Monday, March 28, 2005

Bass Fishing Marine Pkwy Bridge, NYC

  1. One of the most diverse fishing ecosystems in Jamaica Bay is found near the Marine Parkway Bridge. The bridge itself runs north and south, leaving the tide movement unobstructed except near the abutments of the bridge. With large eddies and whirlpool pockets on its sides, the MPB is the ideal holding spot for large predators to ambush their prey.
  2. In the fall, the October full moon puts the bay eel population on the move. This occurs every year without fail. The eels look for winter bedding in the deeper and warmer holes in the bay. As they pass through the bridges, they are met by striped bass and bluefish waiting to ambush them.
    The structure beneath the surface has large outcroppings of concrete and rebar which can be hard on your terminal tackle, but the rewards can be great. Inside these holes are large predators just waiting for the bait to pass.
  3. The boat anglers in our bay load up on shoestring eels. Shoestrings are smaller eels just at legal size, around the 12-inch mark. Using a 4- to 5-ounce drail with a 3-foot leader tied to a 5/0 octopus or all-round hook, the eel is hooked through one eye and the top jaw. The rig is dropped to the bottom and reeled up a turn to position the bait just off the bottom. This will help prevent snags on the rebar and cable that runs underneath the bridge. Drifts are made through the south channel abutments on both sides of the tide.
  4. When fishing with eels, the bite may vary in intensity. Striped bass will sometimes slap the eel with its tail and then inhale it headfirst. Usually there is no doubt that youíve had a strike, but sometimes the strike is delicate. The bass will often inhale the eel with a soft touch and then swim off. I feel that the tide has a direct effect on the strike. The faster the current, the harder and more aggressive the strike becomes. The eel also may give a sign that something is about to happen. Many times Iíll feel the eel dance (in fear), and a few seconds later Iíll feel the hit.
  5. Live bunker sometimes behave the same way. We fish live bunker with a small treble hook at the rear of the dorsal fin and a 4/0 octopus hook in the top jaw. This enables the fish to swim freely and also gives you a better hook up ratio. Some anglers will use a drail of approximately 4 ounces, but I prefer a 2-ounce egg sinker about 2 feet above the hooks. I like the rattling effect the egg sinker produces against the barrel swivel that is tied to the leader.
  6. Drifting clam bellies and chunks of bunker are also a proven way of catching stripers. More popular than eeling in the daylight hours, many anglers anchor uptide of the bridge and drift the clam or chunk into the large eddies around the abutments. Fluke and bluefish are a constant by-catch while using these baits. The use of a little wire leader is advisable when using chunks under the bridge.
    Chumming with clams works well also, but not with bunker, because bunker chum attracts bluefish that push the bass deeper and out of reach of your bait. It is almost a sure thing that the blues will beat out the bass for the choice bait. If you see more blues than bass, stop chumming.
  7. On the Joeyís Bud, we prefer the lazy manís fishing technique. While on the anchor we have 4 rods in the rod holders in dead-stick mode. Two rods are fished with a split shot rigged with clam. The other two are fished a little off the bottom with the head of bunker. We hook the heads with a 2/0 treble in the lips and a 5/0 octopus in the gut end. All reels are left in free spool with the clickers on. From our experience, dead-sticking works better than holding the rod in the cooler weather.
  8. Itís difficult to dead-stick when drifting with eels, but we have found a technique that works. Place your rod in a holder thatís almost parallel to the water. Let the eel down to the bottom, and then reel up 3 turns. Leave the reel on free spool with the clicker on. When you hear the clicker, turn it off before taking the rod out of the holder, and give the fish line as you pick up the rod to set the hook.
    When drifting over irregular bottom depths you can dead-stick, but since you want your bait to follow the contour of the bottom as much as possible, you must constantly check to make sure youíre not too far from the bottom or not dragging on the bottom itself.
  9. Deep holes and ledges hold a lot of fish in the fall, especially where the bait gets pushed around and disorientated. Look for those bait balls on your fish finder and youíll find the bass close by. Whirlpool and eddy edges also hold bass as they lay in ambush waiting for the bait to flow out of the churned up water. The old saying, ìFind a sloppy condition and theyíll be bass under itî, is true. Just look at any rip in the fall where the bait is churning and youíll find bass. Maybe not the size you want, but bass just the same.
  10. It is very important that you handle the released fish in the proper manner. The less you come in contact with the fish the better. We try not to handle the fish at all if it is to be released. The hook loop method, as we call it, makes it easy for the angler to release the fish without touching it. A small piece of pencil rod bent in a loop at one end makes a nice release tool. Slide the loop down the leader and shake it at the bend of the hook, youíll find that almost every hook will dislodge easily.
  11. If you have gut hooked a fish, cut the leader as close to the mouth as possible and then release the fish. Never try to pull the hook out of a gut hooked fish that you want to release. Itís better to lose a hook than kill a short fish. Itís also best to avoid contact with the fishís gills.
  12. Due to the stricter bag limits and size limits on bass the past few years, the striper has bounced back, and brought us older and larger fish. We welcome back these larger fish and hope that with the right management techniques, they will be around for our children and grandchildren to enjoy. I am a believer in the theory that we have resident fish here. Resident, meaning fish that stay here all year long instead of migrating south. They winter here in the deeper holes and then spawn again in the spring.

Friday, March 25, 2005

Conn Post, Frank McKane

Despite this week's snowstorm, the warm weather has eroded the ice away from most of the lakes and ponds. Anglers are still venturing out on the ice. Most are using extreme caution, but every year we hear about someone falling through the ice. Please remember, safety comes first — don't take chances.

If you must partake of the remaining ice fishing days, concentrate on the ponds north of Route 4. Some noteworthy spots are Burr Pond, Dog Pond, Hatch Pond, Highland Lake, Mudge Pond, Park Pond, South Spectacle Pond, West Hill Pond and Winchester Lake. These ponds are giving up yellow perch, largemouth bass and a few chain pickerel.

Those planning to fish on Highland Lake and West Hill Pond should do so before Thursday. These two ponds, along with the other trophy trout lakes of Amos Lake, Candlewood Lake, Crystal Lake, Quonnipaug Lake, Rogers Lake and Squantz Pond close after March 31.

The state Department of Environmental Protection has begun stocking trout around the state. Among the first waters to be stocked were the special trout management areas on the Mianus River from Merrybrook Road upstream to the dam in Stamford, Mill River between the Merritt Parkway Bridge and Lake Mohegan in Fairfield, Saugatuck River fly fishing-only Area from Dorrs Mill Dam to the Merritt Parkway Bridge in Westport, Hammonasset River from the Lake Hammonasset Dam to Chestnut Hill Road in Killingworth, the Willimantic River fly fishing-only area from Roaring Brook to the Route 74 Bridge in Tolland and Willington, Moosup River from the Route 14 Bridge to the Quinebaug River in Plainfield, and Salmon River from the mouth of the Blackledge River and the Route 16 Bridge in Colchester. These areas are open for fishing all year, but all these stocked TMAs are strictly limited to catch-and-release trout angling until April 16.

Several other streams are open for catch-and-release angling, but the DEP has not stocked these streams because these support a wild trout population. Some of the better fishing can be found in Coppermine Brook in Burlington, Deep Brook in Newtown, Eightmile River in Southington, Hawleys Brook in Easton, Pequabuck River TMA in Bristol, Pootatuck River TMA in Newtown, Quinnipiac River TMA in Southington and the Ten Mile River in Kent.

The Connecticut River is now open for fishing where anglers are finding plenty of northern pike in the 20- to 28-inch class and a few early season smallmouth bass. Most of the pike and bass are being caught north of Middletown. White perch are starting to show up in the tidal coves near the mouth of the Connecticut River. This fishery has not blossomed yet, but you can expect the perch action to improve over the next week. Anglers must adhere to special regulations that protect the river perch from overfishing. The white perch size minimum is seven inches with a 30-fish daily creel limit.

Saltwater casters are finding good number of small schoolie striped bass in Bridgeport Harbor, the lower Housatonic River, the junction of the Mill and Quinnipiac rivers in New Haven and the Thames River in Norwich. — FRANK MCKANE JR.

Wednesday, March 9, 2005

Hamburg Cove Perch, Record Journal, Mike Roberts

  • One of the biggest attractions of March is the eagerly awaited reports of ice out and some open water fishing in some of the coves on the Connecticut River, especially Hamburg Cove down in Old Lyme. Although perch numbers have tailed off in the last twenty years or so, the coves on the Connecticut River can still provide some early spring fishing for fishermen hardy enough to stand the varied weather changes of March. Like I said, she is a fickle lady.
  • Hamburg Cove is probably one of the best-known spring perch fisheries on the Connecticut River and is best fished out of a cartop boat or canoe, simply because there is no boat launch for larger, motor driven craft at Hamburg. Parking is also somewhat limited. If you use a larger boat such as a bass boat you will probably have to launch at Salmon River and then travel downriver to Hamburg. This time of the year, the Connecticut River can be a treacherous piece of water. It goes without saying, that any fisherman on the water, especially this time of the year should be wearing a P.F.D. (life jacket).
  • Tossing a jig at the white perch is a favorite ploy of many of the white perch fishermen at Hamburg Cove and generally the jig is chartreuse in color. However, I have caught them on the Blakeslee Roadrunner and on cast masters preferably in silver. Be aware of one thing though. When the perch do come in, they come in schools. Many times the schools are so thick that it is virtually impossible to cast a lure without foul hooking a white perch. By law, any white perch that is foul hooked has to be returned back to the water unharmed. If you keep a foul hooked perch and get caught, you are going to lose your fishing license and pay a fine.

2 - 3 Garbage cans of perch!

There was a time, many years ago, that Hamburg Cove had a run of perch, both yellow and white, that you could not help but catch all you could ever want. However, greediness among many of those that fished for the white perch and an unwillingness of those in charge of our natural resources to recognize that such a resource could run out resulted in a dramatic decline in white perch fishing success. They became a, "now they are here, now they are not," fishery much to the dismay of those who enjoyed fishing for them.
Those in charge refused to put a limit on the white perch saying that the stock was more than adequate for the fishing pressure on them. When they were running, it was nothing for some sports to fill up a garbage can or two of white perch. Hey there were not limited to their creel limit, so they felt, "Why not?"
It seems odd that no one at that time, especially those in charge of the white perch fishery, realized that many of the fish being taken were egg-bearing females that had yet to spawn. Their bellies were filled with eggs that would never see reproduction. I was in my learning years as an outdoor writer, and when I contacted officials in charge back then (the 1980s) I was told not to worry, the white perch fishery would NEVER be in jeopardy. Sad to say, they were wrong.
Today with stringent limits on much of our fisheries including white perch on the Connecticut River and its tributaries, (7 inch size limit and a 30 fish creel limit), some of you younger fishermen might wonder what in the world would anyone do with garbage cans of white perch. It was simple-they sold them! Actually they sold the fillets, sometimes for a dollar a pound. To many of the river fishermen this was big money. When I queried the state officials about this practice, I was told, "They aren't supposed to do that, it's illegal". I told them that I knew that, and when I asked them why they did not impose a limit that would take away the marketability of such a practice, they pooh-poohed the idea and suggested that I write about other outdoor matters.
My favorite fish tale regarding the white perch fishery regards one of the old time river fishermen I ran into at Hamburg Cove when I was a heck of a lot younger. I would help him put his old rowboat into Hamburg Cove during the white perch run.
He complained, "I don't know what's happening to the white perch, but it isn't as good as it used ta be." I asked what he meant and he replied, "Why heck Mistah, I used to fish here for white perch and some days I would fill as many as three or four garbage cans of perch!"
When asked what he did with them his reply carried with it an innocence of not having an idea as to where I was going with my questions. "Why I'd fillet them and sell them by the pound. And I even had a market for the roe (eggs) in them because a lot of them were females."
While I was appalled at his ignorance on what he had done, I was touched by the fact that this old fisherman had seen a time in his life that fish were so plentiful, no thought was ever given to the fact that they could run out. When I asked him how he expected the white perch to propagate when he was selling the egg-bearing females by the garbage can, he simply looked at me with a vacant stare. He had not a clue.
Thankfully, our newer generation of fisheries biologists and managers have a better handle on what is going on. Our Universities are more knowledgeable on what is going on and it shows in much of the fish management although there are still many who don't feel this way. For my money the 30 fish limit on white perch with a 7-inch limit in the Connecticut River and its coves is one of the most positive steps taken in white perch management. Granted, it still has a long way to go, but given the time I feel it will yield positive results.

Tuesday, March 1, 2005

Favorite writers

Some of my favorite Connecticut outdoor writers are Bob Sampson, Jr. and Frank McKane, Jr. There are others that I'm just coming to know and share with everyone on this blog. My thanks go out to them for the knowledge they share.