CT Post Outdoor News 05-16-2010

[Sport Fishing]

Friday's fishing report: Cold weather keeping fishermen at home 05-14-2010



The ticket taker at last Sunday's Bluefish baseball game put it best.

"Welcome," he said, "kickoff is in 10 minutes."

Yes indeed, the past week was more like November than May. Temperatures in the high 30s and 40s made colder by the constant gusty winds kept both freshwater and saltwater fishermen spinning their reels at home. Then came the rain.

The few who did go out found some success if they were willing to suffer moderate exposure. The promise of warmer weather next week could bring a spurt of action with bunker schools taking up residence in almost every harbor.

Here's the rundown. And to clear up one mistake in last week's column the freshwater/saltwater boundary in the Housatonic River is the Merritt Parkway Bridge, not, repeat not, the I-95 (Moses Wheeler) Bridge.

Striped bass -- Reports are that the big fish have finally moved into the western part of Long Island Sound. By western we mean Greenwich below.

Chunk chucking anglers who headed west took some decent fish. Jimmy Orefice of Jimmy O's Shop in Black Rock took the early lead in the Westport Striped Bass club striper tournament with an 18-pound bass. The Derby Dam is loaded with shad and herring but the fishing pressure is heavy, thanks, probably, to the news that a 48-incher was caught last week on a white Slugo.

Other river denizens marked lots of fish from Stratford to Shelton. Unfortunately they all had a bad case of lockjaw. Penfield Reef was super hot on a couple of nights this week with birds working and bait jumping as the stripers attacked from below. Other nights, however, all was quiet.

Bluefish -- Chris Fuller at Stratford Bait & Tackle says the only reports of blues he has heard so far came from a pair of anglers trying for weakfish off the West Haven beaches. They landed a few blues described as "rats," on swimmers.

Fluke -- The season opens Saturday with a three-fish bag limit and a 19.5-inch minimum length. Better get your squid today because the run is on. Winter flounder season remains open until May 30 with a two-fish limit. If the toothy flats are stubborn try adding a feather teaser on a dropper loop to your rig.

Weakfish -- Now is the time to try for these great fighters that have all but faded into a memory. So far anglers who have chased the weakies report no more success than in the past decade.

FRESHWATER

Our freshwater Angler of the Week is 87-year-old Sam Rotollo of Bridgeport, who caught the "freshwater grand slam" of two trout, a bass, a pickerel and a blue gill, in Lake Mohegan. Nice going Sam.

Trout -- All the trout parks and TMAs were restocked earlier this week so they should be popping this weekend. Mealworms and Phoebes will do the trick on the trout. The Pequonnock River from Trumbull to Beardsley Park is especially hot. Anglers who hit that river after work used the word "phenomenal" to describe the fishing. Reports from the Saugatuck Reservoir are that the fishing there is slow. One frequent visitor to the reservoir says the cold weather kept the water from turning over. Hopes are that things will pick up if the warm weather hits next week. Everyone agrees the 2010 stocking by the Department of Environmental Protection has been one of the best. (It should be considering what they are charging for licenses.)

The upper Housatonic, Farmington and Salmon rivers are reporting fast action with all kind of insects hatching.

Largemouth and smallmouth bass -- Good to fair pretty much describes the fishing for these two species. The rain and cool weather should actually make for better fishing this weekend. Again some warmer weather could go a long way toward turning them on.

-- CHARLES WALSH



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[Sport Fishing]

Fluke season opens Saturday 05-14-2010

All our sources said people are gearing up for the opening of fluke season Saturday in state waters, but unfortunately the marine weather forecast isn't so hot. Right now they are calling for sunny skies but 20 mph winds from the southwest, doable conditions for some but it will likely mean fast drifts.

River's End in Old Saybrook reported one of the local youngsters landed 30 keepers in one day casting a Slug-Go along various spots in the lower Connecticut River. Another local fished Wednesday but gave it up after a short time: way too cold and windy for an open, small boat.

Evan at J&B got reliable reports about some stripers trolled up at Black Point and the Watch Hill Reefs, those bass full of sea lice, a normal sign of fish migrating into our waters for the start of another year. With that in mind, Evan also said there should be some bass out in The Race for the coming weekend.

People are still catching winter flounder in the Niantic River was the report from Hillyers Tackle. They are fishing up from the Route One Bridge and chumming is a big plus. Small boaters caught bass and the first blues at Millstone Point and some larger bass and more blues at times during the last week around the mouth of the Thames River. Casters working the stretch from Great Island to Essex along the Connecticut River were rewarded with bass from shorts to keepers-plus though you had to hunt around at times to locate the main body of them.

Captain Allen Fee said the first of the bass boats were out chunking on the Watch Hill Reefs, more obviously to follow in the days ahead. Lots of people are buying bait and launching boats for the opening of fluke season on Saturday. If it's too windy to head out, try the Mystic River from buoy 30 down to Sixpenny Island: best if you have a drift parallel to the river channel or edge of the channel, great for small boats in protected waters.

Shore anglers caught bass on sandworms or small lures along the Mystic River along the Mason's Island Bridge or people fishing from their property along the river. One fellow also landed small stripers from shore on cut bait south of the 95 Bridge over the upper river.

Red at Bob's Tackle reported seeing a cellphone photo of a 40-pound bass trolled up on wire line at Bartletts Reef on Monday on either an umbrella rig or parachute jig with pork rind. Overall though, Red said the cold, windy and rainy weather kept a lot of people back on shore. Those out in the river found schoolie bass mostly along with smaller blues chopping some baits in half. This year you are allowed to keep three fluke at 19.8 inches fishing in state waters.

Draggers are towing up fluke along the Rhode Island beaches said Capt. Jack Balint at the Fish Connection, welcome news for locals that might fish down that way tomorrow. Norwich Harbor had some smaller bass and a few blues plus the area from Gales Ferry to Montville had more bass, most of those on the small side.

Casters in small boats caught stripers off Barn Island and there was another report dated the week before of two shore anglers catching numbers of keeper bass in the Pawcatuck River fishing with swimming plugs on the outgoing tide after midnight. A fly caster had a 45-inch bass on a feather off one of the sandbars at the mouth of the Connecticut River, the angler saying he watched other large fish there that day chasing herring in that spot and other nearby locations.

Don at King Cove finishes us up for the week telling me schoolies can be caught at Lamberts and Quanaduck Coves or you might to snag some small schools of bunker in the Pawcatuck River then use those for keeper bass right in the lower part of the river.

Lots of people are anxious for fluke season to start but the weatherman is giving 20 from the southwest on Saturday, not exactly ideal conditions for fluke drifting.

Tim Coleman is The Day's saltwater fishing columnist. He can be reached at thewreckhunter@aol.com


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