New England - New England Freshwater Fishing Reports

Tyler at Fisherman?s World in Norwalk had exciting news for anyone waiting for an encouraging trout report from Saugatuck Reservoir. At the beginning of the week a young angler stopped in and reported hooking into two nice brown trout on spoons. Unfortunately, he dropped both fish apparently because of line stretch. He had made long casts and could not get solid hook sets. Still, the fact that he connected with two nice trout?even if the connections proved brief?is good news. Autumn is prime time for getting into big trout feeding on alewives on the surface at Saugatuck Reservoir. By the way, the young fisherman purchased light braid to replace the mono he had been using. Braid should eliminate his line-stretch issues. Tyer also heard that largemouth bass fishing has been good at the reservoir as well as at local lakes and small ponds.

Colin at Fishin? Factory 3 in Middletown let everyone know that the catfish bite in the Connecticut River remains strong for anglers soaking chunk bait on the bottom at Harbor Park in Middletown. Also, a couple of Colin?s buddies reported catching smallmouth and largemouth bass in the Haddam stretch of the river, and several people said they were doing fine with panfish, particularly crappies, in coves along the river and in small local ponds.

Red Cattey in Litchfield relayed a report from Frank Barata who fly-fished off the Litchfield beach at Bantam Lake and caught yellow perch and bluegills on small flies but no pike on large streamers.

CONNECTICUT
Bobby J?s in Milford said the first wave of albie mania in local waters was short-lived, as the fish that had everyone all fired up last week have since, disappeared. Luckily, a good push of stripers and bluefish moved into the area between Norwalk and Milford there have been very good reports from shore anglers over the course of this week. A lot of the action has been coming in daylight, with topwater action and ?near surface? action?the hot lures have been poppers, tins and paddletails. This influx of bass and blues has been fueled by swarms of peanut bunker that are exiting local estuaries and the Housatonic River right now. There have been some larger blues mixing in at times up to 16 pounds, the larger fish have been mostly showing up after dark and fresh chunks have been a good way to hook them. Shore porgy action continues to produce awesome catches in local waters.
Andrew at Fishin? Factory 3 in Middletown said albies continue to dominate the conversation around the shop. While some anglers lament the lack of local fish, others have been heading to Rhode Island waters where the fish were plentiful last week. Shore action was reportedly good from places like Watch Hill, Nappatree Point and the breachway jetties. Striper guys are seeing better action locally, but most guys are fishing away from the river because of all the muddy water and debris coming down after all rain we?ve had recently. There have been many reports of blitzes from places like Harkness and Niantic Bay, the sizes of these fish ranges all over the map?but 36 inches has been about the biggest, while 24- to 28 inches is closer to the average by most reports.
Karen at AW Marina in New London said the local porgy bite continues to draw lots of shore angler interest, Fort Trumbull, Avery Point, Pleasure Beach and any other rocky piece of shoreline structure seems to be holding plenty of fish willing to eat worms, squid, Gulp or FishBites. Striped bass action has cooled down a bit around the river, but there are still fish being caught on topwater plugs by day and swimmers or live eels after dark. Albie action has remained scarce for local shore-hunters, but those traveling to Rhode Island are finding success.

RHODE ISLAND
Harrison from Watch Hill Outfitters said it was a great week for surfcasters. On the rough days there was plenty of action at Watch Hill with topwater and jig bites of bass to 40 inches and blues from 5 to 15 pounds. There were also some great reports from just inside the breachways ? Quonny in particular ? where bass were readily taking swimmers and light bucktails while the waves and wind raged out front. On the calmer days, bass could be found along the beaches blitzing under birds and crushing topwaters like the Yo-Zuri 3D Inshore Pencil and the Rebel Jumpin? Minnow. After dark those throwing Mag Darters, Super Strike Darters, plastic swimmers and jigs were treated to some bigger fish from 30 to 40 inches. And some even larger surf fish were reported from local waters but no details were offered as to exactly where (and who can blame them?) Albie action was also red hot for the shore guys this week with Watch Hill, Quonny and Taylor Swift?s House being some of the best spots to score ?core from shore. Epoxy jigs did most of the damage here, but Snax were working well from the jetties.
Matt over at Snug Harbor Marina in Wakefield said the West Wall had a banner week. Many casters that lined the wall in the wind scored double-digit catches of albies. As an added bonus, there were good numbers of slot and over-slot bass there as well that were just as enthused about the tins and plastics being tossed for albies, which made for one of those Forrest Gump situations where you ?never knew what you were gonna get?. At the same time, shore fishers at Monahan?s and Black Point found albies, bonito and bass mixing together and taking the same lures. As the winds increased coming into the weekend, shore anglers switched to the protected waters of East Matunuck State Beach where striped bass and occasional albies were on tap and feeding well throughout the rainy weekend. There were also some good shore reports from inside the Harbor of Refuge for stripers and a few albies as well.
Over at Crafty One Customs in Portsmouth the striper bite was finally starting to gel along the ocean-facing shores of Aquidneck Island. Anglers flinging plastic or bucktail jigs were reporting some good to very good fishing for stripers from 10 to 20 pounds with some larger fish mixing in at times. There were also many albie sightings from local shores and some fish landed from Sachuest Point, Brenton Point and Fort Adams. If you love to fish for tog from shore, make sure to join the shop?s RI Tog Classic, which has a shore division that?s ripe for the taking.

Spoke with Danny at Goose Hummock Shop in Orleans who told me that stormy weather kept people indoors last week. However, he managed to get out and shore-fish Cliff Pond inside Nickerson State Park in Brewster. Surface temperature was still in the mid-60?s, and the pond appeared murky (probably from an algae bloom), but some trout were rising, and Danny was able to hook and land two small holdover rainbows on a Baker stickbait.

Conner at Red Top Sporting Goods in Buzzards Bay said the pre-storm largemouth bass bite was ?pretty good? at Peters Pond in Sandwich and Long Pond in Plymouth. He did well with a squarebill crankbait and a Chatterbait from shore in the middle of the day and expects good fishing to resume when Lee?s impacts on the Cape dissipate.

Rick in Milford thought the week was a very slow, most likely due to several factors but especially the rainy, stormy weather. He did have some news, though. A young man named James enjoyed a fun-filled multi-species event at Hopedale Pond, reeling in largemouth bass, chain pickerel, crappies, and catfish on shiners from shore. Another fellow stopped in to report superb catch-and-release trout fishing at the Farmington River in Connecticut. Using mealworms for bait, he unhooked fifteen to twenty trout ranging 16 to 22 inches.

Roger Aziz, Jr., in Methuen and his dad caught a load of crappies at Stile?s Pond in Boxford, and Rog alone did equally well with calicoes and small largemouths at Rock Pond near Groveland. All fish hit micro jigs. Some holdover trout at Stile?s Pond are now in deep water at the dam. Rog also returned to Quabbin Reservoir out of Gate 31 in New Salem. He and George Dias had a very good session with lake trout to 8 pounds on various lures including a Heddon Tadpolly and an August Fly, the latter a popular streamer among Quabbin Reservoir salmon anglers. Up north in Northwood, New Hampshire, Roger and Bob Langley logged ?quite a few? nice bass.

According to Skip at Saunders Boat Livery, Inc. in Southwick water level is up and surface temperature down at Congamond Lakes. Many bass are now in shallower water and feeding well. Bigger fish are included. One of Skip?s buddies popped a 4.96-pound largemouth, and another friend lost an estimated a 5-pounder. Both bass were in close, but neither angler would reveal what lures were used. All three ponds (North, Middle, and South) are producing bass and holdover trout. As of this writing Congamond Lakes had not yet received a slug of autumn-stocked trout. Skip thinks stocking will occur around October 1.