great day at the barn/stonington

[tomc]

we met up with gdn443,at 450 at the home depot in waterford,jumped in his truck and headed out,i brought a friend with me,mike.we arrived at barn island around 530.there wasnt as many peaple there,as i thought there would be,being a holiday weekend.
we started by heading up the pawcatuck river where gregg has had good luck in the past.this being my first time in the area,i was no help on suggesting spots.the firstpoint we were at,gregg had a swirl at his sluggo,i had a coulpe bumps,mike had nothing,we haed to another area,with no luck.then gregg said we will try the hog pen.i have heard of the hog pen from reading other post,just never knew where it was.we can around sandy point and was heading to the pen,i spotted some birds circling around up near the end of the break wall.i watched them for a few mins to see what they were doing,yep they were working,i pointed them out to gregg and we headed over.when we got to them the birds were leaveing,great we missed it,as i was grabbing my rod ,one jump by the boat.made a cast,FISH ON,ended up being a short 27 inches,gregg and mike made casts,FISH ON, doubles,shorts.after netting thier fish i made another cast,FISH ON,this one felt good,keeper 29 inches.after that they moved,we moved around,casting with no luck.gregg said we would troll around,to see if we could find them.so gregg thew out a line,i grabbed my boat rod and mike sat and watched,we made a pass,gregg get one,as i realing up to geat out of te way,i get one,another double.shorts26-27 inches.i told mike he should put a line out,but he didnt have any lure,this is his first time fishing stripers with lures and plastics,he is a chunk fishermen,so i gave him an eel lure.we start moveing again,made a circle FISH ON,mike gets one,gets it to the boat,nice keeper 34 inches.we ended up boating 30 fish,losing 6-7,and 4 keepers.gregg called it at 11,te wind was picking up,and it was getting rough,we were starting to feel like the ss minnow





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[gdn443]

It was a great day with some great guys. Saw some bait on the screen, but very small. Found out they where eating squid. Found most fish between drop offs and humps. 24ft of water. I lost count how many 25-27" fish we let go. What a ride. I did see the Joseph boys in the river, but no chance to say hello. One more trip before VT.
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