11/16 Lower Housatonic River Fishing Report

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Our Season’s Approaching Its End

We’re down to the last few hearty anglers…the last few who are prepared to brave the cold at this time of year to go fishing. Some of our regulars have snowbirded it to Florida [Mal Y.]; others say they don’t own enough clothing to keep them warm on the boat at this time of year [Roy P.]. Others don’t respond to emails…or they’ve just got too much to do to tear themselves away from…the kitchen stove, the fireplace, and their hot toddies, maybe.

Well, that’s all right. You don’t have to be crazy to go out on the Lower Housatonic River and Long Island Sound at this time of year…but it helps. Which at least partially explains our final, hardy group: Don G., Rich N., Val S., and Charlie W.

Charlie W. and I fished on Monday. We waited to go leave the dock until 1100 when the sun was fully up and shining on the water. But 50°F is chilly…especially when the winds are northeast at 15 kts...and sun or no sun, it was cold out there.

There were birds diving over fish right at the Marina, so we fished under them and landed 20-22 small stripers...and one shad. Should have taken a photo of the shad as looking back, we're not sure if it was a Hickory Shad or an American Shad. Either way, it was the first shad I've seen for quite some time, and hopefully a sign that these fish are coming back to the Housatonic in numbers. Large Hickories are good fighters and they jump like tarpon...they're particularly a blast on the fly rod.

But, as said, these were all small fish so we decided to move on in hopes of finding bigger, badder stripers.

Mistake.

The old saw about never leaving fish to find fish applied today. Although we fished many of the usuall fall haunts of the striped bass, we found only a scattered few, and nothing of any size...no photo-worthy fish. Thus the photos of scenery.

Still, it was great to be on the water. The clouds were beautiful and the color of the marsh grass is now approaching that of burnt copper.

And we wound up with maybe 25 fish for the day, which isn't too shabby...so it was another great day on the water.

Boat will be in the water until December 1 on which date it gets hauled for the winter. If you're nuts enough to want to get out fishing, we've got only a few days left. Let me know.

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Don’t forget, a saltwater fishing license is now required to fish the marine waters of Connecticut. You can purchase one from your local bait & tackle shop, such as Newtown Bait & Tackle, or at Town/City Hall.

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Check these links for more information:

Connecticut Tourism;
Long Island Sound Resource Center;
Housatonic Valley Association;
Stratford, Connecticut;
Milford, Connecticut