TheDay.com - Find Your Spot; They're Out There

• Offshore fishing is picking up, said Capt. Al Anderson. He caught blue sharks around the 14500 x 43750 area and also spent two mornings catching and releasing some 45-pound bluefin from 43820 down to 43790 south of Block Island, the latter trips now about a week ago.
• Al caught the bluefin trolling Zucker Brushes and Tuna Burners back in the fourth wave, going about 7-8 knots. Just prior to this report he talked with lobstermen who saw both mahi and tuna jumping in cleaner, warmer water south of 43700 south of Block Island, that news and others indicating a jump in prospects for offshore catches in the coming week.
• On the inshore scene he made some evening trips for bass to the North Rip of Block Island, landing a total of 65 fish, fishing roughly from 6-10 p.m. on a flooding tide.
• Al Golinski of Misquamicut had seven bass to 30 pounds in the boat when I spoke with him yesterday morning via cell phone. He had live scup for bait, busying unhooking bass and watching his radar at The Race on a day with thick fog. Earlier in the week Capt. Ben DeMario took out his girlfriend Abbey Moose from Pennsylvania on her very first striper trip. She got out to a very good start, landing a 41-pounder on a live scup on the Watch Hill Reefs.
• Capt. Don's in Charlestown literally got quite a shock from Wednesday's storm when a bolt of lightening hit the building causing damage to it and the house next door. On the fishing front, there's been lots of bait just outside the beaches on some morning and good numbers of scup in Quonny Breachway for those without a boat. Fluking has been best in 40-45 feet from Quonny down past Charlestown Breachway.
• Over at King Cove, Bill told me about people catching small and medium bass in the morning from the Watch Hill Reefs on poppers and fly rods. When brought aboard the fish spit up very small squid. Porgy catching is good from Latimer Light over to the Napatree Point bell. Largest striper of the week was a 38-pounder caught by Dan Territo on live bait.
• Capt. Allen Fee at Shaffers Marina said prior to Wednesday's storm, his slip customers found small blues on the east side of Mason's Island and very finicky schoolie stripers on some mornings on the Watch Hill Reefs. The bass were up on the surface feeding on tiny bait and very exceedingly hard to fool with standard casting lures.
• Best chance of keeper fluke is to run down to the Pink House at Misqauamicut and to fish in 40-50 feet once there. You might find some keepers from Ellis to Cormorant Reef or maybe around buoy 7 on the north side of Ram Island if you have a very small boat or it's a foggy morning.
• Allen also said it's probably a good time to toss a live eel into the rocks on the south side of Fishers Island either early in the morning or after dark, just watch for the fog rolling in on a dark night if your boat doesn't have radar. Big porgies are on most of the rocky humps in Fishers Island Sound and shore anglers landed a mix of small stripers, porgies, small sea bass and a few blackfish on sandworms from the Mystic River Park.
• Fluke news is rated either very good or poor said Red at Bob's Rod & Tackle. One group of two anglers had a 7-pounder and two 5s fishing a “secret” location not far from the mouth of the Thames River but others came back to the store saying they caught only throwback after throwback. Norwich Harbor was full of bunker one day with blues after them. Shore anglers at both Eastern and Avery Points landed stripers on live eels after dark.
• Capt. Joe Balint had the duty at the Fish Connection, saying the ratio of short to keeper fluke is running about 5-to-1 for those that fish to fish along the eastern Connecticut shore from Harkness over to Groton Long Point. A few fluke were also caught by shore anglers dunking bait along the Thames River as far up as buoy 27.
• Bunker might be found anywhere from Trading Cove to Montville with blues and smaller bass after them. It looks like a good season for blue crabs judging from the amount of crab traps being sold.
• Stephanie Cramer is back with us. In her latest e-mail she said a small bass tagged in New London on Nov. 11, 2004 was recaptured in the Delaware River on April 7. No length or weight was given by the person that caught the schoolie the second time but Steph added the bass that mass at the mouth of the Thames in the late fall do not all end up going up into the river. Some head to the Hudson, others further south.
• She along with Bill Kreuger and Paul Johnson were on one of Capt. Al Anderson's evening trips. Together they landed 23 bass from 26-29 inches and one blue trolling flies on their fly rods in the North Rip at Block Island. All the fish were tagged and released.
• Retired charter captain Howard Beers reported for Hillyers Tackle. He said Tuesday and Wednesday were good for bass in The Race for both charter and private boats using live bait. Fluke news was very mixed, either very good or pretty downcast over the higher minimum sizes preventing some from taking home many keepers. One fellow came in to buy some crabbing equipment after seeing several of them around the pilings by his slip in the Niantic River.
• Sherwood Lincoln of East Lyme said he and his neighbor Richard Wick came in fourth in a fluke contest over the weekend that spanned five states. Their top fish weighed 9, 7, and 6 pounds, the combined weight good for $1,000. Sea bass catches aren't bad, mainly on wrecks and rocky humps off Falkners Island.
• River's End said crabbers in the Lieutenant River and around the Causeway had blue claws as big as 8 inches this week. Chunkers caught blues in the lower Connecticut River including several from the DEP Dock yesterday morning. Small blues pop up on the surface in the Sound and a few anglers with numbers of seldom-fished wrecks are catching medium and large sea bass to the west of Old Saybrook. Porgy catches are good and expected to remain so through the summer at spots like Cranes and Hens and Chickens. (Tim Coleman)