Norwich Bulletin

1. Tunoids: Bonito finally made a solid showing last week. According to Captain Jack Balint of the Fish Connection and Mark Lewchik of River's End Tackle, in Old Saybrook they are being caught off Pleasure Beach, Bartlett Reef and the Watch Hill Reef Complex.
2. Striped bass: The menhaden have thinned out some, but there's still plenty of hickory shad hanging around the mouth of the Connecticut River that are attracting and holding some large stripers. Bartlett Reef, Hatchet Reef, the Race and the Watch Hill Reef Complex are all holding some larger bass.
3. Fluke: The "keeper bite" has been from dawn till mid-morning lately, then the little fish seem to move in and dominate the catches. With the commercial quota met last week, we should see a build up in larger fish in all fluke fishing spots.
4. Porgies/Scup: Scup fishing is great all over the place. King Cove said they are catching them off Lambert Cove Bridge and Shaffer's is seeing them off the draw bridge in Mystic from shore, so fishing from a boat should be easy. Someone said if you can't catch a scup you should throw your gear in the water and take up golf.
5. Bluefish: King Cove, Stonington, River's End, Saybrook, Hillyer's, NIantic and Fish Connection, Preston all report large numbers of bluefish are being caught literally everywhere. Fishing for blues will do nothing but improve as the fall progresses. Naturally the Race is full of them down deep when it's bright and on top around dusk most days. The Thames is producing steady catches of bluefish from just south of the harbor to the mouth. Chunks of bunker or mackerel are the best bait.
6. Bait: There's still an abundance of mostly small bait in the form of butterfish, juvenile menhaden, silversides, and tiny squid. Larger bait in the form of hickory shad are present in the Mystic, Niantic and Connecticut Rivers. There's some menhaden cruising around the Connecticut and probably moving east.
7. Blue crabbing is reportedly excellent along the coast from Oyster River, Saybrook to Little Narragansett Bay, Stonington.
8. Freshwater:Warm waters of late summer combined with bluebird conditions that come with all this pleasantly cool north wind and high pressure, still has freshwater fish "on tilt". Overall freshwater action is slow for everything except sunfish during the day and catfish or bullheads after dark. Carp are also active this time of year, catch them on commercial carp baits, dough balls made of moistened corn meal, par boiled potato or whole kernel corn. Fish with light wire hooks and minimal weight. [ Compiled by Bob Sampson]