Joined: 06 Oct 2009 Posts: 5203 Location: Avon, CT
Posted: Wed Nov 20, 2013 10:43 pm Post subject: Housatonic River - Shelton 11/20
I fished the lower Housatonic River with NWDarkcloud (aka Bob). Luckily, Wanna Fish (aka Carl) had told me that Shelton is now enforcing the permit requirement at the Sunnyside Boat Launch Facility, so we stopped by City Hall first. When I asked the Town Clerk whether they really are enforcing the permit requirement, she said, "Yes, absolutely." I got the very last non-resident permit, Number 180:
Thanks, Carl! When we got to Sunnyside, the parking lot was empty. We got on the water in my boat, The Other Woman, Too, at 9:00 am. The air temperature was just above freezing. Regarding the wind, well, this says it all:
Between 10:00 am and noon, the wind blew pretty steadily out of the north at 15 to 20 miles per hour! Meteorologidiots! The wind did, however, begin to ease during the early afternoon. The water temperature ranged from 45-1/2 degrees in the morning to 48-1/2 degrees in the afternoon. Immediately after we launched, Bob and I headed downriver, and meandered back and forth across the river as we slowly passed the "No Wake" zone next to the marina. We didn't mark anything but the very occasional lone fish with the fish finder. We decided to head downriver and keep an eye on the finder, looking for the "pods" of fish that RichZ talks about in his blog. We saw hardly any as we passed Pine Rock Park, Sikorsky, the Igor I. Sikorsky Memorial Bridge (aka the Route 15 or Merritt Parkway Bridge), the Moses Wheeler Bridge (aka the I-95 Bridge) and the Washington Bridge (aka the Route 1 Bridge). Heck, we marked only one tiny group of four fish in the really, really long "No Wake" zone from the Wheeler Bridge to the Green 13 channel marker. We turned around after we passed the Green 9 channel marker; it was getting waaay too salty for me! We decided to drop my new Terrova 80 pound thrust iPilot trolling motor into the water and try to fish in the choppy water. I LOVE that motor! I used only the "Spot Lock" and "Autopilot" features, and have never spent so little effort managing the boat while fishing for stripers in the lower Housy. Anyway, Bob hooked the first fish at 10:35 am. I put my rod between my legs and took my camera out of my pocket to take a photo as he reeled it to the side of the boat when I felt a fish hit my lure, too. Double! Here's a photo of Numbers 1 and 2 of what turned out to be 42 schoolie stripers on the day:
I took only one other photo of a fish and, of course, it was a selfie:
All of our fish were small, up to only 20 inches or so. All were caught just downriver from the Route 1 Bridge. Most came on Pearl five inch Zoom Super Flukes on 1/2 ounce jigheads, although we also caught some with four inch flukes, seven inch flukes and 3/4 ounce jigheads. It wasn't until the end of the day that we figured out a steady or steady jerking retrieve while drifting with the current worked best. The best action of the day came during the outgoing tide, when a seven to 10 foot thick school of fish passed underneath the boat for 30 minutes or so. When we ended our day, scattered schools of fish still continued to pass under the boat. We headed back to the ramp and were off of the water by 3:30 pm.
By the way, we saw RichZ on the water while we were there. I just read his blog post for today. He boated 75. . . while fishing alone! _________________ Don't forget to wear sunscreen and don't litter!
Joined: 08 Jan 2013 Posts: 469 Location: Forestville
Posted: Wed Nov 20, 2013 11:42 pm Post subject:
NICE GOING GUY'S!I can just make out the bridge in your third photo under your hand.looks like you had a good day even though it was choppy out there..looks like you were right around the marsh area.
That spot where you can see the bridge is where my grandfather and i get them in the summer. _________________ ...Randy...
Leeway and elbow room.There's plenty of water to fish!
avidanglingadventures.blogspot.com
"If we concentrated on the really important stuff in life,there'd be a shortage of fishing poles."
Joined: 13 Jun 2011 Posts: 75 Location: Torrington,CT
Posted: Thu Nov 21, 2013 8:38 am Post subject:
Nice job Phil,
funny how they can NEVER get the windcast right!
i haven't gotten down there yet but it looks as though they are starting to move
up. think i will wait a little while and make up some more rigs and jigs in the meantime
Rich _________________ I"ve got to be smarter than a fish!
Only thing to look forward to in winter is the stripe Bass ... Pretty good reason to leave the cave and freeze your butt off ... _________________ I Love to fish......Not a big fan of sitting in the boat alone ....the Conversation and the company make it perfect
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When we got to Sunnyside, the parking lot was empty. We got on the water in my boat, The Other Woman, Too, at 9:00 am. The air temperature was just above freezing. Regarding the wind, well, this says it all:
Meteorologidiots! 
The wind did, however, begin to ease during the early afternoon. The water temperature ranged from 45-1/2 degrees in the morning to 48-1/2 degrees in the afternoon. Immediately after we launched, Bob and I headed downriver, and meandered back and forth across the river as we slowly passed the "No Wake" zone next to the marina. We didn't mark anything but the very occasional lone fish with the fish finder. We decided to head downriver and keep an eye on the finder, looking for the "pods" of fish that RichZ talks about in his blog. We saw hardly any as we passed Pine Rock Park, Sikorsky, the Igor I. Sikorsky Memorial Bridge (aka the Route 15 or Merritt Parkway Bridge), the Moses Wheeler Bridge (aka the I-95 Bridge) and the Washington Bridge (aka the Route 1 Bridge). Heck, we marked only one tiny group of four fish in the really, 
We decided to drop my new Terrova 80 pound thrust iPilot trolling motor into the water and try to fish in the choppy water. I 
