Striped bass fishing has slowly but steadily improved this week with more and more quality fish filtering into the region. Fluke fishing has made a drastic improvement, with quality doormats being reported from multiple locations across the Northeast.
Connecticut Fishing Report
Striped bass fishing remains much less consistent in eastern Long Island Sound than it does in the western stretches but more quality fish are showing up on the reefs and rivers each day. Rivers End in Old Saybrook reported that the bass fishing has been pretty good but it remains hard to find a repeatable pattern from day to day. The flats of the lower Connecticut River continue to hold good fish and anglers throwing topwater offerings and livelining bunker have had fish to 25 pounds. A great deal of bunker remains in the lower river and should ensure that at least a few large bass remain in the river for the next few weeks. The central sound reefs from Westbrook to Branford are holding solid number of keeper bass and anglers continue to find them both trolling and on the jig. The eastern sound reefs are holding less fish but a few heavier specimens came from the sand shoal and outer Bartletts. The Connecticut River saw a few more large bluefish show up this week and are getting pretty easy to catch if you have some fresh bunker chunks. Fluke fishing has improved in the sound this week with reports of fish to 7 pounds, the most consistent spots being the Westbrook to Clinton reefs and the Old Lyme beaches.
Blaine Anderson, of Anderson Guide Services and J&B Tackle in Niantic, saw what began as a slow June take a turn for the better this week. Blaine found a vast improvement in both size and quantity of bass from Monday to Tuesday, and was able to boat quite a few with live bunker on the eastern sound reefs. It is not yet red hot but it is a certainly a very positive trend heading into the big moon tides of the weekend.
At Fishin’ Factory III in Middletown, Andrew Nichols reported that the red hot topwater bite on the lower CT River lost a bit of consistency but still remained excellent while it was on. Just this morning a few of his customers were reporting consistent 20- to 25-pound bass on topwater spooks around the flats in Old Saybrook. Long Sand Shoal and Six Mile Reef have put up a few good bass after dark this week and Andrew added that both of these spots are consistent big bass producers during the June full moon. Fluke reports have come in with some consistency from the south side of Fisher’s Island, Niantic Bay and along the Rhode Island beaches; with Misquamicut being the top producer of keeper fish.
Captain Bruce, of The Otter Sportfishing, reported that this week started off as a decent one with a few big bass to 46 inches and limits of bass on just about every trip. Things have only improved as the week went on and this weekend should be a good one with the full moon tides and warming water.
Mike Roy, of Reel Cast Charters, has been able to take advantage of a good bass bite in the western sound and stick around his home waters this week. According to Mike, the Milford and Stratford area is loaded with bunker and on multiple trips this week he had a great topwater bite of bass and blues at dusk. Once the lights went down Mike drifted live eels along the inshore rips and reefs and had consistent action of bass to 30 pounds. Mike also reported that anglers livelining bunker and fishing fresh chunk bait had a similar mix of large bluefish and bass.
The guys at Bobby J’s Bait and Tackle in Milford reported that there was no need to waste gas searching for flatfish this week as the water’s from Milford to New Haven were alive with keeper fluke. A few customers weighed in fish approaching the 8 pound mark and most reported pretty easy limits. Both bass and bluefishing also remained very good this week from Milford west to Norwalk, with good numbers of bunker spread throughout that stretch.
Best Bets for the Weekend
A tough east blow has moved in for the end of the week but it looks to clear in time for the weekend. The first full moon of our summer fishing season should bring with it another good push of large striped bass, and drifting live eels after dark is always top producer during the June full moon. Fluke fishing has now reached a point where keeper fish can be found without the need to travel too far and will be another great option for the weekend. With the strong tides, be sure to bring plenty of lead and try to time your fluke drifts for the beginning or ending stages of the tide.
