Week Fish Column C. Walsh, ConnPost 5/28/09

The blues have arrived.

I know we have been saying that for three weeks, but the fishing clan at the Bridgeport YMCA was highly skeptical of those reports. Through an intermediary they let it be known that they believed our information was strictly from the bait and tackle merchants, who, we all know, tend to be a bit on the optimistic side.

Not until one of the "Y" guys pulled in a 13-pound chopper (location not revealed) were they willing to admit the presence of bluefish in Long Island Sound.

We can assure the Bridgeport gang that while bait & tackle shop folks are a major source for this report, we do have spies outside the shops, including our own eyes that witnessed several large bluefish landed in recent weeks.

We do try to keep these reports from being too pessimistic, however. After all, to paraphrase the bumper sticker, rotten day fishing is better than a good day at work any old time.

Meanwhile, bunker schools are reported in all the harbors. And the Derby Dam is in the middle of a terrific herring run that has kept the bass there for days. If you head for Derby, be prepared for a shoulder-to-shoulder crowd.

Stripped bass -- While the linesiders have not totally abandoned the rivers (some good reports still coming from the mouth of the Housatonic), the large cows are starting to move out to deeper water. Night fishing is becoming the best way to catch a large bass.

Bluefish -- Casting a popper off Penfield Reef when the tide is moving swiftly in either direction can produce blues up to 10 pounds. Bait casters live lining bunker have done well in the deeper holes off Bridgeport and toward St. Mary's. Inshore the bluefish are still hit and miss, but the hits are becoming more common than the misses. Schools of small to medium-sized blues have been chasing bunker in Black Rock Harbor.

Weakfish -- Still no confirmed reports, but we are betting that one of the regulars at the New Haven sandbar took at least one weakie home this week.

Porgies -- Not many positive reports yet, but try the area between Milford's Charles Island and the breakwater at the Housatonic. Clam and squid would be the baits of choice.

Winter flounder -- The season closes Saturday at midnight, but the Norwalk Islands are holding enough keepers to make a trip there worthwhile. One three-angler boat came back to Stratford with 15 fish between 1.5 and 2 pounds last weekend.

Trout -- Massive insect hatches are making the dry fly fishers happy on the upper Housatonic and Farmington rivers. In the Housatonic flows are very fishable at 850 cfs at Falls Village and 1,350 cfs at Gaylordsville. Water temperatures are in the upper 50s to low 60s. Flies such as size 14 and 16 sulphurs, size 16 to 20 blue wing olive, Cahills in sizes 12 or14, March browns and Green Caddis. Midges and early stoneflies are also being seen in the river at tributary mouths. [Charles Walsh, Conn Post]