Connecticut Fishing Report
Matt at Black Hall Outfitters in Westbrook told me that it feels more like summer fishing in his neck of the woods. The striped bass bite has slowed down just a bit, but it remains very good during the right windows. Eels and topwater plugs during low-light periods continue to reign supreme. Anglers fishing the night shift are also reportedly doing well on needlefish plugs, as well as live eels. During the daytime hours, you’ll want to fish deeper with GT Eels, spoons, and live eels. There is still a pretty obvious lack of bluefish in the central to eastern Sound, so no news on that front. The fluke and sea bass fishing saw one of its biggest improvements this week, with better sea bass results coming from 60 feet of water or deeper. They are responding well to the Hogy Squinnow, Daiwa SK jigs, and similar metals. Fluke fishing is better in 40 to 60 feet of water on shorter, more controlled drifts. Salmon Red Gulp has been producing, along with fresh squid on a hi-lo rig.
Heather from the Black Hawk in Niantic reports: “We had some ups and downs this week, but that’s fishing. We started off the week with some great bottom fishing, with loads of porgies, some nice sea bass, and some triggerfish in the mix as well. Midweek, Mother Nature decided not to play nice, which impacted Wednesday and our fluke trip on Thursday. We ended up not being able to go where we wanted and finished the day with a handful of keeper fluke and sea bass, with many shorts released. Friday, we started to get back to normal, with lots of triggerfish in the mix—the most we’ve seen on one trip yet! The weekend again had good fishing, with plenty of porgies and some sea bass in the mix. Thursday night, Heather and Faith headed to The Day’s Best of the Best award dinner, where the Black Hawk was honored to once again win first place in the charter fishing category! We are humbled to have been awarded this prize many years in a row and are truly grateful for the support of our customers and community. Thank you! Congrats to Kirsten R., who was the winner in our Captain Scott’s Saturday drawing. She 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 Sherry R., who won our weekly Summer Food Drive drawing. Her trip will be refunded just for bringing 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! We had a beautiful evening for our sunset cruise on Saturday night and we have a few more coming up. 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!”
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Captain Joe Diorio at Diorio Guide Service reports: “Fishing has been solid this past week. Striper fishing has been strong, especially overnight and in the early morning hours. We have been doing best fishing shallow reefs in 5 to 40 feet of water using live eels and Joe Baggs 14.5-inch Block Island Eels on a jighead. We have also been seeing a bunch of bonito move in this past week. We have been doing well catching them on the Joe Baggs 3/4-ounce Resin Jigs. Offshore, we have been fishing for bluefin tuna, and it feels like the bite is finally setting up pretty good. When they are down low on the bottom, we have been using the UVT jigs and Joe Baggs 5-ounce Resin Jigs, which have yielded tuna up to 71 inches. We also got a few on topwater while they were rage feeding, as well as around dolphin pods. We have been doing best throwing the Joe Baggs Skipper and working it fast. I can only assume the fishing, both inshore and offshore, will continue to get better. We have a few dates available for the remainder of the month. Contact Joe to book.”
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Captain Chris Oliver of Keepin’ It Reel Sportfishing out of New London provided the following report after another strong week of offshore fishing: “This week we were fishing midshore and in the canyons. The midshore bluefin bite south of Montauk is still inconsistent. We did well, but that’s not the general consensus among most anglers. We ended up going 3 for 4 on 40-inch bluefin on the troll in sporty conditions and with no crowd. It seems that whenever the weather allows a group to get out, the fishing is dismal. There are just not enough fish for a big fleet. If you are fishing on these days, get away from the crowd by a few miles and search for tuna chicks and slicks instead of boats. There are bluefin everywhere along the 20- to 30-fathom line. Canyon fishing is still very hot! We decided to run to Veatch to try to catch the front side of the eddy. Our decision paid off big time, and we ended up going 12 for 18 on stud yellowfin. Our clients also got to fight a nice white marlin. After a few tail walks just off the stern, we were able to leader it before breaking it off boat-side. We marked bigeyes with no takers and missed a sword bite overnight. Chunking overnight is still slow despite a lot of fish.”
Captain Chris of Elser Guide Service had Mother Nature shut him down for a few days this week, but he has found some consistent fishing when he’s been able to get out. The tube-and-worm is as good as ever for slot to over-slot bass. Very specific tides and times of day are not as relevant as they once were, as these fish tend to be sulking through most of the daytime. Chris did start to pick up daytime bass on eels, which seems to be right on track for what typically happens when August rolls around. Looking back through his records, Chris believes we’ll likely see Spanish mackerel arrive this week if the water cleans up, along with another push of early-arriving bonito.
Captain Mike Roy at Reel Cast Charters said they continue to see quality bass on most trips, with fish of all sizes around the river and the reefs. August is typically the month when they encounter the most consistent fishing for big bass, and so far, that seems to be the case this year as well. Live bait is the top producer for the cows they encounter, though artificials like soft plastics are very effective as well. Fin-S Fish and Slug-Gos are versatile lures that can be fished throughout the water column, and if you can find schools with your electronics, you’ll know where you need to present the soft plastics. Captain Mike said they continue to see lots of brown sharks just about everywhere they are fishing. Captain Mike and his team have availability over the next few weeks and later this season, so give him a call to book a trip now.
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Anthony Charnetski at Game On Lures shared the following report: “Bass fishing has remained solid, but last week’s rain and wind dirtied things up a bit around the rivers. The deeper bite has still been the deal and has been less affected by floating debris. DuraTech Eels, spoons, and live eels have all been hot producers. The shallow bite has also remained solid during low-light hours around boulder fields and rocky points, if you can avoid the floating eelgrass. Bunker have still been tough to come by, but an unbelievable amount of small bait around the central Sound is keeping fish in the area. Sharks continue to be a nuisance, but it seems this is something we will have to deal with regularly now. I know it’s tough to leave active schools, but if you are having multiple fish get bit in half, do the responsible thing and move on to a different area. Bonito have made an appearance in the eastern Sound, so keep that Exo Jig rod handy from here on out! Bottom fishing has also been solid, especially on the Long Island side of the Sound. Big chopper blues still haven’t made themselves present yet, but some smaller cocktail-class fish have been mixing in frequently.”
Connecticut Fishing Forecast
The summer beat continues in Connecticut despite increasing water temperatures throughout the Sound. Anglers who haven’t been taking advantage of the midshore tuna bite and have stayed inshore are still finding plenty of striped bass to play with. The relatively cooler water in the eastern Long Island Sound is once again a haven for summer striped bass, and the eastern Sound reefs are still providing the best fishing this week. Unfortunately, most anglers fishing east of the Connecticut River, and even up inside the river itself, have probably encountered brown sharks while bass fishing, so be mindful of how many of your bass are being eaten. The western Sound has shown a bit more consistency this week, with quality bass being taken on deeper structure and some decent bluefish finally showing up, albeit in low numbers. While the numbers aren’t as large as those being seen in Rhode Island, anglers are reporting a decent push of bonito in the eastern portion of the Sound.
The scup bite is as consistent as ever, with no shortage of hubcaps throughout the Sound. Scup are coming from just about every piece of structure regardless of depth, while the sea bass fishery continues to show signs of improvement on deeper structure. Those targeting summer blackfish are also finding some success, and you may even find a keeper tog as bycatch while targeting the aforementioned species. Fluke reports have been encouraging this week. It’s certainly a grind, but results have been as strong as we’ve seen all season. Look to 40 to 60 feet of water in the east and slightly shallower water in the west, shorten your drifts, and fish with Salmon Red, pink, or white Gulp. Spanish mackerel reports haven’t popped just yet, but with the plethora of small bait, we should be seeing them, along with more bonito that have continued to trickle in this week.