Korkers TRIPLE THREAT ALUMINUM HEX SOLES

The number of sole options for Korkers boots seems to have exploded. I recently bought a pair of the Korkers TRIPLE THREAT ALUMINUM HEX SOLES when I stopped in Mossy Creek Fly Fishing on my last trip down to VA. The hex cleats seemed like a much better option than the aluminum bars, which don't really allow for much flexibility in the soles of your boots. I've avoided wearing the studded felt soles (banned in an increasing number of places) in an effort to prevent the cross contamination that is ruining many of our streams, and have generally used the less aggressive studded cling-on soles. I also wondered how the Hex Soles would fare in a saltwater environment, rock hopping on jetties. Would they be as effective as my Korkers RockTrax? Busting ass on a jetty at night is not fun! After a several trips out in a variety of terrain environments, I have to say my overall impression is pretty positive. They excel in all of the river bottoms I waded, from smooth and slick, snot covered rocks to sharper, jagged bottoms. They grip everything and I could wade with confidence. That should easily translate to the salt, right? Here, I still have to go with the RockTrax for two key reasons. As the tide drops, you get rocks exposed that are covered in much heavier layers of seaweed and other stuff, and the spikes just cut down through this better. I also noticed that they wear pretty quickly, especially on rough, dry jetty rock, so I'll probably be ordering another $30 package of hex discs pretty soon, and using these mostly in rivers. However, if you're a predominantly freshwater guy that does an occasional surfcasting trip, these will more than meet your needs. 

Product Review – Plum Island Swim Baits

The fishing industry seems awash in soft plastic products from both major manufacturers and smaller start-up companies.  Everyone claims to have something special. I think the guys from Plum Island Swim Baits really do.  Let me preface this by saying that I fish a TON of soft plastics in both fresh and salt water. I live less than a mile from Lunker City, who’s Sluggos have been a staple for years.  I have literally bins full of soft plastics from dozens of manufactures. Some stuff is great and will always be in my bag or on my boat, others not so much so.  So why have I fished Plum Island almost exclusively this season?

I picked up a few packs of Plum Island River Eels 7.5”, Flukushima OGs and Flukishima Mondos this spring after seeing a few online posts about this local company that was making some great soft plastics. With every soft plastic, the balancing act comes between a bait with great action and durability. The stuff with the best action is typically really soft and tears up pretty quickly.  Super durable often equals too stiff and a lot less action.  Plum Island seems to have hit the nail right on the head. Their baits have great action in the water, feel super soft, and are tough as nails, often holding up to a day of striper fishing or numerous bluefish strikes.  Did I mention that they are scent impregnated as well? These things are not your rock hard GULP baits!      

It turns out that one of the guys behind Plum Island, Gabe Ravizza, lives ten minutes away from me, and invited me over to check out some of the stuff they’ve been working on.  We talked fishing for awhile, and I left with a goody-bag of soft plastics, including a bunch of new designs and color combinations.  Among my favorites were some of the albie baits that were absolutely slaughtered the last few weeks. I’m sure you’ll be seeing some more of these next fall.  I had the chance to get out on the water with Gabe this past week, and try out even more styles and color combinations on fall run stripers and blues.

The list of shops carrying Plum Island Swim Baits is expanding , though Gabe emphasized their commitment to maintaining the quality of the baits over the growing shop demands for expansion.  Want a custom color combination? They can probably do that for you as well. Check out Plum Island Swim Baits.  You won’t be disappointed.

http://plumislandbaits.com/

Tight Lines, and Remember - BUY LOCAL/BUY AMERICAN

RNA

Gabe with a big blue. 

Another One Slips Away

I'm always trying to work my fishing obsession around my full time Dad and job duties, so if I can kill two birds with one stone on the way to ballet lessons, I will. I needed a new #AFTCO roller tip top, so I decided to run by one of the better tackle shops in the state that happens to be about 15 minutes away from the studio. It's not my go to, as I'm never headed in that direction to fish, but over the years I'd purchased a few rods, terminal tackle and the like. The shop was a staple in the local fishing community, the owner not only stocking a range of quality products, but also supporting the growth of the sport and contributing to the community in countless ways. I was surprised to pull up and find the door locked, the shop empty and a sign on the door saying it would not be reopening. I've watched a number of local shops close their doors over the years, but I never thought this one was on the way out.

Two weeks prior I had driven up as there was a "40% Off Everything-Spring Cleanout" sale. I felt great having scored some deals on gear prior to heading to Florida. I'd have loaded up on a lot more had I not just bought a plane ticket, rented a boat and charged a bunch of other crap to my card. Now I just felt crappy.

I went home and checked online as word was just starting to spread across several fishing forums. Everyone expressed shock, lamented its loss, and wondered where they were going to get their bait from. Lots of questions were flying around. Now, I don't know the details of the store's closing, though the owner said he was exploring possibilities including someone else taking over. I sure the Cabelas built 15 minutes away a few years back and the Bass Pro opening in the state this year didn't help. Big Box Marts, Amazon and other online outlets make every retail business ultra competitive.

I can't sit here and bash people for buying from Cabelas, Bass Pro or Amazon without being a complete hypocrite. I get points for my Cabelas credit card which I never let go to waste, and have and Amazon Prime account. However, I rarely purchase fishing or shooting gear from Cabelas unless it's with points, on closeout, or isn't carried locally, and spend far more in independent tackle shops than in any large chain. Still, every dollar spent locally has far more of an impact than one spent in a large chain store. For a local tackle shop, a small drop (or increase) in revenue can be the difference in keeping the doors open or closing them for good. Is a $5-$10 difference a really big deal to you? Perhaps it is at the time, but then again maybe not. I believe we should all spend a little more time considering just where and on what we spend our money. Support your local retailers and manufacturers. Buy American when you can. Keep in mind that Cabelas or Bass Pro aren't going to hand out their CEOs private numbers and open that extra hour early for you when you really need bait.   

The irony is, I drove that additional 15 minutes to Cabelas to be told by a sales associate that they didn't carry roller guides, but they did have rods with roller guides that I could buy. Thanks for the help.      

Let's all try to Shop a little more Local, Buy a little more American!

Quality Time

The good fishing continues. Got some quality father son time in with Danny, who left the house at 2:30 am with me. He's a real trooper and my first mate! I can't let him spend his entire summer playing Minecraft. Get you kids out of the house and on the water. Not sure how to get started? Send me a message. I'll help you out or put you in touch with folks who can. It doesn't matter whether you're chasing stripers in the salt or doing some urban angling. You will build a lifetime of memories, and pass the love along for another generation.

Thinking about a charter? Here are a few tips.

For those looking to book a charter, especially for the first time, keep in mind a few things. I've fished far too many charters to count, from Mexico to Mass and everywhere in between. Most have been excellent, some OK, and one or two downright diabolical. Don't be afraid to ask lots of questions and check them out. 1) First and foremost you Captain should be a licensed captain, not just a guy who calls himself that, and he/she should be running a licensed charter service in the state or waters you are fishing. I get asked all the time if I'll take folks out for a cash "charter," and the answer is no. I don't want to lose my boat, house and everything else I own if something should go wrong. Licensed captains pay a lot of expenses to run their businesses, and under the table operations screw them. You captain/guide should have liability insurance. ASK these things. They are simple questions and the answers should be the same. THEY SHOULD HAVE THE DOCUMENTATION ON THEIR BOATS. 2) CHEAPEST ISN"T NECESSARILY THE BEST. Avoid the weekend warrior captains. Ask for references or research online. Nothing equals time on the water. 3) You captain should be knowledgeable and listen to what you are interested in and work to put together a plan. I look to learn from these guys every time I go out. There are some out there who could care less about tides, whats biting when, etc. They want to leave at x, drift the Race, and get back at y regardless. I can go on a party boat for that. 4) He should like being out there and get pumped when clients catch big fish. Some of the best guys I've gone out with share knowledge, tell great stories, and will tell you that the biggest rush for them is hooking people up with the target species. I went out for ten hours in the Keys with a guy who did nothing but bitch about the weather. 4-10 hours on a boat with a guy that acts like he's having about as much fun as working a production line makes for a long trip. 5) Thinks "out of the box" and will change up the game plan on a slow day. Sometimes the fish don't seem to bite but a good captain will at least try a bit of everything. There are days when everyone gets skunked, but you know when a guy has busted his ass trying to get you on the fish, and that's a guy I will fish with again. 6) Big for me - wants to preserve the sport. Is ethical in methods and works to preserve the stocks. Believe it or not, I hate to eat fish, so I catch and release unless I want a few fillets for friends. Perhaps my coolest fishing moment was at the end of landing my one and only marlin, brought it to the side of the boat to snap a few pics, revived it and then cut it loose. The fish and I were spent, and that thing just glided back down into deep water. Hope this helps someone looking to charter. Feel free to ask for suggestions or recommendations.

Early October in the Eastern Long Island Sound

October typically brings some of the best fishing of the year to the eastern Long Island Sound.  Bass and blues are putting on the feed bags, often in insane surface blitzes, before their migrations south.  Black fish season reopens, and anglers look to fill freezers for the winter with these and dinner plate size scup.  Bay anchovies and other bait fish choke the reefs, with albies giving chase.  Fall is arriving, and with it shifting weather conditions including increased winds and waves, making it tougher on recreational anglers hoping Mother Nature coordinates with days off.  For the past several years, a day out typically guaranteed great fishing.  While the weather has generally cooperated thus far, fishing has been a bit more hit and miss this season.  I know guys will say that they caught a ton of blues, or stripers, and maybe some albies, but the mass of fish in many of the usual places isn't what it has been in seasons past.  I've had discussions all summer about causes, but guys who fish on a regular basis will tell you that it has been tougher.  Places like the Gut, Pidgeon and the Race are all safe bets to fill coolers with blues, and porgies are hitting well on the rock piles.  Fisher's is seeing some top water striper action near Race Point and locations along the south side, but they are not the acre+ of churning bass and blues that I look forward to in October.  The reefs in the Watch Hill area have been hit or miss as well.  Sure, you can always grind out fish, but the action and numbers are just down.  This weekend I ran from Groton (CT) to Point Judith, RI.  Saturday's weather was as ideal as one could ask for, and my first stop was Watch Hill.  The tide was beginning to push in, and the fishing just wasn't happening.  I quickly decided to run east up the coast, working all the way over to PJ in my little skiff, the Gemma Rose II.  Bay anchovies are working in, as football field sized schools circled west of the break walls, with the occasional schools of albies or bonito slashing through.  Despite the masses of bait, the numbers of top water blitzes were few and small.  Hanging around the breachways is going to score fish, but I'm looking for the massive catch 'til your arms fall off October runs.  Seeing all the bait was encouraging, and I along with all of the other salt water anglers that fish the ELIS are hoping the action builds up as well.  We need our fix of massive striper blitzes to see us through to the spring!    

Capt. Jack "Bones" Balint put his client on some good fishing this weekend, including this nice bonito.

Eastern LIS Report 9-2-13

There has definitely been an upswing in the fishing in the eastern LIS, Watch Hill and Western Rhode Island. Bait has been filling in on all the reefs, bringing in loads of mixed blues and bass. The last few weeks saw quite a few bonito landed is well. Now the wait is on (and it won't be too long) 'til the albies start showing up.

Big jellies are drifting the RI coast with schools of small butterfish hanging underneath. Birds have been working small bait from East Point, Fisher's Island right across the inner and outer reefs to Watch Hill. The fish are beginning to put the fall feedbag on as the time for a southern migration is now just a month or two away.

I've had a ton of success fishing Zoom Flukes on 1/4-1/2oz. Kalin's jig head or Deadly Dicks. Be sure to keep a rod rigged and at the ready with an unweighted Zoom and lighter flouro leader for when those albies pop up.

September is my absolute favorite month of fishing. My plan from now until November is to get out as often as the wind and work will allow.

My buddy John with the results of our first few casts of the day. The GoPro battery crapped out afterwards.

Fishin' Frogs in Your Local Pond

Fishin' frogs on your local pond in the summertime can be a real blast.  The technique is easy, and often one of the few that work to cover a large amount of the slimy, scummy water that you are likely encounter.  In fact, my local pond gets so scummed over that many people give up this time of year.  I love it!  Nothing beats a bass exploding through pads or scum mats and inhaling a frog.   

 

Many of our local ponds, such as mine, are pretty shallow with little variation in bottom structure.  I'm often targeting bass in 2-3 feet of water in the middle of the pond and the day, as they will hold under the pads and scum rather than the marginally deeper water with less overhead.  Don't be afraid to go shallow!  Skip those frogs under the overhangs, right up to the banks as well.

Zoom Horny Toad

Booyah Pad Crasher



Bass Pro Humpin' Toad 

Live Target

 



Stanley Ribbit

Booyah Poppin Pad Crasher





Scum Frog



 

 

 

There are a ton of different frog lures on the market, from soft bodies like the Zoom Horny Toads, Stanley Ribbits and Bass Pro Humpin' Toads, to hollow bodies like the Livetargets, Spro Bronze Eyes, and the ones I've been fishing a lot, the Booyah Pad Crasher's and Poppin Pad Crasher's.   The techniques are petty easy.  The soft plastics can be fished fast across the top for reaction strikes, or slow enough that they will swim and pause sub surface or even "swim" down to the bottom and back up mimicking real frogs.  Vary your retrieves to see what works.  The hollow bodies are top water and excel at slipping across the heaviest muck you pond can throw at you.  I really like the popping action of the new Booyah.  The one line that I was not at all pleased with was Scum Frog.  Their legs didn't hold up to strikes.

 

Booyah's Poppin' Pad Crasher

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hooking the fish in heavy cover is half the battle.  A thick matt of scum can make a 3lb. bass feel like 10lbs. of dead weight.  Spool up on heavy braid, and when you get the fish boat side, be ready with a net.  You'll have to get under the fish and all of the scum.  The good thing is that the fish usually can't see the net coming.  Lift to hard, and you'll pull the hook or snap your rod tip.

 

 

There's a fish down there somewhere.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

If you hit your local pond in August without an arsenal of frogs, you are just plain crazy!     

Eastern Long Island Sound Fishing 7-28

After dragging myself out of bed Friday at 2:30am only to see that they had upped the wind forecast and issued a small craft advisory, my day finally began around 4:00pm, or about twelve hours later than expected.  I fished Watch Hill and the eastern half of Fisher's out of the Barn Island launch, this time armed with some eels as well as the usual light tackle arsenal, hoping to see numbers like I did last week.  Inner Sugar looked promising, as I marked some decent fish holding close to the bottom.  I fished it from the spindle all the way around Catumb Rocks without any luck.  I watched a few other boats come and go.  Despite the sun still hovering above the horizon, I drifted some eels across the areas I had marked.  While I managed to snag two lobster pots, losing my rigs, I hooked no stripers.  Talk about frustrating. 

 

 

I ran west to East Point (Fishers), where three casts in I had a striper on.  It was a schoolie, but a fish none the less.  After a few more of those, the tide started to let go.  I decided I drag a few tubes tight through the boulder fields.  First pass, two fish on, each headed in different direction, while I was slipping boulders.   I just had to let one run in the rod holder, turning into it to avoid rocks while trying to reel on the other.  The first one came in quickly and was a schoolie that I popped off ASAP as I wanted to try and recover my other rig.  I cranked in line and came tight on the second fish, still on. From the initial hit, I was expecting bigger, but this guy was just over the keeper limit.  By this time, the sun was setting and the tide had completely crapped out.  I considered waiting for the flood to pick up, but was just too tired.  I ended up back at the dock trying to catch some sleep before heading out again in the early am. 

 

I was woken as the remaining few boats came in at some point in the night, and from the conversations I could hear, the fishing wasn't as good as it had been earlier in the week. "At least we got a few," said one guy as the last two boats departed.   Maybe the fish were reacting to the pressure changes, and will be back on the by the time I write this.

 

By 4:30, I was dropping back in and headed out to the reefs.  I had some tide left on Watch Hill, and it wasn't long before I was into some big blues.  This was all blind casting, as I wasn't marking nor were there any birds to be seen.  As a matter of fact, this season has been characterized by the complete lack of birds working big schools of bait on the outer reefs.  Maybe it's just been my timing, but I've never out so many times and seen so few birds working. 

 

As the tide on Watch Hill died out, I ran west to Race Point.  On the way I spotted this really beautiful schooner a few miles south of the coast.  I ran out to take a few pics.  Race point was dead.  The Helen III and a few other boats were drawing blanks.  I didn't see a fish landed in 45 minutes.  I'm not sure why she was there instead of with the weekend fleet at Valiant Rock, or over in Plum Gut which has been full of bluefish.  The guys on that boat may as well have been jigging in a desert. Time to head back east.

 

 

The flood tide was now running at Watch Hill, and I expected those blues and birds to be up and chasing bait, but again, nothing.  I fished long enough to see a few boats come and go.  I took a peak east up the coast to Weekapaug and Quonochontaug, before deciding to call it an early day.              

 

 

Eastern LIS Report 7-19-2013

Things have been looking up in the Eastern Long Island Sound.  The effects of the many inland storms are subsiding, and the fishing has really picked back up this past week.  Solid reports of bass have been coming in from most of the reefs from Westbrook right over to Watch Hill.  Greg Myerson landed another monster, 73lbs., a week or so back.  After talking with a few people and seeing some of the screenshots of stacked fish, I couldn't wait to get back out.  Winds have been gentle, and with the heat and humidity over land, nothing beats being out on the water.  Took a trip out yesterday evening, and had some nice topwater action south of Fisher's towards the end of the flood tide.  Bartlet's was slow, as indicated by the complete absence of birds and boats.  Fish were stacked up on the reefs east of Fisher's.  On the way back in, I stopped to chat with Matt and Nicki who were finishing up with the Black Hawk 4-10pm Happy Hour trip.  Charter and party boats were getting their fills of blues out in the Gut and Pigeon.  

Capt. Jack Balint https://www.facebook.com/jack.balint?fref=ts

Capt. Blain Anderson https://www.facebook.com/blaine.anderson.75?fref=ts

 

Weather for the weekend is going to shift a bit, with a front moving in tonight and tomorrow ahead of cold air for the beginning of next week.  Yet another wrinkle in what has been an erratic start to the summer.  Hopefully the fishing will remain decent.

 

From http://www.wunderground.com/MAR/AN/330.html

"Tonight

SW winds 10 to 15 kt with gusts up to 20 kt...diminishing to 5 to 10 kt after midnight. Seas around 2 ft.

Sat

SW winds 5 to 10 kt...increasing to 10 to 15 kt in the afternoon. Seas 2 to 3 ft. A chance of showers and tstms in the afternoon.

Sat Night

W winds 5 to 10 kt...becoming NW late. Seas 1 ft or less. Showers and tstms likely...mainly in the evening. Some tstms may produce gusty winds...heavy rainfall and frequent lightning in the evening.

Sun

N winds around 5 kt...becoming E in the afternoon. Seas 1 ft or less.

Sun Night

NE winds 5 to 10 kt. Seas 1 ft or less."

 

Boat Safety Checks for the week of the July 4th holiday across Connecticut!

This past weekend was a major speeding and boating while intoxicated crackdown by CT DEEP, Coast Guard, state and local law enforcement.  This week, especially the 4th, they will have officers at most of the launches for safety inspections, and issuing $75 fines for each missing item.  Run through your safety gear!

Required Gear
http://www.ct.gov/deep/lib/deep/boating/boating_forms/safetyequipment.pdf
Towing Safety
http://www.ct.gov/deep/cwp/view.asp?a=2686&q=322314&Nav_GID=1620

Eastern LIS Report 6-30-13

My fishing has been so hit or miss.  Only able to get out 1-2 times a week, and with the current weather and a few billion gallons of fresh water dumped into the sound, it's been hard to figure out patterns.  My brother came up from Philly this weekend, and we got skunked today. We ran out of Old Saybrook at 4:30am, but couldn't find the bunker in the mouth of the CT River in any large concentrations. Headed west to Clinton again. Got down there and still couldn't spot any bunker.  Both places were crawling yesterday.  Decided we would have to rely on artificials. The second we tried to move, fog rolled in. We were down to 100ft of visibility in minutes. This was 6:30 in the morning. We crawled back to Saybrook as I didn't want to get run over in my skiff. It sucked. We threw some topwaters on the flats. Zip. By 8-8:30 we discussed calling it a day, but the fog started lifting. Forecasts still had thunderstorms moving in around 10-11am, but I wasn't seeing anything on radar.  I decided to take a peek at Long Sand Shoal. Nothing. Not a bird in the air. On the way back in, lo and behold, big bunker all over. We debated whether to snag a few as the tide was crapping out, and ended up grabbing a half a dozen. We ran over to Hatchet's, but had no tide. I threw one on a line and let it swim. We sat there for forty minutes and drifted a few yards. I told my brother we weren't likely to do much until the tide got going, which meant waiting, and he wanted to get on the road. I started ditching the rest of the baits in the livewell. As I dumped the last one, I caught a big swirl out of the corner of my eye. I had just provided a free meal to a big striper. I quickly reeled in the last bait and pitched it in the area. It was taken in about ten seconds. I let it run for a bit then engaged the reel and came tight. Fish took off down the edge of the reef. It broke me off in the rocks. That was it. Day over.

Reports from a few other boats were that Bartlett's and the Niantic area was also tough, though Valiant Rock in the Race yielded some small bass.  The Blues are MIA, and I worry that many just continued past the LIS as there was so much fresh water dumped in.  

Eastern Long Island Sound Report 6-22-13

What a great day on the Long Island Sound!  The weather was beautiful, and the water is starting to clear up.  I launched out of Niantic around 4:30 Saturday morning, with a plan to fish towards the west, a bit of a change for me.  I had a flood tide on the Super Moon, which didn't seem to make much difference at all.  After the last two weeks, things could only improve.  I started at Bartlets, but it just wasn't firing early, and that's when I threw the plan overboard.   I ran up the north side of Fishers, stopping by the Clumps and on to Wicopessette Pass.  No birds, no bait.  I ran out to Sugar and Watch Hill, figuring that might be turning on again.  I've not had the success fishing the flood tide out there as I have the ebb over the last season or two.  Heading a bit further east, the fluke fleet was in full force, and I saw numerous boats hooking up and bringing fish over the rails.  Fluking is not my thing, so I went back inside Stonington to Jeff's spot that produced last week, and sure enough, landed a few small stripers.  The tide began to ease, and before it quit, I wanted to take another look at Watch Hill.   I could see birds working from the point to the red can as I approached, and was soon hooked into blues busting on the surface.  I was fishing white Zoom Flukes on Kalin jig heads, and landed a number until the tide completely died.  I would loved to stay as the ebb picked up, because I had the sense that Watch and Sugar were primed for some good fishing, but I had to start back.  I hit into more blues at the east end of Fishers, hooking several in the upper 20"-30" range on the same baits.   Flukers were all over the south side of Fishers, and again, were landing fish.  Running out of time, I started back for Niantic.  I got some good reports of bunker and stripers west of the CT River, still up in the Thames and Easter RI to the Cape has just been on fire.  School is now finished, so I'm ready for some serious fishing trips! 

Great night of fishing on the Blackhawk with Capt. Greg Dubrule and crew!

The forecast was for rain and a good ebb tide.  We headed out to Race Point at 8:00pm, and I personally was hoping to finally get in some better fishing, with a shot at some big stripers.  I love going out on the Blackhawk's night trips a few times a month, as it gives me a chance to fish areas I otherwise wouldn't in my skiff, and always holds the opportunity for some really big fish.  With a limited number of angler on these trips, more time is spent fishing and less dealing with tangles, etc. I probably went out on 4-5 of these trips last season, as well as a few Happy Hour 4-10pm excusions, and a Diawa Demo trip.  I can tell you that I came home with a cooler of striper fillets on every one of them, and on three brought home the pool as well.

We had a pretty good group headed out, with several of the guys having done a lot of night drift fishing.  It's not as easy as it seems, or some make it out to be.  If you've fished the Blackhawk, you've heard Capt. Greg's pre-game speech.  Keeping your rig feathered on the bottom during fast drifts without hanging up or collecting other lines takes practice.  Some guys will snag and lose $10 worth of lead and jigs every other drift.  Others will never stay in the strike zone after initial contact with the bottom.  Last night, I think all but 1-2 of the 18 anglers on board had multiple fish.  While I've been on trips where we caught a greater number of fish, I've never been on one where the quality was better. 

I came back with a cooler full of striper fillet's, but I swear Capt. Greg was drifting me over the guppies!  My biggest keeper at around 40" wasn't even going to put me in the top 10.  We had about an hour stretch where each fish over the rail seemed to get bigger than the last.  A guy with a 45 pounder was looking pretty good, and nine nights out of ten would be collecting the pool.  Out of the water comes a 48, followed by a 56 to 57 pound fish.  A few more in the upper thirties and lower forties weren't even in the running.  I can tell you, the mates Matt, Nicki and Alex did an awesome job, as not one of the big fish was lost to tangles, angler inexperience or at the net.  For some reason, Matt just got left out of all of the pictures! 

Thanks for a great trip, and I look forward to fishing with you over the next few weeks.

Eastern LIS Report 6-16-13

Sunday, June 16th
The morning’s trip began much the same as last weeks, with the exception of the fact we now had an outgoing tide as opposed to incoming.  My buddy Jeff and I launched from Avery Point a bit before 5:00am, with the intent of starting the day between Wicopessette and Sugar Reef.  Storms Thursday night had dumped another 4” of rain in the region, and the water remained stained the color of coffee.  The wind was 5-10knots out of the SW, and seas were calm.  Given my last trip, I anticipated tough fishing, and was not disappointed.  This time of year is all about stripers and light tackle fishing.  I’m not that interested in the livelining , and running an 18’ skiff, not in a position to drift the rips looking for fish holding deep.  We were soon sitting on Sugar Reef with a growing number of boats, marking a few fish but not getting any hits.  One or two boats picked up schoolies in the 45 minutes or so we hung around.  Running back inside the reefs towards Fisher’s, I noticed a school breaking the surface and we pulled up for a few casts.  My sudden stop drew the attention of a couple of additional boats who were soon motoring in our direction.  The glimmer of hope didn’t yield any results, and over the next few hours we worked Fisher’s Island Sound to Race Point, and over to Bartlet’s.  A repeat of last week, with the exception that I wasn’t even marking any bait balls above Bartlett’s.  We headed back east and give Watch Hill a last look on the incoming tide, which was about as productive as when we left.  In a final Hail Mary we decided to try back in the salt marshes around Stonington, some of Jeff’s yak haunts.  With an electric motor and push pole, I can fish some skinny water.  The HM paid off, as we finally found fish that wanted to play. While not fifty pounders, these schoolies were ready to smash some topwater poppers.  For the last hour to hour and a half we threw Gibbs Poppers and picked up an number of fish.  While none landed were keepers, it definitely salvaged the day!    

Jeff can only stretch his arms so far.  Maybe if I had a macro lens. 

 

 



Nice day, crappy fishing in the eastern Long Island Sound.

Went out a 5:00am with a buddy and fished the flood in the eastern sound from Watch Hill back west to Bartlett's. The fishing sucked. Thanks to Andrea, the water was the color of black coffee throughout most of the area inside Fisher's. There were a bunch of boats out around Valiant Rock in the Race, as per usual, but I don't fish my skiff out there. Only real signs of life were the bait balls above Bartlett's, but nothing biting. There were a few small blues around the outflow, but I really didn't feel like spending time there. It looks like 4-5" of rain did a number on the bite. Took my friend sightseeing up the Thames and called it a day by 10:00a.m. Maybe it got better on the ebb tide. Hindsight being 20/20, maybe I should have launched in RI and tried for some cleaner water. Maybe I should have just stayed in bed!  Now I have to go rinse everything down:( Hopefully I can sneak out an evening this week, or next weekend's weather will cooperate enough for an Saturday night/Sunday morning trip.

The best part of the day.  It was down hill from here, but hey, I promised to post the bad with the good.  Not even a little fish to make look like big fish!   


 

Fisher's Island Report 6/1/2013

 

The Long Island Sound is quickly filling with bass and blues, with fish close to 60lbs. being taken this past week.  Drifting 3-way rigs with bunker has been the way to go.  While I like to get out and do this every once and a while, it's typically at night and looking for monster bass.  I much prefer light tackle and fly fishing from my skiff, targeting top water bites and fish on the smaller rips and reefs.  I simply can't safely venture out onto the big rips when the tide gets moving, and find it more fun to catch a bunch of 20-30 pound bass on 12-20lb. line setups or my 8wt.  Fisher's Island and its surroundings are usually my go-to spots.  

Saturday morning I overslept, waking at 4:09 a.m., about the time I had planned to arrive at the launch to catch both the start of the outgoing tide and predawn.  By the time I gassed up, stopped at Dunkin Donuts and got on the water it was after 6 a.m.   I decided to bypass the Clumps and make straight for the reefs around Watch Hill.  The wind was finally cooperating, and the run out was smooth.  I arrived to find more than a dozen boats on Sugar, including Jack Balint and Steve Burnett, both with charter trips.  As I mentioned in the past, Jack has been my go to captain when chartering in the LIS, and I'll be headed across to Montauk again with him this fall. 

The tide was flowing nicely, but the fish that you often see breaking on the surface were nowhere to be seen.  I marked a few bait balls, but fishing this reef solo in the Gemma Rose II is tough as I can't let her drift stern first back into the rip.  It's nice when I've got someone aboard so we can take turns casting and holding the boat in position.  I wasn't there long when both Jack and Steve took off west.  This was a clear indication that nothing was going on around here or Watch Hill, as neither would be leaving fish with customers on board. 

I decided against continuing the battle with the current, and started west along the north side of Fisher's.  Last year from mid-May to late July, this area produced solid action along the many reefs and rocky shores, particularly on the ebb.  On this day, the water was filthy and I got nothin' at any of the stops I made until a short fish at North Point.  I worked back along the south side with the same results.  (The fluke fleet was out in force, anchored south of the island.)  By the time I'd circumnavigated Fisher's, Jack and Steve were back on Sugar, and then east to Watch Hill.  I managed another short bass off of Catumb Rocks as the ebb tide was finally giving way. 

I wasn't ready to head in, as despite the slow fishing, it was a really nice day on the water.  Just for the hell of it, I decided to run over to Bartlett's.  By this time, the tide was completely slack, and there were only a few boats anchored fishing scup.  It was time to head back to Avery Point and call it a day.  On the way back, I landed my best catch of the afternoon!  My favorite Bud-n-Mary's (Islamorada, FL) cap blew off.  I motored back around, and as I don't carry a landing net, I leaned over the bow to grab it as I idled forward.  I had my hands on it, but then lost it under the boat.  The prop wash sent it down and I figured it was lost.  I cut my engine and let the Gemma Rose drift with the current.  Sure enough, after a couple of minutes it came up not 20 ft. from the boat.     

 

Conditions:

6/1/13

Mostly Sunny

Wind SW 5-10knots

Seas less than 1 ft.

Outgoing tide

Water Temp 58-59 degrees, dirty

 

Gear Used:

12-20 lb. spinning gear setups

7" Hogy's in amber, pink and white

White Zoom Super Flukes w. Kalin jig heads

247 Squid-Zee in amber

 

      

Bait, bait everywhere, and nary a striper to see. (5/19/13 on the Lower Connecticut River)

Bait, bait everywhere, and nary a striper to see.  I decided to move down river this weekend, despite the stripers still hanging north of Middletown.  This was my first trip to the mouth of the CT River, as I had heard that action was pretty decent around Great Island the last week or so.  After yesterday afternoon's trip cut short (20 min. total) by a problem with the Lowrance, I was back on the water at 5am this morning.  The tide was coming in until about 7:30, and it was dead calm.  I'll never get tired of a sunrise over the water. 

 

I started throwing pearl Sluggos and some swim baits, and had a few swirls and swipes, but no hooksets.  Close to and hour and a half of work did not produce a fish, nor did I see any pulled in by anyone else in the area. I decided to motor north and see what I could find.  A few swirls above the 95 bridge, but I just couldn't get a fish to bite. 

 

Just below Hamburg Cove, the water exploded with herring.  I was marking a school so thick It looked like the bottom was at 10 feet in 30+ feet of water.  Surely, bass had to be beneath.  I dropped  soft plastics through the school, bouncing them of fish as they descended.  I fished swimbaits at every level and sluggos on top.  Nada.  Nothing.  I wasn't marking any big fish either.  Same story with two or three other boats that had been working the school for a while.  Livelining may have been the trick, but also illegal with river run herring. 

   

 

Time running short, I ran back to the mouth where the earlier action repeated itself.  Swirls, but no takers.  I'm sure I could have ground out a fish or two, but I had to be in early.  This was my first, and hopefully last, skunk of the season.

 

Stripers, Police and more.

First good, long trip of the season.  The CT River is full of herring and stripers!  Put in Friday evening at Rocky Hill around dusk.  Lot was about full.  Just north I hit the flotilla of boats catching stripers either anchored doing the soak and sit or casting.  I hate fishing in big groups, so I decided to run north.  Went as far as the Farmington before I began working back down.  There were herring and stripers scattered the whole way. I was tossing a few different soft plastics, pencil poppers, Bomber A-Salts and some other similar type lures.  Picked up a number of schoolies and fish in the low 30's.  When I got tired of casting, I'd switch over to trolling a big jointed surface plug and a sub-surface swimmer in a herring pattern.  Hits on those as well.  I'd occasionally snag herring on the trolling lures, and as tempting as it was to liveline, threw 'em back. 

 

The fishing wasn't the only interesting activity.  Sometime around midnight at the mouth of Wethersfield Cove, I heard several sets of brakes lock for 2-3 seconds before a series of crashes on 91.  By about 2:00 am, I arrived back at the Rocky Hill launch.  There was one guy packing up on the dock, and mine was the only trailer left.  I pulled my boat, stowed some gear, and crawled into the back for a nap before heading back out.  I remember waking when the rain started a bit after three.  It was loud as hell on the truck cap roof.  I dozed off again.  I was awakened less than an hour later by a door shutting, voices, and flashing blue lights.  I couldn't see a damn thing through the fogged windows.  I cleared a small patch and peered out at the three squad cars surrounding a vehicle not fifty feet from me.  Cops were questioning the two occupants.  Not wanting to just pop out behind them, I tried unsuccessfully to go back to sleep.  Thirty minutes later, as as another fisherman was pulling in, I decided it was time to get back out. 

 

Pretty much took the same approach as earlier, with a lot less success.  Caught some fish busting on top around Crow's Point, but otherwise it was pretty slow. A few schoolies.  I talked with several guys who where getting shut out.  When I returned to the launch, there where only a dozen or so trailers, and I probably saw most all of those boats on the river.  I haven't spent near as much time fishing north of Middletown, and I've got to say I'm far more comfortable in the lower part of the river.  All this taken into account, it won't be too long before squid start arriving in the Watch Hill area, and I will say goodbye to the river until November.  This is when the real striper fishing begins!