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06/29/2017 12:00 AMThe term “to attract” is defined, in part, as to elicit notice by conspicuous appearance, as in drawing attention. Fishers know that in order to increase the odds of catching a fish, they need to appeal to one or more of the fish’s senses. It could be a sound interpreted to a fish as vibration, a scent appealing to the olfactory sense of smell, or a sight that can profile forage and illuminate color—or the lack thereof.
A sound interpreted as a vibration in a fish’s otolith (inner ear bone) can be a double-edged sword. It can signal prey that is in distress or an alert to an impending danger. It also can relate to a school of forage in the vicinity.
Chumming with a pot should be familiar to most fishers. As scent and small particles of fish and other additives are allowed to flow with the current, a chum slick is formed, attracting fish down tide. Ultimately, they will follow the slick to the vicinity of your hook and, voila! The same holds true when fishing with bait, live or otherwise. This is the smell factor.
Fish that are sight feeders will hone in on live forage or reasonably good facsimiles and then chase down their food. Depending on the quality of their vision, they will pick up on profiles, light refractions, and color differentiations. Many artificials on the market today capitalize on sight as the catalyst to provoke a strike. Whether using jigs, swim baits, plugs, or a variety of other lures, part of the allure will usually have sight as part of the equation to success.
After considerable, successful testing on the West Coast, this skipper was asked if he would put a very unique sight enhancer to the test on the East Coast. In short, USA-made Hyper-Vis+ applied to any lure, in a very small configuration, turned out to be a diamond in the rough that out-shined, out-glittered, and out-produced anything else previously tested. It will not turn an inexperienced fisher into a legend overnight, but it will dramatically increase hookups, and put more fish in the box. This quite durable, long-lasting attractor does make a difference. An added feature is that the highly reflective properties can also be used in many other ways limited only to the imagination. Recommendation: Bling it on!
On the Water
Summer is officially here, although the recent weather has been on a bumpy road. Inshore Long Island Sound water temperatures have been fluctuating around the mid-60s and a few degrees cooler farther out. Patchy fog blanketed much of the area, along with intermittent rain and wind that interrupted some of the fishing opportunities. Still, fish keep developing more and more of a presence.
Atlantic menhaden schools are a bit more common, but still spread out. However, more striped bass are taking notice. Live eels continue to outproduce live-lining bunker, even though some of those bigger bass have been taken on the menhaden. Reefs like Southwest, Charles, Faulkner’s North Rip, Brown’s, and The Beacon have all held fish, and so have some local tidal rivers. Jerking wire, bucktailing, and inshore worming all have produced fish at the appropriate tides and time of day. Moving from spot to spot has produced more hookups, as opposed to remaining in one location for the tide.
We are looking at harbor blues chasing some of those bunker schools with less than the normal enthusiasm—more like a hit and run as opposed to a blitz. Blues will be blues and, therefore, will generally not avoid contact with bait forms or artificials. Choppers are being caught irregularly from both inshore and offshore positions, yet their numbers have increased. Chumming will definitely increase hookups and is recommended, particularly by rip lines that will get the attention of weakies, as well.
A hike in fluke catches has been occurring along the shoals, beaches, certain reefs, and uneven sea bottoms. The 19-inch limit has broken the backs of some anglers falling just short of the legal limit. However, persistence while deep water drifting has paid off in the doormat category when using large baits in conjunction with spearing or sand eels. Be prepared to cull out many shorts for one keeper.
Black sea bass catches continue to mount on days they choose not to be selective. Again, deeper water more than 50 feet will favor fish more than four pounds, and much shallower will entice much smaller fish, including scup, which can be found pretty much throughout the Sound. Porgies are onto similar baits, such as squid, clams, and sea worms, and so the time is ripe to bring out the scaler. Check out the local reefs, humps, and rock piles. Other bottom fish like dogfish, sea robins, and skate are being caught all along the beaches. Blue crabs have moved into many of the minor tidal rivers, where moderate catches of six-inchers and above are being caught.
Whereas much of the fresh water scene has been variable of late, trout anglers have found solace in the fact that conditions have improved. There are still sizable fish to catch and, with the improvement of flows and clarity, opportunities of hooking into a bragger are looking up. Nevertheless, it’s still worthwhile to cast for the basses, dunk some bait for the bottom dwellers, flip a fly or worm for panfish, throw a plastic or spoon to the weeds for a pickerel, or try for a northern.
Note: Email us pics of your catches to share with our USA and international fishing friends who keep up with the latest fishing news and frequent social media.
For all things fishy including clam supplies, swing by the shop (203-245-8665) open seven days located at 21 Boston Post Road, Madison. Until next time from your Connecticut shoreline’s full-service fishing outfitter, where we don’t make the fisherman, we make the fisherman better...
Tight Lines,
Captain Morgan
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