Westport Outfitters (Norwalk) Fishing Report

• The Saugatuck, Norwalk and Mianus rivers also produced some good catches but the fishing was a little tougher than usual with all the runoff from the Nor'easter. You will find fish in surprising spots which is great for those willing to hike into less fished areas. The Saugatuck River produced a nice limit of fish for Otto Elser with one of the trout being a very fat 19" broodstock brown trout.
  
• Candlewood Lake is producing some excellent smallmouth bass action and stocked trout are there for the taking as well.
  
• The Housatonic River will be running very high for quite a while so we recommend fishing the smaller streams, ponds and lakes until conditions improve on the larger rivers where we have spotted some decent hatches. Fly fisherman will do well using bead head Hare's Ear Nymphs, Zug Bugs, Muddlers, Wooly Buggers, and Black Ghosts.
  
• Spin fisherman will do well casting Vibrax Blue Fox Spinners and gold and silver Phoebe lures. Remember to keep your retrieve slow when the water is cold. If you prefer to fish bait you will have success with nightcrawlers, trout worms and shiners fished near the bottom.
• We scouted out the far western Sound as well as the Norwalk Islands this past week and found huge bunker schools in many areas of Long Island's north shore and one school near the mouth of Norwalk Harbor. This is great news as the large migratory bass are starting to move east and this concentration of bait should keep them in our area for an extended period. Schoolie size bass are very cooperative near the powerplants and starting to get active near other outflows in our area. This fishing will be much more consistent within a week or so as the water warms and bait fish head into the estuaries.
  
• The lower Housatonic River is typically red hot about this time but there is still a lot of debris washing down stream since the flooding of last week. The water is still very cloudy and will probably take another week to show significant improvement.
• Flounder fishing is hit or miss as usuall near the Norwalk Islands. Chumming heavily will increase your chances and most fisherman prefer clams or sandworms fished in shallower areas where the sun can heat the water more quickly. The areas just off shore from Calf Pasture Beach typically produce decent flounder catches as well as schoolie bass.