showing up on most of the area rockpiles.
5. Capt. Al Anderson had good to excellent trips for small to medium stripers in the late afternoon and evenings at Block Island from the inner bar at the North Rip down the west side to the Hooter Buoy. His catches ranged from 23 to 39 inches, averaging about three to five keepers per outing. Last Friday two fly rodders had fast action with 33 bass to 22 pounds on squid flies in a strong ebb tide that took quite a few rpms just to stay up ahead of the rip. On Saturday evening they used spin rods and bucktails with twister tails to catch another load of smaller bass, the presence of the fish given away by loads of gulls wheeling and diving in the white water behind the rip.
6. We weighed in bass to 40 inches said King Cove in Stonington, those fish caught on the tube and worm or live eels trolled from kayaks in and outside of Stonington Harbor. Terns were working over much smaller bass around Sandy Point some mornings with a few bluefish mixed in. Casters had some success early in the day at the Watch Hill reefs with smaller stripers also but not as many as the week prior. Fluking remains a matter of culling through X amount of shorts for Y number of keepers. One encouraging sign of late were a few smaller keepers landed around White Rock.
7. Cheryl at Shaffers observed most of the boats in their marina have switched over to chasing fluke. Last Saturday she heard about mainly shorts but Sunday was a different story. Her brother Allen landed eight keepers off Isabella Beach and others came back from various spots with much better results than the day before. Capt. Bruce Meyers weighed in a 9.4-pound blackfish caught on a striper charter using lead line and whole squid for bait.
8. Capt. Jack Balint of the Fish Connection said he's been getting good numbers of smaller bass looking for fish on top in the mornings between the Mystic shoreline from the Monastery over to Sandy Point. Bigger fish were caught around Wicopesset Island and Valiant Shoal after dark. The best area for fluke remains off the south side of Fishers Island in 40-50 feet of water. To date very few keeper summer flounder were caught off Groton or the west end of Fishers Island Sound.
9. Stephanie Cramer joined her fly rod club at Quonny Pond on Saturday, finding the expected summer crowds and presumably poorer fishing because of all the people and noise. She got tag returns from four of her small stripers tagged in the Thames during the winter. One was re-caught in the Hyannis River on Cape Cod, a second from Truro, also on the Cape and a third and fourth from Point Judith and Narragansett Bay.
10. Capt. Brad Glas of the Hel-Cat was right on time with his weekly e-mail stating they had good fishing in The Race during the week and a bit of a slow down over the weekend, nothing new there. They had both blues and stripers on board, the bluefish of mixed sizes and in consistent quantities; the bass were for the most keepers with only one day showing a lot of shorts. Big fish of the week was a 20-pound bass caught by Dave Coons of Sheffield, Mass.
11. Capt. Kyle Douton at J&B Tackle said he fished The Race on Wednesday evening for pretty poor results. He left before dark but his dad in their charter boat stuck it out for a decent catch but nothing until the last light was out of the western sky, sometime around 9:30 p.m. Kyle was back in The Race the next morning for good action but all were throwback bass. They've been using bucktails when the tide is running hard and eels when it slacks. Sharking has been very poor to date with some small makos. A couple of the shark boats did connect with 40-pound bluefin out in the Horns trolling with very small Jet Heads.
12. River's End Tackle in Old Saybrook said the people in small boats casting in the lower Connecticut River at dusk and daybreak had very inconsistent fishing. If you can find live bunker there are large bass on some of the reefs from Southwest to Outer Bartletts. Only short fluke were caught to date in the Connecticut River. Black fishing is quite good, drawing lots of attention as porgy catches were only fair so far. One boat dropped some sandworms around an inshore rockpile and caught medium tautog but also three winter flounders around 3 pounds that had to be tossed back because the season is closed until next year.
13. We might add some other news from other sources. Since last week's report there were five bass over 50 pounds caught from Block Island waters. Four of those were on live eels fished deep at Southwest Ledge, the other on a live hickory shad from the island's south side. People that trailer their boats might find a source of live hickory shad around the state pier in the Point Judith Salt Pond or further outside the West Gap of the harbor.
14. Fluke news from Green Hill east to the center wall of the harbor is about the same as our end: lots of shorts and some keepers in 40 to 60 feet of water. At times the small bluefin popped up on the south side of Block and in the Mud Hole with some caught on very small Jet Heads trolled on very light leaders. [Tim Coleman, The Day]

On the Water, 6/22/06

Best Bets for Connecticut & Rhode Island: The best bet this week looks like fluke fishing around Eaton's Neck in the west, along the south side of Fishers Island, or east along the south shore beaches of Rhode Island to Point Judith in the east. If big stripers are the target, find the menhaden. Start looking for giant bass between Beaver Tail and Sakonnet in Narragansett Bay, around the southwest corner of Block Island, or in the western end of Long Island Sound – wherever there are schools of adult bunker.

1. Fluke fishing seems to be improving with most shops reporting large numbers of shorts for every keeper, but that ratio is better than a week or two ago. Big stripers are moving through the region, with the best concentrations of jumbo fish in the 40-pound range being caught in Narragansett Bay, feeding on bunker schools and around the southwest corner of Block Island.
2. The south side of Fishers Island produced some better catches of fluke over the Father’s Day weekend as well. Captain Al Fee out of Shaffer’s had a fluke-fishing charter of anglers from Texas who seemed to catch mostly keepers, for a change. This crew quickly caught their 8-fish limit and went looking for some stripers. My daughter and I fished the south side of Fishers for about a half hour Sunday afternoon before the tide slacked and caught five fluke, one of which was a 21-inch keeper. A friend did about the same on Wednesday, so the ratio out here does appear to be improving as well. No matter where you drift for fluke, expect to cull through many shorts for every keeper fish. For this reason, don’t fish with “dead sticks” which usually mean gut-hooked fish. Hold the rod and set the hook as soon as a fish takes to minimize deep hooking of fish that are probably destined for release.
3. Blues are all over the place and becoming more numerous with each passing day, as this species completes its spawning activities offshore and begins to move in along the coast to feed. Most of the bluefish being reported are small fish, under 5 pounds, but there are some bigger fish to 10 pounds being caught as well. In my book a 2-pound blue is a pain in the neck, but a 10-pounder is always a thrill to do battle with.
4. Bill at King Cove Outfitters, Stonington said the reefs still have some squid on them and there are sand eels on the shoals off Napatree Point, with bass on them. Few stripers in the 30- to 40-inch range have been reported since the weekend, most of them were caught by trolling tube and worms. No monsters this week. The evening bite is the best in terms of bigger fish.
5. Reports of stripers in The Race have slowed a tad since last week. There are still fish in the 20- to 30-pound range out there to catch, especially after dark, but for some reason there wasn’t much talk coming from The Race or Sluiceway this past week. Same sort of silence from Bartlett Reef, Hatchet Reef and other small rock piles between Stonington and Niantic Bay. The Race has a good night bite all summer long for those who three-way live eels. As always there are some fish, mostly blues up to 10 pounds this week around the Millstone Outflow. It is a riled, busy spot that most anglers use as a last stop to catch a “deskunker” after a non-productive day elsewhere.
6. Most of the fluke reports, even from marinas in the eastern end of Long Island Sound are based on catches made “outside” the Sound, along the Rhody beaches, the south side of Fishers, or across “the pond” off Montauk Point. Most people are not fishing locally for fluke, despite the fact there are some fish around to catch. Hillyer's has been seeing the same 10-to-one, short-to-keeper ratio in Niantic Bay again this week. No doormats were brought into the scales since last week.
7. Everyone was talking blackfish since the Connecticut season opener on June 15. Hillyer's weighed in two 14-pound-plus monsters over the weekend. Both were caught from shore by anglers using green crabs. One came from the mouth of the Thames River, probably around the pilings some where in New London, the other from the Niantic area, probably between the bridges.
8. Striper fishing in the big rivers, such as the Connecticut and Thames River is starting to die out as water temperatures climb. There are schoolies to mid-sized bass present along with some bluefish in the lower reaches of both rivers. The fish are moving out of the river mouths and into the cooler waters around adjacent reefs and rock piles. This is causing pulses of action where a given area may be red-hot one day and dead the next.
9. The mid-Sound area, from the Connecticut River to New Haven seems to have some improved fluke catches. Blackfish fans were busy over the weekend, according to Captain Morgan’s of Madison. Southwest Reef and Cornfield Reef both produced some limits of quality fish. One boat said they did so well they were releasing anything under 6 pounds! Stripers of all sizes are in and around all the local reefs and rock piles between Madison and New Haven. No one reported catching any huge fish, but 20-pound or better bass are being caught consistently throughout this area. Water temperatures in the Sound are in the low to mid-60’s and the porgies are turning on. They are “BIG” again this year, according to “The Captain.”
10. To the west, Chris Fulton, owner of Stratford Bait and Tackle Stratford said they went from “famine to feast” this weekend. Fish of every species seemed to turn on in the waters around the Housatonic River and Charles Island. Chris said they had people weigh in quality catches of every species that could possibly be caught in the area, with the exception of weakfish. But even a few small weaks were reported early this week.
11. They weighed a 10-pound-plus fluke from New Haven, and two black seabass, both over 3 pounds that were caught by fluke drifters south of Charles Island. The bunker dunking crew of hard-core night-fishermen are consistently catching stripers up to about 30 pounds. These larger bass are being caught from deeper waters off Buoy 18, BH buoy, and Buoy 20. The key is bottom chunking with fresh bunker heads or if possible live bunker. There are small schools of big bunker spread throughout the area, with schools of big stripers feeding heavily on all of them. Where you find the bunker, there’s bass for sure. The key is finding the bait.
12. Slack tide produced three small weakfish to 20 inches for an angler who was drifting for fluke in the lower Housatonic near the breakwall. During high tide, that same breakwall produced a blackfish over 11 pounds! It all happened last weekend. The fishing is finally revving up in the western end of the Sound as the schools of adult menhaden that had been stalled in New York waters are finally moving eastward along the Connecticut coast.
13. The striper fishing is even better further to the west, in the waters from Stamford to Greenwich and in around the Norwalk Islands, where the largest concentrations of bunker are at the present time. Nick Massera of Fisherman’s World, Norwalk reports that the jumbo striped bass were all over Cockenoe Island as of mid-week. He weighed in a 38-pounder over the weekend that was caught in that area and they are consistently seeing and hearing of 20-pound-plus stripers coming in from this and other adjacent areas that are harboring schools of menhaden. The bigger bass are out in deeper waters around Buoy 11-B. Fish are being caught either by live-lining or chunking with pieces of freshly snagged bunker. Bluefish are all over the place and often coming up to the surface to blast poppers, in the mid-Sound area. A few are also filtering in along the shore and eating lures and baits intended for striped bass. The Norwalk Islands is holding some marauding schools of mid-sized bluefish, that like in other areas has occasional 10-pound-class fish mixed in. Fluking also improved in the western end of the Sound, though as usual, the best catches are coming from the north shore of Long Island, New York, around Eaton's Neck which produced two 10-pound doormats over the weekend. Porgies are beginning to feed and were being caught in 40 feet of water off of Cockenoe Island starting around Fathers Day. [On The Water, Bob Sampson, Jr.]
    

Rivers End B&T Shop 6/23/06

1. STRIPED BASS- With the exception of live baits, the night fishing has been a lot better in most places. The Race has had a good night bite this week with numbers but not much on sizes, Plum Gut has been slower on bass. The Watch Hill Reefs have also had good numbers and small sizes on most days with leadheads scoring better than surface lures.
   There are still a few good sized bass in the River with very little consistency to their behavior. The Causeway still had some good schoolie action lately with bass taking leadheads and poppers.
   Live bait fishing has been good at Long Sand Shoal and Hatchetts but not every spot every day. Theres been enough bunker to net at the Breakwater most dawns.
   
2. BLUEFISH- Diamond Jigs are producing at the Race, Plum Gut and Pigeon Rip. Millstone is still pretty consistent with choppers. The River has some on top along Great Island.
   
3. FLUKE- Its short. Its been pretty consistent that the short to keeper ratio is anywhere from 10 or 20 to one. A few doormats have come from Fishers and The RI South Shore, whats missing is the 2 to 4 pound fish.
   
4. PORGIES- They haven't taken a firm hold on the reefs yet. Theres some being caught at Hatchetts and Bartletts and some of the smaller local reefs. The sizes are good but the numbers aren't there yet.
   
5. BLACKFISH- We had some very good from Inner Southwest Reef, Black Point and Cornfield Point.
   
6. Rivers End Bait & Tackle Shop: This week we'll be open Monday through Friday from 6am to 7pm. Weekends from 4am to 6pm.

On the Water, 6/16/06

Best Bets for Connecticut and Rhode Island: The best bet this week looks like fluke fishing around Eaton's Neck in the west, along the south side of Fishers Island, or east along the south shore beaches of Rhode Island to Point Judith in the east. If big stripers are the target, find the menhaden. Start looking for giant bass between Beaver Tail and Sakonnet in Narragansett Bay, around the southwest corner of Block Island, or in the western end of Long Island Sound – wherever there are schools of adult bunker.

1. Fluke fishing seems to be improving with most shops reporting large numbers of shorts for every keeper, but that ratio is better than a week or two ago. Big stripers are moving through the region, with the best concentrations of jumbo fish in the 40-pound range being caught in Narragansett Bay, feeding on bunker schools and around the southwest corner of Block Island.
2. Fluke fishing seems to have improved along the beaches from Point Judith to Weekapaug. There have been a few larger fish in the 7- to 10-pound range being reported. The good news is the fact that some are saying the ratio of shorts to keepers is getting better. A couple of shops reported improvement from 10 shorts for each keeper, to as many as four or five to one since last week. Justin at Breachway Tackle weighed fish to 8 pounds this week. Captain Don’s weighed in a couple of 7.5- pound fluke this past week and also said the number of keeper fish seems to have improved since last week. These bigger fish were taken in 40 to 46 feet of water on jigs baited with squid, one on a black salty.
3. The south side of Fishers Island produced some better catches of fluke over the Father’s Day weekend as well. Captain Al Fee out of Shaffer’s had a fluke-fishing charter of anglers from Texas who seemed to catch mostly keepers, for a change. This crew quickly caught their 8-fish limit and went looking for some stripers. My daughter and I fished the south side of Fishers for about a half hour Sunday afternoon before the tide slacked and caught five fluke, one of which was a 21-inch keeper. A friend did about the same on Wednesday, so the ratio out here does appear to be improving as well. No matter where you drift for fluke, expect to cull through many shorts for every keeper fish. For this reason, don’t fish with “dead sticks” which usually mean gut-hooked fish. Hold the rod and set the hook as soon as a fish takes to minimize deep hooking of fish that are probably destined for release.
4. Blues are all over the place and becoming more numerous with each passing day, as this species completes its spawning activities offshore and begins to move in along the coast to feed. Most of the bluefish being reported are small fish, under 5 pounds, but there are some bigger fish to 10 pounds being caught as well. In my book a 2-pound blue is a pain in the neck, but a 10-pounder is always a thrill to do battle with.
5. Bill at King Cove Outfitters, Stonington said the reefs still have some squid on them and there are sand eels on the shoals off Napatree Point, with bass on them. Few stripers in the 30- to 40-inch range have been reported since the weekend, most of them were caught by trolling tube and worms. No monsters this week. The evening bite is the best in terms of bigger fish.
6. Reports of stripers in The Race have slowed a tad since last week. There are still fish in the 20- to 30-pound range out there to catch, especially after dark, but for some reason there wasn’t much talk coming from The Race or Sluiceway this past week. Same sort of silence from Bartlett Reef, Hatchet Reef and other small rock piles between Stonington and Niantic Bay. The Race has a good night bite all summer long for those who three-way live eels. As always there are some fish, mostly blues up to 10 pounds this week around the Millstone Outflow. It is a riled, busy spot that most anglers use as a last stop to catch a “deskunker” after a non-productive day elsewhere.
7. Most of the fluke reports, even from marinas in the eastern end of Long Island Sound are based on catches made “outside” the Sound, along the Rhody beaches, the south side of Fishers, or across “the pond” off Montauk Point. Most people are not fishing locally for fluke, despite the fact there are some fish around to catch. Hillyer's has been seeing the same 10-to-one, short-to-keeper ratio in Niantic Bay again this week. No doormats were brought into the scales since last week.
8. Everyone was talking blackfish since the Connecticut season opener on June 15. Hillyer's weighed in two 14-pound-plus monsters over the weekend. Both were caught from shore by anglers using green crabs. One came from the mouth of the Thames River, probably around the pilings some where in New London, the other from the Niantic area, probably between the bridges.
9. Striper fishing in the big rivers, such as the Connecticut and Thames River is starting to die out as water temperatures climb. There are schoolies to mid-sized bass present along with some bluefish in the lower reaches of both rivers. The fish are moving out of the river mouths and into the cooler waters around adjacent reefs and rock piles. This is causing pulses of action where a given area may be red-hot one day and dead the next.
10. The mid-Sound area, from the Connecticut River to New Haven seems to have some improved fluke catches. Blackfish fans were busy over the weekend, according to Captain Morgan’s of Madison. Southwest Reef and Cornfield Reef both produced some limits of quality fish. One boat said they did so well they were releasing anything under 6 pounds! Stripers of all sizes are in and around all the local reefs and rock piles between Madison and New Haven. No one reported catching any huge fish, but 20-pound or better bass are being caught consistently throughout this area. Water temperatures in the Sound are in the low to mid-60’s and the porgies are turning on. They are “BIG” again this year, according to “The Captain.”
11. To the west, Chris Fulton, owner of Stratford Bait and Tackle Stratford said they went from “famine to feast” this weekend. Fish of every species seemed to turn on in the waters around the Housatonic River and Charles Island. Chris said they had people weigh in quality catches of every species that could possibly be caught in the area, with the exception of weakfish. But even a few small weaks were reported early this week.
12. They weighed a 10-pound-plus fluke from New Haven, and two black seabass, both over 3 pounds that were caught by fluke drifters south of Charles Island. The bunker dunking crew of hard-core night-fishermen are consistently catching stripers up to about 30 pounds. These larger bass are being caught from deeper waters off Buoy 18, BH buoy, and Buoy 20. The key is bottom chunking with fresh bunker heads or if possible live bunker. There are small schools of big bunker spread throughout the area, with schools of big stripers feeding heavily on all of them. Where you find the bunker, there’s bass for sure. The key is finding the bait.
13. Slack tide produced three small weakfish to 20 inches for an angler who was drifting for fluke in the lower Housatonic near the breakwall. During high tide, that same breakwall produced a blackfish over 11 pounds! It all happened last weekend. The fishing is finally revving up in the western end of the Sound as the schools of adult menhaden that had been stalled in New York waters are finally moving eastward along the Connecticut coast.
14. The striper fishing is even better further to the west, in the waters from Stamford to Greenwich and in around the Norwalk Islands, where the largest concentrations of bunker are at the present time. Nick Massera of Fisherman’s World, Norwalk reports that the jumbo striped bass were all over Cockenoe Island as of mid-week. He weighed in a 38-pounder over the weekend that was caught in that area and they are consistently seeing and hearing of 20-pound-plus stripers coming in from this and other adjacent areas that are harboring schools of menhaden.
15. The bigger bass are out in deeper waters around Buoy 11-B. Fish are being caught either by live-lining or chunking with pieces of freshly snagged bunker. Bluefish are all over the place and often coming up to the surface to blast poppers, in the mid-Sound area. A few are also filtering in along the shore and eating lures and baits intended for striped bass.
16. The Norwalk Islands is holding some marauding schools of mid-sized bluefish, that like in other areas has occasional 10-pound-class fish mixed in.
    
17. Fluking also improved in the western end of the Sound, though as usual, the best catches are coming from the north shore of Long Island, New York, around Eaton's Neck which produced two 10-pound doormats over the weekend. Porgies are beginning to feed and were being caught in 40 feet of water off of Cockenoe Island starting around Fathers Day. [On the Water, Bob Sampson]
18. Technorati Tags: connecticut fishing reports "long island sound" stripers bass porgy fluke flounder freshwater "connecticut river"

Nor'east Mag W. Sound 6/12-18/06

1. The fishing is the western sound is as hot as the weather right now! We are still seeing scores of fish feeding their way through our area before heading to open water. The only thing that could put a damper on the bite is the hot weather forecasted for this coming week. Captain Steve from the Molly Roze is particularly worried about algae blooms. “If we get an algae bloom these fish will stop feeding and just move through our area undetected,” Steve said. In spite of all the “what if’s” Captain Steve has been doing very well on his night trips. “We had some great fishing every night last week except Wednesday, which wasn’t even that bad,” Steve joked. Stefford Carson had the biggest fish of the week at just over 34 pounds. The fish have been stacked up from Captain’s Island to Hempstead and they are moving daily with the schools of bunker. “We get some bait in the lights and start chumming, it doesn’t take long for the fish to find us,” Steve said. Steve Manaldo and Roy Carnall also had a great night with Steve; the pair limited out on bass to 29-pounds and also caught a load of bluefish. Steve also reported a pick up in the fluke bite off the local points. Steve is available the weekend of the Flukemania Smackdown, so give Steve a call to book your shot at $25,000!
2. Peter Cheng at Fisherman Depot also saw his share of bluefish this past week. “These are not your normal early season cocktail bluefish,” Peter joked. Peter was referring to bluefish that weighed in at 15 pounds and are turning live-lined bunker into chunks! The bass bite has seemed to slow during the day with the arrival of the bigger bluefish, but at night the bass are dominating. Peter saw bass to 30-pounds being taken on live bunker and fresh chunks. The fluke bite has been picky in the College Point area, but the porgies are picking up the slack. “Every little rock pile out there seems to be holding some nice scup,” Peter said.
3. Captain Dan from the Northstar II has been chasing porgies all over the western sound. “These are some of the biggest porgies I have seen in quite a while,” Dan joked. The bigger fish have been congregating in the Bayville area, but there are plenty of fish from Todd’s Point, 32A and most of the local points. Chumming has been key to holding fish to the boat, while clam and worm baits are doing a job on scup to 2.5 pounds. Captain Dan also had some good success off Rye’s rocky shoreline, so don’t think you have to travel too far for some fantastic porgy fishing!
4. John Knight at Hudson Park B&T gave a bittersweet report this week. John (and I happen to agree with him) thinks this might be the peak of the spring run. Once those 90-degree days get here and the water temperatures shoot up these fish that have been cool, fat and happy will be long gone. There are plenty of bluefish to fill the gaps for anglers, along with plenty of resident bass, but the main body of fish will head to open water. If you are heading out this week, John suggests focusing on the night bite, since the bluefish have been actively feeding during the day. The fluke bite has been picking up, with some quality fish showing off Matinecock, Bayville and off Hempstead. “Regardless of the weather, conditions and all other factors you have to get out and fish the bunker schools for big fish,” John suggests.
5. Captain Joe from Moontide Charters had another solid week of bassing in the western sound. Chunking in and around Hempstead anywhere from 30 to 60 feet has been Joe’s method of choice. This method produced bass to 28 pounds and more bluefish than Joe would care to remember. “There is plenty of action to be had right now, and if things slow down just throw some chum over in any moving water and the bluefish will be there in minutes,” Joe said. Another option is to find the bunker schools (which is sometimes easier said than done) and drift your chunks along with them. The bigger fish have been staging at the edges and underneath these schools just waiting for the opportunity for an easy meal. Bunker heads have worked particularly well in this scenario!
6. John at Jack’s B&T reported that the bass bite is about as good as it gets! Dave from the Skipjack has been limiting out daily on both the day and night trips with some very beefy bass. The bigger fish have been showing at night, but don’t let that stop you from heading out, if you have a window to fish just get out and do it! There are also tons of cocktail bluefish infesting the western sound. These fish really seem to enjoy surprising fluke fishermen by annihilating their baits! The bigger bluefish can be found harassing just about every bunker school in the sound. John also commented on the fluke bite and how the local points are starting to produce some very nice fish. Bayville has been the “go to” spot for jumbo porgies, but be sure to stock up on plenty of chum to entice the bite.
7. Captain Pat from the Shamrock IV is starting to see some bigger fluke on his sunset fluke trips. “The last couple of weeks it seemed like every fish was just shy of a keeper, then somebody flipped the switch,” Pat joked. These fish are not only bigger, but they are also aggressive when attacking the squid and spearing. Fluke are not the only fish attacking the baits; bluefish to 6 pounds, which make for a very interesting interruption in fluking, has surprised anglers. Pat’s boat is also available for private charters, so if you are looking for the perfect outing, you can look no further than the Shamrock IV!
8. Captain Rich from the Fishunter also had a very good week fishing the western sound. “The big bass are here and they are hungry,” Rich joked. It seems another wave of fish are making their way through the College Point area and into the western sound. The good news for Rich is that he is right there to intercept them. “We were out looking for some bunker schools when my screen lit up,” Rich said. To his surprise the screen wasn’t lit up with bunker, instead it was a big school of bass and bluefish. The bass and the blues seem to collaborate when working a bunker school making it a fisherman’s dream when there is an all out blitz!
9. BJ from the Sea Otter West was very happy with the results from this past week. “The bass bite is in full swing at night,” BJ said. The big fish of the week weighed in at 37 pounds, with plenty of fish in the 20’s. The fluke bite has been picky so BJ and Glenn are going to start running some extended fluke trips in search of bigger and better fish. This Saturday there will be a special extended trip that will leave the dock at 6 pm and return at 2 am in search of monster bass. For more details on these special trips give BJ a call at 516-456-7939.
10. Captain Chris from the Island Current Fleet had another great week on the water. Monday, Christine Berscoor and her group from Stew Leonard’s had a great outing for porgies, with most anglers leaving the boat with 10 to 25 fish each. Tuesday, John Burke from the FDNY had a banner day fluking off Bayville with fish to 4 pounds. Tuesday night, Pat Amandolla booked a bass charter, where he and his group did very well with a 32-pound fish taking the pool. Thursday, Mike Ogle had a phenomenal day fluke fishing off Prospect Point. Thursday night, it was all the bass and blues the boat could handle outside of Hempstead Harbor. Louis Rivera and Frankie Cabrerra booked Captain Chris and had a ball pounding away at the porgies in the morning and drifting up some very nice fluke off Prospect Point in the afternoon.
11. Captain Chris has tickets available for the 4th of July fireworks trip, so if you want a comfortable ride and a front row seat for a world class fireworks display give Chris a call at 917-417-7557! Technorati Tags: connecticut fishing reports "long island sound" stripers bass porgy fluke flounder freshwater "connecticut river"

Nor'east Mag W. CT 6/12-18/06

1. It’s hard to believe that the fishing season can get any better than it already is but amazingly that is the case. The striped bass keep coming in bigger and bigger. The blackfish season opened with a bang. Porgies are all in the 2.5-pound range. And the old reliable standby bluefish are just tearing rigs to shreds because for some reason the early migration of these fish are just huge. And yes, there are some fluke being taken too.
2. Along western Connecticut the news this week is about how big the bass are and what a historic run there has been of the monster fish. “Anybody who is looking for big fish right now they are there for the taking,” Jimmy Orefice of Jimmy O’s in Stratford said. “Now is the time to get out there because there are a lot of big bass all around. And they are eating up everything in sight. In the latest batch of bass we found that they are full of 3-inch fluke and whole squid.”
3. Well, that says it all. Now we know why these fish are like monsters and Jeff Cromwell confirmed it with his catch of a 29.9-pound striper that he took at Penfield Reef while
   fishing with a bunker head. Steve Monroe topped that with a 38-pound bass that was caught at the BH Buoy with a chunk of bunker, while Robin Monks fished the same location with the same bait for a 25-pound cow. Dan Johnson tried a change of pace and headed over to Sunken Island where he had non-stop action with bluefish while tossing poppers. Rich Cartwright also stayed away from the bass, landing his limit of fluk e
   to 3-pounds at Port Jefferson using a conventional fluke rig.
   
4. Chris Fulton of Stratford B&T in Stratford had a mixed bag of news starting with a 31 inch bass taken on a tube and worm while out trolling in the Housatonic River. Behind Charles Island where he limited out on fluke to 5.4 pounds and also caught a 3.2-pound sea bass while using a bucktail and squid. Short Beach where used bucktails and bunker storms for non-stop schoolie bass action.
5. At Some Things Fishy in West Haven, Mike D’Errico kept up the litany of tales about big bass and told of Phil Maddern taking a 23-pound, 39-inch striper while fishing with eels at the New Haven breakwall. Kenny Fantano was out with Mike Sirano trolling an umbrella
   rig around the 6-mile Reef where the duo battled with a 37-pound bass that they landed after a short fight.
   
6. And Ernie Holcomb opened the blackfish season in style by hammering them for his limit while fishing in Clinton Harbor with clams.
   
7. Mike Sheehy of Salty Dog B&T in West Haven told of the solid porgy production coming from the breakwall and that fluke are present between the wall and the harbor. He also said that there are plenty of blues all along the beaches and they are being taken with swimmers and poppers.
8. At Bobby J's in Milford Mike Malone fished the New Haven breakwall, where he caught 6.08-pound fluke that he took using a standard fluke rig. Ray Oliver continued the trend of big bass with a 25.36-pound striper that he caught at the 6-mile reef while using a 3-way rig baited with eel. He also caught nine other keeper bass. Bob Barnes caught a nice 4.45-pound sea bass at the New Haven breakwall with a fluke rig, and Linda Baldwin was surprised with a 5.43 weakfish at Buoy 12, where she was fishing for fluke with a standard rig.
9. At Ted's B&T in Bridgeport, Kevin Karchman told of James Chunky Max aiford's catch of a 7.45-pound bluefish that was taken on a mackerel chunk at Seaside Park, while Sam, Newman had all that he could handle plugging schoolie bass and blues at Penfield Reef.
10. Nick Massaro of Fisherman's World in Norwalk had news of Lonnie Preter catching an 18-pound bass on a bunker chunk at Cockonoe Island, while Mike Blackwell caught his first striper ever, a 35.8-pound fish that was taken in Stamford waters with a bunker chunk.
11. The brother team of Rob and Peter Mouerman chunked bunker in Bridgeport where they caught four bass
12. NorEast's own Dixon Downey chunked bunker at Greens Ledge and some of the humps with one run off. He then hit Norwalk for a 30-inch bass and a 29-inch keeper. These fish were just babies compared to the 40-inch, 23-pound bass that he picked up shortly thereafter. Rob Zahenski also fished Greens Ledge in the early morning hours chunked up over 10 bass, with four of them c oming in at over 20 pounds and four more slightly smaller. Zahensky also fished Greenwich Harbor for non-stop bluefish action with five bass to 25 pounds beating the choppers to the bait.
13. At Fish Tales in Stamford, a catch of a 39-inch, 35-pound bass that was taken after a 20-minute fight at Captains Island. Phil Caruso had no such problems, catching 20 bass to 31 pounds, while Joe Siedler took a 24-pound striper behind Captains Island with a bunker chunk. Egino Campos headed over to Gulf Beach where he caught a 26-pound striper. Doug Lee was out for two hours anchored up in 25 feet of water at the Cows where he picked up a 6-pound bluefish and a 26-inch striped bass. Charlie Dembofsky found small bunker pods off Shippan Point and after snagging a few he set up in 50 feet of water, landing one keeper bass and a small bluefish.
14. Pete Miller of Pete's Place in Stamford was all about the bass telling of Randy Sala catching six stripers to 32 inches with a 10-inch Fin-S fish in Greenwich, while Gary Feighery did the same with his fish measuring 22 to 24 inches, and Angelo Mazzolla netting a 38 and 36-inch bass while fishing at the Cows with bunker. Miller took a 36-inch bass on a
    bunker head in Norwalk, while Juan Moncsar fished from shore at Shippan Point where he caught a 42-inch bass on mackerel. Alex Mazzolla had a 35-inch bass that he caught in Hempstead with bunker and Guy Esposito continued to do well at IBM where he caught a 19-pound bass and 12 blues while fishing with mackerel. Mike Black had his charter out and yielded four bass, with the biggest fish weighing 36 pounds. He also caught 11 bluefish and three fluke, making the rounds from the Cows to mid sound. And Sal Gardella enjoyed a mixed bag of bluefish and schoolie bass while fishing with bunker at the Cows.
15. At Sportsman's Den in Greenwich, the word was that Gene Scallon caught a5-pound fluke and a 36-inch dogfish at Todds Point, while Chris McDonald, David Fix and his daughter, Abby Fox, used poppers to entice a bevy of bluefish into the boat at Hempstead.
    
16. Nor'east Magazine, Rob Calour]
    

Nor'east Mag E.CT 6/12-18/06

1. The blackfish season opened with a bang on the 15th of June! Many eastern Connecticut anglers found a lively tog bite at rock piles, pilings and reefs, especially in the Niantic area. A diver confirmed this visually and the weigh stations tallied up some impressive blackfish poundage. Porgies continue to filter into our waters, with some decent catches of scup on the reefs. Shore anglers had an occasional scup, but there is plenty of time to reach full strength for this fishery. Warmer weather and water temperatures also helped the fluke fishery, with doormats off Isabella Beach, and an improving short to keeper ratio at Long Sand Shoal. Accounts of striped bass fishing differed. Structure near the mouth of the Connecticut River delivered cow bass, everyone in the Niantic area had fish in the twenty pound class, the Race and the Gut may have slowed down over the weekend, while the Branford reefs held still fewer bass. With larger bait such as bunker still in the New Haven Harbor and porgies still spreading out on the reefs, the bass seemed to behave in a spring-like manner. Larger and more abundant bluefish in the Race is just the first sign of warmer water temperatures. The choppers may still be a ways from their summertime stranglehold on prime bass haunts, but their behavior reminds us of the window of opportunity for drifting live bait on the reefs for cow bass. It might make sense to anticipate the effect that this sudden change of weather will have on the fish in choosing a method or strategy.
   
2. Captain Brad Glas of the Hel-Cat II charter boat, 860-535-2066, reported, “Great fishing all week, with a bit of a slow down over the weekend.” The timing of the tides or the heavy weekend boat traffic explained the less enthusiastic weekend bite. The catch consisted of the full spectrum of bluefish sizes. The bluefish bite remained consistent through the week. Plenty of keeper sized striped bass also came over the rails, which outnumbered short fish. The shorts outnumbered keepers on only one outing. Dave Coons of Sheffield, Massachusetts earned the fish of the week award for his 20-pound striper, which entitles him to a free trip. The Hel-Cat II will continue to sail their banker’s hours special daily from 9 AM to 3 PM for the rest of the summer.
   
3. Joey of Dee’s Bait and Tackle said, “The porgies are in pretty good around Falkners.” The scup appear to be working their way into the Branford area, and perhaps not yet reaching the New Haven Harbor. Six Mile Reef delivered the largest scup. Unlike the porgies, there were plenty of blackfish in the New Haven Harbor on the break walls, with slower action on the reefs. Tony Cachase landed four blackfish between 4 and 6 pounds at the breakwater, and a 12.9-pound weakfish on a bunker chunk!
   
4. Weakfish may be on the move to deeper water as the harbor area usually peaks in early June. Copious amounts of bait such as bunker attracted bluefish and striped bass to the New Haven Harbor, as bass anglers worked hard for a few keepers weighing 15 to 20 pounds at Southwest Reef. The Quinnipiac River also bustled with bunker and shore anglers found bass and bluefish on the feed, with an occasional fluke. Many of the early fluke arrivals run right up into the rivers in search of an easy meal. Try a mummy or a squid strip in the Quinnipiac River near the I-95 bridge.
5.  Captain Morgan of Captain Morgan’s Bait and Tackle attributes the sudden increase in bluefish size to warmer water temperatures in the Madison, Guilford area. Bluefish in the ten-pound class roamed the areas shores. Warmer water temperatures might also explain the improved size and short to keeper ratio for fluke. You might have to sort through five or six fluke for a keeper off of Hammonassett State Park or Falkners Island, versus eight fluke for one keeper a couple of weeks ago. The timing could be perfect for the upcoming Flukemania Smackdown on July 15th and 16th. The recent worm hatch may have inspired the activeness of striped bass on both tides near Branford. Southwest Reef, Six Mile Reef and Falkners Island proved very productive for stripers in the low twenty-pound range. A few obese bass in the high thirty and low forty-pound class sporadically mixed in with the catch, keeping things interesting. The bass seemed to be attracted to areas burgeoning with porgies. Skates and sea robins rounded out the menu. Blackfish season opened with mixed reviews, which is partially due to the unsettled weather. As things settle down, look for more blackfish holding on the reefs. The same theory applies to black seabass.
6.  Ed of Rivers End Tackle noted that it’s the time of year that the striped bass come out of the rivers. Action at Plum Gut slowed down the last few nights but held up during the day on drifted bucktails. The Race produced fewer hook-ups on bucktails and better results for bait drifters. Tube and worm practitioners did well with medium sized bass measuring between 30 and 32 inches at Hatchett Reef. The Watch Hill reefs are holding nice bass. Fair to good bluefish action with fish in the 5 to 10-pound range existed in the river mouths, Plum Gut, Pigeon Rip and the Millstone discharge. Fluking at the river mouths produced mostly shorts. Misquamicut took the prize for the fluke hot-spot.
   
7. Carl of Ted’s Bait and Tackle said, “It was a great week of fishing, but it depends what you were fishing for.” Near the mouth of the Connecticut River at places such as Cornfield Point, Long Sand Shoal and even Hatchett Reef, striped bass in the high thirty to low forty-pound range hit live bait all week long.
   
8. The Ernit charter boat weighed in a 45-pound striped bass caught on fresh bunker on a pleasure cruise. Junior anglers fought bass up to 38 inches from the DEP dock on tubed-sandworms, a unique technique. Bartlett Reef hosted some scup. Blackfish season opened with a bang at all the major reefs and rock piles such as Bartlett, Hatchett, Cornfield Point, and Hen and Chickens. The togs aggressively slurped down sandworms in particular. Hermit crabs were a second preference and green crabs were the third choice. This diet could be explained by soft mouths devoid of hard molars, but that is a subject of much debate.
   
9. One thing is for sure, the Old Troll charter boat limited out so quickly on 4 to 5-pound blackfish Friday that they had to come back in for eels to finish the charter with bass. The blackfish opener overshadowed the fluke scene, as fluke anglers waited for warmer water temperatures. The good weather marked an end to the waiting game. Jack of Jack’s Shoreline Bait and Tackle said that, “The blackfishing is just excellent!” Most appetizing to togs were sandworms, with green crabs a close second choice. Although fluke fishing is picking up, short fish far outnumber keepers at Long Sand Shoal. Striped bass fishing slowed down a bit during the week, but still can be described as good. Porgy fishing picked up at Cranes Reef in particular. Six Mile Reef also gave up scup.
   Richard of Hillyers Tackle Shop announced 14.8-pound blackfish caught from shore near the railroad bridge in Niantic! Tautog infiltrated nearly every hospitable rock pile, piling or reef and anglers achieved limits with ease. Niantic shore fishing also boasted at least three bass measuring near 40 inches, caught off the beach near the boardwalk. Schoolies also tugged lines in the area. Fluke fishing is still a case of prospecting for a keeper. At each dusk and dawn, more and more hickory shad can be found in the Niantic River. Party boats in the Race found success with the bass, and a nice mess of bluefish. Al of Mackeys Bait and Tackle noted that the legal size for lobster will increase to 3.625 inches on July 1st.
   
10. Al got a look of the 14.81-pound blackfish caught in the Niantic area, which seemed to sum up the state of the fishery. The Niantic Bay produced decent porgy action with scup to 17 inches, as well as blackfish. It seemed like nearly everyone you spoke with had landed a 20-pound bass during the week. Almost as common were 4 to 7-pound fluke off Isabella Beach.
    
11. Henry of Hammonassett Tackle Company said, “It’s kind of slow here for bass and blues.” Bluefish strengthened their grip on the reefs, however. Shore anglers managed schoolies and an occasional keeper from the shores of Hammonassett State Park, “Nothing special.” Two locally caught 9-pound blackfish were weighed yesterday. Just this morning, a shore angler reeled in a 19-inch fluke. “It’s starting to get active, nothing crazy, but everyone is catching fish.”
12. Nor'east Saltwater, Eastern Connecticut, by Dixon Downey Week of 6/12 to 18

Technorati Tags: connecticut fishing porgy blackfish connecticut river long sand shoal eastern connecticut

Danbury Times, 6/18/06

1. Striped bass remain the main attraction in coastal waters for now, with big fish dominating the action on the major reefs and rip areas out in the Sound.
2. Schoolies are abundant and willing in the larger tidal rivers. Prime spots for the big girls include the reefs and rock piles off Watch Hill and the Race, as well as the Norwalk Islands and the Cows off Stamford. Live lining hickory shad and drifting eels the tactics providing the best shot at a real cow, but there have been a number taken on artificials — primarily large plastics like the 9” Slug-Go — as well.
3. School striper spots include much of the Connecticut River (best fishing at the moment is toward the mouth), New Haven, Milford and Norwalk harbors and the Housatonic River at spots ranging from the Devon power plant to the Derby Dam. Smaller soft plastics and surface plugs are working great when the schoolies are chasing baitfish on or near the surface, while trolled “tube and worm” rigs are the bread and butter presentation when the fish aren’t making their presence so easily known.
4. Blues are around too, but with the attention being devoted to stripers, the blues are more a nuisance for most anglers at this time than a target. If you’re of a mind to chase them, the list of laces to go for larger bass includes most of the best bluefish spots as well. To make your offering more species specific for the blues, try using more flash. Shiny Hopkins Spoons and the like will usually catch more blues than bass, although there are plenty of times that it seems they’ll slash their teeth through most anything you throw for stripers, shiny or not.
5. There are still bass on the beds here and there, but for the most part, largemouth fishing has moved into the heaviest grass, and smallies are beginning to move off shore. Early morning surface fishing off the ends of long points and submerged humps in Candlewood and Squantz should be a great way to target smallmouth for the next couple of weeks, while a Texas rigged creature bait flipped into the thickest vegetation should be prime for their largemouth cousins.
6. We haven’t heard anything of the start yet of a an early summer trout bite with jigs (Candlewood’s notorious “June Moon Marabou bite”), and that may be because the water turned suddenly cooler a couple weeks back, after reaching the low 70s, which usually triggers that bite to start. Or it might be that the anglers who’ve found them biting are keeping the news to themselves as long as possible. Either way, with the weather that’s predicted for this weekend, that bite should turn on now, if it’s ever going to.
7. Squantz Pond’s walleye have apparently moved into summertime patterns already, which means that night and very early morning fishing with live alewives fished close to bottom is the way to catch them. The problem is finding the right depth. Some nights they seem anxious to feed as shallow as possible, other nights you’ve got to move out to 15 to 20 feet of water to make contact. [Danbury Times, Rich Zaleski]

The Day, 6/16/06

1. Finally, a spell of settled weather that allowed small boaters some comfortable time on the water. Fluking improved since last report but there are still a lot of shorts around for every keeper or doormat.
2. Bass catches in The Race in the day were good one tide and poor the next. And, the live bait sharpies found a source of bunker and turned those into some jumbo bass in the mornings on the Watch Hill Reefs.
3. Al Golinski of Misquamicut fished on Monday with Bruce Vass and Pat Matlo, both of Meriden, for bass of 42 and 48 pounds on live bunker then went down the beach for fluke to 7.8 pounds, his best trip this year. On Thursday morning they managed to find a few baits then turned those into three bass from the mid-30s to one just over 40 pounds, also on the Watch Hill Reefs.
4. Capt. Don's in Charlestown reported the surf people landed school bass from the breachway rocks at certain stages of the tide, mainly after dark. One local three-wayed an eel at Southwest Ledge for a 49-pound striper while others used lures and flies on the Watch Hill Reefs for small and medium bass and some small bluefish.
5. Fluking has improved over last week's poor weather but you must work your way through X number of shorts for every keeper that goes in the cooler from the Pink House east past Green Hill. Fly rodders, wading ands casting in Quonny Pond, were very happy with lots of hickory shad and small stripers, primarily at dusk and first thing in the morning.
6. Striper fishing is still good at Block Island, said Capt. Al Anderson. He fished the North Rip in the evenings with fly-rod charters, catching 61 fish total in two trips from roughly 6-9 p.m. each time out, all on the flood tide. People trying for a big bass with live eels were mad about all the dogfish taking the baits drifted out in deep water from Clay Head over to Black Rock. Al noted it will soon be time for sharking out in the Fingers.
7. King Cove in Stonington put on a Kayak Fishing Tournament over the windy weekend. All entrants put up with the stiff wind to bring in bass up to 20 pounds, the winning fish. Best fluke of the week was an 11-pounder by Miss Davies from Groton on Sunday. Others had more keepers and also more fish in the 5-pound range. Casters continue to get smaller bass from the Watch Hill reefs and live baiters, the bigger bass in the morning.
8. Moving on to Mystic, I spoke with Cheryl at Shaffers Marina who said Glen Davis of Groton land fluke of 7, 7, 8 and 11 pounds from an undisclosed location on Sunday. Bill Ambot of Hebron from at Misquamicut on Monday for four keepers plus shorts plus two 8-pound bluefish that grabbed his fluke rigs.
9. Team Dixie from Noank was out with a live bunker on Saturday and brought back a 43-pound striper. A few of the smaller boaters got bass from The Race in the middle of the day just as the tide eased then turned. So far there hasn't been any number of porgies caught from all the usual spots in Fishers Island Sound.
10. Fish Connection in Preston said the ratio of shorts to keeper fluke remains about 10-to-1 but more people got out over the week thanks to more summer-like weather. Casting lures and flies on the Watch Hill Reefs and diamond jigging on the slower parts of the tide in The Race produced small and medium stripers and some bluefish. One day the jiggers found themselves hooked up to 10 to 13-pound blues in The Race but those were gone the next time out. Last bit of news was one steady customer who missed a nice bass in the cove at Brookside along the Thames on a live eel on Thursday morning.
11. Stephanie Cramer fished in the Salt Pond at Point Judith with Bill Krueger with fly tackle and landed and released 50 small stripers. Last Sunday she joined a group of fly fishing enthusiasts at Quonny Pond, catching bass in a strong northwest wind on 8 and 9 WT rods with an 11-weight line. Her last trip was with Capt Al Anderson in the North Rip on Monday evening. Along with Dennis Kelly they boated 31 bass to 31 inches on a 12-weight rods and squid flies she tied up.
12. We are sailing daily now said Capt. Brad Glas of the Hel-Cat, with a good catch of medium blues and some keeper stripers. Sunday's catch was somewhat less than Saturday due to a wind and tide conditions. On Monday, however, they recorded an excellent numbers of blues and more keeper bass. He also noted Steffan Danz, one of the mates, is now the proud father of a new baby girl, Victoria, weighing in a 9.92 pounds and 21inches long, a keeper.
13. Richard at Hillyers Tackle had news about bass of 22 and 25 pounds caught on chunk herring fished from the beach on the west side of the Niantic Railroad Bridge by Mike Carroll on Monday. Geoffrey Gratton and friend launched their boat in the wee hours yesterday behind the store then returned around sunrise with bass of 25 and 41.8 pounds, method and location kept a secret. Blues are around some days at Millstone and also along the shore but not in very steady numbers.
14. Capt. Kyle at J&B Tackle said their charter boat is finding good bass action in The Race one tide and poor the next trip, the catching done with bucktails or Butterfly jigs. No one came in to date with a single report of any sharks hooked up wither south of Montauk or Block Island. On Saturday they held their Inshore Tournament in all the wind. Winning fish was a 9-pound fluke from the south side of Fishers Island. That was followed in second place by an 8-pounder and a couple others down to 5 pounds. One of the bigger boats came back from the Dip with a report of 12 bluefin tuna to 49 inches caught both trolling and chunking.
15. Sherwood Lincoln of East Lyme took out Bill Sisson, editor of Soundings and this writer on the Monday evening flood tide for 11 bass to 22 pounds and six blues, caught both diamond jigging in The Race and casting around Fishers Island with plastic worms and live eels. He also reported the sea bass catches in the eastern Sound and the wrecks and rockpiles off Rhode Island are very poor just yet. [Tim Coleman, The Day]

Night Fishing In Connecticut

1. Night fishing — The state is blessed with plenty of after-sunset fishing options. Nighttime often produces the biggest fish.
2. One of the most intriguing night fisheries is the kokanee salmon action at West Hill Pond in New Hartford. Anglers hang lanterns over the sides of boats just above the water to attract zooplankton — the kokanee's favorite food. Below the lanterns, the salmon will bite on small baits, mealworms and bead jigs. The pond also appeals to anglers because of its strict horsepower limit and 6 mph nighttime speed limit. Salmoners in canoes and rowboats can fish this lake very comfortably.
3. Over the past decade, the state Department of Environmental Protection has actively worked to establish walleye fisheries at Squantz Pond, Lake Saltonstall, Gardner Lake, Batterson Park Pond, Coventry Lake, Lake Housatonic, Mashapaug Lake and Saugatuck Reservoir. For crowd-adverse anglers, the better walleye fishing occurs around sunset at all the above lakes except Lake Saltonstall and the Saugatuck Reservoir. Night fishing is not allowed at these two lakes. But since the two lakes are both privately owned, fishing during the day is still quite peaceful.
4. On Long Island Sound, the biggest striped bass seem to get caught during the evening and night hours depending on the tide schedule. Ideally, bass anglers want to fish the two hours before or after high tide when it occurs between midnight and dawn. Anglers with boats have little trouble finding good bass fishing areas, like the offshore reefs and mainland points. Shore-bound anglers must search for public areas open after dark. Penfield Reef, Bonds Dock, the West Haven fishing jetties and Hammonasset Beach State Park are a few good striper spots available for night fishing. [Connecticut Post, Frank McKane, Jr.]

CT DEP Weekly Fishing Reports 6/14/06

1. TROUT: RIVERS & STREAMS - Fishing in Connecticut trout streams is improving as the water levels have generally returned to more fishable levels, with reports from the Mianus, Farmington, Housatonic (last 2-3 days due to diminishing flows), Pootatuck, Rippowam, Saugatuck, Norwalk, Pomperaug, Blackberry, Scantic, Eightmile, Quinebaug and Willimantic Rivers, Coppermine Brook, Leadmine Brook and Salmon Brook (Granby). With abundant flows and moderate temperatures, anglers can expect very good trout fishing to be with us well into the summer. Bait fisherman are finding corn/mealworm combination the most productive.
2. Farmington River water temperatures remain in the mid 50’s °F. West Branch flows are clear and very fishable, about 250 cfs at Riverton. The Still River is currently providing an additional 270 cfs, but should drop by the weekend. March Brown nymphs (#10-14), Isonychia (#10, evening), Gray Fox (#14, afternoon), Sulphurs (#16, afternoon to early evening for spinners), Caddis (tan #16, all day; green #22-26, evening), Midges (#22-32, morning) and Pale Evening Duns (Epeorus vitreus #14-16, afternoon & early evenings) are successful patterns.
3. Housatonic River- Water temperatures are in the low to mid 60’s °F. Flows are clearing and continue to drop (currently 1,250 cfs at Falls Village and 2,050 at Gaylordsville, call NGS at 1-888-417-4837 for updated flow information. Barring heavy precipitation the river should be quite fishable for the weekend. Current patterns include Alder Caddis (#10-12, afternoon-evening near overhangs), Green/Brown Drakes (#8-12), Sulphurs (#14-16, evening), Blue Wing Olive (#18-22, early morning), Isonychia (#12-14 evening), Cahill (#12-14, evening), Adams (#12-14, evening), March Brown (#10-12), Gray Foxes (#14-16) and Green caddis (#14-16, early morning & evening). Midges and stoneflies are located at the mouths of streams. Streamers are catching some large fish.
4. LAKES & PONDS – Many of our lakes are still producing good fishing with reports from Compensating Reservoir (20” rainbow), Colebrook Reservoir, Lake Saltonstall, Wonoscopomuc Lake (23” brown), East Twin Lake (20” brown), West Hill Pond (browns to 18”), and Crystal (22” rainbow), Mashapaug (brown 24”) and Highland (20 fish for one angler).
5. LARGEMOUTH BASS fishing is reported as very good. Areas to try include Lakes Zoar, Stibbs, McDonough, Winnemaug, Lillinonah and Wonoscopomuc, Highland, Candlewood, Coventry, East Twin, Red Cedar, Quonnipaug (6.75 lb bass), Cedar, Bashan, Congamond, Kenosia, Silver, Rogers and Gardner Lakes, Moodus Reservoir, Scoville Reservoir, and Beach (including a 5.b lb bass), Morey and Batterson Park Ponds. Reports from Lake Saltonstall indicate slow bass fishing, but catches do include a 6 lb bass.
6. SMALLMOUTH BASS action reported at Scoville Reservoir, Compensating Reservoir (4.5 lb smallie), Lake Lillinonah, Lake McDonough, Candlewood (many 4+ lb fish), Highland, Coventry, East Twin, Bashan and Gardner Lakes, West Hill Pond, and the Housatonic and Shetucket Rivers.
7. NORTHERN PIKE fishing is reported to be good at Pachaug Pond.
8. KOKANEE SALMON, try West Hill Pond at 5 colors of lead line.
9. WALLEYE are being reported from Squantz Pond (5.45 lb walleye), Coventry Lake and Lake Saltonstall (fair, catches include 7.7 lb, 6.6 lb and 5.4 lb walleye).
10. CALICO BASS action is reported in Silver Lake, Stillwater Pond and Park Pond.
11. CONNECTICUT RIVER – STRIPED BASS numbers in the river are starting to drop. Cooler water temperatures and muddy waters are slowing the catch but school size fish and adults (Windsor/Windsor Locks) are still being caught. Surface poppers and soft plastics are providing some exciting action under clear water conditions while trolling tube and worm work best in stained water.
12. NORTHERN PIKE are reported in Wethersfield Cove, Haddam Meadows and downstream from Hartford to Haddam.
13. CATFISH (9-10 lbs) are being taken in the Cromwell/Haddam area on frozen herring and cut/chunk bait.
14. REMINDER TO ANGLERS- The only areas open to fishing for Atlantic salmon are the Naugatuck, Shetucket, and Housatonic Rivers (these salmon are expected to be the stocked broodstock Salmon). Atlantic salmon caught in any other rivers and streams (especially the Connecticut River drainage) are wild Atlantic salmon and should be released immediately with as little handling as possible.
15. STRIPED BASS fishing on the major reefs and rip areas is good for cow bass. Striper spots include the reefs off Watch Hill, the Race, Bartlett Reef, Long Sand Shoal, Sixmile Reef, Stratford Point area, Norwalk Islands, and the Cows off Stamford. School striper spots include the Pawcatuck River, lower Mystic River, Thames River, Niantic River, Connecticut River by Great Island, Sandy Point area in New Haven Harbor, Milford Harbor, Housatonic River from the Devon power plant to the Derby Dam, and Norwalk Harbor.
16. HICKORY SHAD can also be found in the Niantic River.
17. SUMMER FLOUNDER fishing is good in Fishers Island Sound, Black Point and Niantic Bay, Westbrook-Clinton area, off the New Haven Harbor breakwaters, and the Milford area to the mouth of the Housatonic River. Other fluke spots include Montauk Point, south side of Fishers Island, Horton Point, Mattituck Inlet, and Port Jefferson.
18. BLUEFISH fishing is fair to good in the Race, Plum Gut and off Millstone Point, Sixmile Reef off Clinton, New Haven Harbor, the Milford-Charles Island area to the mouth of the Housatonic River and off the Norwalk Islands.