The team from Explore New England TV joined us earlier this summer to (hopefully) film some of the most exciting action on the year, here on the lower CT river. We launched around 3:45am during a heavily overcast, foggy morning and set off into the lower Connecticut River. It was June 21st, prime time for the river to be packed with big stripers hungry for bunker. Our forecast called for an incoming tide for most of the morning and low or now wind...perfect conditions for tossing around large topwater lures. Upon our arrival to the main stem of the river, it took only about 5 minutes for a wolf pack of 30 to 40 inch class stripers to make themselves known, as they ripped through a pack of bunker on the surface about 20 yards away. Within minutes, we had landed a few good fish, and off we went!
The topwater bite yielded nearly a dozen fish before mysteriously shutting off. We were of the opinion that the slack-high tide was likely to blame. Our fishfinders still showed good marks, but despite numerous tactics including dropping live bunker in their face, the bite was truly stagnant. Then...it shifted. On a long blind cast, Scott mentioned he had a good follow from a bigger fish. Within seconds he had hooked up, and the second round of topwater mayhem was on! It seemed like we could do no wrong in terms of where we were casting...the overcast day and shifted tidal flow had turned these stripers on like a light switch, and we spent another 2 hours landing fish up to 40 inches in length, all on topwater plugs. Even without the camera and drone there filming, it would have been a memorable day fishing the Connecticut River spring striper run. All told, we boated nearly 30 fish, all caught on topwater, and all released. We left them biting, tired, covered in fish slime, and happy. It's the kind of memory that can carry you through a cold, dark winter, since you know mornings like that are only a couple short months away.
Big Thanks to Team BHO kayak anglers Matt Stone (@sunrisekayakfishing) and Scott Schneider (@reelscottschneider) for acting as our guides and getting some epic kayak fishing footage caught on tape. Watch the full video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lvwUT_6Rwz0
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