Connecticut Fishing Report
Matt at Black Hall Outfitters in Westbrook reports that they’ve seen an uptick in striped bass activity throughout the region in recent days and they seem to run the gamut of sizes, from big fish to schoolies and slot-size fish. Bass are taking everything from live eels and plastic eels to topwater plugs and tubes. They also are seeing some big bluefish around, which is a good sign for the upcoming tournament. There has been an influx bait in the area, especially peanut bunker, which should bode well for the fall. Fluke reports have been mixed recently; some guys are doing well while others are struggling. The best bet still seems to be from 40- to 60-feet of water and making shorter drifts in productive areas. Scup fishing is very good while sea bass, like it has been all summer, is still spotty.
Middlebank Sportfishing in Bridgeport reports that fishing continues to improve as August winds down. Their daily 8 am departure has turned into a mixed bag bottom fishing trip as anglers fill their coolers with porgies, spot, weakfish, cocktail blues and a few summer flounder. The 4 pm departure this past Saturday and Sunday saw excellent porgy fishing with anglers easily filling buckets with limits in a short time span. The hurricane offshore will disrupt their operating area just enough to keep them at the dock Thursday and Friday morning, but it looks like they’ll be able to head out Friday afternoon and see what’s going on. As always, check out their Facebook page for daily fishing reports and pictures and visit their website to book tickets 24/7.
Heather from the Black Hawk in Niantic reports: “We had some beautiful weather this week, and the porgy fishing remained good. The triggerfish were aggressive as well, and many customers were getting in on the bite. Lots of porgies, as usual, with a good mix of sea bass too. Our fluke trip was a little slower, but the quality improved from last week—some nice fish are coming over the rails. The bluefishing remains hit or miss based on the tide, with some trips being tough and others better. Saturday morning showed some of the nicest weather we’ve seen with good fishing too. Our Saturday afternoon kid’s trip had a bunch of youngsters out there reeling in the porgies all afternoon. Congrats to Libby M, who was the winner of our weekly Capt. Scott’s Saturday giveaway! We had another beautiful night for our Saturday sunset cruise. As always, these events are fundraisers for local nonprofit groups in our community. Thanks to all who come out and support these awesome organizations and enjoy a beautiful night out on the water! Congrats to Mike S, who won our weekly drawing in the summer food drive. Due to popularity and demand from our local community groups for food, we will continue this for the remainder of August. Check our website and Facebook page for more info. We’re sailing 7 days a week, so use our calendar online and grab a ticket for your trip!”
Captain Chris Oliver of Keepin’ It Reel Sportfishing out of New London told me that they got out to the Brick Rock area before the swell from Hurricane Erin settled in. Yellowfin have continued to keep the rods bent for his charters, but they were on the smaller side on this last trip. They were hoping to see some bigeye come aboard as well, and despite marking them and seeing them air out, they were not able to get tight this time. Instead, a pile of nice mahi rounded out their catch. Chris will be doing some boat maintenance and repairs during the next few days while they wait out the effects of Erin. They will return to the tuna grounds as soon as this blow has passed us.
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Captain Joe Diorio at Diorio Guide Service provided the following report for the week: “Fishing has been pretty good lately. We have been doing a good mix of striper trips and tuna trips right up until the swell kept us inshore. Striper fishing has been much better the past few days. We are starting to see a little less shark activity, which has made striper fishing much better. We have been doing great in 8 to 30 feet of water throwing live eels and large soft plastics like the JoeBaggs Block Island Eels on jigheads. Most of the fish have been in the 36- to 45-inch range. First light and last light have been great times to get out if you can, but you can certainly find some fish midday on the right tides. When we haven’t been striper fishing, we have been going to the tuna grounds. Yes, it stinks that we can’t keep the bluefin anymore, but I will say, the action before this hurricane was phenomenal and made for some great catch-and-release fishing. We have had the most success throwing UVT and JoeBaggs resin jigs from 4 to 8 oz. When the fish have been on top, we have been doing great on the JoeBaggs Skipper and poppers. In these next few weeks, we only anticipate that the fishing will continue to get better!” Joe has some availability these next few weeks. Contact him for a great trip!
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Anthony Charnetski of Game On Lures provided the following report for the week: “The faux fall we had over the past few days really fired things up and the bite has been great! I’m starting to see topwater activity on a pretty regular basis, which is always a good sign for things to come. For the most part it has been schoolie/slot bass and smaller bluefish feeding on peanut bunker, but occasionally, you will get some larger bass in the mix. The larger bass have still been in their summer patterns; low-light hours are the best time to target them. Live eels, large plastics, DuraTech 13-inch Eel and large topwaters are solid options for the bigger fish. The EXO Jig, Albie Snax, and 4-inch X-Walk have been working great also when fish are on smaller bait. Local fluke and sea bass has been tough with the number of short fish around, but that bite should only be improving in the coming weeks. Bonito are starting to invade local waters, and guys have seen them as far west as New Haven, but your best shot for them is out east. The 1-ounce EXO jig in silver and electric chicken has been money for the picky hardtails. The heavy influx of smaller bait has made me hopeful of what’s in store for the fall run. Fingers crossed this storm coming through doesn’t shake things up too much!”
Max at Fisherman’s World in Norwalk reports that diamond jigs have been productive recently, especially for striped bass on deep structure around 11B and Middle Ground, and 28C is still holding bass with blues mixed in. Low-light periods are best right now, and dawn seems to hold an edge over dusk. If you’re dead set on fishing while the sun is high in the sky, chunking or drifting eels over that same deep-water structure will give you the best chance of tangling with a daytime linesider. There are some concentrations of bait around the deep structure as well, mostly the same as it has been all summer, with mackerel, butterfish and bunker all represented. The bunker that they’ve seen in the Western Sound this year is not the typical, large adult variety, but instead large peanuts in the 5- to 8-inch range. That bunker will chunk as well as adults though, and sending down cut baits to known striper haunts is a very effective late-summer tactic. There was word of a few more bluefish rolled into the striper schools since the last moon phase and hopefully they stick around and are joined by more gators prior to the upcoming bluefish tournament. Fluke is pretty typical for this time of year; it’s a grind for anyone looking to bag a few keeper-sized flatfish. Anglers putting in the time are still scratching out a few fish, but they have been few and far between. Sea bass fishing is decent. The best bet for this time of year is fishing deep water—60 feet or more. High-low rigs, diamond jigs, and slow-pitch jigs are all good bets. Scup fishing is fantastic everywhere. Customers reported good action from docks and piers, Calf Pasture Beach and Sherwood Island. There are lots of snappers around right now and currently, they are in the 3- to 4-inch range.
Captain Mike Roy at Reel Cast Charters told me that their trips right now continue to be focused on “cow” sized bass and the fishing has been very good. There are good numbers of large bass spread throughout the eastern end of the Sound along reefs and rocky structure. The bulk of their fishing right now is being done with live bait—both eels and bunker. With that said, he noted that this week they’d started to see some topwater action kick up with school-sized bass pushing bait around on the surface. Bluefish are making an appearance on most trips, as there are some large gators mixed in with the bass in many areas. Bottom fishing for scup and sea bass has been good and is a nice way to round out a trip. Captain Mike and his team have an eye toward the start of the fall run when some of the best fishing of the year takes place. They do have some spots open for the late summer and early fall, so give his team a call to take advantage of those spots.
Connecticut Fishing Forecast
It is starting to feel more like fall across Connecticut. The relatively cooler water in the eastern Long Island Sound has provided some excellent striped bass fishing. Striped bass are being caught throughout the Sound and its major tributaries, with the Eastern Sound reefs starting to take charge this week. Areas from the Central to Eastern Sound also saw many more stripers feeding on juvenile butterfish and peanut bunker on the surface. In the Western Sound, the usual deepwater rips are holding fish that will respond to diamond jigs or fresh chunks by day, and jigs, eels and occasionally topwaters, during periods of low light. There is word from both sides of the Sound that a few more big bluefish have rolled in and are feeding on the abundant peanut bunker. While reports haven’t been hot and heavy, these few reports have been encouraging for the upcoming bluefish tournament this weekend.
The scup bite is as consistent as ever, with no shortage of hubcaps throughout the Sound. Scup are coming from just about every piece of structure, regardless of depth, while the sea bass bite remains decent on deeper structure. Those targeting summer blackfish are reporting better results, and you have one more week to target them.
Bonito reports intensified throughout the Sound this week, and hopefully it won’t be long until we hear of a few more “funny fish” entering the mix.