Monster Fish Keepers

Fishing report

By all rights, the thunder and lightening of a big fireworks show should send the fish scurrying for deep water, but we read about one angler last year who took a 24-pound striper from his boat while anchored under the blasts of Westport's fireworks annual display. Anyway, with great weather predicted for the holiday weekend, all signs are go for some great saltwater and freshwater fishing.

SALTWATER

Striped bass: Chunk soakers plumbing the depths at and around the Bridgeport Harbor Buoy found some hefty bass there this week. The catch of the month was recorded by John Valentino of Stratford, who landed a 46-inch, 37.5-pound bass caught locally on a live eel. The big bass also invaded the Norwalk Islands where blue and yellow pencil poppers by Southport Lures were taking fish on the surface. A couple of experienced striper anglers report having great success chucking those realistic looking Bill Hurley sand eels in shallow water.

Bluefish: With large bunker schools beginning to show up in harbors, this could be the week that bluefishing blows wide open. The mouth of Milford Harbor has witnessed regular morning mayhem of 10-pound choppers blitzing bunker exiting the harbor. When the blues are in full frenzy, they will hit just about any lure tossed their way. The trick is to avoid getting bitten off by the rest of the hungry horde. Meanwhile, the 4- to 6-pound blues continue to harass the small bait all along the shoreline.

Fluke: The shore fluking continues to be very good. Anglers are tossing chubs (mummies) into the surf and reeling them back slowly on the bottom. Beaches from West Haven to Fairfield have seen keeper fluke (18.5 inches) landed.

Porgies: So far the porgy season has been only fair with few reports of anglers taking their 10-fish limit. The hot weather may be the trigger the porgies need to turn on big-time. When they do, Charles Island, Penfield Reef and Sunken Island will be where it will happen.

Blackfish: The season opens today so we have no reports as of yet, but these great-tasting fish are out there waiting for a green crab or Japanese crab to be dropped in front of their noses.

FRESHWATER

Trout: Tony Urbanowicz, fishing a Spanyid Spoon at Saugatuck Reservoir, hauled in what may prove to be a new state-record brown trout. Weighed in at Stratford Bait & Tackle , Tony's fish was an arm-aching 16.38 pounds. The current brown trout record is a 16.14-pound monster taken in 1986 at Twin Lakes in Litchfield County. Elsewhere, trout fishing has entered summer patterns. Water flows in most areas have returned to fishable levels. Good reports for early last week came from West Branch of the Farmington , upper Housatonic, Saugatuck and Naugatuck rivers.

Aqua Medic OR2500 - Monster Fish Keepers

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Welcome to Monster Fish Keepers

The members of this forum have come together to share our knowledge and experiences of fish keeping. We want to answer your questions, offer advice and fill the galleries with pictures of the fish we have all grown to love. We are a unique community of Fish Keepers who seriously take our hobby to extremes and the NEXT level. The majority of our fish collections include RARE & EXOTIC Species of all sizes, BIG FISH with BIG APPETITES and BIG TANKS. It's not easy for most people or other "regular" fish keepers to understand why we maintain this type of collection and spare no expense on this fascinating hobby.

We're constantly striving to improve our community to help make your Monster Fish Keeping hobby fulfilling and interesting. Comments are welcome. I just received an ocean runner OR2500 pump, I wanted to use it in freshwater as a return for a sump project but when I received the pump it came with a mesh impeller which is useless in freshwater, I've searched online for hours looking for one,My only option for getting it in the US is from Aqua Medic but they haven't gotten back to me. Does anyone who has this pump ever replaced the impeller? If so please let me know where.

Tropical fish hobbyist

Monster Fish Frenzy

Freshwater and marine aquarium

Notes and queries

Notes and queries