TheDay.com - Locals Joining The 50-plus Fraternity

• We have some big bass in our waters, said Matt at Hillyers Tackle. Since last report they weighed in 40-pounders and a 51 caught by a 16-year-old angler on an eel at Bartletts Reef. Matt joked the young man might now spend the next several years trying to better that outstanding catch.
• The Race is full of blues on some days making it harder to catch a daytime striper there. Blackfish were caught, but Matt expects that fishing to wane in the next few weeks as the summer heats up and fish move to colder water. Porgies are moving into the rock piles in the bay, especially the bell buoy at the bay entrance.
• Fluking reports were up and down, the most consistent fishing going to the steadies who put in 4-5 hours per tide, often finding good action for 45 minutes of that time. Shore anglers landed some keeper bass between the bridges at night when the boat traffic was down and a few blackfish from the shore.
• Our largest bass of the week came in Tuesday said Bill at King Cove Outfitters. Bill Gardiner of Mystic put a 56.4-pounder on the scale, location and method unknown. In the early morning the light tackle boats are finding sand eels between Sandy and Stonington Points, catching smaller stripers and blues feeding on them on fly and spin tackle.
• Al Golinski of Misquamicut got a reliable report about two 50s landed in one trip by the same angler on live bait from the Watch Hill Reefs since last fishing report. Bunkers are proving much tougher to find now, pushed around the tidal rivers by school of smaller blues. He made a trip by himself on Wednesday, fishing the reefs in pea-soup fog for eight stripers, all “smaller” fish by live bait standards.
• Capt. Don's Tackle in Charlestown weighed in 35-40-plus pound bass during the weekend and week, most caught on large, live bait. Small blues and schoolie bass can be caught from the Quonny Breachway and nearby sand beaches at sunrise and after dark on small plugs and lead heads.
• Capt. Jim Beardsley took out a trio of 80-year-old fishermen off Quonny who landed 17 keeper fluke plus shorts, all on live mummies. Scup are around the breachway rip-rap, hitting best on small pieces of worms when the tide isn't running hard or slack water.
• Capt. Al Anderson found the north rip of Block Island full of bass and sand eels on his Monday trip. They landed about 60 stripers (10 keepers) trolling parachute jigs on small, graphite trolling rods. Boats trolling umbrella rigs totaled many more blues than stripers.
• Offshore, most of the blue sharks and some threshers were caught at 40 fathoms or beyond. The water off to the east is still very cold for most type of offshore trolling or even sharking.
• Cheryl at Shaffer's Marina said they weighed in a 45-pound striper on Sunday morning, location not known. Shore anglers are buying eels to fish after dark from the Fishers Island beaches.
• Over the weekend the better fluke catches were made by people on the water from 5-10 a.m., those generally going east of the carousel at Misquamicut in 50-70 feet of water. After that it seemed like the chances for landing only throwbacks increased by a wide margin. Among the better fish were doormats of 7 and 8.4 pounds by Steve Shred Nicki and a 6.8-pounder caught by Juana Brown, both from Preston.
• When the boat traffic is light, you might find keeper fluke around Gates Island and the mouth of the Mystic River, the latter spot on a weekday was where Ned from Brewer's Yacht Yard had two keepers on his last trip.
• Bob's Rod & Tackle said locals are out trying for blackfish along the Thames but getting on small ones since the season reopened on June 15. Live or chunked bunker is still the best way to land a nicer bass or bluefish along the river. Anglers on a budget found keeper fluke off Groton Long Point and Sarah's Ledge, saving money by not running all the way down to Charlestown, R.I.
• Over at the Fish Connection, Joe Balint heard about some 20-25-pound stripers caught in Norwich Harbor from under bunker schools and smaller bass down the river. Scattered fluke were caught inside the Thames as far up as the Montville boat ramp. The shoreline from Ocean Beach over to Groton Long Point has keeper fluke and throwbacks. Some locals cane back from the south side of Fishers Island saying they caught only sand sharks and skates.
• Crabbing has started up; best catch to date were 30 blue claws landed in traps during the day in Poquetanuck Cove. Porgies are moving into the rocky humps just outside the light at the mouth of the Thames.
• Capt. Brad Glas of the Hel-Cat called it an excellent week of fishing with blues cooperating and nice sizes to boot. Big fish of the week though was a 15.8-pound striper caught by Alan Arken of Granby, beating out some of the larger blues. The evening fluke trips were good to very good with biggest around 24 inches.
• Capt. Kerry Douton over at J&B said their charter boat is getting lots of blues on some of the trips, not so many on others. If you want keeper fluke closer to home, look around the entrance to Niantic Bay over to New London.
• The Star Island Shark Tournament was won by a 300-plus-pound thresher, and Jeff Ross, a Connecticut resident, took the prize for biggest blue shark. Overall sharking is ongoing but to date the only bluefin reports were from outside on the edge on the continental shelf.
• Bunkers were very, very hard to find for striper bait said Mark at River's End. On Sunday six people set small gill nets in the lower Connecticut River but only two bunkers were caught in all combined. Lots of little blues were chasing bait on top at the river mouth on Tuesday. Casters caught schoolie bass along the river edges but almost all were at sunrise or very late in the day.
• The first smaller blue crabs were caught in nearby creeks. Porgy catches are slowly rising at Hatchetts and some keeper fluke are off the Old Lyme beaches along with lots of shorts with today's new higher minimum sizes. (Tim Coleman, The Day).