TheDay.com - Blue On Blue

• We are having a good year on blues over eight pounds in the Thames River, said Joe Balint at the Fish Connection. The fish are there, pleasing boat and shore anglers alike, because of all the bunkers in the river. Mixed in, usually underneath the bluefish activity, are a few stripers over 36 inches.
• Crabbing is fair to excellent in all the coves along the river, adding variety for those without boats. The last couple charter trips for Capt. Jack were on the slow side. They did find some bass on the Watch Hill reefs but couldn't get within casting range because of sea conditions after three straight days of easterly weather.
• Bonito are around from the Rhode Island beaches to Watch Hill Passage and some were also sighted one morning off Pleasure Beach. Porgies still provide lots of action on the Fishers Island Sound rock piles. Fluke season closes in state waters on Sept. 5.
• Al Golinski of Misquamicut is nursing a sore knee that will require an operation in the fall and limits his time on his boat. He did get out once for bass after catching bunkers in Stonington Harbor. He and a friend landed seven stripers 20-37 pounds on the Watch Hill Reefs in dirty water where they had to reel in the bait every few minutes and take the weed off it. Al's buddy Michael Lucceshi fished south of Block Island on Monday in rough weather for two small makos.
• Capt. Al Anderson had a good trip for yellowfin tuna prior to all the east wind. Trolling squid spreader bars and others lures at roughly 14600 x 43400 his charter party landed a nice catch of tuna from 60-80 pounds. Since then the water temps dropped six degrees, curtailing the fishing. On one trip they trolled past 25 high flyers at 14650 x 43650 without a single hit all day long.
• They did however get bass, catching small and keeper stripers from the North Rip in deep water on the outermost bar to Southeast Light to Black Rock along with some blues. Their best trip was 19 bass, eight keepers, at Southeast Light then two large blue sharks and a 150-pound thresher at 14500 x 43800.
• Capt. Don's in Charlestown said there are bonito running up and down the beach, out of range most of the time for shore fishermen. Boat anglers however caught some on the standard Deadly Dicks and Swedish Pimple lures. Scup catches are fine but fluke numbers seem to be in decline with biggest fish now coming from water 65-100 feet deep.
• Don at King Cove in Stonington took a short time away from getting a bunch of kayakers on the water to tell me the east wind hurt some very good striper catches on the reefs earlier in the week. Fluking is slowing down but those putting in extra time are still getting some keepers and jumbos.
• Scup numbers remain high and Don is now hearing about the first fair returns for people dunking sandworms for blackfish in some of the deeper holes.
• Capt. Allen Fee of Shaffers Marina took out his long-time friend Tyler Richards, visiting from Michigan. Together they landed small blues and schoolies on plugs from the east end of Fishers and the stake at Sugar Reef. They ended jigging Crippled Herrings deep off Middle Clump for bass of 28 and 29 inches.
• Allen guessed we should see some good catches of bass in the coming week on live eels tossed into the rocks the whole length of the south side of Fishers Island. Fluke catches on the inshore spots are fading as the season heads to a close on Sept. 5. Big porgies are still on most of the rock piles and snapper blues pleasing kids of all ages at the Masons Island Bridge.
• The better fluking is now at Montauk or in deeper water off Msiquamicut said Red at Bob's Rod & Tackle. It's getting much harder to catch a keeper in local waters. Blues are still chasing bunkers in the Thames River with a few bass under them. One gent came back to the store on Wednesday morning to report losing a nice striper from shore on Tuesday evening at a location close to the Coast Guard Academy.
• A mix of small porgies and a few keepers are in the river also along with schoolie stripers more than willing to take a worm on the bottom if a scup doesn't find it first.
• Capt. Brad Glas of the Hel-Cat reported most of last week saw good blue fishing except for two days “impacted by unfavorable local conditions.” The evening fluke trips ranged from fair to very good but keep in mind those will stop after the Saturday outing.
• By popular demand they are also offering two night trips to Alligator Ledge for ocean blues on Sept. 8 and 15. Big fish of the week was a 17.8-pound striper landed by Bruce Sebastian of Ledyard.
• Hillyers Tackle had news about one customer catching blues over 15 pounds after times in his small boat off Harkness Park. Hickory shad are in thick around the Niantic Bridges very early in the day and absent the next. Best chance of bass is after dark, drifting with a live eel or bucktail and pork rind.
• Porgies are still on most of the rock piles in Niantic Bay. Fluking is best in deep water from 60-100-feet-plus. Two other customers had reports of good catches of sea bass, one from the west side of Block Island, the other a “secret” spot around Fishers Island.
• Fluke are slowing down said Pat at River's End, probably just in time for the close of the fishing on Sept. 5. Your best bet right now might be a trip to the Ruins or Montauk. Lots more blues are on the surface early or late in the day. On Wednesday morning Pat watched a school of blues tear into bait at Crane's Ledges through binoculars from his perch on shore.
• Schoolies are after small bait along the Old Lyme shoreline, caught early or late in the day or after dark by surf casters with access to the area or people casting into the shore from small boats. Pat rated the snapper season has just average to date but said the crabbing is the best he's seen in the last three years. (Tim Coleman)