The weather continues to be…well…oppressive, to say the least and it looks like there will not be a break in sight for the upcoming weekend. With the water temps hovering near 75 degrees, it is a good time to utilize those fancy depth units to find some cooler water. When you do, it will usually mean good things. Although this time of year can sometimes be a bit more difficult to find fish, I like it for another reason. That reason is choice. There are a ton of choices when it comes to fishing at this time of year. The bait continues to cooperate and there have been more and more sightings of peanut bunker, so that is a great sign. Larger schools of bunker are in areas like Greenwich and farther to our east near Bridgeport, but be careful. Don’t solely rely on what you may have heard or read on some site that never gets updated. Although everyone will say, go to Greenwich, Bridgeport, Darien etc., be aware that in between with a good nose and a decent sonar, you may just be able to find your own schools of bunker. Case in point, this past Wednesday, we had a report of a rather large school just cruising right off of Compo. If you were to have left Longshore and decided to just run all the way to Bridgeport because that is what your buddy said, you would have run right over this school…just saying…

Back to the choices…the snappers have begun to show up which means hours of fun for the kids. The Scup fishing has also been great and if you get one of the legal size, try live lining it. Although the bass fishing in mid day may be a bit slow, early A.M. and late at night it continues to produce some great fish which you will see in a moment. The blues are getting bigger and bigger each day as they continue to feed on large schools of adult menhaden and peanuts. Target them with some sub surface hard baits such as Trophy spoons or Hopkins with the tube tails for best results.

Last but surely not least, we have our favorite tuna species no doubt staging a little farther to our east. As I mentioned two weeks back, an old friend who fishes out of Niantic spotted a few small schools in pretty tight, so with any luck, based on the heavy small bait that is currently in our area, things on this front should blow up any day. Lure of choice: SEA ROCK JIGS! Those of you that fished these last year know the success that we all had on the bones with these lures, so be sure to come by…our order should be here any day…on to the report…

Just a brief recap of those that had sent in some impressive catches that were not recognized due to us not being able to post last week. Our own Captain Mike Platt continues to get it done and had shop customer Paul A. into some nice top water fish up to 15 lbs (see recent catches). The Micinilio Brothers, with a guest, continued to get it done while I was away, spotting huge schools of 3 inch silversides in and around Norwalk. They were able to bring to the boat several nice fish to 33 inched and several large blues (see recent catches). Dylan G. of Westport fishing off of Compo while I was away nailed a nice 35 inch fish just one hour after dead low tide from shore (see recent catches). Lastly to catch up from last week, we had Don Rossi, bringing to the net a nice 34 inch bass that was safely released caught on T&W (see recent catches).

Back on track we had a great week despite the high hot sun and threatening skies in the evening. Although this is a “fishing” report, the crabbing has been off the hook and surely is worth mentioning. Getting bored with the fish, go get some crabs. These favorite striper baits are all over in the brackish water outflows and are easily targeted with just a net and a piece of string and bait. We can guide you to the spots that have been producing and have the gear you need here. Captain Matt Gifford confirmed that the crabbing has been off the charts for the past 2 weeks, keepers in larger numbers and more frequent than I have seen since he was a little kid.

On the fishing front he writes in that there are small bluefish everywhere, especially in the harbor and on the north shore. The inshore bass have been around at dawn/dusk but in lower numbers with the warmer water. There is still fish; you just have to work a bit harder for them.

On Tuesday Tom Schimenti checked in after getting some worms and reported back shortly after with a nice fat 32 inch bass taken on T&W. As we mentioned several weeks back, we have pre rigged lead core combos specifically for trolling that all you need to do is add water. This is a fool proof method to get you into bass during these warmer months when the fish are down deep. Come on down and give it a try!

The Micinilio Brothers once again were out mid week, focusing a bit closer to home in and around Fairfield. They admit that the inshore bite is slowing down a bit, but there is still fish to be had. They have mainly been fishing Black Rock, Ash Creek to Sunken Island. Lots of small bait that is a combination of silversides and tiny bunker. They reported in that Black Rock still has a lot of adult bunker, but almost never is something harassing them (see recent catches).

Kevin L. reported in that at first light at Southport Beach on Wednesday, there were stripers pounding small bait with fish on the long rods to 27 inches. Flies of choice were surf candies and some of our own shop tied clousers. As soon as the sun came up, things shut down. It makes sense; I personally was scouting out a local outflow in Southport just after first light and saw fish crashing what seemed to be peanut bunker up against the tidal wall…quite a sight.

So that’s about it folks, keep the reports coming, it’s this time of year when the more information we can share with one another, the better results we will all have. The weekend looks good so get on out there. If you can swing it, try to rise early and get that light change when the water is still cool from the night sky. If you sleep in, try trolling some tubes or deep lip swimmers to get down to that cooler water and is all else fails, grab some rancid chicken parts and go crabbing with the kids!

2010 Lou Tabory/W.O. Fly Fishing Schools-LAST ONE!!!

August 7th @ 6:00 A.M., Compo Beach, Westport, CT

This intro/intermediate course will begin promptly at 6:00 A.M. in the water, in your waders. Lou and the crew from W.O. will work with you in learning the general casting stroke for fly fishing; teach you how to read the water to identify bait movement, current, structure and feeding fish patterns and lanes. You will have the opportunity to cast some additional rods with varying types of lines for saltwater fly fishing. After the fishing, we will return to the shop where Lou will go over several formal slide presentations, that will reiterate what was learned on the water, including gear selection, knot tying, fly presentation and much, much more! After lunch, we will have an extended Q&A and then finally return to the park to wrap things up with more hands on casting. The day will end at approximately 3:00 P.M. Cost is $150.00, which includes a light breakfast, full lunch and refreshments throughout the day.

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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