Bluefish are a perennial crowd-pleaser among Bridgeport anglers. Photo by Caryn B. Davis

It would be easy to dismiss the waters off Bridgeport as being too crowded and busy to offer good fishing, but that would be a mistake. Stripers patrol the docks and rocks, bluefish rip through baitfish schools in open water and fluke hug the bottom.  Bluefish are the most reliable target. They show up with the stripers in May and usually linger right through the fall. They can range from “cocktails” to “gators” weighing upwards of 12 pounds. You can usually find them off Captain’s Cove Marina, at Buoy 18 or right inside Bridgeport Harbor. The action usually lasts well into October or even November.

You can catch blues close to shore by setting up over schools of bait located visually or with the aid of a depthsounder. Soaking bunker chunks in deep holes or along the channel edges is effective when targeting larger blues; metal lures, poppers and swimming plugs will take the smaller fish. The most important point when using lures is to match the size of the bait. Go big when adult bunker are present; scale down when the fish are preying on silversides, peanut bunker and bay anchovies.

While blues can be caught on even the hottest days of summer, the striper fishing off Bridgeport is generally limited to early spring and late fall. The fish disappear when the water gets hot, but they are reliable bookends to the Bridgeport season.

May and October find the bass patrolling shallow water. The fish often hold in the warm-water outflow of the Bridgeport powerplant in April before following the bunker and alewives up the Housatonic River in May and early June. They move into the Sound when water temps heat up in July, but often return to the harbor in late September and October.

Casting soft-plastic shads, plugs or poppers to shoreline structure is a good way to catch them. Another is to fish bunker chunks on the bottom in 10 to 30 feet of water off Port 5 or the BH buoy. You’ll catch a lot of chunky schoolies this way, but some of the fish will run 20 to 30 pounds.

If you enjoy fluke fishing, you’ll need to use a little patience. The action off Bridgeport can be exceptional, but it doesn’t heat up until mid-July. You can tease the flatties with baitfish-and-squid combos or strip baits worked slowly along the bottom. Bucktail fans should try 3/4- to 2-ounce fluke bullets or Spro jigs tipped with spearing. Quality fluking can found off Jennings Beach, near Fairfield, tight to shore in 20 feet of water.

Scup are another option. These scrappy bottom fish can be found on the submerged humps in the same general area. They are great fun for kids to catch, and you usually don’t have to look far to catch a bunch.

Bait & Tackle:

  • Jimmy O’s Bait & Tackle (203) 384-6359‎
  • Stratford Bait & Tackle (203) 377-8091‎

Charters:

State License Requirements and Catch & Size Limits:

State of Connecticut Requirements