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PECo
Joined: 06 Oct 2009
Posts: 5203
Location: Avon, CT
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 Posted: Thu May 08, 2014 10:19 am Post subject: Housatonic River - Shelton 05/07 |
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NWDarkcloud (aka Bob) and I fished the lower Housy from 8:00 am to 1:30 pm. High tide was at 6:42 am and low tide at 1:35 pm. It was sunny and warm, and there was very little wind. The water temperature ranged from 53 to 55 degrees in the river and up to 58 degrees in the shallows of the cove at Two Mile Island. We launched at Sunnyside in Shelton and worked our way downriver. We passed several boats across from Beacon Point Marina, but didn't mark any fish on the fish finder and didn't see them catch anything. We saw a couple of boats in the cove at Pine Rock Park and marked a few fish on the north end of the cove with the finder, but not enough to make us want to stay. We headed downriver to the power plant; nothing. It wasn't until we went under the Route 95 and Route 1 bridges that we finally found some fish on the Milford (i.e., east) side of the channel. We quickly caught a dozen schoolies with jigs:
Unfortunately, the outgoing tide made the current rip through there. I had my 80 pound thrust Minn Kota iPilot trolling motor on Spot Lock and it was running at full throttle just to hold our position. I didn't want to overheat the motor, so we went looking for fish in calmer water downriver. We went to the cove that's just past the red 12 buoy, but didn't find any. On our way back upriver, across from the green 23 buoy, Bob spotted a lone seagull diving on and catching a baitfish on the surface. I threw an unweighted tandem-rigged (i.e., pre-rigged with two hooks) nine inch Albino Shad Lunker City Sluggo at it and caught my first ever topwater striper:
Unfortunately, it ended up being the lunker for the day and our only fish over 20 inches long. After Bob caught one with a jig, we headed back to the spot where we had caught our first fish of the day. The current was more manageable, but the fish weren't there in the same numbers as before. Bob managed to boat a couple of more schoolies with a jig before we decided to go looking for more fish upriver. To make a long story short, we searched for fish all the way to the upriver side of Two Mile Island without marking any significant numbers with the finder, By that time, dead low tide was approaching and Bob's blood sugar level was dropping, so we decided to leave and grab some lunch. Of course, now that I've heard water was flowing over the Derby Dam and there were some bigger fish being caught up there, I'm kicking myself for not heading up there to check it out.
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stripertime
Joined: 27 Aug 2012
Posts: 69
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| Posted: Thu May 08, 2014 10:52 am Post subject: |
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| most of the small bass are gone its time for big bass up the 2 rivers |
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PECo
Joined: 06 Oct 2009
Posts: 5203
Location: Avon, CT
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| Posted: Thu May 08, 2014 10:59 am Post subject: |
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| stripertime wrote: | | most of the small bass are gone its time for big bass up the 2 rivers |
I've only fished the lower Housy for schoolie stripers during the Winter. I didn't come back in the Spring last year for the keeper run, so this is my first experience with it. I don't fish from shore or at night, so where do you typically find the bigger fish by boat during the day? Should I head up to the boat exclusion zone at the island in front of the Derby Dam or search the shallow flats downriver?
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striperswiper
Joined: 28 Apr 2014
Posts: 26
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| Posted: Thu May 08, 2014 11:54 am Post subject: |
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| I would not head up to the restricted area; unless you like having plugs thrown at you. |
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PECo
Joined: 06 Oct 2009
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Location: Avon, CT
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| Posted: Thu May 08, 2014 3:02 pm Post subject: |
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| striperswiper wrote: | | I would not head up to the restricted area; unless you like having plugs thrown at you. |
I wouldn't go into the exclusion zone! 
But, yeap, I try to give the shore fishermen their space. they work really hard for it and I can fish where they can't. 
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Wanna Fish
Joined: 30 Jan 2012
Posts: 662
Location: Earth I Think
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| Posted: Thu May 08, 2014 4:15 pm Post subject: |
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Have you checked Rich Z's blog from today? And Yes! The shore striper fisherman get upset and have rods that cast from the Derby side to Shelton. Your an easy target in a boat LOL.
Stay below the island and catch them as the leave the outgoing tide.
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PECo
Joined: 06 Oct 2009
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Location: Avon, CT
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| Posted: Thu May 08, 2014 7:16 pm Post subject: |
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| Wanna Fish wrote: | | Have you checked Rich Z's blog from today? |
RichZ's last blog entry was from two days ago, Carl. I swear, when Bob and I were searching for fish on our way downriver, yesterday, the other boats were fishing RichZ's spots, instead of looking for where the fish actually were.
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Wanna Fish
Joined: 30 Jan 2012
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| Posted: Thu May 08, 2014 8:26 pm Post subject: |
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| PECo wrote: | | Wanna Fish wrote: | | Have you checked Rich Z's blog from today? |
RichZ's last blog entry was from two days ago, Carl. I swear, when Bob and I were searching for fish on our way downriver, yesterday, the other boats were fishing RichZ's spots, instead of looking for where the fish actually were. |
Check his Facebook page. Yeah! I talked with him a few times. He gets mad when he's searching for fish and as soon as he stops ten boats pull up. That what happens when your famous LOL. Your on your way there. "RZ2" LOL
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PECo
Joined: 06 Oct 2009
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Location: Avon, CT
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| Posted: Thu May 08, 2014 8:50 pm Post subject: |
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| Wanna Fish wrote: | | I talked with him a few times. He gets mad when he's searching for fish and as soon as he stops ten boats pull up. That what happens when your famous LOL. Your on your way there. "RZ2" LOL |
Anyone who thinks that I know what I'm doing is sorely mistaken.
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stripertime
Joined: 27 Aug 2012
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| Posted: Fri May 09, 2014 10:05 am Post subject: |
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| You can get keepers anywhere now but best chances are up by the bridges with big baits like sluggos and poppers or trolling swimmers I don't really use the swimmers till after dark |
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hila2006
Joined: 22 Jul 2011
Posts: 582
Location: Ellington
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| Posted: Fri May 09, 2014 11:15 am Post subject: |
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| Hey Phil, looks like you and Bob had a blast, it's a lot of fun. Did you get the "proper" drag technique down lol. Nice outing guys. |
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