On The Water

* Best Bets in Connecticut & Rhode Island: Go crabbing. Conditions are the best that they have been in a number of years, so take advantage while you are able. Go west and try your luck in the Bluefish Tournament; prizes are worth the effort. Grab your light-tackle gear or your fly rod and head out to meet the bonito or albies before they have seen every fly and spoon pattern on the face of the planet. Locate the heavy sinkers and go deep one more time for some fluke before the season winds down and closes. It is not so very far away.
* As the summer air cools down, the striper action is heating up again. Chase your big linesiders from Connecticut to Great Bay, and especially around Block Island. Bear in mind, the bluefish blitzes have been ferocious, so you have to get below them to find your cow bass. Fluke are putting in a strong last stand around Rhode Island, and offshore action has continued to be hot for tuna, with the occasional bigeye, mahi-mahi, and white marlin to boot.
* Connecticut: Big bunker are still making the Thames River their home, and some massive bluefish are hanging under the schools of bunker and sticking with them on their travels. Rennie at The Fish Connection in Preston had reports that Norwich Harbor was very busy early in the week, as jumbo blues made breakfast of large bunker. Striped bass action is good, but mainly to school bass in the river; the bigger fish may be enticed to eat eels at night at the river mouth and at deeper, rocky spots. Rennie is getting reports that the fluke are moving around a lot and the catch is thinning out as a result. Good fish are still being taken by those anglers who can locate them, however.
* Reports of anglers taking white perch in Poquetanuck Cove have also been coming into the shop, adding a new species to the list of summer angling possibilities. Mealworms seem to be the bait of preference for these fish. Bonito are now showing up all along the shore, and reports are coming in that false albacore are in the area as well. Rennie recommends Rattletraps, Swedish Pimples and Deadly Dicks for taking one of these oceanic speedsters. The crabbing is absolutely unbelievable, according to Rennie, and freshwater anglers are doing well to smallmouth bass in the Shetucket and Quinebaug rivers; largemouths in the Lake of Isles, Pachaug, Glasgow and Avery ponds.
* Shane at Hillyer’s Bait & Tackle in Waterford reports that the fluke are moving around a lot, and they are going ever deeper. Their size also seems to be decreasing, with keeper-sized fluke becoming ever rarer as the days go by and the season’s closing date approaches. Striper fishing to bigger bass is slow by day, though there are good numbers of school bass around and willing to play. Bartlett Reef and Pigeon Rip are prime spots for big stripers under the cover of darkness with eels or fresh chunks of bait. Some anglers are “3-waying” live scup with pretty good success at Bartlett, and school bass are falling victim to tube-and-worm rigs by day. Shane also has reports of good bluefishing at both Harkness and Pleasure Beach, with most fish in the 6- to 10-pound range. Bonito are also being reported at Pleasure Beach, but a boat is needed because the fish are not regularly coming near shore. Valiant Rock has been consistently alive with bonito, according to reports Shane is getting.
* Captain Morgan at Captain Morgan’s Bait & Tackle in Madison reported that bonito are showing up in the area, but nowhere with any consistency. Big bluefish have begun showing up in the area, but there is not a lot of big bunker in the area at the moment. The ICC Bluefish Tournament takes place this weekend, so let’s hope some of those jumbo blues hang around through the weekend.
* Bluefish have really come in thick to the Norwalk area, according to Chris at Westport Outfitters in Norwalk. Most fish are in the 8- to 10-pound range and are providing some very good topwater entertainment. Underneath the mess of moderately sized fish, you will find bigger fish mixed in. Striped bass catches are slow at the moment, but certainly not impossible. Chris has been breaking the mold on his charters by targeting shallower waters, and several anglers have taken bass in the 20-pound range. School bass are providing reasonably steady action for light-tackle enthusiasts, he added. Bonito are around but very scarce, and they are traveling in rather small schools. There is a lot of bait in the area – large schools of 2 ½-inch bunker and very large silversides – which is bound to keep both the bass and the blues in the area.
* Rhode Island: Steve at The Saltwater Edge confirmed that striped bass fishing is indeed improving, particularly from shore to school bass. Bait is everywhere and the fish are hungry – a particularly good combination for anglers. The bait is thickest in the lower bay, and in effect, the fishing is best there. Bigger stripers are mixed in, but you need to get below the smaller fish. Bonito have been taken at the various “walls” at Point Judith, giving shorebound anglers many reasons to make the hike out along the rocks. Steve notes that fluke fishing is still quite good, and he advises anglers not to overlook the Sakonnet River area for this species, as it has been rather productive.
* Bass fishing is still going strong on the south side of Block Island and by Southwest Point, say those at Wildwood Outfitters in Wakefield. A number of 20- to 30-pounders are also being brought in from Narragansett to Charleston, especially by the Narrow River, though boat traffic is still an issue. Fluke are standing strong in 55- to 100-foot depths outside the Center Wall, and in 60- to 110-foot depths by the R6-Buoy and around the Newport Bridge. Bluefish are popping up all over the place, from the Charlestown Breachway to Point Judith Light to Beavertail Point. Masses of peanut bunker are also drawing the blues to the north end of Gould Island and into Narragansett Bay. Bonito have been sighted outside the Point Judith walls, along the south shore of Block Island and outside the Narrow River, but true success stories are rare. Offshore fishing continues to offer excitement, with the occasional bigeye, mahi-mahi, and wahoo interspersed among the yellowfin around Atlantic and Veatch canyons. Cod are around, too, but the dogfish have been harassing those who attempt to catch them.
* Mary at Maridee Bait & Tackle in Narragansett is hearing reports of good sea bass and scup catches at the East Wall, and mackerel being taken at Black Point. Reports also say that the fluke are heading to deeper waters, with the waters near the lighthouse, at about 70-foot depths, producing some nice keepers. Bluefish are just about everywhere in the Narragansett region, though most are small- to medium-sized with an occasional brute tossed in just to keep it interesting. Striped bass angling is good both by day and by night; expect school bass by day — the Narragansett Town Beach has been productive both early and late in the day — and bigger fish by night, particularly when fishing eels. Mary reports that there are plenty of big bass lurking around the docks at Point Judith that are willing to eat clam bellies and cocahoes, but keeping them off the barnacle-studded piling is a major challenge. Bonito have invaded Narragansett coastal waters, but don’t expect to see them hanging around any one particular spot.
* While bonito are keeping anglers in boats busy just off the beaches in Charlestown, bluefish have invaded the Breachway. Ronnie at Breachway Bait & Tackle reported that most of the blues are in the 6- to 8-pound range, providing excellent action throughout the day. Larger blues are available near the mouth of the Breachway. Striped bass are around in good numbers, but catches are way down, according to reports coming into the shop; the problem is getting through the throng of bluefish to reach the stripers. As fluke are now move into the pond, catches are diminishing some, and most are shorts. Fluke rigs armed with cut squid or live mummichogs are the way to go, and you can use the leftover squid to take scup anywhere along the rocks of the breachway.
* Captain Don’s Bait & Tackle in Charlestown was busy as a beehive, but Captain Don found time to report that bonito are being found all along the south shore. These fish are now coming more regularly into the Breachway, providing some fast action to light tackle anglers. Daybreak is the best time to be out for striped bass, and there are reports of consistently excellent fishing from the Quonny Breachway to Blue Shutters Town Beach. In parting, Captain Don confirmed that the fluke are still biting, but they have moved into deeper waters. The depth to target seems to be 70 to 80 feet.
* The first reports of little tunny in the area came from John at Twin Maples on Block Island; two fish were landed just outside the Coast Guard Channel early this week. Bonito are also consistent in the Coast Guard Channel, and John expects both species to be a fixture in that spot for a while now. A run of really big fluke followed the big wind events over the past weekend and early in the week, with the red bell at Southwest Point and just off the Town Beach bell buoy being spots where jumbo sized fluke are being taken. John had reports that striped bass are now frolicking in the surf, and anglers tossing needlefish plugs into the suds are doing well with both school bass and larger specimens, even during daylight hours. Reports coming into the shop are suggesting that the bluefish, while still very plentiful, seem to be thinning out a bit. (Alan Desbonnet)