It is old news now, but the bass fishing at the mouth of the Connecticut River is excellent. We have had numerous outstanding outings, catching and releasing lots of fish between 26" and 33". There are plenty of bigger fish. A friend landed a 42" bass from shore a week ago.

This is the first year I have seen birds working over the fish. It's nothing like the display birds can make over blues but rather a few birds lazily working. Breaking/splashing bass, usually but not always single fish is much more common than in past years. The fish are cruising around spending some time at the normal hot spots. For the last week they have not been lingering in any one spot. We'll catch a couple fish, then they're gone. We will then "bounce around" to different spots until we find them again. By the end of our outing we have usually boated about ten fish. We have had some trips when we hooked dozens of fish.

The water temperature has been in the low to mid 50's for the last two weeks. As long as the water temp stays cool the river fishing should continue strong. I would think we still have two to three weeks before warmer temperatures drive the fish to deeper water.

Figuratively speaking, I don't think any one read my blog last year. Maybe this year will be different. Remember you might be the only reader. Let me know you are out there by telling me what you would like to read about. Go to my line of fishing glasses, www.bigeyeeyewear.com. Find a pair of polarized sunglasses. If you are one of the first to respond I'll send you a pair.

Spring bass fishing is on my mind. Recently I have been spending considerable time tying flies in preparation. The coming weekend forecast is for sunny skies and temperatures might hit 60 degrees. That's a temperature I can't remember feeling. Sixty degree water temperatures and bass pounding surface plugs is within reach. Let's go fishing!

I should have a boat in the water by the third week of April. Historically, small schoolies appear in numbers below the railroad bridge at the mouth of the Connecticut River around April 25th. By Mother's Day the fishing is on.

The spring run off is always the unknown. The best scenario is a slow and steady melt off in the mountains of Vermont and New Hampshire. Heavy rains and a late warming trend cause a rapid increase of dirt and debris laden water which has a tendency to slow down the bite. Having said this, fishing for bass in the spring at the mouth of the Connecticut River is my favorite time of year.

Why am I so big on this fishing? One, we are talking about bass - lots of bass and at times BIG bass. A few in the 40+ inches range But what makes a Connecticut River hook up so exciting is it is all done in shallow water. Many times in less than three feet and seldom in water greater than eight feet. What's that mean? The fish can't "sound". They can only run away. You can't beat it so join me!

Here in Connecticut we have six months of good fishing. The "diehards" can extend it to seven by hitting the coves for schoolies in April and dodging the wind gusts in November for blues, bass and albies.

We are now in the first week of August and are at the half way point. As a whole the first half was good. Numerous keeper size fish were caught in the river. The biggest I know of was a 51 pounder. Quite honestly I didn't realize fish that big cruised the Connecticut River flats. The numerous rainy overcast days really helped the fishing. The bass stayed in the river longer than normal This "miserable" weather also resulted in more highly productive bass days than in past years.

The squid run at Watch Hill produced some excellent fishing. About four waves of migratory fish came through. Migratory bass are easily identified by the numerous sea lice clinging to the fish. If your timing was right you could have an "epic" day. Using a squid fly on a 9/10 weight rod we were catching 10-20 pound bass on every drift - sometimes having double hook ups on a single drift.

July has been a good month. This is typically when we transition into summer fishing - catching more blues than bass. The last few weeks have produced some good blues fishing. Both on the rips and around the rocks. There's no guarantee we will always be at "the right place at the right time" but our "batting averages" would put us into the baseball hall of fame.

Bass are at times being caught in the rips. They don't seem to stay in any one place for more than a couple days so there is a lot of lucky timing. A friend landed a 41" bass last week using a sand eel fly. Most bass being caught now are 24-27".

Things look good for the second half. There is lots of bait, particularly small "silver sides" and butterfish.

Stay tuned. I'll keep you posted on what happens the second half!

The spring bass run is over. Due to abnormal cool and cloudy weather we got two extra weeks. Though not consistent, the Connecticut River produced good bass fishing in early July. Many anglers had given up on the river thus reducing the annoying boat traffic to a minimum. Quiet waters are very important for successful bass fishing in shallow waters of 3 to 6 feet - typical Connecticut River conditions.

The rest of July and August will be spent looking for blues around eastern Long Island sound. The gut has had some good days for surface blues, particularly during the week when the boat traffic in the gut is way down. The rocky shores of eastern Long Island sound are producing blues and some bass. This is exciting fishing. Casting surface plugs into shallow water dotted with rocks is great fun. The splash attack on the surface lure is an instant rush. The challenge of keeping the fish from breaking off against the many rocks tests the fish fighting skills of all anglers. Contact me and set up a trip to test your fishing skills.

The cloudy overcast spring weather has not helped the sales of Big Eye sunglasses, but it did make for good spring bass fishing. Lots of cloudy days with light winds resulted in a number of "happy days". During the height of the squid run off of Watch Hill, we landed thirty one bass - all on flies. Two thirds were keepers. Many were between 13 and 16 pounds. The mouth of the Connecticut River produced some good trips as well, though it was not consistent. The biggest bass caught in the river was 30 pounds, 46". It hit a small "smack-it" popper. A good friend of mine was the lucky angler. He caught it in the evening, during daylight on an outgoing tide.

What makes catching bass in the Connecticut River so exciting is the shallow water. Most casts are made in water 3 - 7 feet deep. After a big fish hits, it has only one way to go - away from you. The runs are very exciting as the fish can at times be seen swirling water fifty yards or more away from the boat. Though Watch Hill will often produce more and bigger fish,the water is 15 to 50 feet deep. Big bass when given the opportunity are going to dive to deep water. Don't misunderstand me - I enjoy catching any size bass in any water, but given the choice I prefer the mouth of the Connecticut River where bass fishing is more like bone fishing.

We are now in transition. The squid run is coming to an end and the warm water of the River is driving the bass to deeper water. We have not yet given up on the river but we are now spending more time on the waters of Long Island Sound looking for blues and fishing the rocky shore lines for bass and blues.

The summer months are always a great time to be on the water. If the blues show up in good numbers we can have lots of fun throwing poppers to blitzing schools of blues. The gear busting, rod bending, combative and tireless bluefish have given anglers thrills for generations. Let's go fishing!!

Hot and cold is the best way to describe the fishing since my last report. This has been the case both in the river and on the reefs. Some of the hot days have been phenomenal. On Sunday of Memorial Day weekend my wife landed the largest bass I have boated in the last couple of years - 40+" (my tape only goes to 36") weighing in at 26# on the boga grip. She started out throwing a floating lure. She had been hearing all about the slugo because she posts all these blogs. She assumed she was casting a slugo because she had heard that it catches the big one and when she heard she was not all hell broke loose and she quickly received the slugo! Though Carol is not a frequent angler she throws a good line. After about an hour she had had a few follows but no hookups. I was fly fishing from the stern and had landed a few bass in the 26-27" range. Then it happened ... with an explosion of water and a yell "I got one!". My peripheral vision picked up the after effects of the exploding water. My instinct was to drop my rod and run to the bow. The line was screaming off the reel when I arrived and didn't stop for a minute or two. I said "you've got a big fish", trying to control my excitement. I went on to say "just keep steady pressure and don't lose your concentration". Of the two of us, I was by far the most excited until Carol finally got the fish in close enough to see it. Suddenly her excitement level quickly ramped up as evidenced by her words "holy ... that's a big fish!". "Just concentrate on getting the fish to the boat" I told her. Finally I had a grip on the fish. As I hauled it over the side and looked over my left shoulder, Carol's jaw had dropped and her eyes were huge. She had just realized that she had done a great job landing a fish of a lifetime. Struggling to lift the monster Carol had both hands wrapped around the boga grip as the tail dangled a few inches off the deck. I snapped a couple of quick pictures before her strength gave out. I then gently held the fish in the water, helping it to regain it's strength. In a short period of time it slowly swam out of my hands free to fight another day. I was so thrilled! Without question, that was one of my best fishing moments. My fortunes quickly turned as one of the pictures was really good. Within hours the picture was printed and emailed to our friends and most unfortunately it was in Carol's possession. By the end of Memorial Day weekend I was about to change the sign on my truck from Capt. Dixon to Admiral Carol.

Later in the week we had another good day with Joshua F. and his friend Otto. In the afternoon Joshua got numerous bass on the fly rod, catching several in succession between 31" and 35". The fishing remains pretty good in the river but with the arrival of the squid run, some of the reefs are producing excellent results.

Someone soon is going to land an over 40", 25 lb. bass. As far as I know it hasn't happened this year. However, more and more keeper size bass are being caught. We are now at the time when it is not uncommon to land several fish between 28" and 32" each outing. The bigger fish show themselves once but are not easily hooked and are even harder to land. They are capable of straightening out hooks and very adept at "throwing" it back at you. Eighteen pounds, 36" is the biggest fish I have boated. The other day a friend of mine landed on successive casts a 38" and 39" fish. Slug-o's are the best way to go if you want to catch big fish. It's not that the big bass won't attack other lures or flies, it's just that the slug-o is the most reliable lure for big fish.

When you are out on the water don't forget to take your Big Eye polarized sunglasses. They will help you see those big bass swirl under your lure. You can get them at many New England tackle shops or by going to bigeyeeyewear.com.