August 6th - Hardtail Sightings and Doormat Fluke

Stripers and Blues- With the summer warmth kicking in the striper fishing has been slow at most hours unless you can get something like a GT Eel or a heavy Diamond Jig down into the cooler, deeper waters. Lots of bait kicking around has made more some fun snapper blue action on popping corks or epoxy jigs. Use soft plastics around those blues at your own peril! At night, bigger fish have been moving inshore to feast on the bait, and if you can find a nice piece of structure, a hump, or some good, narrow current in the night hours you’ve got a good chance of hooking up. Mike Roy of Reel Cast Charters reports some 10-15 pound gator bluefish having a go at deep Diamond Jigs, which is a nice way to get some heavy pullage with the bigger stripers being somewhat finicky.

As a sidenote, chub and frigate mackerel have been in the Sound recently, along with scattered bonito sightings. Have your epoxy jigs tied on at all times in case you run into a school of these fish. If you aren’t already prepped to toss a jig at them by the time you tie one on they will be gone and you’ll have to cross your fingers they present themselves again! An early sighting of bonito is a great sign for a solid fall run of hardtails!

Seabass and Porgies- Seabass remains solid as the summer rolls on, especially if you can find some waters that haven’t been targeted. Even so, more popular spots such as Black Point and Southwest Reef are still producing seabass at a steady rate, you just may have to poke through some smaller ones before getting that bigger, keeper size for the table. The hot lures remain metal jigs, with pink being a hot color recently. Keeper seabass have been caught as shallow as 40’ if you can find the rocks, humps, and drop-offs that they like. Don’t count anywhere out with the warm water pushing fish in! Porgy remain active around deeper rocks, humps, and drop-offs. Tsunami Fork Tail Candy have been the go-to, along with nearly any other metal jig or some bait such as clams and squid.

Fluke- Wise Kraken Charters, sailing 7 days a week on the “Laura Ann”, has been ON the fluke. Many anglers are achieving limits, with countless 7-9 pound fish caught along with a few double-digits as well. A possible clue into the uptick in fluke activity is the prevalence of bait in shallower waters. Look for terns diving on small baitfish, and keep an eye on your electronics. Any time you see a big bait ball, even if it’s mid-water column, drop down and see if there’s a few fluke following the bait ball, looking for leftovers.

Crabbing- Crabbing remains steady in the area, and many blues are being seen in the mouth of the CT River along with the numerous creeks and feeder rivers in the area. If you’re looking for something fun to do with the kids, tossing some crab lines out and seeing them have a go at netting is prime time family fun. BHO Westbrook recently got a large order of crabbing lines in, so swing on by and grab a few along with some nice, chunky bunker or mackerel to lure the crabs in.

Freshwater- With high water temperatures, freshwater fishing can be tough. You’ve got a couple of tactics relating to both lure choice and time of day to help out. First, try a couple different styles of lures to see what’s working. You can go slow and lazy with a Texas-rigged Senko, or try a reaction bait like a Chatterbait in 10-15 feet of water. Sometimes that vibrating motion will entice sluggish fish. If that isn’t working, try to go really early or really late in the day and throw topwater. A particularly good choice this time of year with all of the vegetation is a Stanley Ribbit, rigged weightless and pulled across lily pads. You’ll get some excellent blow-ups doing this, but it works best at night or in the morning. You can also try a jitterbug or black buzz-bait in the night hours.