Connecticut Fishing Report - August 10, 2017

A few schools of better striped bass seem to have moved to the Fisher’s Island area and eastern CT; while Block remains a steady producer of great stripers, fluke and sea bass.

Connecticut Fishing Report

Andrew, of Fishin Factory 3 in Middletown, went out in search of some bonito this week, and while he didn’t end up finding any, there are huge schools of small bait all over the place. It’s shaping up to be a great fall, and things should get moving in the next few weeks. Large striped bass, which have proved elusive for most of the season, are starting to show up off Fisher’s and sparingly across the CT coastline. It is far from lock and load fishing, but the amount of decent bass reports has increased quite a bit and local anglers may have a nice late summer/fall to look forward to. Block Island continues to produce some very good fluke and sea bass catches; while Connecticut waters have been a little tougher. Scup reports are great from across the eastern sound, including Harkness, Madison and just over the border at Watch Hill. Bluefish blitzes around the mouth of the river are still more sparse than usual, but seem to be increasing by the day.

At Hillyers in Waterford, word is the fluke bite improved quite a bit in the deep water off Bartletts and Black Point. 20-24 inch fish are coming up with some regularity, but most say you need to spend some time weeding thru shorts. Fishing deep has been the key for sea bass, while the scup bite has been solid all over. The big bass sharpies are all reporting better catches around Bartletts and Black Point this week, but most of the damage has come after dark.

Gene, over at Black Hall Outfitters in Old Lyme, also mentioned that the striped bass bite has picked up locally this week. Livelined bunker or fresh chunks remain the bait of choice, and the fish tend to be hanging on the deeper ends of the reefs. Look to 40-50 feet of water, and fish after dark if possible. Scup are all over the place in the Old Lyme and Old Saybrook area, and are taking sandworms on size 2 or 4 hooks. Fluke fishing went through a tough stretch, but has picked up recently. Many anglers are picking up keepers in shallow water once again, and some true doormats have come from 100+ feet of water off Black Point and Hatchets. Blue crabbing is excellent in the estuaries right now, and should remain that way for a while.

Captain TJ, of Rock n Roll Charters, said the slower tides hurt the fishing a bit last week, but things should be picking up with the full moon. Bluefish seem to showing up in better numbers, and there is a good chance they will really invade the area soon. TJ took John Lushinks out for a shark trip this week and they scored a 150-pound thresher, two nice makos and a bunch of blues.

The river has been stocked everywhere outside of the permanent C&R/TMA areas, and it’s pretty much loaded with brown, rainbow & brook trout, even a few tiger & golden rainbow trout.

Rhode Island Fishing Report

The Frances Fleet in Narragansett had another steady week on the water, highlighted by some great fluke on Tuesday. Everyone aboard the full day trip saw some nice fish, with quite a few 7-8 pound fish and the pool fish coming in just under double digits. The half day trips this week have been steady, with easy sea bass limits to 4-pounds and a few nice fluke in the mix. The nighttime striped bass trips will be running this weekend, and the full moon should really help things along. The fleet will start running their annual tuna trips shortly, be sure to check their sailing schedule online.

Dave, at Ocean State Tackle in Providence, reports that the bottom fishing remains steady across the state, and most anglers are finding plenty of scup and sea bass, along with some nice keeper fluke. Fluke and sea bass action remains the strongest at Block Island, but good catches are still being reported across the inshore coastline. Big scup are abundant and can be found on most of the inshore rockpiles, with clam necks and squid being the baits of choice. Striped bass fishing has slowed a bit at Block Island, but remains very good. The striped bass bite also seems to be improving inshore, but the fish are moving around quite a bit. The guys that target late summer tautog said that the bite is still a bit selective, but they are seeing better fish each week.

I spoke with Pete Jenkins, of Saltwater Edge in Middletown, who told me that bonito reports continue to trickle in, and are starting to get a bit more common. Reports have come from South County to Westport, but nothing has been reported from the west wall just yet. There is plenty of bait in that area to sustain a feed, and he wouldn’t be surprised to see some fish there any day now. Huge schools of anchovies and some even smaller rain bait are all over the place. They are fueling huge blitzes of bass and small bluefish, and these blitzes are becoming throughout the state, both day and night. Word is there are some much larger striped bass settling in locally, but these bigger fish don’t seem to be on the rain bait. They are more isolated, and cracking the code to landing one is proving a bit tricky.

According to Watch Hill Outfitters in Westerly, the reports of bonito are starting to swirl around the shop, but he hasn’t heard of any confirmed reports locally just yet. The fluking off the local beaches and around the island has been up and down, but both areas are still producing a number of good fish; it seems the fish settled into those areas and have found no reason to leave. Sea bass are in the mix, and some good ones are out on the deeper structure. Striped bass fishing continues to be solid at Block, and the Watch Hill reefs continue to slowly but steadily improve. Shore anglers are catching some striped bass here and there from the beaches and breachways, while shore anglers targeting scup are reporting great catches.

Fishing Forecast for Connecticut

A few bonito reports has everyone charged up, and rightfully so. There may not be many around just yet, but the amount of small bait is tremendous from CT to RI. It wouldn’t be a shock to run into a few if you are out this weekend, and in a few more weeks things should really get moving. It finally seems that eastern CT anglers have some better striped bass to play with, and groundfishing will continue to produce quality results for all species.