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)!

FISHERMAN/WOMEN THE TOURNEY WILL SELL OUT, SO IF YOU WANT IN, PLEASE GET THOSE APPLICATIONS IN AS SOON AS POSSIBLE SO YOU DO NOT GET SHUT OUT!

ALL NEW SMITH/ACTION OPTICS ANGLING SUNGLASSES HAVE ARRIVED!!

SEND YOUR REPORTS AND PICS VIA EMAIL TO ejohnson@westportoutfitters.com!

Well folks I surely hope you all survived Hurricane Earl and all that came with him. After luckily battening down the hatches here at the store and shuffling a few boats around we were ready. On top of the building it blew a steady 2 knots with terrible gusts to 3.5 knots. Wave heights almost broke 8 inches and Compo Beach was just nearly spared. For some of us at the shop, there is an old saying that the calm before the storm is always ideal for fishing. Fish obviously feel pressure, even if it is weak pressure. Once feeling it, it traditionally will trigger a bit of a feeding frenzy, so what better place to be than on the water beofre the storm? We fished until 11:00P.M. with bass up to 34 inches Friday night near frost point, but as the old saying goes, these fish were hammering baits like it was to be their last meal here on this great earth…perhaps the fish believed the weatherman as well.

So by now hopefully all of you get the point, Hurricane Earl was about as scary as my neighbor’s poodle and that in the big scheme of things is not a bad thing. We did get some wind the following days and still with a northeasterly circulation, if anything, this helped keep the bait in the sound. The sound was not churned up too bad and if anything cleared up a bit with the big ocean flushes that occurred. Saturday morning with the college kids long gone, I had to step up and open the store. I got here at about 5:30 A.M. Still dark, I headed out back and could hear bait popping everywhere. As the sun came up and the store needed to be opened, I headed back inside, that is until I witnessed a rather large bass jump right out of the water, all from my office window. I gave chase to the bait room and retrieved one of my sticks, three casts later, a 12-15 lb bass on my line that was landed and safely released. Let me just say, I was in the parking lot!

With the water temperatures now moving back down, the striper bite continues to improve. Baits of choice should be anything resembling a peanut bunker, large silver side or bay anchovy. Try Montauk Mikes Baby Bunker imitations or the Smack Its for the top water fans. Keep in mind, we love our fish finders but this time of year, use your nose to help you find bait, if you know what they smell like, you should be able to smell a school of bay anchovies a half mile away…Over the weekend, once everyone realized that is was beautiful out, the reports started coming in and all signs indicated that the “storm” helped the local fish situation rather than hurt it. We received a report from the east that there were some smaller schools of adult bunker inside of Black Rock Harbor. Someone else also called in about a rather large school out by Middle Ground, not showing on the surface, but nonetheless still there. A little farther to the east, a report from good friend Lawrence who fishes out of the Housey, said that he was nailing large blues to 12 lbs and a few bass to 35 inches on fresh chunks near the mouth and outside around Charles Island on Sunday.

Sage N. was at it on Monday where he fished the outgoing at first light. He started off throwing top water on the South side of the Norwalk Islands where he felt the bait was a bit sparser than before the big “storm” They had a handful of small bass and blues, but nothing too exciting. They then moved on to Fairfield/Penfield and ran into terns working the surface along the reef and some large splashes underneath. Fish were spread-out, moving fast and tough to target so they started dragging some tubes. Good action for a couple hours...20+ blues to 34" and 7 small stripers to 27". On the way back to Norwalk they stopped off at Cockonoe for a bunch of porgies to 15" and a bonus 16" sea bass.

Monday, good friend Karl E. headed out and managed 4 decent stripers all on T&W off of Goose Island in 10-15 FOW. He also took a few decent blues with Deadly Dicks under some birds.

Tuesday the winds decided to blow like they were supposed to on Friday. I was fishing along Sasco Beach, taking casts in between waves breaking clear over my head and the eastern sea wall. I walked all the way out towards Kensie Point; my efforts with the fly rod produced one small chomper. It happens to the best of us...

Captain Mike Platt meanwhile was out on the water facing sloppy sets of 3s and 4s with even a bit of lightening. After it cleared he picked up 4 bass with the biggest about 14 lbs and one blue 9 lbs. All fish were caught on Smack Its. We mention these lures a lot in the reports and perhaps we don’t give you enough information on them. To put it bluntly, I don’t think there is a captain, guide or employee that is affliated with W.O. that does not have one of these rigged each and every time we go out, anytime of the year…enough said. Captain Mike did say he spotted some albies but no shots at them just outside of the islands. He reported in small scattered pods in close with larger pods of birds to the west with sporadic action underneath. Have those rods rigged folks, they have to be here in numbers soon, they just have to!

Wednesday, Tom T. was out despite some snotty weather as well and fished east outside of Bridgeport Harbor in approximately 40 feet of water. He set up some chunks and as the tide came in he had 8 bass to 17 lbs. On the way back into the dock, he came across some blitzing blues and unloaded a few poppers on them and had his fill of 6-10 lb chompers on light tackle before calling it a day. Total time on the water…2 hours.

A quick report from the streams where 6 year old Charlie Maloney of Fairfield landed his best catch to date out of Sasco Brook, a beautiful brown trout…the look on his face says it all(see recent catches).

Well folks, that is about it this week. The report seems a bit light and is probably a direct result of the weather folks putting the fear of God in us not to go out. Back to the textbook reference from a few weeks back; be sure to adjust the weather report sometimes as well and take a good look yourself before some weather channel employee in Chicago ruins your weekend on the water…

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

FISHERMAN/WOMEN THE TOURNEY WILL SELL OUT, SO IF YOU WANT IN, PLEASE GET THOSE APPLICATIONS IN AS SOON AS POSSIBLE SO YOU DO NOT GET SHUT OUT!
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