Connecticut and Rhode Island Fishing Report 6-8-2012

Improving Weather & Improving Fishing

Weather-wise, the first week of June could have been a bit more forgiving to anglers. Heavy winds and fog kept many fishermen in Rhode Island and Connecticut at the dock, but those that ventured out found big stripers, big fluke and tons of bluefish. The fish are in Southern New England in force, and with gorgeous weekend weather forecasted, anglers should spend as much time on the water as possible.

Rhode Island

Fluke fishing is picking up according to the crew at Quaker Lane. The keeper ratio is a bit low, and you’ll be picking through lots of throwbacks for your keepers, but the bigger flatfish are out there. Fluke are feeding heavily on sand eels off the Rhode Island beaches according to the boys at Breachway Bait and Tackle. The keeper ratio has been as low as 3 to 1, shorts to keepers. Spearing has been the ticket for tempting the bigger fluke. Some anglers have been adding them to a squid strip and others have been fishing the spearing on their own, but if you’re heading fluking this weekend, be sure to have some spearing on hand. Breachway weighed in fluke to 6.68 pounds this weekend.

Roger from the Frances Fleet reported the local fluke fishing was good for the most part until Saturday’s weather when gale force southeast winds and torrential rains descended upon the region. No monsters this past week but the biggest fluke tipped the scales at around or just under 8lbs. Most pool fish in the five to seven pound range.

Robin at Quonny Bait and Tackle said anglers are fishing through lots of undersize fluke to get to the keepers, but the keepers are impressive with many in the 24- to 26-inch range. The big moon tides and weather made for fast drifts and difficult fishing, so as the tides weaken as we get closer to the first quarter moon, fluke fishing should get easier.

Snug Harbor had an impressive fluke weigh-in as well. A 9.1-pounder was caught just outside the Harbor of Refuge. Some more large fluke are being caught on the west side of Block Island.

Also at the block, striper fishing is improving daily. Snug Harbor has dropped a couple 40-pounders on their scales this week, taken on eels around Southwest Corner. Same story at Breachway, where a 31-pounder from the Southwest Corner was weighed this week.
For light-tackle stripers, the worm hatches in the salt ponds are just about done for this year reported River and Riptide Anglers. But anglers are still finding good fishing in the Narrow River. Grass shrimp imitations are working well on the bass, which are as large as 30 inches. Spearing and sand eels are also on the menu, so have some of those imitations at the ready as well.

The Pawcatuck River has bass and blues according to the report from River and Riptide.
Quonny Breachway is fishing well with plenty of 30- to 32-inch stripers. Topwaters are doing the job in the daylight while eels are catching after dark. Robin at Quonny Bait and Tackle said there haven’t been many larger fish mixed in, but in early June, you never know when a monster bass might show up.

Porgy fishing has been good for boat anglers, but the shore fishery hasn’t quite started according to Robin. Hopefully soon these scrappy panfish will move inshore and give anglers a fun mid-day fishing option.

Bluefish are around Watch Hill in good numbers. The 3- to 5-pounders are great light-tackle fun, and pretty good eating as well. Just remember to bleed them.
Trout fishing in the Wood River has been good. Fish are looking up, so anglers fishing dry flies are having great days.

Connecticut

Moon tides at the Race made fishing during peak tide difficult, but anglers fishing the slower tide stages found good success with stripers reported Conor at JB Tackle. The folks at the Fish Connection rattled off a number of hot spots for striper anglers to try this week including Watch Hill Reef, Sugar Reef and, once again, the Race. Matt at Hillyers Bait and Tackle added Black Point and Bartletts Reef to the list of good striper spots.

On the beaches, whole squid and bunker and mackerel chunks are fooling keeper bass according to the Fish Connection.

The crew at JB has been working the night tides looking for larger stripers, and they found one this week – a monster 52-pounder.

Bunker have drawn some big bluefish into the Mystic and Thames rivers, reports the Fish Connection. Big numbers of small blues can be found at the Millstone outflow. Bluefishing, which up to now has been a sunrise or sunset ordeal, is starting to light up at mid-day, allowing anglers to catch a few more Z’s before getting in on the fast action.

Keeper fluke are holding in 30 to 40 feet of water off the Rhode Island Beaches, in reach of Connecticut ports. Sarah’s Ledge and Black point also have good fluke fishing. Hillyers is seeing fluke to 5 pounds this week, and good numbers for the few folks that ventured out in the ugly weather. The flukin’ has been off to a great start this year and should continue to improve.
Porgy fishing throughout the state is improving, and Matt at Hillyers anticipates it to pick up substantially over the weekend. The reefs in deeper water are holding most of the porgy fishing right now.

Best Bets for the Weekend

The weather looks nice for a run over to the Block to get in on the rapidly improving striper fishing out there. If the Southwest Corner action is slow or overcrowded, go to the west side of the island and drop down some fluke rigs. Whenever fluking, have some spearing or sand eels on hand. The fluke seem to be keyed in on sand eels, so sweetening the hook with a slender baitfish will improve your odds of catching a keeper.

The extra large tides are behind us as we put the June full moon in our rearview mirror, so the fishable windows at the Race should be getting longer. Head out there and 3-way some bucktails for some excellent striper action.

The big slammer blues in the Thames and Mystic Rivers sound like lots of fun. Toss some single-hook topwaters and hang on. Or for even more of a sure think, liveline or chunk some of the bunker that have been abundant in both rivers.

Porgy fishing is anticipated to improve this weekend, according to a number of the shops, so spending  a relaxing afternoon dunking squid strips or seaworks might yield some slab scup.