Norwich Bulletin

• Striped bass fishing continues to be excellent throughout the region. As water temperatures increase, the larger fish are moving out of shallow, warm inshore areas and settling into deep waters around reefs, or migrating northward along the coast. Reports have been mixed with both everyday anglers and charter captains reporting that one day fishing is excellent and the next day being slow.
• Bass fishing: It continues to be excellent along the Rhode Island beaches and around the mouths of all the salt ponds from Weekapaug to Point Judith. Captain Ron's Charters out of Breachway Tackle limited out on 30- to 40-pounders by 7 a.m. Wednesday morning.
• Bluefish: Action continues to be excellent and improving throughout the region with the Race being the best place to ensure a catch.
• Fluke: Reports began to slow down from the pace that was set earlier in the season. This is typical, being that this species does not move around as much or as fast as stripers or bluefish. What appears to happen is they move into an area and, if trawlers run through, they disappear like popping a bubble. If it's a recreational fishing area, they get chipped away at so by the end of the summer many keeper fish have disappeared.
• Scup/porgies: This species is beginning to build in abundance throughout the region, but no specifics on plate-sized fish. Hillyer's noted most of the fish they have been hearing about barely reach the 1 1/2-inch minimum.
• Bass fishing: It's good in all area lakes and ponds, but none of the area shops had any lunkers to report. Same thing with walleyes in area lakes.
• Trout: Fishing is pretty much dead around this area, but Peter Butterfield of Boondocks told us the Farmington River is producing well lately. He personally caught a huge brown trout that was 23 inches long on a No. 18 prince on the Farmington River last week.
• Crabs: Most of the region's shops are reporting good numbers of short crabs at the moment, but these little buggars will grow rapidly. So there should be some great crabbing in this area during the latter part of August of early September.