New moon springs push porgies onto the rockpiles, stripers reset at Charles Island sunset flood

Last week the Sound did what it does every July — it got soupy inshore and pushed the good stuff toward structure and current. Surface water in the harbors and up in the coves has been sitting warm, close to 78 in the shallow backwaters, and that's chased the fluke that were sunning themselves in New Haven Harbor and the Milford flats right out to the channel edges and the inlet mouths where there's actual water movement. We had a stretch of light, variable wind for most of the week, which kept the Sound clean but also kept current weak — and weak current at Stratford Shoal and around Falkner Island means a slower pick for porgies and sea bass. That's about to change.

We're rolling into a new moon, and that means building spring tides through the weekend, with the tightest alignment landing July 11 through 13. Bigger swings mean more water moving across the rockpiles at Stratford Shoal, the Charles Island reef, and the New Haven breakwalls — and more water moving means bait gets stirred off the bottom and porgies and sea bass stack up to eat it. I'd circle Saturday and Sunday on your calendar for structure fishing. There's also a PM flood-into-sunset window setting up across the whole western half of the Sound as these springs build — high water converging with last light. That's the first real evening bass window we've had since the June full moon, and it's worth being on the water for.

Porgies have been steady but not spectacular on the shoal — 25 to 35 feet of water, high-low rigs with #4 hooks, green crab and clam belly doing the damage on the last two hours of the incoming and the first hour of the drop. Once this new moon current kicks in, I expect that bite to tighten up and get more aggressive, especially right at the top of the tide when the flow is strongest across the humps. Anchor up-current of the rockpile, not on top of it, and let your scent drift back into the structure — guys anchoring right on the rocks have been getting more snags than fish.

Sea bass have actually been the better story the last two weeks. Falkner Island and the rockpile off Charles Island have both been holding fish in the 20 to 30 foot range, and squid strips on a bucktail-and-teaser combo have been out-producing plain bait rigs. Biggest fish — a few pushing 3 pounds — came off Falkner on the last of the outgoing, working the down-current side of the ledge where the bait pools up. If you're marking bait on the meter but not getting bit, drop closer to bottom and slow your retrieve down to almost nothing. These fish have been lazy in the warm water and don't want to chase.

Stripers have been the frustrating part of the week — not absent, just scattered and unwilling to commit outside of very specific windows. The sandbar off Charles Island has thrown a few keeper-class fish to guys working topwater plugs and soft-plastic swimbaits right at first light on the last hour of the outgoing, when the bar drains and bait gets funneled off the point. But the daytime bite has been quiet, which tracks with what we're seeing Sound-wide — bass pushed off the mid-day heat and into deeper, cooler water or holding tight to structure until the light drops. That's exactly why this new-moon PM flood window matters. When high water lines up with sunset, the bass that have been sulking all day get a reason to move — moving water, dropping light, bait getting pushed against the bar. I'd be set up on the west side of Charles Island by 7:30 PM through the weekend, fishing bunker chunks on a fish-finder rig in 8 to 12 feet along the drop-off, with a bucktail rod rigged and ready for when you see fish working the surface.

Bluefish have shown in pockets off the Milford breakwalls and around the Gulf, mostly smaller cocktail fish in the 2 to 4 pound range, but they've been reliable enough on the outgoing tide to keep rods bent for anyone soaking bunker chunks or throwing metal. Nothing to build a trip around yet, but a fun bonus while you're waiting on the tide to turn for bass or porgies.

Fluke has been the tougher assignment this week. With the bay-side water running warm, the better drifts have been out toward the harbor mouth and the deeper cuts near the breakwalls, working white Gulp Swimming Mullets on 3/4-ounce bucktails, slow and tight to bottom on the last two hours of the outgoing when the current is still moving enough to keep your bait working but not so hard you're bouncing off structure. It's a covering-ground game right now — I fished three drifts off New Haven Harbor Tuesday and only connected on the third, a short fish that went back. Patience pays more than confidence this time of year.

Looking ahead: if the new moon springs build the way they're shaping up, I'd put my time into the rockpiles at Stratford Shoal and Falkner Island for porgies and sea bass on the peak flood Saturday and Sunday, and I'd be at Charles Island for sunset Friday through Monday chasing that PM flood striper window. If the bass don't show on the bar, my backup is simple — stay put and fish the same water for bluefish, because when one bites, usually both do.