Norwich Bulletin

Marine: Winter flounder season opens Sunday with 10 fish per day, minimum length 12 inches. Look for fish in coves and estuaries from Mystic to Niantic Bay.

Striped bass: Water temperatures are still in the 40s -- a tad on the cool side. Stripers are beginning to spread out down the Thames River and will be moving out onto the flats and shallows as soon as temperatures hit 50 degrees Fahrenheit. After the recent snowmelt, look for stripers to possibly be suspended off the bottom, which makes them a little more difficult to catch. However, with every warm sunny afternoon, the time when they will be found from top to bottom in the Thames is only a week or two away. Hamburg Cove on the Connecticut River was turned on last weekend, but anglers need to reach the lower section of this cove, which is holding the stripers by boat.

Freshwater: As temperatures increase, look for shallow ponds throughout the area to begin producing largemouth bass, pickerel, perch and panfish. This weekend, look for some excellent yellow perch in the coves and backwaters of the Connecticut River and wherever you can find them in area ponds and lakes. The warmest, which are generally exposed shallow lakes and backwaters, will provide the best fishing action this time of year. Before fishing, be sure the place you choose to wet a line is open to fishing. This is the time of year when many places stocked with trout are closed to fishing. Anglers who are looking for trout fishing options should look in the Trout Management Areas in this area. Coastal areas such as Mystic River and Latimer Brook are areas stocked with sea-run brown trout that may be cooperative.