Connecticut Fishing Report
Matt 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 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. There have been a lot of eels being sold to boat anglers and surfcasters heading out in the early morning hours, so that summer pattern seems to be taking shape. Bluefish are starting to mix in as well, and they tend to be on the larger side. The fluke and sea bass action remains slower than usual in Long Island Sound, but there are at least a few signs of life this week. Some sea bass are showing up on the deeper reefs, and a few hauls of keeper fluke have been reported. It has been a grind, though, so expect to work hard for keepers at the moment. Scup fishing has been much more consistent and is helping to fill the coolers when the other species may not be cooperating. Matt has been busy gearing up customers for the offshore bite as well, and word is that it has started off strong. There are some solid reports from the jig-and-pop anglers on the nearshore grounds, while the canyon tuna bite is reportedly very strong!
Heather from the Black Hawk in Niantic provided the following report for the first official week of summer: “Our private charter last Monday was the 12th annual for the group that joined us for some bass fishing. They had a great trip with some nice slot-sized fish and some jumbo bass up to 44 pounds! They had several blues in the mix as well. Thanks for joining us! Midweek, we took a few days to do some routine maintenance before the busy summer season starts, and when we picked back up on Friday, we had a great after-work trip with the bass. Lots of bigger fish that were released unharmed, as well as some slot-sized fish for the coolers. Saturday’s after-work trip had fewer big fish and more fish in the slot, but plenty of action on both nights! The porgy fishing on both Friday and Saturday was on the slower side, hampered by the wind and tide that just didn’t want to cooperate. Sunday’s trip was better, with a good number of jumbo porgies coming over the rails. We’re fishing every day now, so check our website for the updated schedule. Fluke trips begin July 2, our famous ‘family trips’ start July 4, and we’ll once again have our sunset seal watches on Saturday nights, along with our fireworks cruises. There’s something for everyone on the Black Hawk! Grab your tickets and join us! We look forward to seeing everyone soon!”
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Captain Joe at Joe Diorio Guide Service passed along the following report for the week: “The fishing this week has been absolutely electric! Whether we are fishing inshore or on our Block Island trips, we are finding lots and lots of stripers. Locally here in Connecticut, we have been finding lots of decent-sized stripers ranging from 32 to 42 inches. We have been doing best in deeper water from 40 to 100 feet. There have been tons of bunker and butterfish around, so lures like the 5-ounce Joe Baggs Miracle Minnow and 5.5-ounce FishLab soft baits have been doing best. We have also been doing very well three-waying bucktails with pork rind. When fishing Block, we have been doing extremely well targeting the larger bass ranging from 44 to 52 inches. These fish are eating mostly squid or sand eels. When they are on topwater, we have been doing best throwing the Joe Baggs Skipper and an assortment of glide baits. When we are fishing subsurface, we have been doing best slow-rolling the Joe Baggs 14.5-inch Block Island Eel on a jighead near the bottom. Fishing has been nothing short of incredible, and we can only anticipate it’s going to get better as the water continues to warm. Contact Joe to book your trips!”
Max at Fisherman’s World in Norwalk said that while striper fishing has been very good, the big news around the shop this week was about fluke. Reports from customers indicated that fluke have moved into their local waters, and some nice fish were caught between 6 and 10 pounds. Squid have been stacked in the area, with cans 24 and 26 and Green’s Ledge seeming to be the epicenter of their presence. Finding that bait is key to locating the biggest flatfish in the area, and drifting a whole live squid is a proven tactic to entice a doormat to bite. Max said making long drifts around Can 24 and targeting 25 to 40 feet of water is a good bet. Besides fishing with squid, bucktails tipped with Gulp, fluke bellies, spearing, and smelt are all effective as well. Striped bass fishing is still lights out throughout the region. The bite on deep-water structure is the best bet right now, with 11B, 28C, 13, the OB Buoy, and Green’s Ledge all holding fish. While trolling and fishing with plugs is still effective at times, the biggest fish they’ve been hearing about have been falling to bunker chunks. Bass in the 30- and even 40-pound class have been slurping up fresh chunks off the bottom. If you’re set on catching fish with artificials or topwater lures, Max suggested focusing on low-light windows. Scup are starting to show in better numbers, but they are still on the deeper side and aren’t really in tight to shore just yet. If you’re looking to pound some porgies, starting in 20- to 30-foot depths around structure is a good idea.
Anthony Charnetski at Game On! Lures provided the following report for the week: “Bass fishing has still been steady, and some large fish are being caught locally. Most of the well-known reefs have been producing a solid bite, but fish are almost everywhere if you look in the right areas, especially during low-light conditions. Large topwaters, straight-tail plastics, and glide baits have produced well on recent outings. The hot bite has been out on Block Island, and I highly recommend making the journey if you’re able to. The 13-inch DuraTech Eel on a 1.5- to 2-ounce jighead has been money out on the island. Blues have been scarce, but anglers have been catching them on some of the deeper reefs using metals. Bottom fishing has been pretty tough for the most part, but the bite should improve as temperatures rise. The local fluke bite hasn’t been anything to brag about, but anglers willing to put in the time have been getting rewarded with some nice fish.”
Captain Mike Roy at Reel Cast Charters told me bass fishing is very good and should continue to be so for the next few weeks. He said he expects stripers to settle into their summertime patterns during that time as the water warms and the fish set up on structure. While they haven’t had many bluefish mixed into their catches yet, the ones they have seen are huge, and they should start seeing more on this upcoming July full moon. Another thing that will change as we move into the seventh month will be the presence of brown sharks in our waters, as they’ve been showing up around the second week of July for the past couple of years. In the meantime, his trips continue to include fish in a variety of areas and coming on a number of different methods. These include topwater plugs, soft plastics, both unweighted and on jigheads, flutter spoons, and even live bait. There hasn’t been one presentation that is outfishing the rest. They have some openings over the next couple of weeks, and we’re right in the middle of a prime part of the season. Captain Mike and his team have availability over the next few weeks and throughout the season ahead, so give him a call to book a spot now.
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Connecticut Fishing Forecast
It’s summer in Long Island Sound, and as we look ahead into July, we can anticipate some changes as our resident fish settle into summertime routines. While some bites will either slow down or become more focused around periods of lower light and cooler water, others should heat up with increasing water temperatures. It’s been another great week for striped bass, with shops and charter captains from Norwalk to New London reporting excellent action. Bass seem to range from right around the 28-inch mark up to 40 pounds. While the lights-out striper fishing has continued, choosing your times, tides, and locations will become more important in finding optimal feeding windows. These bass can be found in several of their usual haunts at the moment, but the better results are starting to come during low-light periods and/or in deeper, cooler water. Live eels, bunker (live or chunked), and topwaters have reigned supreme during low-light periods, while anglers fishing during the daytime are doing well on jig-and-soft-plastic combinations and flutter spoons.
Scup fishing was slow to start, but shops and charter captains reported waves of porgies headed in our direction. Good shore fishing for scup can generally be expected during the month of July at many of the usual hotspots. Last year, Fort Trumbull Pier seemed to have the best scup fishing for shore anglers, while a couple of years earlier, Hammonasset was lights out. Fluke and sea bass action has been mostly inconsistent for anglers fishing Long Island Sound, but a strong bite to the east in Rhode Island, and improving fishing in the far western Sound, at least provides some hope that things will improve as we move into July.