AW Marina

Karen at AW Marina told me her customers have been saying that tog fishing is “off the hook” so to speak. She’s talked to lots of happy anglers who are catching blackfish from both shore and boat. The best fishing still seems to be in shallower water and this is good news for the shore crowd. It isn’t just blackfish biting from shore though as her customers are still catching scup, squid, mackerel and striped bass all from terra firma. The scup fishing at the Fort Trumbull Pier and over at Avery Point isn’t as hot as it was at peak season, but there are still enough fish there to target. What has been biting at a torrid pace from the pier is squid during the overnight bite. Anglers are bringing lights and squid jigs down and filling five gallon buckets full of cephalopods. There are stripers still in the river from above the bridge on down to the mouth. Karen noted again that customers are reporting one of the better bass years overall from within the confines of the river. Out in front of the river, there are pods of albies popping up here and there on any given day, though they seem to be seen more than caught by most of the people she’d talked to. A report of mackerel being caught from shore over at Pleasure Beach came in over the weekend, not necessarily a typical fall bite. Karen reminded me that they will be open seven days a week until the blackfish seasonal closure to support their customers.

Karen at AW Marina said word from her customers is that the blackfish season is off to a good start, especially for those who are fishing from shore. Tog are biting around the rocks and piers and jetties according to folks passing through the shop to reload on bait, rigs, jigs and lead. The Fort Trumbull Pier isn’t just producing blackfish though as word was this week that squid fishing at night has been “lights out”. Anglers heading down to the dock with lights and squid jigs report really good action and lots of tasty calamari to take home. Besides the tog and squid, other anglers have reported catching weakfish and scup as well. There are still enough stripers in the river to target as well, from the mouth on up past the bridges, though angler effort for linesides has waned to some degree since the tog season reopened. Boaters report good fishing as well, mostly for blackfish though striped bass fishing is still solid as well. Most early season tog are coming from shallow rockpiles though a few of the deeper reefs have been productive too. There are albies still kicking around throughout the region as well. Karen said as we look ahead into November she expects good action for blackfish to continue, though eventually the shore bite will die out. Scup, similarly, will move on as well and waves of stripers can be expected to wash through the region, focused around the mouth of the river. They will be open seven days a week until the blackfish seasonal closure to support their customers.