Connecticut Fishing Report
Matt Stone, at Black Hall Outfitters in Westbrook, told me that things remained similar to last week in his neck of the woods. The bass bite has been good. During the day, you want to fish deep with GT Eels, spoons, and live eels. After dark, look to the shallower, tide-swept boulders and throw live eels, large unweighted soft plastics, and big swimmers. There has also been some topwater action early in the morning. Sea bass fishing has continued to improve, with metals like the Daiwa SK Jig scoring well off the deeper ends of the reefs. Fluking continues to slowly improve, with Jigging World bucktails catching them best. Scup fishing has been good in 15 feet of water, and bait is producing the most fish.
Heather from the Black Hawk in Niantic reports: “We had a great week of summer fishing on the Black Hawk! Our bottom fishing trips were excellent, with lots of limits of jumbo porgies, along with a nice mix of sea bass, triggerfish, and even a fluke or two. Our Thursday fluke trip showed much improvement over last week, with lots of shorts to keep the rods bent and a good number of keepers to put in the coolers. Some sea bass were in the mix as well. Our After Work Special trip on Friday night had some nice slot-size bass, along with some overs and shorts that were released unharmed. Our Saturday afternoon family trip had to deal with some rainy conditions, but the kids were superstars and fished through it, going home with plenty of scup in the coolers. Congrats to Paul M., who was the winner in our Captain Scott’s Saturday drawing. He won a $25 gift certificate to Capt. Scott’s Lobster Dock in New London just for joining us on a Saturday trip! Also congrats to Thomas K., who won our weekly Summer Food Drive drawing. His trip will be refunded just for bringing some food and beverages for our food drive! All summer long we’re refunding one trip per week—bring requested items for our food drive, and you’ll be entered to win. Help us help our local community this summer! Our regular sunset cruises return next Saturday night. These trips are all fundraisers for our Black Hawk and the Community program, so grab your tickets and join us for a great night for a good cause! We look forward to seeing everyone soon!”
- Want to get in on the bite? Find an OTW-approved Charter Fishing Captain in Connecticut
Captain Joe Diorio, of Joe Diorio Guide Service, provided the following report after another long, successful day on the water: “Fishing has been awesome! This past week we mostly targeted stripers, and let me tell you, it has picked up big time from last week. We have been averaging 20 to 30 bass each trip. Most of the bass are 40 to 46 inches, with a few pushing 48 inches. We have been doing well fishing in 8 to 40 feet of water. Most of the time we are tossing live eels, but I have to say most of the bigger bass have come on the Joe Baggs 14.5-inch eels. We have also gotten a few on topwater using the Skipper. This past week the sharks moved in big time as well. The brown sharks, and an occasional sand tiger, have been harassing our stripers and eating our live eels. We hope they start to move on to a different area over the next few weeks. I can only assume the striper fishing will continue to get better and better as we move further into late July and August. We have some dates available over the next month for stripers if you are looking to get out. This is typically when we see some of the largest fish of the season caught, so don’t miss out.” Contact Joe to get a date on the books!
View this post on Instagram
Captain Chris Oliver, of Keepin’ It Reel Sportfishing out of New London, provided the following report after another strong week of tuna fishing: “Midshore bluefin south of Montauk improved this week and should continue to get better. I took some time off from charters and headed down to New Jersey with the UVT La Familia. We were fishing the New Chief in the UVT Captain Challenge. We saw pretty solid bluefin action, with overs and unders caught in a couple hours of fishing. There were three La Familia captain boats in the challenge, with La Familia captains fishing aboard. We were using jigs as well, but the only bites we got were on the Chief. We got bit on 5-ounce Shore Catch and Chrome Heads with white, pink, and bronze tails, going 4 for 6 with fish coming on both deadsticks and snap jigging. If you are using the new Chief, it is absolutely necessary to glue or zip-tie the tail to the jig head. This will eliminate any slipping and ensure the presentation is consistent.”
Captain Ben Burdine, of Apex Angling, provided the following report for the week: “Heavy rain, high winds, and big seas have had most boats on the dock since Monday. The western Sound is still producing striped bass during select feeding windows and times of day. Sharks have moved inshore out east on the bass grounds, which definitely slowed the striper bite. I personally won’t fish for stripers if there’s a high likelihood of them getting sharked during the fight. On the tuna front, guys in the know and willing to travel throughout the day have been getting recreational-sized bluefin on both jigs and topwater. There have been topwater feeds most days, which is a great contrast to the last few seasons. I have a bunch of availability in August for ‘Jig and Pop’ tuna fishing, so reach out if you’re interested in targeting bluefin and yellowfin on spin tackle.”
When I spoke to Captain Chris, of Elser Guide Service, he told me that he lost quite a few days due to the weather this week. When he was able to get out, he found solid striper fishing on the reefs and in the rips. These fish seem to be settling in consistently after what has been a very inconsistent, up-and-down pattern. There is still an obvious lack of bluefish, and the few bonito that popped up last week didn’t make a second appearance this week. Chris is still waiting on the Spanish mackerel as well, which should be right around the corner. Fluke and sea bass fishing remains very slow in his area, so it’s all about the stripers that are available on specific tides. Bunker has been scarce, but squid and butterfish remain plentiful enough to keep the bass interested.
Anthony, at Game On Lures, sent over the following report for the week: “Overall, the striped bass bite has been much more inconsistent over the last week. We’ll get a few bass on this spot and a few bass on that spot, but we haven’t run into any larger schools recently. Bunker continue to be very sparse, so I think the bass have been filling themselves up with anything in front of them, which requires them to not hold in a specific area for long. The fish are still around, but they’ve been moving more than usual for this time of year. I recommend fishing the shallow reefs during low-light hours and moving out deeper once the sun comes up. Nighttime trips have been the most productive despite harassment from brown sharks. If you’ve had a couple bass get eaten, do the responsible thing and call it a night or wait it out. Game On DuraTech Eels, large topwaters, swimming plugs, and live eels or bunker will all get the job done. I’ve been seeing more cocktail blues on each trip, which is a nice surprise. The sea bass bite has been good on deeper spots. Focus on 70-plus feet of water with larger presentations. Fluke has also been solid for the guys willing to put the time in. The porgy bite has been lights out, but I’ve noticed there aren’t as many in shallow water as usual.”
Captain Mike Roy at Reel Cast Charters said fishing for striped bass is good. They are seeing lots of fish of varying sizes depending on when and where they are fishing. The push of slot fish that moved onto the reefs over the last week or two has ramped up the action and made for some fast fishing at times. There are plenty of larger fish around as well, and they’ve seen a few cows in their catches. One notable difference over the last week to 10 days is the arrival of brown sharks to the region. They are back, attacking hooked fish and eels meant for bass. Captain Mike said a variety of presentations are still working well, with soft plastics like Slug-Gos and Fin-S Fish being very effective across a variety of depths, tides, and situations. The largest fish they are catching are still falling to live bait, particularly bunker and eels. 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 trip now.
Connecticut Fishing Forecast
Hotter temperatures haven’t stopped the hot fishing across Connecticut. The relatively cooler water in eastern Long Island Sound is once again a haven for summer striped bass. For those not running offshore for tuna, there continues to be no shortage of good striped bass fishing and decent bottom fishing opportunities. Stripers are being caught throughout the Sound and in its major tributaries, with the eastern Sound reefs starting to take charge this week. There has been a pronounced lack of bunker in the central and eastern Sound, but if you can find them, that will equal quick success for bass. No bunker, no worries, as bass are spread across the usual eastern Sound reefs and will eat eels, soft plastics, jigs, and spoons. Just be prepared to deal with sharks, and consider making a move if you start losing your hooked striped bass to them.
The western Sound is still holding plenty of quality fish, but with warming weather, the bite has transitioned primarily to a daytime troll bite or a chunking- and eeling-after-dark bite. The scup bite has hit its summer stride, with hubcaps throughout the Sound. Keeper sea bass have been a bit tougher to find, but when targeting them, stick to deeper water. Fluke fishing has actually taken a slight turn for the better this week, with enough keepers being reported to make it worth your while. These fluke are coming from a variety of depths and locations, so don’t be afraid to bounce around. Those targeting summer blackfish are also finding some success, and you may even find a keeper “tog” as bycatch while targeting the aforementioned species. Spanish mackerel and bonito reports haven’t popped up just yet, but I wouldn’t be surprised if I’m both species to the menu in next week’s report.