Connecticut & Rhode Island Fishing Report - June 23, 2011

Summer came in with a bang this week bringing with it a surge of big fish. Boaters are bagging trophy stripers at a furious rate and one behemoth from Rhode Island gave the world record a run for its money! Surfcasters are doing damage too, capitalizing on an inshore invasion of sand eels. Fluke anglers are culling through shorts to find a healthy dose of keepers with some doormats mixed in. And porgy action is also heating up, rounding out a solid late-June saltwater scene.

Rhode Island Fishing Report

The fish story of the week, and perhaps the year, is of course the 77.4-pound monster striped bass that Peter Vican boated early Sunday morning somewhere in the vicinity of Block Island. The fish of a lifetime fell to a live eel and measured 52 inches long with a 35-inch girth. Mr. Vican is no stranger to gargantuan bass. Pete’s latest fish bested his own former 76-pound 14-ounce Rhode Island state record that was set in 2008! Landing two stripers over 75 pounds is an accomplishment that will be hard to top in the angling world – hats off to you, Pete! That wasn’t the only big fish roaming Block Island waters.  John from Twin Maples told me that surfcasters are having a good deal of success lately.  Needlefish, metal-lip swimmers and eels are accounting for a lot of bass ranging from teen-sized fish up to the high 30-pound class. For boaters, dogfish have been a major problem. John said to avoid the pesky bait stealers, focus efforts in shallower water.

The upper reaches of Narragansett Bay are warming up, though still holding some bunker according to Jack at Quaker Lane Bait and Tackle.  He said to look for the baitfish in the backs of coves, marinas and the Bay’s navigable river systems during low-light periods.  Don’t stress if you can’t find pogies, as there has been solid morning top-water action along shallow structure before the sun heats up the water too much.  The lower part of the Bay is where Jack said to be.  Water temps are just right and a fresh batch of fat stripers has shown up to play.  He suggested to focus in a square on the map from the Jamestown Bridge to Point Judith then across to Brenton Reef and back up to the Newport Bridge.  Jack noted that the fish shouldn’t be too hard to find for birds will be working sand eels on the surface or the fish finder will light up.  Boaters and shore-bound anglers alike have been scoring bass on eels, fresh pogies, and artificials like spook-style lures and soft-plastics such as Slug-Gos, Hogys, Ron Z’s and Got-Strypers.

Sand eels are the name of the game for surfcasters in the Newport area.  Arden at Saltwater Edge said Ocean Drive looked like Montauk in October last Saturday with birds working over blitzing bass. Surfcasters imitating sand eels were crushing striped bass in the 10 to 15-pound range, with a few fish closer to the 30-pound mark in the mix.  Arden did pretty well himself during the melee using Red Gill Evos, which have the same thin profile as the traditional baits but are molded on a leaded hook so they can be fished without the aid of a plug for casting distance. Not surprisingly, boaters are consistently catching larger bass.  Captain Billy Silvia of Can’t Imagine Sport Fishing Charters and his brother landed 20 bass ranging from 20 to 51-pounds on Wednesday morning off Sakonnet Point.  They were chunking fresh-cut bunker during an early-morning ebb tide.  Captain Ron at Breachway Bait and Tackle and his clients had a stellar morning on Green Hill Reef on Wednesday morning too.  They boated several stripers from 20 to 48 pounds while live-lining shad and drifting dead bunker during an incoming tide.

There is good news on the fluke front as well.  Robin at Quonny Bait and Tackle relayed that fluking has been extremely reliable off Misquamicut lately.  A double fluke rig in white or glow colors tipped with mummies has been doing the trick in 30 to 35 of water.  Although doormat reports have been relatively sparse, there have been plenty of keepers among the high volume of throw-backs.  Shore-bound anglers are getting in on the fluke action too in Quonny Pond.  Robin said a simple 2/0 hook with a live mummy and a 2-ounce weight is all that is needed for anglers looking for flatfish from the surf.  The Green Hill “Fluke Till Ya Puke” tournament drew a whopping 431 registrants last Saturday.  The top three cash prizes went to anglers weighing in fluke that were 8.3, 8.2, and 7.55 pounds.

Connecticut Fishing Report

The big bass bite on Long Island Sound’s reefs continued right where it left off last week.  Probably to no one’s surprise, the Race gave up some massive stripers this week, and night time has been the right time.  Conor at J&B Tackle reported a 55-pounder falling to a 1.25-ounce olive bucktail jig with an American eel-colored pork rind.  The bucktail was three-wayed with 16-ounces of lead during the flood tide on Saturday night.  Conor said that the after dark bite has produced larger bass on average and less bluefish overall.  Q at River’s End told me about a 52-pound bass that was taken on a live bunker at Long Sand Shoal on Saturday.  He believes many of the fish that have taken residence on the Shoal are recent dropouts of the Connecticut River, which remains slow.  Jack at the Fish Connection said the Thames River has its fair share of school bass and keepers running from Norwich to Gales Ferry, along with 4 to 5-pound cocktail blues.  Most anglers having success there are using live or cut bunker, but heavy rains have thinned out the baitfish.  Cappy at Captain Morgan Bait and Tackle said the reefs in central Sound are producing quality bass as well.  Eels instead of bunker have been the best bait along structure like Southwest and Six Mile Reefs.  Cappy and company landed multiple bass from those areas recently in the 30-pound range, along with a 42-pound specimen.  Incoming tides have been better as of late and their preferred method is three-waying live eels or flipping them into rock outcroppings.

As for surfcasting, Phil at River’s End shared with me a nice fish story from a rocky piece of shoreline near the Connecticut River.  One morning this week, he landed a 22.8-pound striper at false dawn on a weightless 12-inch pink Hogy. It was his only bump of the outing, but he made it count. That’s best news I heard from the surf fishing community recently, but then again they are usually best at keeping quiet. After a few recent surf skunkings myself, Captain Mike from Reel Cast Charters took me out on Tuesday night in the eastern Sound for what he likes to call “surfcasting from a boat.”  We targeted hard-to-reach pieces of shoreline structure with live eels and eel-skin plugs.  In all, three of us boated six keeper bass up to 20 pounds.  The good news is that most of the fish were reachable from shore.

In the western Sound, Chris at Stratford Bait and Tackle reported crazy amounts of sand eels in the area. Both bluefish and striped bass are taking full advantage of the baitfish situation from the Housatonic River to Norwalk. Teasers flies fished in front of plugs or sand eel patterns on the fly rod are working well for this type of action.  In the Housatonic River mouth, some of Chris’ customers are slow trolling tube and worms for small keeper bass during the day.  Others are finding larger bass behind Charles Island by chunking fresh bunker.  Also behind the Island are loads of porgies according to Jay at Bobby J’s Bait and Tackle.  He said that high/low rigs tipped with fresh clams are working better than sandworms and cost less too.  Jay said to try the outgoing tide because the porgies stay on the structure longer and to focus in 12 to 20 feet of water.  Dan at Rudy’s Tackle Barn told me about a Father’s Day outing on Sunday off Greenwich that consisted of 13 keeper stripers up to 52-pounds.  Once again, fresh bunker was the ticket.  Dan noted that bunker schools are thinning out in local harbors, but the best bet was to have your snag hooks ready during early morning hours when the bait is showing before boat traffic gets heavy.

The fluke bite in Long Island Sound still has a long way to go, but anglers are still finding quality fish among the shorts.  Kyle from Hillyers said decent reports are coming in from 30 to 40 feet of water off Isabella Beach on the southside of Fisher’s Island.  The biggest fluke from that area that he weighed in was 8.5 pounds and was caught using squid that was caught just before the fluke.  Another respectable fluke of 6.5 pounds was caught off Isabella, but in deeper water around 60-feet.  When I asked Kyle what tide was best for fluking in that area, he told me it didn’t matter as long as it was moving.  Other eastern Sound fluke spots worth trying at the moment are 40-feet of water off Millstone Point, Two Tree Channel and Sarah’s Ledge.  In the western Sound, Rick at Fisherman’s World told me that Can 26 south of Goose Island in 25 to 30-feet of water on the incoming tide, or the Obstruction Buoy in 30 to 50-feet of water during the outgoing tide are two great options.  Rick admitted that you must cull out a fair number of shorts to find keepers, but said that every other day a fluke of 6 to 8-pounds is weighed in their store.  Tipping bucktails with spearing/squid strip combos works well, or try fluke bellies on a windy day, as it will produce an enticing fluttering action.

Best Bets for the Weekend

As you may have noticed, some huge striped bass are calling our waters home right now.  Take a page from Peter Vican’s playbook and try drifting eels after dark in the waters surrounding Block Island.  His 77-pounder was one meal shy of breaking the world record and it may not have been alone!  Plying the beaches of Block Island or capitalizing on the inshore sand eel bite in Newport or western Long Island Sound is great option for those of us who are stuck on shore.  For fluke, it sounds like the south shore of Rhode Island is the best game in town.