On The Water 9/8/05

1. This week, dirty water caused by those big rollers blown up here from the offshore tropical storms, coupled with off tides, has served to slow the overall bite down a couple of notches. The good news is that nearly all of our contacts are reporting incredible amounts of bait of many species around which bodes well for the remainder of the fall – providing we don’t get hit by too many major tropical storms or an early winter chill.
2. Cheryl Fee of Shaffer’s Marina, Mystic said that over Labor Day weekend they weighed in a 9.5-pound fluke caught off of Isabella Beach, Fishers Island. The guy who caught this decent fish went back the next day and couldn’t net a keeper fluke, so fishing here is like every place else, spotty at best.
3. Bass action has been mostly from schoolies, but they weighed a 24-pounder that was caught off Watch Hill Saturday on tube and worms. Snapper blues are thick and easy to catch up inside the Mystic River, along with a few hickory shad that are still around.
4. Big porgies are thick and easy to catch. A few blackfish came in over the weekend, but they will be the last until the season reopens on September 22. Customers are also reporting many small sea bass around.
5. Bluefish are hit and miss at the present time. Bass tube-trollers have been hampered by tons of seaweed that have been torn up by the rough seas. Cheryl also reported tons of needlefish and peanut bunker in the river and vicinity to feed all the predators that are, or will be, in the area this fall.
6. Captain Jack Balint of The Fish Connection, Preston on the Thames said the water is really dirty. There are some dangerously huge breakers crashing onto Catumb Rock and Sugar Reef, so keep an eye to sea if you fish these treacherous areas.
7. Captain Jack told us on Wednesday he caught fish at Race Point and Sugar Reef, but that the offshore storms are really making it difficult to fish due to all the junk in the water.
8. The Thames River is red hot for small bluefish and some school stripers right now. Joe Balint told me he’s been going out every evening after he closes the shop and has been easily finding and catching blues on poppers and other shallow-running lures. Most of the river’s fish are small, but there are big bass (20-pound class stuff) being caught on occasion by anglers chunking for bluefish.
9. He saw a ton of peanut bunker south of Fishers. Jack said his contacts and all of his searching indicate that there are not any false albacore in the area yet, but a few bonito are bouncing around from Bluff Point to Groton Long Point with the changing tides.
10. Jack said that there is still the occasional schoolie bluefin tuna being caught in The Race, but this phenomenon appears to be over. He did say that one customer said that a week or so ago he hooked a bluefish in The Race that was grabbed by a giant bluefin that instantly spooled the reel and broke off. Along the same lines, guys from one of the head boats said they had one up in their chum slick for a short while recently, but I wouldn’t drop what I’m doing and set up for giants in The Race at this point. It’s one of those oddball things that happens on occasion, especially during hot summers like this one.
11. The Fish Connection is holding its Fifteenth Year Anniversary Party and Customer Appreciation Sale September 17, and everyone is invited. They will have some factory representatives, along with an open grill and drinks.
12. Matt at Hillyer’s Bait and Tackle, Waterford said bluefish are all over the place, with The Race being the epicenter of this activity, as it always is this time of year. Blues are also thick off the local reefs, in the Millstone Point Outflow and up inside the bay. There have also been about as many snapper blues around as he has seen in many years.
13. There are some striped bass around to catch, but the blues are getting in the way, even after dark in The Race.
14. Porgy fishing is excellent on really big fish up to 16 and 17 inches long! Matt said he caught a few fluke along the south side of Fishers Island over the weekend, but the porgies constantly got in the way, causing them to change their drifts to new areas. The Bell Buoy is the porgy hot spot in Niantic Bay.
15. False albacore showed up off Giants Neck on Wednesday morning. But they were on the move and the customer who saw them never set the hook on one – but it’s a start.
16. Craig Andrews, this area’s big fluke specialist, caught a 13.5-pounder, probably somewhere in the deep waters off Niantic Bay. Craig doesn’t say where he fishes, but it’s generally in 100 feet or more, depths that few anglers even begin to fathom. Overall, fluke are slowing down. However, Matt said there are still a few fluke around to catch in the bay, and they always remain right through the end of the month and beyond if temps remain warm. All in all things are really good in the waters from Niantic Bay and Black Point to The Race and Sluiceway.
17. Pat Abate of River’s End Tackle, Saybrook said there has been some activity in the Connecticut River from school bass and bluefish up to about eight pounds on the surface. The bites are best early and late in the day. As usual, the Connecticut River always has the best fishing during the ebbing tide. He also noted that there are good numbers of schoolie bass along the Old Lyme Beaches, as well.
18. Nice fluke have been brought in this week, with the best being that same 13.5-pounder that Craig Andrews brought by Hillyer’s. Pat said the action from fluke has picked up big time off Montauk Point, one of the major staging areas that will be red hot from now until these fish move offshore a few weeks down the line.
19. Some bonito have been running the rips between Race Rock and Little Gull Island, but no false albacore have been reported. They have also heard about a few random catches of schoolie bluefins being made in The Race.
20. Captain Jerry Morgan of Captain Morgan’s Tackle, Madison told us that the beautiful weather and loads of bluefish have been the story in his area this week. Porgies are all over the place, with bigger bass being caught in the rips on eels after dark. A few schoolie-size bass up to low-end keepers are showing in the tidal pools and rivers along the coast, as would be expected this time of year. There are no albies or bonito around the Madison area at this time. A few adult bunker are moving into Clinton Harbor, with bluefish and bass in hot pursuit, but they are not always easy to find.
21. There are a few crabs in the local tidal rivers, with this area having perhaps the best crabbing in this region based on reports from Captain Morgan and the Connecticut DEP. For some reason, the middle portions of the state have suddenly had an influx of blue crabs, which in general have been scarce to non-existent so far.
22. Chris Fulton of Stratford Bait and Tackle in Stratford said there are tons of blues around his area that can be caught on top. Most of the reports this week came from the Housatonic River and protected areas due to the northeast winds that have blown for the past few days. Not many reports of bass anywhere. The chunkers couldn’t get out over the weekend due to the winds, so everyone was pretty much stuck in the river with all the small bluefish.
23. Recently, the story has been the wind. A few schoolie bass were caught on tube and worms around Charles Island over the weekend, but not much else has been reported in the striper department. One customer said he made a run from Madison to the Rhody line looking for false albacore and bonito and didn’t run into anything other than a few schools of small bluefish during his search. Porgies are hit and miss. However, Chris noted that there hasn’t been much targeted effort due to the winds.
24. Luke from Fisherman’s World, Norwalk said there are loads of bluefish on the surface all around the Norwalk Islands. They are taking about anything from flies to poppers. These fish are primarily small one- to three-pound “cocktail blues,” with fish to nine pounds not out of the question, and the occasional low-teen fish below these larger bluefish. There are tons of snapper blues around, as well. Again they are calling it a banner year for snapper blues here in the western end of the Sound, which bodes well for continued excellent bluefish action well into the next decade.
25. Fluke action has slowed lately like every place else along the coast as they begin to move out of the Sound with the approach of fall. There have been a few catches of fish in the five- to six-pound range, but generally it’s a slow pick on smaller fish. Oyster Bay and 11-B are the two places producing most of the local fluke, but it is slowing to a hit-and-miss situation here as it is to the east.
26. Bass have been hitting well early and late in the day on eels and plugs. Three-waying sand worms in deep water has also been producing good bass outside the islands in 125 feet around Buoy 11B. Buoy 28C has produced nice fish on chunks. Last week one angler caught a fluke, six blues and some keeper-size bass by chunking in this area.
27. This week it sounds like the best bet for sure-fire action will come from bottom-fishing for porgies about anywhere except the Stratford area, and bluefish everywhere from Norwalk to Newport. Bass are around, but look for them to be most active early or late in the day, with large fish being caught on eels, live hickory shad, porgies or even those cocktail blues when you can catch a one-pounder.