BLACKFISH SEASON OPENS THIS WEEKEND!


Before we get to the report this week, just one big, huge housekeeping item. Many of you have verbally committed for what will be the greatest fishing tournament of the year, The Saugatuck Cup. However, we have yet to receive many of the entry forms and payment, which makes our planning that much more difficult. If you want in, please get those entry forms to the shop sooner than later so you don’t loose your space.

THE 2010 SAUGATUCK CUP IS SET FOR OCTOBER 9th, DON’T MISS OUT ON THIS GREAT EVENT! http://www.saugatuckcup.com/

DON’T FORGET BUSINESS OWNERS…SAUGATUCK CUP 2010! BE A PART OF IT ON AND OFF THE WATER WITH A CORPORATE DONATION (TAX DEDUCTABLE)!

Consider this; when the W.O. crew isn’t out on the water setting hooks on Albies and Stripers we’re regularly browsing the web and staying in touch with the fishy world we love. We’re fans of videos, useful links and articles, stuff that’s different and pertinent, it’s off the beat and path – we like that too. One of the sites we pay attention to is a local creation - WesternSoundFly.com Loaded with a mix of local and regional flavor it’s a site created by local fly fisherman, shore guide and longtime friend of the shop, Pat O’Donnell. Be sure to check it out over the course of this fall fishing season.

Well folks at the time of this writing, the clouds are socked in, it’s absolutely pouring and there are forecasted winds coming off at 60+ M.P.H. So what is the man/women fish person to do? Gear UP! This front will push through just as quickly as it came leaving way for what is supposed to be a great weekend. From a condition standpoint, perhaps the wind and rain will bring with it some cooler water which will no doubt just help fire things up on the fishing front. The winds and their direction at least on the surface should have no affect in blowing the over abundance of bait out of the sound. The only thing I would do is back it up a bit from some of our estuaries, meaning that the salinity count will be lower and this will most likely push some bait into a little deeper water…remember…adjust your tactics for the conditions. The peanut bunker are still plentiful, along with snappers and a host of small minnows/silversides, if that was not enough, there is another bait that just showed up that we will get to in the report.

The Bonito/Albie report is one that is very inconsistent. You will see a few pics taken off of Darien this past week but what you can’t see is the fact that I received two emails from two boats that were as the crow flies no more than 2 miles from one another, both experienced anglers and more important, experienced at catching these fish. One reported fish everywhere, blitzing/feeding hard, too may hook ups to count but not one landed? Here was the other report…”Eric, this albie fishing is unreal, in fact I think it rivals the run we had two years ago, more fish hooked and landed then I can remember.” What a difference two miles can make. I have heard a lot, as well as experienced, some pretty frustrating times with these fish this fall and the only accurate analogy I can put forth relates back to freshwater fly fishing. He who changes his flies most and often for the right reasons usually wins the day on the stream. A lot of times with trout and albies/bonito as well, you need to switch it up, for in reality we as humans can have a real difficult time in identifying what these fish are feeding in. In addition, hook size can be critical, not only for hooking purposes, but also for presentation purposes. Therefore, have several size flies in the same pattern, large deadly dicks, small ones, short ones etc. and don’t get caught in the heat of battle, switch it up or better yet, if you have several rods, string one up with varying sizes of hooks. Don’t forget the fluorocarbon and follow these few tips and you may begin to experience some higher hook up/catch ratios…

Despite the rain at the beginning of rthe week, the fishing remained strong; blues up to 12 lbs are being taken at will from areas in and around Penfield Reef on anything from live bunker, Bombers and swim baits. A little farther off, legal sized porgies accounted for a 34 lb fish on Sunday afternoon. Dale L. who emailed in the report said the bass hit so hard he almost lost his new Lamiglas rod! This is a great way to catch big bass but you must heed the regulations on scup which need to be at least 10.5 inches. Once you have a few of those, hold on…

The Micinilio Crew checked in after a decent weekend fishing, keep in mind that what they consider a bad day or an alright day is more or less a banner day for other area anglers. They fished around Milford and caught some scary monster blues near the bunker schools. Real brutes up to 34-35" & 12-13 lbs on live bunker. Action was short lived with the wind plaguing them most of the day. Caught a few small stripers on the way in at the mouth of the Housey before gearing up and heading out again on Sunday.

Sunday they fished around Fairfield and Black Rock and caught about 40 bass on tubes, soft plastics and small yozuris all up to 30 inches (see recent catches).

Steve checked in as well and only confirmed what the Micinilio Crew wrote in, which was the gator blues hanging around all over the Housey. Steve was out with his fly rod both mornings and fished in and around Charles Island using variations of small silver side patterns including surf candies and had some monster blues to 14 lbs on the fly rod…pound for pound folks; I don’t think there is a better fight on the long rod….maybe a tarpon…but it’s up for debate.

Next up was Don Rossi who checked in to tell us how the wedding or party was…wrong report…sorry, but Don, you need to get back out on the water!

Captain Mike Platt on his mission to land and release as many bones as possible, once again had a fair amount of shots in and around Middle Passage at these fish Monday and Tuesday before the wind kicked up. Hooked a few on Sea Rock Jogs and Deadly Dicks but the elusive fish refused to be tamed and they broke off prior to reaching the boat. Keep The Faith Captain!

David K. and brother Geoff were out fishing around Green’s Ledge and were into the albies thick on Sunday, in fact, David is the angler who had emailed in about the fishing being off the hook. They had a bunch of fish all on LARGE Deadly Dicks, funny, for the anglers fishing to the east were only getting them on the smaller Sea Rock Jigs…I am sure you get the point. Out of 14 boats in the immediate area, David and Geoff were the only ones hooking up!(see recent catches).

The Micinilio Brothers were at it again on Tuesday and proclaimed even by their standards, they had a good day. They started out in the Housy and then went to Milford and caught a nice chomper at 13 lbs 35" on a live bunker.

It was such a nice day on the water with no wind or waves so they decided to head out to Middle Ground. As soon as they started trolling around the light house they hooked up and had a host of keeper bass and large blues for the rest of the afternoon. They also witnessed a massive crab hatch out there; millions of tiny 1/2" crabs were drifting everywhere…add yet another bait to the mix. Every time they started trolling a bunker it got hammered. They caught the blues on tubes, live bunker, chunks and got a nice 35" on a big Salmo Swimmer. It got a little crowded out there and the fishing slowed down, so they motored to Black Rock and caught a bunch of small/medium size bass on tubes, small yozuris and soft plastics (see recent catches).

Glenn Katz checked in yesterday and reiterated how nice it was on the water, no wind, no rain. He fished with his good friend Gary, a freshwater professional. They began diamond jigging the normal spots, then bang! A school of big blues rolled through on top chasing a school of bunker. They had blues doubled up on diamond jigs and teasers, then they had big blues coming behind smaller blues like sharks busting them up. Blood stained water around boat. Glenn was jigging and throwing plugs at the same time and actually watched a 10-12lb blue come up behind a struggling 3-4lb blue on a jig and it just smoked it right in half. They fished 2hrs before and after the low tide and had a blast. Glenn has a ton of energy already, but reading his report pretty much put me on the boat with these guys, great stuff gentleman!

As we have been discussing over the past several weeks, the inshore bite, because of all the small bait, is definitely starting to pick up. Incoming or outgoing, does not seem to matter. This is staging to be the type of set up that shore anglers literally would die for in years past, so don’t delay. Outside of this bit of weather we are currently experiencing, the weekend looks picture perfect with calm seas, cool nights and dry days. Some believe it or not have yanked their boats so boat traffic should be less as well. This is it folks, my last communication about the 2010 Saugatuck Cup, if you wanted in, hopefully you signed up and got your checks to us, since it is virtually sold out. For those of you that waited until the last minute, I am sorry, you know doubt will be missing one of the best fishing events of the year in the western sound, but we hope to see you next year!

Eric C. Johnson

Westport Outfitters, LLC

609 Riverside Ave.

Westport, CT

06880

www.westportoutfitters.com

www.allseasonsmarineworks.com

p-203.341.9490

f-203.341.9423

ejohnson@westportoutfitters.com

TAKE THE FAMILY FISHINGTM