TheDay, New London

• There are bigger stripers up around Norwich, said Joe Balint at the Fish Connection in Preston. The bass are there after schools of bunker in and around the harbor all the way up into the Shetucket River, though rain from the coming nor'easter may change that situation by the weekend.
• In other fishing, Dennis, an employee at the shop, made a run over to Montauk with a friend, landing seven keeper fluke and tossing back six that did not make the 191/2-inch minimum size limit in New York state waters. Closer to home they only received reports of throwback fluke off Vixen Ledge. In Connecticut waters you are allowed to keep five fluke per person per day with an 18-inch minimum. The bag limit for New York is four fish per day.
• Schoolie stripers are along the shoreline from Harkness to Bluff Point, caught from the beach best in the early morning and again after supper on all manner of small plastic lures. Steve McGinn of Gales Ferry has been using a Fin-S Fish in the Thames for catch and release blackfish up to 10 pounds.
• Al Golinski of Misquamicut said anglers around his winter home are catching 10-20-pound stripers every morning on poppers and other lures around the Holyoke-South Hadley Bridge over the upper Connecticut River. Down along the shore he heard about some of his neighbors jigging up squid from the Stonington Docks.
• Capt. Al Anderson checked with his charter boat contacts to let me know that schoolie bass are in tight to the beach at Montauk Point and Shagwong but not yet in the famed rips. Block Island too, as of today, doesn't seem to have any charge of fish no doubt due to water much colder than that at the entrance to eastern Long Island Sound.
• Worm hatches are occurring from Potter Pond around Point Judith to Ninigret Pond and small blues showed up in the Salt Pond around mid-week.
• Capt. Don's in Charlestown weighed in the first large bass of the season, a 35.20-pounder caught on Thursday on squid from the shore at Quonny. Mike Dell Negro used the same bait in Charlestown Breachway for a 14-pound striper. Other shore anglers like Gill Bell are catching schoolie stripers every morning at East Beach. Gill likes a 2-ounce Crippled Herring tossed a long way with the help of ultra-thin 15-pound Power Pro line. Worm dunkers landed tautog from the breachway rip-rap during the slower stages of the tide and slack water.
• King Cove Outfitters in Stonington had news mainly about shore fishing in the area; nothing much yet from the Watch Hill Reefs. The few fishermen out are getting anywhere from three to 20-plus schoolies in the morning and evening from Watch Hill to East Beach on small plastic lures, small bucktails or metal lures. Squid can be jigged from the Stonington or Mystic River docks, mainly after dark.
• We weighed in some fluke from the south side of Fishers Island, said Allen Fee at Shaffers Marina, but nothing yet from inside Fishers Island Sound. Casters using small poppers had schoolie stripers, some close to keeper size, in the Mystic River in the morning and again in the late afternoon. Biggest fish to date was a 30-inch bass caught trolling in the evening off the Monastery by Ron Behnk. Shore anglers and local kids will be happy to know the state is close to finishing the fishing platforms on either side of the refurbished Mason Island Bridge. Allen said it will be accessible for the handicapped and should open to the public sometime after Memorial Day.
• Bob's Rod & Tackle talked about keeper bass caught in the lower part of the Thames River on red tubes dressed with sandworms trolled on lead line or plain mono. There are also some bass into the low 30-inch range at Bartletts Reef though maybe not each and every tide. He also had a week-old report about keeper fluke from the south side of Fishers Island and continued news about enough winter flounder for supper up in the Niantic River or off Bluff Point. On Tuesday night a few squid were jigged up from the pier at Fort Trumbull, adding to reports already received.
• Stephanie Cramer said she caught very little over last weekend, wading along the upper Thames River, casting with her fly rod. She did receive some returns on stripers tagged in our waters the last two seasons. On Nov. 4, 2005 she tagged a schoolie off New London. The fish was re-caught on April 30, 2007 off Cape May, N.J., having added four inches to its length. On June 26, 2006, she caught and tagged a 29-inch bass at the north Rip of Block Island. That fish was re-captured on March 21, 2007 off East Currituck, N.C. These beloved bass of ours do indeed travel far and wide.
• Hillyers Tackle is selling worms for flounder anglers catching same in the Niantic River, Jordan Cove and of late, off Harkness Park. A lady and her two friends came back from a trip to Isabella with a 9-pound fluke and five other keepers, all over 191/2 inches, the minimum size in New York waters. Schoolie bass and maybe some small blues are around the Millstone discharge and some 30 to 34-inch stripers caught at Inner Bartletts.
• Capt. Kerry Douton at J&B Tackle said their first charter boat trips were a struggle out in The Race at the beginning of the week. By mid-week however things were much better with greatly improved numbers, especially on the flood tide. As you read this, the fish are hitting both tides though there are times when fishing goes slack for a bit after a school moved through.
• You can catch keeper fluke in 60-65 feet of water south of the radar dome at Montauk Point and also in Peconic Bay though you have to put up with small bluefish in the latter spot. Kerry ended by saying the first few bluefish were caught in The Race at week's end.
• We heard a reliable report about a 25-pound bass caught at the Sand Shoal on live bunker, said River's End Tackle. The bunker and others used for bass bait came right from the lower Connecticut River. Casters in the river landed schoolies and a few fish to 35 inches on plugs, plastic shads and Fin-S Fish. Blues are in Peconic, west around Bridgeport and at least one report to the east at Charlestown Breachway. Short fluke were landed at the Sand Shoal and some keepers in Peconic Bay. Shore anglers caught fair numbers of small bass at the Old Lyme beaches and from the DEP Pier at Old Lyme. (Tim Coleman is The Day)