Connecticut Fishing Report
Matt Stone at Black Hall Outfitters in Westbrook reports that this week was very much a repeat of last week. Most of the reefs are on fire for striped bass and this week he heard of bigger fish over 40 inches coming in with some regularity. Eels and big plastics are becoming much more useful, but Matt has also seen a bit more topwater action this week. The bass on the reefs are also hitting big white bucktails with pork rinds, which is likely mimicking the butterfish that have been around locally. No bunker reports locally, which is a bit disconcerting but, similar to last year. Fluke are coming from a variety of depths—anywhere from 30 to 80 feet—and sea bass are starting to show up more regularly too. Everything feels a week or two behind because of the cold water, and these consistent one to one-and-a-half-inch rain storms are not helping at all with the river bite. But, there’s lots of time left to get things established.
Heather from the Blackhawk in Niantic reports: “Like last week, this week had some ups and downs. We started off with our Memorial Day trip, which was a slow pick on the porgies all day. Those who stuck it out on the rail did okay, but not what we’d been hoping for. Later in the week and through the weekend, the porgy fishing was up and down, with some trips better than others. Congrats to 8-year-old Keyon, who caught the most porgies on the boat on Sunday and won the pool to top it all off! Our bass trips, including our day trip and our After Work Special trip, were excellent. On both outings, we had close to a full boat limit of slot fish. We had some smaller and bigger fish as well that were released. We have a few days left for private charters in June—be sure to contact us if you’d like to get your date on the calendar. July and August are also filling up, so reach out soon and grab your date! We will be posting some more trips online, so check the site for info and grab your tickets to join us!”
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Captain Joe Diorio of Diorio Guide Service shared the following report after a few recent trips: “We had another great week on the water with some beautiful weather, finally. We caught plenty of stripers between 32 and 40 inches with a few up to 46 inches. We are still targeting them on the deeper reefs, 3-waying Joe Baggs Miracle Minnows and bucktails. The key to catching these bass has been fishing between 5 and 15 feet off the bottom. During the slack tides, we had a few days where the baitfish would rise to the surface and bring some epic topwater action. To imitate the baitfish, we have found our best success using topwater lures like the Joe Baggs Skipper and the Doc. We are hoping (with the warmer weather) that we’ll start to see more and more adult bunker head into the area, which should bring some of the bigger fish around. We have dates available for the upcoming months.” Give Joe a call to get in on the action!
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Captain Chris of Elser Guide Service told me that bass of all sizes and a few schools of bluefish continue to filter into the central portions of the Western Sound, and the bunker have finally arrived in better numbers. They found several schools of bunker on a recent trip this week, and most of them held some fish underneath. Casting large topwaters like the Game-On X Walk around these schools was the ticket and got some good numbers of fish to rise. Even in the late morning and early afternoon, the fish were willing to hit topwaters, which is always a good time. The jig bite also rolls on, but it is more spread out and tide specific. Chris hasn’t done any nighttime trips, but anglers dunking chunks after dark are reporting some bigger bass over the past few nights. Reports are showing giant masses of big striped bass to the west, and they should be filtering into the Sound any tide now. The only downside at the moment, is there are little to no sand eels showing up on the CT side like they did last year. The water is considerably cooler than it was at this time last year, so there’s still time for them to arrive. When and if that happens, it will open up some strong fly and light tackle action, as well as improved fluke and sea bass fishing.
Anthony Charnetski at Game On Lures sent over the following report for the week: “Striped bass fishing has continued to improve this week with the water temps slowly but steadily climbing. Just about every reef in the Sound has fish on it with most being in the 25- to 40-inch range. Butterfish, silversides and smaller adult bunker have been the main course for most of these fish. Anglers out in the Western Sound have reported huge pods of adult bunker coming in by the day and some bigger fish rolling with them. Most anglers are having success on flutter spoons, 5- to 8-inch soft plastics, smaller topwater plugs, and bucktails. Our 7-inch soft jerkbait and 6-inch X- Walk are both great options this time of year. In the Eastern Sound, there seems to be a ton of smaller bait around again this year, so the bite can be finicky at times; downsizing baits and leader material has been the ticket to getting these picky fish to commit. The bluefish had a strong start, but they seemed to have thinned out and moved on. The sea bass bite is starting to pick up with anglers reporting having success on slow-pitch jigs, bucktails, and EXO Jigs out on the deeper reefs and ledges. Fluke season is off to a tough start but the guys putting in the time have been rewarded with some decent fish on some of the deeper drifts. The upcoming full moon will move around a ton of bait and fish, so the bite should be getting red hot shortly.”
Middlebank Sportfishing reports that porgy fishing has been nothing short of excellent in their neck of the woods over the past week. Anglers are having an easy time filling their coolers with jumbo-size scup. They lost the weekend due to the winds, but the porgies were waiting for them on Monday. When the conditions allow, they’ve had excellent bass fishing on diamond jigs with up to 30-pound-class fish. This Wednesday they made their first fluke trip of the season. The wind vs tide kept them locked up for the majority of the trip, but they were able to put a few nice fluke on ice. There was tons of short life and bait on every drift, so the crew is hopeful for a good fluke season to come.
Captain Mike Roy at Reel Cast Charters reported that both the quantity and quality of striped bass they are catching is impressive as the spring run has hit its full stride. There are a lot of butterfish on the reefs, and they are starting to see a bit of bunker push in, especially around the mouths of the rivers. Mike believes we’ll see more bunker over the next week as the water warms and starts to clean up after last weekend’s rain. Flutter spoons and 7- and 9-inch Slug-Gos have made up the bulk of their recent catches, but they are getting some fish on top as well. Mike said he expects topwater activity to pick up soon as water temperatures tick up a few degrees. There are some blues in the mix, but not many. The next couple of weeks should be very good and they have some openings, so take advantage of those spots while they last.
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Connecticut Fishing Forecast
Fishing throughout Connecticut continued to follow a positive trend, although the usual striped bass bite in the Connecticut River is a few weeks behind. Water temperatures are a bit lower than usual, and that, combined with all the river flooding lately, has made bunker hard to find. However, that should change as conditions warm and the water quality improves, and there are still plenty of options until then.
The Central to Eastern Sound reefs and rips, The Race, and Plum Gut are all holding plenty of bass that are gorging on butterfish. In the Western Sound, deep-water reefs and structure are holding big schools of bunker and very big bass, with fish in this week’s report exceeding 50 pounds. Groundfish reports have started slow in terms of fluke and black sea bass, but the porgy fishing has really started to hit its stride. That said, the best bite across the state is spring run striped bass, and they will provide plenty of opportunities until the bottom fishing improves.