Connecticut Fishing Report
Matt Stone at Black Hall Outfitters in Westbrook told me fishing is pretty good all around right now. Being that it’s summer, if you’re after striped bass and bluefish your best times to go will be early and late in the day. Eels and topwater lures have been effective for stripers. Lots of bunker came into the area recently and the bass can often be found following them. A nice influx of bluefish hit locally as well, which has been good to see. And while the bluefishing hasn’t been great this year, the snapper fishing is reportedly picking up nicely. That’s always a great opportunity to tighten a line and/or get the kids out on some good action! Brown sharks are all over again, similar to last summer. Sea bass are still deep. Fluke fishing is consistent for those fishing in 40 to 60 feet of water. The midshore tuna bite has been as strong as ever, with anglers reporting mixed sizes of bluefin from Montauk to Block.
Heather from the Blackhawk in Niantic reports: “What a week! Our porgy trips once again showed great numbers, with some nice sea bass in the mix. Our private fluke charter on Thursday was on the tougher side, but the great group we had still had a great time. Friday’s trip had to fish in some secondary spots due to the wind, but we stuck with it and made a good trip out of it, with anglers reeling in porgies throughout the day. Friday afternoon’s After Work Special trip gave our customers some sore arms after reeling in giant blues all night long. Be sure to grab a spot on one of these trips before they’re all done for the year. We had a beautiful night for our 10th annual Warm Center sunset cruise. With perfect temperatures, a gorgeous sunset and a great group of people, it was an amazing summer evening. We have three summer sunset cruises left, join us on one of them! Congrats to Jeff K, who was our Capt. Scott’s Saturday winner of a gift certificate. Also, congrats to Laurie C, who was our winner in our weekly drawing in our summer food drive. We’re sailing 7 days a week, so be sure to check our calendar online and grab a ticket for your trip. We look forward to seeing everyone soon!”
Capt. Joe Diorio of Diorio Guide Service provided the following report for this week: “Fishing has been awesome this week. The jig bite for tuna is on big time! Most of the tuna are in that 41- to 45-inch range, but there are a few to 65-inches-plus out there. Our top jigs have been the UVT jig and Joe Baggs Sleek jig. Striper fishing has been good some days, and so-so the next. We are experiencing an abnormal number of brown sharks in the area, which has moved the stripers around a lot, and others made them afraid to actually eat. Regardless, when we do get into the stripers, they are very large, ranging from 44- to 48-inches with a few in the 50-inch-plus range. Most of our fish have come on the Joe Baggs eel on a jighead or live eels. Fishing for both stripers and tuna should only get better this next month or so as the water continues to warm up. Get out there and enjoy the fishing while it’s hot!” Contact Joe to book your trip today as he has a few dates available over the next few weeks.
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Captain Chris Oliver of Keepin’ It Reel Sportfishing out of New London provided the following report after another successful week of offshore fishing: “After coming off multiple trips in a row of 20+ bluefins landed per trip, we were excited to return to the tuna grounds after that strong NE blow. As expected, the fish were more scattered immediately after the blow. Then flat seas and good reports attracted massive fleets and a led to a very slow bite. Things definitely have slowed from the previous week but there is an incredible amount of fish around and I fully anticipate things to ramp back up very soon. I have a feeling they were on micro baits that the blow may have pushed around which made them less interested in our offerings. The productive baits for us continue to be the 180g-220g UVT pink glow and the 10-inch pink RonZ. There are also a lot of mahi and triggerfish around on the midshore grounds, so be sure to check out any floating debris or highfliers!”
Middlebank Sportfishing in Bridgeport reported a solid week of fishing and an uptick in action from the past couple of weeks. Wednesday’s trip was lock and load with near limits of porgy for most anglers. They lost Thursday and Friday to bad weather, but the weekend made up for it! They had good porgy fishing, including a few jumbo hubcaps. Sea bass are making their way into the mix with a few keepers on every trip. Weakfish, spot, and cocktail blues are also rounding out the daily catch. August can be a great time of year in their location and with the fishing they’ve seen this past week, they’re expecting a great month. Plenty of opportunities to get yourself and the kids out before school starts back up! Visit their website, www.middlebanksportfishing.com to view the sailing schedule and book your tickets. And check out their daily reports on the Middlebank Sport Fishing Facebook page.
Captain Chris of Elser Guide Service was happy to report some Western Sound fishing that trended in the right direction this week. Water temperatures down that way have hit 74 degrees, which is a prime temperature for this time of year and is also considerably lower than usual for August. That should equate to an early start to the fall run! There have been more sightings of Spanish mackerel this week, and bonito seem to be making their way into the Sound. Those sightings, plus the amount of small bait in the area, should lead to some great light-tackle action very soon. In terms of striped bass, you can find them blitzing on peanut bunker during the morning hours, but the lack of adult bunker has made the daytime game a little tougher. The tube and worm is still as consistent as ever, but the fish are starting to respond to live eels. A big push of 10- to 12-pound bluefish has also entered the region this week and they are gorging on the peanut bunker. If they hang around, topwater feeds from gators should be very prevalent in the coming weeks.
Capt. Ben Burdine of Apex Angling in Noank reports: “South of Montauk and Block Island, schoolie bluefin tuna fishing remains very good. The typical spots are still holding bait, marine mammals, and bluefin. A few larger 70-inch class fish have been taken and even more have been lost and chafed off. It seems like 120- to 220-gram knife jigs in glow and natural colors are producing a majority of the schoolie fish, but soft plastics like RonZs and NLBNs are outproducing some days, especially with the larger bluefin. Poppers have been effective around schools of porpoises, as well as blind casting. There are still some topwater tuna feeds, but they are becoming few and far between. Keep an eye out for flotsam in conjunction with warmer surface temps, as we have an above-average class of mahi-mahi around, with many over 30 inches.”
Anthony Charnetski at Game On Lures provided the following report for the week: “The Sound is starting to look and fish much more like Florida with the number of sharks in the area. That said, the local bite remains good, despite some inconsistency. The lack of adult bunker has made things a little tougher than usual this time of year, however, some smaller forage such as sand eels and silversides have kept a good population of bigger bass inshore. A lot of local anglers are making the trip out to eastern Rhode Island or Block Island in search of a consistent bite. Live eels and bunker (if you can find it) are always going to be your best bet for summertime cows, but large soft-plastic eel imitators and large topwaters are also great options. The Game On 13-inch Duratech eel and Zinger Baits X-Cites have been producing big fish locally. When the fish are on small bait and being finicky, the 1-ounce EXO Jig on a steady retrieve has been lights out. A good push of giant bluefish have arrived locally in the past few weeks, which is always nice to see after a slow start from them. Fluke and sea bass fishing has been good; however, keeper fish have been harder to come by. While it’s been a grind finding keepers lately, the scup fishing is lights out and is picking up the slack. The midshore tuna bite has been much more consistent than the inshore fishing, so many anglers are making their way out to the tuna grounds. Most trips are resulting in a ton of success jigging, popping, trolling bars and slinging sand eel imitations. Reports of bonito from the east and Spanish mackerel from the west have started to flood in, so I’m hopeful they will show in local waters soon!”
Captain Mike Roy at Reel Cast Charters told me that striper fishing is very good and their focus now and for the next few weeks will be solely on big fish. Locating and feeding live baits to large stripers is the best way to consistently catch cow-sized bass this time of year. Live bunker are choice baits, but eels can be just effective. One thing they’ve seen just about every trip out lately are large brown sharks—something to be aware of if you plan to fish for striped bass in eastern Long Island Sound over the course of the next few weeks. The bottom fishing for scup and sea bass has been good and is a nice way to round out a trip. Another good way to round out an inshore trip is the recent push of bonito, which are starting to show themselves in eastern CT, after being relegated to Rhode Island all season. The near-shore tuna bite has been very good, and they are booking trips for that if you’re interested. They have openings for August so give his team a call to take advantage of those spots while they last.
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Connecticut Fishing Forecast
Summer fishing has remained solid across Connecticut despite increasing water temperatures throughout the Sound. Anglers who haven’t been taking advantage of the midshore tuna bite and have stayed inshore are still finding plenty of striped bass to play with. The relatively cooler water in the eastern Long Island Sound is once again a haven for summer striped bass. Stripers are being caught throughout the Sound and in its major tributaries, with the Eastern Sound reefs starting to take charge this week. Bunker remains scarce, but if you can find some, it is a great bait source. Live eels and eel-imitating soft plastics have also been producing nice results. The influx of brown sharks has caused the bass to be a bit spooky at times, so don’t be afraid to look for them in shallow water. A lot of larger bass seem to be holding up in water much shallower than usual for this point of the summer.
Spanish mackerel reports are still popping up in the Western Sound, while the first solid reports of bonito have started to trickle in from the east. Bottom fishermen are still finding a consistent scup bite, with no shortage of hubcaps throughout the Sound. Scup are coming from just about every piece of structure while the sea bass season has kicked into gear on deeper structure. Those targeting summer blackfish are also finding some success, and you may just find some keeper tog as bycatch while targeting the aforementioned species. Dedicated fluke fishermen continue to pick away at legal-sized flatfish, with better reports coming from some shallower water this week.