Stamford Advocate 7/29

The phrase "the early bird gets the worm" is appropriate. Fishermen who like to fish from the park area who be well advised to get there early.

Fishing was very good on the Sound last week but freshwater fishing is in the summer doldrums. Striped bass and bluefish are offering plenty of action for both shore and boat anglers. Porgy fishing is improving and anglers are still catching some nice fluke. A few black sea bass are also being taken at Sound Reef.

Capt. Patty Vincoli navigated her way to her husband Phil's so-called super secret spot and came home a winner. Patty caught several striped bass including a 38-incher that weighed 17 pounds. The fish, weighed in at Fish Tales Bait and Tackle, was taken on bunker chunks.

As usual, Captain's Island is red hot. Last week Guy DiDemcilli caught four stripers and 10 bluefish there, the largest a 37-inch linesider taken using a bunker head. John Windus didn't catch any bass while fishing behind Captain's Island. What he did catch was a bunch of bluefish weighing between 4 and 10 pounds. The choppers were taken on surface poppers tied onto 10-pound test line.

Brandon Devers caught a pair of striped bass while live-lining bunker in Stamford waters. They weighed 25 and 32 pounds. Gary Feighery has been fishing around 3:30 or so every morning and everyday he has been catching and releasing lots of stripers and bluefish in Stamford Harbor using bunker chunks.

Frank Wasco has been fishing off Belle Haven in Greenwich where he has been catching between two and eight fish every time. Last week he tried to show Pete Miller how it is done but Pete came home empty handed while Frank returned to shore with a pair of keeper bass.

Miller did slightly better while fishing with Rich Dombrowski at Sound Reef. Pete caught a pair of sea robins while Rich boated eight stripers and a 22-inch fluke. All were taken on bunker chunks. Later in the week Rich fished at 32A and caught three bass up to 32 inches, nine bluefish and a 20-inch fluke.

While fishing in Norwalk Harbor, Jimmy Roche caught a bunch of bluefish that were feeding under a school of bunker. Jimmy was fishing in the mid to late morning near the launch ramp.

Porgy fishing is improving. Mike from Fish Tales caught six very large porgies at Sound Reef despite taking fishing advice from his boss, Vinny. Mike's largest fish was 20 inches and was taken on a strip of squid. Mike also caught a few small black sea bass.

Bill Kovaks fished for porgies three times last week at the Stamford Cows and caught more than 30 porgies including an 18-incher and a 5-pound blackfish. All were taken on clam strips. Also doing well at the Stamford Cows was Joe Horvath, who caught 16 large porgies using clams strips for bait.

Tom Cuprys sailed over to the New York side of the Sound to do some bottom fishing and was rewarded with several keeper fluke including one that weighed 9 pounds, 6 ounces. He was using squid and sand eels for bait. Chris Tollarini used sand eels and squid to catch eight fluke while fishing off the "golf course" on the other side of the Sound. Three of the summer flounder were keepers.

We received a couple of freshwater reports. Anthony Ross, 6, tried desperately to teach his uncle, Dave Krom, how to fish. While working the waters at Cross River Reservoir, Anthony caught a bunch of large sunfish using worms while Uncle Dave caught a cold. Anthony was using worms for bait.

Scott at Fisherman's Worlds also works at the Saugatuck Reservoir and he said while fishing has slowed a bit at the Reservoir anglers are catching some brown trout and largemouth bass. Rit Darragh is one of those lucky anglers. Last week he caught three browns weighing 3, 4, and 6 pounds and a couple of largemouth bass weighing between 4-5 pounds. Scott recommends using shiners and nightcrawlers.

We had incorrect information in last week's report about a nice fluke Nicholas Santiago caught. Santiago, 7, reeled in a 24-inch summer flounder while fishing from shore at Cummings Park. (by Martin Armstrong, Stamford Advocate).