Eastern CT, Nor'east Magazine, 8/5

• The action continues to improve all along the eastern Connecticut shoreline, despite the very warm temperatures over the past week.
• I spoke with the “Captain” at Captain Morgan’s Bait and Tackle in Madison towards the end of the week and he reported some fantastic fishing in the middle of Long Island Sound. There has been a nice run of bass along many of the nearby reefs, which includes Southwest Reef, Six Mile Reef, and Falkner Island. A healthy pick of 20 to 35-pound bass have been extremely active in these locations during the early morning hours. Live bait appears to be the key to catching larger bass frolicking in the area. Fluking has been very good in close to shore. With the influx of snapper blues along the shoreline and nearby tidal rivers, the fluke have not been shy and have moved into the shallows to feed. Anglers are catching fish in depths ranging from 8-70 feet depending on the tide. Blackfish are still there for the taking, but it is time to start focusing on deeper rock piles and wrecks. According to the “Captain,” tailor blues in the 2-4-pound class are everywhere along the shoreline. On Thursday, the shop received their first delivery of locally caught bunker, so the bait is definitely moving in an easterly direction. Lastly, the first reports of bonito and false albacore filtered into the shop. These fish were also spotted near Falkner Island.
• Jack’s Shoreline Bait and Tackle checked in this week with an encouraging report. Blackfishing is still holding up, especially in the deeper holes. Hermit crabs appear to be working extremely well at the moment. On the striped bass front, Keith Salisbury landed 9 bass up to 47 pounds while fishing Southwest Reef on Friday morning. Southwest Reef, Six Mile Reef and Cornfield Point have been producing a decent pick of bass leading into the weekend.
• In Jack’s opinion, the fluking has been “erratic.” Some sharpies are having no issues limiting out while others are having a very hard time finding any fish. In the case of Tony Cerase, he proved the fluke bite is still very strong in and around the Westbrook shoreline. On Thursday, Tony managed several nice keepers including a 31-inch, 10-pound doormat while fishing Duck Island. On the crabbing front, there are plenty of very nice keepers available to those willing to work the tidal rivers under dark skies.
• Evan from J&B Tackle checked in to provide this brief report. The bass and bluefish bite has certainly picked up this week, especially for those dunking live or fresh bait at The Race. Evan hasn’t received many fluke or blackfish reports as it appears many of his customers are focusing on the bass. The offshore action has been very good and Evan was excited to report the Primetime boat out of Niantic managed to land a hefty 287-pound bigeye tuna in the Fish Tales region.
  
• In the Canyons, the action has been steady with a smorgasbord of pelagics making their annual appearance. A nice mix of 50-80-pound yellowfin tuna is there for the taking as well as some marlin. According to Evan, a handful of marlin were caught and released this past week, which is great news for the offshore fleet!
• Mark Beers of Block Island Tackle in Westbrook raved about the striped bass action along Southwest Reef. Mark took a customer to this location one morning earlier in the week and hammered fish until they decided to call it a day. Many of the bigger fish are located outside of the reef in 38-44 feet. The bluefish are in strong along Long Sand Shoal, especially near the western end. There is also tons of bait along the shoal with a mix of juvenile and larger schools of bunker. Fluking is still fairly strong, but once again, you’ll need to pick through the shorts. Hammonasett has been productive as well as Long Sand Shoal.
• For the porgy angler, you’ll love to hear this. Anglers are catching scup exceeding 20 inches near the wreck just south of Southwest Reef! Clams have been the bait of choice for the locals keyed in on these monster porgies.
• Pat Abate of Hillyers Bait and Tackle forwarded the following information on a species by species basis.
• Striped bass - Last week’s trend upward fizzled this week. The bait supply has stayed about the same but the bass on the reefs have been harder to come by. I don't think we can keep taking the summer residents off the reefs and expect them to be replaced. Southwest and Hatchetts have given up a few jumbos, The Race has been slow and Plum Gut has given up a few to live bait. Tube and worm trolling has been catching mostly schoolies along the Old Lyme to Waterford shoreline with some larger fish mixed in. The surfacesipping bass are still in the Watch Hill to Plum Island area. A few anglers are scoring, mostly on flies imitating minute herring.
• Bluefish - Activity remains steady in the lower Connecticut River for both the shore and boat angler with some choppers approaching the double digit mark. Fresh bunker or hickory shad has been the best producer. The Race has had some decent days on jigs but it has not been consistent. The blues are also on the surface in the evenings along the Old Lyme beaches.
• Snappers - They are here in decent enough size and numbers to make it worthwhile. The DEP Piers, Saybrook Point, Blackhall River and the Causeway have 4" plus snappers.
• Fluke – It’s about the same as last week. When boat traffic permits the River has had a mix of sizes with a fair percentage of keepers. The best reports are from the Black Point to Hatchetts in 50-foot plus depths. Soundview also has a mix of shorts and keepers in 30 feet of water.
• Blackfish - No reports and green crabs are hard to get, but there are blackfish on the reefs all summer for the dedicated.
• Porgies - Decent reports of them at Hatchetts and Bartlett’s.
• Bonito – There’s been a bunch of sightings and a few catches at Watch Hill, Plum Gut and Weekapaug.
• Blue Crabs – Good, but not great reports coming from the Oyster River, DEP Piers, and North Cove.
• And lastly, Claire from the Hel-Cat II charter operation forwarded this late we report: This past week started to show some improvement in the catch levels of both blues and bass. For a while there was a very narrow window of opportunity at one point in the tide. That window has started to expand in the last few days. This is nothing to worry about as it happens every year around this time. Apparently the blues have something on their minds other than food. The bass take this past Sunday was strong. There has been no slowdown in the fluke fishing on our 4PM to 8 PM trips. As a matter of fact, that fishery is so good, and the trip has become so popular that we are extending it by a week. The last 4pm to 8pm fluke trip will be on the 25th of August. Due to the sunset times after that date, it would not be practical to continue beyond it. (Roland St. Denis)