Yesterday Brian and I joined Greg, a lifetime saltwater fisherman in Mystic for a shot at the sounds triple crown, blackfish, bluefish and stripers. We got on the water around 7am and headed out of Mystic on Greg’s 26 foot fishing machine looking for early morning stripers and blues on topwater. Before we even made it past the boats in the marinas we saw some birds working and a few splashes under them. As we got there the birds flew off and the action stopped, but we still threw some plugs and poppers, which didn’t produce a single hit.

Not seeing anything else working the surface we fished a reef near Watch Hill using umbrella rigs, tube and worm, and topwater plugs with not even a single hit. Greg assured us this was on of his top spots for catching big bass and blues, and that the fish should be here at some point in the day. After a few passes trolling we decided to reel up and head to the deeper water out at the Race. On our way out we saw hundreds of birds working so we shot over to try some more topwater, but just couldn’t get a hit, no matter what we threw at them, or what we trolled by them. Frustrated we continued on to the Race.

We trolled around Valiant Rock with umbrella rigs, and finally got a hit (a 5lb bluefish). Trolling some more resulted in nothing despite a large flock of birds working the entire area. Watching the depth finder I noticed a few fish holding tight to the bottom and no visible bait balls anywhere on the screen, so we decided to discontinue the futile trolling effort and start three-waying some bucktails.

I tied one on and dropped it down and as soon as it hit the bottom I had a fish on. Greg saw me hook up and switched to a bucktail and almost immediately hooked up too. We had a double on our first drop. Brian was using a diamond jig with no luck, so we hooked him up with a bucktail, and he hooked up with a nice blue shortly after we released ours. We bucktailed for another 30 minutes and landed a few more blues before the slack went tide and our drift turned into a crawl.

Deciding fishing would be slow for a bit we moved into Fisher’s Island Sound to try our hand at some blackfishing. We anchored up in 20 ft of water on the edge of a small submerged rock pile, and rigged up some halved green crabs. I started out using a lighter spinning rod that I had used previously blackfishing, and Greg says to me “You sure that pole is meaty enough for blackfish?” Just as I am saying yeah I have fished with it before with no problems, I get a hit and the drag goes screaming. Before I could tighten it up the fish had me in the rocks. It came out once and immediately found another hiding spot and broke me off. I switched to a heavy duty rod after that!

We were fishing off the back of the boat and Brian and I were nailing fish after fish including a few porgies and cunners, with the blackfish mixed in. Greg tried everything but just couldn’t land one that day. We even let him switch spots with Brian and still nothing… Brian did catch a few Tautogs in his spot though

We only had 3 dozen green crabs with us and the fish were biting so we ran out of bait quick. In total we landed about 10 blackfish and 5 were keepers with the biggest being around 4 lbs. When we ran out of crabs Brian and I tried some of the Berkeley Gulp sandworms and actually caught a few blackfish and porgies on them to my surprise.

After Blackfishing we decided to troll around Greg’s favorite reef by Watch Hill again, but unfortunately the swells were still ripping and the fish were no where to be found. Bucktailing that area also produced nothing but a small black sea bass.

Wanting to find that elusive striped bass to complete our triple crown, we thought about heading back out to the Race, but since we wouldn’t have much time to fish once we got out there we decided to save the gas for another time, and headed in to clean our blackfish and get on the road.

Overall we had a great time and it was really nice fishing with Greg, he really knows those fishing grounds… even though he couldn’t land a blackfish … He did invite us back out on Sunday to try again, but maybe we turn down the offer so he can catch a few this time.

I couldn’t think of a better way to spend a late October day, I even got a little bit of a tan since it was mid 60′s with bright sunshine.

Date: 9/21/08

Since the season was winding down on Cedar Lake we decided to take the boat out of the water last weekend and make a trip to the sounds for some striper, bluefish, and porgy fishing before we dropped the boat off at the marina to be winterized. We launched out of the Baldwin Bridge launch in Old Saybrook aroun 5:30AM, but didn’t make it out into open water until 6:45AM since the fog was in thick and visibility was only about 5 feet!

At one point a 50 foot boat crossed in front of us about 10 feet off our bow and we barely saw it.  Thank god for GPS otherwise we would have never made it to the sound… As soon as the sun came up the fog burned off and we were able to open it up and head out to the eastern rip.  We three way’d eels on two rods and and fresh bunker chunks on one rod from 30-50 feet.  Almost immediately we hooked up with a nice bluefish that gave a pretty good fight and weighted about 12 lbs on the boga grips.

Here is a shot of my friend Robbie with his catch:

We had 2 or three more big hits on the eels, but nothing else was boated on the rip. The fresh bunker was left untouched the whole day. After an hour of drifting we moved to Long Sand Shoal to try our luck, but nothing was biting there either.

A short trip to Outer Hatchetts Reef and we were drifting live eels and bunker chuck with no success again.  At this point the tide went slack and we decided to switch into porgy mode catching 20-30 porgies and about the same number of small black sea bass using clams and squid. It was coming up on lunch time so we decided to tube and worm with t-man custom tackle tubes and sandworms up the shoreline back to the dock and dine, but never had a strike on those either. We ate lunch and headed back out to the eastern rip and tried our luck with our last couple eels.

We hooked up pretty quick when we got back to the rip, but it turned out to be a skate.

It was getting late and the sun, water, and fishing had beat us up all day, and we still needed to scrub down the boat and drop it off at the marina, so we headed back to the launch.

Overall we had a fun day, even though we didn’t have the best luck…

After minimal success we decided to try the docks on the west side of the lake since we hadn’t fished them in quite some time, and it turned out to be a good move. We landed another 10 fish on senkos from under the docks… The fishing wasn’t easy though since the fish were suspended way under the docks and pontoons boats requiring an accurately skipped bait under the docks. The recent rain made this even more difficult since the water levels were up a foot or so from last week.

Most fish that we landed were decent quality in the 2+ lb range and one monster topping out at around 6lbs.

Here’s a few shots of this chunky hog.

That is one fat bass… Especially for the end of summer!

Hopefully this pattern will hold up until the next time I have a few hours to spend on the lake. It has been cold at night lately so I would imagine the fish won’t stay on the docks for too long. If you are fishing this weekend, give the docks a try and you might very well land yourself a trophy! In case you were wondering, this fish was released unharmed to fight another day.

On Friday a cold front swept through and contributed to the poor fishing. The guys managed to land 7 blue sharks, but the target species (makos and threshers) eluded them. All was not lost however since there were reports that no other boats had landed a mako or thresher either on the first day.

Here are a few pics of the guys fishing on the first day:

Brian fighting a blue shark

Buddy fighting a blue shark

Blue Shark being released at the boat

A blue shark with its mouth open

DAY 2

The second day of fishing proved to be even worse than the first, with 7 foot seas cresting to 10+ft at times, the trip out was rough to say the least. Once the sun came up the seas calmed but the sharks still did not cooperate. The guys only managed to land one large blue shark. The weather was not the only thing keeper the sharks from biting however.

At one point during the day there was a huge shark with “square shaped fins” (estimated 15 feet long) swimming around the boat. As soon as it showed up the other sharks disappeared. Buddy did manage to snap a photo but it isn’t clear enough to identify the fish… Best guesses were a basking shark or a great white shark.

Here is the shot:

Basking or great white, the world may never know!

Trolling into port, the guys did manage to catch a mahi mahi…

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Besides all the throwing up, the guys said they had fun and they look forward to fishing in the tournament again next year! Hopefully I will be able to go to…

Here are the rules for the tournament, if anyone is interested in fishing it next year…

2008 Thames River Shark Tournament (TRST)
Rules and Regulations
Any breach of any of TRST rules will result in
disqualification. Decisions of TRST committee are final.
Tournament Dates: July 25t-July 27t (Fishing: Friday, Saturday, and Sunday). Choose two out
of three. Fishing starts each day at 7:00 a.m. No lines or chum are to be in the water prior to
that time. Return for weigh in by 5:00 p.m.
Lay Day: A member of the boats crew must determine a lay day at the Captains Meeting by
8:00 p.m. on July 24 or by phone the morning of departure before 5:00 a.m. The phone number
to call in a lay day is 860.614.2733.
Captains Meeting: The Captains Meeting will be held at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday July 24th, at
Crockers Boat Yard (CBY). All forms must be completed and submitted prior to the start of the
meeting. At this meeting, participants will be informed of the tournament procedures and
receive their captain’s bags and rules. This will also be the opportunity for participants to raise
questions.
Dockage: Boats are responsible for making their own arrangements. TRST encourages that
boats arrange necessary accommodations with CBY. Slips are on a first come. first serve
basis. Boats may leave to fish from their own marinas and are not required to leave CBY.
Fishing Regulation:
1. All sharks must adhere to federal regulations to qualify for this tournament.
2. Only Mako and Thresher sharks are eligible.
3. Anglers are encouraged to hook, fight, and bring the fish to gaff unaided by another person
(excluding gaff and leader person). Handoffs will not disqualify fish.
4. This is a rod-and-reel, hook-and-line tournament. Use of hand lines, rope, nets, harpoons or
any other means of fish capture other than rod and reel are prohibited. Harpoon darts are
acceptable for landing fish in lieu of flying gaff.
5. All fish must be hooked during designated fishing hours.
Prizes:
1. Prize money checks are payable to the person indicated on entry forms.
2. All prizes are awarded to winning boats, not individual anglers.
3. Prize amount to be determined and published at the Captains Meeting.
4. Winners are responsible for paying applicable taxes. Completion of a W-9 form will be
required upon award.
5. Any prizes over $600 will be accompanied by an IRS form 1099.
Tackle Specification:
1. The Thames River Shark Tournament will not follow IGFA rules. Other rules must be
followed and are specified herein.
2. It is encouraged that anglers do not utilize gunnel rod holders after the initial hookup. This
shall not, however, be cause for disqualification.
3. The use of firearms or bang sticks is prohibited.
4. Tackle inspection may be required at the time of weigh-in.
Weigh-in:
1. All TRST boats must weigh fish in at the official weight station at CBY.
2. Boats weighing fish must be north of the Coast Guard Dock, New London,
by 5:00 p.m. each fishing day. Late arrivals will be disqualified.
3. All eligible sharks will be judged at one point per pound. The most points
wins.
4. Any and all protests must be filed in writing with the judges within one hour
after the conclusion of the weigh-in each day.
5. After the weigh master releases a fish, its disposal is at the discretion of participants.
6. If anyone wants to have a fish reweighed, it must be done while the fish is still hanging.
After it is removed from the scale, the weight stands.
7. No mutilated fish shall be eligible for competition. Mutilation shall be defined as damage
which would impair the fighting ability of the fish.
8. The weigh master reserves the right to retain any fish deemed questionable. If retention is
refused, the fish is automatically disqualified.
9. The weigh master and the committee reserve the right to cut open any fish for inspection for
weight altering. Insertion of weights, ice, water, etc is not permitted and disqualifies the
team from further competition and forfeiture of entry fees.
Boats:
1. All boats must have the ability to fish without any outside help.
2. Fish cannot be transferred between vessels.
3. Fish must be hooked, fought, and landed from the same boat.
4. Crew size and composition is at the discretion of the captain(s).
5. One qualifying shark may be weighed per boat per day.
6. There shall be no use of aircraft of any kind for spotting or baiting fish.
7. There shall be no use of outside assistance for landing or acquiring fish.
8. Boats are to respect fellow competitors at all times. Reasonable distance should be kept
from all boats fighting fish and working an active chum slick. If a boat in the process of
fishing requests another to stay clear, the non-fishing vessel must comply.
General Tournament Conduct:
1. The official clock of the tournament will be kept on GPS time EDT.
2. Official radio announcements will be made over channel 69.
3. The Thames River Shark Tournament assumes no responsibility for the conduct or safety of
any boats or entrants. All boats are responsible for making decisions regarding weather.
Participants enter the tournament at their own risk.
4. All participants and their crews, friends, and family shall be respectful of the tournament
hosts (i.e. CBY) as well as its staff and residents.
5. Any participant whose action causes the Thames River Shark Tournaments, directors,
sponsors, employees, volunteers, or participants to incur expenses shall be held responsible
and shall reimburse said persons or entities for financial damages.
6. A majority vote of captains present at the meeting on July 24 will determine if TRST is to
proceed.
7. If TRST is cancelled due to any circumstance or in the instance that no qualifying fish are
caught, prize money to be raffled.

The fishing started off very slow, we only landed one fish in the first hour, but it picked up once we got to the grass mats along the northern shoreline, and we landed 6 or 7 bass.  We then moved into a shallow cove on the northeast tip of the lake, which yielded my mom a couple of largemouths off of grass mats.  Fishing the knocked down trees in the cove produced no fish, which was quite uncommon.  After that we decided to fish around the docks on the north shore, and I caught a 3lb largemouth on a texas rigged senko, but nothing else was noteworthy.

After minimal success on the docks, we moved back over the weed beds, I switched to a topwater banana boat, not expecting to catch anything since it was now noon time, and on my first cast I caught a 2lb largemouth. Thinking I was on to something I threw it for the next 10 minutes with no hits.  I looked through my bag and found some “Ribbit” frogs that I had bought on clearance and decided to give them a try over some weeds that had breached the surface.  The Ribbit frog rig is interesting, it comes with a bleeding red hook with a corkscrew on the top that goes into the head of the bait, and the hook goes in texas style with a slot on the back of the frog.  The action of the two legs on the back of the bait is pretty impressive as it swims across the top of the water.

I had never fished a frog on cedar lake because there are no lilly pads, but I figured since the fishing was slow I would give it a shot.  On my third cast, to my surprise I caught a 2lb largemouth.  I figured I might as well keep trying since I had a strong hit, and the fish got the hook on the first try…  2 casts later I had an explosive hit over the weed beds and the fight was on.

After a strong fight in heavy cover I got the fish to the boat.  I couldn’t tell how large it was until I went to lip it. I reached down, lipped the fish and brought it into the boat along with a pound of weeds. The result was a nice 4 to 4.5lb largemouth.

We stayed and fished that area for another 15 minutes with no luck before heading home.  In order to take advantage of the nice weather and my day off, I went home had lunch and then went out waterskiing with Erik and Randy.  We called it a day around 330P and I had to mow the lawn, be an electrician, and go grocery shopping.  Needless to say I was pretty tired around 9pm and fell asleep the second I hit the bed!

We started the day working a few shaded rock piles and some treefilled shoreline with wacky rigged and texas rigged senkos, with nothing more than a few nibbles. Being that it was our first time fishing the AM this season I decided that spinnerbaits would be worth a shot since the senko approaxh was not producing. Brian took the initiative to rig up a 1/4 ounce double bladed white spinnerbait with a blue head, and got a fish on his second or third cast. He then caught a few more quick fish, which prompted me to make the change. I tried a white spinnerbait similar to his with exception of it having a yellow head. This produced nothing! A savvy switch to his identical spinnerbait style landed me 4 or 5 bass. Color was key yesterday…

Once the shade receeded and the water warmed up a few more degrees, the spinnerbait bite ended quickly. The slow down in strikes put us back into senko mode. Our focus now shifted to casting, flipping and skipping our plastic offerings under docks, pontoon boats, and anything else we could find that provided shade from the searing rays of the already toasty sun. This pattern turned out to be the key to success yesterday.

All in all we landed 40-50 fish with many over 2lbs, one in the 5+lb range:

and one topping out over 7lbs!!!

Of note we also had numerous long distance releases and 2 breakoffs. All in all a great day of fishing, and we even got a little tan!