Connecticut Fishing Report
Matt, at Black Hall Outfitters in Westbrook told me that the striped bass have been holding deeper and taking eels, diamond jigs and bucktails. There are finally good numbers of fish in shallow too, but they’ve been very picky. There is some good topwater action when the conditions are right, which has been great. Sea bass have been solid and deep with the best action coming from 80- to 110-feet of water. Fluke has been good in 40-feet plus on a pretty consistent bite. Porgy fishing is good all over with both squid and clams being good bets. The mid-to-near shore tuna bite exploded this past week and is commanding most of the attention from saltwater anglers. Purple/green bars being the best producers along with occasional jig and pop bite on pink and sand eel-colored jigs.
Heather from Black Hawk Sportfishing in Niantic reports: “The porgy fishing has been fantastic, with jumbos coming over the rails all day long. Lots of full coolers and happy customers all around the boat. A nice mix of sea bass as well. Our fluke trip on Thursday was good- we had to pick through the shorts, but had some nice keepers make it into the coolers. Our Saturday afternoon kid’s trip was great, with a boatload of kids getting outside and having a great time with family and friends. We’d like to thank everyone who joined us for our fireworks cruise on Saturday night. It was our annual diaper drive, and we were thrilled to get so many diapers for our community partners! The fog made for a unique viewing experience for the fireworks, but we still had a great time. Did you see our latest Black Hawk and the Community program? Bring the specified food items for our food drive, and have your name entered in the drawing. Once a week for the next 4 weeks, we’ll pick one winner each week who will have their trip refunded, so your trip will be free! Thanks to those who have already entered- we’ve always said it, but we have the best customers around! Check our website and Facebook page for more info! We’re sailing 7 days a week, so be sure to check our calendar online and grab a ticket for your trip! We look forward to seeing everyone soon!”
Want to get in on the bite? Find an OTW-approved Charter Fishing Captain for Connecticut.
Captain Mike Roy at Reel Cast Charters reports that the striper fishing has remained hot this week as a number of the reefs throughout the sound continue to hold good numbers of quality fish. They are seeing everything from slot-sized fish on up to cow bass on any given trip. Artificial lures are still catching their share of fish with soft plastics, bucktails and flutter spoons doing the majority of their work while topwater lures have their moments as well. There are some gator blues in the mid-teen range scattered about in the bass schools, but they haven’t seen a lot of them just yet. As the weather and water continues to warm, Captain Mike said they’ll be focusing on fishing with live bait, primarily live bunker and eels more frequently. One concern this season is the lack of abundant bunker schools in comparison to year’s past. There just isn’t a lot of big adult bunker present this season. With that said, the fishing has still been really good, and Captain Mike said we’re heading into the period of the year that gives you the best chance at a truly large bass. They have openings for the end of July and August so give their team a call to take advantage of those spots while they last.
Captain Chris, of Keepin’ It Reel Sportfishing told me that fishing just off haabs ledge south of Montauk has been very steady. They are seeing double digit numbers of mid 40-inch bluefin almost every trip, with a few low 50″ in the mix. It’s best to grind out an area if it’s not producing right away. It seems like the life and all the fish are showing up at different times each day, and multiple times through the day. Don’t give up if it doesn’t happen at first light.
Middlebank Sportfishing provided the following report for the week; “We’re still grinding away on the Porgy grounds. The fish remain spread out, but we’ve seen an improvement this past week not only in the numbers but in the size! We have taken to drifting along with anchoring. With the drift, comes more opportunity to catch other species. While the predominant catch is Porgy, we are picking up a few Sea Bass, Winter Flounder, Striped Bass, Fluke, and the odd Hake and squid. You never know what will bite your hook this time of year! Some new bait has moved into our local waters so we will be running a special deep water fluke trip next Monday July 21 and Tuesday July 22. These trips are limited load so be sure to book online! As always, visit our website, www.middlebanksportfishing.com to view our schedule and purchase your tickets!”
Captain Chris, at Elser Guide Service, had a great week of charters with fish from 20 pounds to over 40 pounds! Daytime action has primarily come from trolling the tube and worm, but it has been fairly consistent on the right parts of the tides for the location. Anglers who like to chunk fresh bunker or drift eels after dark are also finding great success right now, otherwise it’s mainly a trolling bite. The highlight of the week was young Massimo catching his personal best striper and then seeing his mom catch and release a monster 40-pound striper! Chris is still waiting for the topwater fishery to start picking up. If the amount of small bait in the Western Sound is any indication, it should get going soon. Chris also expects to start seeing the Spanish Mackerel very soon. Fluke fishing remains slow in his area as well as sea bass, hoping that it will pick up soon!
Connecticut Fishing Forecast
A mid-summer “heat wave” hasn’t yet resulted in a mid-summer lull in the fishing across Connecticut. Air temperatures may be rough at times, but they’ve resulted in summertime water temperatures which are favorable for our local species, specifically striped bass. Striped bass are being caught throughout the sound and in its major tributaries. The western sound is still producing large, 30-pound plus fish and the bite at The Race may offer the most consistent bite going anywhere within Connecticut waters. There is a lot of water spanning those two areas, and just about every quality reef or rip in between is holding some bass at one time or another. For the first time in a while, the bass appear to be entering some shallower water to feed, but with that comes the need to finesse your presentation a bit. The scup bite also seems to have taken off with this last heat wave, 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 season has re-started with a bang on the deeper structure. Those targeting summer blackfish are also finding some success, and you may just find some keeper “tog” as by-catch while targeting the aforementioned species. Dedicated fluke fishermen continue to pick away at legal sized flatfish, with better results favoring the eastern side of the sound this week, in 40-60 feet of water. That said, it still requires some grinding to finding a few for the table.