Although it’s not spring just yet, I wanted to reach out to all of you and keep you updated of some upcoming events, regulations, as well as some fishing information before we kick off the 2010 fishing season.
For starters, there has been much debate, as most of you are well aware of, in regards to the fishing license fees for both fresh and saltwater. Unfortunately, most of this regulation was voted on last year when we were busy fishing throughout the summer. However it’s not too late for your opinion and voices to be heard. I highly encourage all of you that if you are not satisfied with the current laws that are on the books, for you to write your state reps. For your convenience I have attached below four bills that have been proposed on the house floor to lower the current fee structure. If you are in agreement with any or all of these, be sure to write your state representatives to make this happen. We as a group must act together if we are to alter this. I have been very involved with this and thus am available anytime should you have any questions.
http://www.cga.ct.gov/2010/TOB/S/2010SB-00115-R00-SB.htm
http://www.cga.ct.gov/2010/TOB/H/2010HB-05038-R00-HB.htm
http://www.cga.ct.gov/2010/TOB/S/2010SB-00082-R00-SB.htm
http://www.cga.ct.gov/2010/TOB/H/2010HB-05080-R00-HB.htm
The trout stockings that occur around the state should happen within the next few weeks and we will be sure to keep you posted and make you aware as soon as we hear anything. This year we have almost tripled our freshwater fly selction, so have no fear, we will have the go to pattern when you need it!
On the salt side, we have recently received reports of some massive schools of herring in the Housatonic River. Once we get a solid week of 45-50 degree weather, this river, as it always does in the spring, should light up, so be ready!
Our fly tying classes have been well attended despite conflicts with school vacation and the like. Because of this, we are offering a make up night for anyone who missed a class in any of the sections, which has been scheduled for this coming Wednesday, March 10th and will run from 6:00-8:30, with instructor Captain Matt Gifford. Please drop me an email if you plan on attending. We are also looking for feedback on holding one last class at a more advanced level, if this is of interest, please email me as well and we will see if we can get some dates on the calendar.
Our seminars series will kick off next week with our good friend John McMurray coming up from NYC on March 13th at 11:00. McMurray was recently nominated by the Governor of New York and then appointed by the U.S. Secretary of Commerce to represent New York on the Mid Atlantic Fishery Management Council. His presentation will not want to be missed by any light tackle/fly fishing enthusiast alike. After discussing the tips, tactics & techniques that apply to fishing this very unique body of water, encompassing approximately 10,000 acres of salt marsh, John will briefly touch on some regional as well as some national conservation issues. John is truly a steward when it comes to our great sport, be sure not to miss this one! Lots of cross over to where John fishes as compared to our local waters, so be sure to stop down. RSVP by emailing ejohnson@westportoutfitters.com.
More gear is arriving daily from Simms, Shimano and many other vendors, including Shimano’s new Baitrunner, a host of new freshwater patters and much, much more!
With that folks, I will sign off, but it won’t be long now. It’s been a long winter, so don’t get caught once things turn. Bring your rods/reels down for servicing before the fish arrive. Look forward to seeing you all soon!
Winter 2009-2010
The fishing on both the upper and lower Housey has been on fire, while the jigging out deep remains modest at best, but this could change with any tide.
Locally the trout fishing is heating up as the water temps drop and we continue to get some moisture. So despite some cold and dreary weather there is still much fishing to be had. Should you not want to go fish, come to the party this Saturday...considering it is being held in your honor!
As the bulk of our fishing slows, we will do our best to update the site frequently when the reportts warrant it. Should you be looking for specific information about where to wet a line this winter, please do not hesitate to email ejohnson@westportoutfitters.com or call the shop directly for the most up to date reports at 203.341.9490!
Week of November 13th-November 20th
Before the report, please note our new winter hours.
CUSTOMER APPRECIATION/HOLDAY PARTY IS SET FOR DECEMBER 5TH @ 3:00 sharp. In conjunction with All Seasons Marine this will be an event you will not want to miss. 20% off everything in the store (some restrictions apply), refreshments, kid’s games, prizes and the best food around! RSVP to ejohnson@westportoutfitters.com!
Greetings ladies and gentleman, time for another installment of the W.O. fishing report brought to you today by crew-sergeant and trusty backup - report - author Patrick O’Donnell.
It’s a chilly Thursday at the writing of this report and I just got off the phone with W.O. staff sergeant Kurt Daniello. After punching plugs into the wind along the Rhode Island coast late last night Kurt made it safely home where he is resting his bones…but only to ensure that he can get back out on the water this afternoon to work on quenching his trout fix.
I hate to belabor the obvious but get out there while the weather is decent and the fish are eating… fresh and salt alike, because it won’t be long before the baits gone, the streams freeze and snow blankets the ground…meaning heavy doses of YouTube fishing videos and time at the fly-bench are in the foreseeable future.
Just so we’re all clear there is some genuinely fine winter fishing in Connecticut…the Housatonic bass, Naugatuck salmon and Farmington trout come to mind. But really folks what I’m trying to say is… who doesn’t want to sit down for Thanksgiving with striper-thumb…I know I do. I’m almost really positive Kurt wants year-round striper-thumb and I know Eric craves trout-thumb, if there is such a thing.
I can promise this report will be exceptionally accurate on two fronts today. First, there are still stripped bass and blues lurking and eating with confirmed reports of bass being brought to rail from Milford to Fairfield. Some are cookie-cutter 27” bass, others are the obese 36” variety. Secondly, at the writing of this report by this time next week you and I will be getting ready to chow-down on some delectable Thanksgiving fare. That’s a safe bet.
Call me crazy Carl, but the mental image of the two notions I just touched on, of a striped bass gobbling down on a fly/lure/tube/chunk coupled with the thoughts of sitting down for Thanksgiving grub in all of its glory, well…if that doesn’t make you want to crack your knuckles and go earn your keep-er, (as mouths collectively salivate)… and get up and go…lets be honest go consult a healthcare professional if your not mentally drooling, because Thanksgiving and striped bass are about as good as it gets. Fish talk…
The striped bass bite has remained hot near 28C and 11B with the dropping tides seeming to produce the best this past week for diamond jigging the edges. Blues are mixed in as well, most of which have been in the 8lb-10lb class. Nice fighting fish.
Bass and blues are still being pulled from inshore spots, with chunks and plugs fooling bass at Sherwood Island throughout the week. Burying Hill and Frost Point are good bets too, and throughout the week we’ve had reports of blues pinning bait against the shore at these spots. In the coming weeks keep your eyes peeled for more surface activity near Compo and Sherwood Island, those of you wading should also check out South Pine Creek…good things.
The Housatonic River and neighboring Long Beach in Stratford are both yielding consistent bass and blues for those tossin’ flies and throwing top water plugs. Again, the dropping tide has been a good bet, with mostly cookie-cutter bass. However, working inside the river has been productive and is a known avenue for shots at monster bass.
Often overlooked, the wintering habitat for big-ocean run striped bass happens to be the Housatonic, and as a result every year well after Thanksgiving a handful of anglers land lots of really nice fish on bulky deceivers, Rattle-traps, Storm Shad and bullet-head bucktail jigs.
Just recently I spent an afternoon on the Housatonic with Captain Chris Elser and while we didn’t hook up with any record breaking fish, we had our fill of consistent rod bending 22”-27” bass on deceivers and bunny flies. While we couldn’t determine exactly what bait was holding in the river, I can tell you when it was all said and done we had brought well over a dozen fish to the rail, all without venturing to far from the launch.
Like I was saying, Captain Elser is one of those fishermen who will pull big bass from the Housatonic long after many lesser fishermen have retired their rods to the shed. Just something to think about; Long Beach will usually foster the wandering bass from the river and is an easy wade at low tide. Just an idea for a sunny day in December…
The blackfish are still being caught fast and furious. The worms and crabs are both working equally well on these feisty, tasty fish. Spots of interest and consistent action have been Buds Reef, Great Reef and the humps south of Greens Ledge. Middle Ground has productive as well, especially for the bigger togs – some reports of togs there pushing 12lbs. I don’t get to say this often but when I do it makes me smile. That’s a Big Tog. Also, Middle Ground is starting to hold butterfish…get out there while there still around because bass love butterfish. Butterfish do not love bass.
Well, that about does it for this week. Good luck on the water wherever it is you chose to wet a line. Have a nice Thanksgiving from all of us at W.O. and don’t forget to mark your calendar for the customer appreciation/open house fiesta on December 5th. I’m going to be in Spain for Thanksgiving visiting my sister; so probably no striper-thumb for me but I’m still going to wet a line in the Mediterranean. Tight lines!
"I used to like fishing because I thought it had some larger significance. Now I like fishing because it's the one thing I can think of that probably doesn't” – John Gierach
Week of November 5th- November 13th
PLEASE CHECK UNDER THE "NEWS" TAB FOR OUR FALL/WINTER HOURS!
CUSTOMER APPRECIATION/HOLIDAY PARTY IS SET FOR DECEMBER 5TH @ 3:00 sharp. In conjunction with All Seasons Marine this will be an event you will not want to miss. 20% off everything in the store (some restrictions apply), refreshments, prizes and the best food and company around! RSVP to ejohnson@westportoutfitters.com!
Well folks, we are still at it despite the fact that each and every day we are pulling more boats out of the water which clearly is an indication that guy/gals throughout the Western Sound are hanging up the rods and breaking out the vices to tie some flies or getting the neoprene’s ready for points north for some trout, salmon and steelhead fishing. Staying consistent with the past few reports, the fish are on the move. I personally feel we still have not seen the bigger waves of fish that will hopefully push through. As mentioned also over the past few weeks, you need to be in it to win it, meaning that if you are limited by weather and other duties, you may just miss out.
Locally, the stripers and bluefish are still around in our waters with positive reports coming from those hardcore guys lucky enough to be in the right place at the right time. Migrating fish don’t stay in one place for too long of a time so bouncing around from one favorite spot to another is the strategy to use this time of year.
Recent intel from Montauk indicates some solid action on school size bass and monster blues reports Brian Cilento, with quite a mix of baitfish being regurgitated including sand eels, silversides and peanuts. Kurt did well on Sunday jigging at 11B with blues up to 11lbs. Reliable sources in Rhode Island report some good bass in the 30 pound range being caught from Newport to Point Judith on top water plugs. Finally some big bass to chase!! That’s good news for us because, with any luck some of those big girls will move through our neck of the woods soon. As long as there are still blues and bass to our east then the potential for good fishing here should remain fairly strong.
The blackfish bite is still hot with green grabs and jigging for these fish as well. We had a report on Monday when the weather was picture perfect of a haul of fish off of Green’s Ledge that produced some 9lb togs. Great stuff guys!
Looking back at our season reminds me that we really started out with a bang in the spring with some of the best early season action that we have seen in a number of years. The abundance of sand eels and the unprecedented amount of time that they hung around helped that situation tremendously. The middle season was pretty good to great depending on your fishing methods with the tube and worm guys really hitting it pretty hard. The adult bunker situation was pretty disconcerting this year with schools being few and far between. A limited number of schools of big bunker were hanging around Milford, Bridgeport and Fairfield for several weeks over the summer offering some good shots at big blues and bass but not enough for my liking. All in all though not a bad season and we still have good potential for more late season action on bluefish and with any luck some giant bass to go out with the same kind of bang that we started with.
Now I know that this may be all pretty grim but here at the shop we are still hitting it hard. If your boat is out, check out the many beaches locally. With unfettered access, you are sure to find fish somewhere and don’t be afraid to be impatient. At this time of year it is acceptable!
We are already putting the spring seminar series together which will be better than ever. With the overwhelming success of our fly fishing schools with Lou Tabory this past season, we have decided to take it to the next level and I am personally working with Lou to get the calendar set, but as of right now we are looking at 8 classes!! Nowhere will you find this level of commitment, flexibility in dates and convenience. These will be posted to the site over the next few weeks in time for the holidays since these classes will make great gift ideas.
Don’t forget that our Annual Customer Appreciation/Holiday Party will be held on December 5th here at the shop and spill over into the back. We are holding it this year in conjunction with the guys from All Seasons Marine Works, so be sure to RSVP to ejohnson@westportoutfitters.com. Lastly, our fly tying classes with Captain Matt Gifford are almost done so stay tuned for that. We will also be holding a few open nights where you can just bring a vice and some cool new ideas and share with other anglers.
With that folks we will sign off for this week but keep the faith, there is still much fishing to be had. If you are already checked out, come on down and lounge on the couch and watch some cool fishing videos to hold you over.
Week of October 30th-November 5th
PLEASE CHECK UNDER THE "NEWS" TAB FOR OUR FALL/WINTER HOURS!
Before the report this week we want to make you all aware that we are stocking live eels, so for those of you that participate in drifting these favorite striper candies, come on down!
GOT FLIES? WE DO!! We have just completely restocked are saltwater fly case with the most productive fall patterns, so come on down and restock your boxes and don’t forget to get the new W.O. stickers for your fly box, stripping baskets, bumpers and anywhere else you deem worthy.
Holiday/Customer Appreciation Party/SALE is set for December 5th @ 3:00 P.M. Please email ejohnson@westportoutfitters.com to RSVP!
Salutations everyone, W.O. crew member Patrick O’Donnell at the helm for another installment of the fishing report. Well November has arrived and besides the football hoopla there’s clearly something else that could influence your weekend plans, and so I would be foolish not to start the report with a brief overview of the pending weather conditions. Thursday is calling for rain and Friday is looking to be pretty gusty, you can get out early when the weather hasn’t picked up. Regardless, we’re on an enjoyable collision course for a sunny weekend with highs in the upper 50’s. The marine forecast is calling for west winds and a warm front, I’m calling for striped bass and bent rods… you’ll see why…
Let’s be honest folks. Saturday, Sunday and the beginning of next week are looking like near-perfect fall fishing days, the kind we here at W.O. drool over. Nonetheless, I know some of you still doubt that this fall will shape-up, rightly so based on the following October grumblings... “C’mon, nor’easters?…inshore is dead- no bait…the bass left town,” or “Pat… this fall season has been slow, snotty weather and no blitzes…” Yeah, we were all left scratching our heads; we know the weather downright stunk through much of October. The inshore fishing wasn’t anything to write home about. We’ve been there and done that, I’m here to squash the gloom. Actually…the baits here to squash it, but you get what I mean.
Well sure enough, ‘these times they are a changing’…and believe-you-me, peanut bunker on the move, from outflows to rips, mean striped bass are putting the feed bag on. I repeat, Feed- Bag -On! Reports are coming in hot and heavy as of Wednesday of bass at Burying Hill, blitzes in Southport, bait and swirls off of Compo and our trusty old pal Penfield is starting to consistently produce blues, with bass at low-light.
The All Seasons crew for which Eric pinch-hits is hauling boats and doing daily reconnaissance, reporting birds and bait around Cockenoe and Sprite Island. With activity close to shore along Compo and Sherwood; swirls, diving birds, spraying bait the whole gamut. Nicky from All Seasons reported activity at the mouth of the Saugatuck while John reported seeing feeding frenzies between Cockenoe and Copps Rocks. These are October type sightings and yet due to Mother Nature - things have been backed up a bit. Remember how long the June fishing lasted? Remember why? Weather was brutal. You see where I’m headed. A recap is in order.
Heading into this past weekend Captain Michael reported slammer blues in skinny water behind Goose Island and birds working on feeding teeth at Eaton’s neck. Cruising fish were being picked off here and there with no real regularity by patient fisher people. Thus far the deep water jigging has been steady for big blues and bass, 28C has been producing the best it seems, with white buck tails working as well. Live eels have been working in rocky edges and peanut bunker in Norwalk harbor was the talk of the town, so moving into this week…
Flies and light tackle plugs are really starting to get it done in low-light, and bottle darter plugs are getting hammered from Westport up to Stratford when slung from jetties and rock piles. Reports are trickling in about bass looming outside Short beach waiting for the light change. October is in the rear view mirror, so is the average fishing. Think I’m exaggerating? Shame on you – the report!
Shop customer Gianfranco Zaffina was just in Wednesday reloading his arsenal after he spent Tuesday at Burying Hill being the-boss to the-bass. After he spotted balled schools of peanut bunker pinned against the beach at high tide during the day, (and subsequently hooked numerous schoolies), he returned at dusk and got it done…W.O. style; with some topwater plugs that yielded some robust keeper bass up to 31”.
“Bait everywhere” is how Mr. Zaffina put it. Roger that. Wednesday night he came into the shop to obtain and soon there after begin slinging’ eels at a local bass watering-hole, now that’s time on the water! Gianfranco didn’t shy away from telling me that some blues were mixed in on Tuesday, and a fellow angler near him landed several couple 8lbs. blues into the night. Rest assured Gianfranco is headed back… and it gets better…
A shop regular, Pete Callahan was in browsing on Wednesday and reported a terrific day from the kayak on Tuesday. Lure of choice was a Storm Shad and fishing in Norwalk harbor he caught over a dozen bass, many of which hit right next to the yak in relatively shallow water. Way to go Pete!
Fly tosser and shop customer Andy Vigneron reported he was fishing around Penfield early Wednesday morning where he was greeted by a rising sun and bluefish eagerly eating the fly. As the hooked quarry came to shore Andy noted that in curious pursuit of his catch were some above-average sized striped bass. Guess where Andy will be at dusk…
Around lunch time on Wednesday Captain Steve Tiffinger came in off the water to report hoards of peanut bunker outside Southport harbor and on the adjacent flats off Southport beach. Copious amounts of striped bass up to 27” fell at his hand, and some feisty blues were mixed in for good measure. Captain Steve will be back at it tomorrow morning…rain or shine folks, rain or shine.
It was stated in an earlier report that the blackfish season this fall was taking a turn towards epic-town. Yeah well, now the blackfish have started a housing development in the county of Epic. George DiCostanzo and a friend went out Sunday morning with five dozen worms and three dozen green crabs, when I spoke with George on Wednesday he reported that they caught so many fish at Buds Reef that they ran out of bait. That gives you a sense of what the blackfish are up to…they’re eating!
Well ladies and gents, that’s about it for this week. The fishing is finally showing some signs of consistency, peanut bunker and silver sides are starting to get pinned on structure and bass and blues are in the midst of ambush mode.
But make no mistake about it; the people catching fish these days are the ones who are putting their time in on the water. That’s not to say you can’t cash in on schoolies ravaging bait at Compo during the day, but if you want a shot at a big-boy-fall-keeper-grab’n-grin-photo-slob-bass you need to fish the low-light and find the bait, which requires time! Get out there, the weather this weekend should be perfect, we have good tides for fishing and I think the bait will remain fairly concentrated. Get out there and enjoy the beautiful autumn fishing because there’s no better time to be on the Sound. Tight lines – we’ll see you out there!
"Something to think about: If you fish the wrong fly long and hard enough, it will sooner or later become the right fly." -- John Gierach Now go set SOME!!
Week of October 23th-October 30th
Before the report this week we want to make you all aware that we are stocking live eels, so for those of you that participate in drifting these favorite striper candies, come on down! Also, we just received a new shipment of SEA ROCK JIGS...you want them, we got them, but they won’t last long…and the Albies won’t be here much longer either, so come on down!
GOT FLIES? WE DO!! We have just completely restocked are saltwater fly case with the most productive fall patterns, so come on down and restock your boxes and don’t forget to get the new W.O. stickers for your fly box, stripping baskets, bumpers and anywhere else you deem worthy.
The weather has finally broken at least for the time being. We have spent a lot of time on the water this week from New Rochelle to the shop here getting boats picked up. Although windy and rainy, we consistently have been seeing a ton of bird activity along the coastline, so get on out there before the snow flies.
Where are the fish? A question asked throughout the season and usually answered with confidence based on personal catches and reliable reports from trustworthy friends and customers. During our spring run the question was easily answered with “they’re in all the usual places” but now in what should be the height of the fall migration the reports are few as are the personal catches. So where are the fish anyway?
I’m afraid the answer may lye in a can of worms that I’m not ready to open and wrap my head around yet but let me just say that we should all cherish the fish we catch (including bluefish) and go above and beyond to release our fish with no harm when possible.
Fishing is always a gamble, like a pull on the slot machine or buying a couple of lottery tickets you never know what you are going to get until you play. During the fall run you need to buy a lot of tickets. The fish are on the move and you need to be on the water in order to intercept a few. You will end up doing more fishing than catching (as usual) but that is the name of our beloved pastime and it’s what we do.
The general consensus about the remainder of the striper and bluefish season is by many very, very optimistic. We all feel that some good fish should move through our waters over the next two weeks with resident Housie fish offering the same consistent action that they often do over the next few months.
The best advice that I could give you to put yourself on some blues and bass this month is to keep your eyes and ears open, fish where you know fish have been recently, if they are not there when you try for them move to the south a bit and try again. The river mouths, harbor entrances and other outflows with rocks near by are good bets. Some places I would try right now would be the mouth of Milford Harbor, Charles Island, the mouth of the Housie and Penfield Reef. Most importantly keep a line in the water as often as possible as long as possible, fish with confidence, and have fun.
Orlando continues his reign and stopped in to tell us about a 10 plus pound tog he had this past week off of Greens Ledge in Norwalk. The guys fishing some of the structure off of Bridgeport have reported in that the haul on blackfish has been even better than last year with fish consistently pushing the 7lb mark.
Steve Elliot fished over the weekend and was able to jig up some nice blues in the 10-11lb range out by 28c. After moving in tight he had schools of blues in the 5-6lb range that would only take soft plastics. Coming back closer to home he was able to tube up a few bass in the river to 29 inches. Good getting out Steve!!
Cory C. from the ASMW crew stopped in to say the jigging out towards 28C was good for him too, including two keeper bass to 33 inches and blues to 15lbs!
Dave called in a report from Monday of this week where there were birds working off of Southport Beach and with the long roods was able to stick two bass just shy of 28 inches.
Jumping over to freshwater where the action there is picking up almost daily. Many opportunities to angle exist in our state this time of year with shots at some beautiful fish. The local rivers are holding some really nice trout right now as are the big two up-state. Don’t neglect the W.T.M.A.s throughout the state that offer solitude and some real gems with fins. The Saugatuck Reservoir offers some dynamite walleye and seeforellen fishing through Nov.and Dec.with chances for double-digit fish. Big pike are on the prowl in the CT River coves, the brood stock salmon are waiting for you on the Naugy this time of year as well, and ice fishing is just around the corner.
In fact there is not a day that passes in our state where we couldn’t be wetting a line and catching a fish or two, so if fishing is your thing, bundle up and enjoy some of the great fishing over the rest of the cold weather season.
Chris Doeberl reports in that after Saturday’s rain it left both the Housatonic and the Farmington high and difficult to wade. The Houssy was just about 1000 cfs and the Farmington was 650 cfs. . Sunday there was some serious insect activity with a large olive hatch in the afternoon but no rising fish. All of the fish he caught was sub surface on Prince Nymphs and pheasant tails I imagine that the water will drop by mid week and the fishing will be excellent. On the plus side with the rain, the near by brooks and streams are fishing well.
Well folks that is about it and to be honest with you, the reports are starting to dwindle as some folks begin to pack it in, however here at the shop, we are busy restringing reels and tying flies for what is yet to come and believe me, there is plenty of great fishing left, so come on down and get out there!!
Week of October 16th-October 23th
Before the report this week we want to make you all aware that we are stocking live eels, so for those of you that participate in drifting these favorite striper candies, come on down! Also, we just received a new shipment of SEA ROCK JIGS...you want them, we got them, but they won’t last long…and the Albies won’t be here much longer either, so come on down!
Our Lou Tabory event scheduled for October 24th has been SOLD OUT! Please get on our email distribution list, if you are not already, so you will be the first to know when we launch these ever-increasing schools in the spring, as well as our seminar series.
GOT FLIES? WE DO!! We have just completely restocked are saltwater fly case with the most productive fall patterns, so come on down and restock your boxes and don’t forget to get the new W.O. stickers for your fly box, stripping baskets, bumpers and anywhere else you deem worthy.
Well hello there everyone, W.O. crew member Patrick O’Donnell doing the writing of the report today on yet another beautiful late-October day. With fingers crossed it looks as if the next week should welcome in some relatively stable weather, (which means the absence of a nor’easter or two) and respectable temperatures in the mid 50’s to low 60’s. The past few days we have seen early morning cloud cover, followed by blue skies and a mild southwest wind. Ahhh…. all the ingredients for an enjoyable day on the water in the pursuit of big fish!!
Without getting all weatherman-like; these days of stable conditions should set in motion a push of striped bass and blues eating through the weekend and into next week. Also the lack of gusty wind means spotting albies, slurping bass and blitzing blues is exceedingly more possible. (Yes, albies are still popping up). So while Saturday is calling for rain… warm temperatures during the day and a south-blow means that you hardcore guys and gals can don a rubber coat and hit the beaches and reefs. Lou Tabory and I will be at Compo with the W.O. fly-school braving the elements and punching flies into the wind for shots at feeding bass. Remember…fish will eat in the rain!! After Saturday the rest of the week is shaping up to be a partly cloudy to mostly sunny smorgasbord, so without further a due, the fish talk…
Even though it was noted that the small bait has been scattered to some extent (thanks to the nor’easters this past weekend), we here at W.O. are preaching patience. The weather patterns aren’t dumping north-east winds on us, and improving water clarity and salinity will surely usher the table fare of Mr. & Mrs. Striped Bass back into our local inshore haunts. Just today I’ve spoken with one of our Captains and two customers who reported quantities of small bait inside Old Mill, Frost Point at the tip of Penfield Reef and the backside of Cockenoe Island. Further up the road, Long Beach in Stratford and the mouth of the Housatonic are both starting to yield big-boy fish with noticeable consistency to patient fly-tossers and bait-dunkers. Flies of choice have been olive clousers, epoxy imitations, Skok Mushies and black deceivers. Just the other night I tagged a 31’’ bass near the Costal Center, only after making what felt like 20,000 casts. Mi amigo Kurt Daniello has been fishin’ his tail off all over Milford, and has been rewarded handsomely using assorted large plugs, our new bottle darters in particular.
On the boat scene, deep water diamond jigging has surrendered some hefty bluefish, with striped bass sprinkled in for good measure. One customer who was just in inquiring about albies told me how yesterday he spent the afternoon doing the tango with 10+lbs. blues at 11B. Persistence at 11B, 28C and Greens Ledge has been paying off with reports of bass over 38” and alligator blues eating chunks, tubes and jigs. Speaking of eating… (the table-fare variety) blackfish season is shaping up to be the best in recent memory…
If you haven’t tried for blackfish your missing out… some green crabs (we got em’)…and a medium-heavy setup to lift them from the depths is all you need. Green’s Ledge, Great Reef and Cockenoe Reef have been consistent for the Togs, just search for rock piles, get your bait on em’ and wait for a subtle take… the crew at W.O. supports catch and release… but blackfish make for a good meal every now and then, give it a shot!
Around the islands Micinilio Brothers were out on Wednesday and tubed up a host of bass all just shy of being keepers. Matt Ellethal over the weekend despite the stiff breezes also ventured out and hooked into a train on a Stillwater popper that eventually hunkered down and the plug pulled…but no teeth marks!!
Farther to our north Kurt D. and Chris D. have been hitting some of the rivers such as the Housatonic that have also been fishing quite well with the fly rods. Some hefty browns as well as bows coming to the net on the long rods.(see recent catches) Therefore if it blows on the salt side, head inland with the long rods for some refuge and some great fishing!
Father to our east around R.I. things are also starting to heat up, which may be a good sign that some fish will start to push through. Kurt and Derrick fished on Tuesday night near the mouth of the CT river and landed a few nice bass including a fat 35 inch fish!(see recent catches).
Well folks, the end of the season is now closer than the beginning so take every opportunity to get on out there. As the bass begin to migrate, it will be a time in kind of game, not timing, therefore those that get out and log some hours will surely be rewarded.
Stay tuned for upcoming winter fly tying classes as well as our now famous holiday sale/customer appreciation party!!!
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If you have been watching the weekly video updates, here is your early chance to get involved with this new cutting edge, HOW TO, WHERE TO, WHY TO site, dedicated to our great sport and improving all of your skills at it…log onto www.westportoutfitters.tv and sign
Week of October 9th-October 16th
Before the report this week, we want to make you all aware that we are now stocking live eels so for those of you that participate in drifting these favorite striper candy, come on down! Also, we just received a new shipment of SEA ROCK JIGS...you want them, we got them, but they won’t last long…and the Albies won’t be here much longer either, so come on down!
Our Lou Tabory event scheduled for October 24th has been SOLD OUT! Please get on our email distribution list, if you are not already, so you will be the first to know when we launch these ever-increasing schools in the spring as well as our seminar series.
GOT FLIES? WE DO!! We have just completely restocked are saltwater fly case with the most productive fall patterns, so come on down and restock your boxes and don’t forget to get the new W.O. stickers for FREE!
Well folks, at the time of this writing, I have just come in from spending pretty much the entire day on the water. Those that have followed our reports over the years know that come fall, as well as in the spring, we are busy putting in and then taking out boats. This affords us two things; sometimes to carry along with us a rod just in case something pops up and equally important, time on the water to view our surroundings. This may include and is not limited to, water clarity, water temperature, signs of bait, breaking fish etc., from Greenwich to Bridgeport. Now although this is not supposed to sound like a prospectus, sometimes having the ability to do some serious scouting prior to fishing is critical in the final results for us and our customers and we understand that on those choice days, often, the time necessary is lacking.
So…here is what we found today…with the approaching Nor’ Easter, the seas were a bit lumpy, but fishable. We noticed small signs of bait inside of the islands, most likely Peanut Bunker. Despite the wind and what evolved into a wind driven rain, off Cockenoe, way out past the reef, we did see some birds working. The water clarity I noticed the other day in Southport, just turned like that for the better. Running by Southport Harbor I could see the bottom in a place I know is at least 6 feet deep. Now the storm will no doubt churn things up, but the lack of growth taking oxygen from the water is definitely playing a role. While water temps remain in the low 60s, no sign of any migration has yet to be seen by me or anyone else who calls W.O. home. This oncoming storm is definitely going to affect the water, but I am confident that we will still be on track for what should hopefully be a good fall run. With any luck, it will stay in tight too with all this small bait, giving the shore anglers a nice shot at some big fall bass!
We had a late report last week from Robert Darby fishing the Housatonic River area. Although we received the report on Friday afternoon, the fishing actually occurred Thursday night and if they caught schoolies, I would not be writing this. Instead he reported in a host of fish ranging from 32 inches to 38 inches. The fish of the night was 44 inches and tipped the scales at 40lbs (see recent catches). Great stuff guys!
Sunday we received a shore report from our good friend Elliot Gudis who had just got back from some blue fishing in Greenwich where he landed a few 10lb blues on his new Lamiglas set up. He reported a school of what looked like were albies cruising off of Compo Beach with birds working. Apparently they were out of reach since young Elliot reported no catching, just spotting. Come on Elliot, rule number one, never go to Compo Beach without your fishing rod!
Despite the long Columbus Day Weekend, the fishing was a bit slow, being hampered once again by a fall wind. We did have Jim K, report in that despite the wind, he plugged off of Fairfield Beach, for a few blues on small Stillwater poppers, with small pods of peanuts and what looked like bay anchovies.
Steve Tiffinger out on Tuesday was into some small schools of bass as well up to 26 inches and even picked out a few on the long rod on some small anchovy patters. Speaking of anchovies, we have totally restocked our flies, so if you are fishing here or even out east, come on down and have a look.
The Micinilio Brothers, not letting the wind change their plans, were out here in Westport as well as off of Milford. Some nice fish off of Compo to 29 inches that came in at 11 lbs and a few nice blues up to 30 inches in Milford (see recent catches).
Sam. B. came in on Thursday as well with nearly a 13lb blue caught at an undisclosed location of course. No doubt vying his way into the Calcutta standings at the Westport Striped Bass Club.
We have mentioned Cory C from the ASMW team who fished his head off and his brother in law Sean B. does pretty much the same. I had mentioned their fishing excursion last week but here is a full report before we wrap it up locally. Over four days of fishing Cory, Sean and Bonnie had everything from kingfish to 20#, skipjack tuna (one on 12wt), cudas, silky sharks, amberjacks, almaco jacks, blue runners, bar jacks, swordfish and blackfin tuna. Notice Cory C. always sportimng the W.O. gear! I will let the pics speak for themselves…great job folks!
No doubt as this front pushes through it will turn up the water. Hopefully it may even push some bait in, but regardless of outcomes, there is still plenty of time for our waters to recover, pending another front, so that we may enjoy a strong fall fishing season. Although the schools of adult bunker are spotty, there are tons of smaller baits around. IN fact, on Wednesday, we had a customer who will remain nameless catch a 15 lb bass on a small fly off of Fairfield, where he reported small bait everywhere!!
I can not say with any confidence that this weekend may be a great fish weekend, but as you know, we speak the truth and with the good, sometimes comes the bad. Come on down, have a cup of coffee and at least we can talk fishing and plan our next move!!
THE MONTAUK REPORT
Our good friend Captain Dean Kardamis reports in from “The End” that the last few weeks have been great for the light tackle and fly fisherman. The fish are here but high winds and tough weather has kept a lot of us on the dock.
As far as the fishing is concerned, the bass fishing couldn’t be much better, with plenty of fish and some very nice ones, like the 58 pounder that Frank Schultz caught on the HERLS GIRL this past week. They are being caught trolling with the chutes or on live eels, with some bluefish around but not enough to get in the way of the great bass fishing. The Falsies are around but as always they are moving very fast…To book a trip with Dean, call the shop or him directly at 203.556.3361
INTRO TO FLY FISHING
To all of our local Westport customers, if you always wanted to learn about the wonderful sport of fly-fishing, I will personally be teaching a class through the town’s continuing education department later this month. This class is open to residents as well as non-residents. Sign up at http://www.westportcontinuinged.com/
Week of October 2nd-October 9th
Before the report this week, we want to make you all aware that we are now stocking live eels so for those of you that participate in drifting these favorite striper candy, come on down! Also, we just received a new shipment of SEA ROCK JIGS...you want them, we got them, but they won’t last long…and the Albies won’t be here much longer either, so come on down!
Our Lou Tabory event scheduled for October 24th has been SOLD OUT! Please get on our email distribution list, if you are not already, so you will be the first to know when we launch these ever-increasing schools in the spring as well as our seminar series.
GOT FLIES? WE DO!! We have just completely restocked are saltwater fly case with the most productive fall patterns, so come on down and restock your boxes and don’t forget to get the new W.O. stickers for FREE!
This past weekend was a good weekend for many reasons, although the weather was spotty, despite some adverse events, we pushed forward with the Inaugural Saugatuck Cup and it was a huge success. Nearly everyone caught fish and some even witnessed albies on the North Shore of L.I. All proceeds will go to fund The Children’s Tumor Foundation at Sloan Kettering. All told, although all the numbers are not in yet, we raised somewhere between 8K -10k, which is a huge number with everything that was going on. A big congratulations goes out to Capt. Ed Riley, a shop customer, Ranger Boat owner and close friend who took home top honors winning the first place trophy!
On behalf of Westport Outfitters, All Seasons Marine Works, The 9th Floor Foundation and most importantly the Spengler Family, we thank you all for your support, to those who fished the event as well as to those customers and friends that made generous donations simply to support the cause. We are already thinking about next year’s event while incorporating your ever so valuable feedback. Stay tuned of all the events photos at http://www.saugatuckcup.com/. Once again…THANK YOU ALL!!
Fall is no doubt here, the leaves are falling and those darn winds have been blowing almost daily, in fact as recent as the day before the writing of this report, there was 52 mile an hour gusts in Westport!! Not good for the fishing…or is it? East winds have caused many a bad day in fishing, but sometimes they can blow the bait in and fish can be at your feet. Add a bit of southerly breezes and sometimes it will trap bait in areas like Copps, the Mill Pond, Penfield and Southport Harbor. Therefore, surely don’t jeopardize your safety or anyone else’s for that matter, but as Sunday was a testament to, you can always find a place to hide. Shore anglers up and down the Fairfield County Coastline can always find a lee, whether that be Pine Creek, Black Rock or Charles Island. Should you need any guidance, always feel free to stop in, call or email and we can help you with finding some calm water.
Emmett Ryan kicks off this week’s report with a few nice fish he picked up trolling in and around Calf Pasture. He ran a pink tube with gulp bloodworms along the edge from the east end of Calf Pasture to the inlet for Shorehaven on Thursday and got a fish on every pass. Stripers from 25 to 29 inches (2 keepers and 6 shorts) and the last fish was a gator 10lb blue. Perfect example of what I was discussing, the winds were howling and Emmett has a smaller boat but he was able to find refuge and fish!!
Our next story is a good one, local angler Chris Koehler has really been putting his time in from shore since we first met about two years ago. He has had some nice fish on the fly rod but the next stuff is for real. On Thursday he lands his first keeper bass on the fly rod using a dark purple/black deceiver that nearly tipped 30 inches on a Sage 9 WT. For Chris though, this was not enough. He returned on Friday to top his catch and landed and released a 20lb fish on the fly rod on the east side of Penfield Reef, this time the fly of choice was a yellow five inch deceiver. The fish had Chris down to the last 25 % of his backing before he succumbed, was landed and let go. Great stuff Chris, you deserve it!!
Rob Cap continues to get it done fishing from his yak and literally should be a pro-staffer for Lordship Lures where over the weekend despite winds, he ventured out and added a few more keepers to his quiver this year using theses plugs.(see recent catches).
Monday and Tuesday were close to being wash outs with wind, but Dan emailed in a report from out at 11B where they jigged up some gator blues to 12lbs and a few 27 inch stripers. It’s getting to that time to bust out the metal. Be sure to have yours rigged with some fly teasers. We just brought in a ton of larger flies just for this reason. Bring your jigs in and we will set them up for you.
Wednesday Kurt D. and company fished farther to our West in and around Milford where there are signs of some bunker and had big blues to 10lbs with a few hefty stripers up to 15lbs all from shore, live lining bunker.
Locally I heard a report today of a 40 inch plus fish that was taken from the Westport shoreline as well so the shore angling continues to improve day by day….
Although the Albie reports are dwindling, we still are getting a few here and there so don’t give up. Have a rod rigged and ready to go. A boat not fishing in Saturday’s tourney had a few casts at them in mid sound with no hooks ups, but the schools were still plentiful…
This weekend’s weather is looking pretty good and now that it’s past October 1st, that means its TOG season. We have received reports from a few die hards locally that it has been came on with fish over 8lbs on many of our local rock piles. Yes, Orlando (a.k.a. Ground Fishing King) is one of those people and he could not be happier. Try jigging a grab instead of using a traditional hook for better results. Come by and we can show you how. We will have green grabs from here on in and they are the most… let us say…cost effective ones around….
Well as I mentioned previously, fall is in the air and although we may need to dodge some wind here and there, there are still months of fishing left. The snappers are still around in mass so take advantage of this and take the kids out on Monday that no doubt they will have the day off from school with the holiday. We have kits starting at $29.99 fully set up.
Cory C. and company, putting his first fish on his new AVET Raptor, reported in some nice catches and we will hold off on the full report from a sunnier climate until he returns but see recent catches for a few teasers….
INTRO TO FLY FISHING
To all of our local Westport customers, if you always wanted to learn about the wonderful sport of fly-fishing, I will personally be teaching a class through the town’s continuing education department later this month. Sign up at http://www.westportcontinuinged.com/
See below for important upcoming fly fishing schools and other shop events.
FACEBOOK GROUP PAGE, JOIN TODAY!
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WESTPORTOUTFITTERS.TV
If you have been watching the weekly video updates, here is your early chance to get involved with this new cutting edge, HOW TO, WHERE TO, WHY TO site, dedicated to our great sport and improving all of your skills at it…log onto www.westportoutfitters.tv and sign
Week of September 25th-October 2nd
Before the report this week, we want to make you all aware that we are now stocking live eels so for those of you that participate in drifting these favorite striper candy, come on down! Also, we just received a new shipment of SEA ROCK JIGS...you want them, we got them, but they won’t last long…
Our Lou Tabory event scheduled for October 24th has been SOLD OUT! Please get on our email distribution list, if you are not already, so you will be the first to know when we launch these ever-increasing schools in the spring!
The Inaugural Saugatuck Cup is scheduled for this coming Saturday, October 3rd. This charity fishing event will benefit the Children’s Tumor Foundation at Sloan Kettering. We are anticipating a great weekend and special thanks goes out to all that plan on participating.
The fishing over the past week has really started to heat up as the water temperatures begin to drop. Some larger schools of bunker have been spotted in Bridgeport, Milford and even some scant sightings in Norwalk Harbor. There are still plenty of peanuts around as well as silversides and we even had a report of some herring locally. This combined with the water temperatures means good things for the fishing, specifically those fishing from shore.
Friday afternoon we had a report of a nice 24 lb bass taken on a surface plug just off of Burial Hill Beach on the Sherwood Island side of the rip. There was bait getting pounded on by both bass and blues.
A little farther to our east, battling 2-4 footers Captain Elser was out on a trip and fished East of Milford in tight trolling some tubes. They hammered bass up to 30 lbs with the biggest coming in at 43 inches!(see recent catches)
Saturday the impending poor weather held off and despite a stiff breeze, anglers locally were able to cash in on some great fall fishing. Those of you that frequent the shop know that we normally don’t put jigging on the top of our list during the early season and into summer. However, at this time of year, jigging the bumps off of 11B and 28C can be very productive, at least as far as numbers of fish go. Saturday was a testament to this where Steve had blues consistently almost on every drop up to 9 lbs. Occasionally a bass was taken up to 24 inches but that bite should pick up soon.
Sunday was….as you all know….a complete wash out…or was it. Can’t say many folks ventured out on Sunday but in the A.M. we got a visit from Greg Henry and his son Kai. Now these guy are pretty hard core (did I mention Kai is like 3?). So in any event they head on out fully geared up to make it happed despite the weather. Fishing off the island they troll up 7 nice bass to 26 inches and a nice 9lb blue that tipped 31 inches. Way to go guys (see recent catches).
Jim Koutas checked in after a long hiatus with some decent bass action off of Pine Creek. This is a favorite fall spot of ours and looks like Jim got it done throwing medium sized poppers. He also reported in a few nice bass from the Sasco Jetty up to 29 inches on chunks on Sunday night.
Tuesday, Kurt & Derrick had the day off and reported in a full on blitz from shore in Milford. Throwing swimmers, plugs and live lining bunker they had non stop action mid day with bass over 20 lb and blues up to 15lbs before calling it a day.
Also we heard on Saturday that Captain Chris Elser was out off of Milford and hooked into what was a 14 lb Albie!!! This is just shy of the state record folks ad a tremendous fish. Congrats to our friend Chris!
Derrick went back on Wednesday and again had blues on large swimmers up to 15 lbs.
Steve Elliot checked in on Wednesday and headed to the Stratford area. They tried four or five different areas and in each one tubed up blues to 11 lbs. They also caught countless blues with one 28" keeper bass mixed in. On his way back Steve started noticing rain bait 400 yds east of Sunken Island and suddenly albies popped up but he did not even have time to reach for his spinning rod and get a cast off before they went down. This is a good time to remind you all to have a rod rigged and ready to go when heading out at this time of year. And I mean rigged, lure, flouro, barrel swivel, everything!!
Thursday the Micinilio Brothers were out in and around Black Rock and were able to tube up some nice bass despite some stiff wind and landed three fish up to 27 lbs(see recent catches).
THE MONTAUK REPORT
Our good friend Captain Dean reports, the bad news is that everyone fishing NY waters will now need a license but at least it can be purchased online.
The tuna are still hanging around the Mudhole, but not so many giants. A couple of charter boats fishing there on Saturday caught seven and two fish each between sixty and eighty pounds. Not a bad day out.
Inshore the striped bass fishing is steady and will only get better now. The False Albacore are around but a bit more difficult to spot than normal.
Captain Dean with his smaller boat competed in the FCA Montauk Redbone ESPN tournament this past weekend. It was a great time and he got the chance to fish with two celebrity anglers and the boat took 9 awards home and third place overall.
To book a trip with Dean either call the she shop or him directly at 203-556-3361
The Fisherman Magazine’s Annual Montauk Classic was held over the weekend. The results are as follows:
Striped Bass
John Stebbins - 42.20 lbs
Mike Byrnes 26.28 lbs
Bill Wetzel - 25.04 lbs
Joe Brodman - 19.20 lbs
Eric Nicoll - 18.66 lbs
Bluefish
Steve Snyder 12.26 lbs
Mike Byrnes 10.28 lbs
Jim Callahan - 9.58 lbs
Andy Richman - 9.18 lbs
John Goode - 9.16 lbs
READ BELOW FOR IMPORTANT UPCOMING INFORMATION REGARDING CLASSES AND OTHER EVENTS
ONE MORE DATE WITH LOU TABORY-October 24, 2009-SOLD OUT!!
October 24th, 2009 @ 6:00 A.M.-Compo Beach, Westport, CT
This intro/intermediate course will begin promptly at 6:00 A.M. in the water, in your waders. Lou and the crew from W.O. will work with you in learning the general casting stroke for fly fishing; teach you how to read the water to identify bait movement, current, structure and feeding fish patterns and lanes. You will have the opportunity to cast some additional rods with varying types of lines for saltwater fly fishing. After the fishing, we will return to the shop where Lou will go over several formal slide presentations, that will reiterate what was learned on the water, including gear selection, knot tying, fly presentation and much, much more! After lunch, we will have an extended Q&A and then finally return to the park to wrap things up with more hands on casting. The day will end at approximately 3:00 P.M. Cost is $150.00, which includes a light breakfast, full lunch and refreshments throughout the day.
See below for important upcoming fly fishing schools and other shop events.
FACEBOOK GROUP PAGE, JOIN TODAY!
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WESTPORTOUTFITTERS.TV
If you have been watching the weekly video updates, here is your early chance to get involved with this new cutting edge, HOW TO, WHERE TO, WHY TO site, dedicated to our great sport and improving all of your skills at it…log onto www.westportoutfitters.tv and sign up now!!
Week of September 18th-25th
Before the report this week, we want to make you all aware that we are now stocking live eels and shiners…so for those of you that participate in drifting these favorite striper candy, come on down! Also, we just received a new shipment of SEA ROCK JIGS...you want them, we got them, but they won’t last long…
www.westportoutfitters.tv is close to going live…sign up today so you don’t miss out!
Lastly, we booked one more date for this fall with Lou Tabory on October 24th, be sure to read all the details following the report and call/email the shop to reserve today. Cooler water temps, fall breezes and big stripers on the long rods! Sign up today! ONLY A FEW SPACES LEFT…SERIOUSLY!!
The FIRST ANNUAL SAUGATAUK CUP will be held on October 3rd, 2009. This will be a catch and release event to benefit the further research on neurofibromatosis. Entry form is now available under our news section. More information also available at http://www.saugatuckcup.com/.
At the time of writing this report, the day is the first of autumn, but despite the time of year, it is scheduled to be a steamy 80 degrees, with the trend continuing throughout the weekend. Now by no means is there any fall migration happening, even though the water temps have started to tick down, but what is happening is the fish are beginning to feed on a more regular basis. All week we had bass come in through the shop as well as caught by staff that were all of great size. As the water temperatures drop, it no doubt will trigger an internal instinct that says there is a long swim just ahead for some of these fish, so why not start to gorge now to strengthen up? Although we still have yet to see large schools of bunker, there are plenty of peanuts around, in fact almost every morning this past week, I viewed them popping in the river just out behind the shop. The schools of silver sides and now bay anchovies are all over this side of the sound, after being staged on the north shore for the past several weeks.
Bonito & Albie fishing remains strong. I almost hate to discuss it since we never know when they may disperse. Over the weekend the bite was off while hoards of boats sat and waited off the reef and outside of the islands for something to start popping with no luck. Friday A.M. early, Captain Mike Platt spotted them but was on a mission to pick up a client here so could not stop. My personal feeling is that these fish honestly just know when it is the weekend. With all the boat traffic, unlike blues, they simply get pushed down and unlike blues, stay down.
We had a late report come in from our own Pat O’Donnell Friday A.M. after of course the report went out…perhaps he was hoping we would not make mention of this until next week, giving him ample time to get back out there but now his secret is out. In all honesty folks and for all of you yak fisherman/women, take note. Pat paddles out in his yak armed only with his fly rods and after circling some inner portions behind the reef, had a chance to make a presentation to some tunoid species. But this is where the story begins, for unlike being in a boat, you first have to position the yak, clear line, check the wind, for if one of these variables is off, so is your fish. Pat presents his fly, presents it again and it’s game on. After a good fight he lands and safely releases a nice 7 lb BONITO! Way to go Pat and I appreciate the up to date report!
Friday the A.M started off right with Chris P. weighing in a 40.45 bass for the On the Water Striper Cup, caught locally from shore on yet another W.O. eel. Great fish!
Friday we also had a two boat charter with a crew from Texas. After spotting Albies on the way over from Norwalk, Captain Mike was confident, but the wind picked up and it was tough going. He and Captain Ed Riley were able to bring several large blues to the boat up to 12 lbs and a few bass for these visiting anglers who could not have been happier. All fish were caught on Stillwater poppers and some larger hoggies/sluggos.
Saturday was a slow day on the water; we had two trips go out that found some big blues on top water plugs, but no signs of albies or bones. Personally again I feel this is do to the high level of boat pressure as mentioned previously. Regardless, hooking in to 12lb blues on plugs and light tackle is hard to beat.
Sunday shaped up to be a great day for a lot of our local fish crowd. Sgt. Colonies headed out to what has become his new stomping grounds to Eaton’s Neck and after plugging away with some big Yozuri poppers, he switched it up to the fly rods and landed a host of 8-10lb blues. On the way back home, Eldon spotted way off in the distance a small school of breaking fish and found out that they were albies about 4 miles due south of Middle Passage. A few casts later and one 7.5 lb fish to the boat on a Sea Rock jig!(see recent catches). Time to get some binoculars if you don’t have some already people…they can save you hundreds of dollars in fuel at this time of year.
Sunday, a good friend Jeff Hammel reported in to say that the Montauk scene finally blew up again. After taking a bit of a rest, the albies he said were everywhere. In fact, Jeff got his son into his first albie ever that came to the Boga Grip at 9 lbs. Congrats! (see recent catches)
Also Sunday, The Micinilio Brothers continue to get it done with a host of blues over 10lbs plugging inside of the islands and had four keeper bass to 34 inches (see recent catches).
Monday, Captain Mike Platt was out on a charter with albies on his mind, he found them; they were peppered with casts, but unfortunately no hook ups. After the blitz went down, they retreated to within the islands, where they had several large blues up to 10 lbs on top water gear.
Cory C. fished solo on Monday after his partner bailed on him since he could not get out of bed (that would be me, sorry Cory). On the hunt for albies with the fly rods, all he could mange to scare up was some 10 lb blues on the fly rod…still some great fun!(see recent catches)
Tuesday night Sgt. Colonies took Nicky G. out for some scouting and as I have been mentioning, the bass bite was on fire. After hooking a few blues, Nick was able to land a popper right on the reef and was rewarded with a nice fat 34 inch striper. If you recall back a month or so we had put a tremendous amount of emphasis on getting up early. Although the first light bite is still the more productive hour, you will begin to get into some good action at dusk as well. Therefore if you can’t get out of bed, sleep in and save it for the late afternoon(see recent catches)
Wednesday night Cory C. and Nick G. were into some big blues on plugs up to 11 lbs and Nick claims to have lost a big striper that was bigger than the open he landed the night before.
Jim Micinilio decided to give Norwalk a rest and fished the Black Rock area where he reported still some good solid schools of adult bunker. He was into blues up to 33 inches and bass up to 32 inches trolling tube and worm (see recent catches).
The weather folks for the weekend is looking good, so get on out there and take advantage of some great fall time fishing. We have just been restocked with our now infamous SEA ROCK JIGS that have accounted for nearly all of the albies and bones that have come into the shop from our customers. The snappers continue to get bigger and are great fun for the whole family. As the water temperatures decrease, the inshore fishing should get even better, factor in big schools of blues, albies and snappers as well as good weather and there is no reason not to get on out!
READ BELOW FOR IMPORTANT UPCOMING INFORMATION REGARDING CLASSES AND OTHER EVENTS
ONE MORE DATE WITH LOU TABORY-October 24, 2009-CALL NOW TO RESERVE!
October 24th, 2009 @ 6:00 A.M.-Compo Beach, Westport, CT
This intro/intermediate course will begin promptly at 6:00 A.M. in the water, in your waders. Lou and the crew from W.O. will work with you in learning the general casting stroke for fly fishing; teach you how to read the water to identify bait movement, current, structure and feeding fish patterns and lanes. You will have the opportunity to cast some additional rods with varying types of lines for saltwater fly fishing. After the fishing, we will return to the shop where Lou will go over several formal slide presentations, that will reiterate what was learned on the water, including gear selection, knot tying, fly presentation and much, much more! After lunch, we will have an extended Q&A and then finally return to the park to wrap things up with more hands on casting. The day will end at approximately 3:00 P.M. Cost is $150.00, which includes a light breakfast, full lunch and refreshments throughout the day.
See below for important upcoming fly fishing schools and other shop events.
FACEBOOK GROUP PAGE, JOIN TODAY!
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=38347036376
WESTPORTOUTFITTERS.TV
If you have been watching the weekly video updates, here is your early chance to get involved with this new cutting edge, HOW TO, WHERE TO, WHY TO site, dedicated to our great sport and improving all of your skills at it…log onto www.westportoutfitters.tv and sign up now!!
Week of September 11th-17th
Before the report this week, we want to make you all aware that we are now stocking live eels and shiners…so for those of you that participate in drifting these favorite striper candy, come on down! Also, we just received a new shipment of Bill Hurley Sand Eels...you want them, we got them, but they won’t last long…
www.westportoutfitters.tv is close to going live…sign up today so you don’t miss out!
Lastly, we booked one more date for this fall with Lou Tabory on October 24th, be sure to read all the details following the report and call/email the shop to reserve today. Cooler water temps, fall breezes and big stripers on the long rods! Sign up today! ONLY A FEW SPACES LEFT…SERIOUSLY!!
The FIRST ANNUAL SAUGATAUK CUP will be held on October 3rd, 2009. This will be a catch and release event to benefit the further research on neurofibromatosis. Entry form is now available under our news section. More information also available at http://www.saugatuckcup.com/.
Well, well, well, look who rolled into town in force this past week…hey, hey, hey…it’s FAT ALBERT! The albies folks are in thick and nearly everyone who has reported in has at minimum at least hooked up and many folks landing fish. Clay, Cory, Geoff, Matt, Travis, Sage Brent and many others all hooked into and landed Albies as well as a few Bonito this past week. Many, if not all have cashed in the deadly dicks for our Sea Rock jigs and are all glad they did so. We will get to all the details in a minute, but get those rods rigged with some flouro and get on out there for your fill of hard tails this weekend.
The larger blues are starting to move in as well. There is a ton of bait around including some smaller schools of bay anchovies. Farther to our east off of Bridgeport, reports of some large schools of bunker are still getting crashed by big chompers up to 11 lbs.
Over the weekend Captain Ed was out for the better part of it and had a keeper bass at Grassy Island on a popper just after dawn. He then moved on to Cockenoe for the tuna and was greeted with 25+ boats running nuts every time they came up. Rather than joining the mix, he set up a drift upwind of the school and tried to wait patiently. When they showed themselves he was ready with a sea rock jig and it was game on. After a solid tug of war, he landed and released an 8.5 pound False Albacore. He had a 3’ piece fluorocarbon leader tied to 14 pound Fireline with a swivel…hard to cast because the swivel won’t fit in the guide, but great results! After they went down, he continued blue fishing for 14 more fish up to 12lbs. Way to go Ed!
To this point as we mentioned last week. This time of year can get pretty ugly and sometimes bank sinkers flying through the air is not uncommon. There are plenty of fish out there. Monday A.M. there was acres as far as one could see. Pick your spot and wait it out, you will more than likely do better than running and gunning. Also, be helpful, some don’t even know that they are casting at Albies or Bonito, so make them aware, which was the case on board our boat on Monday night in LI. Cory simply explained to a neighboring boat to back off and they obliged, thinking they were just blues….
Sunday Clay reported in that he too ventured a bit farther outside of the crowds and was able to hook 4 albies with one to the boat, also on a sea rock jig, in the Norwalk Islands.
Also on Sunday Geoff Kneisel fished with you guessed it, sea rock jigs and made two casts off the south side of Cockenoe and was rewarded with two hookups and one fish to the boat before the call came in to get back home! Monday he was out again and had fish everywhere, but the dinner bell rang again and he had to get back for that work thing…Great stuff Geoff!!
Monday A.M., after getting the low down at the shop on Sunday afternoon Travis Herman from Fairfield decided to give it a shot. Now Travis is a very much accomplished fisherman so there should have been no doubt he was going to get it done. He hit the first light in Norwalk on Monday A.M. and hooked into his first Albie ever on a spinning rod. Great stuff Travis.(see recent catches)
Farther to our west in Greenwich our good friend Brent B. decided that he too was going to get into some of this action. He took the day off from work on Monday and was determined to get into an albie. He left Byram Harbor at 6:30 A.M. went across to Oyster Bay and was rewarded with nothing. After stopping by 11B he trolled up a couple blues, but still no albacore. Went to Hempstead Harbor no albies there as well so he headed back to Greenwich at about 11am and there they were right where he started off in Greenwich. The first school he saw he made 3 casts and they were gone. Second chance popped up right in front of him approximately three nautical miles off Great Captains and he hooked up on his first cast on his Boca spin outfit from W.O. Fish was landed and released and Brent’s mission accomplished!!(see recent catches).
Monday night, myself, Sgt. Colonies, and Cory C. from ASMW headed out of Rowayton loaded for bear. After sitting patiently off the reef, we decided to make the call and ran over to Eaton’s Neck. Upon arrival, we were into some big blues with little pressure and are quite sure there were a few albies mixed in. With the fly rods rigged for albies, it’s hard to say since we did get bitten off, but could it have been? After landing a bunch of big blues on the fly rods up to 9lbs, the sun was setting and we saw something in the distance that seemed to be a large school of something. Upon further investigation it was determined to be a massive school of bay anchovies that absolutely stank! This had to have been one of the largest I have seen outside of Montauk. Nothing pushing them with the dropping sun, but a cool site nonetheless…(see recent catches)
Although it may be considered cheating, on the way out Cory C. whips out his digital camera and shows us a pic of an 11.5lb albie he had that A.M. fishing off New London, just for an added bit of motivation for our trip…thanks Cory…you jinxed us!(see recent catches)
The snappers continue to be around in full force, so get the kids and take them fishing. The water temps with all this cool weather are indeed starting to drop and the bass activity is on the rise although everyone is focusing on Albies. In fact, we had reports of some 25-30lb fish being taken off of Milford near the mouth of the Housey on Wednesday. As early as Thursday A.M. here in Westport, we weighed in a 40 lb fish taken on an eel as well. It’s game on folks, so get out and start enjoying some great fall fishing!
THE MONTAUK REPORT
Captain Dean reports that the bottom fishing is holding up well for the seabass and porgies.
The falsies haven’t shown up at The Point in mass yet, but offshore to the east a bit there are an awful lot of them to catch.
Shark fishing is getting better. Those mammoth fall bluesharks started appearing this week, the kind that take an hour or more to get to the boat. There are still lots of makos around as well. The Michelle 2 out West Lake Marina brought back a 330# Mako on Sunday.
The light tackle surface fishing is getting better every day, remember we have the 23’ Regulator ready to go so book early for the fall fishing gets booked fast.
READ BELOW FOR IMPORTANT UPCOMING INFORMATION REGARDING CLASSES AND OTHER EVENTS
ONE MORE DATE WITH LOU TABORY-October 24, 2009-CALL NOW TO RESERVE!
October 24th, 2009 @ 6:00 A.M.-Compo Beach, Westport, CT
This intro/intermediate course will begin promptly at 6:00 A.M. in the water, in your waders. Lou and the crew from W.O. will work with you in learning the general casting stroke for fly fishing; teach you how to read the water to identify bait movement, current, structure and feeding fish patterns and lanes. You will have the opportunity to cast some additional rods with varying types of lines for saltwater fly fishing. After the fishing, we will return to the shop where Lou will go over several formal slide presentations, that will reiterate what was learned on the water, including gear selection, knot tying, fly presentation and much, much more! After lunch, we will have an extended Q&A and then finally return to the park to wrap things up with more hands on casting. The day will end at approximately 3:00 P.M. Cost is $150.00, which includes a light breakfast, full lunch and refreshments throughout the day.
See below for important upcoming fly fishing schools and other shop events.
FACEBOOK GROUP PAGE, JOIN TODAY!
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WESTPORTOUTFITTERS.TV
If you have been watching the weekly video updates, here is your early chance to get involved with this new cutting edge, HOW TO, WHERE TO, WHY TO site, dedicated to our great sport and improving all of your skills at it…log onto www.westportoutfitters.tv and sign up now!!
Week of September 4th-11th
Before the report this week, we want to make you all aware that we are now stocking live eels and shiners…so for those of you that participate in drifting these favorite striper candy, come on down! Also, we just received a new shipment of Bill Hurley Sand Eels...you want them, we got them, but they won’t last long…
www.westportoutfitters.tv is close to going live…sign up today so you don’t miss out!
Lastly, we booked one more date for this fall with Lou Tabory on October 24th, be sure to read all the details following the report and call/email the shop to reserve today. Cooler water temps, fall breezes and big stripers on the long rods! Sign up today! ONLY A FEW SPACES LEFT…
The FIRST ANNUAL SAUGATAUK CUP will be held on October 3rd, 2009. This will be a catch and release event to benefit the further research on neurofibromatosis. Entry form is now available under our news section.
Onto the report…well folks, it is game on and I can’t put it in any simpler terms. The past week has brought with it some cooler air temperatures that no doubt have had a direct impact on the improvement in the local area’s fishing throughout the weekend and into this week. In fact, the long awaited arrival of our favorite fall speedsters finally decided to show themselves as well. After a week or so of some rumblings of various sightings both on our shoreline as well as on the north shore of Long Island, the first reported catch confirmed with a picture came in on Saturday A.M. taken off of Westport. Shop customer, Ranger owner as well as good friend Matt E., took a nice 7-8lb fish at about 8:30A.M on a small Sea Rock Jig! Great fish Matt! The fish was safely released to swim another day (see recent catches).
Mike O’Brien after playing family man for many months now, made his journey out also on Saturday and had them thick off of Westport as well. Mike hooked into three fish on Sea Rock jigs as well but was broken off all three times before reporting back home, but no doubt he will be back out sooner than later.
Captain Ed Riley on board his 2200 Ranger reported in that with just 1 hour of available time on his hands on Saturday that he ventured out into shallow water at dead low tide and was rewarded with 2 blues in the 9 lb class and a 27” striper. The fish wouldn’t take a popper, but they were keying in on larger sub surface lures…Lordship Lures strike again! Fished very slowly just below the surface or a little quicker retrieve in deeper water was the key to Ed’s success. We have just restocked these awesome plugs with even some new Peanut Bunker imitations….so come on down.
Joe B. also reported in on Saturday that off of Penfield in about 45 feet of water that they too had Albies blitzing massive schools of silver sides. They came up pretty quick and then disappeared, but it is nice to see multiple larger schools throughout the Westport/Fairfield area.
Captain Matt Gifford (a.k.a Tunoid King) was out hard after hearing the news all weekend long and along with son Jack; they had plenty of shots, but unfortunately no hook ups. Something tells me that Matt won’t be sleeping much for the next few weeks…join the club Matty!
Next up was Sage N. who always gets it done when these fish come to town…oops; I am sorry, he was on the Cape all weekend and missed it!
Some of us had to work on Labor Day but for those that did not, the fishing remained strong. Ed B. reported in that he too was into some Albies from the boat Monday morning on the north shore of Long Island. They were blitzing in that mortar-fire like manner that makes it really hard to get them to take the fly. His crew hooked up but the line caught around the rod butt and they couldn't clear it in time before it broke off. According to Ed, on the North Shore they were feeding on bay anchovies…just add another bait to the mix…
A note to all, at this time of year, it is sometime hard to spot these fish and they are often mistaken as schools of blues. Keep in mind that schools of blues normally do not have any structure to their feeding (i.e. mass chaos). Albies and Bonito comparatively are more defined, showing themselves like porpoises. Don’t chase them, they swim in a circular manner, so just sit back and wait if they go down. Focus your casts in front of the lead fish to increase your chances. With a spinning reel, you want a fast retrieve on say a 5:1 or 6:1 retrieve. With the fly rods, quick strips but not as quick as the spinning guys/gals. This is one time of year in my opinion that the fly guys/gals have a slight advantage for the fly when retrieved will stay in the feeding column longer….now get out there and get some fish.
With all the buzz over the weekend surrounding the arrival of our fall tunoid species, it was hard to imagine fishing for anything else. However, the Micinilio Brothers armed with some fresh Westport Outfitters worms continued to get it done. In addition to a host of blues in the 9-12lb range, they managed 9 keeper bass trolling in and around Darien including a 41 inch 25 lb fish. They continue to hit structure that is in tight. All fish were released to swim another day (see recent catches).
The snappers at this point too are in full force. This is a great time to get the family out fishing for hours of enjoyment. We have starter kits beginning at just 29.99! In addition, now that Labor Day has come and gone, you will have much more access to shoreline spots. Come on down and we will get you pointed in the right direction.
THE MONTAUK REPORT
Before we get to Captain Dean’s report, we also had Cory C. and Bonnie Roberts out east for a bit of R&R (i.e. fishing). Although they were looking for Albies, they seemed to have disappeared out there over the weekend, so Cory had to improvise. Cory obviously understands the weather as an avid boater and fish guy. He saw a window and went for it, taking his 23 foot Bay Boat out to the Butterfish Hole. After getting into some blues on the fly rod, Bonnie hooked into her first Mako, surely not a monster, but nonetheless a great catch! Congrats guys (see recent catches).
Our Good Friend Captain Dean Kardamis reports that “The TEASER” had great fishing all week with Bass in the beginning of the week and then a shark trip to the Mudhole, where he caught a slew of False Albies for bait and then caught and released three MAKO sharks.
Thursday put him on Coxes Ledge for some great Cod fishing and Friday we were on the bass again.
The falsies are starting to show up in Gardiner’s Bay, so it won’t be long now before we have in influx of fly-casters around The Point. Get you gear ready for this may be one of the best fall fishing seasons we have had in a long time. Captain Dean now has his 23’ Regulator in Montauk for the fall fishing season, so please book your dates early. You don’t want to miss out on this fishing!!!
Call the shop or Dean directly at 203.556.3361
READ BELOW FOR IMPORTANT UPCOMING INFORMATION REGARDING CLASSES AND OTHER EVENTS
ONE MORE DATE WITH LOU TABORY-October 24, 2009-CALL NOW TO RESERVE!
October 24th, 2009 @ 6:00 A.M.-Compo Beach, Westport, CT
This intro/intermediate course will begin promptly at 6:00 A.M. in the water, in your waders. Lou and the crew from W.O. will work with you in learning the general casting stroke for fly fishing; teach you how to read the water to identify bait movement, current, structure and feeding fish patterns and lanes. You will have the opportunity to cast some additional rods with varying types of lines for saltwater fly fishing. After the fishing, we will return to the shop where Lou will go over several formal slide presentations, that will reiterate what was learned on the water, including gear selection, knot tying, fly presentation and much, much more! After lunch, we will have an extended Q&A and then finally return to the park to wrap things up with more hands on casting. The day will end at approximately 3:00 P.M. Cost is $150.00, which includes a light breakfast, full lunch and refreshments throughout the day.
See below for important upcoming fly fishing schools and other shop events.
FACEBOOK GROUP PAGE, JOIN TODAY!
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=38347036376
WESTPORTOUTFITTERS.TV
If you have been watching the weekly video updates, here is your early chance to get involved with this new cutting edge, HOW TO, WHERE TO, WHY TO site, dedicated to our great sport and improving all of your skills at it…log onto www.westportoutfitters.tv and sign up now!!
Week of August 28th-September 3rd
Before the report this week, we want to make you all aware that we are now stocking live eels and shiners…so for those of you that participate in drifting these favorite striper candy, come on down! Also, we just received a new shipment of Bill Hurley Sand Eels...you want them, we got them, but they won’t last long…
www.westportoutfitters.tv is close to going live…sign up today so you don’t miss out!
Lastly, we booked one more date for this fall with Lou Tabory on October 24th, be sure to read all the details following the report and call/email the shop to reserve today. Cooler water temps, fall breezes and big stripers on the long rods! Sign up today! ONLY A FEW SPACES LEFT…
The FIRST ANNUAL SAUGATAUK CUP will be held on October 3rd, 2009. This will be a catch and release event to benefit the further research on neurofibromatosis. Entry form is now available under our news section!
Well folks, this is it, the unofficial end to Summer and after this you should all focus on the impending fall/winter season and forget about fishing!! If you choose to do so, you will be in the utmost of minority positions. In fact, many anglers consider the upcoming Labor Day weekend as the kickoff to their fishing season. Cooler air temperatures will bring fish in tight again and with any luck the large adult schools of bunker will attract some monster blues and ultimately a fall migration for bass…
This past weekend, in addition to the Annual WICC Bluefish Tourney, we hosted a group of veterans from the Wounded Warrior Project. All participants had recently come home from overseas and had suffered some type of injury. We had 4 boats head out on Saturday A.M. and despite threats of bad weather and everyone looking at the radars, we were greeted with low winds, as compared to the forecast and almost no rain. Everyone on board caught fish with some nice blues and bass in the mix. All the vets and guests were treated to a wonderful BBQ with refreshments upon their return in the ASMW facility next door. A big thanks for all that helped out and volunteered their time and some their boats and even some both!! Thanks to all, all of your efforts no doubt made a huge impact on our returning veteran’s fantastic day. Stay tuned for next year!
Bluefish…the tournament struggled with the same bad weather forecasts that we did. Despite this, everything went off with out a hitch and the winning fish was just over 14 lbs, small as compared to years past. Hopefully this is just another sign that the big fish are yet to really move in.
The Micinilio Brothers reported in right before the weekend that the bass fishing is still good. They have been focusing their efforts in tight since they are definitely spread out They found great success hanging close to submerged rock piles and in the rips from the Norwalk Islands to Darien. Most of the keepers that were caught were in broad daylight and all on T&W. The biggest fish they had was just over 37 inches (see recent catches)
Saturday Sgt. Colonies reported in massive schools of 8-12lb blues across the way at Eaton’s Neck, where they through Stillwater Poppers and Crystal Minnows, while Dan stuck a few on the fly rod with surf candy flies.
Sunday, Steve fished just outside of Southport Harbor where he to ran head on into a nice blitz with blues up to 8 lbs on poppers and clousers on the fly rod. He even took one nice bass to 31 inches on a 1 oz Kastmaster fishing below the schools.
The Micinilio Brothers, taking advantage of cool breezes and sunny days on Sunday with light boat traffic after the front pushed through and tubed up a few nice fish up to 34 inches off of Darien. This two should be the area spokesmen for all those that say there are no bass around… (see recent catches)
Monday night, our own Kurt Daniello fished off of Charles Island Sandbar in Milford where the fish would not hit nothing but jointed bombers with all bass up to 31 inches and silver sides everywhere. Kurt claims that the one fish that got away was…well…forget it…
Tuesday night, our good friend Gary B. still visiting from California with only days left on his vacation, fished live eels off of Westport where he reported silver sides everywhere in shallow water. Bass were all over the place and could be seen when he shined his headlamp directly into the water. Gary had several keepers but the biggest came in just about 36 inches and was safely released off the side of his yak! Nice fish Gary!(see recent catches).
Tuesday night Eldon and Ryan fished over in Long Island for their share of blues to 10 lbs on light tackle with a ton of schoolies crashing baits along the shoreline.
Wednesday was a picture perfect day and Captain Chris reported in to our East where he has been focusing on fishing in and around the Housey. He said there was a ton a surface baits all over where he has blues to 8 lbs and bass to just 30 inches all on surface plus and small tins.
Thursday night Kurt and company went and scouted a big fish spot from shore and hooked one that got away but once again made a very helpful observation. The silver sides were up in real tight, like in 6 inches of water and in mass. This is something that was not present a few weeks back, especially at night, so the inshore bite should once again turn on any day again.
It is at this time of year that we all patiently await the arrival of some bones and/or albies. As I mentioned last week, I am not getting it to freak out mode just yet. These fish although maybe late, are on the move. I got the blackberry message from a good friend of mine Captain John Tondra who guides out at the point. It came in on Tuesday and it was simply the following “Well as Tropical Storm Danny blew by it seemed only to help the fishing. The small Peanut Bunker was pushed even closer and on the incoming tide the Albies are full on, blowing up! If you need an Albie fix... here it is!” I think that says it all folks, so it was first Nantucket, then Watch Hill, Niantic, Montauk…could Westport/Norwalk be next? Get ready and come on down to stock up on leaders, small jigs and the no doubt the lure that will hopefully lead our charge this fall…SEA ROCK JIGS!!
To read about what our friend John Tondra can do for you in regards to a tight line; check out our “Chartering” tab or call the shop for more information. The time to be out east is now and we have just the guys to put you with!
The snappers continue to get bigger every day and are in almost any harbor. Keep in mind, that a majority of our local beaches will open up after this weekend, so no excuses. Take the whole family fishing for this favorite fall fish for hours of fun this weekend.
The FIRST ANNUAL SAUGATAUK CUP will be held on October 3rd, 2009. This will be a catch and release event to benefit the further research on neurofibromatosis. Entry form is now available under our news section!
THE MONTAUK/OFFSHORE REPORT
Captain Dean reports in that the striped bass fishing has gotten a little delicate over the past week. Some of us had to venture all the way to southwest ledge from the point to get the fish.
Offshore the tuna fishing is very slow. There continues to be scattered reports of boats catching tuna, but nothing anywhere as consistent as previous weeks and the adage "here today, gone tomorrow" seems to apply. Many of the charter boats with tuna trips are spending a little time trolling and then breaking out the chum. Thankfully the shark fishing continues to be pretty good, although it would be nice if there were a few more keeper makos around instead of the pups.
A crew from Westport ventured out about 75 miles off the point in front of tropical storm Danny on Thursday Night. On board included Sam and Jeff Arciola fishing Friday afternoon landed and safely released a 125lb white marlin. Now this is obviously an impressive catch alone, but for Jeffrey who caught it, it completes the segment. He has now landed a blue marlin, black marlin, striped marlin and now a white marlin. Since Sam is not very competitive I am sure he won’t mind…Congrats Jeff!
Please call or email the shop to volunteer your time, your boat or to participate in the charity tournament on October 3rd!
ONE MORE DATE WITH LOU TABORY-October 24, 2009-CALL NOW TO RESERVE!
October 24th, 2009 @ 6:00 A.M.-Compo Beach, Westport, CT
This intro/intermediate course will begin promptly at 6:00 A.M. in the water, in your waders. Lou and the crew from W.O. will work with you in learning the general casting stroke for fly fishing; teach you how to read the water to identify bait movement, current, structure and feeding fish patterns and lanes. You will have the opportunity to cast some additional rods with varying types of lines for saltwater fly fishing. After the fishing, we will return to the shop where Lou will go over several formal slide presentations, that will reiterate what was learned on the water, including gear selection, knot tying, fly presentation and much, much more! After lunch, we will have an extended Q&A and then finally return to the park to wrap things up with more hands on casting. The day will end at approximately 3:00 P.M. Cost is $150.00, which includes a light breakfast, full lunch and refreshments throughout the day.
See below for important upcoming fly fishing schools and other shop events.
FACEBOOK GROUP PAGE, JOIN TODAY!
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=38347036376
WESTPORTOUTFITTERS.TV
If you have been watching the weekly video updates, here is your early chance to get involved with this new cutting edge, HOW TO, WHERE TO, WHY TO site, dedicated to our great sport and improving all of your skills at it…log onto www.westportoutfitters.tv and sign up now!!
Week of August 21st-28th
Before the report this week, we want to make you all aware that we are now stocking live eels and shiners…so for those of you that participate in drifting these favorite striper candy, come on down! Also, we just received a new shipment of Bill Hurley Sand Eels...you want them, we got them, but they won’t last long…
www.westportoutfitters.tv is close to going live…sign up today so you don’t miss out!
Lastly, we booked one more date for this fall with Lou Tabory on October 24th, be sure to read all the details following the report and call/email the shop to reserve today. Cooler water temps, fall breezes and big stripers on the long rods! Sign up today! ONLY A FEW SPACES LEFT…
Well folks, another August is slowly coming to a close and a hot one it was. We consistently had temperatures above the 85 degree mark, but the fishing still remains strong. The temps for this weekend look like they will remain steamy if tropical storm Danny stays away and there will be a lot going on, on the water. This weekend is the annual WICC Bluefish Tournament that will attract hoards of boats throughout Long Island Sound. Here at the shop, we are holding our own special tournament, opting out of the WICC event and instead hosting a group of veterans from the Wounded Warrior Project. For all of you fishing, keep an eye out for us!!
The bait situation locally although not bad, is definitely a bit undefined, if you will, for the time of year we are in. There are large schools of peanuts, silver sides and snappers, but the adult bunker schools usually common around this time of year, have been scarce. Outside of Bridgeport and some spotty reports from Rowayton, all the larger schools of bunker seem to be farther to our West in New York. That being said, the typical mid summer blitzes with insane top water fishing are not present. All weekend long and into the week we would see an occasional blue smash some small bait and then disappear.
Here come the predictions folks…we all know that the year got off to a slow start and then really turned on with some of the best bass fishing we have seen in years from both the boat and shore. The sand eels showed up late and left even later…see where I am headed…fish can’t fast forward their routine like us humans, so it is in my opinion that despite the hot weather and presence of bait, things are at minimum two weeks behind. Sooner than later we will see the fall action and feeding frenzies that have become synonymous with fishing the western sound in the late summer and early fall. Oh, and don’t forget the bones and albies as well. These fish continue to be seen off the RI coast and considering they do about 40 mile per hour, could be here with any given tide, so have your rigs ready. Don’t forget to come down and check out the SEA ROCK jigs for these little tunoids as well before they are gone. Onto the report…
As we mentioned above, there is still a large school of bunker in and around Fairfield/Bridgeport that continues to produce blues up to 12lbs and an occasional keeper bass. Gary B. continued his conquest this week visiting from California and fishing from his yak, using a multitude of tactics that included drifting some W.O. live eels, trolling T&W and live lining bunker when available. Since he has fished virtually every day that he has been here, we will give you a summary from this week. Do take note that Gary is leaving at 4:00 A.M. from places such as the ramp across the way from the shop, Compo and Fairfield. He has had blues up to 13-14 lbs which are some pretty big catches considering what the norm has been. He has also tallied up about 5 keeper bass this week up to 30 inches. Great stuff Gary!
Cow time…Friday night right before closing we were greeted by a local angler who chose to remain nameless. I will keep this one short and sweet folks but to all those naysayers claiming there are no big bass around, think again. This fish (see recent catches) was caught east of Westport in shallow water on a live eel, 50 inches, 45lbs…
Despite the dire warnings of high winds & tidal surge, both Saturday & Sunday Capt. Ed was greeted with flat calm water in the mornings. Saturday he yielded 2 keeper bass and about a dozen schoolies all on poppers in shallow water in and around the islands. He recommends bouncing your poppers right against the rocks or grass, then hang on!! He couldn’t even buy a Bluefish on Saturday, not even snappers, just bass! Sunday was a little tougher, with no big schools of fish but there were a few big rogue fish (blues & bass) cruising on their own, resulting in several lost lures and broken lines. The biggest fish he landed on Sunday was an 11 pound Blue.
The Micinilio brothers continue to get into keeper bass each time they go out. Saturday despite high winds, they ventured west towards Darien and trolled up 9 keeper bass from 28-36 inches
Farther to our East, Captain Chris continues to focus his charter efforts in and around the mouth of the Housatonic. Live lining bunker and tubing he landed bass this week up to 43 inches and several others to 35 inches.
Chris also reiterated what we have been saying over the course of the past month and that is if you want bass action and want them on the fly 4:00-7:00 A.M. will be your witching hour. Try our new silver side patterns as well as some snapper /peanut bunker patterns by Eric Peterson.
Well folks, that is about it for this week, the heat no doubt kept many at bay as well as it being one of the last weeks before school starts again, many chose to spend it away from the water at some other vacation destination. However, despite the heat, there is still fish to be had. The snappers are getting bigger each week, so get the kids out there for some non-stop action. We have full fishing kits for just $29.99 so come on down.
THE MONTAUK REPORT
Captain Dean Kardamis reports in that the shark fishing for us is steady, with every trip catching a couple of blue sharks and maybe an exotic like a small mako. He has heard of a big tiger or big dusky taken this week as well. No long runs needed. Twelve miles out in any direction will do the trick.
Tuna are a different story. The most consistent action has been around 55 miles to the south for smaller yellowfins, but that is based on a small sampling, since hardly anyone is booking long range tuna trips this year. But it seems that anyone who goes there catches a couple of fish. Going for bigger game out at the edge is more of a gamble. Bluefin on the other hand are all over the place. Every day you hear about someone catching a couple at 600/800, the Acid Barge, the Fairway Buoy, the Mudhole, Coxes Ledge, south of Coxes or various places around the Dump.
Dean has noticed that the birds and bait have taken residence at the point and the light tackle fishing is just getting heated up. The fly guys will be having there day very soon.
To contact Captain Dean Kardamis, call the hop or him directly at 203-556-3361.
The second event that will be held will be the FIRST ANNUAL SAUGATAUK CUP on October 3rd, 2009. More information will follow on this on our website, but in brief, this will be a catch and release event to benefit the further research on neurofibromatosis.
Please call or email the shop to volunteer your time, your boat or to participate in the charity tournament on October 3rd!
ONE MORE DATE WITH LOU TABORY-October 24, 2009-CALL NOW TO RESERVE!
October 24th, 2009 @ 6:00 A.M.-Compo Beach, Westport, CT
This intro/intermediate course will begin promptly at 6:00 A.M. in the water, in your waders. Lou and the crew from W.O. will work with you in learning the general casting stroke for fly fishing; teach you how to read the water to identify bait movement, current, structure and feeding fish patterns and lanes. You will have the opportunity to cast some additional rods with varying types of lines for saltwater fly fishing. After the fishing, we will return to the shop where Lou will go over several formal slide presentations, that will reiterate what was learned on the water, including gear selection, knot tying, fly presentation and much, much more! After lunch, we will have an extended Q&A and then finally return to the park to wrap things up with more hands on casting. The day will end at approximately 3:00 P.M. Cost is $150.00, which includes a light breakfast, full lunch and refreshments throughout the day.
See below for important upcoming fly fishing schools and other shop events.
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If you have been watching the weekly video updates, here is your early chance to get involved with this new cutting edge, HOW TO, WHERE TO, WHY TO site, dedicated to our great sport and improving all of your skills at it…log onto www.westportoutfitters.tv and sign up now!!
Week of August 14th-20th
Before the report this week, we want to make you all aware that we are now stocking live eels and shiners…so for those of you that participate in drifting these favorite striper candy, come on down! Also, we just received a new shipment of Bill Hurley Sand Eels...you want them, we got them, but they won’t last long…
www.westportoutfitters.tv is close to going live…sign up today so you don’t miss out!
Lastly, we booked one more date for this fall with Lou Tabory on October 24th, be sure to read all the details following the report and call/email the shop to reserve today. Cooler water temps, fall breezes and big stripers on the long rods! Sign up today!
WOUNDED WARRIOR FISHING EVENT-AUGUST 29th-BOATS AND VOLUNTEERS NEEDED. EMAIL ERIC FOR DETAILS! ejohnson@westportoutfitters.com
Well, the heat is on and it is no doubt bumping up the water temperatures. We have just concluded a solid week of the mercury being in the mid 80s to lower 90s. The water temperatures are hovering around 75-76 degrees. Despite these water temps, the water clarity remains superior. Lots of algae in the water and lots of sun, but regardless, the water is still clear. In regards to our bait situation, there are larger schools of peanut bunker from Darien to Bridgeport with schools of silver sides mixed in. Adult bunker are scattered with some concentrations in and around Bridgeport Harbor. Underneath these schools are some large blues up to 12lbs. I personally fished one of these large schools desperately trying to get my lures/flies down deep to see if we could scare up a striper from below, with no luck.
After playing with some feisty blues, we began our reconnaissance that took us from Southport, to Bridgeport, to Westport, to Long Island and then back to Southport. Our motivation if you have not already figured out, was to search out tunoids and take it from me folks, we saw nothing in the way of a bonito or a false albacore. They will come, but save your fuel for now and instead come on down and stock up on what will without question be the hottest bonito/false albacore lure out there this year…SEA ROCKS!
The past weekend was kicked off by two folks that let me say….listen. Perhaps it has to do with to their profession, or perhaps they just know how to catch big bass in the middle of August. Regardless, everyone should take note of this next excursion. Over the past month it could be said that I have almost gone as far as reprimanding some in regards to the need to get up early to catch big bass. Of course, you need the skill, tackle etc, but one of the most important variables at this time of year, is of course the time of day. Local Westport anglers Steve Eliot and Steve Shore left the dock on Saturday A.M. at 5:30(a little later than I would like, but early nonetheless). They were on their spot with some fresh live bunker by 7:00 and had two fish to the boat over twenty pounds within minutes. The biggest coming to the boat was 41 inches and 25 lbs. After the tide went slack and the sun began to rise, the blues came on and they picked up and moved. Steve mentioned to me that he felt that if they were on their spot earlier, they would have had 10 keepers without question rather than two(see recent catches).
Saturday Sage N. also reported in that the bass were crashing peanuts inside of the Norwalk Islands in approximately 2-5 feet of water. He was able to land 5 bass from 28-34 inches and had 7 blues between 7-11 lbs all on Gibbs plugs!
Captain Ed Riley was also at it Saturday afternoon and slammed them around Copps Island & in Fairfield, over a dozen 8-12 pound blues and lots of schoolie bass to the boat that were all safely released.
Sunday A.M. Sage was back at it with 2 bass to 26 inches and 28 inches with 8 blues anywhere from 3-10lbs on Gibbs plug and swimmers still in 2-5 feet of water. Sage reports in that the bite died right at 7:00A.M.
Back to our East, Rob Cap reported in that the yak fishing was off of Fairfield was slow, no doubt most likely do to the daytime heat, but still managed one decent sized bass to 28 inches.
Sunday A.M., Chuck D. taking some “me” time with the family away, paddled his yak in and around Sheffield Island for 8 bass on the T&W rigs up to 28 inches.
Sunday night, way out east at the Fish Tails, Cory C. from ASMW fished alongside Stephen Arcamone for his first ever yellow fin tuna that cam to the boat at 60 lbs! (see recent catches)
Over the weekend the Lapnow crew, drifted sand worms behind the islands for bass up to 34 inches and Jeff taking a fat chunky bass at 30 inches on the fly rod before calling it quits.
Speaking of islands, the clamming remains red hot off of Cockenoe. This is a great family activity and good exercise as well. We have all the permits and gear you will need as well as guidance. A crew headed out in Sunday and got their limit on both hard shells as well as steamers. Come on down and give it a try.
As these larger schools of blues begin to coral bunker, try slow trolling a T-Man swimmer around the fringes of the school, this is where the striped bass will be. If you want to cast, a 1-2 oz kastmaster should do the trick to get down below the feisty blues for that keeper of a lifetime.
Monday as mentioned previously, I fished in and around a large school of bunker in Bridgeport with blues up to 12lbs. Gary B visiting from Cali, was also on the same school on Tuesday where he had fish up to 8 lbs before the sun came up. Although he is here on vacation, he is working hard fishing from a Tarpon 10. Drifting eels on Monday night he had a bass that was just about 28 inches and also had some small blues up to 5 lbs as well off of Compo.
Since this is a hatch that may interest just as many saltwater anglers as it will freshwater, I won’t break this out into a special report. The white fly hatch is going off right now on the Housatonic River! It will most likely be peaking at the time of this report, so get on down here for guidance or head on up. A crew from the shop including George D., Justin Solis and David P., ventured out on both Monday and Tuesday night with at minimum of four fish each up to 16 inches on dry flies!!
Speaking of hatches, the cinder worms are do out any day now. There was nothing Tuesday night, but it has to happen either Thursday or Friday night….be prepared….
Captain Ed also ventured out Wednesday night and had blues up to 8 lbs on poppers and Crystal Minnows. He once again confirmed what Cory C. had mentioned last week indicating that all of the fish were at dead low tide in less than two feet water!
Thursday A.M. Steve T. was out and had two keeper bass to 32 inches in the A.M. on crystal minnows and then ventured west in search of big blues.
This weekend we may experience some bad weather so keep an eye to the sky. All we need now is for this entire mess of bait to be dislodged so let’s hope it misses us. The snappers are well within range at this time and can be found inshore from Darien to Westport so get the kids out there this weekend. We have combos fully rigged for under $30.00.
Don’t forget t, we have two charity events coming up. The first is with the Wounded Warrior Project which we will be looking for volunteers as well as boats for a day of fishing followed by a BBQ here at our facility. http://www.woundedwarriorproject.org/
The second event that will be held will be the FIRST ANNUAL SAUGATAUK CUP on October 3rd, 2009. More information will follow on this on our website, but in brief, this will be a catch and release event to benefit the further research on neurofibromatosis.
Please call or email the shop to volunteer your time, your boat or to participate in the charity tournament on October 3rd!
ONE MORE DATE WITH LOU TABORY-October 24, 2009-CALL NOW TO RESERVE!
October 24th, 2009 @ 6:00 A.M.-Compo Beach, Westport, CT
This intro/intermediate course will begin promptly at 6:00 A.M. in the water, in your waders. Lou and the crew from W.O. will work with you in learning the general casting stroke for fly fishing; teach you how to read the water to identify bait movement, current, structure and feeding fish patterns and lanes. You will have the opportunity to cast some additional rods with varying types of lines for saltwater fly fishing. After the fishing, we will return to the shop where Lou will go over several formal slide presentations, that will reiterate what was learned on the water, including gear selection, knot tying, fly presentation and much, much more! After lunch, we will have an extended Q&A and then finally return to the park to wrap things up with more hands on casting. The day will end at approximately 3:00 P.M. Cost is $150.00, which includes a light breakfast, full lunch and refreshments throughout the day.
See below for important upcoming fly fishing schools and other shop events.
FACEBOOK GROUP PAGE, JOIN TODAY!
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WESTPORTOUTFITTERS.TV
If you have been watching the weekly video updates, here is your early chance to get involved with this new cutting edge, HOW TO, WHERE TO, WHY TO site, dedicated to our great sport and improving all of your skills at it…log onto www.westportoutfitters.tv and sign up now!!
Week of August 7th-13th
Before the report this week, we want to make you all aware that we are now stocking live eels and shiners…so for those of you that participate in drifting these favorite striper candy, come on down! Also, we just received a new shipment of Bill Hurley Sand Eels...you want them, we got them, but they won’t last long…
Lastly, we booked one more date for this fall with Lou Tabory on October 24th, be sure to read all the details following the report and call/email the shop to reserve today. Cooler water temps, fall breezes and big stripers on the long rods! Sign up today!
WOUNDED WARRIOR FISHING EVENT-AUGUST 29th-BOATS AND VOLUNTEERS NEEDED. EMAIL ERIC FOR DETAILS! ejohnson@westportoutfitters.com
Well boys and girls, it’s on. The invasion of the blues that some of us look forward to more than others here in the Western Sound has begun. From Larchmont to Milford, we have been getting reports of some monster chompers up to 13 lbs being taken on fresh bunker, jigs, as well as top water plugs and flies. For flies, stick with clousers since they will no doubt be pummeled by these vicious creatures. In fact, the other night, I was catching blues simply on one of Bill Hurley’s jig heads after it was stripped clean of the sand eel that it was designed for. With that, we have also seen large schools of snappers as well, so for the kids, take this opportunity before they are back in school to get them out fishing. Although as we mentioned last week, these feisty fish are small, they will grow on average about 1 inch per week. Any kastmaster type lure will work or stick with just the snapper popper that can double as a rig for frozen spearing if they are being finicky.
When you come up on these schools of fish, take your time and come with a keen eye, although we personally have not seen any, we are still hearing rumblings of some bone and albie sightings on the other side, so it may make sense to have a spinning or fly rod aside and ready to go with some fluorocarbon tippet. For this upcoming fall season, we have just brought in some new lures that no doubt will out fish a needlefish and a deadly dick combined when the bones and albies show up. Come and have a look at the new SEA ROCK JIGS!
Kicking off the weekend right was Steve Eliot and once again this is a story that everyone should take note of. We have really been emphasizing the need to get out early if you want to catch fish, particularly bass. Regardless of tactic, fly, bait, trolling, you need to make it happen early in August, plain and simple. Heeding this advice, Steve and crew left the basin at 4:30 A.M. loaded for bear. Between about 5:30 and 8:00 trolling tubes on some local structure they had had 7 bass, 3 keepers with one of them that measured 37" and 20 lbs on the boga grip! Nice going guys (see recent catches).
Friday night, John A. reported in that there were some big bass almost porpoiseing on peanut bunker just outside of Southport Harbor in the 20 lb class range. No rod on the boat, but he literally said the fish were nearly bumping into the boat.
Saturday our own Captain Chris was out on a charter with a full load, along with some young anglers and as usual, he did not let them down. They had one bass well over 34 inches and about 6 blues near Frost Point that were taken on top water plugs pushing the 11 lb range.
Sunday with threatening weather, the overcast skies held many on shore, but those who ventured out, did okay. Dan was into smaller schools of blues off of Kensie Point that were crashing little snappers (yes, these fish will eat their own) and even did mange a nice 26 inch bass from down below. Keep in mind; now that the blues have the bait corralled up, there are no doubt bass below these schools of blues so try and get something down deep to entice a strike. Work heavier kastmasters, Sea Rock Jigs or some heavier jig heads on soft plastics. As a last attempt if you are like Cody, cast straight up to really get your lure past them quickly….
Cory C. from ASMW has been fishing a little deeper water earlier this week and reports in that 11B has been hot on the ebb tide but dead on the flood. Some really big blues in the 10-15lb range have been on top early in the morning and when tide slows.
Tuesday night our own Pat O’Donnell was working the beaches off of Southport and landed a nice 34 inch bass on the fly rod fishing a small black deceiver. Despite the warm weather, its catches like these that give shore anglers hope during these dog days of summer. In addition to being at the right place at the right time, there is also one other variable, time in, the more you are out, the more your chances will increase.
Also Tuesday night a tubing excursion for Cody and friends was abruptly interrupted by some large schools of bunker being crashed by some 8-10lb blues, having very little tackle on board, they made do and snagged up a few and had 6 fish to the boat in the 8-10 lb range.
NEW NORWALK ISLAND CHARTS ARE IN!
This weekend is looking decent again, as the current front pushes through and this sauna like weather returns. Despite the heat, there is plenty of bait around. Silver sides, peanut bunker, snappers and even some errant small schools of sand eels are still being spotted locally. As we mentioned a few weeks back, try some Montauk Mike’s peanut bunker tins. With all of this surface bait in our area, the top water fishing should really start to pick up gain as well. Ron Di Costanza from Lordship Lures once again has given us exclusive access to his new Peanut Bunker plugs that should be here on Friday. If you know how well we have all done with his sand eel imitations, these should be the next best thing, but they won’t be here long! It is often this time of year when we also hear of curses to all of the blues around and although at times, I would have to agree, but pound for pound, there is not a better fighting fish out there. If you are completely disgruntled, this is a great time of the year to try your hand at fly fishing. Although catching a few 6-8 lb blues on light tackle may get boring after awhile, you could do it all day on a 9 WT fly rod!
FRESHWATER REPORT
Our own Kurt D. has really been putting his time in the Farmington with Derrick Kirkpatrick. The flows have been about 500 CFS and dropping. They worked areas near the back side of the Drive in Pool and Central Riffle for two beautiful wild browns that were up to 21 inches on ISOs. Kurt took an 18 inch wild brown on a tan caddis puppa size 18. If you are looking for an outing on the Farmington, let one of these experts be your guide, call the shop for details!(see recent catches)
I myself was trout fishing up in Litchfield this past week as well with some great action, but I am sure you have already heard the story….
ONE MORE DATE WITH LOU TABORY-October 24, 2009-CALL NOW TO RESERVE!
October 24th, 2009 @ 6:00 A.M.-Compo Beach, Westport, CT
This intro/intermediate course will begin promptly at 6:00 A.M. in the water, in your waders. Lou and the crew from W.O. will work with you in learning the general casting stroke for fly fishing; teach you how to read the water to identify bait movement, current, structure and feeding fish patterns and lanes. You will have the opportunity to cast some additional rods with varying types of lines for saltwater fly fishing. After the fishing, we will return to the shop where Lou will go over several formal slide presentations, that will reiterate what was learned on the water, including gear selection, knot tying, fly presentation and much, much more! After lunch, we will have an extended Q&A and then finally return to the park to wrap things up with more hands on casting. The day will end at approximately 3:00 P.M. Cost is $150.00, which includes a light breakfast, full lunch and refreshments throughout the day.
See below for important upcoming fly fishing schools and other shop events.
FACEBOOK GROUP PAGE, JOIN TODAY!
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=38347036376
WESTPORTOUTFITTERS.TV
If you have been watching the weekly video updates, here is your early chance to get involved with this new cutting edge, HOW TO, WHERE TO, WHY TO site, dedicated to our great sport and improving all of your skills at it…log onto www.westportoutfitters.tv and sign up now!!
Week of July 31st
Before the report this week, we want to make you all aware that we are now stocking live eels and shiners…so for those of you that participate in drifting these favorite striper candy, come on down! Also, we just received a new shipment of Bill Hurley Sand Eels...you want them, we got them, but they won’t last long…
Lastly, we booked one more date for this fall with Lou Tabory on October 24th, be sure to read all the details following the report and call/email the shop to reserve today. Cooler water temps, fall breezes and big stripers on the long rods! Sign up today!
Well folks, as we stated in last week’s report, the early bird definitely got the worm this week with many catches coming in during that witching hour from about 5:30 A.M.-6:30 A.M. This no doubt reiterates that we are into the summer pattern where you have to focus on the low light/no light hours to get fish into the boat. A note worth mentioning is the fact that the water clarity in shore with the almost nightly rains is holding up quite well. Perhaps the ground is just so dry after all of the sun that it is just sucking it all in. Monday afternoon I was out fishing off of the shoals and it had to have been at least 4 feet, which at this time of year is simply unheard of. On a side note, many of you I am sure read a month or so back of the Town of Westport’s decision for Westport Outfitters to sell clamming permits. I personally went out to some of my favorite soft shell places earlier in the week and absolutely cleaned up with a bushel (there were four of us) of perfect sized steamers that will melt in your mouth. These have really made a dramatic comeback locally without any seeding by the town. This is a perfect activity for the whole family with some great rewards at the end of the day. Any garden pitchfork should get the job done. Call or email the shop should you have any questions about spots and/or permitting.
Back to the fishing…During this transition, as we mentioned last week, we will see the sand eels moving out and the peanut bunker and silver sides moving in. Bill Beck reported in that there was a lot of small bluefish off of Compo late last week, no bass, but the bait he said was silversides. To get these blues to the net, Bill had to abandon his favorite soft plastics and switch it up t spoons and the old faithful crippled herrings, hopkins, and deadly dicks.
Friday was almost a complete wash out with all of the rain, but Stan did report in a mid morning feeding frenzy of 8-12 lb blues just off of Frost Point smashing small peanut bunker.
Saturday was a crazy day in the store with Steve bringing in a picture of a 38 inch blue that was released and not weighed but a monster at that, that had to have been well over 15lbs!
George D. continues his conquest and chose to grab some W.O. sandworms and three weighed them off the bottom between 50-60 feet of water out at 11B with a bass on every pass, no keepers, but some stout fish to the boat.
Sunday, Cory C. from ASMW along with his trusty first mate Bonnie Roberts were fishing at first light….take note on this one people. I will reiterate to all the naysayers that say there are no bass around and state that they are here, you just need to get up to get them! Cory and Bonnie were throwing poppers at first light and landed a host of blues and bass with Bonnie taking a 35 inch bass that if weighed would have been well over 17lbs by the look of it on 10lb test line! The blues as you will see in the photos were just as large…one last note, please look at the angle of the sun in the picture of the bluefish and the lack there of it in the picture of the bass. Great job Bonnie although, Captain Cory no doubt deserves a bit of credit as well!!
Nicky G. reports in after a full day of fishing that started at day break on Monday where he and crew landed a total of about 14 bass all just shy of keepers, but more importantly, all on light tackle or flies. David C. was tossing sluggos while Nicky and Rob P. stuck to the fly rods. Nick had almost all of his success throwing his own creation of a crease fly entitled the “INCREASER.” This hollowed form of the traditional crease fly really got it done for Nick, where they fished in tight up against the islands until the sun came up. As the moved away about a mile off of Goose, they ran head on into a school of blues that were surrounded by 1 and 2 lb fish with fish up to 10-12lbs in the middle.
Farther to our East off of Gulf Beach, our own Kurt D. and Derrick drifted some Westport Outfitters eels for several keeper bass at night on Monday and Tuesday. Eels are best rigged from shore weightless, but if any weight is needed at all we prefer a rubber core sinker. If you have any questions, be sure to come by.
Back locally, the Fluking remains quite strong, sand eels, as well as squid on your rig of choice will no doubt get it done. Although the number of keepers has slowed a bit, if you put your time in, it will be worth your weight, Sunken Island, Can 26 and Frost Point all continue to produce. In fact, right behind the shop has yielded a few keeper Fluke earlier in the week right in the river at high tide.
This weekend is looking good and if the bait trend continues, the peanut bunker will continue to pop and the fish will no doubt follow. Although it may be a bit early to hook them, there are definitely schools of snappers around and these fish will grow on average about one inch per week, so get the kids rods ready for these favorite late summer/early fall fish that will bring them hours of fun. We have kids combos with rod/reel starting at just $29.99 and everything else you would need. To start targeting the deeper rips where bass are holding during the mid day hours, try trolling some tubes with Captain Chris’s T&W combos. See you all on the water!!
THE MONTAUK REPORT
Captain Dean reports from the wet decks of the “TEASER” in Montauk that overall the fishing is great, with the best of it being the striped bass fishing. If you want to catch big bass, August is THE time to do it. The fall run is great, but for the last several years the most consistent fishing for big bass has been in August. Everything is working, but for the big striped bass the big tube or live bait is the preferred method. The parachutes and umbrellas will catch their share as well, but more often than not the smaller fish.
Fluke fishing is still steady, but lots and lots of shorts, with few keepers in between.
Offshore the shark fishing remains steady with smaller makos showing up daily.
Star Island has it’s Mako Mania tournament this weekend. It will be interesting to see how many Mako’s are weighed in.
Locally, some bluefins have been sighted east of the Butterfish Hole and inside the 750 line, but virtually nobody is fishing for them except maybe a half hour or so before setting up a shark slick.
Further offshore the yellowfin bite has been steady and we just had a fresh report of some real large big eyes being weighed in on the docks.
To book a trip with Captain Dean, please call the shop or him directly at 203.5556.3361.
ONE MORE DATE WITH LOU TABORY-October 24, 2009-CALL NOW TO RESERVE!
October 24th, 2009 @ 6:00 A.M.-Compo Beach, Westport, CT
This intro/intermediate course will begin promptly at 6:00 A.M. in the water, in your waders. Lou and the crew from W.O. will work with you in learning the general casting stroke for fly fishing; teach you how to read the water to identify bait movement, current, structure and feeding fish patterns and lanes. You will have the opportunity to cast some additional rods with varying types of lines for saltwater fly fishing. After the fishing, we will return to the shop where Lou will go over several formal slide presentations, that will reiterate what was learned on the water, including gear selection, knot tying, fly presentation and much, much more! After lunch, we will have an extended Q&A and then finally return to the park to wrap things up with more hands on casting. The day will end at approximately 3:00 P.M. Cost is $150.00, which includes a light breakfast, full lunch and refreshments throughout the day.
See below for important upcoming fly fishing schools and other shop events.
FACEBOOK GROUP PAGE, JOIN TODAY!
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=38347036376
WESTPORTOUTFITTERS.TV
If you have been watching the weekly video updates, here is your early chance to get involved with this new cutting edge, HOW TO, WHERE TO, WHY TO site, dedicated to our great sport and improving all of your skills at it…log onto www.westportoutfitters.tv and sign up now!!
Week of July 24th…Peanuts….
Before the report this week, we want to make you all aware that we are now stocking live eels and shiners…so for those of you that participate in drifting these favorite striper candy, come on down! Also, we just received a new shipment of Bill Hurley Sand Eels...you want them, we got them, but they won’t last long…
Lastly, we booked one more date for this fall with Lou Tabory on October 24th, be sure to read all the details following the report and call/email the shop to reserve today. Cooler water temps, fall breezes and big stripers on the long rods! Sign up today!
Well, if there was any remaining doubt, this past week surely reiterates that summer is finally here, with steamy 80+ degree days, afternoon storms and everything that goes along with it in between. But despite the weather, the fishing remains quite strong all things considered. In previous reports I had always placed more emphasis on tide than time of day earlier in the spring and now until further notice, I will reverse my recommendation and say that time of day will superseded tide at this point. Although we still want the water to be moving, the time of day is more important. Low light hours are where you will all want to log your time. If possible, no light hours (i.e. early, early in the A.M. or late at night, which in essence is the same time at the end of the day. Should your other responsibilities not allow you to do this, focus on some deeper water structure where fish may be holding during the day. T&W is always an effective tactic for targeting these fish and we have just the combos rigged with lead core to get you going.
This coming weekend we have some decent tides that would allow you to get a dropping flood tide on a change of light, which traditionally are two very good variables that will be in your favor on Friday, Saturday and Sunday night. Therefore, get the yard work done in the day and head for the beach or boat in the evening. The next change in bait that we have been discussing over the past several weeks has been the dispersing of the sand eels and the (hopefully) arrival of peanut bunker. Adam S. was in earlier in the week who normally fishes the first light and reported indeed there was peanut bunker spotted and pretty thick in and around the shoals. Like trout that take a day or two to key into a new hatch, the same rule applies to our bass population locally. He reported that all of the fish were continuing to work smaller schools of sand eels in tight, while the peanuts swam unmolested. Adam double confirmed since he was able to get right up on them with his trolling motor that these were not silver sides! Sgt Colonies from next door backed up the validity of this report reporting in that they were all over the flats off of Compo as well. Try out Montauk Mikes Peanut Bunker imitations for the spinning gear next time you are in.
We mentioned last week of the nice cinder worm hatch and apparently they stuck around longer than normal. Captain Steve was out Friday A.M. and had bass still sipping these tasty treats off of Sherwood Point. Throwing his 7wt he had fish up to 31 inches and a few blues to 6 lbs once the sun started coming up.
Saturday despite a high hot sun some very large bluefish were reported into the shop. Fishing alongside his father Ed and friend Francis, young angler Max Iannone stopped by for some fresh Westport Outfitters worms and had his fill of porgies, a monster sand shark as well as a gator blue that tipped the scales at 10lbs (see recent catches).
Saturday the shop was a buzz after hearing that a customer that we set up with a few spots and some fresh squid who proceeded to go out and land an 8lb FLUKE!! We have been mentioning this in the reports as of late and the fluke fishing really is just on fire. If you fish, you have the gear already to get this done, so just come on down to the shop and we can get you the rigs, the right bait and the right spots to catch a doormat!
Sunday Teddy P. from Stamford broke in his new Shimano rod on a hefty large mouth in a local pond before getting it salty with 3-5lb blues in mass from shore on Sunday afternoon.
Monday I fished at dusk on the dropping tide inside of Pine Creek and am still amazed with the life back in there. On no more than 24 casts I caught a nice size fluke at about 17 inches, a porgie and bass that was just shy of 28 inches all on a clouser.
Monday, Captain Chris also checked into report that the sand eel activity was definitely slowing off of Milford but there was plenty of silver sides. He fished some large deceivers on the fly rod for two keeper bass up to 344 inches and was back home by 9:00 A.M. Not a bad start to the morning.
Monday night our own Kurt D. and Derrick fished from shore in Milford with some of Ron Dicostanza’s Lordship Lures and they two reported in a few good sized keepers in the mid 30 inch range all on surface plugs and swimmers. Now is again a good time to start trying some of T-Man’s Swimmers as well!
Tuesday night it was George Discala, Jr. and Justin Solis drifting worms and eels outside of the islands for a pick of about 12 fish, 4 being keepers in the mid 30 inch range. George stated that the fish, not even the blues wanted much to do with the eels this night.
Tuesday night again off of Milford in some deeper water, Captain Chris, along with daughter decided to change it up a bit and since the porgy fishing has been so red hot, they decided to drop a few down and were rewarded with a 40 inch as well as a 42 inch bass. These are great baits, but they still need to be at least 10.5 inches to use, so be sure to follow the rules.
THE MONTAUK REPORT
Our good friend Captain Dean reports in from the wet decks of the “Teaser” in Montauk, that the shark fishing remains steady, with most boats releasing a half dozen or so bluesharks each run, with some catching makos and a very occasional thresher. Most of the sharking seems to have moved further east along with most of the bluesharks.
Out at the canyons there is a steady pick of small yellowfins ranging from just keeper size up to 60 pounds. Some great marlin fishing has started to show up as well. Most of the action is inside on the flats.
Inshore the bass fishing is getting better every week, at least based on the size of fish being caught. The big tubes are working and lots of thirty pound and better fish coming are coming in. The umbrellas and parachute jigs/rigs are catching more but smaller fish.
To book a trip with Captain Dean, please call the shop or him directly at 203.5556.3361.
ONE MORE DATE WITH LOU TABORY-October 24, 2009-CALL NOW TO RESERVE!
October 24th, 2009 @ 6:00 A.M.-Compo Beach, Westport, CT
This intro/intermediate course will begin promptly at 6:00 A.M. in the water, in your waders. Lou and the crew from W.O. will work with you in learning the general casting stroke for fly fishing; teach you how to read the water to identify bait movement, current, structure and feeding fish patterns and lanes. You will have the opportunity to cast some additional rods with varying types of lines for saltwater fly fishing. After the fishing, we will return to the shop where Lou will go over several formal slide presentations, that will reiterate what was learned on the water, including gear selection, knot tying, fly presentation and much, much more! After lunch, we will have an extended Q&A and then finally return to the park to wrap things up with more hands on casting. The day will end at approximately 3:00 P.M. Cost is $150.00, which includes a light breakfast, full lunch and refreshments throughout the day.
See below for important upcoming fly fishing schools and other shop events.
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Week of July 3rd...STILL RED HOT!!
TENT SALE CONTINUES THIS WEEKEND! PLENTY OF GOOD STUFF LEFT!
Before we get to the report, two quick things, we are carrying over the tent sale into this weekend weather permitting. We still have lots of gear, rods, and other items that have been marked down 50%!! Also, if you have been waiting on signing up for Lou Tabory’s intro/intermediate school coming up on August 1st, don’t delay, we only have three seats left so call or email the shop!
I know it may be getting old, but the fishing still remains quite strong, considering the fact that we are entering into the doldrums of summer. Although traditionally there are always fish to catch, not even close to what we are experiencing currently. Bass, blues, fluke, porgies, you name it and it’s on! In addition, at this time of year, any veteran fisherman/fisherwomen would have to resort to dawn patrols to get out before the sun and heat, but thus far this has not been necessary. Although we would never advocate getting up at 11:00 A.M. with high aspirations of sticking some big bass, the water temps are cool enough to allow you all some more rest!!
For those of you that frequent the shop, I had a little run in last fall while training for a rather long road race and let us just say that the walnut WON and I broke my leg. Although seemingly this has nothing to do with fishing, it does. This week was my first week back out on the black top so I have been getting up quite early to log a few miles before heading to the shop. The last two mornings when I rolled out of my house it was a brisk 55 degrees. I think you can all see where I am headed with this. Despite it being July 9th, these mild air temperatures only continue to help our cause in the way of keeping the fish in tight. At the time of this report the Central Long Island Sound Buoy was still only reading 67 degrees during mid tide and there is bait inshore all over!
Other points to take note of, Tuesday night was the full moon and we all know what that means, indeed, CINDER WORMS! They will come off anytime leading up to, including and following the full moon cycle and some folks from the shop were out in full force to fish it over the past few days. Fishing this hatch is often very frustrating, so you have to often use some unconventional tactics. Like the sand eel schools that continue to be all over the place, when fishing the cinder worm hatch, you must distinguish your baits/flys. Try throwing something big and nasty to get a fish to turn. For the bait guy/gals, dead drifting sandworms is often a good tactic. Cory C. and Nicky G. from ASMW landed several fish just shy of keepers on worms Monday night during the hatch. Johnny J. chose to stick with some of his hand tied patterns and despite fish breaking all over off of Compo, no fish were had. He may have taken some other fish from his top secret rip that he discovered, but has been so tight lipped about it that he refuses to divulge the information. We may just have to try some more harsh measures to get him to talk.
Before we get to the report I must make a call out to T-Man’s new swimming plugs. These double jointed swimmers are unreal. Before we brought them in, we tested them out back as well as through video that Captain Pat had sent along. He has really been hitting them hard with these and the action of not one, but two joints is simply irresistible. If you fish his tubes and have had success, come by and have a look at these swimmers. So onto the report…
The holiday weekend was staged in last week’s report to be one of low expectations. Multiple firework displays, boat traffic beyond compare and some high hot sun days, probably made the decision to just stay at the BBQ for another beverage versus braving the storm all that much easier. However, despite these variables, folks were into fish. Late Friday afternoon Captain Elser fished with a client from the shop in and around Westport for bass up to 31 inches and blues to 6 lbs at will.
Saturday, long lost friend and customer George M. stopped in and was loaded for bear. Apparently work has been getting in the way of his fishing. As always, George got it done, with keeper fluke, keeper porgies and keeper bass, not to mention, not one blue to the boat! (see recent catches)
Farther to our west, Matty C. out of Greenwich continues his conquest. Now on his new boat Captain Matt is also available for charter (see “Chartering” tab on our website). He has been into the fluke hard up to 25 inches as well as a host of bass up to 25lbs. He reports that down west, he feels a majority of the larger fish have moved through and is seeing the others begin to start hanging around structure as the bunker has moved out into middle. He has been focusing on fishing 30-40 feet of water.
Back home, Sage N. reported in a great weekend despite the boat traffic. He fished Sunday for both bass and fluke and had fluke all the way up to 24 inches at will around the islands. Trolling some T&W landed him bass up to 31 inches.
Sunday seemed to be a great day to go fluking. After a long weekend of BBQs, parades and too many burgers, what could be better than a lazy day of fluking. Dick Ritter stopped by to show us a 5 lb beauty taken off of the islands on some frozen sand eels (see recent catches).
Monday it was time to head east and I mean way east…say to Block Island. Good friends and customers George DiScala. Jr., Justin Solis and our own Cody Lapnow headed over to “The Block” for some big girl hunting and they accomplished their mission without a doubt. After two days fishing, which consisted of drifting eels, Sluggos and Cody throwing Lordship Lures, they landed a host of 30 plus pound fish. They were fishing the S.W. Ledge area in approximately 42 feet of water and had non stop action, including a porgy that was just shy of the RI state record. Cody takes the honors of landing a 34 lb fish that was safely released on a medium action spinning rod on a Lordship Lure (see recent catches). George on the other hand, is now stuck in a funk, much like Justin was when he recently returned from Montana, not wanting to fish anywhere but B.I. for 30 plus lb stripers!
Tuesday Captain Chris had a full boat with a family visiting from California, with an early start they trolled tubes and casted soft plastics from Southport to Norwalk and had their fill of blues up to 8lbs.
Wednesday, Steve T. was out early and found too many people at the Mill Pond so decided to venture further east where he found breaking fish and birds around the mouth of Sasco Creek (a spot easily accessible from shore). On the long rods he had bass up to 27 inches on sand eel patterns. After the sun came up in full force, he switched over to the light spinning rods and had both blues to 8lbs and bass to just shy of keepers.
Next up and long overdue, we heard from young Elliot Gudis who has been putting in some serious time to get himself into a keeper. SO much that he recently volunteered to work in the store over the weekend just to pick everyone’s brains…well…I guess it worked out. Wednesday afternoon with a high hot sun over head, Elliot nailed a 31 inch fish that nearly tipped the scale at 10 lbs…A BIG CONGRATS ELLIOT!
Well folks, that is about it for this week, many, understandably, decided to take the holiday weekend off and with good reason. This week has been a bit slow but I personally feel it’s only because everyone is either recuperating or extending their vacations after the 4th of July. Whatever the reason, the fishing is still red hot, so get on out there. One last reminder, if you have been holding off on signing up for Lou Tabory’s school on August 1st, wait no longer for we only have three spaces left, so call or email the shop today. This one day event will get you started into the wonderful world of fly-fishing!!
THE FRESHWATER REPORT
Locally I went out on Monday hoping the stream flows would still be good with all the rain in and around Fairfield and even scouted some new water that will remain namless for now. Plenty of life, but the flows were very, very low.
A crew from the shop made the trek up to the Farmington on Wednesday and fished the TMA and down through "central riffle". Not many hatches coming off so the boys decided to toss big stone flies with an isonychia dropper, size 14. No huge numbers but a few nice browns up to 19 inches(see recent catches). If you are willing to make this journey, be sure to come by and ask Kurt, formerly of Orvis, for some guidance. He knows this river like the back of his hand and can definately help you out!
THE MONTAUK REPORT
Captain Dean reports from the wet decks of the “Teaser” from Montauk that the fluke season is open again here in New York and there are plenty of fluke around, but the keepers are getting hard to find. Seems like most fish are just a half inch short.
The striped bass fishing is great, but like the fluke, you really have to work your way through the shorts to bring to the net a keeper. Some boats have started with the live porgies, bunker chunks and eels. The larger bass are being caught with Porgies.
Offshore the shark fishing is pretty steady with enough bluesharks to provide action and more threshers showing up every day. Mako sharks have still not shown up in any numbers yet. There was exotic shark taken Friday known as a Porbeagle that tipped the scale at 170 lbs just east of the Butterfish Hole.
This weekend is the MBCA Charity Shark Tournament at Star Island. Stop by and buy a tee shirt or something. The proceeds go to scholarships for local kids.
The Butterfish Hole is full of life with tons of whales and school size bluefin tuna as well. I heard a few boats catching a few. We will be working on tuna’s all week so lets see what happens.
Should you want to get out with Captain Dean, please call the sop or call him directly at 203.556.3361.
See below for important upcoming fly fishing schools and other shop events.
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WESTPORTOUTFITTERS.TV
If you have been watching the weekly video updates, here is your early chance to get involved with this new cutting edge, HOW TO, WHERE TO, WHY TO site, dedicated to our great sport and improving all of your skills at it…log onto www.westportoutfitters.tv and sign up now!!
LOU TABORY
Lou Tabory Intro/Intermediate Class-BACK BY POPULAR DEMAND!!! –ONLY THREE SPOTS LEFT!!
August 1st @ 6:00 A.M. - Compo Beach, Westport, CT
This intro/intermediate course will begin promptly at 6:00 A.M. in the water, in your waders. Lou and the crew from W.O. will work with you in learning the general casting stroke for fly fishing; teach you how to read the water to identify bait movement, current, structure and feeding fish patterns and lanes. You will have the opportunity to cast some additional rods with varying types of lines for saltwater fly fishing. After the fishing, we will return to the shop where Lou will go over several formal slide presentations, that will reiterate what was learned on the water, including gear selection, knot tying, fly presentation and much, much more! After lunch, we will have an extended Q&A and then finally return to the park to wrap things up with more hands on casting. The day will end at approximately 3:00 P.M. Cost is $150.00, which includes a light breakfast, full lunch and refreshments throughout the day.
Week of June 26th...EXCEEDING EXPECTATIONS
TENT SALE-THIS SATURDAY-SUNDAY, JULY 4th & 5th. ITEMS UP TO 50% OFF. CLOTHING, RODS, REELS, BOATING ACCESSORIES, HELLY HANSEN, PACIFIC FLY COMPANY, SHOES AND MUCH, MUCH MORE!! DON’T MISS IT!
Before we get to this week’s report from Westport Outfitters, let us first give thanks for our freedom and independence and all those that have sacrificed to afford us the lives we all live today. Happy Birthday America! Secondly, we must give thanks to the great fishing that continues to exceed all expectations of at least the crew here at the store and all those that we consider customers and friends within Fairfield County and beyond.
As we mentioned last week, locally the water temps have barely breached the 65 degree mark. On the subject of water temperature, it is important to note that the thermal niche for striped bass (our targeted species locally) is between 58-65 degrees, so we are still well within where we need to be to take advantage of some tremendous fishing. Add in the fact that the kids are out of school and we are on the eve of a holiday weekend and there should be no reason not to get out and get some fishing in. One of the reasons the water temperatures have remained so mild is the cool influx of cold water that we have been receiving from all this darn rain…maybe there is a bright side to all this precipitation? This same water has kept the local stream flows ideal as well. This too is benefitting all of the trout fisherman and women locally who are still able to fish some cool oxygenated water, two favorite variables that trout desire. Look for caddis hatches in the evening as well during the mid day sun.
In the salt, the entire coastline of Fairfield County from Greenwich to Milford remains very productive. The sand eels continue to be everywhere with bunker as well as some adult silver sides mixed in. At the time of this report, we even had Captain Chris coming in from a trip noting bass sipping small crabs off the surface. The Micinilio Brothers once again continue to get it done. They emailed in a late report after a day of trolling in and around the islands on Friday with too many bass to count but some big girls taken up to 16lbs and 35 inches (see recent catches) It must have been those Westport Outfitters snake worms that no doubt assisted in this great day of fishing.
Next up was Cody and Drew Arlo fishing in and around Compo Beach with a few 33-34 inch fish that fell for some of Lordship Lures’ sand eel poppers that have been producing some very high quality fish as well as with the Danny plugs and Swimmers also by Lordship. Come on down if you don’t have at least one of these plugs in your bag. Also new and proven to very effective are the new T-Man Swimmers. These double jointed surface plugs are deadly. If you like his tubes, come try out these!
Early Friday it was Cory C. from the All Seasons Marine Works team taking out another employee, Joe, who between you and I folks no matter what he is doing, has a smile from ear to ear. In fact, I did not think it was possible for Joe to actually smile more than he already does, until that is, he went fishing with Cory. While live lining some bunker near the mouth of the Five Mile River, Joe picks up a 20 plus lb fish, his first striped bass ever and a nice one at that (see recent catches). The smile says it all folks.
The weekend brought with it some decent weather and Jack Ross was on a mission. Jack has long supported the shop here at Westport Outfitters and is always asking questions on how to become a better angler. We recently assisted Jack out with a new rod that he has been fishing hard to get that fish he deserves and it happened Saturday. While chunking in deeper water off of Norwalk, Jack landed a 34 inch 24lb fat bass on his new Shimano rod and Avet reel. Way to go Jack! (see recent catches).
On Saturday we also had heard of some of the largest fish we have seen in the western sound in quite some time, but it was hard to confirm, until shop customer and good friend Jeff Hammel emailed in the pics. That’s right folks, Dolphins! Probably not to good for the bass population since these guys will eat just about anything, but nonetheless a pretty cool sight to see, especially when Jeff rode up on them thinking they were a big bass school(see recent catches).
The fluking reports have been few and far between and in my opinion it’s only because the bass fishing has been so great that we all forgot it was fluke season, that is, with the exception of Sage, who fished the Norwalk Islands with some Westport Outfitters squid and patented sand eels for his fill of doormats and two for the table coming in at well over 24 inches each (see recent catches).
Sunday, Will G. convinced his wife to accompany him and therefore he really had to produce or she might question where he goes every weekend. He fished outside of the islands with blues up to 10lbs and one chomper on poppers (see recent catches).
Monday our own Sgt Colonies was out and had a difficult time finding the bass, with the long rods, but after returning to the mouth of the Saugy, had blues breaking everywhere where he and two guests had blues to 6 lbs on 8 wts!
Tuesday, Bill Beck reported in after fishing from the kayak in and around the mouth of the river and Compo where he had had bass blitzing sand eels and landed three keepers to 31 inches on paddle tails Tsunami baits and sand eel poppers. Nothing better than landing a bass that tows you around a bit and no better place to buy a yak than from Westport Outfitters! As I mentioned in this weeks video update on www.westportoutfitters.com, we now are stocking a full range of yaks from Wilderness Systems and Ocean Kayaks, so come on down and have a look!
Speaking of yaks, Rob Cap continues to hit it hard and reports in that the beaches off of Fairfield have been holding some large bass as well. Over the weekend Rob brought to the boat some big girls on poppers from the yak in the mid 30 inch range (see recent catches).
Tuesday A.M. while filming some content for www.westportoutfitters.tv our own Pat O’Donnell stuck on a nice fat 28 inch fish on the long rod with Jeff Smith at the camera…stay tuned for the full length feature.
Wednesday A.M. was a good day for a several reasons. The first was that the crew from ASMW, ex Nathan of course since he only bottom fishes, headed out early to get the dropping tide and hopefully stick some fish before having to punch in. On board were three great fishermen, Cory C, Sgt Colonies and a name you may have not heard in the past, Nick Gagliardi. Nick has been a recluse, not when it comes to fishing, but rather having other people know he is doing it. Well, he has taken several other steps to remove himself from the darkness and has now approved the use of his name in these reports.
They were into the sand eels on board the Ranger 2000 right from the get go and had fish up to 27 inches all on the long rods from about 5:45-7:00 when the sun poked up and shut things down. They were all using sand eel type imitations and after conferring with them, the slower strips were getting it done today folks, so I know how we all get when things are popping on the surface, but slow it DOWN. A slow strip allowing the fly to sink could imitate a sand eel that has been chomped on by a bluefish and thus an easy target for a lazy striper! Try it next time you are out!
Thursday we all made another dawn patrol trip before work and although there were no fish to the boat, we did witness once again some amazing sand eel activity in and around the Mill Pond and even removed a windshield at 6:00 A.M. to get into a very fishy place…but nothing to show for it. Nonetheless a great morning with good friends is almost as good as a good morning of fishing…almost!!
Lastly, a special congrats to Nora Jinishian, mother of John and wife to Alex, both friends and customers of the store. The two are totally addicted to fly fishing so what is a wife to do? Join them! Nora recently completed one of our schools with Lou Tabory and it did not take her long last week to land here second bass that came in at just over 25 inches from the Mill Pond on a fly rod! Congrats Nora...now if John and Alex could only catch the same quality of fish, everything would be good!
Well folks, that is about it for this week and as we head into the long upcoming weekend, it looks like the weather may stabilize a bit and the fishing will be good. With all the firework displays going on that may adversely affect the fishing, try to make Saturday A.M. your day of choice. On the subject of fireworks, should you choose to brave the masses in your boat, keep an eye out, for there will be many looking the other way! Focus on the higher tides from the boats while waders should focus on the lower tides and particularly the incoming which has been fishing very well from shore. Before we close, we now have breakaway clips for all those that have been waiting!!
As I mentioned last week, now that the kids are out of school, there is also is no better time than now to take the whole family fishing. Bluefish and schoolie bass can all be easily lured to the hook using a simple bottom rig with either a piece of bunker or perhaps a sand worm. Fluke will fall for sandworms as well as frozen sand eels. Light tackle rods with Stillwater poppers or Sluggos will all get the job done. Focus on higher moving tides when fishing from shore, which will give you more access to water, as compared to lower, slower moving tides. Take the Family Fishing Today™!! Don’t forget that we still have spots open for the intro/intermediate school with Lou Tabory on August 1st. Call the shop at 203.341.9490 or log onto www.westportoutfitters.com for more information or read below. This is your chance to learn from the legend!
See below for important upcoming fly fishing schools and other shop events.
FACEBOOK GROUP PAGE, JOIN TODAY!
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WESTPORTOUTFITTERS.TV
If you have been watching the weekly video updates, here is your early chance to get involved with this new cutting edge, HOW TO, WHERE TO, WHY TO site, dedicated to our great sport and improving all of your skills at it…log onto www.westportoutfitters.tv and sign up now!!
LOU TABORY
Lou Tabory Advanced Class
July 11th @ 6:00 A.M., Compo Beach, Westport, CT–SOLD OUT!!!
The advanced class with Lou & the crew from W.O. will begin with a similar agenda as the intro/intermediate. Focus will be given to more technical casting skills such as mastering the double haul, increasing your distance, carrying more line in the air, accuracy of casts, improving fly presentation and tips on fishing/casting with heavier sinking lines and bigger flies. When we return to the shop after the fishing, more advanced knot tying will be discussed/demonstrated as well as a much closer look at reading the water and more effective wading tips to increase your catch. After lunch, we will return to the lawn for more hands on casting and demonstrations. The day will end at approximately 3:00 P.M. Cost is $150.00, which includes a light breakfast, full lunch and refreshments throughout the day.
Lou Tabory Intro/Intermediate Class-BACK BY POPULAR DEMAND!!!
August 1st @ 6:00 A.M. - Compo Beach, Westport, CT –ONLY A FEW SPOTS REMAINING!!
This intro/intermediate course will begin promptly at 6:00 A.M. in the water, in your waders. Lou and the crew from W.O. will work with you in learning the general casting stroke for fly fishing; teach you how to read the water to identify bait movement, current, structure and feeding fish patterns and lanes. You will have the opportunity to cast some additional rods with varying types of lines for saltwater fly fishing. After the fishing, we will return to the shop where Lou will go over several formal slide presentations, that will reiterate what was learned on the water, including gear selection, knot tying, fly presentation and much, much more! After lunch, we will have an extended Q&A and then finally return to the park to wrap things up with more hands on casting. The day will end at approximately 3:00 P.M. Cost is $150.00, which includes a light breakfast, full lunch and refreshments throughout the day.
Week of June 19th...SMOKIN'
Well folks the fishing still remains strong throughout Fairfield County and closer to home along the Westport coastline despite some warmer air temperatures. Areas such as Burial Hill Beach, Compo and the Mill Pond continue to produce bass and blues as well as one report this week of a keeper Fluke on a clouser minnow fished from a fly rod. On the subject of Fluke, the season is now open as of June 15th and will run through August 19th. The size requirements changed this year with a minimum size of 19.5 inches being needed to keep a fish. Three fish are allowed per angler if desired.
Water temperatures are key at this time of the year to help keep the fishing inshore productive. Looking back at my log book from the previous five years, not once has the water temperature been this cool at 62 degrees at the mid sound buoy at this time of year. This cool temperature surely has a lot to do with the great fishing we all have been experiencing from shore, although maybe not so good for the swimming, the fish have been loving it!
Back to the striped bass and bluefish, the Westport coastline has been infiltrated with large schools of sand eels which are a favorite bait for both species of fish at this time of year. Taking a chapter from the art of fly fishing, anglers will want to try and “match the hatch” if you will and attempt to use real or imitation baits that resemble these small bait fish. Soft plastics at this time of year, that are slender in size and shape have a tendency to get the job done during lower light hours, but can be easily shredded by feisty bluefish as the sun comes up. If this is the case, an angler using a traditional spinning rod can replicate a sand eel with some smaller poppers and/or swim baits made out of harder plastics that can resist a bluefish strike, but do equally well with striped bass. We are one of only two shops that are now carrying Lordship Lure’s brand new sand eel poppers. We fished these this week and hammered the fish, which we will get to in a minute, but if you are looking for a new sand eel imitation plug, look no further!! If you are fishing with the fly rod, I more often than not usually end up sacrificing at least one fly before I put some bite tippet on to prevent the senseless loss of dozens of flies from ravenous blues. The bite tippet we use is not as dark as the traditional material, so with any luck it won’t scare of the striped bass. If you have not used this camouflage color knotable wire, stop on in. For the fly rod guys/gals simply put…Eric Peterson’s Sand Eel Imitations…
After a long week of rain, one would think that the fishing inshore and from the shore would be off, due to the lower salinity counts around some of our estuaries as well as our local rivers flushing all of the freshwater into the sound, muddying up our coastline. All variables that usually do not bode well for the fishing, however at the time of this report, last week’s rains that extended well into this week seem to have not affected the local fishing scene at all.
Earlier in the week we had Jimmy I. weighing in a 21lb fish taken on a chunk off of Westport. Mark B was not close behind with both a 35 and a 36 inch fish also taken on chunks off the Saugatuck River weighing a 16.5 and 18.5 respectively.
The Micinilio Brothers throughout the weekend continued their conquest with dozens of keeper bass and monster blues on anything from Crystal Minnows to plastics and Deadly Dicks, all resembling the sand eels that are all over the place (see recent catches).
A big congrats to Ed Briganti who over the weekend fished the squid run in and around Watch Hill and landed a nice fat keeper bass on his 10 wt. This may seem easier said than done. When these squid go off it’s reminiscent of the cinder worm hatch locally which for those that fish it, know how frustrating it can be with all the competition around. Add in the nasty and down right dangerous rips around Watch Hill and sticking a keeper on a fly rod is much harder than it may seem. Nice fish Ed!
Teddy P. reports in from Stamford that the blues around the Cove have been pretty feisty with fish from to 4-6lbs and great fun on the light tackle or fly rods.
Emmett Ryan put a new twist on kayak fishing over the weekend and dragged his yak behind his boat out into the islands so he could really get into skinny water. After some passes his new trolling set up that he purchased at W.O. rigged with a T-Man tube and a gulp sand worm brought a nice 30 inch bass to the yak!
Geoffrey Parr reported in from Greenwich where the wading in and around Todd’s Point remains strong with some nice stripers to the net on the fly rod with a multitude of sand eel patterns(see recent catches).
Over the weekend, die hard angler, Jason Bascom came into the shop to report that the Westport coastline was on fire and while fishing from his yak using some soft plastics he landed nearly a 15 lb fish that came in at 32 inches.
A big congrats to Cory C. who reported in a few nice fly rod fish taken off of Rowayton on the 8wts over the weekend during a local tournament headed up by shop customer and friend Clay Persinger. Cory’s fish landed him 2nd place in the fly rod category. He also took 5th place in the bait category with 36 inch fish.
From the boats near Frost Point on Monday our own Captain Chris and Cory C. fished with the fly rods for bluefish up to 6 lbs before having enough of the North winds and retreating back to the docks. No bass to the boat this day.
Tuesday A.M. Captain Chris had a charter with two youngsters that return every year to celebrate a birthday, so the pressure was on Captain Chris to produce and he did not let these kids down. Upon returning to the dock, they were covered in sand eels with a report of blues to nearly 10lbs on light tackle and worn out arms! Happy Birthday guys!!
Also on Tuesday A.M., shop customer and good friend Dan Laffin hooked and released nearly a 35 inch striped bass on the fly rod fishing a sand eel imitation, wading off of Westport. Although no scale was present, we will let the picture speak for itself, but by the looks of it, it had to have been in the 20# class range. Awesome fish on the fly rod Dan, you surely deserve it! (see recent catches)
Tuesday night our own Cody Lapnow fished the shoals towards the end of the outgoing and despite torrential rain, he and pal Casey got it done with all of their fish from 32-34 inches and fat on sand eels. They fished exclusively the new Lordship Lures Sand Eel imitation poppers.
Tuesday night, Alex fished the mouth of the Housey with a total of seven keepers back to the boat with two of them on big white decievers with the long rods. Some great fish there Alex on the fly rod!(see recent catches)
Back on shore, fishing poppers from the beach have accounted for striped bass well into the 30 inch range all week long, so get on out there!
Wednesday Joey D. fished his recently purchased new Ross reel on the long rods for 4 fish that circled his boat like sharks after being hooked that came to the net from 28-31 inches and were safely released, just outside of Compo Cove.
Brian Cilento also reported in from Wednesday night of some schools of bunker at the mouth of the Saugy with three good blues to the nest to 8 lbs.
Now that the kids are out of school, there is also is no better time than now to take the whole family fishing. Bluefish and schoolie bass can all be easily lured to the hook using a simple bottom rig with either a piece of bunker or perhaps a sand worm. Fluke will fall for sandworms as well as frozen sand eels. Light tackle rods with Stillwater poppers or Sluggos will all get the job done. Focus on higher moving tides when fishing from shore, which will give you more access to water, as compared to lower, slower moving tides. Take the Family Fishing Today™!! Don’t forget to read below in regards to our upcoming fly fishing schools with Lou Tabory!
As the fish begin to settle in to their summer structure spots, there is no better way to target them with one of our Captain Chris’ T&W combos, pre rigged and ready to go, just add a tube and some water…only $179.99!!
TENT SALE-JULY 4th WEEKEND-STAY TUNED!!
SIMMS WADERS/BOOT TRADE IN EVENT-TBD
THE MONTANA REPORT
If you viewed last week’s video update you saw that a group of us, including myself, were fishing in Montana at the Complete Fly-Fisher (www.completeflyfisher.com) in Wise River. I rarely give such a glowing endorsement, but I have traveled to this lodge for the past seven years and there simply is no better place to experience Montana fly fishing at its best. We ran almost head on with the legendary salmon fly hatch and had five solid days of some of the finest dry fly fishing that anyone could possibly ask for.
Fishing large dry flies in the size 4-6 range we had browns and bows up to 22 inches with one day only catching perhaps three fish under 18 inches with the remaining balance being 20 inches or better. If you are looking for a destination trip with some of the best fishing Montana has to offer, you must check these guys out!!
THE MONTAUK REPORT
Captain Dean reports that this past weekend was the Star Island Shark Tournament with the following results. 126 boats entered the tourney…
Heaviest shark - 369 lbs thresher – RUNAWAY
1st place mako - 227 lbs - SEA WIFE IV
2nd place mako - 197 lbs - SANDRA JEANNE
3rd place mako - 136 lbs - THREE OF A KIND
1st place blueshark - 227 lbs - LADY FIN
1st place thresher - 369 lbs - RUNAWAY
2nd place thresher - 289 lbs – FREEDOM
3rd place thresher - 287 lbs - FISHERMAN II
This weekend is the Montauk Marine Basins’ annual shark tag tournament.
See below for important upcoming fly fishing schools and other shop events.
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WESTPORTOUTFITTERS.TV
If you have been watching the weekly video updates, here is your early chance to get involved with this new cutting edge, HOW TO, WHERE TO, WHY TO site, dedicated to our great sport and improving all of your skills at it…log onto www.westportoutfitters.tv and sign up now!!
LOU TABORY
Lou Tabory Advanced Class
July 11th @ 6:00 A.M., Compo Beach, Westport, CT–SOLD OUT!!!
The advanced class with Lou & the crew from W.O. will begin with a similar agenda as the intro/intermediate. Focus will be given to more technical casting skills such as mastering the double haul, increasing your distance, carrying more line in the air, accuracy of casts, improving fly presentation and tips on fishing/casting with heavier sinking lines and bigger flies. When we return to the shop after the fishing, more advanced knot tying will be discussed/demonstrated as well as a much closer look at reading the water and more effective wading tips to increase your catch. After lunch, we will return to the lawn for more hands on casting and demonstrations. The day will end at approximately 3:00 P.M. Cost is $150.00, which includes a light breakfast, full lunch and refreshments throughout the day.
Lou Tabory Intro/Intermediate Class-BACK BY POPULAR DEMAND!!!
August 1st @ 6:00 A.M. - Compo Beach, Westport, CT –ONLY A FEW SPOTS REMAINING!!
This intro/intermediate course will begin promptly at 6:00 A.M. in the water, in your waders. Lou and the crew from W.O. will work with you in learning the general casting stroke for fly fishing; teach you how to read the water to identify bait movement, current, structure and feeding fish patterns and lanes. You will have the opportunity to cast some additional rods with varying types of lines for saltwater fly fishing. After the fishing, we will return to the shop where Lou will go over several formal slide presentations, that will reiterate what was learned on the water, including gear selection, knot tying, fly presentation and much, much more! After lunch, we will have an extended Q&A and then finally return to the park to wrap things up with more hands on casting. The day will end at approximately 3:00 P.M. Cost is $150.00, which includes a light breakfast, full lunch and refreshments throughout the day.
Week of June 6th...STILL ON FIRE!!
Another week and another host of some terrific catches from both shore bound as well as those anglers fishing from the boats. Do take note though, the water temps to our west are definitely starting to tick up and it’s moving the fish to the east which could be seen as both a positive as well as a negative occurrence. It’s a good thing since we may not need to spend the time and the fuel to head down to points farther to our west. However, on the flip side, it is the first chapter that will end with some of the bigger fish pushing all the way through and eventually heading up the New England Coast. But have no fear, the fishing still remains strong.
Although a bit more difficult to spot, there are still many schools of adult bunker in and around our local harbors. Did we mention the sand eels? This spring is shaping up to be even better than the two years prior in regards to the sand eel activity. This favorite bait of choice for bass of course is a small bait fish that buries itself into the sand during the nighttime hours and reappears as the sun comes up. The best imitation for these on the spinning rods is a four inch Gulp or Sluggo imitation rigged weed less and weightless. The bunker colored Stillwater Poppers have also been getting the job done when the fish are crashing these little baits on the surface. For the fly guys/gals, stick with Eric Peterson’s sand eel imitations in various colors and JJ’s sand eel sliders.
Although at the time of this report, the weather continues to be unstable with threats of rain and thunderstorms all week long, this weekend is looking clear so get on out there. I, will be doing the same a little farther to our west, all the way out in Montana where we hope to run head on with the legendary Salmon Fly Hatch on the Big Hole River…stay tuned for a live feed from the banks of the river next week…so onto the report…
Scott Collins was the first to correspond with us right before the weekend where as I mentioned above, he reported sand eels all over. The stripers would not look at anything but sand eel imitations. Scott reported that he threw just about everything in his conventional bag, Rapalas, Bombers, and even Deadly Dicks with nothing to show for it. Upon these baits entering the water, a showering of sand eels would turn up. Scott’s experience is a perfect example of why we pride ourselves in being fisherman, of all shapes and sizes. This night, as Scott describes, more traditional tactics simply were not getting it done, so he grabbed the long rod and tied on a small sand eel pattern and he was off to the races. With the fly rod he managed fish from 28 to 32 inches well into the late evening. If you are looking to get into the saltwater fly game, now is the time and the barriers to entry from a cost standpoint are pretty much non-existent, so come on down!
Robert Darby emailed in a report of still steady action in and around the Housatonic River, fishing mostly at night, they are into fish from the 34-38 inch mark. Unlike down this way, the sand eels are not as prevalent farther to our east and thus fisherman like Rob have been mostly fishing with bunker to compete(see recent catches).
Rob also emailed in a report of his buddy Jim taking a 45 inch, 40.5lb fish that same night on a chunk as well (see recent catches).
Our good friend Matty C. fishing out of Greenwich continues to do very well during the night bite. Fishing off of Rye on Friday night he and his client landed this nice fat 25lb fish (see recent catches).
As we mentioned in our video update, our good friend Jeff Smith, after diving in head first into the saltwater fly-fishing game, took nearly an 18lb striper on the fly rod from shore on Saturday A.M. Let us just say that Jeff has been bitten by the bug and only time will tell how his life evolves from here…
Steve Eliot reported in a very productive trip on Saturday as well. He and crew left Compo at 6:00 A.M. and headed west. They ended up anchoring for the incoming tide off of Rye and although they saw no bunker on the way down luckily they had some fresh bunker aboard to use. On the incoming tide they caught 7 bass, 5 keepers all between 29-32 inches. All were caught on rods that they were flat lining while the weighted baits were not hit at all (see recent catches).
Steve was back at it on Sunday with a small window to take advantage of some great weather. After being debriefed by Cody (a.k.a The Sluggo King), Steve headed out and found birds working schools of sand eels and it was time to break out the light tackle gear and get it done. For two hours outside off the Saugy, Steve had upwards of 20 bass from 25-27 inches and even more fun to count! Way to go Steve!
Well folks, there are only a few people that deserve a nice fish more than our good friend Tom Leahy. Tom is constantly in the store asking questions, searching for answers and really becoming a better fisherman each and every weekend. On Sunday, Tom was fishing during the first hour of outgoing tide, in between Copps & Sheffield, after fighting through the blues, Tom landed a fat 29nch fish on a Yozuri Crystal Minnow. Congrats Tom, you deserve it!(see recent catches)
Also on Sunday, another good friend, Ben Briggs, chunked outside of the islands and landed a 42 inch, 31lb fish(see recent catches).
The week kicked off quite well with both our own Cody Lapnow and John Jinishian fishing separately with Kurt Daniello on board with JJ, they fished in and around Westport and Frost Point. Cody was of course fishing Sluggos and really had to lengthen up his fluorocarbon to almost 12 feet to get the fish into the boat. After the proper adjustments he had fish slow drifting x raps, casting Sluggos both weightless and with jig heads to 29 inches as well as a multitude of 4-6 lb blues.
Back on JJ’s boat they fished behind Cockenoe drifting with some sand eel schools with blues to 6 lbs and way to many lost flies, less only one bass, although I did hear a rumor about someone getting the camera out too quickly which as we all know is a no, no and the fish spit the hook at the side of the boat...amateurs...
Our own Captain Chris also had a charter where he and a crew of three had their share of blues but with the higher sun on Monday, they could not locate the bass, but nonetheless a great time on light tackle.
Back on shore Patrick O’Donnell landed a nice 29 inch keeper on a “jiggie” on Monday night on the incoming tide at the Mill Pond. Nice fish Pat! Speaking of the shore action, although we can’t confirm who it was, we heard of a 42 inch fish being taken from the Westport coastline on Tuesday night…
Wednesday Steve Eliot continued his conquest this week and had fish up to 20lbs fishing some of the deeper rips off of Bridgeport where he reported not too much pressure and fish to be had by all. On his way in, he and crew stopped by for some surface action with the blues off of Frost Point. All the bass were caught on heads…(see recent catches)
Wednesday night Jeff and Taylor Lapnow, running on board the skiff with a brand new prop thanks to son and brother Cody, had bass up to 14lbs off of Compo all on Sluggos, specifically the Ice and Slick Ice colors…
Well folks that is about it for this week. DONT FORGET, ANY REEL, ANY PROBLEM, WE WILL FIX IT! The fishing remains strong as a constant presence of bait remains in our area. Be sure to read below about the upcoming classes with Lou Tabory, including a just released additional Intro/Intermediate session on August 1st. Also, be sure to sign up for www.westportoutfitters.tv where we will be releasing a special 30 minute segment covering freshwater fly fishing. The common theme in this week’s report is a simple one. You need to adjust your tactics to increase your catches. Don’t get lazy and settle for the status quo, be aware of your surroundings and adjust accordingly. As always, if you have a hard time adjusting, stop by the store and we will get you dialed in…until next week...Best Fishes!
THE MONTAUK REPORT
Captain Dean reports from the wet decks of the “TEASER” that when the fluke season opened up, the fishing was so good that it wasn’t even necessary to keep a ruler handy. If a fish was not 5 or 6 pounds, throw it back. Now the situation is different. There are plenty of fluke being caught, but keepers are getting harder to catch up. Most of the fish are east and north of the Point. A lot of dog fish in the deeper water on the south side as well stealing baits.
Striped bass fishing is as steady as it gets, with lots of fish being caught, most of them keepers. The blue fish are around but have not been too hard to battle with.
A couple of boats have gone out for sharks, and have caught some blue sharks but stay tuned as the shark tournaments are only weeks away.
This weekend is 6th Annual Montauk Harbor and Jazz Festival Weekend. It starts on Friday with the Annual Harbor Festival "Old Timers Dinner" at the Montauk Yacht Club at 7:00 pm, where eight renowned Montauk Fisherman will be honored. Tickets are $35.00 and available at the Montauk Chamber. For more info call 631-668-2428 or e-mail at info@montaukchamber.com.
See below for important upcoming fly fishing schools and other shop events.
FACEBOOK GROUP PAGE, JOIN TODAY!
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WESTPORTOUTFITTERS.TV
If you have been watching the weekly video updates, here is your early chance to get involved with this new cutting edge, HOW TO, WHERE TO, WHY TO site, dedicated to our great sport and improving all of your skills at it…log onto www.westportoutfitters.tv and sign up now!!
LOU TABORY
Lou Tabory Advanced Class
July 11th @ 6:00 A.M., Compo Beach, Westport, CT–ONLY A FEW SPOTS REMAINING!!
The advanced class with Lou & the crew from W.O. will begin with a similar agenda as the intro/intermediate. Focus will be given to more technical casting skills such as mastering the double haul, increasing your distance, carrying more line in the air, accuracy of casts, improving fly presentation and tips on fishing/casting with heavier sinking lines and bigger flies. When we return to the shop after the fishing, more advanced knot tying will be discussed/demonstrated as well as a much closer look at reading the water and more effective wading tips to increase your catch. After lunch, we will return to the lawn for more hands on casting and demonstrations. The day will end at approximately 3:00 P.M. Cost is $150.00, which includes a light breakfast, full lunch and refreshments throughout the day.
Lou Tabory Intro/Intermediate Class-BACK BY POPULAR DEMAND!!!
August 1st @ 6:00 A.M. - Compo Beach, Westport, CT
This intro/intermediate course will begin promptly at 6:00 A.M. in the water, in your waders. Lou and the crew from W.O. will work with you in learning the general casting stroke for fly fishing; teach you how to read the water to identify bait movement, current, structure and feeding fish patterns and lanes. You will have the opportunity to cast some additional rods with varying types of lines for saltwater fly fishing. After the fishing, we will return to the shop where Lou will go over several formal slide presentations, that will reiterate what was learned on the water, including gear selection, knot tying, fly presentation and much, much more! After lunch, we will have an extended Q&A and then finally return to the park to wrap things up with more hands on casting. The day will end at approximately 3:00 P.M. Cost is $150.00, which includes a light breakfast, full lunch and refreshments throughout the day.
Week of May 29th ON FIRE!!
I said it last week folks, but last week’s report can not even hold a candle to the action we here at the shop experienced, as well as all of our clients this past week. I will say it again, that I have not seen the fishing this good in the western sound in my tenure down this way. In fact, having grown up on the Connecticut River and fishing the far eastern sound most of my life, the fishing we have had over the past month is even rivaling that as I remember as a child fishing areas like The Race and Plum Gut in the early season.
The bait situation remains strong with bunker plentiful in most of our harbors and estuaries. In tight, the sand eels are all over the place with silver sides mixed in. This will mean good things for the Fluke season which will kick off on June 15th. Speaking of regulations, at the time of this report, the proposed saltwater fishing license has passed both the house and senate and is now awaiting Governor Rell to sign off on it. If she does, which all signs indicate she will, the license will also go into effect on June 15th. These licenses will be available on line as well as here at the store. The cost will be $10.00. I made contact with someone I know up at the DEP and I have asked if this $10.00 fee was prorated or if it will remain year over year. Unfortunately it was not known at this time, but we will be sure to keep you posted. I know a lot of us have been very vocal about this and at this stage; I am going to focus on the great fishing instead of the political bickering…so onto the report…
The weekend kicked off with a bang with Gaston emailing in a report of a nice fat keeper bass taken on a sand eel imitation at the Mill Pond in Westport. Take a close look at the picture, no doubt the mojo coming from his customized Westport Outfitters stripping basket helped lure this fish in (see recent catches).
Saturday was charter day and everyone was into fish. Jeff Wade and company, after a rough trip a few weeks back, nailed a nice keeper on the fly rod, with reports of sand eels getting busted all over the place. Thanks Jeff, now I can turn on the air conditioning knowing that you will be back (see recent catches).
Sunday Captain Elser was back at it, with a father and son from Greenwich. The son landed six keeper bass to 35 inches. This was his first outing ever in saltwater fishing, quite a feat in itself…
Sunday was an even bigger day for our good friend Cory from All Seasons Marine Works. Although we won’t see Captain Nate on the water until the flat fish show up, Cory was getting it done to our west, after picking up some fresh Westport Outfitters bunker. Cory is a die hard, but rarely just sits and chunks, trust me, he has way too much energy for that, but he had a goal and that was to get his friend Bonnie Roberts into some keeper bass and that he did. Not only did Bonnie catch her first keeper ever, she caught her second, third and fourth keeper as well!! A big congrats, you have been officially hooked (see recent catches)
Back on shore, Patrick O'Donnell continues to fish the usual haunts with the fly rod using Eric Peterson’s sand eel imitations with a mixed bag of blues and bass with the occasional keeper in the mix. Sunday we also heard from Jon Nowicki who fished in and around Fairfield for a total of 12 strippers, 2 blues and one giant sea robin. Biggest stripper was about 27 inches, all taken on sand eel patterns and most likely one of JJ's sand eel sliders that are tied right here at the shop.
Ron D. from Lordship Lures reported in that on Sunday A.M. a 40 lb bass from one of the RI breach ways fell for one of his Dannys. Locally, in and around Bridgeport, guys continue to take keepers on the surface with Ron’s pencil poppers. Ron was just in the store and showed us some prototypes of some new sand eel imitations that he developed in a plug format. We should have these within the next week or so. If you have not fished Ron’s Lordship Lures, you need to come on down and have a look. We are the only shoreline shop in CT west of Bridgeport that carries Ron’s plugs!
Also over the weekend, the Micinilio Brothers were out in full force with bass up to 15lbs in and around Fairfield where they also reported in thick schools of bait(see recent catches).
Farther to our west, things continue to be red hot! Our good friend Captain Matt (a.k.a Matty C.) reported in a few trips that had bass up to 30 lbs both live lining and chunking bunker. Matt recently came on board as one of our guides down west who leaves from Greenwich, so if you want big fish, without the long drive to Hempstead, give the shop a call so we can get you hooked up!(see recent catches).
Speaking of the west, we had two other great catches reported into the shop on Saturday. George Discala Jr. came into the game with a 26lb fish and fellow Westport Striped Bass Club member Ben also took a nice fish at 27lbs. Great stuff guys!
Back locally, Sgt, Colonies fished with Kurt Daniello on Monday night behind the islands, with a higher tide, the bait was stacked up. After loosing what they both felt was a 20lb plus fish up in close, Kurt remained focused and hooked a nice 30 inch fish for his first keeper of the year on top water. He was using one of Ron D’s Lordship Lures which was deadly that night for a mixed bag of other fish as well(see recent catches).
After taking a good luck at Kurt below, it may be the right time to introduce him as our latest addition to the team here at Westport Outfitters. Kurt will assume the role of General Manager. Kurt comes to us from the Orvis store in Darien. He has fished most of his adult life (that is if we consider him an adult now) and brings with him a wealth of knowledge. Kurt grew up fishing Long Island Sound and got bit by the fly-fishing bug at age 10. He has extensive knowledge of both the Housatonic and Farmington Rivers, from a freshwater standpoint, having grown up wading them. However, living in Milford, so close to the saltwater, he also knows every shoreline spot in and around the mouth of the Housatonic and Milford area and beyond. Be sure to come by and say hello to Kurt and find out for yourselves why him joining our team is such an asset to everyone!
Tuesday night, the latest female member of the Westport Striped Bass Club, friend, past co-worker and fisherwomen extraordinaire, Amy Nistico, headed west off of Greenwich in search of her first big fish of the season, well, let us just say that Amy got it done! Notice in the pic below she too is wearing a bit of Westport Outfitters attire that perhaps brought her, like it brought Gaston, a little extra bit of fishing mojo. The fish that Amy is holding weighed in at 26 lbs and just under 40 inches. Tremendous fish Amy! (see recent catches).
Wednesday A.M. before reporting to work, our own Cody Lapnow was out and simply reported in that it was total chaos in and around Westport. Compo Beach to Frost Point were filled with sand eels while he had bass up to 29 inches at will and blues up to 6 lbs.
Cody was fishing all with light tackle using weightless slug-gos and spooks and slug-gos with jig heads to get past the blues as the sun came up. Cody noted, that if you want just bass, stay away from the main schools of sand eels and fish with slug-gos with jig heads along with the gulp sand eels far outside.
It is often said that all work and no play makes for a dull boy and this next report proves this adage quite well. If you want to catch big fish, you need to put your time in. Sage N. is a testament to this. He finds ways to juggle work, family and other obligations and always seems to get it done. Fishing Wednesday A.M. off of Greenwich in between 40-60 feet of water, before of course having to clean up and get into NYC for work, Sage chunked up this monster on a bunker head. All told, the fish measured out at 43 inches and bottomed a 30 lb Boga grip like it was not even there! What can I say Sage, it would have been against doctor’s orders for me to haul that thing in anyway, so I would have had to have passed the rod.(see recent catches)
Well folks, that is about it for this week and what a week it was. I spoke with a good friend who lives in the eastern sound where traditionally the fishing always far exceeds the catches and bait that we see down here. It seems as if this year the shoe is on the other foot, so get out there and take advantage of what is shaping up to be an epic spring run!! Before we get to the freshwater report, let us mention that we were able to mange getting one more date with Lou Tabory on the calendar for this year. August 1st, we will hold another Intro/Intermediate Fly Fishing School with Lou and the crew from Westport Outfitters. We know there were dozens of you that got shut out from the previous three schools that we already held, so here is your chance, call or email the shop today before this fills up!!
FRESHWATER REPORT
Locally the streams are still in great condition, low, but very clear. The Mill River, Saugy, Mianus and Norwalk are seeing hatches of sulfurs, cahills, all types of caddis, some isonychia, brown drakes and finally some brown stone flies. Justin Solis fished the Housatonic over the weekend with a catch of browns to 15 inches and bows to 18 inches.
Sub surface fishing with caddis larvae with a trailer no doubt will get it done. Look for Alder flys to start hatching any day now as well.
Karl Elias reported in a catch of two nice fat browns in the Mill River that fell for an elk hair caddis pattern and noted that there too there was a serious black caddis hatch going on at the same time. Now is the time to take advantage of the fishing with all of these hatches happening simultaneously, call the shop if you are in need of guide locally and beyond!
THE MONTAUK REPORT
Captain Dean reports from the wet decks of the TEASER that the easterly winds all week put a bit of a damper on the fluke fishing but still had reports on Saturday that there were plenty of boats catching there limits.
Striped bass fishing is excellent right now, he reported. Montauk Point is full of squid and large bass on the surface even though at times we had to get through some bluefish to get to the big girls! The light tackle guys are having a ball.
We had a charter boat get out sharking a few days over the weekend and had two blue sharks already. By the looks of it, this could be a great offshore year! Call the shop to book a trip with Captain Dean or reach him directly at 203.556.3361.
See below for important upcoming fly fishing schools and other shop events.
FACEBOOK GROUP PAGE, JOIN TODAY!
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WESTPORTOUTFITTERS.TV
If you have been watching the weekly video updates, here is your early chance to get involved with this new cutting edge, HOW TO, WHERE TO, WHY TO site, dedicated to our great sport and improving all of your skills at it…log onto www.westportoutfitters.tv and sign up now!!
LOU TABORY
Lou Tabory Advanced Class
July 11th @ 6:00 A.M., Compo Beach, Westport, CT–ONLY A FEW SPOTS REMAINING!!
The advanced class with Lou & the crew from W.O. will begin with a similar agenda as the intro/intermediate. Focus will be given to more technical casting skills such as mastering the double haul, increasing your distance, carrying more line in the air, accuracy of casts, improving fly presentation and tips on fishing/casting with heavier sinking lines and bigger flies. When we return to the shop after the fishing, more advanced knot tying will be discussed/demonstrated as well as a much closer look at reading the water and more effective wading tips to increase your catch. After lunch, we will return to the lawn for more hands on casting and demonstrations. The day will end at approximately 3:00 P.M. Cost is $150.00, which includes a light breakfast, full lunch and refreshments throughout the day.
Lou Tabory Intro/Intermediate Class-BACK BY POPULAR DEMAND!!!
August 1st @ 6:00 A.M. - Compo Beach, Westport, CT
This intro/intermediate course will begin promptly at 6:00 A.M. in the water, in your waders. Lou and the crew from W.O. will work with you in learning the general casting stroke for fly fishing; teach you how to read the water to identify bait movement, current, structure and feeding fish patterns and lanes. You will have the opportunity to cast some additional rods with varying types of lines for saltwater fly fishing. After the fishing, we will return to the shop where Lou will go over several formal slide presentations, that will reiterate what was learned on the water, including gear selection, knot tying, fly presentation and much, much more! After lunch, we will have an extended Q&A and then finally return to the park to wrap things up with more hands on casting. The day will end at approximately 3:00 P.M. Cost is $150.00, which includes a light breakfast, full lunch and refreshments throughout the day.
Week of May 22nd
Just when you thought it could not get any better…well…it did. The local fishing scene remains red hot and over the past week, although a bit reluctant, since I did not want to jinx anything, I started to poll a few old salts that I know and they too confirmed my feeling, that this spring is off to an epic start. Last week we finally started to see a solid infiltration of sand eels around the county including areas such as Holly Pond, Compo Cove, Sunken Island and at the mouth of the Saugatuck River. Water temps at the time of this report are holding steady at around 56 degrees.
When attempting to match the hatch with the most recent infiltration of sand eels, try the GULP baits as well as the sand eel color 4 inch sluggos, again rigging them weightless and weed less as we described in our bonus video on www.westportoutfitters.tv last week.
Bunker remains all over the Western Sound in most of the harbors. Since they are not necessarily getting worked by the blues and bass all the time, now is an ideal time to become intimately familiar with your depth/fish finder. If you know the area you are in and you feel it should be holding bait, but yet you see no surface activity, keep a close eye on your sounder. If you know you are in 20 feet of water and all of a sudden it bumps up to a plateau shape displaying like 4-5 feet, chances are you just ran over a bunker school. As we noted last week, we have also witnessed some adult spawning silver sides, which you can match with the lighter colored sluggos or GULP Jerk Shads.
Farther to our west, the guy/gals fishing downtown had a very productive weekend fishing the larger adult bunker schools which we will get to in a minute. The weekend weather is looking pretty good after a front pushes on through so get on out there. On to the report…
The Micinilio brothers continue to have much success in and around Fairfield, trolling as well as live lining fresh bunker and emailed in a slob of a fish that was safely released earlier in the weekend that weighed in at 32 lbs and 42 inches, that fell for a live bunker (see recent catches). To this point, to increase your catches, stop in and take a look at some of our double hook rigs for live lining that we home made crimp here, you will be glad you did….
Back in shore, Penfield Reef has been hit or miss, but when it’s on it’s on…The Night Rider stopped into report a few nice 30 inch fish and an even better story from over the weekend where he was spooled, that is right folks, spooled, could not even think about stopping this TRAIN!!
John Peets focusing on fishing the Stamford area is really getting his saltwater game on after recently moving to the area and hanging up the freshwater sticks for a bit. His tactics have been drifting 9 inch Sluggos in areas such as the outflow near Holly Pond for bass and blues.
Saturday, Captain Steve armed with a charter and the long rods boated five fish up to 27 inches in and around the Norwalk Islands on sand eel imitations as well as on some of his hand tied bunny tailed clousers.
Our own Cody Lapnow has been focusing his efforts fishing the outgoing tide and has found Sunken Island in Fairfield really producing. Over the weekend he had fish on weighted sluggos with sand eels all over, with bass up to 26 inches at will. On Wednesday night with a thick fog rolling in, he fished Frost Point where blues/bass were hammering sand eels. He fished spooks for blues up to 8 lbs and bass up to 27 inches on white X-Raps.
Sunday the shop was cranking but took the time to weigh in fellow Westport Striped Bass Club member Scott Platt’s 26lb bass caught somewhere west of Stamford…Not to be outdone, fellow member Sam Bell took advantage of the holiday the next day to catch nearly a 30lb fish to put him in second place for one of the current contests under way. Nice fish guys!!
Chuck D. emailed in a report on Monday, as well as a thank you to Cody for some great guidance and insight into some top water action off of Sheffield Island. Chuck fished Monday A.M. and had tremendous top water action including three keepers up to 32 inches on plugs, X-raps and Spooks!
After stopping into the store for some intel on Monday, Jon Nowicki, who has been putting his time in to learn all there is to know about fishing Fairfield County, emailed in his share of schoolies at the Mill Pond on the dropping tide fishing with some of our hand tied JJ’s sand eel sliders. After tiring his arm out, he moved on to Penfield where he had a nice healthy 32 inch bass on the fly rod on the same pattern!
Stopping into a friend’s BBQ on Monday afternoon after a long weekend, I enjoyed an adult beverage and was told by Eric Lutz that he and crew landed four 25lb plus fish off of Bridgeport fishing Stratford shoals on chunks Monday A.M. He brought up a good point that should once again be shared. When fishing areas such as Stratford Shoals, if you are targeting the bottom of the water column, be sure your baits are actually on the bottom, at times, when the current really starts cranking; don’t hesitate to change your weight, it could be the difference between a 4 lb bluefish and a 20lb bass. Although this may seem obvious, take a look next time you are fishing close to another boat and I guarantee some of their lines that are supposed to be on the bottom, are straight out….
Throughout the weekend, our good friend Bill Beck reported in that the fishing off of Compo is improving daily, now that the sand eels are around, with his share of blues to 4lbs and mid twenty sized bass at first light!
Welcome home to Pat O’Donnell who has been hitting the local beaches at night and in the A.M. hard. With the fly rods, Pat has racked up a dozen or so fish up to 28 inches on mostly Pete V. tied closuer and sand eel patterns. Welcome home Pat!
Sgt. Colonies reported in with a report from late Wednesday night, where he fished the islands and could not get a fish to hit with so much sand eel activity around. After swithcing it up and tossing one of Eric Peterson's sand eel patterns that we carry here in the store,he was rewarded with a 30 inch fish on the long rods!
A special call out to Craig Mittleman, who was on of our first W.O. converts back in 2005. He fishes his Ranger 2180 out of Mystic and has been having much luck fishing the flats (see recent catches).
Well folks, that is about it for this week! The time is now so get on out there. We have a smorgasbord of bait around and the fishing is red hot from either shore or boat or both. For those of you that missed our event last week with Phil Shook, we have some signed copies of his books left entitled “The Fly-Fishers Guide to the Northeast Coast. Whether you fish from shore with a fly or not, this book is a great resource from an access standpoint for CT, NY as well as New Jersey shore anglers, so come on down and have a look.
Lastly, you may have read in the local papers, that we are now the exclusive outlet, outside of the town of Westport's Conservation Department, to be able to sell clamming permits, so if clamming is your game, come on down! We have all the necessary gear to get you a full bushel!
The fly fishing school slated for this weekend on May 30th with Lou Tabory has been SOLD OUT!! A few spots are still available for the advanced class on July 11th, so don’t delay.
THE MONTAUK REPORT
Captain Dean Karadamis reports that the fluke fishing could not get any better. Who cares if the regulations hold you to a 21" size limit when there are so many five and six pounders around? Last weekend all the boats were fishing south of the Radar Stand, but now they are spread out a little more to the west.
Bass fishing is good and will stay that way for weeks he feels with lots of keepers and the occasional thirty pounder + fish being caught. Most are being caught on good old chartreuse parachute jigs, but diamond jigging still works fine as well. The bluefish seem to have thinned out a bit for now, but surely not gone!
To get out with Captain Dean, call the shop or contact him directly at 203.556.3361
See below for important upcoming fly fishing schools and other shop events.
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LOU TABORY
Intro/Intermediate Classes
May 30th @ 6:00 A.M., Compo Beach, Westport, CT–SOLD OUT!!
Lou Tabory Advanced Class
July 11th @ 6:00 A.M., Compo Beach, Westport, CT–ONLY A FEW SPOTS REMAINING!!
The advanced class with Lou & the crew from W.O. will begin with a similar agenda as the intro/intermediate. Focus will be given to more technical casting skills such as mastering the double haul, increasing your distance, carrying more line in the air, accuracy of casts, improving fly presentation and tips on fishing/casting with heavier sinking lines and bigger flies. When we return to the shop after the fishing, more advanced knot tying will be discussed/demonstrated as well as a much closer look at reading the water and more effective wading tips to increase your catch. After lunch, we will return to the lawn for more hands on casting and demonstrations. The day will end at approximately 3:00 P.M. Cost is $150.00, which includes a light breakfast, full lunch and refreshments throughout the day.
Week of May 15th-2009-Memorial Day Weekend Report
WOW…that’s all I can say, we have been inundated with reports and let us just say that normally I don’t get bombarded by emails from folks bragging about how they have not been getting fish. The bait in the Western Sound continues to be everywhere and we are starting to see more adult silver sides that are no doubt spawning in areas like Compo Cove and other sandy flats and as I write this report, the thermometer is on the rise for yet another hot day so, with any luck this warmer weather just might get the sand eels going as well. But before we get to the report for this upcoming weekend and the Memorial Day Holiday, let’s take a moment to remember all of those who have served in our nation's military units…THANK YOU! Also on the subject of giving thanks, we can also be thankful that the fish gods have given us a plethora of spring bait as well!
The weekend last week was kicked off by our own Captain Elser who chose to reroute his charter through the shop up to the Housatonic to take advantage of what will be one of the last few weeks before this fishing begins to slow there and those larger fish begin to exit the river. Chris had a full boat with four on board and three kids, all of which had really not fished too much before, well, by the end of the trip, they were experts. Captain Chris put 18 keeper fish to the boat on slash baits as well as a bit of trolling. His young crew could not have been happier with doubles almost all day long and even one triple!!(see recent catches).
Our good friend Steve Eliot continues to pound the fish locally as well as on the other side. Steve has really mastered the T&W approach and his results are in direct correlation, after fishing the river right behind the shop for fish up to 26 inches, he ventured across and had three keepers to 31 inches along with the one below(see recent catches).
Bill Beck also reported in that the usual haunts in and around Westport, where you can always find Bill wading with his soft plastics, have been producing a good sum of fish up to 22-23 inches all in the A.M. despite the tide. Here at the shop at this time of year, we always give tide precedence over time of day, although this will change as the warmer months are upon us, if you have a good moving tide, despite when it occurs during the day, get on out there and get it done!! Case in point, “Robinhood” landed a 34 inch bass on a Yozuri Hydro Pencil on Saturday in the middle of the day!
Friday, our own Cody Lapnow fished off of Sherwood Point for several keepers on Spooks, fished painfully slow, always remember that your retrieve speed is key to trigger strikes with these sorts of plugs. Also remember that slow is directly correlated to how fast you normally retrieve under other conditions, all I can say is that if you think you are retrieving slow enough, SLOW DOWN!!
Saturday it was Jeff and Taylor Lapnow fishing the afternoon on the incoming tide, they headed out in the islands to fish some good structure with moving water and were not disappointed. The elder statesman Jeff no doubt had taken some advice from his son Cody and fished a spook and hammered a nice 32 inch fish on top water almost on his first cast (see recent catches). Young Taylor, not to be outdone, stuck with the fly rod and eventually managed a nice keeper as well on the long rods(see recent catches).
Saturday we also heard from the infamous Micinilio brothers. Michael and Jim fished off of Fairfield/Black Rock, trolling T&W and were rewarded with bass up to 33 inches (see recent catches). In between the bass bite they also noted blues to 31 inches and very hungry!
Scott Collins emailed in a report where he had great action on Sluggos in and around Fairfield on Sunday, despite having to limp through some pretty nasty fog with fish up to 28 inches. After returning to the Norwalk area, he switched it up to some swim baits and tallied another 3 hefty 27 inch bass!
Tuesday, Jimmy “I now have a job” Koutas, broke out the fly rod and while fishing Pete V’s jiggies, had three fish on the big sticks up to 26 inches.
For those of you that know us, we are huge fans of Lordship Lures, hand made right up the line in Stratford, CT. Ron DiCostanzo reports that fish are starting to take these plugs as the water temp rises and bait starts moving into the area in and around Stratford. He recommends his agitators that are starting to raise some nice size fish and the strikes on these plugs are sure to raise your pulse rate. Rob Guzman took a nice 17 lb bass on a white agitator while fishing the Housy this week (see recent catches). We will be getting reports from Ron and the die hard folks that use his plugs on a weekly basis, so if top water plug fishing is your thing, be sure to stay abreast of the reports and come down to the shop to check these plugs out.
Back to our home waters, Cody has also been fishing the Lordship Lures and again this week had some fat 29-30 inch bass on the slims with a slow retrieve, fishing in less than 2 feet of water…can you say game on? These fish absolutely attack these plugs and in shallow water it’s reminiscent of catching a 25 inch trout in a spring creek!
The Western Sound crew continues to make the run to Hempstead and although the fish are getting bigger in the 26-28 lb range, honestly folks, with so much bait right here at home, you may be better off saving the gas money and staying close to home. At the end of the day, bass are nocturnal feeders, so if you want the big girls, you have to fish at night. I have been sworn to secrecy, but there was nearly a 29 lb fish caught last night a stones throw from where we all fish. Having said that, where there is a 30, I would argue there is a 40…and perhaps even a 50! Use you best judgment!
The weather report as of today for the weekend seems to be improving, although we may see a little bit of rain, overall it will be totally fishable weather in between your parties and BBQs, so get on out there. On Saturday, from 11:00-1:00 we will have here in the store a book signing and multiple presentations from author Phil Shook, who just recently launched his Fly-fisher’s Guide To The Northeast, so come on down and say hello and pick up a copy of this book, that will no doubt be seen as one of the most valuable resources for any shore angler, with a heavy focus on fishing Fairfield County.
Focus on fishing soft plastics such as sluggos and or swim baits first, although there are blues around, it’s worth sacrificing a swim bait for that chance at a bass. We just got in these sweet little bunker imitation tins as well that can be retrieved and/or lightly jigged. If you need to change to hard baits, rattle traps, slash baits and x-raps should be the ticket and get the job done.
Fly guys/gals, should be throwing the largest bunker imitations you can handle from 4-11 inches. If the sand eels show as they should any day, we have a ton of patterns to match the hatch with!
THE MONTAUK REPORT
Our good friend Captain Dean Kardamis reports in from the wet decks of the TEASER out in Montauk that the fluke and bass fishing are in full swing and the TEASER is ready to go get them…
Dean reports that the bass fishing is shaping up to be a banner year there on the east end, with the few charter boats that have been getting out catching their limits of eight to fifteen pound fish, with an occasional slammer. There are also plenty of bluefish, which on some days this week were hard to avoid. On other days they stayed south of the Elbow, out of the bass’s way. When there are too many bluefish there will be fewer bass, and vice versa.
The fluke action is RED hot, with lots of fish being caught, but also a good supply of the famous Montauk doormats, including one over twelve pounds that was taken on the MARLIN PRINCESS this week. As is usually the case this time of year, practically all of the action is on the south side between the Point and the Radar Stand.
Dean also heard about a 31” fluke that weighed in at 12.8 pounds caught by Tom Verity in Shelter Island in the Peconic Bay. To get in contact with Captain Dean to book a trip either call the shop or you can reach him at 203.556.3361.
See below for important upcoming fly fishing schools and other shop events.
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LOU TABORY
Intro/Intermediate Classes
May 30th @ 6:00 A.M., Compo Beach, Westport, CT
This intro/intermediate course will begin promptly at 6:00 A.M. in the water, in your waders. Lou and the crew from W.O. will work with you in learning the general casting stroke for fly fishing; teach you how to read the water to identify bait movement, current, structure and feeding fish patterns and lanes. You will have the opportunity to cast some additional rods with varying types of lines for saltwater fly fishing. After the fishing, we will return to the shop where Lou will go over several formal slide presentations, that will reiterate what was learned on the water, including gear selection, knot tying, fly presentation and much, much more! After lunch, we will have an extended Q&A and then finally return to the park to wrap things up with more hands on casting. The day will end at approximately 3:00 P.M. Cost is $150.00, which includes a light breakfast, full lunch and refreshments throughout the day.
Lou Tabory Advanced Class
July 11th @ 6:00 A.M., Compo Beach, Westport, CT
The advanced class with Lou & the crew from W.O. will begin with a similar agenda as the intro/intermediate. Focus will be given to more technical casting skills such as mastering the double haul, increasing your distance, carrying more line in the air, accuracy of casts, improving fly presentation and tips on fishing/casting with heavier sinking lines and bigger flies. When we return to the shop after the fishing, more advanced knot tying will be discussed/demonstrated as well as a much closer look at reading the water and more effective wading tips to increase your catch. After lunch, we will return to the lawn for more hands on casting and demonstrations. The day will end at approximately 3:00 P.M. Cost is $150.00, which includes a light breakfast, full lunch and refreshments throughout the day.
Week of May 9th-2009
Well folks I can not say it any better, it’s GO TIME!! Finally we are in a pattern where the stripers have moved into their typical spring holding grounds and the shallow water angler can certainly take advantage of the action from Milford to Greenwich from shore as well as from the boats. Our baits of choice at this time of year are Rapala slash baits and top-water lures by vendors such as Stillwater and Yozuri. These are producing fish from 16 to 30 plus inches.
Now is also the time to take advantage of using your soft plastics, which are deadly this time of year. We prefer rigging 6 to 9 inch Sluggos on offset hooks weed less and weightless. Stay tuned for a video clip that we just produced that will go live on www.westportoutfitters.tv for all those that have signed up. Take note that you will have to have registered to view this very educational piece. Try throwing a Yozuri Crystal Minnow or Rapala X-rap into rocky areas between 5-10 feet of water and in deeper water stick to plastics rigged with jig heads. For the fly guy/gals, Pete V. had tremendous success on Saturday at the Mill Pond fishing some of his hand tied jiggies and clousers, as well as some smaller herring patterns. WIth all this bunker around, be sure to come by and also check out Captain Ian Devlin's 14 inch Herring/Bunker patterns!!
The Housy continues to be productive but the action has slowed a little on smaller fish, as many have spread out into surrounding shorelines anywhere from Milford to Norwalk. Along with these wintering over resident fish we can expect migratory fish to begin filtering into our area. The areas around Manhasset and Hempstead are steadily producing bass up to 20 lbs. and that trend will accelerate with more fish emptying out of the Hudson River and Chesapeake Bay daily.
If you don’t want to make the run to the far western sound consider some other productive areas on Long Island’s North shore, anywhere from Port Jefferson to Cold Spring Harbor. Fish in tight to shore and near rocky structure and you will most likely find schoolie bass and the occasional keeper.
Robert Krist fished the Five Mile River on Saturday in his brand new Bay Ranger. He focused his efforts on the mouth of Tokeneke Creek in about 4 ft. of water. He seemed to have the right baits, but the wrong colors, no fish to the boat but 4 hefty girls seen following his X-raps. Don’t worry; we dialed him in with the proper colors and look forward to follow up report this week.
This may be a great time to digress a bit, I fished again on Tuesday A.M. with Cody in and around Westport and honestly folks I have never seen the water clarity this good in my tenure in the Western Sound in mid May. We always make sure we have a full supply of flouro on the boat come fall when the bones show up, but I have noticed a lot of local anglers choose not to use it in the spring and under normal conditions, I suppose this is okay, but these are not normal conditions.
Fishing off of Compo the other day and looking north towards the beach head, several hundred yards away, we could see defined color changes in the bottom composition almost reminiscent of a flat in the keys or something, right up to the sandy beach. To this point, be sure to be fishing with flouro, especially in tight at this time. In fact, you may want to tie your leader like you were trout fishing using say 30lb to 20 to 10. These fish, although hungry at this time of year, are very aware of their surroundings and may be spooked by heavier flouro and/or by just tying direct with a standard co-polymer line. Back to the report…
Sage N. reported in that he too had a great start on Saturday A.M. His method was T&W in and around the Norwalk Islands where he tallied up 13 bass mostly between 25"-27,” but also did manage three keepers at 28", 28", and 30". He was fishing in 4-8 feet of water and also noted that the stiff East wind had dropped the water temp down to 53 degrees…
Earlier in the week Steve Eliot reported in from the far west where he booked a trip with a local captain out of the Manhasset area and eventually ended up on the other side in Mamaroneck where they had non-stop action with many keepers including a nice 22 lb fish (see recent catches) all on chunks…
Also to the west our good friend Pat has been fishing Manhasset Bay and Hempstead where he has been having luck farther up inside on T&W as well.
He also reported in that Jamaica Bay has been on fire with both bass and blues (bass to 30" blues to 33"), with bunker all over the place.
Bunker schools can be found in virtually every harbor right now with some being thick enough to net and snag. This bodes well for the upcoming season to say the least.
Sunday an entire crew left the shop at 3:00 to venture out. Against doctors orders(sorry to all my MD friends out there in fish land), I did fish right from the back of our facility with shop customer David and we both were throwing bucktails that could not be retrieved back without snagging a full sized adult bunker. All week this bait has remained. A few hooks ups but way too much competition to actually land any of the fish that no doubt are hammering these bunker.
Further to our South, despite a nasty blow, John Jinishian and Cody Lapnow fished from the boat and managed about 12 fish with two just keeper sized fish on x-raps and sluggos. After John nearly pierced his head, he decided it was time to put the fly rod down due to the 30 knot gusts blowing back in his face. We surely don’t need to see another scar on JJ’s face…
I hate to be the bearer of bad news but our good friend Jeff Smith seems to have given us the first sign that the blues may already be upon us. After snagging some bunker here in the river, he ventured out and well…I will let the pic in the “Recent Catches” section say the rest…
Monday was a day off, but Tuesday Cody fished at first light and took fish from in and around Burial Hill as well as Slates off of Compo up to 25 inches on all slash baits as well. Hearing of this I too ventured out for a few hours with no luck, but tons of bait in the water. As fate would have it, as soon as Cody dropped me off, he was into the fish again hard with a big one that found a rock before it did the side of the boat in the 18-20 lb class range.
FRESHWATER REPORT
The Farmington and the Housatonic Rivers are both having a banner hatch of Hendrickson Mayflies right now and it is probably one of the better years we have seen. You should be fishing emergers and nymphs early in the morning and then switching to size 14-16 dry flies as the insects begin to hatch.
Local streams like the Saugatuck, Norwalk and Mianus have received yet another good stocking of trout and the DEP did a great job of mixing it up with many brook, brown and rainbows in the mix. I personally was up at the TMA on Monday evening and witnessed some big swirls of fish hammering drys with only two anglers in the water.
Most of these fish have already started feeding on the abundant caddis and mayfly hatches so come prepared with your 2-4 weight fly rod and have a blast! Spin fisherman are doing well with Mepps spinners and Phoebe lures as well as trout worms and Powerbait. The Saugatuck Reservoir is producing some big walleye as of late and also some large brown trout, mostly using a slip bobber rig and shiners but also on crocodile lures casting the shorelines.
Just a reminder to some, we have more freshwater gear and flies than you may think. Many new customers have only seen the shop when we have had it set up for seminars, if you come back after and we expose all of the bugs we have for freshwater, you surely will be quite impressed, so come on down and have a look and get to fish some of these local streams before the warm weather comes and they slow to a crawl….
Well that is it for this week folks and a good week indeed it was with many anglers taking advantage of some great variables, good weather, lots of bait and even better fishing. This weekend looks good and we hope to see you all on the water!
See below for important upcoming fly fishing schools and other shop events.
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WESTPORTOUTFITTERS.TV
If you have been watching the weekly video updates, here is your early chance to get involved with this new cutting edge, HOW TO, WHERE TO, WHY TO site, dedicated to our great sport and improving all of your skills at it…log onto www.westportoutfitters.tv and sign up now!!
LOU TABORY
Intro/Intermediate Classes
May 30th @ 6:00 A.M., Compo Beach, Westport, CT
This intro/intermediate course will begin promptly at 6:00 A.M. in the water, in your waders. Lou and the crew from W.O. will work with you in learning the general casting stroke for fly fishing; teach you how to read the water to identify bait movement, current, structure and feeding fish patterns and lanes. You will have the opportunity to cast some additional rods with varying types of lines for saltwater fly fishing. After the fishing, we will return to the shop where Lou will go over several formal slide presentations, that will reiterate what was learned on the water, including gear selection, knot tying, fly presentation and much, much more! After lunch, we will have an extended Q&A and then finally return to the park to wrap things up with more hands on casting. The day will end at approximately 3:00 P.M. Cost is $150.00, which includes a light breakfast, full lunch and refreshments throughout the day.
Lou Tabory Advanced Class
July 11th @ 6:00 A.M., Compo Beach, Westport, CT
The advanced class with Lou & the crew from W.O. will begin with a similar agenda as the intro/intermediate. Focus will be given to more technical casting skills such as mastering the double haul, increasing your distance, carrying more line in the air, accuracy of casts, improving fly presentation and tips on fishing/casting with heavier sinking lines and bigger flies. When we return to the shop after the fishing, more advanced knot tying will be discussed/demonstrated as well as a much closer look at reading the water and more effective wading tips to increase your catch. After lunch, we will return to the lawn for more hands on casting and demonstrations. The day will end at approximately 3:00 P.M. Cost is $150.00, which includes a light breakfast, full lunch and refreshments throughout the day.
Week of May 2nd-2009
Well folks, this season is definitely starting to show signs of really getting under way with a ton of bait in the water from the Housatonic all the way to the far Western Sound. I apologize if the report this week is short and sweet…if you stop in the store and see me, you will know why….
Last weekend’s weather proved once again to be just what the doctor ordered, continuing to bump the water temps into the low 50s in most places. We had reports of schoolies up to 28 inches from the mouth of the Housey all the way down to the Mianus by the dam. In fact, right here in our own backyard, Bill B. as well as Vinny R. had there share of schoolies on swim baits, proving once again that the fish are definitely in the estuaries.
Captain Elser reported in that the sand eels are beginning to show from Milford on westwards as well as some larger bunker schools in the Bridgeport area. Captain Chris continues to fish with big herring patterns made of Yak hair (we should have more in stock by the weekend), however Captain Chris has begun to switch over to intermediate lines from full sink ones.
On Saturday, it was Gaston once again calling in a nice 32 inch fish taken from Milford Point, much like the week before, however this one being on the fly.
Captain Matt Gifford reported in some fish in and around the islands to 26 inches, but according to his log books, things are still way behind as compared to last year. Matt is attributing some of this to all of the rain we have had and continue to experience.
This weekend is looking pretty decent weather wise so be sure to stop in and get the full report, if I could take the pain, I would write more….see you on the water…maybe not today, but soon!
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WESTPORTOUTFITTERS.TV
If you have been watching the weekly video updates, here is your early chance to get involved with this new cutting edge, HOW TO, WHERE TO, WHY TO site, dedicated to our great sport and improving all of your skills at it…log onto www.westportoutfitters.tv and sign up now!!
LOU TABORY
During the spring of 2009, Westport Outfitters, in conjunction with legendary angler, product developer and author, Lou Tabory, will continue our quest to introduce the wonderful world of Fly Fishing to beginners, as well as refine those skills of more advanced fisherman and women.
Intro/Intermediate Classes
May 9th @ 6:00 A.M., Compo Beach, Westport, CT-SOLD OUT!!!
May 30th @ 6:00 A.M., Compo Beach, Westport, CT
This intro/intermediate course will begin promptly at 6:00 A.M. in the water, in your waders. Lou and the crew from W.O. will work with you in learning the general casting stroke for fly fishing; teach you how to read the water to identify bait movement, current, structure and feeding fish patterns and lanes. You will have the opportunity to cast some additional rods with varying types of lines for saltwater fly fishing. After the fishing, we will return to the shop where Lou will go over several formal slide presentations, that will reiterate what was learned on the water, including gear selection, knot tying, fly presentation and much, much more! After lunch, we will have an extended Q&A and then finally return to the park to wrap things up with more hands on casting. The day will end at approximately 3:00 P.M. Cost is $150.00, which includes a light breakfast, full lunch and refreshments throughout the day.
Week of April 25th-2009
Well folks, we finally got what we have all been waiting for and I am not talking about the sunburn on my back, but rather what caused it…warm weather…finally!! As I mentioned in our video update last week, the sun did exactly what it was supposed to do and bumped the water temps up. Both the mid sound buoy as well as our own local data showed the water temps finally breaking the 50 degree mark. Although the thermal niche for striped bass is 55-68 degrees, that does not mean that we have to wait until those temps arrive to see fish begining to push through. In fact, what we needed to see was simply an honest attempt of increasing water temps rather than the up/down fluctuations that we have experienced over the past several weeks. What comes next…bait…and the fish won’t be far behind.
I mentioned last week that we had witnessed an osprey fly overhead with a bunker in tote while we were working over at Cove Marina in Norwalk. No doubt some of our faithful readers took this information and set the gill net in the harbor the night after and quickly had over a dozen or so bunker in the net. Although a few smaller fish were taken in the 25-28 inch range, they did have a few runs offs that seemed to be bigger fish. A special note to help put things into perspective. Although I know we all had a tough winter, looking back to last year, we were right at the same point we are now with water temps, in fact they were a bit colder. I think all of us are just so anxious to get out since the winter was so brutal, but be patient…and maybe even go easy on the guys putting your boats in the water…since it has been a tough spring to get things done for them outside as well (You're welcome Nathan…).
For the weekend we heard first from the far west where Pat Gallagher reported from Little Neck Bay that he landed his first keeper on the fly rod!! He also reported bunker in big schools just not sticking too tight, which would indicate no big threats yet, but I am sure that will change soon enough.
Back up to our east, Bryce R. reported a lot of action at the mouth of the Housey with a dozen or so people alongside of him, he landed 3 bass using a bucktail and a very slow retrieve. Keep in mind, even though the bass are starting to leave the Housatonic River, they are still a bit lethargic and a slow retrieve on either flies or swim baits fished down deep where the tide is the weakest, will no doubt produce for you.
Here locally, Geoff Parr ventured out in the kayak on Saturday and scouted the islands with no luck to return to the mouth of the Saugy for a healthy 18 inch fish on one of his own hand tied clousers, nothing better than catching a fish on one of your own creations. Geoff also reported in some small schools of bunker swimming unmolested for the most part behind the islands as well.
After the seminar on Saturday with Lordship Lures, a crew ventured out and up to the Housatonic loaded for bear with a full crew and even more gear on a 290 Hydra Sport to get things done. Big Ed was the only one to land a fish, but the sounder would have indicated otherwise with a ton of bait and fish being marked, just a standard case of lock jaw, nonetheless a great day to be on the water.
Although we have had some steady flounder and black fish reports, with not a lot of boats in the water yet, it’s hard to say. I did speak with some local party boat captains that I know and they have confirmed a pretty decent season thus far. More importantly on Tuesday we received the report we had been waiting for, our good friend Jeff Smith boated his first keeper flounder fishing off of Calf Pasture Beach on a fresh Westport Outfitters sandworm, congrats my friend!! Jeff was back at it on Wednesday afternoon and did also report what seemed to be some sand eels swimming around, which is a great sign as well, especially for our local wade fisherman.
Earlier this week, Rob C. stopped into to relay another report about his share of some hefty schoolies in the 18-20 inch range, at will, in and around Fairfield. After switching it up a bit, simply going back to basics and tipping an offset hook with a GULP sandworm was this nights bait of choice.
Our own Captain Chris continues to fish the Housatonic both for pleasure and for hire. His spin casting trips have been more successful fishing with slash baits such as the X-Raps. The fly charters continue to focus on the lower water column with a sinking line and some sort of herring pattern and/or clousers. All weekend he was into a mixed bag of fish with a few keepers in the 29-30 inch range.
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FRESHWATER
The local scene remains pretty strong, although the rains we had prior to last weekend, clouded things up a bit, we still have received a steady flow of good reports from all of the local TMAs. The Hendrickson were hatching all weekend long especially to our north on the Housatonic and Farmington Rivers. When fishing outside of the TMAs with the long rods, be sure to know that fishing with a tandem rig is an option for you. I am always amazed at how many people do not take advantage of this tactic. For me personally, it has never been about catching two fish, but rather to investigate and find out what the fish are keyed in on and then act accordingly. If you are unfamiliar with this approach, be sure top stop by and we can dial you in.
BWOs as well as green bead head caddis larvae seem to be doing the trick here locally. Many reports of fat 14-16 inch browns being taken from the TMAs. As a point of note, get out while you can, since in a month or so these TMAs will have experienced a ton of pressure and will also most likely not have the cool oxygenated water that the trout need, so get out while the getting is good!!
Our own Justin Solis went out all day Saturday with a client on the upper portion of the Housatonic and fished for a majority of the day once the sun heated things up. Hendrickson drys and emergers in size 14 & 16 accounted for trout all in the middle teens. Below the surface, any caddis larvae were also the ticket. If you are looking to experience the picturesque Housatonic or Farmington with a guide, be sure to give the shop a call. Justin has one of the best demeanors of any guide I know and he catches fish too!! On Sunday, Justin got shut out…but missed a heck of a good time…
THIS WEEKEND’S SEMINAR-BACK BY POPULAR DEMAND!!!
June 2nd 11:00 A.M. Ryan Sansoucy-Hush Fishing Company-Ryan is the founder/owner of Hush Fishing Company, a new cutting edge, forward looking outfitter based in Rhode Island dedicated to introducing the wonderful sport of fly fishing and light tackle to a new breed of anglers. Topics to be covered will include tips and techniques for flats and wade fishing the numerous and very productive salt ponds along the Rhode Island coast, unique fly patterns and some myth busting on striped bass behavior.
Captain Ryan will also focus on light tackle and fly-fishing tips & tricks for the entire southern New England coast line, structure and when and how to fish it as well as the benefits of top/shallow water fishing. If you missed his incredible presentation last year, here is your chance to see a new and improved version!!
WESTPORTOUTFITTERS.TV
If you have been watching the weekly video updates, here is your early chance to get involved with this new cutting edge, HOW TO, WHERE TO, WHY TO site, dedicated to our great sport and improving all of your skills at it…log onto www.westportoutfitters.tv and sign up now!!
LOU TABORY
During the spring of 2009, Westport Outfitters, in conjunction with legendary angler, product developer and author, Lou Tabory, will continue our quest to introduce the wonderful world of Fly Fishing to beginners, as well as refine those skills of more advanced fisherman and women.
Intro/Intermediate Classes
May 9th @ 6:00 A.M., Compo Beach, Westport, CT-Only two seats left!
May 30th @ 6:00 A.M., Compo Beach, Westport, CT
This intro/intermediate course will begin promptly at 6:00 A.M. in the water, in your waders. Lou and the crew from W.O. will work with you in learning the general casting stroke for fly fishing; teach you how to read the water to identify bait movement, current, structure and feeding fish patterns and lanes. You will have the opportunity to cast some additional rods with varying types of lines for saltwater fly fishing. After the fishing, we will return to the shop where Lou will go over several formal slide presentations, that will reiterate what was learned on the water, including gear selection, knot tying, fly presentation and much, much more! After lunch, we will have an extended Q&A and then finally return to the park to wrap things up with more hands on casting. The day will end at approximately 3:00 P.M. Cost is $150.00, which includes a light breakfast, full lunch and refreshments throughout the day.
Well folks, that is it for this week, the fish are on the move while there are still great chances to participate in some of the fun filled and educational events here at the store. A closing point, that frequent question that we have been asked constantly about when the fish will really arrive can finally be answered with an adage from our neigboring state of New York's lottery, that states: “You need to be in it, to win it!”, therefore get on out there for it just could be the day that the big fish start to push through the Western Sound!! Until next week….See You On the Water….
Week of April 18th-2009
As I write this report, the weekend forecast is looking sweet, so be sure to get out there this weekend. Even if you don’t catch fish, I think we all deserve a bit of R&R after this miserable winter and thus far, a Spring that has been more reminiscent of Fall with the wind and rain. I was out this A.M. in 25 knots of breeze blowing out of the Southwest, first from Norwalk to Southport and then from Norwalk to Darien delivering boats. Along the coast, there were birds in mass, picking off bait that most likely was small grass shrimp and perhaps even some herring mixed in, whatever it was, there were birds working in essence all the way from Southport to Darien.
Earlier in the week we were over at Cove Marina prepping boats and witnessed an osprey fly directly over us with a bunker in its mouth, so yet another good sign that once the fish start to arrive, there will be plenty of bait to entice them to stick around.
So, dust off the rods folks and start checking your local outflows, harbors and marshes as schoolie size stripers have started taking up residence in areas like Norwalk Harbor, and Milford Harbor which means we are only days away from a push of fish into all the usual haunts. In fact, we had young Elliot report earlier in the week a catch of a 24 inch striper off of Burial Hill on a buck tail tipped with a Mister Twister. Most likely just an errant fish, but nonetheless a great early season catch! Penfield Reef, Southport Harbor, Beach, Sherwood Point, The Mill and the Saugatuck will soon have their share of schoolie bass action! Focus on first fishing small soft plastics, preferably with shades of white and olive. We prefer sluggos on off set hooks rigged weed less. If you don’t know how to do this, stop on in and we can get you rigged up.
Some of the resident fish are starting to exit the Housatonic River. We had Gaston, Big Ed, as well as Paul C. catching bass from Milford Point all over the past week with Gaston’s crew landing a nice 32 inch 11lb fish on Wednesday(see recent catches). The bigger fish are mixed in and if you want to have a shot at them, whether on the fly rods or spinning tackle, throw bigger stuff like Pete Vs Herring patterns and/or larger swim baits and/or slash baits.
The Housatonic River has really been producing excellent action for smaller bass as well and areas further north continue to produce keepers at times and there is a decent presence of herring to keep the big girls looking up. Try fishing some of the shallower mud flats with big herring patterns or swim baits and you will definitely have a shot at one of the bigger resident linesiders! You can also finally dust off your intermediate lines for fishing the shallower waters but when targeting the channel edges, go with a 9 or 10 weight set and 300-450 grain lines like the Rio Striper line and the Airflo Depth Finder. Fly patterns that typically draw the attention of the schoolie bass are chartreuse/white clousers, and mushies in the same color combination. White jiggies are another excellent choice when targeting numbers. For the shot at a bigger fish we have Pete Viviano’s yak hair herring imitations and Eric Peterson’s tried and true herring patterns as well.
Spin and baitcast anglers are beginning to see more action on slash baits as well, like the Rapala Xrap and Yozuri Crystal Minnow in the larger sizes. For casting these larger plugs you will want to gear up with 15 lb. test Yozuri Hybrid or 20-30 PowerPro braid and a 7-8 foot 10-20 lb. action spinning or bait casting outfit. Daybreak fishing can produce surface action on Super Spooks and poppers as well as our favorite the Lordship Lures. Swimming a big Danny in the surface film at daybreak can produce action on the biggest fish.
Although the river has been productive, now is really the time to start focusing on the Sound and above mentioned flies and lures will prove effective as fish move into their spring feeding patterns…the only way you will know for sure folks is to get out and fish and this weekend there should be no excuses!!!
Freshwater Report
Well we endured the mayhem associated with the Opening Day of trout season and it was a beautiful, almost hot day, throughout the state. The stocking program once again put a good amount of fish in all of our local streams like the Mill River, Aspetuck, Saugatuck, Norwalk and Mianus. Several broodstock trout well over 5 lbs. were landed by overjoyed anglers! An opening day icon for certain is the Farmington River and the anticipation of shoulder to shoulder fishing did not disappoint anyone that enjoys taking part in this annual ritual. This river is absolutely loaded with holdover and stocked fish right now and it is only an hour away from Fairfield County. If anyone is interested in learning the rivers better fishing areas and entomology we have guides that can get you dialed into this world class trout fishery. Right now a green bodied caddis imitation in sized 14-18 will produce well on our smaller streams as well has the upper Housatonic and Farmington rivers. Always come prepared with nymphs, emergers and dries to help you extend your productive fishing periods. Blue Wing Olive mayflies are appearing in our Fairfield County streams more frequently now and stonefly imitations are also a good bet. Of course the old standard the Wooly Bugger will get the job done along with other streamer imitations like the black ghost and mickey finn. The stocked fish usually prefer the flashier imitations right now until they hone in on the insect activity.
The recent and much needed rain will help spread out some of the stocked fish and provide for more interesting fishing on our smaller streams.
Well folks, that is it for this week, don’t forget to stop down this Saturday April 25th for a presentation/demonstration by Lordship Lure’s founder/creator Ron DiConstanza. As this is our inaugural first full fishing report, it also is yet one final sign that our season is now upon us. Look forward to seeing you all once again at our new facility located at 609 Riverside Avenue in Westport CT!!
FISH ON!!
Spring 2009 Predictions-NEW STORE IS OPEN!
Now that this miserably cold and snowy winter is almost behind us, our expectations for the spring season are for a much better than average start! Records clearly indicate that our waters have a better spring run of bait and fish following colder/snowier winters. Look to see schools of herring arriving in our larger rivers and estuaries any day now as they head upstream to spawn and along with the herring & alewives will arrive and this makes for an excellent opportunity to target large resident striped bass, as well as early migratory fish coming out of the Hudson River. Schools of adult menhaden will begin to show more regularly by the end of April but several harbors have wintering populations of this predominantly migratory baitfish. In fact there are currently reports of schools of bunker in New Haven.
Once the bunker arrive in the far western sound in areas like Hempstead and Manhassett, there will be large stripers close behind as well as some jumbo bluefish heading into May. The Norwalk Islands should see plenty of schoolie size stripers in areas like the Saugatuck River, Mill Pond, Burial Hill Beach and Sherwood Point by the middle of April and points east will become active as well. Penfield Reef onward toward the mouth of the Housatonic River should see plenty of smaller stripers with the occasional keeper mixed in, but be aware that migratory fish can arrive in our waters by the end of April and certainly by the first week of May.
It�s time to gear up and start hitting warm water outflows, tidal streams and estuaries�the fish will be setting up shop very soon and become more active every day. So now is the time, our spring seminars are in full swing with new gear arriving daily. Come on down, gear up or perhaps take a seat in our lounge and watch some extreme videos to get that blood flowing for the onset of the Spring 2009 Fishing Season�it wont be long now!!
Mid Winter Update-2009-NEW STORE IS OPEN!!
Before we get to our mid winter update, it�s now official, we have moved to 609 Riverside Avenue into the All Seasons Marine Works facility, seconds from exit 17 off of I-95 adjacent to the Black Duck in Westport CT. We are really excited about this new location. The actual structure was built in 1850 and let us say, it just feels like home. We are all unpacked and open for business with new gear arriving daily. Some new additions you will see are Simms, an increase in our Shimano offerings as well as a larger selection of conventional tackle, while we continue to support a full array of top of the line fly equipment from Sage, Scott, Abel, Ross, Tibor and Lamiglas, to name a few. So get rid of those winter blues and come on down and say hello and check out the new space. A big thanks goes out to several individuals that made this move possible. Through thier tireless extra effort, we built out counters, painted, cleaned, hung slat wall and really got the new place dialed in, in a very short period of time in retrospect. In no partulcar order, these folks I will forever be indebted to: Justin Solis(he wins the he man award), Ed Byron, Brian Cilento, Sgt. Eldon Colonies, the crew from Orvis, Nathan Gottlieb, Cory Crochetiere and the entire team from All Seasons Marine Works, Lee Gardella, Cody Lapnow, Chris Elser and John Jinishian. I would not be sitting here writing this email if it was not for all of your extra help! Thanks guys!! One last thing, I tend to be a sucker for techonology and the power of it as far as efficient communications, so for all of you Facebookers out there in fishland, please sign up for the All Seasons Marine-Westport Outfitters Facebook page to stay abreast of all the latest news as well as a photo documentary of our move and anything we as a crew do! Be sure to check out the recent catches section for all the new pics of the store!
Our seminar schedule will kick off in early March so be sure to look over the slate of industry experts which is posted under our �NEWS� section on the website. We will also be holding our final winter fly tying class here at the new store and still have some slots open. Lastly, we have already booked three dates with Lou Tabory to conduct our now legendary fly fishing schools, so be sure to check those out too under the �NEWS� tab on our website. So onto the report�
After a cold and snowy start to the winter season the fishing has been limited but at times it has been very good. Before the ice packed in, the Housatonic River provided excellent action for schoolie stripers and the occasional keeper. The hot colors being pink, chartreuse and white using 4-7 inch sluggos, tsunami's, gulp jerk shads and Gotcha soft plastics. The chartreuse 7" Gulp baits worked excellent and took some nice size bass throughout the river. Fly fishers will do well with chartreuse/white clousers and large herring patterns with the latter being more effective as we near late February and into March. Recommended lines are 300-400 grain sinking lines and the airflow depth finder is a great casting line for this purpose, as well as the RIO fast sinking Striped Bass lines.
As we await the next spell of moderating weather and air temps warm up into the 30's and 40's we should gain ice free access to much of the river again and the fish should be eager to hit after a well deserved rest from anglers. The obvious areas to target are the channel edges but don't overlook the mud flats in the shallower near shore water. Baitfish will congregate near this warmer water and some of the larger resident stripers will visit these areas at times.
Other than the winter striper fishery we have had an excellent Atlantic Herring run in the Bridgeport area and whether you freeze them for bait or pickle them they appear to be sticking around for a while. Note that Atlantic Herring can be harvested but the Blueback Herring and Alewives cannot. Typically the only herring in our waters early on in the winter are the Atlantics but by late February the Alewives and Bluebacks make their way into our harbors and river systems.
The only open water trout fishing that can offer some consistency is the Farmington River and if we have some warmer sunny days the winter caddis hatch can be very productive.
2008 SEASON WRAP UP-December 2008
We had a late start on the spring western sound striper run but it finally materialized later in May with many fish in the 20-30 lb. range being taken anywhere from Manhasset to Greenwich. As May progressed into June the North Shore, Stamford and Norwalk had their fare share of the action as well but it was noticeably slower than in previous seasons. The sand eels became very thick throughout the month of June and there were times we had pods of stripers in them between Fairfield and Westport but once again it was nothing like the 2007 season. Now on the other hand the bluefish showed up in huge numbers throughout the western sound and were almost difficult to avoid at times. They hammered the sand eels throughout their stay and also could have been a reason for the schoolie bass not competing in the shallows. Most of these bluefish were under 5 lbs. Until summer arrived and then we had a steady pick of 6-10lb. fish in most locations. Striper fishing got hot in the Milford � Bridgeport corridor in July and August with many fish over 30 lbs. taken during daylight and nighttime hours. We had an excellent run of adult menhaden all summer long right into the early fall and this allowed for the excellent striper action in certain areas. Norwalk to Greenwich also had an excellent run of bunker but they attracted mostly bluefish which provided great action in many of our local harbors.
The summer months also provided some excellent fluke fishing and there were many keeper size fish to be had between Stratford and Fairfield. The North Shore did not fare quite as well this season but Norwalk made up for that easily with excellent flattie fishing just outside of Westport and the Norwalk Islands. You couldn�t miss the fleet of boats off of Stratford, Bridgeport and Norwalk every weekend as word got out about the hot action.
Then came the time of year all fly and light tackle fisherman were waiting for�could we possibly have another bonito run like in 2007? Not the case, as many anglers scanned the western sound waters for hardtails to no avail! The only action in this part of the sound was in the Crane�s Neck area to Eaton�s Neck on Long Island�s North Shore and that by all means was very short lived. Keep in mind that we will be hard pressed to have another year like 2007 but it is also likely that 2009 will be better than 2008! As fisherman we need to roll with the punches as each year brings a different cycle of fish. Part of the reason is that we did not have a large amount of bay anchovies move into our waters and most of the small baitfish stayed between Block Island and Montauk Point and provided anglers out there with an incredible season casting to Bones.
As we headed toward late September into October we were hoping that one of the little tunoid species would make their way into the Western Sound, specifically false albacore. We had a decent run of peanut bunker in the area and things looked promising with a few sightings out at Middleground and Eaton�s Neck. After a couple big wind and rainstorms out of the Northeast the peanut bunker exited in a hurry and the albies never made their approach into the sound�another major bummer!
While some anglers were crying in their soup over the lack of little tuna others went out and made the best of it by targeting big stripers and bluefish on the deeper wrecks and reefs. Yes, there were many bass that held over in the Western sound throughout the summer into fall and although the action wasn�t hot and heavy it did provide on and off fishing to bass over 20lbs. Bluefish in the 10-15lb. range were showing up in almost every harbor up until the final schools of adult menhaden headed out.
Once fall really set in during October and November the jig bite started to get hot but most of the action was bluefish up until about 2 weeks ago. There was also some great tube and worm action off of Milford and Stratford during early November with bass up to 40lbs. being taken! Once again this freaky 2008 season had another dagger to throw at us�WIND, and lots of it! Many anglers were not able to get in on the jigging action due to high winds and waves but those that had bigger boats ventured out and enjoyed good action off of the usual rips like 11B, 28C and the OB Buoys. This action is far from over and can last right through December but needless to say the weather needs to show some cooperation.
It surely is worth mentioning the epic tog season that our local anglers all experienced throughout the Western Sound. Although here at the shop we witnessed some hefty 10lb togs on a consistent basis, there were plenty of teen sized fish taken farther to our east with a 21lb slob finishing off the season in mid November
To sum it all up for 2008 - the low points outweighed the high points this season but there is little reason for concern as we pass through cycles of hot and cold years all the time and this just happened to be a cold year for most anglers targeting striped bass, bonito and false albacore � and this was especially true for shore bound anglers.
As we look forward to fly tying and rig making season, we as anglers still have plenty to be grateful for. All and all, it is in my best opinion that a lot more people got into the action this year. Now in our fourth season, I can easily look back at anglers that more recently have gotten into our great sport and their numbers and consistency surely improved during the 2008 season, along with their overall skill.
Many decided to pick up a fly rod, entertain a lead core set up for better trolling or further invest in some of the latest technology from manufactures such as Lamiglas, Avet, Sage Scott and the various lure and plug makers. Each year our sport continues to improve upon older stand by tactics as well as introduce some very new and innovative creations.
Looking forward to next year, you will once again not be let down. As hopefully all of you know by this point, we are moving Westport Outfitters once the snow flies to a new location at 609 Riverside Avenue in Westport CT. Located on site within the All Seasons Marine Works facility, this new location is just yards away from the train station, seconds from I-95 and a stones throw from one of the only FREE public boat ramps within Fairfield County. We will be working diligently throughout the winter to make our new spot simply the best facility within Fairfield County. We will be expanding product lines, increasing inventory where you have given us your valuable feedback and will continue to recruit the most knowledgeable and professional staff around to service your needs.
Some new additions will be announced as well to better service your water craft through an expansion of parts and service being supported by All Seasons Marine Works certified Yamaha Technicians.
But don�t worry, just because the fishing will slowly die down, it will not mean that you will not hear from us. We have already posted our winter fly tying classes under our �NEWS� tab on the homepage and are busy putting the final touches on our spring seminar schedule that is just about completed and loaded with new names and faces to improve all of your skills as anglers. Lastly, we have already booked legendary fly fisherman and teacher extraordinaire Lou Tabory for four dates in the spring, as we continue to offer one of the best one day fly fishing schools around.
In our never-ending quest to continue to give back, we are working with several local school groups and non-profits to introduce our great sport to a younger generation of anglers next year so that we can eventually pass the torch to them and have them further have the enthusiasm and know how to participate in the wonderful sport of angling.
With all of this being said, it is also the time of year once again to thank all of you who have supported us over the past three years. There was much work to do in redefining the �NEW� Westport Outfitters and it goes without saying that I would not be having the pleasure to be penning this post today if you all did not give us another shot and the chance to meet your angling and boating needs. I still sit back and reflect that in reality I have not gained many customers at all, but rather friends who share a similar passion and respect for the outdoors and the sport of fishing. To this point, I only have all of you to thank.
If you have the time, please try and come by and say hello to tell fish tales of the 2008 season on December 6th at 4:00 where we will be holding our now Annual Holiday/Customer Appreciation Party at our current location inside of Cove Marina. There will be nothing in the store that is not at least 20% off, with some items, in preparation of our move, slashed by as much as 70%!!!
The festivities will begin at 4:00 and we will have plenty of food and drink. If you plan to attend, please RSVP by either emailing me at ejohnson@westportoutfitters.com or calling the shop at 203.831.8036. Hope to see you all here!!
Onward and Upward!
WESTPORT OUTFITTERS IS MOVING TO 609 RIVERSIDE AVENUE, WESTPORT, CT-SCHEDULED FOR JANUARY 1ST 2009, ADJACENT TO THE BLACK DUCK, INSIDE OF THE ALL SEASONS MARINE COMPLEX!!