MICHAEL KAMSKY AND THOMAS FREUND JUNE 18 2013

After a number of severe thunderstorms on Monday evening we awoke to a beautiful morning on Tuesday. We left the dock at 7am with Michael Kamsky of NYC and Wilson Point CT, with his friend, Thomas Freund, also of NYC.

We spent the morning chunking in the middle of L.I. Sound and did very well, bringing in five striped bass up to 17 lbs. and bluefish 6-8 lbs. Action was fairly constant for close to two hours.

On Saturday morning we left the dock at 7:30 with NYC residents, Kevin Jordan and his young son, Leo, for their annual father-son fishing trip. They had a great time bringing in bluefish and striped bass. All the fish were caught on light tackle, and they were all released except for one–to be part of their dinner menu.

Sunday’s trip was with Andrei Kokoev and his cousin, visiting from Russia.  The weather was ideal, and we went to the L.I. side, where our party had steady top-water action with bluefish. We then moved to the middle of the Sound and found larger blues finning on the surface. They brought home eight fish for a Father’s Day celebration.

Fishing is picking up, with sand eels on our side–and bunker schools throughout the Norwalk Islands, a good omen for the summer season.

On Monday we sailed with Ed Stack and his son, Brendon–Danbury residents. We fished along the Southport shoreline, doing well with light tackle and bucktails, catching striped bass, bluefish, and a keeper fluke, all of which were released except for the fluke.

Thursday was a day filled with winds and rain, but we sailed before 7am with Larry & Nona Lechtenberg of Oakland, Nebraska–visiting our area for a family wedding. This was their first saltwater fishing trip, and the couple was very eager to go out regardless of the weather. The winds kept us close to shore and far from our usual haunts, but the Lechtenbergs had a great morning anyway–releasing all their fish including a keeper striper.

The fog was thick when we left the dock at 7:30 Monday morning; aboard were Constantin Tsarev, a recent Norwalk transplant from Minnesota and his friend, Randy Barnos–also of Norwalk, who was celebrating his birthday.

We began looking around the Islands, but came up short, so we made our way east, when the fog began to lift somewhat. We came upon a bunker school and popped lures into it, resulting in a catch of ten bass up to 15 lbs. as well as blues 6-10 lbs. All the fished were released.

The sun was fully shining when we returned to our marina, and everyone was satisfied with the trip.

I’ve long been an advocate of catch-and-release because it’s become obvious that the striped bass population is dwindling significantly, with fewer and fewer schoolies showing up each season. I encourage my clients to keep only what they’ll be using for their dinner table.

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The weather has been horrendous for this time of year, but after making some scheduling changes, we went out on Sunday (May 26) with Ryan Rozycki of Norwalk, along with his friend, Rick Davies, visiting from Maryland.  As we left the dock the temperature was 44 degrees, and we battled heavy winds gusting up to 35 mph–with a wind/chill factor of 38 degrees–but we were able to scratch out a few bass and a keeper fluke. (Picture below.)

On Monday we still had a lot of wind, but the temps were a bit warmer, and we sailed at 10am with Greenwich residents, Curtis Probst and 11-year-old son Trevor. They lost three bass at the boat, as many sea robins were entertaining Trevor, but Curtis hooked into four fluke, landing two keepers up to 19.5″ which were taken home as part of the family’s Memorial Day barbecue.

We sailed again on Saturday, this time with Ken Bachmann of Westport and his 13-year-old son, Spencer.  The weather was ideal, and they had a great day bringing in schoolie bass up to 25″ around the Norwalk Islands, then exciting topwater action with blues up to six pounds caught midSound.

We fished on Saturday morning with Louis Rossouw, visiting from Johannesburg, South Africa. He told us that his “bucket list” contained “a fishing trip on Long Island Sound,” and he booked the date in conjunction with attending his niece’s commencement exercises at Yale University.

We left the dock at 7:00am, and we worked all the local haunts around the Norwalk Islands, using bucktails, but had no luck; so I decided to head eastward toward Westport and Southport, and working along the shoreline for a couple of hours, we boated six schoolie stripers. This was Louis’ first time catching a striped bass, and he was very happy with the experience.

My Bonnie was launched last week, and on Thursday my friend, Emilio Pandolfi, and I did some scouting, using sandworms and fresh bunker for bait. We started out at one of our favorite chunking spots around the Norwalk Islands, and with heavy chumming, we managed to attract one 27″ striped bass and two bluefish in the 3-5 lb. range.

We then moved to the other side of The Sound, where we blindcasted along the shore, getting two hits and missing both of them. We didn’t see any bait or birds in the area, so we went to the middle of the Sound and did some more blindcasting with no results.

Water temps remain in the mid-50’s, probably still too cool for much action. Needless to say, we were very disappointed with the day’s action.

Well, we pulled our Florida boat out of the water yesterday and we’re now getting her ready for a six-month rest. All in all the fishing down here was disappointing, mainly because of the dearth of sea grass all along the central east coast of Florida. The marine biologists and other scientists are still debating the cause of the problem, and we’re hopeful the mystery will be solved and the sea grass loss will be dealt with very soon.

Our Connecticut charters will begin in early May, and we’re very exciting about getting back into L.I. Sound.

On Friday our passengers were Bob Budinsky and his daughter, Elena, of Midland, Michigan. We started out working an inshore bar, where we found a nice mess of bluefish 3-4 pounds and some jacks and ladyfish. We then moved into the Inlet, where we got more jacks and blues. We finished off the day in the Sebastian River, where father and daughter enjoyed bringing in the ladies.

Saturday’s trip was with Gordon Nelson of Tennessee and his friend, Sharon Rosenfeld of Palm Bay FL. We started in the Inlet on the incoming tide, where there were a few bluefish, but we fished along the beach where they caught blues up to four pounds, some jacks and pompano. We returned to the Inlet and scored with jacks up to eight pounds and a rare event of a huge bluefish with others following behind—all in the 11-14 pound range. The one that was hooked broke off right at the boat. Much of the catch was taken home for a family barbecue.

We went out on Monday with our Sebastian pal, Rick Pino, and his English fishing buddy, Ron Grisendale. It was a busy afternoon, with the three of us bringing in bluefish up to four pounds, ladyfish, pompano, and many huge jack crevelles.