Connecticut Fishing Report - August 17, 2017

Connecticut

According to Andrew of Fishing Factory 3, bonito are being caught around Fisher’s Island, along with black sea bass, and some stripers. Fluke fishing is tough at the moment, but keeper fish are being taken around Black Point. For stripers, some fish are being taken around the bunker schools in the daytime, but the best bet has been heading out after dark with eels.

Fishing has picked way up over the past 10 days reported Mark from Hillyers. Despite the slow start, black sea bass is very good now. There are fishing being caught in depths from 70 to 100 feet, but for larger fish, the deeper, the better. Fluke has picked up around Black Point, Bartlett’s, and the backside of Fisher’s Island. Some of the fish have been 22 to 23 inches. Porgies are around, but getting keeper sized scup lately has meant weeding through lots of pesky baby sea bass, fluke, and small blues. Stripers are biting best early and late in the day at Plum Gut and the Race, and in the backwaters, the snapper blues are abundant and growing larger with each week.

Rhode Island

Fishing in Rhode Island is going strong this week. There is plenty of bait around, and bottom fishing is going strong. Plus, as summer nears its end, the arrival of “funny fish” is getting fishermen excited to break out the light tackle.

Both the full and half-day trips aboard the Frances Fleet are producing good fishing. The full day trips, that are able to travel a little farther to the fishing grounds, have been pulling in some better fluke, with fish up to 10 pounds taken this week. After a slow week of night bass fishing, things turned on big time on Wednesday night.

Jose at Ocean State Tackle reported great fishing for tautog, sea bass, and fluke at Brenton Reef. Keeper stripers are being caught around Point Judith is better numbers, while schoolies and snapper blues are keeping fishermen busy in the Providence River.

There are tons of small stripers around Newport reported the crew from the Saltwater Edge. Boats are taking the occasional big bass, and surfcasters working the rocks regularly at night have been rewarded with some cow stripers.

The bonito being caught have been mainly east of Newport, and big brother bluefin is still just a 25- to 30-mile ride off, with fish from 30 to 60 inches cruising along the surface giving both trolling and casting anglers the opportunity to hook up.

Mike from Watch Hill reported huge numbers of chub mackerel—a warmwater mackerel species—along with bunker, squid, and abundant small baitfish. Near Watch Hill Light these baitfish have been attracting some good-size stripers, while across the way at Montauk, similar bait concentrations are drawing in thresher sharks. Fluke and black sea bass have been all over the place, and fluke are present in both numbers and size. Scup have been similarly abundant.

Fishing Forecast for Connecticut

Fisher’s Island sounds like the place to go if you’re after a mixed back. Bonito, sea bass, and fluke by day, and stripers after dark. Despite all the bait, big bluefish have been a little scarce, so keep your efforts focused on stripers when fishing around the bunker schools. That means dropping baits deep on three-way rigs or even chunking.