Connecticut Fishing Report
Matt Stone at Black Hall Outfitters in Westbrook reports that the tautog fishing was very good over the past few days, but unfortunately that’s a wrap on the Connecticut spring season. The recent warmup has started to fire up our resident bass; some small stripers are slurping bait on the surface out in front of the mouths of our tidal rivers, along with good holdover numbers up the rivers. For the coming month of May, I think we should 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 on a deeper start and I like to begin 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 more waves of migratory fish trickle in. Black Hall Outfitters in Westbrook will be having their Summer Kick-Off this weekend with storewide sales, promos, door prizes and raffles (some brands are excluded from the sale). It’s our biggest event of the year!
Heather from the Blackhawk in Niantic provided the following early season report: “We’re 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 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. We’ll be out fishing soon!”
Captain Chris of Elser Guide Service is still getting the boat ready and geared up for the saltwater season, which he will begin on May 12th. 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 bite has been good in Western CT over the past week. The Hendrickson hatch has led to some surface feeding trout 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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Captain Mike Roy at Reel Cast Charters told me that he saw improved striper fishing this week, as the water temperatures climbed and hit the 55-degree mark. While most of their fishing this time of year is done with smaller soft plastics on jigheads, he is seeing some active fish feeding on herring. Early indications are pointing to what looks to be a better herring run this year, and hopefully that translates into some excellent fishing over the next few weeks. The action will only get better from here on out and Mike still has some openings ahead, so take advantage of those spots while they last.
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Anthony at Game On Lures provided the following report for the week: “Improved reports of American shad in the rivers have started up this week from Cromwell to Windsor, and while it’s up and down, a few anglers have reported some very solid numbers at times. Herring continue to pile in and holdover stripers have been gorging themselves. Meanwhile, out front, there are schoolies with sea lice on them, so we should see more migratory fish arriving in the near future. Lures like 5- to 10-inch soft plastics rigged either weightless or on a jighead are a great choice for our resident stripers. The 7-inch Duratech Jerkbait rigged with a weightless 7/0 grappler has been working great for me personally. As water temps continue to rise these bass will start hitting smaller topwater plugs like the 4.5- or 6-inch X-Walk.”
Captain Joe Diorio of Diorio Guide Service shared the following report: “Our first week on the water, and it was a successful one. This past week, we were targeting stripers and blackfish. Stripers were non-stop for the first few hours of sunlight, hitting 6-inch Joe Baggs Skippers and 9-inch weightless Slug-gos. Most of the stripers were in the 22- to 27-inch range. Once the sun got too high, the bite would shut off. At that point, we would make the switch to target some blackfish, and let me tell you, it was lock and load. Honestly some of the best blackfishing I’ve ever experienced in my life. We were using 1-ounce Joe Baggs Tog Jigs tipped with 1/2 of a green crab. It was absolutely insane fishing, catching blackfish up to 12 or 13 pounds. It’s too bad the season is now closed, because it was getting so good! Starting next week, we will start fishing more consistently and expect the striper fishing to only get better with the warmer weather on its way. We are looking forward to another great season on the water and hope to fish with more of you this season!”
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Tyler at Fisherman’s World in Norwalk reported that striped bass are on the move in the Western Sound. Locally, they still have fish in the shallows and inside the islands. While fishing natural bait like sandworms and bloodworms is still the most productive method, fishing with plugs and plastic is catching up quickly. Anglers are reporting success fishing with SP Minnows, Shimano Current Snipers and Rapala jerkbaits. Trolling the tube and worm has also been effective. Larger fish can be found sporadically out on deep water structure and with greater regularity the farther west you go. Boats trolling umbrella rigs, mojos and bunker spooks in 50- to 60-feet of water from Captain’s Island to Execution Rock west to the Throgs Neck Bridge have been catching migrating bass headed east. Other customers reported chunking at night has been good for stripers from 20 to 30 pounds around the same locales. 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. They also heard from a few customers who were doing well with smallmouth and largemouth bass at the Saugatuck Reservoir.
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Connecticut Fishing Forecast
As the calendar flips from April to May, we close the door on tautog season as new doors open and we inch closer to late-spring/early-summer fishing patterns. Scup season has opened, and fluke season is right around the corner; and while you’d likely have to travel to find decent action with either species right now, it signals that we are getting closer to summer fishing. Striped bass action can hold down the fort in salt water right now, with strong reports of quality bass chasing herring up the estuaries, along with some fresh schoolies around the river mouths. A large glut of bigger bass is starting to show up in the far Western Sound, and they are right on schedule, so we should be seeing some much larger fish in local reports in the near future.
Another highly-anticipated seasonal bite heated up this week, and that was for American shad in the Connecticut and Farmington Rivers. The shad catches increased as the temperature climbed and water levels dropped, and that trend should continue this week. Trout action also benefitted from some calmer river flows, along with the recent Hendrickson hatch.