August 22nd - Striper and Bluefish Action

Stripers and Blues

There’s a lot of action out there for those chasing stripers and blues. Bigger stripers are hitting live eels, GT Eels, big topwaters like the Mully and Doc, and live bunker if you can find it. Bluefish are also here heavily and willing to hit pretty much anything you put in front of their faces. For those competing in “The Greatest Bluefish Tournament on Earth” this weekend, there should be some big ones coming in. Diamond jigs out on deep reefs seem to be the way to go for a potential prize winner, and we have a bunch of diamond jigs available at the Westbrook shop.

Also happening with more and more frequency are blitzes which we love to see during these late summer and early fall weeks. It seems peanut bunker are primarily fueling the bite, and that bodes well for what is hopefully a good hardtail run of ablies in coming weeks. Look for those albies to make their first appearances in CT waters sometime around mid-September. For now, our local stripers are happy to enjoy masses of peanuts pouring out of tidal rivers and creeks. Outgoing tides in particular are good in the fall since it dumps that bait into open water, especially if there’s a north wind helping out the cause. If you want to get dialed into a rod and reel combo for fall fishing for stripers and albies, come on in and we can walk you through it. Whether you want to spend $150 or $500, we’ve got your covered.

Seabass and Porgies

Seabass fishing has been decent recently, with the best reports we’ve heard coming from 70 feet or deeper. This means heavy jigs and heavy lead, so load up if you want to chase some seabass. Porgies are still hitting well in all depths as they usually do at this point in the summer.

Fluke

Fluke fishing has been slightly better recently than it was in July, and anglers are finding fluke confined to particular pieces of structure. If you happen to get a good one on a long drift, make sure you mark the location and try to start narrowing down the length and location of your drift to hit those hot spots. If possible, long strips of fresh bait will likely be the thing that pulls the biggest fluke from the bunch!