2018 YEAR REVIEW

Well, the boat is wintered and all of my fishing gear is stowed away till the spring.  Now may be a good time to reflect on the season.

Spring:  I did some casting around the islands in April and May and found some good action on muddy areas that warm up fast.  In June I saw a great night time chunk bite around the islands and in deep water on bunker chunks.  I did not see many days when the bass (or blues) were busting the schools of bunker that were plentiful around the islands.

Summer:  I did not come across very many tailing blues on top in deep water (however I did find them a few times).  Porgy and seabass action was great almost anywhere there was some type of structure.  I did not focus my efforts much on fluke fishing, so I cannot speak to that.

Fall: It was very difficult to find false albacore for me because it seemed whenever I was out, which was mainly weekends there was bad weather which made it impossible to fish let alone travel.  I did fish a lot in the afternoon, which was unproductive most of the time.  The striped bass action was excellent throwing lures and flies around the islands in late October and November.

Throwback Article I Wrote for "Flies and Fins" Site: Atlantic Salmon

Its been a five year quest for Atlantic salmon in CT and I have come up short every trip I made, until this year. Finally after about seven trips to the river and many hours of tying, planning and reading I was presented with a perfect opportunity. The fight didn’t last very long but it was GREAT to feel the tug of an 8lb salmon at the end of my line. It was landed a couple mins later and released unharmed. It would be three days till my next trip to the river. The water was high and the fish were scattered and hard to find. I entered into a new pool that I have never fished, with little expectation. As I stripped the line from my 8wt Tioga I turned and saw some nice riffles that looked promising. There was a glare on the water that would not allow me to see anything past my boots. I casted across the river so that my fly would swing down and across the riffles. The salmon hit hard and took off. My Fenwick bowed with the tension brought on by the tenacious lunges the salmon made. Soon the fight was over and the fish was in. I was truly lucky, two salmon in three days after five years with no luck. Could this day be any better? The salmon was released quickly and swam off unscathed. I took a deep breath and debated calling it a day. No way. I began blind casting and letting fly swing. Five casts later my line came to subtle pause, I stripped to be sure. Yes! Fish! But the take was so subtle there was no way this was a salmon. As the broom like tail broke the surface and swept across current there was no doubt in my mind this was a salmon, a large salmon. Fifteen minutes passed with little gain on my part. This was a tough fish, the biggest I have seen. I heard a voice ring out to me. Two men armed with fly rods, a trout net, and big grins stared back at me as I continued to battle. “Could you use a hand landing em?” they sounded. “I thought you’d never ask.” It was another ten mins before the fish came close enough to attempt a landing. As soon as they saw the distance between the tail fin and pectoral fin they said it wouldn’t fit in the dinky net. This I knew already but didn’t want to count my eggs. Soon the fish came close enough for a swift tale grab. The Half hour slug fest was finally over and I had the fish I have been waiting five years to land. She was a beauty. I will never forget that day. I couldn’t have done it without the help of two friendly strangers. I had never worked so hard for a fish in my life.

CT ATLANTIC SALMON "A FIVE YEAR QUEST" ARTICLE ON FLIES AND FINS

November 4th, 2018 1st Blackfish! Schoolies! GYOTAKU!

There was 5 of us fishing from a friends boat out of my same Marina.  We encountered something  rather unusual, on our way out of the harbor; a piping plover, or possibly a woodcock was getting attacked (knocked out of the air) by a hawk or falcon.  The bird kept getting hit by the raptor every time it tried to make a break for it.   While this was all going on there were schoolies breaking all around us.  At one point we had a quintuple hook up!  Once we had our fill, we switched to black fishing.  This was my first time, and I was pretty excited.  We motored up to the spot.  Dropped two anchors to hold us in place, and dropped out crabs down on jig heads.  Right away we had action, with many nibbles, and misses.  It wast too long before a few came over the gunnel.  This was a totally foreign way of fishing to me.  I thought it was pretty interesting that the fish were literally just 10' beneath the hull.  We broke off the legs of the crab and then split the shell down the middle with scissors, or a knife.  We primarily used 1/2 crabs at a time since they were quite large for the most part. I learned to drop my jig to the bottom and let it just rest on the bottom with out much movement, waiting for the tap tap tap.  Once I felt that I had to resist the urge to swing.  Instead, I waited for the line to actually move off, then set the hook.

I thought this was a good opportunity to try out my Gyotaku supplies, that I had bought a while back.  I find it hard to justify killing fish, since they are so much more valuable in the water, where they are able to reproduce, however the plan for the day was to grab a couple for the dinner table.  So when I got home I used a paper towel to wipe all the slime away, then I painted the skin and fins of the fish with watered down acrylic paint, and then I also tried actual sumi ink, which is traditionally used for this type of printing.  I bought various types of rice paper, and mulberry paper.  Turns out the least expensive roll of rice paper from amazon worked the best.  I also learned that not putting the ink on too thick was key.  Sometimes wiping excess off was necessary.  I am going to have to go back and add in the details such as the coloring of the fish and the eye.

November 12, 2018 Solo Schoolies On the Fly

I started out of the harbor at 9am and headed East where I knew there were blitzs.  I didn't have to travel too far before coming across many birds and busting schoolies.  They were not particular on what they wanted, and feverishly ate the popper fly, and white rubber shad I threw at them.  It was a lot of fun and action packed the entire time I was out.

FROSTY

ALL ABOUT THIS SIZE

STACKED

CLEAR

ME ALMOST DROPPING MY WHOLE RIG IN THE WATER 

October 26th, 2018 Stripers Blitzing Consistently Around Islands Before and During Noreaster

I went out with a buddy for an afternoon casting session.  We were rewarded with many schoolie striper blitzes in a few different locations.  I tied up some flies the night before to mimic the peanut bunker that is plentiful in our area right now, that I knew the stripers would love to munch on.  We used 8 and 9 weight set ups.

As it got darker, We casted top water around structure and I got a huge blow up on my spook, then the fish immediately started pulling drag for about 5 seconds.  Then it spit the hook.  I think I lost a keeper sized bass, up to a 20lber.  This time of year you can be rewarded with a quality bass when you put the time in casting lures around structure.

The water temp. is in the mid 50s for the most part, which the bass love.  It makes them want to eat, and thats what they have been doing!

There are a lot of boats togging around the islands, doing pretty well.  I have not yet given it a shot, but I know it is action packed fishing.

I also went out the next day during the storm.  There was  a lot of birds in the harbor diving after peanut bunker that were fleeing attack from schoolies below.  There were about 6-7 anglers fishing from shore that had done pretty well.  My plan was to fish the harbor as the tied dropped.  I thought that the bass and peanut bunker would filter out and continue feeding into the harbor.  That plan did not come to fruition. We were pelted with rain and hit with wind the entire time which made fishing very difficult among the 3' swell.

CONCLUSION: The pre-Noreaster bite was much better than during the noreaster

October 22, 2018 Albies Leave + Striper Bite Turns On

WIND and Temperature Drops Cause Albies to Leave and Striper Bite to Turn On.

We have seen both day and night time temperatures drop significantly over the last week from daytime highs in the 70's to now 50's and nighttime highs in the 50's to now in the low 30's.  Along with the temperature drop, there has been a consistent 15mph or better wind that has made it difficult to fish outside of the islands since last Tuesday!  There have been steady 2' waves outside.  The water temps have dropped from the mid 60's to the low to mid 50's!

The boats that are fishing are mostly forced to fish inside the islands for stripers and blues.  The boats that are going outside are mainly anchoring for tog with pretty good results.  I have friends that are limiting out on Tog in 1-2 hours.

As a result of the huge temperature swing, the albies have unfortunately been filtering out, although I have heard of some being caught just east of here as of Friday.  I think the best albie fishing in our area is behind us at this point.  However the temperature drop has sparked a local feeding frenzy of schoolie stripers inside the islands, which can be seen blowing up on peanut bunker in the mornings and evenings.  There have been a good amount of birds on them, so finding them shouldn't be a problem.  I have noticed that the better striper fishing is usually out of the wind in the harbor and smaller coves that are hidden.

October 13th, 2018 Blitzs, Bill, Brian, Blues, Burts, and Stripers too!

Bill with his first Albie

Started out fishing at 6:30.  We didn't even have to leave the slip to come across schoolie size bass and tailor blues attacking the huge school of peanut bunker.  We spent about an hour messing around with these little guys.  Then shot out to behind the islands to cast plugs for stripers, but we were not that successful, most likely due to the fact that it was almost dead low tide.
We then headed to Westport (thanks to a friend who called us) to look for albies.  We instantly came a cross multiple pods, and began chasing them around a bit.
Then the schools broke up a bit and spread out, which made getting a cast into them more difficult.  Once we did, we started hooking up.  The birds were hot on the tails of any albie action beginning to erupt, which is something I have not witnessed on the CT side locally up until now.  I did see it on the LI side, however prior.  The wind kicked up from the West, and so did the waves.  We headed in for 12 with 2 albies, multiple small blues and multiple small stripers under our belt for the day.

Brian with his first Albie

Didn't have to go far to find awesome action

Hooked up!

October 11th, 2018 Albie Observations 2018

Afternoon Bite Sucks!

On days when the morning through mid day bite is on fire (locally), and across on LI, the afternoon bite has consistently  been awful.  It is a miracle to find a couple of fish, let alone hook them.  Meanwhile during the day friends are reporting catches of 6-15 albies.


Albie Observations for 2018...

• 9am-2pm is best when tide is moving
• Slack high, or slack low shuts off bite completely
• If you go fishing in afternoon/evening, consider yourself lucky to see 1-2 small pods
• Color of lure does not matter
• Consistent mild weather patterns produce best...ex. a few days of the same wind produce best
• If the wind switches directions drastically the bite shuts off completely for that entire day
• Light west or north wind is best. South Wind is ok if its not greater than 10mph.  EAST WIND SUCKS!!!
• Bright sunny days are best.  Cloudy/rainy days are no good
• If the waves and wind are greater that 10 mph and greater than 1-2' don't bother fishing
• Move the boat only to close distance, don't run and gun
• By the time you get to the pod you saw breaking they will be down, hope for a second feeding in the same area
• Fluorocarbon size does not matter.  I have caught them on 12lb, my friend has caught them on 25lb
• There have been many small pods of 1-5 fish where the fish are feeding over a large area
• I have only seen 1 or 2 larger pods of 50 or more fish feeding together
• The fish are staying near structure and running the shoreline in 3'-40' of water

October 3-9th, 2018

Nice, calm, Days Produce.  Windy, choppy, overcast days don't.

I spent a total of 17 hours on the water over the last 4 days with very limited success.  After hearing a very promising report from a good friend, I fished with my wife on a very calm days with partly cloudy skies on the outgoing tide.  We had fish inside and outside the islands.  What started out as a few fish popping here and there later turned into many fish (mainly 1-3) fish popping quite often. 

 My wife caught one fist cast and landed it quickly. We branched off from that area and went to deeper water where we found a pod of probably 50 albies feeding ferociously.  My wife hooked up, then dropped it.  I, then hooked up and landed one on a small Sebile stick shad.  Never had tried that lure before but it provided me with several fish and a few more follows that day.  

We also drove to LI, but were late to the party because when we got there it seemed as though the action was tapering off.  So we came back to the islands and found fish feeding.  We had a steady pick till the outgoing tide reached slack, which is when all action died completely.

I went out Friday afternoon with high hopes after hearing the same spots where hot again.  I couldn't find the fish, probably because it was slack when I went out.  I waited around and kept looking.  Finally found a small pod working an area where are large amount of water moves through the islands.  I could not connect because I was bombarded with 6 boats on the same pod in seconds of them popping up.

Saturday, the wind shifted South and it really messed up the albie bite locally.  The strong wind from the South made the water get churned up and 2 footers were the norm all day.  I had to focus my efforts in and around the islands, which I used as shelter to hide from the swells.  I went out again later in the day with similar results...no albies.  However a lot of bunker schools showed up just East of the Islands.  There had been reports of some stripers and blues on them.  We snagged and dropped a few bunker and they were chewed up by blues.  We ended the evening by catching a 6lb blue on a deadly dick casting around the bunker schools.

Sunday the wind let up, I went out in the afternoon from 3-6pm.  I drove from the islands to Stratford.  The day before was apprently stellar.  Sunday morning there were also fish seen breaking inside the islands, however, again when I went out, there were no albies seen, let alone caught.

Monday the wind shifted again from the East which created 3-4 swells inside the islands which made navigating difficult, let alone nearly impossible to spot an albie breaking the surface with all the whitewater.  There were no albies seen, once again.

Tuesday's report from friends was there was fish everywhere.  The one conclusion I can make it that the nicer the weather, the better the albie fishing locally.  Anytime the wind kicks up over 10mph and changes directions drastically the fish really seem to hate that.  It is also very evident that they are not showing themselves whenever the waves are greater than 1' chop.

Another observation that I have made is that they are not too line shy, and indiscriminate when it comes to lure selection or color.  So far this year I have caught them on 15lb yellow powerpro main line, 12lb test fluorocarbon, 7/8 oz Hogy epoxy jigs in purple, pink, bone, olive, fluorescent yellow

I love fishing with my wife! She is the most enthusiastic and vocal fisherman that I know (besides myself) and that makes it so much fun.  Not to mention I have never met anyone that gets bit so quickly and easily.  She routinely casts into the mix and hooks up in the first try.

Huckleberry  with  an albie.

BASS AND BLUES: Showing up Early morning and evening around bunker schools.  Snag and drop or cast large plugs.

SCHOOLIE BASS: Can be caught casting small lures around islands.  Acion should pick up by later in the month.

ALBIES: HOT action depending on day and weather.

PORGIES and SEA BASS: Drop a jig down almost anywhere there is structure.  You will catch them.

September 30th, 2018 (Tight Lined Slam Tournament) WE WON!

 As I am sitting here staring at my computer on a drairy Tuesday morning I am daydreaming about the amazing weekend I had fishing the 1st annual Tightlined Slam Tournament with a couple good friends.  This weekend was filled with laughs, albies, and a lot of dropped fish!  We thought we were for sure not even going to place in the tournament, because of the below average sized striped bass and bluefish that we caught.  However we were pleasantly surprised, later at the awards ceremony when it was announced that we we won first place for the team category.

We focused the mornings from 6am-8am on casting lures around the islands hoping to get a few large striped bass or blues, but that just did not happen.  The biggest striped bass we got was about 21-22" and the biggest bluefish we got were 17-18".  We spent the majority of the day focused on chasing down albies and targeting bluefish by finding bunker schools and throwing plugs around them in hopes of eliciting a strike.

Albies: The albies were thick around the islands, but we never saw more than a few fish pop up at the same time.  Mainly just 1-5 fish would feed at once.  We still managed to connect with a few by casting Hogy Epoxy jigs and soft plastics.  We continued searching East and then across to LI.  We were rewarded on LI with a flurry of action, including the only bonito landed of the tournament.  It seemed that there was a school of bonito mixed in with the albies.  We just happen to get lucky.

Striped Bass:  We focused on casting lures around the islands with very little success. 

Bluefish:  We focused on casting big lures into bunker schools.  We probably hit 10-1 bunker schools this weekend with only 2 bunker schools having blues under them.  Of those two schools, we dropped a few that attacked our lures and some just followed our lure but did not commit.

The conditions were perfect on Saturday.  Sunday the wind kicked up and put the albies down apparently.  They were no where to be seen on the CT side and only a few popped up on the LI side.