Had a charter with repeat customers Chris, his son Robby and Ed. We launched down in Old Saybrook and headed straight out to the flats. It looked like it was going to be a good day as we had two hits and boated one bass on the first drift. Unfortunately, that was it for a while. I was marking plenty of fish on the side imaging and we were even spooking a few here and there in the shallows, but they were reluctant to eat once the sun came up. We ran north for a bit and fished some rock piles with Bass Harassers and put another keeper in the boat. One again, that was it for a while… We worked our way back down south, checking creek mouths, piles and flats. We ended up way down near the break wals before finding more fish. The Bass Harasser put another one in the boat and we had a few more hits down there.  As always, it was fun fishing with Chris and Ed. The slow days sure make you appreciate the good days…

Today was just one of those days… I was excited to fish the mouth with my clients Ken and Tom, there wasn’t supposed to be much wind and the rain was ending. There were only a hendful of other boats out so there was plenty of room to move around. We had the last of the outgoind tide and were marking fish on the side imaging in the usual spots. For whatever reason, they just refused to eat anything we threw at them today. We tried just about every lure in the box. I even tried downsizing. Normally that means going from 9″ lures down to 6″ lures… Still nothing. In an act of desperation, I downsized further to a 4″ Revolution Shad and almost immediately, we had our first fish in the boat. We were limited in how far we could cast the little lures on big gear but we finally found something they would eat. Over the last 1/2 hour of the trip the guys had several more hits but we never did hook up again. Next time I won’t wait so long to go small….

For the second straight trip, the weatherman was wrong. On Monday, the wind was insane. The latest trip, there was supposed to be scattered light showers. I met one of the sales reps and the national sales manager for Frabill at Connecticut Outfitters for 4:30 and they followed me to the Rocky Hill ramp.We were fishing by 5. The morning started off with light rain but at 42 degrees, it was pretty raw.

We started began with a Revolution Shad and a top water and had a few hits on both but weren’t able to hook up. Some time around 6:30 I got a call from a good friend who was fishing an area aout 6 miles away. They were into fish pretty good. It was a no brainer… Time to move. At 50 MPH, it didn’t take long to get there, but damn it was a cold run! Good rain gear or not, it’s not fun. The run paid off instantly though, as we put 6 fish in the boat in the next half hour. Nothing big, but it was action. Most of the hook ups were on top waters. Some of the fish hit the poppers at least 6 times before finally hooking up. What a blast to watch! I never did take any pictures as it was just too nasty to pull the camera out, that and the fact that my fingers were frozen. The rain never did let up, it was probably one of the more miserable mornings on the water in recent memory. We fished until 9 or so before deciding to head back to CT Outfitters for some hot coffee and to write our order for the new ice fishing gear for the upcoming season. For those of you that are customers of ours, wait till you see the new ice fishing gear that Frabill has coming out, especially the new ice suits! I am already looking forward to walking on water again…

By 1, I had 4 cups of coffee and 3 donuts in me, so I was feeling pretty good again. Mike was just getting off his shift at the shop. After a quick discussion, we decided to hit the river again, this time a bit farther to the south. We were in the water in Old Saybrook by 2. It didn’t take long to find the fish. We had the last of the outgoing tide and fished 3 to 5 feet of water. They didn’t like the top waters this afternoon but were all over the Houdini’s and Slug-Gos. Working them fast would get the bass to show themselves but  then slowing way down would get them to eat. We put 13 keepers in the boat and lost our share as well. No monsters but after the morning I had, these fish felt great. Here are a couple of pics from the afternoon trip:

Brent and his wife Cheryl were up from Virginia for a long weekend and wanted to see what all the fuss was about. It was 38 degrees when I put the boat in the water at 5am. This morning’s forecast called for 10-15 with gusts to 20 out of the NW… No big deal. Not the best conditions to fish but managable.

It didn’t take long to figure out that the weather man was way off… Thank God for the trolling motor, it got a workout today. I was able to keep the bow into the wind and slowly back down the flat. We fished the shallow flats in as little as 3 feet of water and never more than 6. As long as we kept the wind at our backs, they were able to make long cast and cover a lot of water. The first 2 fish came on the 7″ Revolution Shads. Nice, hard hits…

When we found the fish, we had hits on every cast. We kept motoring back up to stay on them and head plenty of action. The wind just kept building and by 7:30 or so the river was almost unfishable. It was hard to stand up in the boat, gusts of wind would just about knock you off of your feet. There were a few other die hards out as well… This is what we had to deal with.

We ran several miles up river looking for someplace to fish out of the wind but there just was no getting away from it today. We moved back to the original spot and put a few more fish in the boat before calling it quits. It was just too damned windy to fish effectively. At times, the waves on the flats were so bad, the prop for the trolling motor came out of the water. Brent put the last few in the boat and we headed for the barn.

I did get up early to fish this morning, but it was one of those days for me… Bright, bluebird skies and no wind made for some tough striper fishing this morning. We had lots of blow ups and boils and even a few solid hits, but no hook ups. By 8, it was all over. I decided to take a ride up to Wethersfield Cove to get a look at the herring. There have been reports of huge numbers of bluebacks spawning in the cove. the reports were encouraging so I had to go see for myself…

It was truly amazing… There were herring along the shore around the entire cove. As far as you could see, there were herring splashing. I honestly can’t remember the last time that I saw that much bait. We’ll see what the official numbers are when the counts at the fishways are completed. I’m trying no to get my hopes up but this was a wonderful sight. Here are a few pictures from this morning.

The wind was blowing out of the west so there were piles of eggs along the pockets in the shore

This video clip really puts it in perspective… This activity was going on all around the cove.

After yesterdays slug fest, I had high hopes for this morning. We had the same overcast skies and light rain as yesterday… Justin and I launched again at 5 am and hit the flats close to the ramp. We were in to fish right away. I was getting lots of hits on a T-Man Super Swimmer but it just wasn’t my morning, I had about 6 hits and managed to lose the only fish I hooked. Justin, on the other hand, scored with a Danny Swimmer. The fish hit about 10 feet from the boat. It was still dark out and scared us half to death…

We made 3 drifts and had bass on every pass. It slowly died off so we moved on to greener pastures. As we pulled up to the next spot we were greeted by bass chasing herring on top. Two casts later we both hooked up. This went on for 15 minutes or so before the bass had eaten everything in the area. After that it really slowed down. It was a slow pick for the rest of the morning but we managed a few more nice fish and lost a few. I had a few on the Houdini Shads but my best fish came on a 9″ Revolution Shad…

I love fishing in the rain… There is never anyone else out on the water and the fishing is usually outstanding. Today was no exception… Mike, Justin and I left the ramp at 5:15 in a light rain. The water had warmed to 54 and with the cloud cover overnight had stayed that warm. We made the run to the first spot, dodging a couple of logs along the way. Justing hooked up first on a Houdini Shad. It’s always nice to get the skunk out of the boat right off the bat…

 As it got light out, we could see herring dimpling the surface all around us and following our lures back to the boat. I hooked up a couple of times with small fish, we never bothered to take the camera out. On the second drift, Mike hooked a decent fish on a Houdini Shad. This one was a better fish. I forgot how good a screaming drag could sound…

It may have been the next cast that he hooke up again, I can’t remember…

On the 3rd drift, all hell broke lose. There were fish all over the place at one point, we had a triple header going. I got mine to the boat first, another keeper and quickly released it so I could grab the camera for the other two fish.

On almost every cast, we had herring following our lures and trying to mate with them. On more than one occassion, my lure came back with herring scales on the hooks. I finally ended up snagging one on a Revolution Shad.

That spot seemed to die off after 7:30 so we started heading south checking other spots as we went. Justin hooked up with another nice fish on the Bass Harasser…

The rain got heavier and more steady. It kept the water nice and flat so it was easy to spot surface activity from a distance. As we fished along another flat, we saw herring getting knocked into the air by stripers about 1/4 mile away. It’s an amazing sight to behold. The stripers work together to push the bait into shallow water and then slap them with their tails to stun them. They turn and inhale the herring in the blink of an eye. We made our way in that direction on the trolling motor and got within range. We all had fish on in no time. It was raining too hard to take the camera out. They were all about the same size as the fish before. Healthy and real fat! We fished for less than 5 hours and boated 15 fish. There were only 2 or 3 stripers that were not keepers. It seemed to take forever, but they are finally here.

The weather looks like it’s going to be about the same tomorrow. I’ll be back at by 5 am with Justin again. Stay tuned…

We sure have been fishing hard over the last week or so. The water was right and there was plenty of bait but the stripers just hadn’t shown up yet. That all changed yesterday… I left the shop before 3 and flew home to grab my gear and hook the boat up. Josh met me at the Rocky Hill ramp and we were wet by 4. We went straight to the likely spots, gravel bars with lots of herring. Water temps had come up to 52 and was very clear. There were quite a few boats on the water and with a hard southeast wind there was a heavy chop.

With the bright late afternoon sun and the boat traffic, I decided against fishing shallow and tied on a Reaction Strike Bass Harasser and cast into 12 feet of water. It didn’t take long to get whacked hard. I finally had a keeper on the line on my home turf…  The lures are 8″ and pretty heavy so a stout rod is needed to cast them any distance. They are easy to fish and can be reeled with a straight and steady retrieve. i put a few snaps into it to make it dance. They seemed to like that

We fished hard for a few more hours and had a few hits and boils but no other hook ups so we packed it in shortly before 8. I have high hopes for tomorrow with the cloud cover and forecasted rains…