Connecticut Outfitter’s weekly fishing report for the week of August 16th, 2010.

Rivers and Streams:

Hickory shad are again, this week, in the Angling news around mid-state.  Early morning and late afternoon, you can cast from shore and get your own fresh chunk baits for the ocean right here near home.  Willow leaves behind a drail, cast, count it down and vary the retrieve speeds until you hit the right combination.  

Smallmouth fishing is doing very well in the usual places; fast moving current near weedlines and deeper holes.  Soft plastic worms, grubs, and creatures in green pumpkin color, and crankbaits are producing strikes.  Make sure you target the deeper sections of the water column.

Stockie Trout are still doing well in the larger, stocked, catch and release areas (TMA) of the state like Mill River (Hamden) and Eight mile from Devils Hopyard downstream.

Lakes and ponds:

Night Fishing live bait under lighted bobbers.  That’s about all you need to do to increase your likelihood of putting a lunker on the business end of a hook, no matter what the FW species or which body of inland water.

No Pike fishing reports this week….

Black Crappie are starting to respond to cooling temps, and the panfishing is starting to heat up. Joe Wilson of Hartford hit the launch in New Hartford this past week with a bucket of pinheads and some maribu jigs for a load of tasty Black crappie he found in 14-18 feet of crystal clear water. Good eatin Joe!

Marine:

Striper hunters report doing well at the race and beyond.  Diamond jigging, umbrella rigs, and Tube & Worm rigs are all producing well.  Fishing for Big Morone Saxatilis is a little tough inside the sound right now due to a few factors; especially high water temperatures and the sheer numbers of huge Bluefish. The predicted weather pattern for the next several days should help the water temps cool some. Schoolie stripers up to 24” are still in good numbers and Bunker have begun to show near the mouth of the CT River.  If the Bunker come in good, it should attract some of the larger stripers back in closer.

Flukin gets better the closer you get to the Rhode Island border, so think about heading east and target areas of 60 feet depth or greater to increase your chances of keepers.  Flashabou Teasers seem to be the ticket to enticing the keeper Fluke to your rig, so make sure you tie one on.  

Snapper Blues have made their annual late summer entrance to the rivers and creeks flowing into the sound, and they bite at almost anything you drop in the water.

For something new, try dragging a seine around your favorite beach or estuary.  You can learn a lot about the fishery by seeing what small aquatic life is in abundance.  And the kids love to see what ever gets dredged up with a seine too!

There’s still plenty of good angling opportunities out there, so get the rods, get some bait, and take a kid fishing. GET OUT!