I finally got the boat in and fished three outings over this past weekend, all on the outgoing tide. Overall, the results were really promising. Managed a few quality fish, lost a few more, and couldn’t ask for better results this time of year. My buddy Jason even landed a fish just shy of 20 pound mark on my boat. Water temperatures ranged from close to 60 degrees Friday afternoon after the hot muggy weather down to 48 in mid sound! I fished quite a few different areas, and learned early on that a major ‘key’ was finding warmer water temperatures. The bite was not in the islands, the fish were mostly keyed in the rivers and coves where the water was warmer. I did see a few pods of bunker when it was really calm on Sunday morning too. Although, I don’t think the fish were feeding on the bunker so much as they were smaller bait (this will change as more bunker and migratory bass move in). Fish took small poppers such as the Smack it Jr., and a variety of small plastics from swim shads, Albie Snax, and Lunker City Fin -S fish. Didn’t get any fish on the swimmers interestingly enough. They seemed to like a really slow retrieve, and the bite tended to only last for the first half of the outgoing tide. I noticed the water temps dropped quite a bit after that first half of the outgoing too. I lost a really nice fish Friday night which I chalk up to bad hooks I should’ve replaced over the winter (see pics). We shall see if the fish move out this upcoming weekend to the islands. I’m going to be trying some different tides as well. Fish porn below
Norwalk Islands Fishing 