Striped bass and albies build as a nor'easter reshapes the Sound

What's biting

What's next

With the nor'easter moving through, rough water should give way to calmer seas by midweek. J&B Tackle's hope is the storm pushes more bait and gamefish closer to shore, which often accelerates the fall striped bass and false albacore bite once conditions settle. Saltwater Edge in Rhode Island already has false albacore working bait schools along the oceanfront and tautog activity picking up, and Long Island Sound anglers can expect a similar shift as water temps ease and nights turn colder.

High tide at the New Haven and Bridgeport stations lands near 1:30 PM this afternoon, with low tide at New London around 6:34 PM. Once the storm clears, that afternoon tide swing is worth building a trip around, particularly for stripers working structure on the push.

Context

Late September into early October is when Long Island Sound's fall run typically finds its rhythm, as striped bass and bluefish stage for their coastal migration and tautog fishing turns on over structure. Striped bass action has been called lackluster in spots to the east this month, but the combination of storm-driven bait movement and cooling water is the classic trigger for the bite to accelerate through October.