On The Water 6/1/06

Best Bets for Connecticut and Rhode Island: Best bet this week will be fluke anywhere from Point Judith to Montauk Point and into the Sound as far as Niantic, along with the north shore of Long Island. Stripers will be feeding anywhere there are still some squid or chasing the schools of adult bunker that have moved into the region in higher abundance than this writer has observed in a couple of decades.

1. Fishing reports indicate a slight slow down in some areas this past weekend, with improving fluke and striper catches as the week has progressed. The porgy season opens today in Connecticut. No one has been talking about these fish being that the season has been closed, and there has not been much complaining about interference from these fish from fluke and tube-and-worm striper fishermen – yet. But that’s only a matter of time with the number of “hump backs” that were around last year.
2. Don at King Cove Outfitters, Stonington said the reefs have been top-shelf lately. Squid are all over the reefs with bass slurping them on top, especially early and later in the day. Fish up to 40 pounds have been reported from the reefs to Wilderness Point, where that 40-pounder was caught by an angler who was casting leadheads. Fluke fishing is excellent, with tons of shorts in the catches of everyone.
   
3. Cheryl Fee of Shaffer’s Marina, Mystic said that they were seeing lots of fluke caught but not many keepers. Most of her customers make the run from Mystic to the South Shore Beaches or the south side of Fishers Island. She said the average reported by anglers has been about three keeper fluke out of every 20 or so caught, but the fish being caught are good sized. Misquamicut and Isabella have been the two places people are talking about specifically. There were four keepers caught off from White Rock, Stonington but no one has been concentrating in the Mystic River so far. They weighed a 4-pounder from Misquamicut that was brought in by Larry Strickland and Sean Ross who fished hard on Wednesday for this single keeper from a day’s catch. There are still lots of squid around based on fat bellies of big, fat, squid-slurping stripers that are being gutted at the cleaning station at the marina. The fish are healthy and eating well. Porgy season opens June 1. None are harassing the fluke meisters at this point in the season, but it won’t be long!
4. Rennie of The Fish Connection, Preston on the Thames said that they have been hearing about large numbers of small schoolies from the Thames River, with some bluefish being mixed in with the catches made in the lower river. Avery Point is producing some larger stripers and there were still some bigger fish at the Greenville Dam chasing shad. There are some adult bunker in the Thames which surely have some bigger stripers chasing them, but no one came in to talk about it this week.
   
5. Freshwater bass fishing has picked up lately, because most of the bass are finally done spawning. The rains and temperature drops caused these fish to leave their beds a number of times earlier in May, which could mean a poor spawning season for largemouth bass in the region. Trout fishing has been good due to the Memorial Day stockings, by the DEP, which will be the last for the spring season. A few anglers are making some decent catches of calico bass (black crappie) from Aspinook Pond, Pachaug, and Hopeville and other area lakes and ponds, but no real specific reports.
6. Bob at Hillyer’s Bait and Tackle, Waterford said that fluke fishing is improving in the bay. Matt caught four keepers out of the eight fish total he caught on his day off Tuesday while fishing in Niantic Bay. Bass action has slowed a tad. One angler caught a 45-incher on a Zara Spook off the lower Connecticut River earlier this week. There are some scattered bluefish here and there with a few larger fish in the Connecticut River mouth and off Millstone.
   
7. The Race slowed down since last weeks report but those who fish it right continue to take stripers of 30 pounds or so on a regular basis. I personally talked to two people who fished The Race over the weekend, but didn’t do well.
8. Maybe it was the calm, bright sun and high pressure that slowed things on Sunday, because I made a run myself and was disappointed. We fished around Fishers Island and only managed one 34-incher and eight bass under 22 inches tube-and-worming. The disappointment for me was the fact that when we checked out Sugar Reef and vicinity Sunday morning, nothing much was happening during the flood tide. Maybe we hit tides wrong, but it was not looking like the hot bed of activity that has been reported so far this week. But that’s how it can be this time of year. Fish and bait move in pulses, hit a hole and it can be frustrating.
9. ”Q” of River’s End Tackle, Saybrook said the mouth of the Connecticut River is on fire with bigger fish, many of which are in the 30- to 40-inch range. Big Slug-Gos and Danny Plugs are the hot items. I’d try tossing a Salmo Fatso or Skinner into these waters as well. Early in the morning or evening under low light conditions and if possible during the ebb tide is the key to success on stripers in the Connecticut River this time of year. Not much news from Hatchets and Bartlett reefs lately. “Q” said that The Race and Plum Gut are still producing some fish, but he also heard that The Race had slowed down a tad.
10. Captain John Planeta owner of Franks Tackle, Marlborough said the Connecticut River flows have slowed enough to allow some decent fishing to take place for the first time in about two weeks. One angler caught 15 fish to 44 inches by trolling tube and worm and casting poppers in the middle reaches of the river on Friday. He caught the big fish on a popper, which had to be a thrill. Salmon River was hot for rainbows to about 4 pounds over the weekend and into this week as a result of the Memorial Day stockings.
11. Captain Jerry Morgan of Captain Morgan’s Tackle, Madison. Sunday fishing was slow, due to the sun and high pressure but the fishing action has kicked back up again since that lull (that I managed to hit dead center). The fish coming in are full of anything from butterfish to squid in their bellies. There are some bluefish around. Skate, scup, shark and searobins are also being caught. Fluke action is so-so in the Madison area, with like everywhere else, mostly shorts in the catches. Greenport and Mattituck produced keepers over the weekend but locally it’s been slow.
12. Chris Fulton owner of Stratford Bait and Tackle, Stratford said that there’s lots of adult bunker around, but surprisingly not many stripers feeding on them. Anglers who are fishing with live bunker are taking a few bass to about 15 or 20 pounds. Artificials, soft plastics and plugs are not producing very well. One angler hit The Race on Sunday and caught a 29-pounder three-waying eels down deep that made the shops “leader board.”
13. The Derby Dam has slowed down since the rains. Fluke fishing has been slow as well. One angler caught 38 shorts that were about an inch under and only a couple of keepers out of the lot. There were three 4- to 5-pound weakfish caught off West Haven one evening. The catches made the web and the next night there were tons of anglers there, but no reports on how they did on the following day.
14. Nick at Fisherman’s World, Norwalk at Liberty Square, East Norwalk reports that some larger stripers have been caught in the Greenwich area for the past few days. Anglers are taking 5 to 6 fish in the 40-inch range and blues to 13 pounds in 40 to 50 feet under bunker schools that have moved into this area from New York waters. Wednesday morning they weighed in a 39-pounder that was caught somewhere around the Norwalk Islands.
    
15. Green’s Ledge produced a 12-pound fluke to an angler who was chunking with bunker for striped bass. There are tons of schoolie bass are all over the place along the shore and in the islands to catch. But recently some bigger fish have moved in to the shallows where surf-fishermen are hooking up. Nick said that anglers fishing from shore are loosing fish they can’t turn. Most of the big stuff is being hooked on chunks or live bunker fished between dusk and dawn. Nick said he heard from a reliable source that the Hudson River fish just finished spawning, so things will be happening rapidly from here on out as these hungry post-spawn bass move en mass out of the river and begin pushing their way eastward along the Connecticut shoreline.
16. There are a few porgies off Stamford and around 11-B Norwalk to catch when the season opens today. He said that fishing to the west in New York waters is phenomenal and because the bait and bass will move east he expects fishing action to improve greatly in the Norwalk area any time now. Right now, most of the larger stripers are deeper waters but that will change soon. [On The Water, Bob Sampson]