The Day 6/2/06

1. The weekend bass catches in The Race were good on the morning ebbs and poor on the flood tide in the p.m. The biggest fish were around 20 pounds. Fluking is slow keeper-wise with perhaps a few more in Two Tree Channel than other local spots.
2. A group from Niantic made a run to Block Canyon since last report, catching 24 bluefin from 30-80 pounds, both trolling small lures and chains before dark then with live squid and Butterfly jigs after dark.
3. Don at King Cove in Stonington said the Watch Hill Reefs are loaded with bass up into the low 20s, feeding on lots of squid. There are opportunities for casters in the early morning and those trolling the tube and worm.
4. Flukers complained about more and more and more short fish, with scant few keepers. Shore anglers at the Monsanto jetty and the Lambert's Cove Bridge caught schoolies on small lures and bait on the bottom. Retired commercial fisherman Capt. Joe Rendeiro of Stonington caught school bass in his boat not far from Sandy Point.
5. Al Golinski of Misquamicut got out Monday with his wife Emme, catching a total of 25 fluke with eight keepers on bucktails and stinger hooks with whole squid plus a teaser fly 12 inches above that. The fluke, though on the smaller side, were aggressive; one chased the rig up just below the boat where it grabbed the fly and ended up in the cooler.
6. Capt. Don's in Charlestown said they weighed in a 35.8-pound bass yesterday morning, caught on live shad just off the Quonny Breachway. Lots of shad and school bass were around the end of the breachway at that time, the former possibly drawing the sharpies looking for bait for jumbo stripers. Fluking in best in 40 to 50 feet off both Green Hill and Misquamicut but expect lots more shorts than keepers.
7. Capt. Al Anderson made four trips, both day and night, to Block Island from Saturday through Monday, landing 126 bass from 27-42 inches, trolling parachute jigs and plugs from the North Rip down the west side to the Hooter Buoy. At times they had fish up on top under birds, at other times all was quiet on the surface with bass eagerly taking the lures down deep. The fish had a mix of scup and small sand eels in them when the keepers were cleaned.
8. Shaffers Marina in Mystic is seeing more keeper fluke now along with reports of plenty of shorts. Larry Strickland and Sean Ross had a 4-pounder at Misquamicut on Wednesday. Another boat came back from the same general area on Sunday with three keepers out of a total of 20 fish. Bob Ranck stayed closer to home, ending up with three keepers in his cooler from White Rock.
9. Shore anglers had a few hickory shad from the docks below the Route 1 bridge and a couple throwback fluke from the Causeway Bridge. Casters might check out the Watch Hill Reefs early in the day for bass chasing bait on top. Kevin Ray and Dave Enos tried Sugar Reef on their last trip, returning with one keeper bass and a couple blues.
10. Fish Connection in Preston reported some larger stripers caught last week off the Mohegan Sun in the Thames River and also the number one can off Little Gull Island. Blues have been in and out of Plum Gut, hitting diamond jigs and bucktails meant for bass. Peconic Bay —at this time — still offers best chance for greatest number of keeper fluke versus our local waters.
11. The Watch Hill Reefs are loaded with smaller bass with some also caught around Ellis Reef. Porgy season opened in state waters but few were landed as of press time.
12. Stephanie Cramer sent in her regular e-mail about schoolies along the upper Thames, wading and casting in the evenings along with a 20-inch striper that put up a spirited battle on her fly rod. Lots of chunkers lined the east bank of the river, catching little or nothing.
13. Capt. Howard Beers, retired charter boat captain, was minding the store at Hillyers when I called. He said you might get a few keeper fluke mixed in with shorts in 50-60 feet due south of Millstone. The local pros are still getting keepers out of The Race on a steady basis. Blues moved in and out of the hot water at Millstone, hitting plugs one day, gone the next. Winter flounder season closed but it was the best spring fishing in a few years.
14. Sherwood Lincoln of East Lyme has his boat in the water and fishing on the better days. You can find fluke off Millstone but only one in 10 might be big enough to keep. The porgies have NOT yet moved in but bass catches for the steadies are good in The Race on the ebb tides and the inside reefs.
15. Pat Abate at River's End in Old Saybrook noted some of his regular bass hunters had good scores at Valiant on some night trips. Casters tossing popping plugs in the lower Connecticut River around rockpiles on the channel edges had bass from 24-40 inches but also lots of looks and follows for every one fish hooked.
16. You might get a keeper fluke at Niantic but nothing showed up so far right in the river itself, a spot very popular on the weekdays with small boaters who either can't go into the Sound because of wind and seas or that just want to save a buck on fuel. [Tim Coleman is The Day's saltwater fishing columnist]