Connecticut Fishing Report
Matt at Black Hall Outfitters in Westbrook reports that they have a very strong start to the tautog season, with a number of customers reporting relatively easy limits. Matt recommends fishing shallow, within the 15- to 25-foot range, with the lightest jig you can get away with. At this point in the season, you can find these fish almost anywhere there’s a bit of current and rock structure. Sea bass fishing has been excellent and porgy fishing is still very good, so they help to keep the coolers full. Matt also reported blitzes becoming common for anglers targeting striped bass. The cloudy and windy days present a chance to encounter daytime blitzes and topwater action. This time of year, smaller baits tend to perform better than large presentations. Four- to five-inch poppers and spooks, as well as five- to seven-inch soft plastic flukes, Mag Darters, SP Minnows and paddletails of all varieties are fall run staples. Fish can be found in all their usual fall haunts, but the area in and immediately adjacent to the Connecticut River seems to have taken off this week.
Heather from the Blackhawk in Niantic provided the following report: “Our weekly bluefish trip was once again spectacular, with big blues coming over the rails all day. Only a few more of these trips left. Our bottom fishing trips had to contend with some wind and strong tides this week, so some trips were tougher than others. The highlight of the week was the opening of blackfish season on Thursday, with some nice keepers coming up to help round out the coolers. If our first two trips were any indication of what’s to come, it looks to be a good blackfish season ahead. Don’t forget, our weekday trips will have crabs available now, so if you’d like to target some blackfish with the porgies and sea bass, come join us. We’d like to offer a special thanks to everyone who joined us on Saturday evening for our sunset cruise and seal watch; we were able to raise over $1,500 to send to North Carolina to help the relief efforts from Hurricane Helene. We are honored to be able to help the community in this way. Thank you for all of your support! As always, new tickets for each week will be posted online on Monday night at 8 p.m. throughout the season. We’ve started posting our November Block Island blackfish/bottom fishing combo trips, so check the website for availability.”
Joe at Diorio Guide Service provided the following report after another week of strong fishing: “It’s mid-October, and the fish are in their mid- to late-fall patterns. The striper fishing remains very good on all of our trips. Recently, we have been fishing around loads of schooling bass blitzing on small baitfish. We have been having great success near the beaches or rocky point areas. Our top producers for this week have been the Joe Baggs 6-inch Skipper and 5- and 7-inch Patriot fish. We also have been doing a good amount of tautog fishing lately. The bite has been extremely good whenever we have gone out. We got tautog up to 8 pounds this past week and have been finding fish from 8 to 25 feet of water. We only have a few dates open for the remainder of the season.” Contact Joe to get your fix before it’s too late!
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Anthony from Game On Lures told me that there has been more small bait in the area than last week, but it seems to be more anchovies and silversides recently. There are tons of bass around the Connecticut River recently, and it has equated into some good topwater action. Most of the fish in these schools were within the 25- to 35-inch range and have been eating the 7-inch Duratech jerkbait, or the 6-inch X-walk. If you can find a pod of adult bunker, the fish that are on them tend to be better size, and the 8-inch X-walk seemed to get the better bites. Big stripers can also still be caught on all the reefs, but the numbers seem to be trending down as we approach the mass migration. Live eels, live bunker, and 13-inch Duratech eel have been producing best, if and when you locate those bigger reef bass. Blackfishing has been on fire and will only get better as it gets colder! Some big sea bass and even porgy have been caught while tog fishing recently as well. Temps are dropping rapidly so make sure to get out while it’s good!”
When I talked to Captain Chris of Elser Guide Service he told me that he was challenged by the rough north/northwest winds all last week. Despite this, he was able to find some local refuge and find plenty of schoolie to slot striped bass. He’s still finding a few false albacore here and there in Western CT, but it was truly hard to target the hardtails in the wind last week. Recent reports indicate that there are still plenty of albies and bonito around Middleground and towards the Long Island side, so things should pick right up for Western Sound anglers as this swell settles down, and they could start covering ground again.
Captain Mike Roy at Reel Cast Charters reported that fall fishing is turning on in a big way. There is absolutely tons of bait, ranging from small rainbait to adult bunker. There has been an extra push of bass feeding on bunker this week, so the overall quality of fish has increased. Stripers are taking topwater, plastics, spoons and live bait. Mike is also seeing lots of bluefish gorging on sand eels. There are still plenty of porgies and sea bass on all the reefs, and if the first few days of blackfish season are any indication, the season should be a good one! Captain Mike and his team have openings over the next two weeks for prime fall run fishing. Give him a call to book your spot today.
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Connecticut Fishing Forecast
The fall blackfish season opened with a bang across Connecticut, with just about every shop and charter captain reporting some excellent togging during the fall opener. The first few days of the season were frenetic with shops flying though crabs, jigs, and rigs, and anglers facing some sporty conditions as the wind blew from seemingly every direction. Despite the rough weather, anglers were catching well across a wide range of depths. There haven’t been too many monsters weighed in yet, but with the cooling temperatures and winds settling down, I anticipate some bigger fish hitting the scales this weekend.
In terms of gamefish, the Eastern to Central Sound is still seeing some pretty large blitzes of mixed-sized striped bass feeding on anchovies and peanuts. Light-tackle and fly anglers are still cashing in consistently, but don’t be afraid to throw some bigger offerings into the mix, to try and cull out some bigger bass. Once again, bluefish reports were better as you get closer to the New York side, but this time of year often sees a push of big bluefish into the local estuaries, so keep an eye open for those gators. The Western Sound is reportedly still holding a few schools of hardtails, but the Central to Eastern Sound remains mostly devoid of the speedsters.
Flows are generally low and slow, but trout results have been solid, following some recent fall stocking. Crisp fall mornings, blitzing fish, and that distinct thump of a big tautog will only last so long, so get out and capitalize on some of the best fishing of the season.