Norwich Bulletin 6/17/06

Father's Day Hotspots to take the family:
1.Mohegan Park Pond, Judd Road, in Norwich.
2.Sawmill Pond, Iron Street (Route 214) in Ledyard.
3.Horse Pond, Route 85 in Salem.
4.Ruby Cohen's Woodlands, McDonald Road in Colchester.

• If you are not fortunate enough to gain access to a private pond, there are four local spots that are all loaded with sunfish, bass and other species that provide the right combination of access, comfort and catchable fish. They include Mohegan Park Pond in Norwich, Sawmill Pond in Ledyard, Horse Pond in Salem and Ruby Cohen's Woodlands in Colchester.
• Right here in Norwich, Mohegan Park Pond is a good spot that has a decent population of bluegills, stocked trout and a few bass to play with. But concentrate on the bluegills, with light tackle, small hooks and worms for the best odds of taking a fish. The park also has play areas and walking paths for the kids if they lose interest, and they may during early outings.
• Other nearby spots are Sawmill Pond, which holds some whopping largemouths and a good population of panfish as well. South of Norwich, in Salem is Horse Pond, right off Route 85. Horse Pond is stocked with trout. Unfortunately by Father's Day, trout fishing is generally shot for the year, so concentrate along the shoreline and weed cover for sunfish so the kids, not you will catch something.
• Ruby Cohen's Woodlands off McDonald Road in Colchester has two small ponds with good shoreline access, that is a great place to take the kids fishing. The lily pad-rimmed shoreline limits total access by this time of year. It too is full of sunfish for the little ones to enjoy and a bass or two in the pads to provide a potential surprise catch.
• Use long-shanked size 10 or 12 hooks and tiny pieces of worm, fished a foot or so under on a bobber. The long shank hooks provide a handle for easy hook removal. Set the hook at the first sign of a bite to minimize gut-hooked fish you may want to release.
• Bring a bucket, fill it with water and place the first fish or two in it for the little ones to play with. Older kids may be OK with simple catch and release. But to get a little one into the sport, let them enjoy their catch for a while, look at it, touch it and then choose to either release it or bring it home for supper.
• The idea is to get your little ones out fishing or to reconnect with the older kids on Father's Day. Don't force them to fish or it won't be a good experience. Let the little ones decide when to fish and when to throw rocks, hit the swings (at Mohegan Park) or go home and show the catch, or digital photos to mom. [Bob Sampson, Norwich Bulletin]

Conn Post 6/16/06

1. Saltwater anglers should see things start to open up over the next several days because this week's warm weather has sparked life into most of the marine species. As a bonus, the closed seasons on porgy and blackfish have ended. Anglers should now be able to catch striped bass, blackfish, porgy, fluke, black sea bass and a few bluefish this weekend.
2. Striped bass are in all the usual places, particularly at the mouths of harbors and large tidal rivers in the western end of Long Island Sound, along any rocky point between Norwalk and New Haven, and on the deeper reefs east of Old Saybrook. Bass anglers also got good news this week. The public access to the old Remington Gun Club in Stratford has been reopened after an unauthorized fence had blocked it.
3. Neil Velasquez III, 7, of Stratford, caught his first keeper striped bass last week. The fish hit a tube-n-worm rig. In the interest of conservation, the youngster released his fish.
4. Fluke are increasing in number on the Connecticut side of the Sound. Some places locally to look for these fish are the "middle passage" between Shea and Chimon islands off Norwalk, Penfield Reef in Fairfield, the Bridgeport Harbor channel, Charles Island and the New Haven Harbor channel. Traveling fluke hunters will find their quarry in Peconic Bay, on the south side of Fishers Island, off Horton Point, at the Mattituck Inlet and around Port Jefferson.
5. Larry Lainey of Stratford had good luck last week off Charles Island, where he caught a 5.40-pound fluke and a 3.20-pound black sea bass. Both fish were caught on a squid and spearing combination and weighed at Stratford Bait & Tackle. Willie Rhames of Fairfield picked up a 6.20- pound fluke in Smithtown Bay.
6. Elsewhere in saltwater, bluefish are spread throughout the Sound. But they are scattered and only present a fair fishery. Blackfish season opened Thursday. These fish should be holding around the New Haven Harbor breakwaters, Townshend Ledge, Browns Reef and Middleground. Porgy are likewise schooling around Middleground and Kimberley Reef.
7. The trout season is far from over as Albert Tirmadi of Fairfield discovered last week at the Saugatuck Reservoir. While casting a silver Krocodile spoon, Tirmadi caught a 6.40-pound Seeforellen brown trout. Dwayne Belle of Bridgeport also had good luck in the Aspetuck River, where he hooked a 2.20-pound golden trout on a nightcrawler. Ted's Bait & Tackle verified both catches.
8. Other places still producing trout include the West Branch of the Farmington River, the mainstem of the Farmington River, Salmon Brook, West Branch ("Hogsback") Reservoir, Colebrook Reservoir, Barkhamsted Reservoir, the Saugatuck River fly fishing area, the Mill River (Hamden), the Naugatuck River, East Twin Lake, West Hill Pond, Beach Pond, Amos Lake, Wononscopomuc Lake, Hop Brook Flood Control Impoundment, Gardner Lake, Black Pond and Tyler Pond.
9. Largemouth bass are coming off their spawning season. Don't expect to find many big fish for the next few weeks, but you should be able to catch plenty of 12- to 15-inch bass at Quonnipaug Lake, Lake Saltonstall, Ball Pond, Pachaug Pond, Gardner Lake, Rogers Lake, Moodus Reservoir, Lake Zoar, Black Pond, Silver Lake, Lake Lillinonah, West Hill Pond, Nells Rock Reservoir, Winchester Lake, Highland Lake, Tyler Pond and Lake Housatonic. [Connecticut Post, FRANK MCKANE JR.]

Rivers End 6/16/06

1. STRIPED BASS- Reports have been coming in mixed this week. Bassing is going to require some flexibility this next few days. Its that time of year that most of the bass are dropping out of the Connecticut River, daytime bass fishing is taking a deeper pattern, thats normal.
2. We haven't seen a consistent pattern for bigger bass over the last few days.
3. Plum Gut has been slow the last few nights. Daytime drifting at the Race has been spotty for bucktailers and better for bait drifters.
4. Tube and wormers are getting some medium sized bass at Hatchetts, with fish being scattered that seems like a good strategy.
5. Don't ignore the Connecticut River completely yet theres still some good bass to be had at first and last light on the flats from the Back River to Griswold Piers. Its also a good spot to try the tube and worm.
6. Theres been schoolies on the surface at Hatchetts Reef a few morning this week and there is still great casting for medium sized bass on the Watch Hill Reefs. Inside of Napatree Point theres smaller bass.
7. BLUEFISH- Theres some 5 to 10 pound blues at the mouth of the River eating the back half of Slug-gos. Plum Gut and the Race have their usual residents. Millstone has the usual population if you get desperate.
8. FLUKE- In spite of all the freshwater the Connecticut River has some fluke, of course mostly shorts. The best, not necessarily great, reports are coming from Fishers Island and the Rhode Island South Shore. We saw a few doormats this week from the Isabella area and reports from Misquamicut have been fair numbers with a lot of shorts.
9. PORGIES- Some good sized fish on the local reefs but not a lot of numbers
10. BLACKFISH- Season opened yesterday, no reports yet.

On The Water 6/15/06

1. Last weekend was literally a blow out. However, there were a number of fishermen who tucked themselves in lee of land and braved the 20- to 30-mile per hour northwest winds that blew through early in the weekend. High winds and high pressure (that always follows major storm fronts) made freshwater fishing horrible and negatively affected marine activities as well. All that said, so those of you who did lousy now have an excuse. However, there were some decent catches made, though not by everyone who cast a baited hook or lure, like it has been for the past couple weeks. Pro’s, pin hookers and experienced recreational fishermen caught both big stripers and fluke throughout the eastern portion of this reporting area. The big news was the first reported 50-pound striper of the year, a catch made off Block Island.
2. Thomcat Pelletier of Quaker Lane Bait and Tackle in North Kingstown said that the fluke fishing faltered a bit off the south shore, due to weather and the gauntlet of gill nets and draggers working the beaches. He caught a 9-pounder himself on Saturday, though most of the days catch were small, the ratio was less than 10 to one short-to-keepers on that trip. One customer caught an 11-pound fluke in 90 feet of water in the channel in the more protected bay side off Newport on Saturday. She caught many shorts that day, but had only that one hit from the double-digit doormat.
3. Bass fishing has been good using live eels and hickory shad after dark along the south shore. But up inside Narragansett Bay where there’s a concentration of adult, live menhaden, the “catching,” especially for larger fish, is much better. Thom caught stripers of 22 and 24 pounds on live hickory shad earlier in the week. That night he was laughing about a striper that was only 31 inches long that hit a 14-inch hickory shad in the waters off the reef near Green Hill. He said it was comical seeing this relatively small, hickory shad-eating bass chasing and trying to eat a bait nearly half its own length! Thom said that the trick is getting the bait. Its harder locating and catching the shad than the 20-pound striped bass.
4. Kevin at King Cove Outfitters, Stonington said that despite the winds fishing was OK over the weekend and has turned back on so far this week. The shop held a had a kayak tournament over the weekend that was held primarily in Little Narragansett Bay and adjacent coves. Stripers to 22 pounds were caught by contestants.
5. As of yesterday the squid moved back onto the reefs (the Watch Hill/Fishers Island Reef Complex) so Sugar Reef and Catumb Rock turned back on Tuesday. Kevin himself said that he also saw some concentrations of squid off Fishers Island recently. This report of the reefs lighting back up was verified by a phone call from a friend of mine, who said he was heading out after he received a call from someone in the middle of a great bite Wednesday afternoon. I wasn’t able to join him, so I’ll wait for his report and tell you how he did next week.
6. Fluke catching has been slow for keepers, like everywhere else. There are plenty of shorts around but the bigger fish, that seem to presently be concentrating in 40 to 50 feet of water right now are much harder to hook into. They didn’t see any of the doormat-sized fluke that were reported from the shops further north along the south shore beaches.
7. Cheryl Fee of Shaffer’s Marina, Mystic told me that the winds over the weekend kept many anglers home but despite the miserable conditions there were some nice fish brought into the cleaning table and scale. They weighed their best fluke of the season to date, a huge 11-pound, 30-inch “mat” that was part of an impressive limit of keepers that included an 8-pounder and two 7-pounders that were brought into the shop on Sunday. Shaffer’s also weighed an 8-pound fluke that was caught by a customer who was on a striped bass charter trip with Bruce Meyers, who was fishing whole rigged squid for bass somewhere off Fishers Island a week ago Tuesday. She also saw a catch of four keeper fluke with two in the 8-pound range taken off Misquamicut over the weekend.
8. Just like last year, with the higher minimum lengths, even though there are many fluke out there to play with most are throw backs, with a fair percentage of nice fish in the mix. When it was a 16-inch minimum, everyone would be “fluke meisters,” but 18 inches separates the “meisters” from the rest, if they can catch limits consistently.
9. A 43-pound bass that was 51.5 inches was taken on a live bunker Saturday somewhere in the Noank area by a group of friends who call themselves, “Team Dixie,” a crew of anglers out of the Mystic area. Bluefish are starting to make a showing throughout the area wherever the bait is present.
10. Captain John Planeta owner of Franks Tackle, Marlborough said that last Monday his charter trip to the mouth of the Connecticut River yielded 19 fish, four of which were keepers. He took these fish flipping eels to the rocks off the breakwalls. One friend of his said they took some big fish to about 40 inches, in the Glastonbury area during the torrential rains last Wednesday by casting poppers and big plugs. George Gonsalves of Northeast Promotions said he hammered the fluke off Montauk Point on Friday, after the rains stopped. No word on how many keepers he “hammered” out of the days catch – maybe George is a “Meister.”
11. Rennie of The Fish Connection, Preston on the Thames said that he hasn’t heard much lately because he's been fishing for smallmouth bass in New Hampshire. Evidently, the Thames River is full of small bass and some “snarbor blues” those 2- to 5-pounders, but no one was talking big fish as of Wednesday. The trout fishing has been tough in streams due to high water and lake surface temps are too warm for easy near surface action, which means the easy trout fishing of spring is pretty much over. There has been some fairly good freshwater bass fishing.
12. Matt at Hillyer’s Bait and Tackle, Waterford didn't have “a whole lot to report” this week because of “the weekend from hell.” It was awful over the weekend. The winds that were 30 knots in his area kept many anglers at home. He said they had much better fishing activity levels when it was pouring rain. Matt said what we all know, that the fish are around but the problem has been getting out to them in boats or fishing effectively from shore. Hopefully this weekend the weather will cooperate for the Fathers Day crowd.
13. There are fluke in the bay, but not many, so anglers can expect to fish hard for the keepers. As everywhere else, due to the 18-inch limit most are short but there will be increased action as water temperatures rise. Many of the fluke being released are 17-inch-class fish, which means by the end of the season there will be some good catches coming in to the docks. Fluke grow so fast that the 17-inch fish released now will be keepers by August or September.
14. Blackfish season reopens in Connecticut waters on June 15 (remember they are closed in Rhode Island) and Hillyer's will have green crabs available for anglers who want to go out to give it a try. Striped bass fishing has been hot off Bartlett Reef, Valiant Rock and other local areas. Problem is, it’s been so hard to fish these areas which are normally pretty rough, due to the high winds lately. So fishermen simply haven’t gone out just to be beat up, especially with the high price of gas. Because of this there have not been many anglers on the fish. This weekend Matt expects lots of activity, if the weather cooperates.
15. Pat Abate of River’s End Tackle, Saybrook said lots of the bass have dropped out of the river, due to the freshwater flows and increasing water temps. The morning bite is slowing as fish move out along the local beaches. There was a slow period over the weekend, but early in the week it began to pick up off Hatchet Reef, by mid-week there were birds working over feeding blues and bass. Bartlett has also been producing fish when people can get out and get their lines down deep where the bigger fish are holding. The fluke fishing is slow in the lower river due to freshwater flows. Elsewhere there are tons of shorts and a few doormats being caught, but not much in-between. Misquamicut and the south side of Fishers Island are the most consistent spots he’s heard of lately.
16. Captain Jerry Morgan of Captain Morgan’s Tackle, Madison said fluke are still running in the mid-Sound area, but here like every place else the catch is composed mostly of shorts. A few fish just over 20 inches are being caught, but they are rare. The bigger fluke that have been reported to the east this week, apparently have not yet penetrated this far into the Sound. However, with increase in temps Captain Morgan believes the fluking should improve. Tuesday customers who ran across the Sound to Mattituck did poorly.
17. Captain Morgan is expecting a few locals to go for blackfish when the season reopens on Thursday. Bass fishing is hot right now. He’s seeing fish of all sizes, though not many real big cows yet. Fish to about 40 inches are being caught on a regular basis. The other night after the winds died there was some good topwater action from stripers along the shore. The fish were mostly small but up into the mid-30-inch range, which are stripers that weigh into the teens if they are fat. Apparently the bait was driven in along the shore where the bass and some blues have discovered them in pockets and sheltered spots along the rocks and up inside creeks and river mouths. The East River has been hot lately despite the rains. It has a tidal flow, but not the large freshwater drainage area like the Connecticut or Housatonic Rivers, so heavy rains are not such a major negative factor as they could be.
18. Porgy action is hot in the Madison area, but not many fishermen are targeting this species yet. Sea bass are not really going yet, probably due to the winds. Matt of Stratford Bait and Tackle in Stratford said it’s been “fishing” but not much “catching” lately in the Stratford, Milford, Bridgeport area. There is still some bigger bait around in the form of menhaden. Wherever these schools can be found anglers are catching some decent stripers either on live whole baits or chunks of fresh cut bait. There are Bass in the 10- to 20-pound range still being caught at the Derby Dam. Fluke fishing has been slow locally, with a ton of shorts in the river. One angler caught 30 fish with only two keepers off the mouth of the river. There are some bluefish in the 2- to 4-pound range lately, that have been showing up along the beaches in the area, but otherwise, not much to speak of. The weekend was tough due to the wind.
19. Burt at Fisherman’s World, Norwalk said both fluke and bass fishing has been pretty good close to home. Customers report a few fluke in the Middle Passage, with a few fish out in deeper waters outside the islands, but the better numbers seem to be across the Sound off the golf course. There are a few anglers taking keepers up to six pounds, at a rate of about 2 keepers for every ten short fish. The guys who are supplying the “local reports” are fishing out of a 14-foot aluminum boat, so Burt knows they aren’t going very far to drift. Burt, who runs some charters in the area, told me they are seeing more big bunker in the area every day. At one spot inside the islands, a customer said he caught three stripers from 34 to 42 inches in a half-hour on chunks of fresh cut bunker. The night before that trip the same guy landed three other fish between 32 and 36 inches using the same method.
20. The key is finding the menhaden. When you do, he said the stripers are abundant enough that when people snag a bunker, very often they are being eaten before it can be reeled in and stashed for cut bait. (I personally haven’t seen fishing like this in the eastern end of the Sound for more than a decade.) Carlos Dranado caught three bass that were 30 to 32 inches and plenty of smaller fish in the high 20’s on chunks around the islands earlier this week. Burt said there are schools of bunker with decent-sized stripers feeding on them spread out from Stamford to Greenwich at the present time. There are also some harbor bluefish in the 5- to 8-pound range mixed in with the striper catches associated with these schools of bunker. So things are looking good at the western end of Long Island Sound. As temperatures rise, some bunker will settle into those areas and stay, hopefully, if there is enough some will filter east. Either way, eventually rising water temperatures will drive these big bass to the north. How fast they move depends on water temperatures and the availability of bait along the way.
21. Its almost like the old days when striped bass would follow bunker schools all the way up the coast creating some incredible fishing every summer. The reappearance of adult bunker for the past few years that is also being reported as far east as Narragansett Bay is a great sign for the possible recovery of these fish. Mark my words. If the bunker come back to take the feeding pressure off shad, herring, and other spring spawning herring species, we will see recoveries of these populations as well. Bunker in abundance is the key.
22. Best Bets for Connecticut and Rhode Island :For Fathers Day, if “Mother Luck” is listening and takes pity on a slob like me, depending on where I decide to launch the boat to fish with my kids a 50-pound striper or a 10-pound fluke would do me just fine! For that big striper, I’d recommend checking out the “squid bite” on the reefs, or the hot fishing around bunker schools from Stamford to Greenwich and up inside Narragansett Bay. Nebraska Shoal and the waters off Charlestown, fluking waters around Mystic, and the west gap at Point Judith are good bets if you want to increase your chances of catching keeper fluke and not just shorts

Nor'east West CT 5/29-6/4

1. All season long, the waters along western Connecticut have been teeming with striped bass, with the fish getting bigger and bigger as the weather improves. But the action over the past few days has just been phenomenal with not only a prize-winning bass being taken, but trophy-sized bass as well.
2. Paul Austin of Fish Tales B&T in Stamford just couldn’t wait to tell about the performance of Brogan Burns who caught a two-fish total of 35.71 pounds of striped bass, which held up to take second place in Noreast’s Striped Bass Memorial Classic that was held over the Memorial Day weekend. Austin was not the only angler to catch big bass, with Phil Vincoli hauling in a 42-inch, 29-pound fish that he caught at Sound Reef while using fresh bunker chunks. Adrian Griffith also had a banner day with the catch of a 35-inch, 20-pound striper that he took in 40 feet of water at mid Sound while using just 12-pound test that was rigged with bunker. Frank DePetra and Mike Marinaccio were into the large bass too while trolling bunker spoons behind Captain’s Island where they caught a pudgy, squad bass that was 35 pounds and only 25 inches long. Wayne Johnson did not catch any bass but he did manage to bring home 11 keeper fluke to 6.5 pounds while fishing the Golf Course with squid stripes. Vincoli also did well with fluke, catching four fish to 6 pounds at Todds Point with squid strips.
3. At Pete’s Place in Stamford, it was all bass, all the time with Pete Miller telling of Joe Horvach catching five stripers to 41 inches at the Cows while fishing with bunker chunks. Sal Caruso was also at the Cows using live bunker for a catch of a 21, 22 and 23-inch bass, while Randy Sala had non-stop schoolie bass action at Holly Pond, including a huge striper that latched onto a smaller fish that was on the line. Mike Black had a monster day where he and his party caught 12 keeper bass to 23 pounds, 10 bluefish and a 22-inch sea bass while fishing with clams at Buoy 32A. John Crimmon was the exception to the bass clan, catching a 28-inch, 8.5-pound fluke at Todds Point with a bucktail tipped with a mackerel strip.
4. Nick Massaro of Fisherman’s World in Norwalk said that Jose Zecura caught a 40-inch striper at Penfield Reef using a bunker chunk, and that Eric Louvis hit the big time with his catch of a 39.6-pound bass that was taken on a bunker chunk at Norwalk Island. But nothing beats the outing of Don Connolly who found himself in the middle of a bunker school, where he caught three bass that were 42, 44 and 45 inches, and 10 blues to 10 pounds. Bruce Scalafani topped that with his catch of a 12-pound fluke, which gobbled down a bunker chunk at Greens Ledge.
5. At Hillers Hunting and Fishing of Norwalk, Paul Hiller told of Ronnie Corville getting a huge 32-pound bass on a bunker chunk at Middle Passage and Kevin Bova’s catch of a 40-inch bass at Stamford Reef, which was taken on a bunker chunk. Paul Lovis closed out the winter flounder season strong with 10 keepers that were taken at Cockenoe Island on sandworms, while Mark Hiller had equal success with the flatties, limiting out at the same location. Mike Buzzeo hit Peck’s Ledge where he did not get any flounder and settled for his limit of fluke, including a 3-pound fish that was taken on a rig of spearing and squid.
   Kevin Karchman of Ted’s Bait in Bridgeport had a diversified report of activity starting with Steve Collins’ catch of a 20.1-pound bass that was taken at Sunken Island on a bunker chunk. Dave Redford Jr. and Dave Redford Sr. did well at the same location, catching a 6.5 and 7.0-pound fluke respectively while fishing with squid and spearing.
6. At Bobby J’s in Milford, Jason Jadach had news on both fluke and bass catches and told of Carl Schneider and Frank Darmus teaming up to limit out on the flatties to 4.5 pounds in New Haven Harbor. Al Day caught a 4.5-pound fluke in Milford, while Jadach and Chris Leandres had luck with one keeper fluke and a sea bass. John Klaus caught a 32-inch, 19.1-pound striper on a mackerel chunk and Jason Jadach took a 40 and 36-inch bass while drifting sandworms in the Housatonic River.
7. Mike Sheehy of Salty Dog B&T in West Haven said that the sandbar is still holding weakfish, while bluefish to 4 pounds are present at the piers and along the beach, while stripers are strong at the breakwall. Skippy Muntz did well with the bass, catching two on eels that were 34 and 38 inches.
8. At Some Things Fishy in West Haven, Mike D’Errico raved of the bass catch by Ernie Holcomb who caught a 33.43-pound fish that gave him a seventh place finished in the Noreast tournament. Michael Deskin finished in 11th place with a 32.23-pound bass. Holly Bloxam and her husband, Curtis, fished together at Townsend Ledge with eels where she caught a 38.5-inch, 20-pound bass, while hubby was skunked. Pat Couden was at Southwest Ledge with his fiancée Shannon, and he caught a 28.5-pound bass that was 43 inches and taken on an eel. Johnny Sanchez caught his first-ever striper with an eel. The fish, which was caught at Long Sand Shoals, measured 37 inches and was 20 pounds.
9. Jimmy Orefice of Jimmy O’s in Stratford said that the fluke fishing in that area is a bit slow, but that some fish are being caught, while bass have been hot and heavy. Captain Tim Fazeas was proof of that with his catch of a 25-pound striper that he caught with a live bunker in Greenwich. Dave Hochman caught his limit of fluke at Can 7 with squid strips. Jimmy Izzo fished Goose Island for three fluke and several blues and bass. Bob Turly headed over to Bartletts Reef where he used a diamond jig to catch his limit of bass to 28 pounds, while Orefice did some surfcasting with swimming plugs at Fairfield Beach for schoolie stripers.

Nor'east 5/29-6/4/06

1. Fishing for bass heated up during the week in eastern Connecticut, especially in the rivers, but cooled off a bit for the weekend. Bluefish numbers remained the same, with harbor sized fish in the bays, coves and river mouths. Larger blues exist in the Race. Fluke fishing picked up in eastern sections but slowed down near New Haven, with a few keepers and plenty of shorts in the Niantic area. Porgy season opened during the week. Diligent anglers achieved limits of scup, but finding them this early in the season proved challenging for them
2. With bunker, squid, herring and butterfish in peak numbers, the striped bass appeared pregnant and the bluefish were nauseous feasting on the seafood buffet. While live bait fishing makes sense under these conditions, casting Houdini Shad or Sluggos in the mouth of the Connecticut River proved equaling rewarding for monster bass, where several trophy quality stripers came over the rails. Out in the Race, the night bite offered better results, despite water temperatures in the mid fifty-degree range
3. Captain Bruce Millar of the Otter charter boat, 860-859-1234, counted four striped bass over 40 inches weighing between 29 and 32 pounds on trolled tubes Sunday evening, which could be an indication that, “Things are starting to happen.” After poking around Hatchett Reef, Race Rock, the back side of Fishers Island and Sugar Reef near Watch Hill Point, he finally located the fish near Gull Island. Prior to the weekend, most fish measured between 33 and 35 inches, but they appeared healthy with fat bellies. Bass fishing followed its traditional pattern this year with the Race exhibiting the hottest early bite. But the true cow bass may still be on route from the Chesapeake Bay. The table has been set for them with plenty of bait and water temperatures near fifty eight degrees in extreme eastern sections.
4. Captain Bruce was not surprised to hear of the 50-inch, 40-pound bass near the mouth of the Connecticut River. The presence of shad, herring and alewives attracts the cow bass to shallow water. Their next move could be to round Cornfield Point and to head towards the reefs for the summer. Last season saw many bass over 50 inches and three over 50 pounds aboard the Otter. Should larger baits such as bunker, porgies and herring provide a richer diet for these fish this season, conditions could be conducive for a run at a record fish. With live eels likely falling on the endangered list next season, he is working on new artificial eel bait with Uncle Josh Lures and Sea Bait, which he should have the opportunity to use in the coming weeks
5. Joey of Dee’s Bait and Tackle admitted that, “The bottom kind of fell out this week and fluking took a nose dive.” One intrepid angler named Billy and his buddy took advantage of the recently opened season for porgies. They had to try five or six locations before stumbling on fish near the whistling buoy at Kimberly Reef, where they bailed sixty scup. Closer to home, harbor-sized blues tightened lines in the New Haven Harbor and striped bass surfaced from time to time in the Quinnipiac River. Rumors of cow bass in the fifty-pound range exist at Southwest Ledge, which is plausible for this time of year. The only mention of fluke was east of Niantic and particularly near Point Judith. In a week and a half, Joey looks forward to attempting a limit of blackfish, scup and fluke, as things can only improve from here.
6. Captain Morgan of Captain Morgan’s Bait and Tackle knew of, “An awful lot of bass feeding incessantly right up to and through the weekend.” Fat bass grazed on a cornucopia of bait on the reefs, while the junior stripers fed in the tidal areas. Everything from their traditional diet of squid, bunker and butterfish filled their bellies, as well as lobster, crabs and small fluke. While plenty of stripers up to the low forty-inch range fattened up, few trophy quality fish over forty pounds made their way into the Madison and Guilford area.
7. The explosion of bait did attract aggressive harbor-sized bluefish, which allowed little rest for anglers targeting stripers. Sea bass also have crept into the Sound, but they remain in deep water. Fluking continues to be a case of plentiful shorts and a few mini-doormats. Overall, persistent anglers will find success, even if a front or a weak tide quiets the fishing on a particular day.
8. Al of Mackeys Bait and Tackle described the week as, “Lumpy, not much happening.” While winter flounder finished the season strong, there were few fluke but plenty of wind and rain. The party boats did find bass in the 32 to 35 inch range and bluefish up to 6 pounds
9. Pat of Rivers End Tackle characterized the fishing during the week as a cycle. It started off excellent in the Connecticut River. One sharpie used various lures to land six bass weighing between 30 and 40 pounds! “With the flooding in the river, it’s going to be off for a few days.” In fact, that type of fishing could be over for the year as the fish move out to the reefs. The Race has switched over to a night bite. With all of the squid on the Watch Hill reefs, medium sized bass up to 40 inches put the reefs on the board. While the Branford area teams with the bluefish, they are yet to overwhelm the Old Saybrook area. While fluke poked their noses into the Connecticut River before the recent rains, Black Point is the best bet for those willing to prospect for a few keepers among the shorts.
10. Carl of Ted’s Bait and Tackle spoke of, “A lot of stripers caught in the river, some keepers, on bloodworms and sandworms at the DEP dock.” Bluefish also bent rods under the railroad bridge. While the stripers continued biting through Saturday, on Sunday, “The rain scared the fish away.” Captain Jimbo of the Ernit charter boat limited out on bass all week using light tackle casting methods with Houdini Shad and Sluggos near the lighthouse. Bass ambushing herring from the break walls also fall for drifted live eels on the incoming tide. The porgy bite came to life inside of Cornfield Point on clam strips.
11. The Old Troll charter boat splashed onto the porgy scene this week, and will add blackfish on the 15th of June. Fluke enthusiasts continued to sharpen their hooks and save their gas money, with only a few reports to speak of. River-run striped bass stole the show in the fog. When the Connecticut River turned murky, the catfish pinched-hit for stripers, to the delight of junior anglers. Look for bunker beyond the breakwaters and in the Clinton Harbor.
12. CJ of Hillyers Tackle thought that the Millstone discharge, Bartlett Reef and the Race is, “Good for bass and blues.” The stripers ranged from schoolies up to 35 pounds. The blues ranged from harbor-sized at Millstone up to 8 pounds in the Race. Reports of short fluke and a few keepers came in from Black Point and Millstone. South of Fishers Island near Isabella Beach, “It’s picking up.”
13. Captain Brad Glas of the Hel-Cat II charter boat, 860-535-2066, will sail their banker’s hours schedule this weekend from 9 AM to 3PM for bass and bluefish. Anglers landing the fish of the week will have a chance at a free trip!

On The Water

1. Bet Bets for Connecticut and Rhode Island: This week look for improved fluke fishing throughout the region, with some worm spawns and continued squid action around the major reefs. Menhaden appear to be showing up throughout the region in which means there will surely be big bass to catch by live-lining somewhere near the schools. All we need is a little decent weather to enable the army of anglers that are ready and waiting to go out and explore their favorite spots.
2. More heavy rains and wind – the return of the monsoons has been a factor in keeping anglers home again this week. However, those who ventured out into the storms have been catching fish pretty much anywhere they are casting a lure or bait, with the exception of in the raging waters of some local rivers.
3. Don at King Cove Outfitters, Stonington said fluke fishing is the same, 10 to one, keepers to shorts Captain Don noted. Customers are reporting catching tons of shorts to catch a limit or near limit of keeper fluke. Top end fish are in the 5-pound range but there are a few larger fish beginning to show up in daily catches. The squid are still producing some hot bites off the reefs. Stripers are much larger on average and have been showing up all over the place on the Fishers Island /Watch Hill Reefs, during either the flood or ebb tides. Sugar Reef has been the spot most mentioned in the reports I’ve heard this week. There are a few blues around this area, but they are not quite as abundant as they are off the northern end of the south shore beaches.
4. Cheryl Fee of Shaffer’s Marina, Mystic said that over the weekend her customers were all talking fluke. On Tuesday they weighed in an 8-pound fluke along with six keeper stripers a charter boat from the docks brought in to the fillet tables. The fluke was taken on a rigged squid that was intended for bass. The captain said he saw a second fluke rise up behind a rigged squid as it was being retrieved back to the boat, but it sunk out of sight before it took the bait. No word on the Mystic River worm spawn at this point in the season. Could be it’s over and anglers missed it. In my experience this event is a short one and has generally occurred a day or so either side of May 25, but with all the temperature drops and rains this season it may still be in the offing. Nothing great reported from the Race this weekend but activity levels in this nasty spot were low due to the winds.
5. The weekend angler activity was slow due to the rains. Anglers are slaying bass off Sugar Reef using plugs, bait and squid rigs on decent sized bass, with some blues mixed in around the edges. Captain Eric Covino, my long time fishing partner turned charter captain (ericcovino@adelphia.net) said they caught 80 bass between the reefs and the lower Pawcatuck River on Sunday. He said the reefs were slower this trip than a week earlier but there were plenty of schoolies to play around with in the river to take up the slack. Their top fish was 34 inches.
6. Fluke fishing has been a mix of reports, depending on who you ask. There are high numbers of fish present in the area, but keepers are hard to catch. Not much inside fluke action around Mystic and Stonington but I’d bet the fish are there. It seems like most of the boats from Shaffer’s are making the run to the beaches or the south side of Fishers Island. Captain Al Fee had a charter for fluking over the weekend and took only one keeper out of their catch of 10 or 11 fish total. The temps were 53 degrees in the Sound, which is still a tad cool, but warmer than last year at this time. On June 8, 2005 (last year) a friend reported 49 degrees mid-Sound temperatures.
7. Captain John Planeta owner of Frank’s Tackle, Marlborough said he was fishing the mouth of the Connecticut River a week ago on Monday and caught a dozen fish up to 34 inches before the rains, but only one fish of 14 inches this past Monday, after the river cranked up after these most recent heavy rains. We need a few days of no rain for things to stabilize once again. Chappy, one of his regulars, said he caught fish to about 40 inches while fishing in Glastonbury, where there are some big fish present in the river, between Rocky Hill and Hartford at the moment.
8. Joe Balint of The Fish Connection, Preston on the Thames has been seeing continued schoolie action in the river from Trading Cove to Horton Cove and in the flats and channels, around the Harvard and Yale boat houses in the Gales Ferry stretch of the river and along the east shore, below the Nautilus Memorial south of the sub base. There are a few “snarbor blues” around in the river, but no heavy concentrations yet. There is the same sort of spotty bluefish activity over at the Millstone Point outflow as well.
9. Larger blues, in the 9- to 10-pound range came in from the Race over the weekend and there was reportedly a pretty decent concentration of bluefish, with some of these larger fish mixed in around the outside the Connecticut River as well since the weekend. The better bass action has been in the Race, where some larger fish are being caught on jigs down deep. Trolling umbrella rigs is also effective. Captain Jack Balint, who runs his light-line charters out of the shop has been fishing the reefs with flies and light spinning tackle with excellent results for three weeks now.
10. Joe had a 12-pound fluke brought to the scales on Monday that was caught off Misquamicut Beach by a customer. There were some decent fluke in the 6- to 8-pound range taken off Fishers Island along with the usual “tons” of short fish. Some anglers are fishing deep, some shallow, it’s a guessing game and about everyone is taking some fluke. Dennis from the shop caught three keepers out of 30 fish total for a day spent fishing the waters from Watch Hill to Misquamicut Beach. Joe noted that Peconic Bay is wall to wall boats, and also full of small fluke and loads of “slammer searobins,” which are wreaking havoc already.
11. In the freshwater calicos turned on at Avery Pond, Glasgo Pond, and Pachaug Pond. Not much word on pike lately. The bass fishing fraternity should be seeing improved fishing now that most of the bass are done spawning for the spring. The best bass action has been from Hopeville and Pachaug Ponds. Joe said, “forget the streams for a while” due to flooding conditions throughout the region.
12. Matt at Hillyer’s Bait and Tackle, Waterford said the rains have been the big story. It has made fishing tough for many anglers. A couple his customers said they went out Monday for fluke, one group went across to fish Montauk Point and did well, with many fish caught and released but only a few keepers. The other group fished Niantic Bay and caught some fish as well. There appears to be plenty of fluke around, but with the 18-inch-minimum limit it’s difficult to cull out a limit of keepers. Plus, Matt noted due to the bad weather every weekend, the lack of boats means reports are down. There are many 16-inch-plus fish around. Striped bass fishing has been good all along, but there have been many lost days and evenings to the weather. Porgy season opened, but no one has been targeting them yet as it’s a tad early for that fishery to be cranking. Blackfish will reopen in mid-June and with cooler temps there should still be some fish inshore to catch. Matt noted that; “There’s so much bait around, more than recent years, which means there will be some great fishing developing once the weather stabilizes.”
13. Mark Lewchik of River’s End Tackle, Saybrook said that despite the rains, a few anglers are doing ok in the lower Connecticut River. On Sunday one regular caught a 40-inch fish on a big fly. Tuesday evening anglers took fish in the low 30s on poppers, despite a raging river flow. Mark also reported that there were a few bigger bluefish are mixed in with the bass in the lower Connecticut River and vicinity. Fluke are spotty, with many shorts. A few are just starting up around the edges of the river, but most successful anglers are running across the Sound to fish Montauk and the Peconic /Shelter Island area.
14. Captain Jerry Morgan of Captain Morgan’s Tackle, Madison reports that the weekend brought some “so-so action,” but Monday and Tuesday things seemed to light up. There were some decent fish on top along the Madison to Guilford Shorelines, during the breaks between storms and blows. Sand worms have been working well in tidal areas. The Captain has been playing around with the new sand worm scents from Seabait of Maine and had some interesting results. He said that these scents work very well on artificial worms and tubes. Said the blood worm scent is even better than the sand worm flavor because it has a much stronger more powerful odor to attract fish. There are schools of big bunker around the mid-Sound area, all with some larger bass chasing them. The weather and fronts have kept many anglers home, so overall angler activity has been hampered. Like every place else, the fishermen who sacrifice their bodies to fish are experiencing success. Porgies and a few sea bass came alive with the opening of this season. There are some bigger scup around to catch, but most anglers are not targeting them for any reason other than to obtain hook baits for jumbo stripers. Captain Morgan has seen fluke in the 10- to 12-pound range, but the vast majority of fluke are shorts. Fluke catches are improving, with catch rates ranging from 6 to 10 shorts for every one keeper. Fuel cost is keeping some of the bigger boats at home, but the smaller boats are running out to fish when they get the opportunity.
15. Chris Fulton owner of Stratford Bait and Tackle in Stratford said there is a bunch of anglers running across the Sound and taking fluke up to 7 and 8 pounds, with a few local fish being reported in the mix. The spots along the north shore of Long Island are definitely the better fishing at this point in time as they usually are. Like every place else the vast majority of the catch is smaller fish. Not much word on local stripers, but he’s heard of bass to 20 pounds that were caught by his buddies from the Connecticut River on flies recently. Decent bass are being caught from time to time in the Housatonic River on plastics during the breaks in the weather but nothing consistent in the way of reports recently. The problem has been the bad weather conditions and lack of angler activity at times, more so than any lack of fish to be caught.
16. There was a decent weakfish of about 6 pounds caught off the West Haven sandbar on a crocodile spoon over the weekend, but that has been it in the weakfish department recently. “When people get out they are catching fish, but it’s been difficult lately.” Freshwater action has been up and down as well. Chris himself has been fishing for carp with good results. Earlier in the week the Saugatuck Reservoir produced a beautiful 8-pound seeforellen brown trout on a live shiner for one of his regulars who has been trying for a trophy trout of this caliber since they were first stocked in this lake back in the early 1990s.
17. Nick at Fisherman’s World, Norwalk said the fishing is still holding up well in his area. Good fishing is reported in the waters between Greenwich and Stamford. Bunker schools moved in off Greens Ledge (like they did last season) with some decent bass feeding on them. Hempstead Harbor to Rye New York continues to generate the best big bass reports with fish into the 30-pound range being caught consistently on live bunker or chunks. The good news is the fact that these fish appear to finally be moving west. There was a decent fish of 32 pounds caught locally last week. There are still some nice stripers to about 20 pounds being taken at the Derby Dam when the anglers get out to fish. This week, the big news is the fact that those big schools of decent-sized stripers are finally moving through in along the western Connecticut coastline. The problem is that the weather is not allowing anglers to get out and fish like they should be this time of year. A few fluke have been caught around the Norwalk Islands.
18. Bruce Scolofiani caught a 12-pound fluke off Greens Ledge on a chunk that was being fished for bass. There are other reports of fluke being caught around Pecks Ledge and Middle Passage where there have been some fish caught up to about 5 pounds or so by anglers actually targeting fluke. As temperatures increase, fluking will improve rapidly over the next couple of weeks. A few anglers caught a bunch of scup in the waters off the golf course across the sound in 25 to 28 feet. No jumbos, but fish to 12 or 13 inches are not out of the question. Here like else where more anglers are chasing bass and fluke than scup.
19. Nick himself caught some trout in the Farmington River earlier in the week. There were multiple hatches going on and they caught fish on both green and black caddis and sulfurs. He said that flood control gates kept the Farmington fishable while other streams in the region were raging much too fast to fish effectively.

Rivers End Tackle Report

1. STRIPED BASS- The Connecticut River has been taken a beating lately with most of the rain in New England draining down it. In spite of the dirty water some bass have been taken up to this morning. There are certainly less numerous and smaller, the peak of the run has past, but its not over. Hatchetts Reef is holding a few bass, while Bartletts has a few more, but not consistently. Both spots are best on the flood tide. The Race and Plum Gut are also doing OK but not as good as it should be early June. Southwest Reef and Six Mile also have some bass with live bait doing best.
2. The DEP Piers still have schoolies, mostly on bait. Now's the time to fish there after dark. The Watch Hill Reefs were doing well before this weeks storms. There haven't been any reports for a few days. Sandy Point has a lot of small bass eating sand eels.
3. BLUEFISH- Reports have also been scarce this week due to weather. They've been at the Race and Plum Gut but not reliable. Millstone has some in the outflow, and we heard of them at Southwest Reef earlier in the week.
4. FLOUNDER- Season closed for the year.
5. FLUKE- Lots of shorts. No spot is great according to this weeks reports. The most consistent reports come from the Rhode Island South Shore. A few doormats were caught at Fishers Island this week, but its not consistent.
6. PORGIES- Not a lot of reports this week. One bright spot is that they're getting some nice sized porgies from shore at Niantic. Its pretty good odds that Hatchetts and Bartletts have their share of porgies.
7. BLACKFISH- Season is closed until June 15th.

The Day, 6/9/06

1. Reports are on the lean side this week due to the awful weather. The storm that blew through on Wednesday looked more like winter than the start of the summer. A surf fisherman said he could barely walk upright against the wind at Watch Hill around 2 p.m. He estimated it was blowing better than 35 mph at one point.
2. Prior to the storm, Al Golinski and Sherwood Lincoln tried their hands at fluking along the Rhode Island shore, landing a dozen or so fish for four hours effort, keeping a lone 4-pounder. The day prior, some other locals had a good catch of keepers to 7 pounds in the same waters. What a difference a day makes.
3. Capt. Don's Tackle Shop in Charlestown reported lots of small bass and hickory shad in Quonny Pond, a possible day saver if the wind cranks up again. Nobody but nobody got out in a small boat on Wednesday looking for fluke. The surf set are taking some 10-pound bass right inside Quonny Breachway, the action best either at the top or bottom of the tide went current slows way down.
4. We fished in the Salt Pond on Monday and Tuesday said Capt. Al Anderson, casting with fly rods at the junction buoy just across from George's Restaurant, landing jumbo hickory shad and school bass to about 4 pounds. Over the weekend he fished on the west side of Block Island from the Dump down to the Hooter Buoy for lots of small stripers and some that were just keepers along with some small blues centered mainly in the deep water around the Hooter. One of the fish had a tag put in it by the New Jersey Fish and Game a few months prior in Delaware Bay. Al has noticed, through tag returns, the first good charge of fish to hit Block Island in the spring migrates to our area from that part of the country. People drifting eels in the North Rip put up with loads of dogfish grabbing the striper baits.
5. King Cove in Stonington was just getting over the heavy northeaster, saying few people were back on the water. Prior to the wild, wet day, two fellows from, New Jersey fished out on the Watch Hill Reefs for one of the best striper trips they had in a long time. Fluking has been a matter of getting 10 shorts for every one keeper along the Rhode Island beaches from the Pink House past Green Hill. Shore anglers got schoolies right through the bad weather over along the Monsanto jetty in Stonington.
6. Cheryl at Shaffers Marina was upbeat about all the stripers caught in the evenings, weather permitting, from Sugar Reef, either fly rodding or casting plugs with a light spinning rods. Most of the fluke have been small though Capt. Bruce Meyers did have an 8-pounder on his Tuesday charter. People along some of the marina docks on the river caught small blues on light casting tackle.
7. Capt. Jack Balint at the Fish Connection was drying out from one wild day on Wednesday, saying it's been a very slow week to date. They did however weight in a 12-pound fluke from local waters but no other details were available. One fellow burned all the fuel needed for a trip to Montauk and back, coming home with two keeper fluke he figured cost him about $75 apiece. Bucktailing was working on bass in The Race though they did have a slow spell with tides barely hitting 2.1 knots at max velocity at times. The Watch Hill reefs have small and medium bass for the casting crew that likes to toss lures of various types into the many rips there.
8. Richard at Hillyers had to really scratch his head to come up with any fishing news at all due to all the bad weather. Before the intense northeaster, Capt. Howard Beers caught some keeper fluke in local waters along with jumbo porgies that took the fluke baits. Yesterday morning one of the bass sharpies caught some hickory shad in the river then ran them out to one of the nearby rips for two nice striped bass.
9. Capt. Kyle Douton of J&B Tackle reported nobody that he was aware of made the run offshore for sharks because of all the harsh weather. The Sunbeam, a large party boat, fished right through the Wednesday blow, its windblown patrons catching small fluke in Two Tree Channel then excellent numbers of striped bass in The Race. Kyle said the fish were really active, hitting bucktails on all drifts. At the beginning of the week even the charter boat pros were having a tough time putting together a catch from the famous rips due to very slow tides.
10. Mark Lewchik at River's End observed the lower Connecticut River was high and dirty from the storm but the persistent anglers were getting a small numbers of better bass at some of the casting spots between the RR Bridge and the mouth of the river. Mark said what fish were caught hit best at slack water not the strength of the tide as is the norm. Like bass fishing in The Race, catches at Hatchetts Reef were off due to those very weak tides.
11. We hate to mention it but the weatherman is calling for more rain for the first part of the weekend and also predicting another coastal storm for next Wednesday. Let's hope he is wrong. [Tim Coleman is The Day's ]

CT DEP Weekly Fishing Report 6/6/06

1. TROUT: RIVERS & STREAMS - Heavy rains and high flows again made trout fishing extremely difficult, especially in eastern CT. In western CT, good reports from the West Branch and mainstem Farmington (plenty of action from Riverton to Hogback, and some nice rainbows downstream in Farmington), and Salmon Brook (Granby). Farmington River water temperatures remain in the mid 50’s °F. West Branch flows are clearing and currently very high and unfishable, about 950 cfs at Riverton with an additional 500 cfs from the Still River (as of Thursday morning, 6/8). Farther downstream, the East Branch Farmington is currently adding an additional 400 cfs. Although Still River flows should drop, elevated releases from West Branch Reservoir (Hogback) and Lake McDonough (into the East Branch) for management of water levels at Colebrook and Barkhamsted Reservoirs will continue for at least the next several days. Depending on progress in lowering reservoir levels, releases may be reduced during the weekend. Current hatches (TMA and above) are vitreus, sulphurs, and tan caddis.
2. Housatonic River- Water temperatures are in the low 60’s °F. Flows are murky and have again increased (currently 1,900 cfs at Falls Village and 3,100 at Gaylordsville, as of 6/8, call NGS at 1-888-417-4837 for updated flow information). Under these conditions, big streamers and nymphs are a good option. Current hatches include Sulphurs, Isonychia, golden stoneflies, March Browns, Gray Foxes, various caddis (green, tan, black), Alders and Cahills. Hellgrammite are also out and about now.
3. LAKES & PONDS – Trout catches slowed last week, with fair fishing reported at East Twin Lake, West Hill Pond, Beach Pond, and Amos Lake. Good reports for Wononscopomuc Lake (good action, no really big ones) and Colebrook Reservoir. Good places to try this weekend include Gardner Lake, Black pond (Woodstock), Mashapaug Lake and Cedar Lake in eastern CT.
4. LARGEMOUTH BASS fishing is reported as good in a number of areas throughout the state including Amos Lake (a 4.2 lb bass and a number of catches around 3 lbs), Shenipsit Reservoir, Quonnipaug Lake, Batterson Park Pond (several in the 3-4 lb range), Wononscopomuc Lake (no really big ones, but plenty of action), Lake Saltonstall (a 5-lb and several 4 lb bass among the catches), Ball Pond (good action on 2-3 lb bass), Pachaug Pond, Gardner Lake and Rogers Lake. Reports are mixed for Moodus Reservoir (including a 5.3 lb largemouth), Avery Pond, Glasgo Pond, Lake Zoar and Black Pond (Meriden/Middlefield). Fair fishing reported at Silver Lake, Lake Lillinonah (A 5.1 lb bass among the catches), West Hill Pond (sub-legals dominate the catch), Beach Pond and Mashapaug Lake.
5. SMALLMOUTH BASS fishing is variable with good reports from Gardner Lake and Candlewood Lake. Smallie fishing was fair at Beach Pond, Lake Lillinonah and Mashapaug Pond.
6. NORTHERN PIKE action reported from Bantam Lake (including a 38” pike), Ashland Pond (good), Hopeville Pond (good) and Pachaug Pond (fair).
7. Reports for WALLEYE are limited, 7.9 lb and 6.5 lb walleye plus a number of catches in the 4 lb range. Recommended areas for walleye include Squantz Pond, Gardner Lake, Beach Pond and Batterson Park Pond.
8. Good YELLOW PERCH fishing reported at Highland Lake and Lake Wononscopomuc.
9. CALICO BASS fishing is good at Long, Avery, Pachaug (near the dam), and Glasgo Ponds, and fair at Highland Lake.
10. A 25 lb COMMON CARP was caught at Coventry Lake, also, two carp in the 16-18 lb range reported from the Housatonic River (plenty of nice carp can be found in all the impoundments, large or small, on the Housatonic).
11. CONNECTICUT RIVER – High flows and murky water continue to make fishing and boating difficult on the River.
    Although STRIPED BASS remain throughout the river, anglers are having to work harder to find them, especially in the Windsor/Enfield area. Striper action is reported as fair (with some nice catches) from Hartford to Middletown, and good near the mouth. Anglers are reminded that an Inland fishing license is required to fish in the CT River north of the I-95 bridge in Old Lyme/Old Saybrook.
12. Best reports for NORTHERN PIKE are from Middletown and downstream (especially the Salmon River and Haddam Meadows areas).
13. STRIPED BASS fishing on the major reefs is fair to good. Drifting live eels or menhaden (bunker) is the ticket for scoring on a cow bass (just remember to use circle hooks to lower the chances of gut hooking). Other methods include trolling parachute rigs with pork rind on wire line or using the tube and worm technique. Schoolie striper fishing in the tidal rivers still remains good even with all the rain. School striper spots include the Pawcatuck River, lower Mystic River, Thames River, Niantic River, Connecticut River by Great Island, Sandy Point area in New Haven Harbor, Milford Harbor, Housatonic River from the Devon power plant to the Derby Dam, and around the Norwalk Islands.
14. HICKORY SHAD can also be found mixed in with school stripers in the lower tidal rivers (Mystic, Niantic, and Connecticut Rivers).
15. SUMMER FLOUNDER fishing is picking up in LIS especially in Fishers Island Sound, Westbrook-Clinton area, off the New Haven Harbor breakwaters, and the Milford area. Best fluke spots are in the Peconic Bays and by Greenport on the New York side. Other spots include Montauk Point, south side of Fishers Island, Horton Point, Mattituck Inlet, and Port Jefferson.
16. BLUEFISH are throughout LIS although spotty. Fishing is fair to good in the Race, Plum Gut and off Millstone Point, Sixmile Reef off Clinton, New Haven Harbor, the Milford-Charles Island area and off the Norwalk Islands.

Conn Post 6/9/06

1. Saltwater anglers are reporting good to excellent action with striped bass being the mainstay of the Long Island Sound fisheries. Also, anglers are partaking of some limited early season bluefish and fluke. For the inland group, trout and largemouth bass are the top fish.
2. Striped bass continue to keep marine enthusiasts very happy. As expected, most of the fish being caught are below the 28-inch size minimum. The average bass is about 18 to 22 inches. Occasionally, a bass in the 35- to 40-inch range comes to shore as John Valentino Jr., 16, of Stratford, discovered last week when he caught a big 29.96- pound striped bass on a bucktail jig.
3. Reports around the Sound indicate the farther east you go the bigger the bass get. Some of the eastern "cow" spots are the mouth of the Pawcatuck River, Napatree Point, the lower Mystic River south of Mystic Seaport, Hatchett Reef, Long Sand Shoal off the Connecticut River mouth and the North and South Cove areas of the lower Connecticut River. Closer to home, the mouth of the Quinnipiac River, Pond Point, Milford Point, the lower Housatonic River between the Devon power plant and the river's mouth, Buoy 20 off Bridgeport Harbor, the channel between Fayerweather Island and Penfield Reef, and the eastern edge of the Norwalk Island chain are yielding keeper bass.
4. Fluke are still playing hard to get in the local area. Nearly all the keeper fluke are still hiding off Long Island. Black sea bass are making an early appearance off Fishers Island, Groton's Long Point, Black Point and Bartlett Reef. The black-sea bass season is open all year. But if you try for sea bass, you will likely catch a few porgy and blackfish. Anglers are reminded that blackfish season is closed until June 15 and porgy season will not open until July 1. Small harbor bluefish in the 12- to 15-inch range are starting to migrate into the western Sound. These fish are fun to catch on poppers and light tackle.
5. Thanks to the cooler weather, trout angling has been fair to good. The better action has been in the lakes and ponds because the rivers are swollen from the mid-week rains. Trouters using live minnows, streamer flies, marabou jigs and brightly-colored swimming spoons are catching trout at Lake Wononscopomuc, Bashan Lake, Squantz Pond, East Twin Lake, Black Pond, Candlewood Lake, Great Hollow Pond, West Hill Pond, West Side Pond, Highland Lake and Tyler Pond. Steve Dunn of Stratford landed an 8.01-pound Seeforellen brown trout at the Saugatuck Reservoir last week. He caught the fish on a live minnow and weighed it at Stratford Bait & Tackle.
6. Largemouth bass fishing is good to excellent on Scoville Reservoir, Lake Housatonic, Lake Lillinonah, Candlewood Lake, Lake Saltonstall, West Hill Pond, Dog Pond, Tyler Pond, Lees Pond, Ball Pond, Mamanasco Lake, Lake Zoar, Long Meadow Pond, Lake Chamberlain, Bantam Lake, West Twin Lake and Mudge Pond. Jerkbaits, crankbaits and small spinnerbaits are the hot lures when the sunny is shining. Switch to tube jigs, small soft-plastic worms, live minnows and nightcrawlers on cloudy days.
7. Elsewhere, smallmouth bass are biting at Candlewood Lake, Lake Lillinonah, Gardner Lake and Squantz Pond. Northern Pike fishing is good at Bantam Lake, Hopeville Pond, Ashland Pond and Pachaug Pond. Walleye action is red hot at Lake Saltonstall and Squantz Pond. Kokanee can be caught after dark in West Hill Pond. [FRANK MCKANE JR.]

Fisherman's World Norwalk 6/10/06

• Fisherman's World6/10/06- Fishing is red hot off greenwich and stamford under the bunker schools as well as in 40' - 60' of water off hempstead harbor. in the hempstead area it is best to snag bunker and send bunker chunks and live bunker back into the bunker schools. at night anchor and fish the same way. bottom contour is not importnant at this time of the year, bunker schools are. this is where the fish are. fish to 40lbs have been caught this way. not all schools have fish in them and some have more than others. bunker have moved into the norwalk area. they come and go. keep your eyes open. there are fish in these bunker schools maybe not as many as the schools to our west have, however there are some quality fish in these schools. eric lovas caught a 39 lb bass in the norwalk area and three days later landed a 32lber as well. trolling around the bunker schools with shad umbrellas, bunker spoons, and surgical eels has been productive. chunking at 11b has been good at times. the ougoing tide is the better tide to fish 11 b. Some days are better than others. for the tube and worm fisherman, the islands and cockenoe reef are still good. for bigger fish try trolling the tube and worm aroudn the bunker schools. one thing to remember is that these fish are migrating quickly through the sound.
• fluke fishing at sand city, eatons neck and the golf course on the long island side has been good. there are fluke being taken in the norwalk area. try peck's ledge and middle passage. There was a 12lb fluke taken while chunk fishing for bass off green's ledge by bruce scalafani.
• porgy fishing is better off the golf course on long island side in 25 - 28 ft of water. Chumming helps.

CT DEP Weekly Fishing UPDATED!! 6/1/06

Updated on 6/5/06
LAKES & PONDS – It’s big fish time! Anglers can expect the majority of this season’s big trout to be caught from now through mid June. Reports include Lake Wonoscopomuc (5 lb, 23” brown), Lake Saltonstall, Bashan, Crystal Lake (Ellington), East Twin Lake (50 fish for two anglers), Candlewood Lake, Cedar Lake, Great Hollow Pond and West Hill Pond (35 fish for 1 angler). Anglers can expect good fishing next week at Beach Pond, Black Pond (Meriden/ Middlefield), Cedar Lake and Mashapaug Lake.
CONNECTICUT RIVER – STRIPED BASS are throughout the river. Recent muddy waters have slowed down the catch. With better weather and lower flows, fishing will pickup. School size (16-25”) fish and adults up to 48” are showing up. Surface poppers will provide some exciting action under clear water conditions, while trolling tube & worm and casting soft plastics work best in stained water. Some anglers have started using hickory shad as bait and are reporting success.
SHAD fishing is slowing.
NORTHERN PIKE are reported in Wethersfield Cove, Portland Bridge, White Oaks Cove and along the mainstem from Hartford to Haddam (smaller fish).
CATFISH are being taken in the Glastonbury-Middletown area on chunk bait.
REMINDER TO ANGLERS- The only areas open to fishing for Atlantic salmon are the Naugatuck, Shetucket, and Housatonic Rivers (these salmon are expected to be the stocked broodstock Salmon). Atlantic salmon caught in any other rivers and streams (especially the Connecticut River drainage) are wild Atlantic salmon and should be released immediately with as little handling as possible.
BLUEFISH fishing is good in the Race, Plum Gut and off Millstone Point.

Danbury Times 6/2/06

• Trout regulations remain the same on Candlewood: There was some controversy recently, when signs regarding trout regulations said there was a 12-inch to 16-inch slot limit were posted by DEP at the state launches on Candlewood.
• The signs were not meant for Candlewood and there is no slot limit. An eager seasonal employee started enforcing the nonexistent rule and ordering people to release trout between 12 and 16 inches, and telling them that if they brought in trout that size after the start of June, they would be fined.
• During the regular season, (third Saturday in April through Feb. 28, the limit is five, and there’s no size restrictions. During the special Trophy season, (March 1 through 31) the limit is two, and they must be over 16 inches.
• If you saw any bass floating in your favorite waters during the last week, it’s not necessarily cause for alarm. Waters in area lakes and ponds got a lot warmer, very quickly beginning last weekend. Places that were in the mid-50s late last week were in the low 70s by Monday. With a lot of bass “locked in’’ to shallow water, waiting to spawn or actually spawning, there was some mortality related to the relatively sudden temperature shift. Cold blooded creatures are stressed by sudden and severe temperature changes in their environment. When it happens on top of the stress of spawning, it can be fatal to some. Now that they’ve had time to adjust, things should settle down pretty quickly. [Danbury Times, Rich Zaleski]

CT DEP Weekly 6/3/06

1. TROUT: Fishing improved this week as river flows generally returned to more moderate levels, with good reports from the Farmington, Willimantic, Blackledge, Blackberry, Natchaug, Shetucket, Naugatuck (18-inch brown), Housatonic, Mianus, Salmon (19-inch brown), Hockanum, Tankerhoosen and Farm Rivers, Sandy Brook and Indiantown Brook. Some success is being found using worms and corn/mealworm combinations. A number of major early summer insect hatches are getting started.
2. Farmington River water temperatures are in the mid 50s. March Brown nymphs (#12-14), Gray Fox (#14, afternoon), Blue Wing Olives (#18-22, mid-late afternoon), Caddis (tan #14-18, all day; green #22-26, evening), Midges (#22-32) and Pale Evening Duns (Epeorus vitreus #14-16, afternoon & early evenings) are the current working patterns.
3. In the Housatonic River, Water temperatures are in the upper 60s. Major insect hatches are here and will begin to provide excellent fly fishing (especially when the spinners start up). Sulphurs (#14-16), Blue Wing Olive (#18-22, early morning; spinner fall in evening), Isonychia (#12-14 evening, just starting), Cahill (#12-14), Adams (#12-14, evening), March Brown (#10-12) & Gray Foxes (#14-16) are producing. Green caddis (#14-16, early morning & evening) are on the water. Midges and early stoneflies are being seen at the mouths of tributaries.
4. LARGEMOUTH BASS: Fishing has picked up in many areas with good reports from Moodus Reservoir, Scoville Reservoir, Housatonic River (Kent), Lakes McDonough, Housatonic, Lillinonah, Wonoscopomuc, Coventry, Candlewood (5.1-pound bass among the catches), Gardner, Shenipsit, Crystal (Ellington), Uncas, Pattagansett, Mashapaug, Waramaug, Chamberlain, Bantam & West Twin Lakes, and Long, Mudge and Pachaug Ponds.
5. Smallmouth bass are reported at Candlewood (slowing, but still a number of catches over 4 pounds), Lake Lillinonah, Gardner Lake, Hayward Lake, Bantam Lake and Squantz Pond. ...
6. Northern pike fishing is reported to be good at Bantam Lake, Hopeville Pond, Ashland Pond and Pachaug Pond....
7. Kokanee salmon, try West Hill Pond at 3 colors of lead line (12-15 feet), where fish up to 17.5 inches are being caught.
8. Walleye are being reported from Lake Saltonstall and Squantz Pond.
9. STRIPED BASS: Fishing for cow bass in Long Island Sound is good on the local reefs with fish over 40 inches in length being reported. Schoolie striper fishing in the tidal rivers and harbors remains good in addition to hockory shad. School striper spots include the Pawcatuck River, Napatree Point to Sandy Point, lower Mystic River, Thames River, Niantic River, Connecticut River by Calves Island, Great Island and North and South Cove, Sandy Point area in New Haven Harbor, Milford Harbor, Housatonic River from the Devon power plant to the Derby Dam, and around the Norwalk Islands.
10. SUMMER FLOUNDER: Fishing is picking up in LIS along with black sea bass. Montauk Point, the south side of Fishers Island, lower Mystic River to Groton Long Point, Black Point area, Horton Point to Mattituck Inlet, Port Jefferson are spots worth trying for summer flounder.

CT Weekly Diadromous Fish Report

1. Connecticut River: Water temperatures on the mainstem are a bit cool (63-66F/17-19C) with flows dropping down to a seasonal 17,000 cfs. Temperatures in the tributaries are higher—Leesville was at 68F/20 C and Rainbow hit 75F/24C, which are temperatures at which salmon often stop migrating. We need a break in the hot weather to keep the system from overheating.
2. Smaller tributaries in Connecticut, not much has been observed other than some nesting lampreys and lots of smallmouth bass. Snorkeling surveys in tributaries indicate that the striper numbers have not rebounded to the level at which they were previously.
3. One big story is the total absence of blueback herring. Justin Davis of UConn is seeing them in his samples on the main river and coves but we’re not seeing them on spawning runs up any tributaries. The fishway counts are still very low.
4. Flows along the Connecticut shoreline have dropped back down to seasonal levels and all fishways are operational again. However, the alewife runs appears to be over in many places so the streams are pretty quiet.
5. The exception was the Housatonic River, where there have been reports of river herring at the Derby Dam (likely blueback herring), Mianus Pond Fishway (sampled, and confirmed to be bluebacks), and at Bulkley Pond Dam on Sasco Brook (sampled, and they were still alewives). No reports from many locations this week.
6. The Shetucket River is back down to normal levels and all three fishways are again operational. We resumed tagging shad at Greeneville this past week and this time, they were trucked around Taftville to below the Occum Dam. More tagging will continue next week.
7. Eel passage is starting to pick up at some locations although glass eel capture at the fyke nets remains low and reinforces the belief that the run is basically over.
8. For more detailed info and numbers click on the link.

Rivers End, Old Saybrook, 06/02/06

1. STRIPED BASS- The Connecticut River has been the place to be this week. Theres been a good body of bass from the Back River to Griswold Piers (refer to Connecticut River chart). Your best bets are early and late in the day, but there have been some good midday catches this week. The bass seem to be spooky, the ratio of swirls to hookups is pretty high. Boat traffic will put them down, run gently.
   
2. In another strange twist, Slug-gos are not working as well as plugs. Pencil poppers, Zara Spooks, Hydro Pencils and similar stick baits are doing better. There have been bass up to 40 pounds taken in the River this week. The rain from yesterday and the next few days may have a negative effect on the fish in the River.
3. The Race slowed up on the day bite earlier this week, but the nite bite filled in the slack. The Watch Hill Reefs have been hot for two weeks now with squid and bass.
4. The Causeway and the DEP Piers have schoolies with some keepers being caught at the piers.
5. BLUEFISH- They're spreading out. Some are being in the River mixing in with the bass. Thers still a good bunch in Peconic Bay, especially if you're trying for fluke. The Race and Plum Gut have some, but they're not especially thick yet. As tides pick up this week they'll probably increase in numbers.
6. FLOUNDER- Season closed for the year.
7. FLUKE- A few fluke have moved into the River, its worth a shot in the next week if we don't get too much rain. On this side of the Sound the best reports have come from Niantic Bay and Waterford. A few have been reported from Soundview. Theres still plenty of squid from the Sound through Rhode Island.
8. Reports from NY have been hit or miss, I haven't heard anything to justify a trip beyond Fishers Island.
9. CAUTION------- Theres still a lot of debris in the Connecticut River and adjacent Sound.

The Day 6/2/06

1. The weekend bass catches in The Race were good on the morning ebbs and poor on the flood tide in the p.m. The biggest fish were around 20 pounds. Fluking is slow keeper-wise with perhaps a few more in Two Tree Channel than other local spots.
2. A group from Niantic made a run to Block Canyon since last report, catching 24 bluefin from 30-80 pounds, both trolling small lures and chains before dark then with live squid and Butterfly jigs after dark.
3. Don at King Cove in Stonington said the Watch Hill Reefs are loaded with bass up into the low 20s, feeding on lots of squid. There are opportunities for casters in the early morning and those trolling the tube and worm.
4. Flukers complained about more and more and more short fish, with scant few keepers. Shore anglers at the Monsanto jetty and the Lambert's Cove Bridge caught schoolies on small lures and bait on the bottom. Retired commercial fisherman Capt. Joe Rendeiro of Stonington caught school bass in his boat not far from Sandy Point.
5. Al Golinski of Misquamicut got out Monday with his wife Emme, catching a total of 25 fluke with eight keepers on bucktails and stinger hooks with whole squid plus a teaser fly 12 inches above that. The fluke, though on the smaller side, were aggressive; one chased the rig up just below the boat where it grabbed the fly and ended up in the cooler.
6. Capt. Don's in Charlestown said they weighed in a 35.8-pound bass yesterday morning, caught on live shad just off the Quonny Breachway. Lots of shad and school bass were around the end of the breachway at that time, the former possibly drawing the sharpies looking for bait for jumbo stripers. Fluking in best in 40 to 50 feet off both Green Hill and Misquamicut but expect lots more shorts than keepers.
7. Capt. Al Anderson made four trips, both day and night, to Block Island from Saturday through Monday, landing 126 bass from 27-42 inches, trolling parachute jigs and plugs from the North Rip down the west side to the Hooter Buoy. At times they had fish up on top under birds, at other times all was quiet on the surface with bass eagerly taking the lures down deep. The fish had a mix of scup and small sand eels in them when the keepers were cleaned.
8. Shaffers Marina in Mystic is seeing more keeper fluke now along with reports of plenty of shorts. Larry Strickland and Sean Ross had a 4-pounder at Misquamicut on Wednesday. Another boat came back from the same general area on Sunday with three keepers out of a total of 20 fish. Bob Ranck stayed closer to home, ending up with three keepers in his cooler from White Rock.
9. Shore anglers had a few hickory shad from the docks below the Route 1 bridge and a couple throwback fluke from the Causeway Bridge. Casters might check out the Watch Hill Reefs early in the day for bass chasing bait on top. Kevin Ray and Dave Enos tried Sugar Reef on their last trip, returning with one keeper bass and a couple blues.
10. Fish Connection in Preston reported some larger stripers caught last week off the Mohegan Sun in the Thames River and also the number one can off Little Gull Island. Blues have been in and out of Plum Gut, hitting diamond jigs and bucktails meant for bass. Peconic Bay —at this time — still offers best chance for greatest number of keeper fluke versus our local waters.
11. The Watch Hill Reefs are loaded with smaller bass with some also caught around Ellis Reef. Porgy season opened in state waters but few were landed as of press time.
12. Stephanie Cramer sent in her regular e-mail about schoolies along the upper Thames, wading and casting in the evenings along with a 20-inch striper that put up a spirited battle on her fly rod. Lots of chunkers lined the east bank of the river, catching little or nothing.
13. Capt. Howard Beers, retired charter boat captain, was minding the store at Hillyers when I called. He said you might get a few keeper fluke mixed in with shorts in 50-60 feet due south of Millstone. The local pros are still getting keepers out of The Race on a steady basis. Blues moved in and out of the hot water at Millstone, hitting plugs one day, gone the next. Winter flounder season closed but it was the best spring fishing in a few years.
14. Sherwood Lincoln of East Lyme has his boat in the water and fishing on the better days. You can find fluke off Millstone but only one in 10 might be big enough to keep. The porgies have NOT yet moved in but bass catches for the steadies are good in The Race on the ebb tides and the inside reefs.
15. Pat Abate at River's End in Old Saybrook noted some of his regular bass hunters had good scores at Valiant on some night trips. Casters tossing popping plugs in the lower Connecticut River around rockpiles on the channel edges had bass from 24-40 inches but also lots of looks and follows for every one fish hooked.
16. You might get a keeper fluke at Niantic but nothing showed up so far right in the river itself, a spot very popular on the weekdays with small boaters who either can't go into the Sound because of wind and seas or that just want to save a buck on fuel. [Tim Coleman is The Day's saltwater fishing columnist]

On The Water 6/1/06

Best Bets for Connecticut and Rhode Island: Best bet this week will be fluke anywhere from Point Judith to Montauk Point and into the Sound as far as Niantic, along with the north shore of Long Island. Stripers will be feeding anywhere there are still some squid or chasing the schools of adult bunker that have moved into the region in higher abundance than this writer has observed in a couple of decades.

1. Fishing reports indicate a slight slow down in some areas this past weekend, with improving fluke and striper catches as the week has progressed. The porgy season opens today in Connecticut. No one has been talking about these fish being that the season has been closed, and there has not been much complaining about interference from these fish from fluke and tube-and-worm striper fishermen – yet. But that’s only a matter of time with the number of “hump backs” that were around last year.
2. Don at King Cove Outfitters, Stonington said the reefs have been top-shelf lately. Squid are all over the reefs with bass slurping them on top, especially early and later in the day. Fish up to 40 pounds have been reported from the reefs to Wilderness Point, where that 40-pounder was caught by an angler who was casting leadheads. Fluke fishing is excellent, with tons of shorts in the catches of everyone.
   
3. Cheryl Fee of Shaffer’s Marina, Mystic said that they were seeing lots of fluke caught but not many keepers. Most of her customers make the run from Mystic to the South Shore Beaches or the south side of Fishers Island. She said the average reported by anglers has been about three keeper fluke out of every 20 or so caught, but the fish being caught are good sized. Misquamicut and Isabella have been the two places people are talking about specifically. There were four keepers caught off from White Rock, Stonington but no one has been concentrating in the Mystic River so far. They weighed a 4-pounder from Misquamicut that was brought in by Larry Strickland and Sean Ross who fished hard on Wednesday for this single keeper from a day’s catch. There are still lots of squid around based on fat bellies of big, fat, squid-slurping stripers that are being gutted at the cleaning station at the marina. The fish are healthy and eating well. Porgy season opens June 1. None are harassing the fluke meisters at this point in the season, but it won’t be long!
4. Rennie of The Fish Connection, Preston on the Thames said that they have been hearing about large numbers of small schoolies from the Thames River, with some bluefish being mixed in with the catches made in the lower river. Avery Point is producing some larger stripers and there were still some bigger fish at the Greenville Dam chasing shad. There are some adult bunker in the Thames which surely have some bigger stripers chasing them, but no one came in to talk about it this week.
   
5. Freshwater bass fishing has picked up lately, because most of the bass are finally done spawning. The rains and temperature drops caused these fish to leave their beds a number of times earlier in May, which could mean a poor spawning season for largemouth bass in the region. Trout fishing has been good due to the Memorial Day stockings, by the DEP, which will be the last for the spring season. A few anglers are making some decent catches of calico bass (black crappie) from Aspinook Pond, Pachaug, and Hopeville and other area lakes and ponds, but no real specific reports.
6. Bob at Hillyer’s Bait and Tackle, Waterford said that fluke fishing is improving in the bay. Matt caught four keepers out of the eight fish total he caught on his day off Tuesday while fishing in Niantic Bay. Bass action has slowed a tad. One angler caught a 45-incher on a Zara Spook off the lower Connecticut River earlier this week. There are some scattered bluefish here and there with a few larger fish in the Connecticut River mouth and off Millstone.
   
7. The Race slowed down since last weeks report but those who fish it right continue to take stripers of 30 pounds or so on a regular basis. I personally talked to two people who fished The Race over the weekend, but didn’t do well.
8. Maybe it was the calm, bright sun and high pressure that slowed things on Sunday, because I made a run myself and was disappointed. We fished around Fishers Island and only managed one 34-incher and eight bass under 22 inches tube-and-worming. The disappointment for me was the fact that when we checked out Sugar Reef and vicinity Sunday morning, nothing much was happening during the flood tide. Maybe we hit tides wrong, but it was not looking like the hot bed of activity that has been reported so far this week. But that’s how it can be this time of year. Fish and bait move in pulses, hit a hole and it can be frustrating.
9. ”Q” of River’s End Tackle, Saybrook said the mouth of the Connecticut River is on fire with bigger fish, many of which are in the 30- to 40-inch range. Big Slug-Gos and Danny Plugs are the hot items. I’d try tossing a Salmo Fatso or Skinner into these waters as well. Early in the morning or evening under low light conditions and if possible during the ebb tide is the key to success on stripers in the Connecticut River this time of year. Not much news from Hatchets and Bartlett reefs lately. “Q” said that The Race and Plum Gut are still producing some fish, but he also heard that The Race had slowed down a tad.
10. Captain John Planeta owner of Franks Tackle, Marlborough said the Connecticut River flows have slowed enough to allow some decent fishing to take place for the first time in about two weeks. One angler caught 15 fish to 44 inches by trolling tube and worm and casting poppers in the middle reaches of the river on Friday. He caught the big fish on a popper, which had to be a thrill. Salmon River was hot for rainbows to about 4 pounds over the weekend and into this week as a result of the Memorial Day stockings.
11. Captain Jerry Morgan of Captain Morgan’s Tackle, Madison. Sunday fishing was slow, due to the sun and high pressure but the fishing action has kicked back up again since that lull (that I managed to hit dead center). The fish coming in are full of anything from butterfish to squid in their bellies. There are some bluefish around. Skate, scup, shark and searobins are also being caught. Fluke action is so-so in the Madison area, with like everywhere else, mostly shorts in the catches. Greenport and Mattituck produced keepers over the weekend but locally it’s been slow.
12. Chris Fulton owner of Stratford Bait and Tackle, Stratford said that there’s lots of adult bunker around, but surprisingly not many stripers feeding on them. Anglers who are fishing with live bunker are taking a few bass to about 15 or 20 pounds. Artificials, soft plastics and plugs are not producing very well. One angler hit The Race on Sunday and caught a 29-pounder three-waying eels down deep that made the shops “leader board.”
13. The Derby Dam has slowed down since the rains. Fluke fishing has been slow as well. One angler caught 38 shorts that were about an inch under and only a couple of keepers out of the lot. There were three 4- to 5-pound weakfish caught off West Haven one evening. The catches made the web and the next night there were tons of anglers there, but no reports on how they did on the following day.
14. Nick at Fisherman’s World, Norwalk at Liberty Square, East Norwalk reports that some larger stripers have been caught in the Greenwich area for the past few days. Anglers are taking 5 to 6 fish in the 40-inch range and blues to 13 pounds in 40 to 50 feet under bunker schools that have moved into this area from New York waters. Wednesday morning they weighed in a 39-pounder that was caught somewhere around the Norwalk Islands.
    
15. Green’s Ledge produced a 12-pound fluke to an angler who was chunking with bunker for striped bass. There are tons of schoolie bass are all over the place along the shore and in the islands to catch. But recently some bigger fish have moved in to the shallows where surf-fishermen are hooking up. Nick said that anglers fishing from shore are loosing fish they can’t turn. Most of the big stuff is being hooked on chunks or live bunker fished between dusk and dawn. Nick said he heard from a reliable source that the Hudson River fish just finished spawning, so things will be happening rapidly from here on out as these hungry post-spawn bass move en mass out of the river and begin pushing their way eastward along the Connecticut shoreline.
16. There are a few porgies off Stamford and around 11-B Norwalk to catch when the season opens today. He said that fishing to the west in New York waters is phenomenal and because the bait and bass will move east he expects fishing action to improve greatly in the Norwalk area any time now. Right now, most of the larger stripers are deeper waters but that will change soon. [On The Water, Bob Sampson]
    

Danbury News Times 5/26/06

• The rivers are finally beginning to slow down a little, as flow rates have dropped to only about twice what they should be at this time of year. Accordingly, trout fishing has picked up some in the bigger streams like the Housatonic and Farmington Rivers.
  
• The Farmington is already under 1,000 cubic feet per second, while the Housy is expected to be in that flow range over the coming holiday weekend, barring any heavy thunderstorms.
• Lower flows and falling water levels have had beneficial effects in the major tidal rivers as well, with the striped bass fishing recovering in the lower Housatonic River following a serious decline during the recent heavy rains and hard flow.
  
• In the Connecticut River, there are still plenty of stripers up in the Enfield area, but anglers are finding they have to sort through an awful lot of schoolies to get a big fish. Eels and soft plastics that imitate eels are working best, and the best time is after dark on an incoming tide.
• Pike fishing is on the upswing in the Connecticut River as well, with the Haddam Meadows area and the mouth of the Salmon River being two of the often mentioned hot spots. Spinnerbaits, soft plastic jerkbaits and large, live minnows are the hot tickets there for pike right now.
• Out on the Sound, the schoolies and barely keeper-sized stripers are cooperating around the Norwalk Islands and Greenwich Point, but the bigger fish seem much more prevalent in the Eastern end of the Sound. Bluefish are in the Sound as well, but that fishery is pretty much confined to the eastern sound, except for a few reports of blues from the West Haven area.
• Bass fishing has been good across the state, but success is a matter of figuring out just what part of the spring cycle the fish in any given waterbody are in, and then keying on patterns specific to that stage. Pre-spawn largemouth in Candlewood for instance, are chowing down on spawning alewives, while post-spawn smallies in the same lake are beginning to move off shore to the humps and roadbeds already. Everything is post-spawn and even early-summer-type patterns in smaller ponds, but the deeper lakes to our north — places like East Twin and Wonoscopomuc haven’t seen much of the spawn yet, and many of the largemouth are still out on the mid-depth breaks, waiting for the shallows to warm.
• I had an interesting bass fishing experience last weekend on a trip to Lake Champlain. Reports I got before I left home all said that the largemouth spawn was about to kick in in earnest in the southern section of the lake, and that most of the fish were in protected backwaters. By the time I got there, the reported 58-to-60-degree water had dropped to 54 degrees, and the water level in the lake had gone up almost two feet from a week of heavy rain.
• The spinnerbait and jerkbait bite we anticipated wasn’t happening. The jig bite we expected to fall back on never materialized. We caught and released plenty of largemouth, most of them over three pounds. But we had to fall resort to places and techniques we might associate more with fishing in November than in May.
• Other anglers we talked to fared poorly because they were fishing their seasonal expectations instead of the reality of the conditions. Throwing at the bank with spinnerbaits and surface plus and constantly moving wasn’t going to cut it. It took light tackle, a drop shot rig with a four-inch worm, and a slow, tedious approach in 10 to 20 feet of water — and most important, the patience to sit and work over a school of fish once we found them — to score consistently. But while “springtime tactics” were producing four or five fish a day for most of the bass anglers we talked with, fishing like it was November produced over 100 fish for my son and I. It’s a lesson that neither of us will forget soon. [Danbury News Times, Rich Zalesk]