Western CT, Nor'east Saltwater, 8/5

• Well, the dog days of August are finally upon us and with them come lots of hot weather, the warming of the waters, and the annual threat of oxygen deprivation in the Long Island Sound. With any luck, the present perfect fishing conditions will not change and anglers of western Connecticut will continue to enjoy the spectacular season that has been just off the charts this year.
• This week, things have not changed much from the previous five days with blue crabs still in abundance at Ash Creek, Southport Harbor, Mill Pond, Sunken Harbor, New Haven Harbor, Gulf Beach and Milford Harbor, while bluefish continue to be right on the bait pods, with lazy stripers hanging below waiting for a free meal. Fluke are still strong around the islands and in New Haven Harbor and a few sea bass are being picked up with regularity as well.
• At Rudy’s Tackle Barn in Greenwich, Joe Esposito said that all the heavy action is around Captains Island with Joe Loaden catching bluefish to 8 pounds at that location. Johnny Tu had a big day at Todds Point where he fished a squid and spearing rig and caught a 27-inch fluke. He also was surprised when two keeper bass jumped on the same rig and gave him one heck of a fight on light tackle. Capt. Dale, of the boat Mental Floss, had his way with the fish at Captains Island where he used bunker chunks to catch a 32-inch striper and bluefish to 10 pounds.
• Mike Noyes of Sportsman’s Den in Cos Cob talked of the family effort of Hank Weiss who had his grandson J.T. Weiss out with him fishing in Greenwich Harbor. Grandpa’s tutelage worked magic for the youngster as he used bunker chunks to reel in three bluefish to 10 pounds and three 23-inch fluke. Noyes also said that there are still a few bass around and that they can be found in deeper water on the backside of Captains Island.
• At Fish Tales in Stamford, Vincent Mirizio was raving about the fly fishing prospects at Cobblestone Reef and bragged about the day he and Jonathan Bellasante had fishing with a combination of the Clouser and Deceiver flies. The angling duo enjoyed non-stop action with some blitzing bluefish and even managed to seduce a 32-inch bass to take hold of a fly. Phil Vincoli was fishing with his wife, Patti, in Stamford Harbor where they used conventional fishing tackle baited with a bunker head to catch a 17-pound striper. Marcello DeNova resorted to trolling a tube with wire at mid Sound where he caught a 32-pound bass and several bluefish to 8 pounds, while Pat Rinaldi hit Sound Reef and fished clams for 17, 2-pound porgies and one sea bass. Sergei Shced topped off his day by catching a 15.5-pound carp in undisclosed waters.
• Pete Miller of Pete’s Place in Stamford had a mixed bag of news, telling of huge porgies that are now being caught at the Cows, and echoed the news of the pattern of surface feeding bluefish and bottom feeding bass as the norm around big bait pods. Gary Feighery took advantage of the presence of two of the species of fish in this area and used clams to catch his limit of 1.5-pound porgies in Stamford Harbor, and then switched over to bunker chunks to muscle in six bass to 37 inches.
  
• Bell Kovack set up camp at the Cows where in his first trip he pulled in 16 jumbo porgies while using clams as bait. He went back a second day and culled 19 more. Joe Horvath fished the Cows with clams and he took his limit of porgies to 15 inches. If anglers want porgies, the Cows is the location to be right now.
  
• On a different note, Frank Wasco left the porgies alone and fishing from shore in Greenwich caught several bluefish to 8 pounds with bunker chunks. Fred Bova and Ron Lombardo used the news about Captains Island well and fished in the deep water side of the islands with bunker for 20 bluefish and four bass to 22 pounds.
• At Fisherman’s World in Norwalk, Nick Massaro spoke of John Desmond who caught a 52-inch striped bass while trolling wire with a rattling Ripala at Middle Passage. In some offshore news, Nick Concavagr trolled ballyhoo 20 miles east of the Tails and caught 18 yellowfin to 55 pounds, one albacore and five mahi mahi. Steve Nichols was fishing with Pounce Smith, who was visiting from Florida, in the Monster Shark Tournament at Martha’s Vineyard. The duo caught a 226-pound mako that gave them second place in the much heralded tournament that can be viewed on ESPN in the months to come. Scott Gross also had a good day offshore where he chunked baits for two albacore to 60 pounds, a 20-pound mahi and several yellowfin to 40 pounds. All the fish were caught at the Tails.
• Eric Johnson of Westport Outfitters in Norwalk said shop faithful Jay Thomson nailed a 33-inch striper taken at Westport, with the fish hitting a large mushy pattern. Bunker remains difficult to find in the Norwalk-Westport area but they are still stacked up in the Greenwich-Rye vicinity. Bluefish are keeping the bait at bay but any day the bunker should be heading east seeking more oxygenated water. Stripers are now in their summer pattern hugging the deeper drop offs and reefs during the day and striking bait near shore during low light hours.
• Peanut bunker are growing and providing meals to hungry bass and blues, but do not overlook snapper blues as another bait source. There are still some sand eels holding near the Westport area, but the fish are certainly targeting snapper blues, peanut bunker and silversides. Tube and worm anglers should target deep drop offs and rip lines on a moving tide but also consider shallow water areas with minimal boat traffic. Look for rocky shorelines and outflows to hold keeper size bass and big blues throughout the month of August.
• At Bobby J’s in Milford, Jason Jadach reported that Tom Carboni was on the fluke while fishing with squid strips between the first and second wall of New Haven Harbor. Carboni landed his limit of fluke with the heaviest fish weighing 6.6 pounds. Al Day fished the backside of Charles Island with squid strips, catching two fluke that were 6 pounds apiece. John Biggs fished the marshes with bunker chunks and took two 8-pound bluefish, while Jimmy Bovsluo fished Welsh Point in 40 feet of water, catching his limit of porgies as well as several bluefish to 6 pounds. Rob Jadach fished Buoy 12 with a bucktail tipped with squid, where he caught a 19, 21 and 22-inch fluke, and then changed rigs to catch two 5-pound bluefish. (by Rob Caluori)