Connecticut Fishing Report
Matt, at Black Hall Outfitters in Westbrook, told me that not much has changed since last week, except that it seems the bigger fish are starting to make their way into the system. There are tons of local school to slot bass, and recently a few bigger bass to 47-inches have shown up for anglers fishing the lower river and the Central Sound reefs. There has been no shortage of bluefish around, so they haven’t vacated the area yet. Your best bet for big bass has been dawn and dusk, and while they may take a live eel, artificials like the GT Eel, big paddletails, flutter spoons and topwater walking plugs have been working. Some bunker are starting to trickle into the lower river, and once they thicken up, live-lining will be a top option!
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Heather from Black Hawk Sportfishing reported another week of excellent fishing. Porgy fishing has been excellent on their weekday trips, and there remains a good number of weakfish in the mix. Their first fluke trip of the season was good, despite tough drift conditions. They picked through quite a few shorts, but still put quality fish on ice before heading in. Their After-Work Special trips had excellent bass fishing once again, with a good mix of slot fish and bigger fish that were released. They will continue to add these trips to the schedule, so keep checking their website. The squid trips have also remained successful, with the last couple resulting in plenty of full buckets. Besides bass, squid and bottom fishing trips, they still have some private charters available, so be sure to check in with Heather asap.
Captain Mike Roy, at Reel Cast Charters reports that they saw several pushes of bass and bluefish this week and those schools were made up of some larger fish. They had some nice stripers come over the rail as well as bluefish up to just shy of 20 pounds. The reefs are loaded with butterfish and sand eels and the fishing around the schools of bait has been excellent. There are also some bunker trickling into the region and they expect a good push of them to follow soon. They’re still catching the majority of their fish on soft plastics and vertical jigging with spoons. There are still some open dates for the coming week and scattered throughout June so give Captain Mike and his team a call to book your spot today.
Dan, at Dan’s Bait, Tackle and Charters in New London noted an excellent Memorial Day weekend in his neck of the woods. It’s some of the best early season striper fishing in years, with angler fishing from the shore and boat reporting strong catches recently. Double-digit length porgies have been commonplace for bottom fishermen, and the sea bass have started to be plentiful as well. Squid strips and sand worms have worked well for sea bass and scup, while the same worms and livelined eels have worked well for shorebound striped bass anglers. It’s been a strong start to the summer season in eastern CT and will only improve from here!
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Joe, at Diorio Guide Service told me that the local fishing improved once again this week. Bigger bass are making their way into the system, with stripers to 47-inches being caught this week. Bluefish have continued to have a strong presence in the area, and most of them are large. Most of the action has been coming on topwater baits like the Doc, JB Skipper and Strike King Mega Dog. Bunker has slowly started to trickle in, and if you can find them, you’ll certainly have some success with the bass as well. Everything is falling to place for another strong season, so get out there!
Max, at Fisherman’s World in Norwalk reports that the me striped bass fishing remains excellent in the western sound. We are in the midst of some of the best striped bass fishing that anglers can remember, but there’s also some great bluefish and weakfish action! The bass fishing is excellent all throughout the area from inshore and around the islands out to the deep-water reefs, and the fish are abundant in both size and number. The deep-water reef bite has been good for anglers trolling bunker spoons, mojos, and umbrella rigs as well as those dropping flutter spoons and diamond jigs. There are lots of mackerel in the area, helping to fuel the bite and bunker schools are present too, if not a bit spottier. Inshore, anglers are catching on bait and lures like SP Minnows, X-Raps, topwater plugs and jigs and plastics. There were a few more bluefish reported this week over last, and they are starting to harass the bunker schools. Local fluke reports are generally slow, but there’s been a few encouraging reports around Goose Island and Sherwood. Sea bass fishing was strong this week, with good reports from the deepwater reefs and wrecks. Trout anglers are still reporting good catches from the local TMAs, while the anglers fishing the reservoir are reporting strong bass action, and the occasional walleye bite.
Connecticut Fishing Forecast
Temperatures are rising and the summer fishing season across the northeast seems to be descending on us nicely!
Connecticut has been a hotbed of striped bass action, with strong reports coming from most of the state. Outside of the Western Sound, the majority of fish have been on the smallish side, but that trend started to change this week, with 40-pound plus fish being reported from central and eastern areas. Better bunker numbers were reported this week, so the liveline game and some truly giant fish will likely show themselves this week. Local fluke reports have been relatively quiet, but the anglers who take advantage of the early arrivals have found some early season keepers in relatively shallow water. Sea bass fishing has started off strong and loads of hubcap scup are rounding out the catches! Flows are moderate and clean for trout anglers on the TMAs and the lakes and ponds are producing a nice mix of bass and panfish.