The Fishing Line 5/6/09

Fishing Line reports lots of Striper action in rivers & bays -with most keepers caught at either the far eastern or western end of CT. Stripers are being caught on plastics, shad bodies & small poppers. Some Bluefish but nothing big. Some flounder continue to be caught.

Westernmost CT: Good weather brought good fishing with stripers between 25-28". Larger fishing coming in from the east. The mouth of the Housatonic River saw keeper bass caught with bucktails & light colored plastics. Fly fishers catching with herring pattern, Clouser. No trolling catches reported.

Bridgeport to Stratford: Branford Harbor, mouth of Housatonic & Quinnipiac Rivers is packed with schoolies right now. Small poppers in light colors including chartreuse & white being best. Not much in the bluefish catches & flounder is floundering.

In the area of New Haven to Madison, only Norwalk and New Haven have decent striper action. Sandworms are catching bass & small numbers of flounder, but for legal size use shad body or calms. Overall this area has the least amount of bass action, but should improve as fish come in from the West & East.

Eastern CT:
CT River and the Race: Schoolie bass are numerous. CT River Mouth & Great Island are good with more keeper caught. Look for improvement as water heats up. One local shop reports overall Bass numbes down as compared to last year. Best baits: small surface poppers. Very little flounder action which will disappear when bluefish move in.

Niantic Bay and Thames River: Almost legal schoolie bass are numerous in the Niantic and Thames River. Best bait is bunker & bucktails at the mouth of the rivers. Flounder limits caught at Jordan Cove & the shallow depths in Niantic River using sandworms & clam chum.