TheDay 8/25/05

• This is usually the time of year when offshore fishing heats up and 2005 is no exception, if you have the money for the long run. Capt. Kerry Douton of J&B Tackle said there is steady action due south of Montauk Point down below the 43500 line on most trips. His last outing produced three smaller yellows, five albies and eight mahi.
• Boats fishing on the edge in the Fishtail and to the west had 75 to 150-pound yellows on some nights, anchored up and bait fishing. Capt. Bob Wadsworth took some time off from local charter fishing to make a trip to the 100-fathom curve where the boat he was on landed a 260-pound bigeye.
• Jeff Frechette sent in his regular e-mail about running to the Fishtail at 30 mph in flat seas. They trolled up a 38-pound albie and small mahi in the evening plus had a blue marlin come up into the spread. They ended the day catching six more mahi around a high flyer. In the morning they were back on the troll before sunrise, landing three more ablies and two more mahi. Their total was four long fin albacore from 35 to 38 pounds and 16 mahi, not a bad day's “work.”
• Back on the inshore scene, Al Golinski of Misquamicut said they loaded up on big sea bass on Monday on a hump in deep water off Charlestown. Besides five sea biscuits over 4 pounds they also caught fluke of 4 and 6 pounds, all on a bucktail tipped with whole squid. The Pawcatuck River is loaded with snapper blues, great bait for fluke, bass or the school bluefin.
• Capt. Don's in Charlestown said they had some bass to 22 pounds and larger blues on the beaches around Quonnie one evening before dark. Given the amount of bait around, it's not surprising fall-style surf fishing may be starting. Fluke were landed in decent numbers off Quonny on Wednesday in about 50 feet, give or take, along with a 6.8-pound sea bass. Mario Tirone and friend had a good fluke trip along a drop off in 30 feet of water at the North Rip. Tube and worm trollers continue to land small and medium bass and blues in 15 to 25 feet of water outside Quonny.
• Don at King Cove in Stonington reported fair but steady fluking for the smaller boats off Napatree and outside the East Breakwater. You'll have to fish through the shorts but keepers are there also. Chunking is still good around Sugar Reef and the Wicopesset can plus casters are getting smaller bass and blues on the reefs thanks to all the bait around. Porgies and some medium to large sea bass can be caught around Latimer and Ragged Reef. From time to time schools of bluefish pushed right up into Stonington Harbor after the bait.
• Moving along to Mystic, Allen Fee at Shaffers said all his rental boats continue to land porgies, especially on weekends with all the crowds. George Horvath landed seven keeper fluke on Wednesday in 65 feet of water off Misquamicut along with a very large sea bass. On Thursday Allen took a charter out for schoolies on top water plugs then five keeper fluke at White Rock. A trip that evening to Little Gull found blues taking both top waters and diamond jigs down deep. Allen said they had three fish on more times than not. Blues are so thick in The Race and other spots it was tough to keep an eel away from them long enough for striper to find it.
• Joe at the Fish Connection thinks the bluefin may move back into our waters. His son Jack landed two fish between 30 and 35 pounds on charter trips this week around the outside of The Race and Fishers Island. Blues are popping up anywhere from Millstone to the east. The Thames River has small blues and a few larger ones that tear into bait some days in the evening. On Wednesday he saw them off Fort Shantok, and the boat houses. You can still find keeper fluke between Vixen Ledge and White Rock. People heading out further had different news about best depth for summer flounder. One gent went to Rhode Island and found keepers in shallow water while another maintained you had to be in 60 feet or deeper to find larger fish.
• Stephanie Cramer sent in her report about small bass caught casting along the upper river in the evening plus she saw school of small blues on the surface by the barge wreck on the west side of the river. Members in her fly fishing club encountered small bluefin in The Race one day. They had two hook-ups and called the experience “a great time.”
• Capt. Brad Glas of the Hel-Cat was happy to say the day trips to The Race have been nothing short of fabulous for blues. Bass are on the right part of the tide as they always are. The night trips to Alligator Ledge have finally produced the great catches people have come to expect and right now it's hard to see how blue fishing could be better. Big fish of the week was a 20-pound striper landed by Tony Sanchez of Meriden.
• Sherwood Lincoln of East Lyme fished some of the deep humps southwest of Black Point on Tuesday afternoon. On the end of the flood and slack, he filled a small cooler with large porgies and on the afternoon ebb caught four bass to 26 pounds and three blues. Most of the catch was taken by a friend and donated to a homeless shelter in Westerly.
• Hillyers Tackle said the peanut bunker are drawing bass into the river at night and blues at other times but not each and every day. Tube and worm trolling or drifting a live porgy at both Inner and Outer Bartletts is producing some bass along with bluefish. Many people headed over to Isabella for fluke saying the bay had just too many throwbacks.
• River's End in Old Saybrook rated the striper fishing has just so-so. The best catches went to the steadies who got live bait in Clinton Harbor then fished it deep in the morning on Southwest Reef. The Race is loaded with 5 to 8-pound blues but the school of choppers in the lower Connecticut River thinned way, way down. Fluking isn't bad though not super in the river and the Sand Shoal.