Connecticut Fishing Report - August 29, 2024

Matt, at Black Hall Outfitters in Westbrook told me that the local fishing has remained pretty similar to last week, with the exception of a continued push of small bait schools into the area. Bigger bass can almost always be caught as well, but morning and evening, along with after dark is your best bet. The usual suspects, such as GT eels and other big soft plastics, live eels/bunker, large topwaters, and trolling tubes have been the top producers. There are some nice gator bluefish around as well, but they are scattered, with the better reports coming from the west and Plum Gut. Snapper bluefish have invaded the sound and can be found chewing on that small bait across the board. Keeper sea bass are becoming more prevalent in 80 feet of water plus on Daiwa SK Jigs. Scup fishing has been as steady as ever, while summer tautog anglers are starting to report better results. The mass of hardtails hasn’t entered the area just yet but has been a strong push of Spanish mackerel from the central to the southern sound, and there are quite a bit of false albacore to the east around the cape. That may sound like a long distance, but the rest of the hardtails are knocking on the door!

Captain Matt, at Stonington Stripers told me that things continued to improve this week. He found some really good striped bass fishing, and there have been some of the biggest bluefish of the year mixed in. These fish will almost always take live eels, but Matt has been finding plenty of action on large topwaters and 9-inch sluggos during the morning hours. Once the sun comes up, you can still find fish around the surface, but you often have to downsize your offering to Jumpin Minnows or albie snax. The hardtails aren’t in CT in full force just yet, but once they are those small offerings should work for any of the species available.

Heather from the Blackhawk in Niantic provided the following report: Another great week of late-summer fishing! Our weekday bottom fishing trips had a good showing of porgies and sea bass, with loads of jumbo porgies and some nice keeper sea bass. There have been plenty of scup limits throughout the week, with some sea bass in there to fill up the coolers as well. Our afternoon private charters had good fishing as well, with our groups catching an assortment of porgies, sea bass, blues, and bass. Always a good time when we have these smaller groups out on the boat with us! Our Thursday fluke trip, despite unfavorable conditions including a strong moon tide, a steady westerly breeze, and a bunch of shorts to pick through, put together a solid catch of keeper fluke. It was a better trip than most lately, but still not the how the fluking should be overall. We had two excellent sunset cruises this week- one for a private group on Wednesday, and the other our final Black Hawk & the Community trip of the summer season. New tickets for each week will be posted online on Monday night at 8pm, just like in past years. Our September trips are being posted now, and the schedule changes a bit in September, so be sure to check out our calendar so you see what’s coming up! We look forward to seeing everyone soon!”

Captain Mike Roy at Reel Cast Charters reported that he’s still catching a lot of bass, with the best action for big fish right now still coming on live bait. The biggest fish are responding to live baits fished in deeper, cooler water and action has been good with some very big fish in the mix. They are starting to see schoolie and slot size fish blitzing on top and they’ve been coughing up juvenile butterfish, so the early signs of the fall run have been strong. There are more brown sharks around than people realize and they can be a problem at times, one of the only problems with targeting striped bass right now. Sea bass fishing continues to pick up and there are some nice sized fish in deeper water. Captain Mike and his team have openings over the next two weeks, which should be primetime. Give him a call today to book your spot.

Anthony, from Game On Lures provided the following report this week, “Silversides and Peanut bunker have still been the primary bait source in the central/eastern sound and there seems to be more and more by the day. The striper fishing has remained similar to last week, but the average size of the fish has definitely increased. A good push of larger chopper bluefish started making their way in the area. These fish can be best caught on live eels and Bunker, but a 13” Duratech eel, large topwaters, and other various large soft plastics have been working great on the artificial side. Loads of chub mackerel have been making an appearance and are a blast on light gear. Fluke reports have slowed a bit, but guys are still getting keepers out in deeper water. Seabass fishing has significantly picked up on both the shallow and deep structure, however you will have to pick through a ton of shorts. Scup fishing is as good as it gets. Brown sharks remain to be an issue and have been on a tear taking fish from anglers, mid fight or boat side, so be as efficient as possible landing these fish. The reports of albies are starting to flood in from Cape Cod and Buzzards Bay, so fingers crossed it won’t be long till they are local!”

When I talked to Captain Chris, of Elser Guide Service he reported that he’s been back on the water and has found plenty of big bluefish and striped bass action, across multiple depths. The big bass bite started to pick up a bit, and Chris found several bass in the 15-35-pound range while trolling pink and orange tubes. Chris has spotted a few bonito, but they’re still in small numbers. He’s having no problem picking up Spanish Mackerel on exo jigs though, whenever he has targeted them. Most of his charter focus will be topwater and fly fishing for the rest of the season, as we work our way into the fall, and the hardtails make a grand appearance. He doesn’t have any weekends trips available at the moment, but there are weekdays available, so reach out to schedule a trip before it’s too late.

Fishing Forecast for Connecticut

By the time I’m writing to all of you next week, we may have seen a massive Labor Day hardtail invasion. The results aren’t there quite yet, but they’re trending in the right direction. The bonito have started to filter back in across Rhode Island and are finding no shortage of small bait. False albacore reports to the immediate east have intensified once again, so we should be mere days away from everything popping off. Striped bass and bluefish can still be found in all their usual haunts out front, no surprise for the last week of August, but we once again saw a better push of bait and predatory fish up the bay, and into the rivers. Bottom fishing has remained steady across the state, with strong scup and better sea bass results from the deeper wrecks and rockpiles. Fluke fishing has been difficult once again in terms of numbers, but there were a handful of double-digit fish caught, which should help inspire fluke anglers to give it one more shot. Tuna reports have been up and down, mainly because of the weather and crowds. That being said, the anglers that have it dialed in are finding no shortage of fish when they avoid the crowds, and the weather allows. The next few weeks are very promising, with real tuna biting consistently, false tuna knocking on the door, striped bass and bluefish entering fall mode, and tautog taking another step towards the fall bite.

Striped bass fishing had been up and down throughout the recent weather changes in CT, but things are starting to trend for the better big time throughout the state. Striped bass are being caught throughout the sound and in its major tributaries, with the eastern sound reefs starting to take charge this week. Areas from the central to eastern sound also saw many more surface feeding striped bass, feeding on juvenile butterfish and peanut bunker. That same area has also seen a nice push of Spanish mackerel, which is usually a great pre-curser to the false albacore season. The western sound has rebounded following the recent storms, and word of big bluefish, a better striped bass bite, and loads of Spanish mackerel are coming in from points west. The scup bite is as consistent as ever, with no shortage of hubcaps throughout the sound. Scup are coming from just about every piece of structure, regardless of depth, while the sea bass season has kicked into gear on the deeper structure. The late summer tautog season ends this weekend, but is usually very productive. If you have a chance to get out in the next two days for a late-summer white chinner, you should capitalize on that. Another one of our summer visitors, brown and thresher sharks, are continuing to show up close to home for anglers looking for something pelagic, without traveling too far.