Connecticut Fishing Report
Matt, at Black Hall Outfitters in Westbrook reports that blackfish action has remained very good, with fish across a number of depth ranges and hard structure. Matt’s best catches have still come from less than 20 feet of water, where he’s reporting loads of short fish, along with plenty of keepers and an influx of 5- to 8-pound fish. Light jigs in the 5/8- to 1-ounce range are still getting the job done in these areas, while heavier jigs or conventional rigs have been doing work on deeper structure. You really can find fish anywhere from 12 to 100 feet of water right now, so nothing is off limits, and bouncing around until you find the sweet spot is a smart move. The week saw continued bait balls and blitzes become the norm on most days. Bay anchovies, silversides, and peanut bunker seem to be fueling everything. The cloudy and windy days present a chance at all day blitzes and/or topwater action. This time of year, smaller baits tend to perform better than larger presentations in most scenarios. Four- to five-inch topwater poppers and spooks, as well as 5- to 7-inch soft plastic flukes, Mag Darters, SP Minnows and paddle tails of all varieties are fall run staples. Sea bass fishing has been excellent, and porgy fishing is also still very good.
Heather from the Blackhawk in Niantic provided the following report: “Our bluefish trips are done for the season, thanks to everyone who joined us on these trips, and we’re looking forward to more trips next year. Our combo blackfish/bottom fishing trips this week were good, with some nice keeper blackfish and a good mix of porgies and sea bass as well. Some trips had us picking through the short sea bass to get our keepers for the coolers, but overall, a great week of fall fishing, with some unbelievable weather. Starting November 1, all of our weekday trips are 12-hour Block Island blackfish/bottom fishing combo. As expected, these trips are weather dependent, so you definitely want to get your tickets ahead of time so we can reach you in the event Mother Nature doesn’t cooperate. As always, new tickets for each week will be posted online on Monday night at 8 p.m. Grab your tickets online and come fill the freezer before the winter! We look forward to seeing everyone soon!”
Captain Mike Roy at Reel Cast Charters reported that fall fishing has remained steady, and another push of warm temperatures should keep the bass around and wide awake. It seems like the striped bass have been on the move, with schools of bass are coming through chasing peanut bunker schools. With the steady movement of bass and baitfish, it is hard to pattern them from day to day, but warm weather trends like the one we are in now usually help. Blackfishing has been very good, with some good-sized fish in the mix. We’ve had to weed through lots of shorts but there are plenty of keepers around. 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.
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Joe at Diorio Guide Service is seeing his saltwater season starting to wind down, but he’s still finding plenty of action whenever he is out there. As the calendar turns to November, most of the migratory striped bass have moved south, but the nice thing about this area is the number of resident striped bass, which are still chewing. Joe has found a mix class of striped bass, mostly on topwater, so matching the hatch with a 6-inch Skipper or a larger Doc has gotten the job done. When Joe hasn’t been striper fishing, he has been targeting tautog. The tautog results have been very good in depths from 8 to 40 feet, with the lightest jig possible being the best presentation. Joe probably has a week or two of saltwater fishing before he makes the transition to trout trips during the fall/winter months. If you want to get out on the salt, or set up a winter trout trip, contact Joe to get your fix.
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Anthony from Game On Lures told me that these warmer days have been keeping the temps in the high-50s to 60-degree range, which is nice to see and will hopefully extend the season a bit. The shallow water blackfish bite has been unreal this past week and with the warmer days coming this week I expect that to continue. Some massive tautog have been caught around CT and RI recently, so now is the time to get out and get a fish of a lifetime! Small bait is still booming and plentiful in most areas around the Sound, especially in and around the bays and rivers. The striped bass bite is still solid, with some awesome feeds happening, although the fish are mostly around the slot size and under. 7-inch Duratech soft jerkbaits and 6-inch X-Walks have been producing well. When they are feeding on the really small fare, the ¾-ounce EXO jig has been doing phenomenal as well! Big bass seemed to have faded quickly, but can still be found if the time is put in. If you can locate any remaining schools of adult bunker in the Sound, you should have no problem finding some cow striped bass. Locating that bait, while it’s still around, could take some time though. The chopper blues were nowhere to be found for a few weeks but they made an appearance this week, which is nice to see!
Tyler at Fisherman’s World in Norwalk reports that things are as good as ever in the Western Sound. The bite for bass, blues, bonito, and blackfish are all very good and with water temperatures relatively steady that should continue for a while longer. Striper fishing inshore has been very good as big schools of bass follow around masses of peanut bunker. There are fish in the harbor pretty consistently as well as out along the beaches. Checking the shoreline locally and east to Westport and Fairfield is a good bet, as fish are liable to pop up on the huge schools of bait at any time. If you’re looking for bluefish, heading out to the deep reefs around 11B and 28C is your best bet as the big schools of blues are parked there and seem to be in no hurry to leave. If there is topwater activity, throwing poppers and spooks is effective but for the most part, the choppers are falling to diamond jigs. The blackfish bite seems to be one for the books this year as the fish are numerous in both quality and quantity. The biggest fish seem to be coming from shallower water, often less than 10 feet, but Tyler says heading to a deeper wreck or rock pile is a good bet if you’re looking for a limit of keeper-sized fish. The area has seen a bunch of bonito over the last week or so and lots of anglers anchored up for blackfish are reporting seeing bonito pop up. The fish are concentrated around the islands and outflows and are present in numbers worth targeting if you’re looking for some hardtail action. There are still some false albacore east of Middleground and along the north shore of Long Island, but they are scattered and seem to be thinning out. Sea bass fishing is very good on deep wrecks in 50 to 60 feet of water. Scup fishing is still red hot from shore and boat. Freshwater anglers are reporting better walleye results at the Saugatuck Reservoir, and steady trout action in the Saugatuck, Mill, and Mianus rivers on spoons, spinners, and shiners.
Connecticut Fishing Forecast
As we head into November, tautog generally becomes the main focus for Connecticut anglers across Long Island Sound. This is the case once again this year, but another warm streak of weather has also kept a number of other options available. The fall tautog season is a special one as it marks the beginning of the end of the saltwater season in our corner of the world. While the recent weather may have you feeling otherwise, things could always change on a dime in November, so take advantage of some of the best blackfishing of the season. These fish can be found across a number of depths and different hard structure types, and the amount of fishing pressure is thinning out daily, so early November is setting up to be primetime for blackfish anglers.
Fall run fishing for stripers has been less consistent from day to day, as the fish continue to move around, but you’re apt to run into a school of blitzing fish on most trips. The majority of these fish are schoolie to maybe slot-class size and feeding on small bait, however, there are still some big girls hanging out throughout the Sound. These big fish are keyed in on the adult bunker moving out of the estuaries, so while it’s not always easy, if you can find the adult bunker, you should find some bigger bass. Bluefish numbers have dwindled out east, but anglers across the Central to Eastern Sound are seeing some gators in the usual haunts, and the same can be said for the bonito.