August 1st - Porgies, Sea Robins, Stripers, oh my!

Stripers and Blues: Stripers and blues are being found on nearly any rocky reef or point, but the points are more productive during low light hours whereas the reefs can produce fish better during the day. Blitzes have been popping up sporadically with fish chasing a variety of small rainbait. There are bigger fish still targeting bunker schools, and nice bluefish have been mixed in with those bunker, able to be enticed with poppers and Shimano Colt Sniper jigs.

            Other productive tactics for bigger blues and stripers include 3-way rigs with eels, bunker, or porgy. In shallower waters this same bait can be used, but weightless eels, bunkers, or porgy would be best. Anglers at the shop have also reported success with anchoring and soaking chunks of bunker at well-known points and reefs.

            Large soft plastics such as GT Eels, Sluggos, and Big Occhis are producing fish during a variety of conditions. Try throwing one if you have tried a spot holding fish but had no luck on topwater. Sometimes downsizing can also help, which makes the 9.5” GT Eel particularly important to have in your bag.

            Out in deeper waters such as The Race there have been good reports. As such, anglers have been snatching up Diamond Jigs up to 10 ounces and some have brought in fish of a lifetime. If the conditions allow for it, The Race has been a great producers of solid fish recently and is worth the quick run to explore the possibilities.

            Some reports of mackerel have begun to pop up sporadically, and with the amount of bait present in our waters at present there is no doubt that some flashing schools of mackerel will soon be in our waters closer to the north shore of the Sound. Hopefully, albies follow soon after. In preparation for fall-like conditions being seen out there even now, we’ve had a run on Game On Exo Jigs as well as Hogy and Tsunami epoxy and metal jigs. You can’t go wrong throwing one of those into some bait and seeing what’s chasing it.

Seabass and Porgies: Seabass have been concentrated at 80+ feet on rocks and wrecks. Porgies are available shallow at less than 30 feet on rocks and wrecks. Jigging Daiwa SK and FK Jigs and using clam and squid rigs have been productive on both. Standard spots like Six Mile are still producing limits, but anglers will need to check a variety of spots before coming across keeper size fish. Sea robins are out in force and anglers are also coming across dog fish quite often. So if you find your bait being stolen by sea robins, don’t worry- you’re not alone!

Fluke: Fluke have been deep as well, on humps and sand shoals. The Eastern Sound has been more productive than the Western Sound, although reports of the occasional large fluke have come in across all waters. The current 1^st place fluke in the BHO Fluke Fest is a 12.11 pound fish. A doormat, but potentially beatable as well if you can find a true giant! Gulp on Spro bucktails as well as squid rigs of some kind have been producing well. You’ll likely find many short fish, but if you can pick through those, keepers are available.

Freshwater: The freshwater fishing has slowed down with the heat. However, if you can find cold water you will find the fish. The tributaries to the CT River have been holding more quantity on the bass while deeper channels and creek beds have been producing larger fish. The weeds are in full force in most lakes in the state. That means its flipping, frogging, and shakeyhead time. Candlewood has been producing some nice smallmouth out deep and big largies up shallow.