Rivers End Tackle, Old Saybrook

• STRIPED BASS- If things were slow at the last report , they're even slower in this weeks report. The Race has had some medium sized bass on ebb tides with most of the catch going to trollers. Drifting both days and nights has had mediocre results. We haven't heard of any concentrations of bass, there seems to be more of a scattering of small schools. Techniques that cover more ground such as tube and worm or trolling bucktails seem to be having better results. The live bait drifters are getting some jumbos on the reefs from Southwest to Bartletts but the numbers are way down from a couple of week ago. On live bait, theres a few schools of bunker in the Connecticut River with the only results coming at dawn. Hickory shad are here in light numbers and less in Niantic.
• BLUEFISH- For small blues travel to the Race and Plum Gut, locally they're less numerous but bigger. The action in the Connecticut River has been mostly on bait both from shore and boat. Shore casters from Saybrook Point have been getting some decent sizes with best results on the ebb tide. Snappers are getting past the 3" mark now.
• FLUKE- It can best be described as spread out. We have weighed in some nice fluke this past week from Soundview to Montauk. The best news is that the Connecticut River has some of the best fluking we've seen in the last five or six years, not all keepers but a fair shot at some decent sizes. Most of them are found in the channels from North to the Breakwater. Thats a tough spot to fish on the weekends with boat traffic, best left to week days. The 30' band of water off Soundview is worthwhile and the 70' plus band between Hatchetts and Black Point has the best of sizes.
• BLACKFISH- Even less interest this week with not too much effort for blacks. Most anglers have given up for the summer.
• PORGIES- Most anglers are reporting some nice sized ones at Hatchetts, Bartletts and the rockpiles near Cornfield. The numbers are light, may be a good idea to try chumming.
• BLUE CRABS- The early crabs that we saw at the beginning of June have grown into some monsters. Most of the crabs are running on the just shy of the keeper mark with enough big ones to make it worthwhile. They are getting some at the DEP Piers, Oyster River and the Causeway. (Pat Abate, Rivers End Tackle, Old Saybrook).