Connecticut Fishing Report – October 15, 2015

The Connecticut tautog opener saw excellent fishing, which included a new state record in less than a week! Rhode Island tog fishing seems to be just as good, and the bass, blues and albies are not quite ready to make their exit from our waters just yet.

Connecticut Fishing Report

There is some very strong bluefishing in close proximity to the shop, according to Lou at Hillyers Bait and Tackle in Waterford. Large schools of peanut bunker can be found throughout Niantic Bay and around Black Point, and there have been bluefish off all sizes close behind. Striped bass activity seems to have improved in the eastern sound as well, although they are on the small side. Bartletts Reef and the surrounding area has big numbers of small keeper bass, and word is that the bass fishing at The Race is heating up more each day. False albacore can be found locally as well, with most anglers reporting only small pods, however they are popping up with good regularity. As expected, the tautog opener was excellent throughout the eastern sound, with multiple 10-pounders coming in on the opening weekend. Just yesterday the new state record tog was landed locally aboard the Sunbeam Fleet, and weighed in at 26.6 pounds! Black sea bass remains very good in the deeper water around Black Point and the Bloody Grounds. The snapper blues are still in the Niantic River, and they are finally getting bigger!

Andrew, at Fishin Factory 3, told me that many local anglers are starting to pay interest to a strong striped bass bite in the lower Connecticut River. Fish can be found from the mouth to Essex and are not shy, with many good fish coming on topwater plugs. Some better bass are being caught on the eastern sound shoreline and around Watch Hill, with Northbar bottle darters and Superstrike Zig-Zags out-producing just about everything else. False albacore can be found throughout the sound but they have been very finicky and getting them to bite is getting frustrating. The tautog opener was good to most anglers, although many of them complained about having to weed through a ton of shorts to find big keepers.

Captain TJ, of Rock and Roll Charters, experienced some great bluefishing this week, with big gators spread throughout the eastern sound. Bass fishing was less consistent, but they have still been in the mix, and that bite should improve as we come off the new moon. TJ made a handful of tautog trips since the opener and all have been successful. It wasn’t lock and load fishing for keepers but after some patience and weeding through short fish; limits aren’t too hard to come by on most pieces of structure. Scup and black sea bass are still biting well, and providing another great option on all trips. TJ will continue to sail until November 15th, so whether you want bass, blues or tautog; be sure to book a trip while you still have time.

Captain Mike Roy, of Reel Cast Charters, experienced some excellent fishing on all of his day and night trips this week. A few of the night striped bass trips were especially memorable, including one that saw a customer take a 51-inch trophy striped bass. Mike reported very steady bass fishing on all of his night trips, with no real rhyme or reason to the bite. The fish were very thick and running in schools of mixed sizes, it wasn’t abnormal to land a 30-incher on one cast and a 30-pounder on the next. His daytime trips were full of topwater bass, blues and albies, with the albies popping up just about everywhere. Fall run fishing doesn’t get much better than it is right now, so be sure to book a trip soon.

Rhode Island Fishing Report

Captain Russ of The Seven B’s in Narragansett reported that the strong bottom fishing has continued into October. Scup fishing was excellent, with large keepers remaining fairly easy to come by. While scup fishing in federal waters, some large sea bass have been caught and released, as that season is currently closed in federal waters. Fortunately, some very nice keeper sea bass are still holding on the local, deeper rockpiles, and that bite has been strong all week. Along with scup and sea bass, keeper cod have been coming over the rails with more regularity, providing anglers with yet another quality species for the table. All day multi-species trips will continue to sail from 7-4, and will start to target tautog on October 18th.

At The Saltwater Edge in Middletown anglers are still finding a nice mix of bass, bluefish and false albacore in local waters, although the frenzy from last week has quieted down a bit. The Jamestown shoreline is providing surfcasters with a good shot at nice bass and large bluefish, and in South County the breachways are still fishing very well. The striped bass bite has picked up at Block Island over the past few days, with good boat reports from the North Rip and SW Ledge. Tautog fishing has been excellent on all of the local hard bottom from 10 feet of water all the way to 30 feet. It’s time to start looking at some of the smaller, lesser-known spots that have not been fished too hard. Shore anglers are still getting very nice tautog in Newport and along the Narragansett coast. The cod bite is steadily improving at Cox’s Ledge, and at the Mudhole anglers are finding plenty of sharks, but not many pelagics.

At Quaker Lane Bait and Tackle in North Kingstown, tautog season is at full strength, with customers weighing in multiple fish approaching the 10-pound mark. Both shore and boat anglers are scoring some large whitechins, so get out there while it’s at its peak. The striped bass bite has slowed down a bit since last week, but they can still be found. Gator bluefish are much more prevalent, and can be easily reached from shore around the breachways. The bass, bluefish and bait schools are starting to move around much more, making locating them more difficult. There is still plenty of activity in the area, so with a little time and patience you should be able to find a good bite this weekend.

Mike, at Watch Hill Outfitters in Westerly, reports that tautog fishing continued to improve greatly this week, aided by the opening of the season in Connecticut. Multiple fish over ten-pounds came through the shop this week, and 5- to 6-pound fish were commonplace. The small rockpiles inside Fishers Island Sound, between the island and Groton, have been top producers. Along with tautog, anglers fishing the hard bottom are still scoring keeper scup and sea bass, with the sea bass predominantly being found in deeper water. Mike agreed that it seems the striped bass fishing has slowed down since lasts week’s craziness, but there are still plenty of fish to be had. The bunker schools in the local rivers have moved out, and can now be found being chased by bass and blues along the local beaches. It seems that a decent push of false albacore have moved back into the Watch Hill area, and anglers drifting the reefs are starting to find them with more regularity.

Weekend Forecast

Tautog fishing is at its peak and is a fall favorite for many New England anglers. The bite should be great this weekend, and it shouldn’t require too much traveling. This can prove to be convenient if the weather is unsettled at all, as you should be able to find fish in shallow, sheltered areas. If the weather lends itself to heading out and covering some ground take a look for topwater bass, blues and false albacore that should remain thick in our area for another week or two.