Eastern Connecticut, Nor'east Magazine

• Despite the warm water temps in Long Island Sound, the bite continues to be fairly strong all throughout the shoreline. Mark Beers of Block Island Tackle in Westbrook remains pleased with the local bite. In terms of striped bass fishing, Southwest Reef has been incredibly consistent and has yielded many cow bass. Over the second half of this week, several 35 to 45-pound linesiders have been pulled from this small, but productive reef. Interestingly, many of these fish are loaded with sea lice, prompting Mark to think these fish may be residents of the Hudson River. Charter operations are also limiting out on a consistent basis in this location. As for other productive bassing locations, Cornfield Point and Crane Reef have been popular choices for anglers drifting live bait to hungry stripers.
• In terms of bluefish, they are everywhere, according to Mark. On Thursday, a customer reported one of the largest schools of blues he has ever seen. The choppers stretched from the 11 buoy all the way into the shoreline. A vast majority of these fish were on top, making it an easy pick for local anglers throwing poppers.
• For surfcasters, there are plenty of big blues to be had near Great Salt Island on the backside of the rocks. In Madison, the “Captain” at Captain Morgan’s reported a nice run of bass along central Long Island Sound. On Thursday, a 50.25-pound bass was taken on a livelined shad at Kelsey Point. This fish was caught “in tight” along the rip that forms along the Point. Apparently, there were a lot of big fish in the area working bait in the shallows.
• Along the shoreline, small snappers have begun to appear in large numbers. Along with the snappers, large schools of peanut bunker are popping up from the shoreline out to the nearby reefs. Adult bunker are available for the persistent angler, but these schools are not large and are scattered throughout the Sound.
  
• There continues to be reports of bonito near Falkner Island and Crane Reef, but the numbers have decreased over the last week. The same can be said about the vast number of weakfish along Falkner Island and Kimberly Reef. Blackfishing has slowed considerably, but the porgy bite is still very good in terms of size and numbers.
  
• Blue crabs are abundant in the local estuaries. Lastly, the shad have showed in good numbers, so if you wish to liveline big bait, this is a great time to use these shad - truly one of the true delicacies of the striped bass.
  
• On Friday, I spoke with Richard from Hillyers Bait and Tackle in Waterford. He reported the local fishing, especially for lunker bass has been very good over the last few days. Bartlett’s Reef continues to be THE location for a big fish. Over the course of the last few weeks, three 50-pounders and eight 40-50-pounders have been landed at this location. The most successful anglers are livelining bunker and shad to find their limits.
  
• Fluking has been spotty at best, but anglers fishing in 80-100 feet of water are having the most success. The bluefish have been incredibly active and are frequently spotted working on top along the Waterford and Niantic shoreline. Big porgies are still abundant and can be had near any of the local rock piles in the bay.
  
• On the offshore front, it was a rather slow week for confirmed landings. One angler did manage a 200-pound thresher shark, along with two makos while fishing the Canyons. There are also yellowfin and bluefin tuna to be had at the Fingers. Bill from King Cove Marina & Outfitters claims there is no such thing as the “summer doldrums” in the easternmost part of the state. Fluke fishing remains fairly strong, but anglers are certainly working harder for their keepers. A majority of the action is now occurring in 45-60 feet of water.
  
• Stripers are plentiful from the “Kitchen” inside Little Narragansett Bay; out to Napatree Point; over to Fishers Island (south side); and east to Watch Hill. Many of these pods are of the schoolie variety, but there is no shortage of larger fish, especially near the rip along Watch Hill and the south side of Fishers Island. Live bait continues to be the key. Quonny Breachway is finally starting to pick up with a nice pick of big bass coming from the channel. Surfcasters working Misquamicut and Fire District Beach are producing big fish on a more consistent basis, especially under low-light conditions.
  
• On Saturday, Pat Abate of Rivers End was nice enough to provide this species by species breakdown for Eastern Connecticut. Striped Bass - The excitement for stripers lately isn’t the size but the behavior of the bass. For several weeks there have been schools, at times an acre in size and in unison on the surface from Watch Hill to Plum Island.
  
• On the local reefs such as Hatchett’s, Long Sand Shoal, and Southwest Reef, the live bait crowd has been scoring with a few jumbos. The Race and Plum Gut remain pretty quiet on the bass front.
• Bluefish - The action from shore at the mouth of the River has slowed this past week, but some choppers are being landed, particularly at night, at the DEP Piers and Saybrook Point. There have also been some blues from shore in Niantic. The Race and Plum Gut have the normal summer load of blues with some surface appearance at low light and slack tide.
  
• Fluke - The run at Block Island has been good with some great sizes. Black Point is still giving up some doormats but not many fish. Long Sand Shoal has yielded mostly shorts.
• Porgies - Mixed sizes are coming from the local reefs. Bartletts, Cranes, Hatchetts have a fair amount of fish.
  
• Bonito – There’s been a bunch of sighting and a few catches at Watch Hill, Plum Gut and Weekapaug. There have been fewer reports this week.
  
• Blue Crabs - Good reports coming from the Oyster River, DEP Piers, and North Cove. And lastly, Claire from Hel-Cat II Charters provided the following charter report. Just as we predicted, the fishery came back to life with a bang this past week.
  
• Bluefishing picked up rapidly as each day passed and the bass hit was, as always, centered on time of tide. Our Thursday, Friday and Saturday afternoon/evening fluke trips continued to produce well despite some trying weather conditions. (Roland St. Denis