Connecticut Fishing Report
Matt Stone at Black Hall Outfitters in Westbrook reports that the bass bite has remained really good in the area. A lot of customers are reporting some quality bass in shallow water out front, especially during the morning hours, which have been a bit better than the evenings. With the warming temperatures, anglers should definitely continue to focus on the morning hours for the most active fish. There are also reportedly still some big bass in the river despite the warm temperatures. Live eels, GT Eels, and topwaters remain the go-to producers. Sea bass and fluke anglers are reporting a lot of fish locally, but the majority remain under keeper size. That looks to be the trend in eastern Connecticut right now, so you need to grind through them in hopes of finding some keepers. Daiwa SK Jigs and the Hogy Squinnow have been particularly good for sea bass and the occasional fluke. The fluke have also been responding to S&S Swing Hook Bucktails tipped with squid or spearing. Porgy fishing has been much more consistent in all the usual haunts. Anglers are catching them on squid, sandworms, clams, and small plastics.
Captain Chris Oliver of Keepin’ It Reel Sportfishing out of New London reported excellent fishing from the canyons to the midshore grounds on his trips over the past week. On their first offshore trip of the season, Chris said they managed to go 13 for 20 on quality yellowfin, 0 for 2 on bigeyes after losing one right at the boat, and 1 for 1 on a giant bluefin tuna before the recreational trophy season closed this week. On his next charter, after the group crushed yellowfin tuna in the canyons, Captain Chris checked out some midshore spots on the way back to port which yielded a couple of bonus bluefin tuna on jigs. Then, on June 29, during a Round 3 day trip to the edge, it took the group only 10 minutes to come tight to yellowfin after putting lines in at 6 a.m. The skipper said they had 50- to 80-pound yellowfin tuna crushing UVT poppers and jigs, and around 10 a.m. they had a knockdown on a rigged ballyhoo from a 64-inch bigeye tuna to round out the catch. Chris is confident that the canyons fishing will only get better from here and as more bluefin slide into the midshore grounds, it should be a summer for the books. Give him a call as soon as possible to check his availability and secure a date!
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Heather from the Black Hawk in Niantic provided the following report for the week: “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 were released unharmed, as well as some slot-sized fish for the coolers. Saturday’s after-work trip had fewer big fish and more slot-sized fish, 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 Blackhawk! Grab your tickets and join us! We look forward to seeing everyone soon!”
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Captain Ben Burdine of Apex Angling sent over the following report: “Striper fishing remains good at the deeper-water reefs during optimal feeding times, including the low-light hours, but most anglers are switching tactics to subsurface lures, jigging, and bait fishing as topwater feeding has become less consistent. The fishing in the Eastern Sound, in places like The Race, was still very strong. The big story this past week has been the arrival of bluefin tuna ‘midshore’ south of Long Island along the 20- and 30-fathom lines. There is a tremendous amount of 30- to 100-pound-plus bluefin, as well as some giants in the mix. We had incredible surface feeds this past week as there is a hard thermocline in some areas pinning the sand eels to the top 20 feet of the water column. Humpbacks and dolphins are a good indication that you are in the correct zone and tuna are nearby. These fish are still moving around day to day and are not set up yet, so be flexible and start fishing even if you aren’t marking tuna on the fish finder, as they may be higher in the water column. Tuna feeding on the surface have been selective, so be prepared to cycle through a Rolodex of lures to figure out what is working that day. Paddletails and stickbaits seem to be the most reliable, but some anglers succeeded with poppers. Even some fly fishermen have been checking bluefin off their bucket lists.”
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Middlebank Sport Fishing out of Bridgeport provided the following report for the week: “It’s July, and in the western Long Island Sound, that means mixed-bag bottom fishing! Mixed in with our porgies, we’re seeing more sea bass, stripers, and a few fluke. The porgy schools are spread out, which forces us to hop around to keep a bite going. We are fishing both shallow and deep drops. We have a mix of available trips, including porgy/sea bass trips, fluke trips on Mondays and Tuesdays, along with Captain’s Choice trips. Visit our website, middlebanksportfishing.com, for information and scheduling.”
Captain Chris at Elser Guide Service had a slower week around his home port as the fish start to transition to their summer patterns. Most of the mackerel and the slug of bass feeding on them have moved east. There are some large bass to the west, and these Hudson fish should be settling into local waters soon. That said, there are still a few bass to be had, but with the warm weather, trolling the tube and worm has been the ticket. This transition happens every year, and if history is any indication, it’ll fire back up shortly!
Captain Joe at Joe Diorio Guide Service passed along the following report for the week: “Fishing has been outstanding. We have been fishing both inshore and offshore for stripers and tuna. Inshore, we have had success fishing for stripers in both deeper and shallow-water areas. When fishing the deeper areas, we have been doing really well targeting stripers using soft plastics like the Joe Baggs Miracle Minnows and the Fish Lab Mac Attacks. These fish have been focusing on bait like full-size bunker and butterfish. When fishing the shallow areas, we have been doing best throwing subsurface lures like the 14.5-inch Joe Baggs eels, as well as weightless live eels. We have also been doing very well throwing topwater lures like the Skipper and the Doc. This week we were able to hit the tuna grounds, and we found some crazy feeds. These tuna were gorging themselves on smaller sand eels. Baits like the Joe Baggs Miracle Minnows, smaller stickbaits, and poppers have been working really well for us. With the water getting warmer, the tuna fishing should continue to improve! Looking ahead to these next few weeks, we should continue to see more big stripers come into our area, as well as more tuna! We have dates available if you are looking to get out. Contact me to book your trips!”
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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 any bluefish mixed into their catches yet, he said that will likely change on the 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 produce fish in a variety of areas, and a number of different methods have been effective, including throwing topwater plugs, soft plastics both unweighted and on jig heads, flutter spoons, and even live bait. Depending on the time and place, there isn’t one presentation that has been 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.
Connecticut Fishing Forecast
Fishing throughout Connecticut has continued to fire up just in time for the holiday weekend. Bunker remain relatively scarce in the rivers and estuaries, but they can still be found around the mid-Sound’s deeper reefs and are firing up some great striped bass feeds. The shallow-water bass bite has improved once again this week for anglers fishing during low-light conditions despite the rise in water temperatures. Soft plastics like the GT Eel, topwaters, glide baits, and, of course, live eels remain the top producers. The flutter spoon is also a go-to during the midday hours when the fish are hunkered down. The Connecticut River is also still holding fish, so it may be a good time to poke around there before it gets even warmer. Bluefishing has been up and down, and your odds increase greatly if you can locate big schools of bait, but there are enough around to keep things interesting, especially in the Western Sound. Similar to Rhode Island, the fluke fishing seems to be producing solid numbers but very few keepers. Forty to 60 feet of water seems to be the best bet—slightly shallower to the west—using the usual presentations in pink, white, and chartreuse. The sea bass fishing is similar, with decent numbers, but you have to work a bit for keepers. Look to deeper humps in 60 to 100 feet of water to find some larger specimens. Scup fishing is in full summer mode, with good reports from both shore and boat anglers. Don’t forget about the freshwater bite, either. As we get closer to extremely hot temperatures, there’s currently a great opportunity to find some big largemouth and smallmouth bass, with the largemouth taking refuge in the weeds and the smallmouth looking for cooler-water refuges.