February 2012

The extraordinary weather we are experiencing is waking the resident striper population and fish are spreading out more than usual for this time of year. We should have a fantastic March if this continues as herring will be entering the Housatonic river.

Freshwater Report - The Farmington river is fishing well at times with stonefly imitations and streamers producing down under, while caddis, bwo's and midge patterns are the best shot on the surface. Winter is a great time to fish this river and there is no better way to get dialed in than to book a trip with local expert Derek Kirkpatrick at CTfishguides.com. He will not only show you the ropes on several stretches of the river but he will also get you into some nice fish! Along with the incredible dry fly action nymph fishing can be very productive as well. For those looking for the largest trout in the river go big with streamers like the wooly bugger and black ghost which are two of my favorites.

Ice fishing looks to be a bust for this season, so why not get out and fish for pike, trout and bass on the open waters of Lilly or Zoar which are open year round.

Captain Chris Elser has been writing the Western Long Island Sound fishing reports since April of 2006, you will surely get detailed information on fishing for Stripers, Bluefish, False Albacore and more! Pick up the new isue for the latest info!

Tight Lines!

Sweet....my daughter and I found these beautiful wild brook trout right on our property in a tiny trickle where they continue to survive through floods and drought conditions.

October 2009 - Mark and Jared with their largest striper ever...45 inches and almost 37lbs! Caught within 50 feet of shore near Milford....sweeeeeet!

October 2009 - I got Dan into this zebra of a bass today, it was over 43 inches long and we fished very shallow water near the Milford area...nice fish Dan!

Another late September father and son team fish in the 30lb. range.

Check out this 30+ pound cow Mark caught during out charter near Milford with his dad on September 25, 2009!

These 3 boys had the time of their life catching Gorilla blues near shore on a very sporty day of seas!

The Bones are here!

Heather above with a 40+ pound striper taken the day after her brother landed the 50 pounder! She did land a bigger fish but I had to hold it up for her!

CJ Elser, with a personal best 50+ pound striper!

July - Curt Gowdy, Jr., above, with a sweet 25+ lb. striper taken near mid day on July 6th. He also landed many 10+ lb. bluefish using grain lines and a 10 wt. fly rod...great fishing to end the day today Curt!

May - This was an epic day on the western LI Sound folks...we had 8 fish over 30lbs. in less than 3 hours live lining bunker in the Bridgeport area. The fish in the photo was by far not the largest but did not survive so I had a nice photo op before making dinner for 8 our of her fillets! The largest fish was 48 inches and well over 40lbs. and I did not see a fish under 30....VERY memorable for this neck of the woods my friends.

A little shy for the camera with a 40+ inch bass near Stratford taken on a bunker chunk!

Heather above with a 52.5 inch striper taken on a red tube and gulp imitation sandworm trolled up on light tackle with a Lamiglas Tri-Flex conventional and Avet MXL reel!

My son CJ with a fat 44lb. striper taken on July 18, 2009...we had about 10 this size in less than 3 hours!

Rick with a mid day - mid summer 20+ lb. bass off of Stratford, CT

Heather Elser shows off a sweet 43 inch striper taken in shallow water the first week of September, there were many more keepers and big bluefish as well and all within a stone's throw from shore!

CaptElser@CT-Fishing.com