Westport Outfitters

• Ah…the feeling of fall is definitely upon us, coupled with some of the best Bonita action we have seen in years. Topping last week’s report, the little speedsters showed themselves all weekend long. The steady but not overbearing southwest blow stacked these fish up inside of the “bowl” inside of Goose and Grassy out in the islands as well as in tight where the bones had bait cornered between the reef and Cockenoe Island. Captain Matt took the whole family out on Saturday to get into these fish and did quite well with several to the boat and many more hook ups. The fish themselves are definitely beginning to get a bit more finicky though. Perhaps as a direct result of getting everything in the bag tossed at them over the past several weeks. So much for boat traffic dwindling as we had forecasted several weeks back. It seems as if in reality, it actually has increased since the Labor Day Holiday. Just remember etiquette when into these fish, try and forecast where the boat next to you may be drifting towards and do your best not to cross over their drift.
• A special note; try a small teaser off a swivel just above your shock tippet when fishing for these fish. Perhaps an all white or chartreuse deceiver. This seemed to do the trick for Captain Matt on Saturday after cycling through his bag of goodies with not much luck.
• Shop customer Sage (see new homepage photo) was back into thee fish once again on Sunday with an excursion both in the A.M. and then a return trip back out later that afternoon. His bait of choice was white soft plastics (bass assassin and/or sluggos). With all of these great Bonita reports around, we still can not forgot about the striper bite which continues to improve albeit still during low or no light conditions from shore.
• Local angler Ron Leong continues to venture out and wade the shallows leading up to first light around the usual haunts in Westport. Saturday A.M. he was once again awarded with a nice 34 inch bass on a top water plug and had several other tremendous hits with no hook ups. Ron has been steadfast despite the water temps throughout the season when fishing inshore and his very productive weekly reports to the shop show his efforts truly paying off.
• Looking back at our archived reports from last year, our friend or should we say rather foe, Tropical Storm Ernesto had just pushed through with recorded wind gusts of over 60 MPH in our local area. For those of you that recall this little storm, we awoke on Sunday morning with over 16 boats up on their ears on Calf Pasture Beach. We were really crossing our fingers that the latest depression would not do the same and we came out unscathed. On the upside, the large influx of rain, probably dropped our water temps by several degrees which is good news for the bass fishing. Although none of us ventured out Monday and Tuesday, we have charters booked all weekend so we will see if any damage was done in regards to scattering the bait. The last thing we need is a good blow to run the hoards of peanut bunker out of town.
• Often it is the case that we need a weather event to really get the bass moving again, an event that brings with it, a drastic temperature change. What this change does is indicate to these fish that “hey,” winter is on its way and we better gorge before we head south. At the time of this report, I had just stepped in from the outside. When I left my home this A.M. (Thursday) at 5:15, the temperature was 47 degrees and I could see my breath...enough said.
• Focus on a strong moving tide whether it be incoming or outgoing from shore. The bluefish blitzes are still popping up pretty close for the wade fisherman, which all have larger bass mixed in as well. Jay Thomson ventured out Monday around the Saugatauk basin with the fly rod and some of Eric Peterson’s hand tied Synergy Flies and had his fill of nearly keeper stripers and 3-8lbs blues. For the spin fisherman, Bounders, L-Jack Jigs, Stillwater Poppers and as long as you get up early, the new Storm Wild Eyed Herring and Shads. If you have not seen/fished these new flies, you are missing out!! Speaking of flies, we almost forgot to mention, local angler, slip customer good friend and shop customer Patrick Hughes also broke the curse and nailed his first bone on the fly rod Saturday. He came in to tell the report with a smile from ear to ear as if he had just won the lottery. If he had won the lottery, that new 2400 Bay Ranger Pat would have been in your driveway before you got done celebrating.
• LATE REPORT FROM THURSDAY 9.13.07-Albies seen, scouted and caught in Norwalk!!- Game ON!!
• Although the kids are back at school, the snappers are still here and growing, Take The Family Fishing™ today!! If jigging is your fancy, the OB, 28C and Can 13 are also picking up. Don’t forget your teasers. If you are not familiar, stop on down and we can spin you up a few for your excursion while you wait.
• Snapper Tourney this Saturday September 15 @ the pier on Calf Pasture Beach!!
• MONTAUK REPORT: The "Teaser" took off last week but was back at the fishing grounds this week. Fresh report from the wet decks on board the TEASER in Montauk where Captain Dean reports that the fluke fishing is still better than average for this time of year. Despite the politics that went on at the beginning of the year, Fluke season will officially close out East on the 17th of September, so you only have a few more days for a chance at the "Montauk Doormat."
• He reports that the striped bass fishing seems to be on the down side as well, but this is the traditional lull before the fall blitz heats up. Offshore the shark fishing is holding up pretty good with a mixture of blue sharks and small makos. “We should start to see the giant fall blue sharks pretty soon now with these cooler waters moving in,” Kardamis stated. The tuna fishing out near the edge was excellent this past week. In addition to the usual yellowfins and longfins there were a surprising amount of bigeyes being taken too and not just at dawn and dusk, but even at midday inside the drop-off on the flats. That’s probably the result of cooler waters too. The last couple of years you would see the temps in the upper seventies, but now they’re down around 72-73 degrees.