Connecticut Fishing Report
Matt at Black Hall Outfitters in Westbrook reports that he had another strong tautog trip this week in 10 to 20 feet of water. The activity levels picked up as the water temperatures rose, so things should only continue to improve until the spring season ends on April 30. Other than that, the warmup also seemed to fire up our resident bass, as there has been reports of some small bass slurping bait on the surface out in front of the mouths of many of our tidal rivers, along with good holdover numbers up the rivers. For the coming month of May, Matt believes we’ll see an increasing presence of holdover and drop back stripers as well as some early migrators chasing herring into the rivers. By the middle of the month, there will be some sea bass and fluke to go for, typically in deeper water. Matt begins with pink colors to match the spring squid that are in. By the end of May, we should have a ton of striper options as our first big waves of migratory fish move in. When exactly that happens is anyone’s guess but, usually, by end of May, we are firing on all cylinders. Black Hall Outfitters in Westbrook will be having their Summer Kick-Off weekend from May 1-4 with storewide sales, promos, door prizes and raffles (some brands are excluded from the sale). It’s their biggest event of the year!
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Heather from the Blackhawk in Niantic provided the following early season report: “We’re finally back to our home dock in Niantic and ready to go! We’ll be posting our new trips in the next few days, and then every Monday night at 8 p.m., just like normal. We can’t wait to see everyone! We have two more Trivia Tuesday contests to go, so be sure to check out our Facebook page every Tuesday to enter to win. While you’re online, we’d love it if you’d hop over to The Day website, and vote for us in the Best of the Best contest. We are absolutely honored to be nominated once again and would love your support! Only a few more weeks… can’t wait to see everyone soon!”
Captain Chris of Elser Guide Service is still getting the boat ready and geared up for the upcoming saltwater season. He’s hearing some very good striped bass reports from the far Western Sound, so it won’t be long until they’re in his target area. In the meantime, he has been taking advantage of some strong freshwater fishing across Western CT. He mentioned that trout, smallmouth, and pike fishing has been good in Western CT over the past week. The Hendrickson hatch has come out in full force recently, so surface feeding trout have been responding to size 12-14 flies, especially in the afternoons. For early morning anglers, larger nymphs and streamers have still been getting the job done.
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Anthony at Game on Lures provided the following report for the week: “Spring feels like it has finally arrived this past week! Water temps are on the rise, and it’s got everything chewing. The freshwater bass bite has picked right back up and the fish are starting to make the transition to shallower areas to feed up for the spawn. Jigs, jerkbaits, paddletails, lipless crankbaits and chatterbaits are all great options to target bass right now. A few reports of anglers finding some American Shad in the rivers have started to trickle in, but no numbers yet. The herring have been funneling in more and more everyday, so hopefully it only improves from here! Holdover stripers have been gorging themselves on the first round of herring that arrived, and there’s been some rumors of schoolies with lice on them, so fingers crossed they keep coming! Soft plastics in the 5- to 10-inch range rigged either weightless or on a jighead are a great choice to target these stripers right now. The 7-inch Duratech Jerkbait rigged with a weightless 7/0 Grappler has been working great for me. As water temps rise, these bass will start hitting smaller topwater plugs so the 4.5- or 6-inch X-Walk will also be a great option shortly.”
Tyler at Fisherman’s World in Norwalk reported that fishing locally and throughout the region is on the upswing as we close in on the end of April and look ahead to May. Although the spring blackfish season closes at the end of the month, customers reported a slow pick that has built with the warmer weather, creating better fishing week over week. There are bass in the Norwalk River and around the harbor to some degree, but those fish will be joined soon by larger waves of new arrivals. Tyler noted that, typically, the last week of April or first week of May is when they see their first pushes of fresh migratory fish. Last year that first push of fish were quality 28 to 35 inchers. That run of fish was followed by a good push of school bass that were covered in sea lice. The best way to target these new arrivals is usually inside the islands with subsurface swimmers like SP Minnows, Shimano Current Snipers or any of the Rapala slash baits. Trolling a tube and worm can be just as, if not more effective. They generally hear about fish coming from the deep reefs starting the second week of May and are waiting to see if this year will prove any different. Fluke and porgy seasons open May 4th, and the shallow water bite on the North Shore of Long Island is usually pretty good. Northport Harbor was good last year, but any sandy shallows are good places to start your fluke fishing season. Early season weakfish provide another bite to look forward to in the coming weeks, and fishing inside the marshes by drifting worms or fishing small bucktails and Gulp along the channel edges is a good approach. Freshwater fishing is also excellent right now and that should continue for the next few weeks as the state continues to stock. The Mianus, Saugatuck and Aspetuck Rivers have been fishing especially well.
Captain Mike Roy at Reel Cast Charters told me that they got their season underway this week on the better weather days. Fishing has been good, and it hasn’t just been schoolies. Mike and crew have found several better fish from 30 to 35 inches mixed in. Most of their fishing this time of year is with light tackle and small soft plastics. The action should only get better from here on out, and the topwater bite should start to fire off as the water warms.
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Connecticut Fishing Forecast
With a nice uptick in temperature combined with one of the drier weeks we’ve had in a while, it feels like we’re finally approaching the precipice of the winter/early spring chill leaving us and the spring run taking off.
A few more warm days this week equaled some encouraging tautog reports from the Western and Central Sound. There isn’t much consistency in the tautog bite, with reports varying from day to day, but it seems that if you get out before the close of the season, you should be rewarded. The bite has been better when the current has been flowing strong, so the upcoming new moon should help.
Holdover striped bass action has been excellent across the state all season, and another good push of river herring has brought some of the bigger fish out. Bass can be found throughout the river runs and are also being caught in good numbers on the beaches along the mouths of the tidal rivers, so basically anywhere a bass could intercept a river herring, you’re likely to find one. The bass are starting to feed on the surface as well, so be sure you have your small topwaters ready. We’re still a few weeks away from the true peak “spring run”, but there are certainly fish to be had at the moment. The Connecticut River has cleaned up nicely and should see the striped bass bite fire up throughout the river in the coming days. The same could be said for the shad fishing. Reports have been quiet to this point, but the fishing interest has exploded over the past few days in the usual spots. This is a telltale sign that anglers are starting to catch these “mini tarpon” and the word is getting out.
The trout streams have settled nicely, and the Hendrickson hatch is firing a strong trout bite, while the largemouth bite has improved after another week of warming temperatures.