Norwich Bulletin

1. Big striped bass are around the area, but due to warm inshore temperatures are hanging deep, out off the shoreline during the day. There's still hickory shad schools and adult menhaden in the Connecticut River, which means there's some huge bass in that area as well. I fished the lower river with Captain John Planetta of Frank's Tackle in Marlborough. We fished with live hickory shad and live eels. John caught a 45-inch, 40-pound class striper by slinging an eel to the rocks in an area where a huge fish took a swipe at a 12-inch schoolie striper I was reeling in.
2. Fluke: I spent two days fluking along the south shore of Rhode Island and action was excellent on both trips. We caught 52 fluke Tuesday, 11 of which were keepers, and 69 on Wednesday, with 10 keepers. We fished with Mario's Drift Rigs with plastic squid strips baited with real squid and live mummichogs and Thomcat Drift Rigs.
3. Bluefish: In my travels this week, bluefish are all over the place. Busting on top off Hatchet Reef chopping up our hickory shad Monday in the Connecticut River area. All day long both Monday and Tuesday, 2- to 6-pound bluefish were busting the surface from Misquamicut to Watch Hill around the Watch Hill Reef Complex and the south side of Fishers Island.
4. Porgies/scup: Scup have been tougher to come by this year than last. Bell Buoy No. 6 in Niantic Bay and Hatchet Reef have been hot spots according to John Hillyer from Hillyer's tackle in Waterford.
5. Tuna: School sized "football" bluefin tuna schoolies are about eight miles off Block Island, with a few schoolies finally showing up between there and Newport.
6. Rare Summer Aliens: Earl Evans at Saltwater Edge tackle in Newport, R.I., said there were three cobia caught in his area over the last week. The biggest was 65 pounds.
7. Blue Crabs: Crabbing is improving this time of year as our winter survivor "local population" is bolstered by migrants from the south. There was a solid report of crab catches from Stonington.
8. Bait: One bluefish we caught on the south side of Fishers Island spit up butterfish and tiny squid about an inch long. Some of those bait clouds in the area are also peanut (juvenile menhaden) bunker. Small bait is literally everywhere I've been this week. Look for bunker and hickory shad in the lower Connecticut River.
9. Freshwater:Not much talk from the freshwater ponds other than the four-pound smallmouth bass that Steve Balvandu of New Britain took on a Jitterbug at Gardner Lake, just after the heat wave broke. [Compiled by Bob Sampson ]