Craig Steinberg of Westport and five of his children sailed with us on a very hot Wednesday morning. It was a fantastic day of constant action starting with large slammer blues up to 13 pounds caught among bunker schools in Norwalk Harbor. When they’d had their fill of blues, we moved to Saugatuck and Westport and had more action with almost two dozen schoolie bass, two fluke and one porgy. Everyone was worn out by the end of the trip and will doubtless have some aching muscles for a couple of days. Gail and Ralph Rounds of New Jersey sailed with us two days in a row. On their first trip they caught a few straggler blues in the Norwalk Harbor, after which we moved to Cockenoe Reef, where they tallied 17 stripers plus a 20-inch fluke, all caught on bucktails. Their second excursion was even more exciting for the couple. We started out in the early morning heading towards Westport and found school bass cruising on the surface; we caught them with bucktails and sandworm combinations—with an occasional porgy hitting our bait. I then moved to the middle of the Sound in search of large blues. We found a school of bunker about six miles east of Long Island, and the action was then nonstop, using live bunker and chunks. Blues came in at 8-13 pounds, and striped bass up to 36”. We left the fish biting and headed home when the Rounds showed signs of exhaustion, but they were truly overjoyed with their bountiful Connecticut angling experience and plan to return to us next summer. Father and son, Tom and Jake Welch of Buffalo NY, had a great afternoon catching striped bass and porgies off of Westport and at the mouth of the Saugatuck River. This was a first for both of them, and they promised to come back to Connecticut and do it again as soon as possible. Dana and Jeremy Willinger of Stamford returned for their annual trip with us, and this time they brought along their friend, Jed, who lives in New York City. They caught school bass, porgies and bluefish. Karl Schmidt of New Canaan brought along an Aussie friend, Ross, and another local pal, Jerry, who lives in Shorefront Park here in Norwalk. They had a wonderful morning, catching slammer blues under a bunker school in the middle of the Sound. When we moved inshore, we picked up school bass and porgies. Schmidt had never caught a striped bass before. Ridgefield resident, Brent Franks, and his wife and two children, enjoyed a great Sunday afternoon and helped us close out the month of July on a high note. They caught their first bluefish ever—with nonstop action on the surface off of Sheffield, using Creek Chub and Gag’s poppers. The waters were quite rough, however, and they wanted to move somewhere else that wasn’t quite so bumpy. We moved near the Darien shoreline and got them into school bass and porgies up to 15” plus three fluke up to 20”. Richard & Caryle Garofalo of Massapequa had a wonderful day catching blues in the 3-5 pound class feeding on peanut bunker off of Sheffield Island. We moved a bit farther out into the Sound and had fast action with blues 8-10 pounds as they were corralling the bigger bunker. The couple also caught some small fluke, a few porgies, and about a dozen schoolie stripers when we moved closer to Westport. August is finally here, and the fishing is as hot as the temperatures!
troycreasy