On The Water Magazine

• Best Bets for the Weekend: This may be starting to sound redundant, but if you want hot action to bonito and false albacore, Block Island is the place to be. If you get sick of tossing flies or light spoons to these speedsters, you can grab the heavyweight plugs and a surf rod and head to the south side of the island for large striped bass. If bluefish are your desire, the waters from Watch Hill to Stonington Point are also good bets, as are the breachways along the south shore of Rhode Island; bonito and albies are available there as well. Farther west, the mouth of the Housatonic River is lively, and the Norwalk Islands should provide decent opportunities as well. Last but not least, with cooler weather rolling in more consistently, now is be the time to go after the blue crabs that have been in such abundance.
• Bluefish are still around, but they are more scattered than they were a week ago, according to Captain Jack Balint at The Fish Connection in Preston. The densest concentrations of bluefish are being found between Stonington Point and Napatree Point at the moment. School bass are being found here and there, but the only big stripers have been coming from The Race. Captain Balint heard reports of some large bass taken on Watch Hill Reef, but the action has slowed there over the past week. False albacore have been reported at The Race, Watch Hill, Plum Gut and the Sluiceway, but without any consistency in Eastern Long Island Sound yet. Bonito, however, are keeping anglers happy at Mumford Cove and at the mouth of the Thames River. Deadly Dicks and Swedish Pimples have been consistent producers. Scup anglers are doing incredibly well on the reefs at Watch Hill, according to Captain Balint; he has seen them coming into boats one after another, all of them good-sized.
• Anglers who know when and where to go and what to use are still taking striped bass to 30 pounds throughout the area. A 30-plus-pound striper was landed at the mouth of the Niantic River earlier in the week, according to Howard at Hillyer’s Bait & Tackle in Waterford. Early morning is the best time to be out, and the big bass prefer chunk bait to anything else at the moment. Bluefish are still fishing excellently, with Black Point being the most consistent producer of bigger fish. Bonito are pretty steady in Jordan Cove, according to reports Howard has heard, and they can be found throughout the eastern end of the sound from Harkness to the Sluiceway. False albacore have not made a strong showing in the area just yet, but there is lots of bait, so they ought to show soon. Howard reported that the blue crabbing is still incredible, with lots of big crabs being taken.
• The wind has been keeping quite a few anglers off the waters of Eastern Long Island Sound, according to Captain Jerry Morgan at Captain Morgan’s Bait & Tackle in Madison. The wind, however, has pushed bait in close to shore, making for some excellent surf fishing. Bluefish and striped bass are both around, and bluefish have been “blitzing” on the surface close to shore on most afternoons and evenings. Bonito are around but are not consistent anywhere in particular, and the false albacore have not showed in any numbers quite yet. Captain Morgan reported that the Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection has begun its fall stocking of trout. They are focusing on the lakes and ponds first in hopes that the area will receive some much-needed rainfall and improve the water levels in the rivers and streams. A few anglers have reported taking trout in the Hammonasset River, and a few have reported taking pike in the Meadows on live shiners.
• Chris at Stratford Bait & Tackle in Stratford reported that fishing has slowed a bit overall in the past week. There is lots of bait around, but it’s mainly baby bunker, so the bigger stripers are either not around or not very active. In spite of this, some anglers are doing well for larger stripers fishing live eels and chunk bait on Penfield and Fairfield reefs. Darkness improves the odds for success. Chris also reported that Short and Long beaches are seeing some pretty good action to bluefish on and off throughout the day. Anglers tossing plugs are doing quite well. Scup fishing is still good throughout the area, but there have not been many bonito or false albacore sightings over the past week. Now that the weather has cooled a bit, Chris has been seeing lots of anglers heading to the Farmington River; he expects to have a better report on it next week.
• In the Norwalk area, Chris at Westport Outfitters reported that anglers are doing well trolling tubes for striped bass, but no one is reporting much in the way of topwater action at the moment, at least not to striped bass. Bluefish are being found here and there, with the mouth of the Housatonic and the Norwalk Islands having the largest concentrations at the moment. For whatever reason, the mouth of the Housatonic has larger bluefish, running to 12 pounds, while the islands are producing blues in the 6- to 8-pound range. Bonito have been pretty consistent just outside the Norwalk Islands, with a scattering of fish on the inside. False albacore are being reported around Port Jefferson and the Middle Ground.