Week of April 23rd-April 30th


May 8th Class With Lou Tabory-Last Call!

BRING YOUR RODS & REELS IN FOR SERVICING TODAY!

Not a very good week with a ton of rain and not a lot of mercury on the rise throughout Fairfield County. In fact, it was very reminiscent of fall, driving wind and rain topped with a good dose of wind in the 12-15 knot range. As the guys out back continue to push through it, getting boats back in the water so area anglers can start to take advantage of what has thus far been a good month or so of some early spring fishing. The Housey continues to fish well, but is definitely starting to slow a bit.

Our good friend Rob Darby reported in that indeed it has been slowing up that way. He has really been trying to target some bigger fish in the upper stretches near Fire Island and the dam. There have been a few big bass caught but they seem to be few and far between or really late at night. He continues to catch a lot of schoolies on every version of shad body, sluggo, and bomber available, but no keepers in a while. He heard a guy got a 40 inch bass at the dam on Wednesday and saw another 34 in caught right in front of his kayak on a large popper ripping through the current at low tide. Another guy caught a 30 in 12lb sea run at the dam last week also. He closed it out by stating that Herring are still everywhere!

I mentioned in our video report that since things seemed to start a bit earlier on the river this year, they will no doubt slow a bit earlier as well. Of course, the Housey will always fish well throughout the year, but this non-stop spring action is great fun on the light tackle and fly rods and will surely be missed.

The Mighty Micinilio Brothers reported in too that the fish seem to be moving out of the river. They were however able to dig up a few 31 inch fish trolling some deeper lip swimmers and Crystal Minnows, albeit in very shallow water at about mid river(see recent catches).

I hate to say it folks but you know I am always looking to points farther south to get a read on what my soon be in our backyard. Well, Christian B. who fishes in NJ and then heads up here on most weekend, reported in that he had blues form 8-12 lbs at well off the beach. I quickly told him to stay in NJ and keep those fish there until further notice…

Back locally, I swear once again that the river behind the shop may just be holding some schools bunker. I have seen them on the fish finder and the smell at certain tides is unmistakable…it will just be a matter of time before the fish to key in on these. No need to recall the quality of fish that were taken in the Saugey just steps from our docks last year in the 20lb range in the month of May…

Speaking of bunker, I had a good shop customer tell me that they set the net the other night and were very surprised to find it quite full in less than a hour…enough said…

Early in the week we had Black C. and company put a hurting on some bass up to 28 inches on some W.O. worms on the residential side of Sherwood Island. Blake’s son Spencer even managed to land his first striper ever!!

Dan reported in that the striper bite on worms as well off the pier at Calf Pasture Beach has been better than good, with the dropping sun with a constant take of fish up to 27 inches with an occasional keeper in the mix well.

The fly rod crew locally continues to work the points and outflows with a steady pick of fish to 28 inches on weighted clousers and jiggies as well as smaller mushies. We have not seen any real sand eel activity which is not surprising with the lack of sunlight and water temperature, but have received numerous reports of either herring and/or silversides. The water temps that were making a good attempt to bust through the 50 degree mark have stalled with the cooler weather we have been having, but with this weekend looking steamy, we can hopefully continue to rise. Grays Creek is even giving up some fish to the fly guys, an always true sign of spring!

Soft plastics at this time of year can be deadly and of course we like an un-weighted slugo on an offset hook, rigged weed less. If you don’t know how to rig these properly, please stop in so we can get you dialed in. If you want to stick with the hard baits, try the Yozuri Minnows in various sizes and/or the River 2 Sea swimmers with a slow retrieve, I am sure you will like the results!

On the freshwater side, the Saugy continues to fish well. Wooly Buggers seem to be the fly of choice in white, green or blue. Tommy L. finally landed a nice 22 inch fish on Tuesday on a bean head stone fly nymph. Others have shared in the success with Dan landing one of the lunkers as well early Wednesday afternoon that tipped the tape just shy of 24 inhes!

Before we close out the report I wanted to implement a new value added service to all of our fans and customers. Many have asked if you could bring in unwanted gear to sell. This of course is a bit of a conflict of interest with current inventory, but we feel we have come to the right conclusion. Starting immediately, should you have any rods/reels that you are looking to part with, bring them in, we can assist you in determining a fair price and then display them in a designated area of the store where they will be “For Sale.” When the items sell, you will receive a full store credit equal to the price that the items sold for to apply to new purchases.

May 8th, 2010 will kick off the W.O.-Lou Tabory Fly Fishing Schools. If you ever wanted to try saltwater fly-fishing, this is your opportunity. We still have a few spots open for this inaugural class so contact the shop as soon as you can to reserve your seat!

Speaking of Lou, don’t forget this weekend's FREE seminar, May 1st-Lou Tabory-Come spend a few hours with the legendary Lou Tabory who has been an innovator in the fishing industry for more than 30 years. His presentation will go over how to better read the water locally, his favorite lures and flies for the Western Sound as well as some of his favorite shore spots and when and how to fish them effectively. If you are a shore angler, you need to be at this one to drastically improve your success right before things really HEAT UP!!



2010 Lou Tabory/W.O. Fly Fishing Schools-SIGN UP TODAY!!

May 8th @ 6:00 A.M., Compo Beach, Westport, CT
May 15th @ 6:00 A.M., Compo Beach, Westport, CT
June 26th @ 6:00 A.M., Compo Beach, Westport, CT
July 17th @ 6:00 A.M., Compo Beach, Westport, CT
July 31st @ 6:00 A.M., Compo Beach, Westport, CT
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.

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 FISHING