Bottom fishing continues to be steady across Rhode Island and the blackfish don’t seem to be ready to leave the area just yet. Schoolie bass continue to be abundant and can be found across a wide range of Connecticut and Rhode Island. As ice-fishing season nears, the pre-winter bite across many of Connecticut’s lakes and streams remains excellent.

Rhode Island Fishing Report

In between bouts of frigid temperatures and rough winds, the Frances Fleet in Narragansett was able to find a couple days that were nice enough to get customers on some fish. On the few trips that were made this week, dinner-plate scup and keeper black sea bass continued to be plentiful. Nearly everyone on board was able to manage limits of black sea bass up to and over the 4-pound mark, along with limits of scup mainly in the 1-2 pound class. The cod bite slowed a bit compared to the previous week but multiple cod still hit the deck, along with some pollock, which started to make an appearance this week. Captain Mike continued to report some good tautog fishing for the fleet, despite tough anchoring conditions. Tautog in the 7- to 9-pound class were landed in bunches over the weekend, with a few over 10 pounds popping up as well.
Reports have been limited over the past few days due to the recent cold snap, but a few positive tautog reports came in to Breachway Bait & Tackle in Charlestown over the weekend. Keeper tog continue to hold on the South County rockpiles in 35-40 feet of water and water temperatures aren’t quite cold enough to drive them off into the depths for the winter. School striped bass can still be found along the beaches from Westerly to Narragansett and with a few reports of herring in the area bass will likely be local for another week or two.

Connecticut Fishing Report

Pat, at River’s End Tackle in Old Saybrook, also heard some limited reports of schoolie stripers blitzing along the Rhode Island beaches and the Waterford, Connecticut shoreline. Schoolie-to-small keeper bass reports have been improving at the mouth of the Housatonic and Thames rivers; it is likely time to switch gears and start targeting winter holdovers. Some large bluefish were spotted this week at the Millstone outflow feasting on the herring that have started to move into the region. Blackfish reports have been scarce but the better reports have come in from around Southwest Reef and Cornfield Point, where some nice blackfish are still being found in 25-30 feet of water.

Andrew, at Fishin Factory III in Middletown, reported that the strong Connecticut River pike and crappie bite has remained just that, despite some ice on the guides this week. The pre-ice pike bite tends to be a good one as these fish fatten up for the long winter ahead. Schoolie stripers are being caught with some regularity at the mouth of the Connecticut River and at Hamburg Cove, and it is likely a case of holdover fish starting to stage up for the winter. If you’re hitting the salt one last time, Andrew suggests drifting eels at Long Sand Shoal as this has been a proven method and hot spot for quality December stripers.

Mike Roy of Reel Cast Charters reported that the blackfish season isn’t quite over yet. Over the weekend Mike put his clients on some bruiser blackfish in western Long Island Sound. Fish continue to hold on the 25- to 30-foot rockpiles and around the breakwalls from New Haven to Milford and Mike anticipates a few more quality trips before all is said and done.

TC Marine Bait & Tackle, reported that the schoolie striper fishing in the Housatonic River has really started to hit its stride over the past week. Fish have been taking soft plastics on small jigs from the mouth up to the Sunnyside ramp and at all the usual spots in between. The river levels have been extremely low and will be rising with today’s rain, which will undoubtedly help the bass fishing as flows pick up.

Dan at Fisherman’s World in Norwalk reported that his customers have still been picking up limits of blackfish around the Norwalk Islands, but they have started to move into deeper (30 feet) water. Schoolie and small keeper bass are beginning to stage up in the mouth of the Housatonic and Saugatuck Rivers and both shore and boat anglers have had success throwing small jigs and soft plastics on light tackle. Dan had some increasing reports of Atlantic herring from Norwalk to Fairfield and it is a safe bet that some better bass are not far behind.

A steady freshwater bite has been going on in the Saugatuck Reservoir, where anglers fishing live shiners under slip bobbers have had success with walleye, trout and smallmouth bass. The candlewood lake smallmouth bite has picked up, with jigs and tubes fished on deep-water humps being the ticket; while walleye continue to show themselves over at Squantz to anglers fishing live baits. Trout fishing in the Farmington and Housatonic Rivers has been steady and should improve once the rivers settle this weekend.

Best Bets for the Weekend

There are still plenty of opportunities to cash in on some good fishing in the salt over the long weekend. Blackfish have certainly not vacated the region just yet and schoolie stripers remain plentiful and are covering a wide range of the area. While many freshwater anglers may be starting to think about the hardwater season we are not quite there yet and there will be plenty of open-water opportunities in Connecticut and Rhode Island’s lakes and streams.