Connecticut and Rhode Island Fishing Forecast 7-21-2011

Hopefully you’re reading this somewhere with the air conditioning cranked on high, preferably before hitting the water.   The extreme heat as of late has quelled some fish species while giving rise to others.  Quality striped bass have been noticeably harder to come by, as they seek deeper and cooler water.  Hordes of large bluefish, however, are embracing the warm water and are providing epic top-water opportunities.  Black sea bass and porgy reports are excellent across the board and fluke action remains strong, but you still have to pick through a mess of shorts on almost every trip.  Snapper blues are in and growing by the day, which can be a great introduction to newcomers of the sport.  In addition, inshore sharking is on fire and a thrilling way to beat the July heat.

Rhode Island
Boat anglers are having success with striped bass in deep water throughout the day, but think early or late if you want to find that type of activity from shore.  Arden of Saltwater Edge suggested live eels after dark, but even hotter baits right now are 9-inch natural-colored Slug-Gos fished on a half to one-ounce jig heads.  Arden gave me an example with a story about how a buddy, John Hagen, had some unlucky experiences in the surf and turned it all around with some karma and a proven soft-plastic.  Recently, John was fighting a bass along the Newport rocks and the drag knob of his Van Staal fell off.  To make matters worse, he snapped his trusty surf stick soon after.  He sought advice from friends on how to break the unlucky streak and helped out an elderly neighbor for some good karma points.  That same night, over this past weekend, John redeemed himself with a 44-pound striped bass on the Slug-Go and jig head combo.  He proved it wasn’t just luck by bagging a 30-pounder on Tuesday night using the same method.  Arden said stick to the alewife or black patterns and be sure to use a jig head with a strong hook from makers like Andrus or Owner.

Arden and I also talked about bottom fishing from boats.  He said that there are definitely a lot of fluke around, but the bite can be hit or miss in the Newport area and there are a ton of shorts in the mix.  In the same breath, Arden told me that black sea bass is more deserving of angler attention right now.  He’s been fishing with light spinning tackle, like what you would use for false albacore fishing, along with one-ounce spoons, such as Point Jude’s Silver Minnow. Arden also puts a two-inch swim shad above the jig as a teaser and says you never know what’s going to hit the duo.  He’s been clobbering black sea bass, fluke, stripers, and bluefish jigging off bottom this way.

Rob at Quaker Lane Tackle said the warm waters of Narragansett Bay are infested with big bluefish at the moment.  He knows because he filleted a ton of them recently, some over 12 pounds, for bait in the upcoming Oak Bluff Shark Tournament.  Look for good topwater bluefish action in the early evenings into darkness.

In western Rhode Island, fluke, sea bass, and porgy action are strong as well.  Mike from Watch Hill Outfitters did well targeting black sea bass in 50 to 55 feet of water at the Boulders between East Beach and Misquamicut.  He was fishing with 4 and 6-ounce chartreuse Spro jigs on the bottom with a Tsunami squid as a teaser, both tipped with live mummies.  During an outgoing tide, he cleaned up on keeper sea bass with plenty of fluke as bycatch.  Robin at Quonny Bait and Tackle said the fluke bite in 60 feet of water off Misquamicut and Charlestown remains good, yet as usual lately, there are shorts galore in between keepers.  The scup fishing, however, is flat out excellent, even from shore.  Robin told me that the scup are coming in and out with the tides, so focus on the incoming if in a breachway and the outgoing tide if along the beach.  A basic high/low rig with a piece of sandworm tipped with a piece of clam is a great combination for these tasty buggers.

Dave from River and Riptide, along with his fishing partner Joe, had an insane day of shark fishing on Sunday, three miles east of Block Island’s Old Harbor Point.  They had caught small bluefish on Smack It poppers in lower Narragansett Bay the night before and used their fillets, as well as mackerel, for bait. A menhaden chum slick brought in blue sharks in short order and they hooked up with seven of them throughout the day.  Their spinning tackle consisted of a Van Staal jigging rod and a Van Staal 250 reel, but the highlight of the day was when Dave broke out the 14-weight fly rod.  After unsuccessfully drawing a strike without meat, he tipped the stinger hook of a giant K.T. Squid fly with a mackerel tail and hooked up immediately.  A 50-minute fight ensued before Dave leadered the 7-foot shark, but it had one barrel roll left in it that snapped his rod!

Block Island
There are plenty of large striped bass to go around in Block Island waters, according to John at Twin Maples.  He’s regularly seeing 30-pound class fish come through the door, with a few over 40 pounds each week.  Drifting live eels with no weight in 14 to 28 feet of water from Old Harbor Point to the Southwest Corner is proving very productive.  John also noted that sand eels on the surface are creating topwater striper opportunities along the North Rip with bass between 30 and 36 inches taking poppers.  Keep in mind that the annual Block Island Volunteer Fire Department striped bass tournament is this weekend and you can register at John’s shop.  In addition, you know there are a lot of sea bass around the Island when they are eating live eels meant for stripers.  Plenty of sea bass are mixed with fluke in average depths of 42 to 55 feet of water from Grace’s to Southwest Corner.  John also suggested the Coast Guard channel for porgies with a squid strip and spearing on a wide-gap fluke hook.

Connecticut
While striped bass are becoming more elusive in the high heat, boatloads of bluefish, fluke and porgies are relishing in the warm water.  Joe at The Fish Connection said there is a concentration of school-size bass mixed with three-pound blues in the Thames River, as well as reports of bunker still lingering in Norwich Harbor.  The most interesting news he shared out of the Thames though, was the 25-inch weakfish caught by a shore angler recently.  The bass fishing is better outside of the river in places with good structure and in close proximity to deep water like Race Point and Wilderness Point.  Joe recommended either three-waying live eels or bucktail jigs with pork rinds.

Captain Mike of Reel Cast Charters had the best striper action of anyone I spoke to over the last week.  On the full moon on Friday night, he scored a 35-pound bass fishing live eels tight to a rocky shoreline in the eastern Sound.  He went back on Tuesday night and was rewarded with a 31 pound striper using the same method.  On a roll, he went back again on Wednesday night and stepped it up a few notches with a 48-pound slob of a bass.  If you are after large stripers this time of year, focusing on late tides with live eels is an awesome tactic.  Even though Mike is catching most of his bass on a boat, the majority of them can be reached from shore.

In terms of fluking, Matt at Hillyers had far more positive things to say than negative.  All the eastern Sound haunts are producing good action with some nice catches among the short fluke.  Areas like Niantic Bay, Black Point, Harkness and the backside of Fisher’s Island have been, in Matt’s words, “consistently consistent.”  The depths you should be targeting vary from 30 to 90 feet, yet he noted that shallower water might produce more shorts on average now.  Matt recommended a no-frills fluke rig with squid strip and a live mummy, stressing the most important thing was just to get your bait in front of fish.

Matt also mentioned that porgy fishing is definitely worth trying right now via boat at spots like the Spindle at Bartlett’s and the Bell in Niantic Bay and from shore at Harkness Memorial State Park.  Cappy at Captain Morgan Bait and Tackle said there is decent black sea bass action in 40 to 50 feet of water south of Faulkner’s Island.  He noted that a fluke rig with squid strip should get the job done.  Along with all the big bluefish in the area, baby snapper blues are making their presence known along jetties and docks in the area.  Cappy said they are about four-inches right now and growing fast.  Two easy ways to catch snappers are by using snapper poppers with a fly or tube trailing behind, or a simple hook under a bobber with a frozen or live spearing.  Snapper fishing will only get better over the weeks to come and present a great opportunity to get youth interested in fishing.

In the western Sound, Captain Chris of Elser Guide Services told me that the past week provided a mixed bag of action with gorilla bluefish over 35 inches moving in and inshore striper activity cooling off in the warming waters.  He also noted that the bait situation remains strong with bunker schools gathering near mid-Sound as well as in several local harbors.  In addition, Chris mentioned that the full moon phase over the weekend produced a great cinder worm hatch in areas like the Mill Pond and Southport Harbor.  Keep that in mind when the next full moon phase comes around.  Nick at Fisherman’s World said Stamford Harbor has bluefish in the 12- to 15-pound range munching on Deadly Dicks and more big blues are feasting of flies in shallow water off Greenwich.  He also said Norwalk Harbor is hosting some bunker and anglers are snagging some taking them chunking near buoy 28C with good success.

Best Bets for the Weekend
For your greatest chance at a quality striped bass, focus your time on the coolest part of the day well after dark.  Drifting live eels over structure or casting them towards rocks piles are great tactics.  The southern half of Block Island continues to reward anglers with cow-sized stripers on a daily basis.  Rocky shorelines along eastern Long Island Sound are a good bet too.  Black sea bass, however, seems to be the hottest bite around.  Try using fluke rigs along the western side of Block Island or around the Boulders in 50 feet of water between Misquamicut and East Beach.