New England - Connecticut Fishing Reports

Tyler at Fisherman’s World said local fishing has been hot on good weather days when anglers can get out and take advantage. Fall run fishing is on for stripers and weakfish, ground fishing for blackfish, sea bass, and scup has been good and there is even a smattering of hardtails cruising the region to round things out. Striper fishing has been good, both inshore and on the local reefs. Inshore action has been steady for fish showing on the surface eating a variety of bait. Bass have been chasing peanut bunker along the shorelines and corralling rain bait and silversides a bit further off the beach. The blitzing bass have generally range from slot to over slot size but one especially determined customer aged 12-years old took a 44-inch lineside from the beach on a nine-inch plastic eel. The deep water structure is holding bass as well and the fall run Diamond Jig bite at 11B and 28C is well known. Tyler said that bite isn’t as steady just yet but that could be a symptom of less angling effort due to challenging weather. There are weakfish in the harbor and inshore and they are good sized ranging to the high 20-inch range, about six or seven-pounds. Bluefish are scarce in the region save for the cocktail sized fish cruising in shore and around the islands. The opening of the fall tog season has bolstered already solid bottom fishing. Most tog they heard of over the weekend came from shallow water, say 10 to 20 feet. They hadn’t heard of anything of greater size than six or seven pounds when we talked but undoubtedly will weigh a double digit fish soon enough. Crabs fished on jigs are the most popular early season offering for tautog but rigs can be effective as well, especially in a running tide. Sea bass fishing seemed to light up as well with keeper sized fish showing up as bycatch for customers targeting tog. Scup fishing is also still excellent. Boats chumming clams over hard bottom in 20- to 30-feet of water are catching big porgies as are anglers fishing from Sherwood Island and Calf Pasture Beach. Schools of bonito have been reported by several customers and they are prone to pop up just about anywhere. The shop is open seven days a week.

Bobby J’s said fall fishing is on whether it be for blackfish or bass. Striped bass can be found throughout the area at any hour of the day inshore, around the river or out at the reefs. Bass are blitzing on small bait, peanut bunker, silversides and bay anchovies and diving birds are giving away their location. Fishing is good for shore anglers as casting eels and plastics well. The only blues that are around at the moment are cocktail sized cruising the beaches. Blackfish action has been solid to start the season with anglers reporting limits from boats and some keepers from shore as well. They weighed a few fish up to just about seven-pounds over the weekend. Most of the fish they heard about were caught with crabs on jigs though rigs were effective for those casting from shore as well. There are some keeper sized sea bass showing up as bycatch for tog anglers. Scup fishing is fantastic from shore and boat but especially from the rocks, jetties and piers. Hickory shad have arrived in the harbors and estuaries as well, making for some fun light tackle fishing. The shop is open six days a week closed Mondays.

Captain Morgan’s emailed over their report to say, “As expected, fall blackfish season opened to a break in the supply chain leading to a lot of scurrying around and a sudden change of plans for toggers. Fishermen are an innovative bunch and those that joined the fleet found fishing conditions more than palatable on opening day, but somewhat deteriorating from then on. A great sunrise, generally cloudy with variable winds and calm seas prevailed at around high tide which provided a good backdrop for toggers who had little difficulty in pinning mostly small togs, but reeling in keeper fish. This marked the beginning of the season and predictions are that catches will improve as water temps continue to drop. The shop had green crabs to go around! A big shout out to the harvesters we’ve worked with for the past 30 years who came through, in spite of the hardships endured during the Nor’easter. In the past week striped bass kicked into gear especially, in some of the lower tidal rivers. Several of the linsiders caught were nicely over the slot and gave fishers using light gear some great action as these fish, caught on artificials, were hooked on topwaters and swimmers in 4-feet of water and actually broke the surface. Additionally from the recent storm, bass were feeding on small menhaden pushed in from easterly winds. Any fly rodders not on the water, missed out on some serious feeding! Harbor blues were still making a splash in and around these schools of small bunker. Major blitzes - not seen, so far. Chasing black sea bass and porgies has not let up as catches continue from the reefs and rock piles. Current action has been dependent on ‘chowing down’ and dropping water temps. Fluke has been spotty until flukers have come across a tight school when the steady but short bite, has been consistently with these 21” summer flounder. All three species grabbed jigs and/or rigs tricked up with squid. Fresh water fishing continues on the path of being way above average! Trout and Atlantic stocking only adds to the action. Want a change in pace or to add to an already productive season? Hit those lakes, ponds and rivers/streams to hook into some great bass, quality panfish and an array other species these waters have to offer. For more on this interesting Fall fishing season and much more, click over to Captain Morgan’s fishing blog. Pay us a visit and you will see why, as a seasoned full-service fishing outfitter, we say, ‘We don’t make the fisherman, we make the fisherman better.’”

Captain TJ Karbowksi at Rock and Roll Charters said his trips this week have been solid for stripers, scup and sea bass. Water temperatures in the region have been hovering around in the lower 60’s and he had 64-degrees when we spoke. He said the red hot striper bite had cooled to some degree but there are still plenty of fish around albeit if they are on the move. Stripers from 26 to 40 inches plus are still hitting the deck and making for good action. Bottom fishing is good. There are still plenty of scup around though they may be showing a few signs of getting ready to move. The area’s sea bass are definitely starting to bounce around a bit but the action is good when you can get on top of them. He said they will start black fishing once the water cools a bit. Captain TJ and his crew are fired up to get into some fall run fishing and if this season is anything like the past couple they expect to see good action for stripers, blues, scup and blackfish. He’s reserving dates now for the coming fall season so give Captain TJ a call and grab your spot now.

Matt from Black Hall Outfitters emailed over their report to say they are hearing “With the blackfish season now open, I’d focus on 30 feet and shallower but I know a lot of guys like to fish deeper than that. I just find shallows to be easier to fish and quicker to re-bait and still produces a lot of good fish. The striper bite is excellent right now, lots of good fish coming on plastics, eels, and topwaters. Porgy also very solid and lots of guys going for seabass although I haven't heard much back either way whether it's been good or bad. Our upcoming TogTober Tournament runs from October 22-25, and the single biggest tog wins it. Last year first place was $4,000 and second was $1,000 and we had 154 anglers. There is a big raffle and afterparty on Sunday the 25th at 3 p.m. Fish anywhere, but it must be weighed in at the shop, details on our website. Sign up is $50 for main tournament, $20 for optional calcuttas. You can do it online, phone, or in the shop.”

Captain Mike Roy at Reel Cast Charters said fall run fishing continued this week for stripers and albies. The bass migration continues and they are seeing blitzing fish under birds regularly this week and lures that imitate the small bait they are feeding on have been effective. Shimano Current Snipers as well as soft plastics on jig heads have worked well for slow sized fish while larger cow sized bass have been falling to live eels. False albacore have been around sporadically and on the days they are around in good numbers have been willing to eat a tin or epoxy jig. They plan to target tog as well later in the month and into November and if the past couple of years are any indication, fishing should be good. They have openings for fall run fishing and it’s time to book your spot now so give Captain Mike a call.

Geno from Total Tackle said it had been a busy weekend at the shop with the opening of the blackfish season. He said he’d heard from customers who caught their three fish limit, fishing shallow water east of the shop. He said it sounded like fairly typical early season action with anglers picking through shorts to get a few keeper sized tog. They hadn’t heard of anything especially large yet but he’s expecting some good competition for the shop tournament. It will run from October 17th through November 8th. The main tournament is decided by the combined weight of each angler’s two heaviest eligible blackfish. There is no minimum weight requirement. Each blackfish must measure at least 16 inches and meet all applicable state and federal fishing regulations for the region. Fish may be caught anywhere in compliance with applicable state and federal fishing laws. All weigh-ins must take place at Total Tackle. To see more details and register, visit their Instagram page or website for full details. Striper fishing has been solid, especially at Plum Gut where good numbers of quality stripers in the over slot to 20-pound plus class are mixed with blues of various sizes. Anglers there three-waying are scoring fish pretty consistently though, due to the popularity of that bite, mostly in a crowd. Other customers reported good bottom fishing for scup and an improving bite for sea bass. The shop is open seven days a week, Monday through Friday they are there from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Saturday from 6 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Sunday 6 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Andrew at Fishin’ Factory 3 told me the blackfish opener was top of mind for most folks passing through this weekend though striped bass fishing and some sporadic hardtail activity were also the subject of conversation. The blackfish opener was a busy one with it falling on a weekend and a holiday weekend at that. Word from customers he’d heard from was that a three fish limit was attainable though picking through fish to get there was common. The largest fish they heard of over the weekend was 9.5 pounds though, it wasn’t caught by an angler who signed up for the shop tournament. As of when we’d talked, a 6-plus-pound tog was leading the daily and weekly category. The shop will run their fall blackfish tournament again this year. The tournament runs the full six week tog season and the heaviest fish will take the total pot at the end in the form a Fishin’ Factory III gift card. There will also be weekly prize winners each week of the season from different sponsors so keep an eye on their social media to see what’s up for grabs each week. Fish can be weighed at the shop or at Hillyer’s Bait and Tackle and you must sign up in person in Middletown to get in. Last year they had over 75 participants and at $30 a head to get in the payout should be a good one. Striper fishing is reportedly good from the river and to the east. Bass are being caught from both boat and shore at all times of the day as fall run style action had picked up from the mouth of the river and to the east. The bass ranged from 20 inches to 20 pounds and larger on both live eels and artificial lures. A few boaters mentioned seeing schools of bonito from black point to the east and schools of albies have been showing sporadically around Watch Hill. The shop is open seven days a week for the season.

Chris at The Saltwater Edge reported that there have been large schools of striped bass feeding on bait around the island. The bass are mixed in size and one cast might produce a 25-pounder while the next fish will be 25 inches. A lot of the bait that the bass are feeding on is relatively and small anglers using light tackle and fly rods are doing very well. Along with the bass, anglers are seeing false albacore, green bonito and some bluefish feeding on the same schools of bait. Tautog fishing is starting to take off with some good-sized fish reported this week along with many limit catches. There are still a lot of black sea bass around with most of them being short of keeper size but some of the deeper pieces of structure seem to be holding keepers. Offshore, there hasn’t been much for reports outside of a few commercial sized bluefin being caught south of Block Island.

Heather at The Blackhawk office reports, “We had another good week of fishing!  We had to contend with some strong tides and some wind this week, so on some trips we had to move around a bit more than usual, but we still produced good numbers of porgies with some sea bass in the mix as well.  Some trips produced easy limits, while others needed a little more time to get the limits.  Other trips had some with limits and some without, but that's fishing!  Some nice sea bass in the mix as well. Our bluefish trip had good numbers of gator blues, and a few bass in the mix as well. We continue to fish every day.  With the opening of blackfish, we will have crabs on board for our "mixed bag" trips. Our famous 12 hour combo trips start in November, so get ready for those! Now is the time to come fill the freezer for winter!  Get out there and join us!”

Ed at Hillyer’s Bait and Tackle said it had been a wild weekend at the shop with the blackfish fall season opener taking center stage. Folks were in to buy crabs, rigs, jigs, lead and just about any kind of tackle used to tame tasty tog and from the amount of folks that came through, it must have been busy on the water. Early returns from customers indicated fishing was good and Ed always encourages folks to fish as shallow as they can to start the season. The shop special jig, four for $10, has been a winner with customers reporting that they were very effective in lighter weights in the skinny water. Other than blackfish, striped bass seems to be the other bite folks are focused on. There is a well-known bite going at The Gut where anglers dropping three-way rigs are catching a mix of bass and bluefish of various sizes. Most of the bass seem to be over the slot size and the blues range from harbor to gators. Other boaters have been chasing bird and catching stripers ranging from schoolies to over slot sized. Bottom fishing for both scup and sea bass is still solid and should get better for a couple of more weeks.

Tim at J&B Tackle emailed over their report to say “The blackfish season started strong, with great weather and good catches for most anyone that put in the time. There have also been reports of albies making their way back into the sound which is great news! Bonito have been around in very good numbers from Milestone Point to the mouth of the Thames River. Catching them is another story as they are very fast and sporadic. An ounce-and-a-half epoxy jig seems to work best. Striped bass are still actively feeding prior to and shortly after sunrise. Live eels are the best; however, soft plastic eels will produce as well. There are still very good opportunities to catch fish in the 40-pound-plus class. We still have not had many boats heading to the closer offshore areas. There have been some pockets of good water moving through but no action to report. There are still good reports coming for giants. Farther out by the canyons. We began our fall hours: Monday, Tuesday, Thursday 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Saturday 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Sunday 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. and closed on Wednesdays.”

Captain Mike at Tartan II told me good bottom fishing has continued week in and week out and they are excited to add blackfish to the list of species they are targeting. The bottom fishing has stayed fantastic for both scup and sea bass and he expects the action for tautog to be the same. The scup they are seeing are both numerous and large making for some lights out action. Sea bass fishing has been good with a mix of sizes but plenty of keepers to fill up the fish box. The fall run is coming and Captain Mike and his crew are looking forward to another great fall fishing season. They will run charters as scheduled with open boats on Tuesdays and Thursdays for bottom fishing as well as open boat striper trips on Fridays at 4p.m. so give him a call now to book your prime dates.

Karen at AW Marina said “it’s a crab eat crab world out there” and the word from the “crabbiest people on Pequot Avenue” was that the fall blackfish season had kicked off with a bang. Fall tog was the main talk of the shop over the weekend but bites for stripers and sea bass were productive as well. Blackfish were caught in and around the mouth of the Thames River by anglers from boat and shore. It seemed like boaters were getting limits of fish while shore anglers were scratching out some keepers and the occasional jumbo out from amongst the shorts, scup and sea bass. All in all, it was a good start to the season from what she heard from her customers. One noteworthy report she received was from a customer who said he was catching squid from the Fort Trumbull Pier overnight. Striper fishing in the river continues to be good and customers have been buying resin jigs and Deadly Dicks to cast to breaking fish on the surface. Other striper reports came in from Plum Gut where stripers are reportedly mixed with bluefish. Sea bass fishing seems to have ticked up as well and Karen said she’s been seeing some pictures of some nice sized fish. Other customers reported seeing some bonito zip around in the mouth of the Thames as well. They will be open seven days a week until the blackfish seasonal closure to support their customers.