Over the last month or so, impressive numbers of river herring have made there way into many waterways along the Connecticut coast. According to weekly Connecticut DEP anadromous fish reports, some streams and rivers this spring are hosting the most herring since modern record keeping, which should also bode well for hungry striped bass hot on their tail.
I have been fortunate to tangle with some small striped bass this year, but nothing of any size yet. Last night I got my chance when a friend and I did a bar-hop of fishing spots. We scouted many new and old haunts, but one thing was consistent at each stop--thick amounts of big juicy herring. Boils and surface crashes could be seen and heard in the distance. While retrieving our nine-inch flies, we even noticed herring trying to mate with the artificial offerings.
Just before midnight, during the low outgoing tide, three solid stripers smashed our herring imitation one after another. Aided by the swift river current, the feisty fish put up some good battles on the fly rod and were all released in good health It turned out to be a hell of an outing and tonight we'll go back for more.
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Great blog.
ReplyDeleteThis is the first time I've seen it.