Dog Days of Summer

Hot...Hazy...Humid....Not exactly ideal working conditions, might as well go fishing!

After last Wednesdays striper trip was so successful, when Andy and Butch wanted to striper fish, I never had a second thought about going back to the same area the following tuesday. Apparently I should have, as the area was seemingly void of life. We saw very little surface activity, and fish were few and far between. Thats why its fishing and not catching I suppose. Despite all that, Butch landed his first ever striped bass!

A new species...hopefully the first of many!

After we decided to abandon the bass and blues, we moved onto porgies, and they brought a few home for lunch. I was later updated "they are better than the flounder fillets from the store". So no snickering about them the next time your out there watching someone else catch "little fish!"

Wednesday morning brought with it similar conditions, and when I arrived at the launch, early as always to prepare, I found my sports waiting for me already! I knew they were excited to get out there, so I made quick work of getting the boat rigged and ready. Before too long, they had matching bluefish in the cooler from the first spot. Not long after Sal landed a second, which showed signs of being stuck in a commercial net at some point....

Net-scarred bluefish

Last time I hosted them, Brandon outfished Sal. Sal was ready for battle today, and not long after that added another fish to his tally....he snatched a nice striper out of a school of bluefish! Nice job!

Late July Striper

They added a few more bluefish to the box, and had a couple near misses at the side of the boat, the tide slacked out, ending the blitzes. We ran around a bit, porgy fished a little, and before long the tide picked up again. Brandon had some catching up to do, and he did it in fashion.....

GATOR!

So far thats the best blue aboard my boat in 2011. It taped 34" and weighed in at 11.5lbs. Think you can top it?!?!

With this heat the striper fishing is likely to stay a night time game, but the bluefishing should only get better through August....and lets not forget Bonito!!

Thanks for reading, 

Captain Bill

A Warm Welcome

Today Mike joined me for some striper fishing. Mike captains a boat in Maui, and has spent the past 2 years chasing Marlin....but his roots are here on the east coast chasing stripers. He wanted to stick a few bass on the flats first thing this morning since he never fished stripers in that manner before. There were a decent number of fish in the shallow water, and weather cooperated, giving us bright sun, clear skies, and little to no wind. It didn't take long, and he had his first striper in a couple years in hand, and his first ever from a flat!

Schoolie from the skinnies! 

By 8am or so, we had landed a couple of fish, and decided to go for a ride to see how things looked out on the reefs. Just after I commented on how quiet the water looked, we spotted a school of fish crashing bait on the surface and went back into fish mode. Mike hooked up instantly, and broke off almost as quickly. We figured bluefish and re-rigged with appropriate leaders to prevent further fly loss. On the second drift we both hooked up, as well as the third, then took turns on the next couple drifts until the tide petered out, and not one bluefish!!

Mike hoists a nice bass

A nice welcome home!

We called it a morning just before ten, each satisfied with our efforts. Saw a lot of fish, had a lot of fun, thats what its all about! 

Lots of openings and lots of fish out there....call me!

Captain Bill 

860.918.2338

Captbille@gmail.com

Holiday Weekend

The 4th of July weekend is one of the toughest times to fish. The weather is often hot and muggy, and everybody is out enjoying their time off of work on the water. The best times to fish, if you are like me and just have to get out is at night, or you can put some time in to getting yourself off the beaten path to some hidden water.
Friday after work, while trying to decide what to do, my friend Mike called with an idea to hit up a few local lakes from the shoreline after dark, and not deal with the boats, hoping to pick up a few fish at each spot and move on. Our first Lake produced a keeper largemouth for Mike, a small largemouth for me, and plenty of bug bites for both of us. Lake #2 proved to be our hot spot of the night, where this smallmouth was our lunker of the night:

We each caught a few nice fish at this spot, then moved onto Lake #3, which didn't even cough up a single fish! No big deal, we had our fun. 

Saturday evening I decided to do a little hiking into one of my favorite smallmouth haunts with the flyrod. It wasn't long before I was into fish, with this keeper inhaling a green over white deceiver:

A few more smallies followed suit, but then a couple strips into a long cast the water exploded, my slack line disappeared, and my drag started singing! I had a hunch this was a striper, but my hopes were on big smallmouth. A few minutes in I was able to get a look at my fish, and striper it was. One of the most fun battles I've ever had on a flyrod, as this fish was far larger than anything I intended on landing tonight on my trout rod!

Onto Sunday night, I hiked again, this time a solid 25 minute hike up river. Once I started fishing I was quickly rewarded for my efforts with a beautiful, calm, stretch of river to myself, and better yet, hungry smallmouths....mostly smallmouths anyway, my first fish was a largemouth, a first for me from this stretch of river:

After a few smallies came to hand, I saw a trout rising. Too lazy to change to a more appropriate fly, I threw a 4" deceiver at it. It took him two tries, but he managed to inhale it...

So, that was my weekend in fishing! I hope everyone enjoyed their holiday as much as I did. I'm hoping to have some time on the salt this week, I'll keep everyone posted!

Captain Heather

Heather (my wife for those of you who don't know) was planning to join me for a fishing trip tonight since last week. Over the weekend she wasn't feeling well, and we decided instead to do the dinner and movie deal. Fortunately, she was feeling better today, and the weather was just too nice not to fish! After a quick stop for snacks and bait, we were off! I asked her to drive the boat away from the dock since I still had some gear to ready, little did I know she wasn't planning on giving up the drivers seat! Even when we got to where we were going to start our troll, she wanted to drive and fish...fine by me! Before too long she had found our first fish...a nice bluefish who is destined for the smoker!

Watch out for those teeth!

Not too long after that she had another hit, but something went wrong as they tend to do from time to time and the fish got off.  Not before I could get an action shot though

Heather doing battle

And again, it wasn't long before she was hooked up again......this time with her personal best striper, and it wasn't getting away!

All smiles!

You may have noticed Heather has been doing all the catching so far. Its not that I wasn't fishing...I just got severely one upped! I think I only landed one fish all night....if she gives up being a nurse I think she has a career in fishing!!

So, the fish are both here, and hungry...FINALLY! Seems as though they took forever this year! My saltwater prices for the season are the same as last year. 4 hour trip, all gear and bait provided, one angler $200, 2 anglers $250. Remember, you DO NOT need a saltwater license to fish on my boat as I am a registered charter vessel!! 

Give me a call or send an email to book your trip!

Captbille@gmail.com

860.918.2338

Thanks! Captain Bill

Good thing for Smallies!

Well the striper game continues to be hit or miss. I'll be on the salt tuesday...if not sooner. Fingers crossed! Thankfully, the smallmouth bite has been awesome! Last week I landed my best of the season so far, a 19.5" 4lb beast!

Picture perfect bronzeback!

This week I repeated the length....but with considerable less weight. This spawned out 19.5" fish probably didn't weigh more than 2.5 pounds!

Skin and Bones!!

One other nice shot from along the way.....most of them fell to small crankbaits, but tube jigs produced a few as well. 

After one of those smallmouths made its way into the boat, it gave me a little payback for sticking a hook in him. I took the photo after I pushed the hook through the rest of the way, as it was buried past the barb. It hurt too much with the barb in me to reach for the camera, but once through it wasn't so bad....

ouch!

Other than that I have been trout fishing a couple of times. One time was in preparation to take out a client, and a downpour earlier that day had brought the river right up to the bank and turned it mud brown....far from ideal conditions for a beginner! Earlier in the week I found plenty of eager trout though!

This one didn't want to pose!

A nice bow comes to hand!

The weather looks great this week! Lets go fishing!!!

Captain Bill

Captbille@gmail.com

860.918.2338

Freshwater Action

What a week on the sweetwater! Mothers Day, I hit my local lake from the Kayak for just over an hour.  I took only one rod a couple of small crankbaits, and had constant action. My best 3 fish were all 17" or better!

17.5 inch Largemouth

17" Smallmouth

I fished a couple more times during the week, with good numbers of small fish caught each time. On friday night my brother joined me, and on his third cast this beast ate his offerings!

Brians 6lb (or so) Largemouth

Saturday night we were back at it, but this time Brian brought his flyrod. Again, on one of his first few casts he found this largemouth, his personal best on fly:

He is on fire!!!

Sunday we gave it one more shot, landed a handful of small bass to 14" or so, and headed in before it got too late for a change. 

The weather looks awful this week. Again. This is getting old. 

Captain Bill

860.918.2338

CaptBillE@gmail.com

Delicious Incidentals!

This weekend I decided to head to Rhode Island and join my brother for some striper fishing. During the week he had been fishing the famous worm hatches with fairly good results, with every phone call and text I grew more and more anxious for friday afternoon to come! Friday finally came, and brought with it a perfect 70 degrees, sunny, with light winds. The cinder worms should be going nuts! Unfortunately there wasn't a worm to be found, and the bass were either no longer in the pond, or not feeding. We managed a couple fish, and had a great time none-the less. 

Hooked up to a schoolie from the kayak

Saturday morning we slept in a bit...till about 545, grabbed some breakfast and launched the kayaks back into the same pond. Brian missed bite, I never even had a tug. After a single drift we decided to try another spot and packed it in. Launched at spot 2, fished in 2 different places without seeing a fish. After a while I decide to roam some some skinny water in hopes of finding a fish up on the flats...although a bit early, I thought maybe the warmer water would attract a couple up. No fish there either, but I did spot a squid! I decided I was going to try and catch the squid, knowing they are usually fairly aggressive. When I got back to where it was, I found a school of them! I drifted my fly past without a strike, so I went to snag mode, and after a few tries I got one! I called my brother over, and we both were at it now....I snagged one more, and the school took off. Oh well, Calamari for dinner!

Snagged Squid!

So, although I didn't come back to CT with the sore arms I was hoping for, I still had a great couple of days fishing some different water with my brother. Maybe next weekend....

Back on the homefront, reports from the CT river are better daily! Time to get down there!!

Captain Bill

860.918.2338

Captbille@gmail.com