Sports • Published Sep 25, 2023 05 pm
Repetitive as it sounds, striped bass have been the talk all over southern New England this season. Big or small, they bit on live forage, fresh frozen pieces, or great o...
Sports • Published Sep 18, 2023 02 pm
If you enjoy mixing it up with crowds gathering at fall festivals and county fairs, then you are in for a treat. Likewise, if you like filling up on those maple and pumpk...
Sports • Published Sep 11, 2023 12 pm
There are fewer fisheries biologists than there are fishers, so let us keep it simple. Fish are very similar to people in that if it is too hot, there will be no fish pop...
Sports • Published Sep 05, 2023 12 pm
Since we have gotten a lot of response to sharks in the Sound, including questions and comments, there have been some very interesting and up close and personal ones — no...
Sports • Published Aug 28, 2023 12 pm
True, it has been sharks biting striped bass in half that has captured the imagination of fishers in recent weeks. However, the bluefish bite has been intensifying, and c...
Sports • Published Aug 21, 2023 12 pm
By Gabby Hurlbut
Two of Long Island Sound’s, shall we say, warm water resident sharks are generally docile, avoid people and are not dangerous. However, startle them or tempt them with a ...
Sports • Published Aug 17, 2023 07 am
What goes “bump in the night” and can startle anyone unfamiliar with the surroundings? A cat, dog, person, or old wooden creaky captain’s chair can cause someone’s heart ...
Sports • Published Aug 07, 2023 12 pm
Here we are, waiting for the Dog Days of summer to kick in and ready to adjust our fishing accordingly. Yet some of those hot periods already appeared in July, which begs...
Sports • Published Jul 31, 2023 12 am
It has been four years since the last great white shark (Cabot) was pinged in Long Island Sound off the coast of Greenwich and seven years since the first one (Montauk) w...
Sports • Published Jul 24, 2023 01 am
Until recently, pufferfish commonly caught in Long Island Sound waters were of the northern variety, which were generally considered non-poisonous. However, a warning cam...
Sports • Published Jul 17, 2023 12 pm
What an odd season fishers are trying to outguess! One minute, many key tidal rivers are loaded with bait, and the next, we have late-season high water levels and fast fl...
Sports • Published Jul 10, 2023 01 pm
With a name like that, one would think it would be the last place to point a bow. It shows up as a dot along eastern Long Island Sound’s shore and is nondescript on most ...
Sports • Published Jul 02, 2023 10 am
Too big to keep but big enough to fill a life-long dream seems to be an appropriate expression of the day. If you are an avid striped bass fisher and have pursued a simil...
Sports • Published Jun 26, 2023 01 pm
It is a delicate balance protecting the young of year class of fish so that our young of year generation reaps the results of that effort. Most will agree that these past...
Sports • Published Jun 20, 2023 08 am
First, the water temperatures in the estuaries broke into the 60s, then periods of short-lived heavy downpours followed. As a blue crab, that combination mostly forced th...
Sports • Published Jun 13, 2023 08 am
Extending National Fishing and Boating Week, which ran from June 3 to 11, benefits fish, fishers, and boaters who spend a good portion of the summer on and in and near th...
Sports • Published Jun 05, 2023 04 pm
Getting tired of catching striped bass? That is what a fisherman recently lamented who has been fishing the tidal rivers and estuaries. Mostly casting topwater and sub-su...
Sports • Published May 30, 2023 12 pm
As striped bass remain in the headlines, both from the numbers of fish in our tidal rivers and estuaries as well as those migrating into Long Island Sound from those wate...
Sports • Published May 22, 2023 03 pm
May slipped by, and suddenly, Memorial Day (originally known as Decoration Day) is at our doorstep. The day that America honors the men and women who died while serving i...
Sports • Published May 15, 2023 01 pm
Is it finesse of the fisher or difference in bait and lure choices that ultimately determine catch results? If we are referring to striped bass, for example, there is lit...
Sports • Published May 09, 2023 08 am
Not that additional conservative management measures were in order or that the realization that marone saxatilis’ dropping biomass was justification for this immediate ad...
Sports • Published May 01, 2023 03 pm
Pairing up fishing rod and gear with the species of fish sought makes all the difference in the outcome for the fish and fisher. Too heavy a setup places undue pressure o...
Sports • Published Apr 24, 2023 02 pm
April flew by and here we are going into the last weekend of springtime blackfish (tautog) season. Inshore Long Island Sound water temperatures broke 50 degrees, which is...
Sports • Published Apr 17, 2023 02 pm
As netloads of trout are being stocked in statewide waters, inclusive of our rivers, streams, lakes, and ponds, anglers are burning up paths to get to the most recently s...
Sports • Published Apr 10, 2023 04 pm
The second Saturday of April marked the last cool dip in air temperature before we began to experience a warming trend that brought temperatures into the 60s and 70s. Day...
Sports • Published Apr 03, 2023 02 pm
Some say back in 1582, when France switched from the Julian to the Gregorian calendar, April Fool’s Day was born. Folks slow on the uptake were tagged with paper fish on ...
Sports • Published Mar 27, 2023 01 pm
Saturday, April 8 at 6 a.m. marks the beginning of the catch-and-keep season for trout anglers, ending the first year of an early catch-and-release period. How many of th...
Sports • Published Mar 20, 2023 03 pm
Brevoortia tyrannus is one of the country’s largest fisheries going back to colonial times. The Narragansett called menhaden “munnawhatteaug” and used them to fertilize t...
Sports • Published Mar 13, 2023 11 am
Right in our backyard, peering out on Long Island Sound, the futures of bright young enterprising individuals are being nurtured for potentially launching careers in unde...
Sports • Published Mar 06, 2023 03 pm
Several years ago right after ice-out, we used to catch good-sized brown trout (Salmo trutta) in the ten-pound range out of Lake Quonnipaug in Guilford. One morning durin...
Sports • Published Feb 27, 2023 04 pm
On Feb. 22, the Marine Advisors Group (MAG) of CT DEEP, along with interested recreational fishers and others, joined the virtual meeting hosted by Justin Davis, Ph.D., a...
Sports • Published Feb 20, 2023 08 am
It sure feels like an early spring is coming. Of course as New Englanders, we are not lulled into questionable weather patterns since we are used to momentary changes tha...
Sports • Published Feb 13, 2023 10 am
First off, squid are not fish! They have been around for the last 500 million years, have the intelligence of a dog, are classified as cephalopods, and are members of the...
Sports • Published Feb 06, 2023 09 am
So you want to go fishing, but which body of water may be one of your best bets? We have seen soft water briefly turn hard and vice-versa, creating disappointment upon ar...
Sports • Published Jan 30, 2023 12 am
Tucked in among forests, pastures, and farmland, in close proximity to the Connecticut River, is a body of water well-known by residents of the River Valley. Historic bui...
Sports • Published Jan 25, 2023 08 am
One of the most popular and highly regarded rivers emptying into Long Island Sound is the Hammonasset River, winding southward through a pristine estuary habitat for twen...
Sports • Published Jan 18, 2023 08 am
There is so much to be said for the family of trout and the dedicated anglers pursuing them. From the spring through the fall and throughout the winter months, these cold...
Sports • Published Jan 11, 2023 05 pm
Connecticut does not have a striped bass commercial fishery in place within its waters. The commercial harvest and sale is prohibited with re-allocation of that quota giv...
Sports • Published Dec 28, 2022 08 am
Two of the most notable occurrences affecting the fishing community that transpired in 2022 were the elimination of the traditional Opening Day of trout season, and the h...
Sports • Published Dec 20, 2022 02 pm
After all the hustle and bustle, the long awaited day is finally here! Christmas Eve is about to be observed and Christmas Day celebrated as the holiday season officially...
Sports • Published Dec 14, 2022 09 am
‘Twas the week before Christmas and this day is unseasonably warm at 55 degrees with a few clouds, a sea breeze with occasional wind gusts to 25 knots and a Sound that is...
Sports • Published Dec 07, 2022 09 am
Populating Long Island Sound, each and every season, are fishers baiting their hooks or casting a favorite, consistently producing lure. Recreational fishing aside, there...
Sports • Published Dec 01, 2022 01 pm
It has been obvious for a while that the holiday season has been amplified much earlier this year. Perhaps, it is due in part to the troublesome supply chain and availabi...
Sports • Published Nov 23, 2022 12 pm
It is said that Massasoit Sachem (1581-1661) was the leader of the Wampanoag confederacy who formed an alliance with the colonists at Plymouth in order to defend against ...
Sports • Published Nov 17, 2022 09 am
This particular late afternoon and early evening could not have been better for an on-the-water meeting. It was as picture perfect as it could be with exceptional calm se...
Sports • Published Nov 09, 2022 11 am
Fishing the marine waters of Long Island Sound and its tributaries in 2022 revealed strange and unusual occurrences. We have seen albies caught in key tidal rivers, epic ...
Sports • Published Nov 04, 2022 01 pm
It did not matter whether Faulkner’s light hazily shined through the pre-dawn fog or the sun gradually climbed above the horizon acting as a backdrop for one of those rem...
Sports • Published Oct 27, 2022 08 pm
When it comes to planning, two fish species that serious fishers put the time and effort into are stripers and tautogs (blackfish). Not to undermine other fish that inhab...
Sports • Published Oct 20, 2022 01 pm
If there is one fish that can get the best of a fisher, it is none other than the tautog (tautoga onitis). These powerhouses pull and jerk your line hard, making it toug...
Sports • Published Oct 12, 2022 01 pm
In anticipation to the kickoff of the fall migration season and with most attention, rightfully so, given to one of the most popular sportfish, bluefish, (Marone saxatil...
