Captain Morgan

• Outstanding weather blanketed the area as a cold front moved through, breaking up our recent sweltering heat spell. At one point early morning temperatures dropped to the mid-50s, sparking an August feeding spree. As winds subsided and the waters of Long Island Sound calmed down, anglers hit their fishing sites to take full advantage of the action. For the past several days, striped bass action has been no less than hot!
  
• The run of fish was reminiscent of a fall event even though it’s prime summertime. Cooler water brought “cows” into the shallows to feed on whatever food was available and fishermen, donning an extra layer of clothing, searched for scattered schools of bait to use on the assault of big fish. One such cow turned out to be Paul Santa Barbara of Guilford’s first “50.” His morning catch tipped the scale at 50.25 pounds, measuring 51 inches, and was caught at the top of the flood in shallow water after sunrise. Welcome to “Club 50.” Stripers generally have been caught at Faulkner’s, Southwest, Six Mile and several of the other popular local reefs including nearby breakwaters. Tides have been favorable both for daytime/nightime trips where plugs, eels, chunks, and other live baits have been working.
• Schools of bunker are still scattered showing up in some harbors semi-regularly while totally bypassing others. Although there’s plenty of bait in the Sound, bluefish to date are not as thick in eastern LIS as they were last year at this time. However, anglers are finding large “choppers” mixed in with deep-schooling bass somewhat bothersome on the drop. The absence of dense schools of bunker drawing in the choppers is one contributing factor although that can still develop in time for WICC’s Bluefish Tournament/Captain Morgan’s Bluefish Contest.
• Snapper blues are growing in size/numbers attracting anglers to shoreline beaches, bridges, harbors and rivers. It’s time to grab those light poles, buckets and bait/lures for sure-fire fun.
  
• Porgy/scup are also here in numbers and easily caught from shore/boat. Try Charles, Faulkner’s, Goose Island for some good ‘ole porgy pounding. (Captain Morgan)