Connecticut Fishing Report
Matt, at Black Hall Outfitters in Westbrook reports that striped bass have been on the move and eating well when the tide, time, and weather are right. There have been tons of transient fish on the shallow flats and some of the local reefs, but they could be there one day and gone the next. It seems to be relatively tide dependent, with outgoing tides producing the best results. The fish are mostly in the 20- to 35-inch range, but some bigger fish continue to filter in daily. When they’re chewing, they have been responding to the Slug-go, 9.5-inch Gravity Tackle Eel, Game On X-Walk, 24/7 Mullys, SP Minnows, and bucktails. Some bluefish reports are starting to surface, but they have been scattered, while freshwater anglers are reporting good trout action throughout the state.
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Heather from the Blackhawk in Niantic provided the following report for the week: “We had a good week of fishing. Our weekend porgy trips were great, with loads of them coming over the rails and into the coolers. We had several kids on the boat this weekend, which is always great to see. Our Calamari Safari squid trips got off to a great start on Saturday night. It was a beautiful night with lots of action; thanks to everyone who joined us. The squid season is short, so if you’d like to catch ’em, be sure to grab your spot soon! Our first “After Work Special” of the season wasn’t quite all we’d hoped. While we did have some nice slot-sized bass, it wasn’t the action we’d been hoping for. As the weather warms up it should get better and better. We’ll be posting more of these trips soon, so grab your tickets when you see them online! We will be posting some more bass trips, as well as squid trips, for later this week. Check our website for info and grab your tickets to join us!”
Captain Joe Diorio of Diorio Guide Service told me that fishing has been pretty good this past week, with plenty of stripers around ranging from 18 to 27 inches. At first light, they have been eating topwater lures like the 6-inch Joe Baggs Skipper, which has been a blast on light tackle. As the sun gets higher, Joe has been switching over to soft plastics. The 9-inch Slug-go and 5- to 7-inch JoeBaggs paddletails on light jigheads have been top producers. With better weather on the way and the influx of herring Joe has seen over the past few weeks, we should have more and larger bass in our area in no time. Joe still has dates available over the next month if you’re looking to get on this bite!
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Anthony at Game On Lures provided the following report after another strong week of spring fishing: “The heavy rains and winds this past week dirtied up a lot of the central and western Sound, but it didn’t seem to affect the fishing much. Bigger bass have been moving in by the day and with the recent arrival of adult bunker, we should be getting a push of cows soon. Some big blues have arrived, which is always a nice surprise, and it is good to see them back. The weakfish bite has also picked up a little bit but nothing steady; hopefully that bite will get better over the next week or so. If you can find them, live-lining bunker or eels is always a great choice. For artificials, a 5- to 8-inch weightless plastic or paddletail, or smaller topwaters are a great option. Personally, I spent this past week up on the St. Lawrence River for the last few days of the early Canadian smallmouth season. If you’ve never done the trip, I highly recommend it!”
Tyler at Fisherman’s World in Norwalk reports that local fishing really started to blow up this week, including some large bass taking up residence on their deepwater structure. Boats fishing around the Triangle, from the 30- to 50-foot mark are reporting excellent action for bass in the low- to mid-40-inch range, weighing up to 25 pounds. They heard from customers catching fish using a variety of techniques, but trolling has been the best bet for most. Mojos, umbrella rigs, bunker spoons, and deep divers have all been effective. Other boats said they cleaned up while vertically jigging with flutter spoons and still others caught on topwater with Docs and big spook-style lures. They are also seeing a ton of bait infiltrate the region with bunker, herring, and mackerel all present in the area. They are seeing as much mackerel around as anyone can remember in recent years; they’re everywhere from the islands on out to deeper reefs. Shore anglers fishing locally from the beaches and around the islands are still catching plenty of fish, mostly school to slot-sized on sand and bloodworms. There were a few rumors floating around about bluefish this week, though no firsthand reports had come in just yet. If you’re looking to tangle with an early season chopper, Tyler recommends looking out deep for finning fish on calm days with less wind. Fluke and scup fishing has been good for boats that ran over to the North Shore of Long Island. Fluke fishing shallow, sandy flats in 15 feet of water or less has produced good action for keepers, though they hadn’t heard of any doormats just yet. The same can be said for scup, though the structure is a bit different. Anglers fishing hard structure in 25 to 30 feet have done well with some really big porgies. Fishing with clam chum is critical this time of year as it calls the fish to your boat and keeps them there.
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Captain Mike Roy at Reel Cast Charters told me that they are seeing striped bass fishing improve by the day. The majority of fish they are seeing range from schoolies to 30-inch class fish with lots falling into the slot. They are aggressively eating soft-plastic lures, especially 5- to 7-inch Slug-Go’s and Fin-S Fish. One of their fish coughed up a bunker, which is hopefully a sign of a good run of bunker into the region. Speaking of bait, this has been one of the best river herring runs in recent memory, which bodes well for the striped bass fishery. They also landed a few more weakfish this week, which is another indicator that migratory fish are on the move. The action will only get better from here on out and they have some openings in the next couple of weeks, so take advantage of those spots while they last.
Connecticut Fishing Forecast
Fishing throughout Connecticut continued to follow a positive trend as more anglers are getting out and getting in on the action. Striped bass continue to be the main target throughout the state, and their range has increased quite a bit. Solid bass catches are being reported from most of the early season reefs in Long Island Sound, as well as the mouths of the tidal rivers, and there are still some fish up around the herring runs. Fishing around the herring runs has been tough this week due to the high, dirty water, but it is cleaning up nicely. Anglers fishing sandworms throughout the rivers are reporting good catches, and the fish should start to respond more to plugs this weekend as the water cleans up. There are also fish on structure in Long Island Sound proper, ranging from the central/eastern Sound to the west. In the western Sound, fish are now setting up on deep water structure as well as the harbors and bays they’ve occupied for the last month or so. Massive schools of mackerel are being reported all over the Western Sound and should contribute to better striped bass/bluefish action out that way.
Weakfish have started to make an appearance as well, with the best reports coming from the CT River west toward the Housatonic. Both the scup and summer flounder fisheries opened last week, but early reports are mostly quiet. However, anglers traveling to the Long Island side have been finding keepers of both species.
Reports of squid to the east in Rhode Island are promising and that means fluke should be hot on their tails (tentacles). It’s a great time of year with no shortage of species to target. Get out and get in on the spring fever while it lasts.