Large schools of bait have resulted in big bluefish feverishly hunting in Connecticut waters, while false albacore and bonito are knocking on our door from the east.
Connecticut Fishing Report
A sub-par striped bass season in eastern Long Island Sound showed a slight sign of improvement around the big moon tides of this past weekend. Reports at Hillyers Bait and Tackle in Waterford were decent over the weekend as anglers found a good concentration of keeper bass on Bartlett’s Reef and at Black Point. The majority of fish were taken on live eels that were 3-wayed over structure, well after dark. Big bluefish have picked up the slack of late, and gators can be found on all the eastern sound reefs for those fishing bait and jigging. Some topwater bluefish blitzes are popping up at first light at Bartletts, and bigger blitzes of bigger fish are reported around Plum and Fishers Island. Porgy fishing remains strong in the eastern sound, but you will have to contend with a ton of short sea bass. Snapper bluefish are keeping anglers busy inside Niantic Bay, with a traditional snapper popper being the offering of choice.
At Rivers End in Old Saybrook, Joe didn’t have much to report in terms of striped bass, but big bluefish have inundated the area and are taking notice of the large schools of bunker in the lower river. Bluefish over ten pounds are commonplace for shore and boat anglers, with livelined or freshly chunked bunker outfishing just about everything else. Snapper bluefish remain at their peak and are being caught in good numbers at the causeway, the state launch and the DEEP docks. The increased bag limit for black sea bass has made the run out to Block Island worth it, where the majority of fish are of the keeper variety. Limits of sea bass can be taken locally but it may take you hours of weeding through short fish first. False albacore and bonito reports remain primarily far east, with the closest confirmed reports being of a few fish popping up at Watch Hill this week. Blue crabbing remains consistent in the river and we should have a few more good weeks ahead of us before they move out for good.
Andrew at Fishin’ Factory 3 in Middletown, saw most of his customers’ attention being paid to the great tuna bite that has been taking place at the fish tails this week. Yellowfin and bigeye tuna were plentiful and just about everyone who steamed out there hooked up. Locally, the striped bass fishing has been poor with the exception of a few keepers mixed in among the large schools of bluefish in the mouth of the river. Shore anglers at the causeway and the dock n dine had great success with bluefish that were blitzing on adult bunker in the late night and early morning hours this week. Other than a few fish at Watch Hill and Fishers Island, false albacore and bonito have not shown up much in local waters and it’ll be another few days before max effort should be spent looking for these speedsters.
Mike Roy of Reel Cast Charters steamed offshore late last week and took advantage of the strong tuna bite. Before all was said and done, Mike and crew were able to boat 10 good-sized yellowfin. Back inshore, Mike spent the weekend looking for striped bass and bluefish after dark. The striped bass did not want to cooperate but Mike found plenty of gator-class bluefish feeding on squid, butterfish and peanut bunker around Groton and New London.
In the western sound scup and black sea bass continue to garner the most attention from saltwater anglers. According to Fisherman’s World in Norwalk, both species can be found on all the western sound rockpiles, but they suggested looking deeper than 50 feet for more keeper sea bass. Adult and peanut bunker are widespread across the western sound and bluefish of all sizes can generally be found right behind them. The snapper bluefish bite is at full strength in all the harbors and tidal rivers of western Connecticut, and better numbers of schoolie striped bass are showing up around Norwalk Harbor and the islands.
Fishing Forecast
While the bulk of the false albacore and bonito reports remain to the east, it does not take these fish long to cover some water. An over-abundance of small bait should get these fish here soon, and keep them here for a while. If the weather permits it may be worth covering some ground and searching for blitzes this weekend. If the funny fish can’t be located it is a safe bet that you will be rewarded with some blitzing bluefish and schoolie bass for your efforts.