Question for you guys in CT.....

Mark Vanderhoof

Mark Vanderhoof

Active member
hey guys, im working and have a 2nd apartment in the mid hudson valley area of NY. im 25 miles west of Danbury,CT. id like to fish the CT coast for stripers this month and on and need some tips, suggestions etc. for locations. im looking for places i can wade and do some sight fishing for stripers. any beaches or certain areas you would reccomend? id be willing to drive up to two hours one way. thanks alot, mark
ps. i need to fish, bad....
P6270051.jpg

 
Hey Mark,

I grew up in branford, fished eat, west and south of there. All of it was plugging islands or fishing baits. I have heard tell that there is some flats fishing-style stuff to be had in the Norwalk islands area (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norwalk_Islands).

Given a boat, you can pretty quickly find and learn and fish many of the smaller 'beaches' that form on the nearshore islands. That was an easy way to pick up a couple schoolies. Or, you might try finding a marshy spot that allows you to fish an outgoing tide flowing out of any of the many marsh/estuary systems. Here my home harbor was a no brainer for that. Not great sight fishing though-the water's fairly dark. the same, though is true for any of the numerous estuary sytems on the mid-coast region. 'offshore' islands ("Falknner's Island" comes to mind) can give some good, clear conditions when ishore is still quite muddy. Truly, however, if you want clear water and true sight fishing, go East to the CT/RI area. There you'll find bigger fish, much better water and a diversity of conditions. We would usually break out the inshore fly tackle right around Fisher's Island.

MHO, from one who now lives nowhere near any stripers, save the ones in Lake Powell.
 
Mark,

I'm afraid I don't play the shore fishing or salt fly rodding games so I'm of little help. There are those that do and there is a wealth of information on ctfisherman.com. Unfortunately most of the site is by subscription only. That said there is enough value that there are 2300 paid up yearly subscribers. There is a surf fishing section, as well as a fly fishing section (both fresh and salt) in addition to lots of other areas. If I were going to spend any time fishing CT's coast I would subscribe for the year. Oh wait, I have :^)

If you have a small boat you can access Great Island at the mouth of the CT River. There are lots of bars and bait fish along the outer edges and you could work the river side of the island. Wading at lower tide and from the edges in the higher tides. You could come in from the west, white sands beach but parking gets real tough for out of towners.

View attachment Greatislandshore.jpg

I had a friend that used to fly fish Harkness State Park after dark. I suspect he wasn't sight fishing in the dark.

View attachment Harkness.jpg

RI is definitely in your driving range and there is lots of shore areas to wade. Generally keepers are caught after sunset. Hit the RI guys up for details.

Scott
 
thanks for the info guys.... scott, thanks for the maps. im gonna check out harkness, that looks good. also gonna check out sherwood island park and hammonasset. probably check out westport outfitters for some info too, im 50 miles from westport. best, mark
 
If you make it out to Old Saybrook, be sure to stop at Rivers End bait and tackle. If you have a boat, it can be put in under the Baldwin Bridge. If you have a 'yak, there is a dirt area off of the main road to put in on the Lieutenant River, then it's a short paddle to the CT River at the north end of Great Island. Or you put in at the launch at Great Island for the south end. I understand that there might be walk-in fly fishing at the mouth of the Housatonic River, via the launch under the I-95 bridge in the Devon section of Milford.
 
I only fished from Niantic east. Harkness is a nice place to fish but most of the bass will be 28 inches or less with only a few larger. We used to get a lot of fluke on teasers in front of rebels. The blues would come in from time to time as well.

As you head to RI, you can fish the various jetties - Quonniquataug, Charleston, and Weakapaug are the ones I grew up fishing. The first two held better fish than the last. Basically the fish come in to feed on the outgoing tides. The beaches along the jetties will hold fish too.

If you are up for a long walk or have a 4x4 you will want to look at Napatree Point which is just west of Watch Hill, RI. Both hold large numbers of fish - I used to fish them out of a 14-16 ft boat and did very well.

This is the time of year. Good luck.
 
Mark,

I don't know how much sight fishing you can do in the sound, it is pretty murky, especially at the Western end. How long you going to be here, I'm boatless right now as I'm sprucing up the boat, but I hope to be on the water by the end of June.

T
 
Nice little fish,
We throw those back off the coast around Oregon Inlet so that we can keep two of the bigger ones.

Just teasing,that's a nice fish and I bet it would make a great tasting muddle.

Best,

Harry
 
thanks for the info guys. much appreciated. tod, ive been there almost 1 1/2yr and its gonna be at least another 6-10 months. i have no idea why i didnt think about fishing the sound last summer, i guess the cape was too big of a distraction. would love to get together with you sometime. im gonna hit some shore spots in your area middle of next week. i only work 12 days a month so its on! best, mark
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top