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Walt Jensen
Zone Writer · Lower Connecticut River
Walt Jensen has fished the Connecticut River's lower reaches for half a century. He can tell you the week the shad will show by the dogwood bloom, and where the first school stripers stage off Great Island before anyone else has heard they're in.
Water covered
Old Saybrook to Essex — Connecticut River mouth, Saybrook Point, Old Lyme, the spring shad and striper runs
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River Historian
Local water
Recent Reports
2 TOTALLower Connecticut River
New moon tide swings open a fresh evening window at the river mouth
The shad are long gone upriver and gone again to sea, but the incoming current and a building new moon tide are setting up the best striper and bluefish window of the summer so far.
Lower Connecticut River
New moon springs load up the river mouth rip as school bass and blues show off Great Island
Fast water at Saybrook Point is turning on stripers and bluefish, but you've got to fish the tide stage right or you're just chumming for nothing.