The Day 6/30/06

1. There are still some bigger stripers around the base of the Greenville Dam, said Capt. Jack Balint at the Fish Connection in Preston. People are catching them on large plugs during the higher tides, the whole fishery going on much later in the summer season than normal. Usually that fishery is over by now, said Jack.
2. In other news, Jack took a charter to the Watch Hill Reefs, where they landed six bass casting lures early in the morning then a few more to 20 pounds trolling the tube and worm on the south side of Fishers Island in very dirty water. They ended the trip casting to more small bass on top around Race Rock and the red can over toward Race Point.
3. About mid-week, some bigger blues moved into The Race but to date the porgy catches have been just fair at best. You best chance for a limit of keeper fluke is down off the Rhode Island beaches from the Pink House to Green Hill.
4. Al Golinski of Misquamicut said he didn't try for bass on the reefs this week, instead went down to beach for good numbers of small and medium fluke to 4.8 pounds on both Sunday and Monday. There are some doormats mixed in with all the smaller ones like the 8.8-pounder landed by Bruce Vass on Sunday, fishing in 25-50 feet of water from the Pinky House to the east.
5. Capt. Don's in Charlestown said a small number of very large porgies caught from the rocks along the Quonny Breachway. Just at first light you can catch small bass, maybe a keeper, along the sand bar near the launch ramp. The average person out for fluke is finding lots of shorts, culling through those for some keepers.
6. Capt. Al Anderson continues to find lots of bass from 25-31 inches on the inner bar of the North Rip at Block Island and along the west side from the Dump down to the Hooter Buoy. On Wednesday they landed 20-plus fish before the storm drove them home. An evening trip produced 35 fish to 32 inches for fly rodders, fishing from 6:45-8:30 p.m.
7. Dogfish are bothering boats drifting for fluke during the day and drifting live eels deep in the North Rip after dark. Sharking reports are very poor unless you head out 40 miles and then don't expect much. Many of the shark boats are putting up with dogfish just like the people on the inshore grounds.
8. King Cove in Stonington was sorry to say the surf fishing, very popular with Connecticut residents, is very slow from Watch Hill to East Beach. Fluking is somewhat improved with more keepers than the week prior. Porgy catches have been so-so with few people targeting them and those doing so getting only fair results. Bass catches on the reefs were both good and very poor as all the weather fronts marched past. Kayakers however did well with small and some medium bass plus a few bluefish in Lambert's Cove and Stonington Harbor.
9. The weather was very ugly this week, said Shaffers Marina in Mystic. In between rain drops and cloud bursts, slip customers landed more keeper fluke in 42 feet of water off Isabella. Allen Fee took out a charter that landed some blues and small bass on diamond jigs at Valiant Shoal on the flood tide then eight keeper fluke off Fishers Island.
10. In the evening, kids caught small blues from what's left of the Mason Island Bridge. Dana Pollard and his girlfriend got out on Monday night for a 36-inch striper and two blues plus they lost another bass drifting live eels over Ram Island reef.
11. Up in Uncasville, Bob's Rod and Tackle reported lots of action for shore anglers along the Thames River around Horton's Cove to the mouth for small bass on worms on the bottom. Small boaters trolled the tube and worm for the same small stripers and unwanted small bluefish. A few locals made the run to Montauk for fluke but found dirty water and poor to fair fishing.
12. Stephanie Cramer continues to get tag returns from all over southern New England for small stripers she tagged during the winter in the Thames. One fish she tagged back in February was re-caught on May 27 on the Brewster Flats on the Cape. Another tagged in the river on Nov. 13, 2005 was caught next year on May 26 in the Westport River in Massachusetts. Still a third tagged on April 22 was caught a few months later on June 1 up around Fall River, Mass. As Steph said in her e-mail, “they do get around.”
13. Capt. Brad Glas of the Hel-Cat rated it a good week out in The Race. At times they had to wait out the tide but results were good numbers of blues and a respectable showing of stripers. Over the weekend they sailed in the rain and people ready with rain gear were treated to some good action, especially on Sunday. Big fish of the week was a 17-pound striper caught by Mike Joy of Windsor Locks.
14. Sherwood Lincoln of East Lyme got out on Tuesday, netting some live bunker and hickory shad in the lower Connecticut River then drifting those at Hatchetts Reef for four stripers from 20-25 pounds. Fluking in the eastern Sound is still very slow with mostly throwbacks caught around the mouth of the river.
15. River's End started off by saying the fluke catches were very poor off Old Saybrook and Westbrook, somewhat better around Gardners Island. Black fishing on the other hand is well worth your time at places like Inner Southwest Reef, Black Point and the rocky humps off Cornfield Point.
16. Porgies are big for this time of year but the numbers are way down from previous seasons. Casting for bass in the lower Connecticut River at dusk and daybreak is still surprisingly good, normally the fish have moved out of the river into the Sound at this time.
17. Small boaters using plastics and poppers caught shorts, small keepers and a few in the low 30-pound range along with a couple bluefish. Sharpies using live bait on the local reefs are finding plenty of bass but the average angler using other methods during the day is not doing near as well. [Tim Coleman is The Day']