On The Water 9/3/05

• The poor weather of the early part of this week and predictions of miserable weather over the weekend, combined with the end-of-summer, back-to-school lull in fishing activity, only put a temporary slowdown on what was apparently a pretty good bite over last weekend.
• Cheryl Fee of Shaffer’s Marina, Mystic said they weighed in striped bass of 34 and 36 pounds on Saturday that were caught off Watch Hill on tube-and-worm rigs. Fluke fishing remains good off the beaches. Misquamicut was hot in 40 to 50 feet of water, leading up to the recent bad weather. Even better was the fact that Cheryl said White Rock and the Monastery were producing, as well as the beaches.
  
• The bluefish are snapping lots of fluke and striper baits off throughout the area and are never very hard to find, especially early and late in the day when they pop up to feed on the bait they push to the surface around reefs and rock piles. Race Point and the waters from there to Valiant Rock are always holding top-water feeding blues if you can put up with the traffic and miserable waves.
• In close, Latimer Light and Ram Island Reef have both been producing bass and bluefish. Tube and worms are the ticket for bass; nearly anything one casts and twitches will take bluefish.
  
• Tons of peanut bunker and squid are thick at local reefs. The fluke are on the squid, and other faster-swimming stuff is feeding on the bunker.
• Porgies are big but not quite as plentiful this week. Scup are even being caught up inside the Mystic River from shore. Some big sea bass were caught over the weekend up to 25 inches but no specifics as to where. No blackfish yet but they should begin moving inshore soon.
• Rennie at The Fish Connection, Preston on the Thames told us the river has been slow, producing mostly small bluefish and small school stripers at a 5 to 1 blue to bass ratio. Crabbing has been poor to horrible this summer on the river. The good thing is that there are tons of small bait in the river to draw the big stuff in anytime now.
• Outside in the Sound, customers are chasing fluke with “so-so” success along the Rhody beaches and on the south side of Fishers Island. The island has dropped off a good deal in its fluke production since the last report.
• There was a school of bonito off Pleasure Beach, Waterford about a week ago and some sightings off of Pine Island around that time, which means they are starting to build up in numbers for the fall blitzes that are to come – hopefully.
• Nothing much is happening on the freshwater scene. Bass are a pick in most lakes. Trout are pretty much shot except in the Farmington River; area streams are probably pretty much dead by now. Remember, the thermal no-fish zones are in effect now. Check the regulation book for specifics on the large rivers in the area.
• Richard at Hillyer’s Bait and Tackle, Waterford said that prior to the nasty weather, fluke fishing had slowed a good deal in the bay and vicinity. It could be the winds and tides at odds lately, but it also could mean the fluke are starting to move out with fall’s approach.
• Blackfish action is picking up. A few customers are targeting them between the bridges and even from boats. There are loads of bluefish and bass around. Millstone outflow and The Race are the two hot spots for bluefish.
• The water is full of bait in the Niantic Bay area like every place else. Richard said he walked down by the river before he went to work on Wednesday and the area between the bridges was full of bait for the first time in a while.
• “Q” of River’s End, Saybrook said the porgies are on fire everywhere. He caught a bunch of them up to 17 inches while looking for sea bass last week. Striped bass fishing has been slow in their area.
• Bluefish are thick in The Race and in Plum Gut as always at this time, with a few bonito mixed in at the Gut. Southwest Reef has been yielding good bluefish for those fishing deep with bait.
• Fluke have slowed in the river. Pat concluded this due to the fact he has not heard anything specific lately from customers saying they were catching fluke from the lower Connecticut River like they were three weeks ago. However, a few locals are still taking summer flounder, with some effort, off of Sound View, along the Lyme shoreline.
• Madison: Despite the waves on Wednesday, there were people out fishing and coming in soaking wet, talking about taking both bass and blues along the shore. There are loads of blues and snappers around to catch once the winds stop blowing so dam hard. The captain believes that this bad weather should “kick the fish into gear” for the fall. Fluke fishing is good off the beaches, and customers are even catching them while fishing for snappers when their jigs and spoons drop down deep near the bottom.
• Stratford, told us that prior to the blow there were four- and five-pound bluefish up inside the Housatonic that had trapped bait. In the process, they provided anyone who happened by with constant action. Good numbers of fluke in the river but no keepers. The snapper action has been phenomenal this year. The marinas are chock-full of snappers for kids and adult fans. Bass are hit and miss, mostly miss. Those who are catching stripers are heading east to do it.The river is full of bait, which bodes well for the next couple of weeks when things start shaping up for the fall runs.
  
• Rick from Fisherman’s World, Norwalk said there are still loads of bluefish around, although not many over 13 pounds. They heard of a bonito being caught midweek by one customer who trolled midsound for bluefish with an umbrella rig.
• Fluke are as good as they get this far west, with fish of six to seven pounds being caught off Buoy “11-B.” The better catches are being made with live snapper blues on the slack tides when drifts are slow. Strips of squid and fresh bunker are better on the running tides and on windy days in places such as Bayville, Oyster Bay, Byram River and Captains Island off Greenwich. These are the last few weeks for fluke as things shut down when water temps begin to drop.
• Swordfish, bigeye and big yellowfins are coming in from the “hundred square.” Everyone is happy because they are hooking big blue marlin and wahoo on a regular basis, and people have been consistently landing the biggest dolphin ever from our “local offshore waters.”
• Rick had a report from Darien Hill Beach, which is near Sherwood Island, where the customer said he encountered an all-out bass blitz on fish that weighed up to 20 pounds. The guy said he was catching snappers for fluke bait when all hell broke loose.
  
• Once the hurricane situation has eased, look for continued excellent fishing from bluefish and scup. Bass are holding their own but will still be a night-bite for another couple weeks. Bonito are moving this way, no albies yet, but they will probably be in the report next week or the week after. Fluke have been tough all year so don’t expect them to improve at this late date. This is the time of year when anything can and does happen, especially when fishing along the edge of the shelf.