New England - Connecticut Fishing Reports

I talked to Max at Fisherman’s World who said that the local striper bite exploded this week. The migratory fish that had been to the west followed schools of bunker and the mid-sound structure had lit up with bass into the 35-pound range. Boats fishing with mojos, umbrella rigs, Diamond Jigs, bunker spoons and deep diving plugs all reported excellent fishing. All the typical popular areas had fish including 28C, 11B and the OB buoy. Inshore striper fishing was good too, although not quite as red-hot as last week. Reports from the islands had slot-sized fish on swimming plugs like SP Minnows and soft plastics. Shore anglers were catching as well, especially at Calf Pasture and Sherwood Island on sand worms. Boats headed over to the North Shore did very well with big scup this week and the Oyster Bay area reportedly had some hubcap sized porgies. There were also reports of good early season fluke fishing from the Huntington area, Port Jeff and Smithtown Bay. Anglers reported limits of five to eight-pound fish on jigs tipped with squid and Gulp. The Saugatuck Reservoir was fishing well for trout, walleye and especially smallmouth bass.

Bobby J’s said that striper fishing is very good throughout the region. Bass can be found in a variety of locations and water types as they follow a variety of different schools of bait. The big change for this week was the presence of bass on the local deep water structure. There are some scattered pods of bunker schooling around the deep water rocks and reefs that have the attention of stripers up to the 30-pound range. Diamond Jigs have been a popular way to target these fish though a variety of jigs and spoons are effective. The river still has a load of fish chasing around herring and fish can be found anywhere from the mouth to the dam. Beachfronts from Fairfield to New Haven are also fishing well. Schools of stripers ranging from 20 to 35 inches have been blitzing on schools of tiny, half-inch long baitfish. Those fish have responded well to small swimming and top water plugs as well as epoxy jigs. There have been a few schools of bunker inshore but they have been here and there and gone on any given day. There have been a handful of folks out looking for fluke. Most of them all have reported the same thing – short fish on our side of the sound and keeper sized flatties on the North Shore. Oyster Bay has been the best bet for early season scup.

Captain Morgan’s emailed over their report to say, “Rain, thunderstorms and gusty winds plowed through the area in time for an improved weekend outlook. River flows and levels came down a bit but rose again after the rains then flipped presenting a better prospect for the weekend. Marine waters kicked up as moon tides and east winds affected the lowlands however, little effect was felt as fishers continued to hook up with striped bass. It was a good time to be fishing the rivers, bays and shoreline as rising water temperatures kept having a positive effect on migrating stripers including baitfish. There appears to be minimal letup particularly on schoolie action as fishers repeatedly catch and release good numbers on light gear. Live, fresh frozen baits, artificial lures including flies are being fished effectively from shore and small vessels. The sudden strike of an over the slot linesider in excess of 40 inches has surprised more than one fisher that was either stripped, broken off or successfully landed and released a fish. Several fishers who have geared up for the first time are experiencing repeated ‘bite and run’ action that is keeping them on their toes. Those fishing bait on the bottom are also finding a toadfish or two feeding, an indication that other bottom dwellers like sea robins (sometimes eaten or used for bait) are not far off. Tiderunner weakies have made their initial spring showing along with a few large bluefish scouts, well ahead of the Memorial Day weekend. More baitfish are entering the Sound but the push has to be on in order to stack them up. When that happens the presence of fluke will gradually become more evident in mid-Sound waters and tidal rivers as hopefully, more move to inshore waters than in the last few seasons. Meanwhile, white perch activity has increased while shad runs continue. As spring trout stocking continues and waters are gradually moderating, anglers are out in force taking full advantage of the wide range of fish to catch. Weather has been breaking in favor fishing the Class trout streams, parks and rivers. The shop is seeing more conventional and fly fishers as well as family trips. From average size fish to whopping breeders including some extremely colorful brookies, enthusiasm keeps growing to wet a line. The large and smallmouth bass fishery is providing excellent fishing while pickerel catches are above average and a variety of panfish are being hooked. Catfish and carp are also garnering attention in upper tidal rivers, as well. As May heads to the big weekend, the rush is on to splash vessels. Right now the saltwater bite is gets better with each passing tide so, don’t miss out!

Matt from Black Hall Outfitters emailed over their report to say, “The developing story is that it's just been a colder than usual spring. The water is really slow to warm and we've just had not as quick of a pickup as we are used to. I've talked to guys further north and the same story is true up near Boston. We've definitely had some smaller waves of lice covered slot to over slot fish chasing herring and just generally becoming more active. Fishing with four to seven-inch soft plastics, either fluke or paddle tail is the name of the game. Slug-Go’s, Fin S Fish, Gravity Paddle Tails, anything like that works great this time of year. Small topwater poppers and spooks as well as twitch baits are great this time of year too. Anything that mimics a 4- to 8-inch herring or bunker is awesome. Fluke early chasers are actually finding some success in shallow water. Porgy is scattered, and no bluefish reports yet but that has to be on the doorstep. They usually show right around this time of year.”

Captain Mike Roy at Reel Cast Charters said that they saw fresh fish covered in sea lice entering Long Island Sound this week. These hungry fish have been more than willing to take soft plastics and jigs like the Shimano Sniper. They hadn’t seen any weakfish mixed I with their catches yet but he expects them to show up any day now. Fishing was pretty good this week. Captain Mike and his team have openings over the next two weeks, which should be primetime Give him a call today to book your spot.

Andrew at Fishin’ Factory 3 said striped bass in the Connecticut River continued to keep the majority of his customers busy. The best bet for river stripers continues to be sand or blood worms fished on the bottom but live eels, and chunked frozen bunker or mackerel have taken fish as well. There is also a slow pick for anglers throwing artificial lures and plastics on jig heads, red fins and Doc’s have been popular choices. Most of the fish from Haddam up through Enfield have been in the 28- to 34-inch class with a few larger 20-pound fish mixed in The mouth of the river was also fishing better this week with a few bigger fish in the mix but the action was a bit less consistent than up river as waves of fish continue to push through. The bass bite is also picking up out front, mostly for surfcasters targeting nearshore structure with eels and plugs. They heard of some short fluke caught in the eastern sound this week but as of when we’d talked no one had yet boated a keeper flat back. Weakfish and scup action is reportedly good over at the Peconics. Shad fishing has been a steady pick with plenty of fish caught thus far throughout the season.

Heather at The Blackhawk office reports, “We had a good weekend of fishing! Both Friday and Saturday porgy trips started off a little slow, but picked up as the day went on. Saturday ended with some great fishing, with some limits around the boat, and others close to it.  Special thanks to Jessica for joining us for her birthday! We were glad to spend the day with you! Our Friday night squid trip was also good- these trips are always fun, and the squid did not disappoint! Steady action through the night made for some happy anglers!  We'll be adding more trips soon! We have added a bass trip for Monday morning, and will be adding more of these as well- watch the calendar, as these trips are often posted with less notice due to the weather and our charter schedule.  Speaking of charters, be sure to book your date soon- our popular dates are filling up, so be sure to get your date on the calendar. New Tickets for each week will be posted online on Monday night at 8 p.m., just like in past years.  Be sure to check out our calendar so you see what's coming up! We look forward to seeing everyone soon!”

Ed at Hillyer’s Bait and Tackle told me that he was hearing that striped bass are “everywhere”. This was the first week he’d heard of schools of stripers out at The Race where the Diamond Jig bite had fired up. If this year is anything like last year that bite should be good through the rest of the season. The bulk of the fish there right now are cookie cutter sized, around the 30-inch class. Bass are also inshore and he’d heard from surfcasters getting fish from Connecticut and Rhode Island. The bite in the mouth of the Connecticut River is just getting going and there were reports of fresh fish covered in sea lice this week. The squid fishing in Rhode Island is red hot and there were a few scattered reports from inside Long Island Sound as well. Ed said he expects them to show up in Niantic Bay just about any day now. The head boats fishing Rhode Island reported very good action with the favorable tides last week. There are some local fluke to be caught but all of the reports have been the same. There are decent numbers of fluke around but they all fall short of the 19-inch mark needed to put them in the fish box. Scup fishing over at the Peconics has been up and down with some very good days while others have been so-so.

J&B told me they were hearing of some decent local fishing, mostly for school bass in the river and the bay. They also heard that Millstone had some schoolies and they wouldn’t be surprised to hear of a few bluefish mixed in with them. The other bite they heard most about this week was for squid in Rhode Island and even creeping into the far eastern sound.

Captain Mike at Tartan II said they are ‘all systems go’ and looking forward to getting things going for their 2024 season. They will begin fishing Memorial Day Weekend and Captain Mike and crew are excited for another great season ahead. Some of the more popular weekends are already booking up so give them a call to secure your spot now while you still can.

Captain Bob of the Sunbeam Fleet reports, “Decent porgy fishing this week. We headed to the Peconic Bay this past Saturday and saw a good amount of keepers with most being jumbos. We'll be heading back to the Peconic Bay on May 11th for one more weekend porgy trip before the regular season gets underway. Our first fluke trip is this Wednesday, May 8th at 7 a.m. Our first ‘blues and bass’ trip will be starting May 10th and will be sailing every Friday, Saturday and Sunday throughout the month. Our Private Charter boats, the Sunbeam VI and the Grumpa, are booking up fast so make sure to reserve prime dates now! For more information, you can look us up on the web at www.sunbeamfleet.com or give us a call!”

Karen at AW Marina said that striped bass fishing has been very good locally. The river has seen some very good fishing for anglers fishing with sandworms and chunks. Most of the fish have ranged from school sized to just over 30-inches although there are a few bigger fish mixed in. Fish continue to be spread throughout the river from the mouth up past Norwich but the bite around the lower river and mouth definitely picked up this week. Bass fishing isn’t just confined to the river as structure on both sides of the Thames reportedly have fish. There have been some folks headed out in search of fluke and they are finding a few though they have been short fish. Karen said the multi-colored M&M fluke bellies have been a popular bait and they’d been selling lots of them early this season. Squid fishing has been excellent in Rhode Island and there were a few reports as far east as Stonington they’d heard about.