The past week brought some beautiful weather in southwestern CT, and the chill has returned after dark. The week prior we saw about a 5 degree surface water temperature change, and I expect that to continue. There have been some excellent albie bites once the sun is high in the sky, at all the usual spots from Middle Ground west to the Darien are producing at one time or another. This usual chaos of weekend warrior fisherman chasing these finicky hardtails is definitely underway.
Taking a backseat in popularity this time of year is the striper and bluefishing, which has been quite good. Quality fish pushing the 20+ lb. mark are being taken in the islands and surrounding shoreline on plugs, flies, and bait for the chunk dunkers. The water temps are almost ‘just right’, the bait is there, and fish are hungry. There is a TON of forage both big and small which have yet to emerge from their hiding up the rivers, too. Visit your local river or bay, marina or estuary, and I will venture to guess you’ll find adult and juvie “peanut” bunker finding shelter and circling around happily tailing on the surface, as well as the rain bait. They will begin to flush out, and the bite in the mouth of the rivers and surrounding areas will turn on for sure.
The bad weather days and low light are getting it done, per usual. Striped bass fishing is not for softies after all. Windier days with murkier water require the bigger more commotion-causing poppers, and flashier, bigger swimmers and flies. A tipped bucktail, or a jighead and soft plastic are always a good bet. There are some real monsters after dark too.
This weekend we have low tides right around sunrise and sunset, which is certainly not optimal for bassing skinny water. I might use the opportunity to sleep in somewhat, and fish the incoming. Albies have been taking a while to ‘wake up’ too, so you shouldn’t miss much there. Both days we have a prevailing South wind in the forecast, which should help push open-water bait towards and not away from our side of the pond, hopefully. The tog season begins on Tuesday, and I can say I’m certainly looking forward to trying out some gnarly rock piles and wrecks I’ve been marking all summer.
Tight Lines-James
Norwalk Islands Fishing 