Date: 2026-07-20
Tidal Rivers & Open Water: Striped bass fishing is solid from the Connecticut River to the Eastern Sound, bluefin tuna are along the 20- and 30-fathom lines, and bottom fishing yields steady sea bass, fluke, and porgy action.
Stocking & Freshwater Highlights: Brook Trout, Brown Trout, Rainbow Trout, and Tiger Trout were all stocked. The Fisheries Division stocked more than 500,000 trout between March and May.
Lakes & Ponds: As we get closer to extremely hot temperatures, there’s currently a great opportunity to find some big largemouth and smallmouth bass, with the largemouth taking refuge in the weeds and the smallmouth looking for cooler-water refuges.
Striped Bass: Bunker remain relatively scarce in the rivers and estuaries, but they can still be found around the mid-Sound’s deeper reefs and are firing up some great striped bass feeds. When fishing the deeper areas, we have been doing really well targeting stripers using soft plastics like the Joe Baggs Miracle Minnows and the Fish Lab Mac Attacks.
Marine & Offshore Outlook: A mix of available trips, including porgy/sea bass trips, fluke trips on Mondays and Tuesdays, along with Captain’s Choice trips.
Highlight Catches: Striped bass fishing is solid from the Connecticut River to the Eastern Sound, bluefin tuna are along the 20- and 30-fathom lines, and bottom fishing yields steady sea bass, fluke, and porgy action. Bunker remain relatively scarce in the rivers and estuaries, but they can still be found around the mid-Sound’s deeper reefs and are firing up some great striped bass feeds.
Recent Changes: The Fisheries Division stocked more than 500,000 trout between March and May. Stocking the waters of the Skungamaug River downstream of the Woodbridge Road bridge has also been suspended until public use is restored.