Matt Stone, at Black Hall Outfitters in Westbrook, reports that things have held strong on the striped bass front across eastern Connecticut this week. The bite has shifted areas a bit, but overall it’s still very good, with plenty of big fish both deep and shallow. The bass can be found on the deep and shallow reefs as well as the usual rips around The Race. They’re 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 slowly, 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 improved for the first time this week — focus on deep structure — while the scup bite has continued to improve on sandworms and clams. There have been a lot of eels being sold for boat anglers and surfcasters heading out in the early morning hours, so that summer pattern seems to be taking shape.
Heather, from the Black Hawk in Niantic, provided the following report: “Our Saturday night private charter was a bluefish bonanza! Blues were flying into the boat all night long, along with some nice bass, and several larger fish to 33 pounds that were released unharmed. A beautiful night with a great group! Our porgy fishing during the week remained up and down, with some customers on some trips getting their limits and other trips on the slower, pickier side. Saturday showed some improvement, so we’re looking forward to things to come as the season progresses. Congrats to 8-year-old Gavin, who had a special catch on Saturday — a lobster! Our afternoon bass trips, both open trips and private charters, showed good bass fishing. Lots of slot-sized fish, with some overs and unders released unharmed. We will continue these after-work special trips all season, so grab your tickets and join us! Our calamari safari trip this week was good, with full buckets of squid all around the boat. We only have a few dates left for private charters for the summer, so email the office to get your date on the calendar.”
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Captain Mike Roy, at Reel Cast Charters, told me it’s been lock-and-load striper fishing across a variety of areas within the Sound. This is typically the peak of the spring striper run in our region, and this year has not disappointed. He said the new moon moved some fish around, but they were catching quality bass on just about every trip. Because they’re fishing a variety of areas, a number of different methods have been effective — topwater plugs, soft plastics both unweighted and on jig heads, flutter spoons, and even live bait have all worked depending on time and place. There isn’t just one presentation that has been out-fishing the rest. They’re seeing a variety of bait on all trips, from bunker to butterfish and some smaller rainbait. There have been a few bluefish mixed in, mostly around the deep-water rips and reefs. They have some openings over the next couple of weeks, right in the middle of a prime part of the season — give Captain Mike and his team a call to book a spot.
Anthony Charnetski, at Game On Lures, provided the following report for the week: “The water has been warming up and the bass fishing continues to be excellent. The bunker hasn’t moved in like I was hoping, but it’s been subsidized by a nice push of butterfish, mackerel, squid, and a variety of smaller baitfish. The rivers and backwaters shot up in temperature over the last week, so there are a bunch of fish making their way out to the Sound. They aren’t quite in their summer holding patterns yet, but we aren’t too far off. Large plugs, spoons, straight-tail plastics, and bucktails have all been working well. The 13-inch DuraTech eel has been a major player for getting some quality bites out on the reefs. Bluefish have been very scarce, but anglers are running into them every so often on some of the deeper reefs. Bottom fishing has also been picking up with temps finally on the rise.”
Middlebank Sportfishing 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-sized hubcaps, but regardless of experience 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 they’ve done recently, they’ve taken advantage of the strong Western Sound striped bass fishing. Visit their website at middlebanksportfishing.com to view the schedule and book your trip.
Captain Ben Burdine, from Apex Angling CT, provided the following report for his latest week of fishing in the Western Sound: “Striped bass fishing in the western Sound remains good, with plenty of over-slot fish still being caught on topwater lures, metal lips, bucktails, big paddle tails, glide baits — you name it. Over the next few weeks, the stripers in the Western Sound will transition from migrating through to setting up summer residency. The rest will keep moving east and further north up the coast. I will be relocating one of my boats from Fairfield to the Mystic area to chase fish in the Eastern Sound and beyond. We’re patiently waiting for the bluefin tuna to arrive in our mid-shore grounds south of Block Island and Montauk, and hoping for a good push of yellowfins mid-shore a bit later this summer. Tip of the week: travel where the fish are and figure out their schedule of hunting prey, feeding, and resting. Putting yourself where the fish are and when they’re feeding makes all the difference.”
Captain Chris Elser, at Elser Guide Service, told me he had a great week before the wind showed up Thursday. Mackerel are the primary striper forage right now in his area, though there are bunker to the west as well. Fishing bass and blues on mackerel is more like fall-run fishing, since the macks move quickly unlike bunker — but the strikes are aggressive on X-Walks and jigs. Chris has found bunker in the harbors now, but the action in his area is all about the macks, which has kept it all topwater and jigging with no trolling needed. They had fish up to 46 inches on top, then switched to finning blues on one of those rare flat-calm days on Wednesday — over a dozen blues from 8 to 13 pounds casting Game On Lures DuraTech eels weightless. Those blues go absolutely crazy over a soft plastic zig-zagging in the surface film, and he has yet to have a bluefish bite off a DuraTech eel. Fish them in a walk-the-dog motion. Fluke and black sea bass remain slow in his area, but as the water continues to warm, things should start to pick up.
Connecticut Fishing Forecast
We are through the June new moon and fishing across Long Island Sound has been very good for stripers, while bottom fishing has made some incremental improvements. Striped bass reports came in from shops from Norwalk to New London, including fish in all types of water — from deep-water rips to local reefs to the surf. A few more bunker have moved into the area, and if you’re lucky enough to find some around the river mouths, you’ll likely find some hungry bass waiting. Luckily, a mass of butterfish, mackerel, and rainbait has kept the bass well fed. The Race, Plum Gut, and Fishers Island have been holding loads of striped bass of varying sizes, coming on everything from all-out topwater blitzes to light jigs with soft plastics to heavy diamond jigs and bucktails. The key seems to be continuing to work a number of different offerings to see what these fish want to eat on any given tide.
Bottom fishing has ticked up week by week over the last two to three weeks, and both the western and eastern Sound have noted progress with fluke and scup. Sea bass fishing seems to have an edge in the western and central Sound, though lots of short fish seemed to be a common denominator across the region. With plenty of bait in our area and the next moon on the way, these next few weeks should be primed for some excellent early summer action.