Norwich Bulletin

• Long Island Sound was reported to be 45 degrees fahrenheit off Stonington last weekend, though a week of sun should have pushed these numbers up a few degrees by this weekend. The Thames River was in the 55-56 range.
  
• Striped bass: As Pat Abate of River's End in Old Saybrook reported on the Connecticut River and Joe Balint of the Fish Connection reported on the Thames, spring striper fishing is excellent. Balint said a couple customers caught stripers in the 26- to 28-pound range using live bunker.
  
• Fluke: Luke Ball at Hillyer's Tackle in Niantic said they had their first locally caught fluke a pair of keepers taken out in Niantic Bay over last weekend.
  
• Bluefish: It's still too early to get excited about bluefish. But May is always the month when the first schools of skinny early spawn fish and smaller choppers move into this area.
• Winter flounder: Ball said Hillyer's customers are still catching winter flounder in the Niantic River as well as outside in the bay.
  
• Worm spawn: Breachway Tackle in Charleston, R.I., said there have been some worms coming off and attracting stripers up to and just over keeper size in Ninigret Salt Pond in Charleston.
  
• Bait: Reports indicate there are squid in the Mystic River and up the Rhode Island shoreline, which means bass and fluke should be feeding on them.
  
• Blue crabs: The lingering, cool temperatures this late into the spring could be the downfall of that nice batch of crabs that had appeared and bred in this region late last summer. Unless anglers begin seeing a few swimming or walking around in the shallows of the Thames or shallow places along the coast, the potential for a great crabbing season will be diminished.
  
• Freshwater: Water temperatures are in the high 50s and low 60s. Largemouths begin to bed between 62 and 65 degrees.
  
• Bass: Largemouth bass are starting to move onto their beds, especially in the shallow weedy, warm lakes in the region.
  
• Trout: Water levels are dropping in rivers and lakes are warming, creating the insect hatches and temperature levels that turn the trout on in both habitats.