Eastern LIS, T. Coleman 5/29/09

The cool, rainy, foggy weather of the last few days has cut down the number of boats. We do, however, have some good fishing in our waters, but not as consistent as we would like to see, especially on the east side of Fishers Island in the Watch Hill Reefs.

Capt. Jack Balint fished that spot on Tuesday, his boat the only one in sight. He reported up and down results with bass good one day and very poor the next in water that is just now reaching 51 degrees. There are lots of sand eels around Race Point with some bass to 20 pounds landed on casting tackle and also smaller bass at times caught around the mouths of the Pawcatuck and Mystic Rivers. Catches for private boats drifting in The Race was not as good as the week before said Jack.

Red at Bob's Rod & Tackle told me the last day of flounder season is Saturday. Expect to land a few flats for supper per day at locations in the lower part of the Thames and over towards Harkness Park but not in the numbers of 20 years ago. Bass are chasing bunkers around the Thames but the bait supply is much more scattered than last week. A fellow did try for porgies, that season now open, but didn't get a bite.

Bill over at King Cove in Stonington heard about some bass caught on some days on the Watch Hill Reefs and expects numbers to increase as the water warms. Snapping jigs on wire is working out there and casting lures on spinning or fly tackle is producing schoolies chasing squid around the Stonington shoreline and up in the harbor.

Fly fishermen without boats are landing school bass on the north side of the causeway to Mason's Island, said Allen at Shaffers Marina. People with boats found bass on the surface on some days chasing small squid at places like Race Rock, the south end of Mason's Island and Lords Passage. Bunkers have moved out of the Mystic River or are very scattered from the week prior. There are no reports yet of hickory shad in the river and the Connecticut fluke season is closed until the middle of next month.

Capt. Howard Beers over at Hillyers Tackle said they are selling lots of diamond jigs for drifting in The Race. To date they've seen keepers but no really large fish. Blues are mixed in with the bass but nowhere close yet to summer numbers. One local caught the first porgies of the year fishing from the rocks at Black Point.

Capt. Kerry Douton at J&B Tackle talked about some bass now along the shoreline reefs from Hatchetts over to Inner Bartletts landed on wire and lures. The water off Montauk is still too cold for offshore fishing, even for the first blue sharks. A mix of bass and a few blues in available in The Race, the local charter boats scoring better than the private boater out only on the weekends.

Down at River's End in Old Saybrook, Mark Lewchik said small boaters caught more bass in the lower Connecticut River from Essex to the mouth thanks to ebb tides at first light. Plastic shads and poppers were both working. A few blues are in the river competing with the stripers. There was also a reliable report of bass on top one day in Plum Gut, hitting small lures cast with spinning rods.

Anyone driving over to Rhode Island beaches for surf casting would be well advised to first either early in the day or in the evening as the sun is going down, the best times right now. Ray Monahan of Westerly caught a 20-pounder as well as four other chunky schoolies on Tuesday evening after a day of truck driving. He took the one biggest fish home to feed not only his family but also an elderly lady that lives nearby and doesn't get out of the house much.