Westport Outfitters Week of April 18, 2009

By Eric Johnson

As I write this report, the weekend forecast is looking sweet, so be sure to get out there this weekend. Even if you don’t catch fish, I think we all deserve a bit of R&R after this miserable winter and thus far, a Spring that has been more reminiscent of Fall with the wind and rain. I was out this A.M. in 25 knots of breeze blowing out of the Southwest, first from Norwalk to Southport and then from Norwalk to Darien delivering boats. Along the coast, there were birds in mass, picking off bait that most likely was small grass shrimp and perhaps even some herring mixed in, whatever it was, there were birds working in essence all the way from Southport to Darien.

Earlier in the week we were over at Cove Marina prepping boats and witnessed an osprey fly directly over us with a bunker in its mouth, so yet another good sign that once the fish start to arrive, there will be plenty of bait to entice them to stick around.

So, dust off the rods folks and start checking your local outflows, harbors and marshes as schoolie size stripers have started taking up residence in areas like Norwalk Harbor, and Milford Harbor which means we are only days away from a push of fish into all the usual haunts. In fact, we had young Elliot report earlier in the week a catch of a 24 inch striper off of Burial Hill on a buck tail tipped with a Mister Twister. Most likely just an errant fish, but nonetheless a great early season catch! Penfield Reef, Southport Harbor, Beach, Sherwood Point, The Mill and the Saugatuck will soon have their share of schoolie bass action! Focus on first fishing small soft plastics, preferably with shades of white and olive. We prefer sluggos on off set hooks rigged weed less. If you don’t know how to do this, stop on in and we can get you rigged up.

Some of the resident fish are starting to exit the Housatonic River. We had Gaston, Big Ed, as well as Paul C. catching bass from Milford Point all over the past week with Gaston’s crew landing a nice 32 inch 11lb fish on Wednesday(see recent catches). The bigger fish are mixed in and if you want to have a shot at them, whether on the fly rods or spinning tackle, throw bigger stuff like Pete Vs Herring patterns and/or larger swim baits and/or slash baits.

The Housatonic River has really been producing excellent action for smaller bass as well and areas further north continue to produce keepers at times and there is a decent presence of herring to keep the big girls looking up. Try fishing some of the shallower mud flats with big herring patterns or swim baits and you will definitely have a shot at one of the bigger resident linesiders! You can also finally dust off your intermediate lines for fishing the shallower waters but when targeting the channel edges, go with a 9 or 10 weight set and 300-450 grain lines like the Rio Striper line and the Airflo Depth Finder. Fly patterns that typically draw the attention of the schoolie bass are chartreuse/white clousers, and mushies in the same color combination. White jiggies are another excellent choice when targeting numbers. For the shot at a bigger fish we have Pete Viviano’s yak hair herring imitations and Eric Peterson’s tried and true herring patterns as well.

Spin and baitcast anglers are beginning to see more action on slash baits as well, like the Rapala Xrap and Yozuri Crystal Minnow in the larger sizes. For casting these larger plugs you will want to gear up with 15 lb. test Yozuri Hybrid or 20-30 PowerPro braid and a 7-8 foot 10-20 lb. action spinning or bait casting outfit. Daybreak fishing can produce surface action on Super Spooks and poppers as well as our favorite the Lordship Lures. Swimming a big Danny in the surface film at daybreak can produce action on the biggest fish.

Although the river has been productive, now is really the time to start focusing on the Sound and above mentioned flies and lures will prove effective as fish move into their spring feeding patterns…the only way you will know for sure folks is to get out and fish and this weekend there should be no excuses!!!

Freshwater Report

Well we endured the mayhem associated with the Opening Day of trout season and it was a beautiful, almost hot day, throughout the state. The stocking program once again put a good amount of fish in all of our local streams like the Mill River, Aspetuck, Saugatuck, Norwalk and Mianus. Several broodstock trout well over 5 lbs. were landed by overjoyed anglers! An opening day icon for certain is the Farmington River and the anticipation of shoulder to shoulder fishing did not disappoint anyone that enjoys taking part in this annual ritual. This river is absolutely loaded with holdover and stocked fish right now and it is only an hour away from Fairfield County. If anyone is interested in learning the rivers better fishing areas and entomology we have guides that can get you dialed into this world class trout fishery. Right now a green bodied caddis imitation in sized 14-18 will produce well on our smaller streams as well has the upper Housatonic and Farmington rivers. Always come prepared with nymphs, emergers and dries to help you extend your productive fishing periods. Blue Wing Olive mayflies are appearing in our Fairfield County streams more frequently now and stonefly imitations are also a good bet. Of course the old standard the Wooly Bugger will get the job done along with other streamer imitations like the black ghost and mickey finn. The stocked fish usually prefer the flashier imitations right now until they hone in on the insect activity.

The recent and much needed rain will help spread out some of the stocked fish and provide for more interesting fishing on our smaller streams.

Well folks, that is it for this week, don’t forget to stop down this Saturday April 25th for a presentation/demonstration by Lordship Lure’s founder/creator Ron DiConstanza. As this is our inaugural first full fishing report, it also is yet one final sign that our season is now upon us. Look forward to seeing you all once again at our new facility located at 609 Riverside Avenue in Westport CT!!