Connecticut Fishing Report
Matt, at Black Hall Outfitters in Westbrook told me it has been rinse and repeat fall fishing across Connecticut, with not much changing since last week. Water temperatures have been staying steady in the upper 50-degree range, but they’re finally starting to drop a bit following the last few cooler nights. It has still been an unusually comfortable start to the tog season, with the exception of some heavy wind this week. Great bites can be found in shallow as well as out in deeper water, too, from the 20- to 30-foot range. Per usual, there are still loads of smaller fish around, but spot-hopping or dropping full crabs should help anglers locate keepers. There are some giants showing themselves as well, including the 23-pound-plus monster taken by Only Money Sportfishing over the weekend. The week saw continued bait and blitzes become the norm most days. Bay anchovies, silversides, and peanut bunker continue to fuel 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 large presentations in most scenarios. Four to five-inch topwater poppers and spooks, as well as five to seven-inch soft plastics, Mag Darters, SP Minnows and paddletails of all varieties are fall run staples.
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Heather from the Blackhawk in Niantic provided the following report: “When Mother Nature cooperated, we had some good fishing! Overall, it was a good week with lots of porgies, some nice blackfish, and a good showing of sea bass! Tuesday’s blackfish trip showed great blackfishing, with quality tog coming over the rails and limits all around the boat. Our combo trips had a good showing of blackfish, too, with sea bass and porgies rounding out the coolers. Friday morning was beautiful before the wind moved in, and unfortunately, we lost Saturday’s trip due to the wind. As a reminder, all of our November weekday trips are our 12-hour Block Island blackfish/bottom fishing combos. 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 of Reel Cast Charters will wrap up his 2024 season after this weekend. The stripers are migrating, so if you catch them on the right day, you can have great surface feeds all day long. There are still massive schools of peanut bunker and anchovies in the middle to eastern Sound, which are fueling these big blitzes from fish of different size classes. They also came across some schools of harbor bluefish and caught a ladyfish, which was the first time they’ve seen one this far north. The blackfishing is very good and with elevated water temperatures, that bite should continue right through the end of the season.
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Anthony, from Game On Lures provided the following report for the week: “Besides the water temps dropping a bit, not much has changed in the Sound over this past week. The blackfish bite continues to be outstanding and should stay that way till the end of the season. With the cooler nights coming, these fish should start moving out to deeper water, however, the extended forecast looks to be pretty mild so they may stay shallow a little longer than usual. The keeper to short ratio has been good, but a lot of the popular spots are starting to get fished out, so finding areas away from the crowds is key for getting quick limits. Striper fishing in the Sound remains inconsistent from day to day, but there have still been consistent pods of schoolies pushing through the area. These fish are primarily feeding on peanut bunker and silversides, so the 1-ounce EXO Jig and 7-inch Duratech Soft Jerkbait have been working well for these fish. The holdover rivers are starting to heat up quickly with a lot of these bass moving in for the winter. Those fish are still actively chasing bait, so weightless soft jerkbaits and the Duratech paddletails have been the ticket!
Over at Fishermen’s World in Norwalk, most anglers in the area are still fishing for blackfish. Customers reported catching tog in a range of depths and there were still some big fish coming from the shallows. Collective reports this week seemed to be that fishing either very shallow or very deep was your best bet, rather than in between. Shallow water keepers from 10 to 15 feet were common, as were those coming from deep water reefs and wrecks in 50 to 60 feet. Black sea bass were also coming from the deeper structure and there are some nice-sized fish around. Rich reminded me the shop is running a season-long tournament with weekly winners for heaviest fish. The week runs from Wednesday through Thursday, with winners announced on Thursday, who will receive a $100 gift card to the store. There is no entry fee, so go ahead and take a shot and bring in your best fish. So far, the smallest weekly winner went 8.6 pounds with a 10.4-pound fish being the heaviest they’ve weighed. Striper fishing is still good but seems to be slowing a tick week over week. There are schools of stripers following the peanut bunker, usually under some birds. Daytime blitzes are not uncommon with most of the fish running from the low to mid 30-inch range. The action is inshore, usually along the beaches to a few hundred yards out. Covering ground and checking the shoreline anywhere locally, and east toward Westport and Bridgeport, is a good bet as fish are liable to pop up on the huge schools of bait at any time. This is mostly light-tackle fishing; 4- to 6-inch plugs and plastics have been fishing best. If you’re looking for bluefish, head out to the deep reefs around 11B and 28C as the big schools of blues don’t seem to want to leave the area just yet. Freshwater anglers are reporting slower fishing at the Saugatuck Reservoir, but we should be entering primetime, so keep getting after it.
Connecticut Fishing Forecast
The number one headline in Connecticut over the past week, was the goliath tautog caught and released by Eric Jankowski of Only Money Sportfishing. The fish weighed in at 23.74 pounds and was released healthy! This not only continues a trend of monster tautog coming from Connecticut waters in November, but it also continues a trend of most anglers releasing these big fish. Nice work Eric! While you shouldn’t expect 20-pound fish on the regular, you can count on some strong tautog fishing whenever the wind isn’t too out of control. The water is finally starting to cool down, so look to some deeper structure this week, but be willing to bounce around.
Fall run fishing for stripers has grown 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 and they’re feeding on small bait. However, there are still some big girls hanging out throughout the Sound. There also seems to be a nice slug of big bluefish hanging around the usual haunts in the Western Sound. Even if the bass and bluefish start to hit the road out of here this week, the holdover bite should start firing up in the rivers. As you know, this is a great bonus fishery in Connecticut, and provides an opportunity to wet a line through the winter months.