Connecticut Fishing Report
Matt Stone, at Black Hall Outfitters in Westbrook, reports that things have held strong on the striped bass front across eastern Connecticut this week. Another push of big bass moved in heavily, and there’s strong fishing at the shore points, reefs, and river systems. The bass are responding well to soft plastics, glide baits, spoons, topwaters, live eels, and live bunker if you can find it. The chunk bite has also been very good when anglers have been able to find fresh bait. Bluefish are starting to mix in as well, and they tend to be on the larger side. The fluke season has started off slow, but reports have started to improve across a myriad of depths in the Eastern Sound and parts of Fishers Island Sound. Black sea bass reports have been very quiet since the season opener, while the scup bite has slowly and steadily improved on sandworms and clams.
Heather, from the Black Hawk in Niantic, provided the following early-season report: “The story of the week was the squid. Wednesday night was good, with many full buckets and happy anglers. Saturday night, though, was hands down the best squid fishing we have ever seen on the Black Hawk! Double and triple headers is an understatement! Buckets were overflowing, with some anglers filling four buckets. We even ran out of buckets and started filling fish baskets; just absolutely incredible fishing. You had to be there to fathom it. We’re adding a squid trip for Wednesday night, so grab your tickets and join us! Porgy trips during the week were up and down, with Monday being the best of the week. Other days were slower, with some better hits of fish now and then, but overall not what we’re expecting at this time of year. Hopefully, the warmer weather this week helps with that. The bass fishing, however, was excellent. Our private charters during the week did some combo trips where they spent part of the day porgy fishing and part of the day bass fishing, and they were not disappointed. Lots of big bass that were released, and several keepers within the slot limit, was the story on these trips this week. Friday afternoon’s ‘After Work Special’ was the same, with some nice keepers and many big fish. We’re still booking some charters for the summer, so email the office to get your date on the calendar.”
Middlebank Sportfishing out of Bridgeport reports that porgy fishing has been nothing short of excellent in their neck of the woods over the past week. For those on their A-game, limits have come easy with large- to jumbo-size hubcaps, but regardless of talent level, everyone is going home with dinner. They are starting to see more summer flounder and mackerel mixing into the catch as well. On the private charters that they’ve done, they’ve taken advantage of the strong Western Sound striped bass fishing. Visit their website, middlebanksportfishing.com, to view the schedule and book your trip!
Captain Chris, at Elser Guide Service, told me that the Western Sound fishing has still been very good for striped bass, but a shift east is starting to happen. That said, we should see another push of Hudson fish soon, which will help fill the gaps. Bunker remains tough to find, but the saving grace has been the huge number of Atlantic mackerel in the area. These mackerel schools are fueling a true big-bass bite for Chris, including a fish in the 50-pound range this week that was safely released without being taken from the water.
Captain Ben Burdine from Apex Angling, provided the following report: “Striped bass fishing in western Long Island Sound is still going very, very strong, with big fish pushing bait to the surface to feed daily, like clockwork. We’re starting to see the average size fish decrease a bit, with more 32-inch and slot-size fish in the mix with the 36- to 40-inch class. We’ve seen a few fish over 40 inches this week but haven’t heard of many giant fish being landed during the daytime. We’re hoping one more wave of big fish is still on its way. I would guess that nighttime bait fishing will be your best bet to catch any upper-40-inch giant-class bass. We have caught a few schoolies nearshore with soft plastics and plugs, but it still seems well below the numbers we’d like to see. Bluefish have also invaded and are a good size class this year, around 8 to 12 pounds, with some larger fish mixed in. Be sure to look out for bluefish sunbathing and ‘finning’ on the surface on flat-calm, sunny days. Sight-casting lures and flies to ‘finning’ bluefish with relatively light tackle is some of the most fun fishing we have in western Long Island Sound.”
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Captain Joe, at Joe Diorio Guide Service, provided the following report for the week: “The fishing has been very good this past week! We have been targeting mostly stripers, but some bluefish as well. The average size stripers have been a solid 36 to 43 inches, with a few up to 47 inches. When targeting stripers, we have been doing best fishing 40 to 100 feet of water. We have been using mostly 3- to 5-ounce Joe Baggs Miracle Minnows, bouncing them off the bottom or three-waying bucktails. We also have been getting a few here and there on topwater. The Doc or Skipper has been doing best for us when it comes to surface action. When targeting bluefish, it has been all topwater—working the Doc or Skipper extremely fast back to the boat. There have been some real honkers around, up to 15 pounds, this week. We have some dates available for next week if you are looking to get out. Contact Joe to book!”
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Anthony Charnetski, at Game On Lures, provided the following report for the week: “The striped bass bite continues to be lights out. Over the last week, there has been a big push of 40-inch-plus bass in the area. These fish have been hot on bunker and butterfish from what I’ve seen, but I’ve heard of fish on mackerel, whiting, and squid also. Bunker has still been on the sparse side, but they’ve been trickling in. Live bunker is almost certain to get it done if you can find it. Large topwaters like the 8-inch X-Walk, soft-plastic straight tails, and glide baits have also been getting some large bites. Water temperatures are on the rise quickly, so I’d expect a lot of these fish to start moving into their summer haunts soon. Bluefish have been absent for the most part, but guys have been getting them farther east. Sea bass fishing has been improving in numbers, but the keeper-to-short ratio has still been tough for most. Larger baits worked aggressively have been the ticket for keepers.”
Captain Mike Roy, at Reel Cast Charters, said very good striped bass action has continued into June, and they are seeing lots of quality fish across many different types of structure. Big numbers of fish can be found from river mouths and bays to local reefs and deep-water structure. They are seeing fish ranging mostly from slot size and larger, with some big fish in the mix. Bunker and butterfish seem to be the two most prominent bait species this week. He also mentioned that they started catching some bluefish in the 10- to 12-pound class over the weekend. A variety of presentations have been effective depending on where they’ve been fishing. Soft plastics, topwater lures, and flutter spoons are all working well. They have some openings over the next couple of weeks, and we’re heading into a prime part of the season. Captain Mike and his team are already booking prime dates for the season, and it’s never too early to lock yours in, so give him a call to book a spot now.
Connecticut Fishing Forecast
Fishing throughout Connecticut has warmed up as quickly as the temperatures recently, with striped bass fishing continuing to be the main show in town. The reefs and rips from the Western Sound to the Eastern Sound, and everything in between, are now inundated with bass of a larger variety. The fish seem to have shown up with a vengeance over the past week, including multiple fish approaching 50 inches.
Similar to Rhode Island, there is a mass of bait fueling this bite, but in Connecticut, it’s bunker and butterfish to the east, along with mackerel to the west. The fish are eating the usual offerings—large soft plastics, eels, etc.—but there has been an encouraging number of topwater reports this week. The Connecticut River has cleaned up, and a few bass could be had there as well. If it cleans up a bit more and the bunker arrive, that bite should intensify until around the Fourth of July holiday.
The Race and Plum Gut are still holding plenty of bass that are gorging on butterfish and willing to eat a spoon or diamond jig. 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 picked up, including some decent Eastern Sound fluke reports, along with some solid fish in the Norwalk area. Sea bassing has started off slowly, but some encouraging reports from both the east and west have anglers thinking we’re not far off, while scup fishing has seen a vast improvement throughout the state.