In The News

Martin Armstrong, Correspondent

Published: 07:49 p.m., Saturday, October 23, 2010

George Poveromo, host of George Poveromo's World of Saltwater Fishing, spent a few days last week fishing Long Island Sound for an upcoming show.

I got this message from him on Wednesday. "Hey Martin! LIS was on fire today out of New Haven! The weather was perfect. Could not have asked for anything nicer. This was the first time I had ever fished for blackfish, and scored my first ones today. What an impressive fish! They pull like mad. I was amazed at the runs they can muster when first hooked. We caught them on a reef a couple miles out of the Branford River. Tom Migdalski caught the biggest blackfish, one of around seven or eight pounds. All on crabs. When the tide got going, we went jigging on the same reef for bluefish. They were around in good numbers, mostly small. But Tom nailed one around 16 pounds. We got them on diamond jigs and Williamson Flutter Jigs."

Then on Thursday George sent me this missive. "Superb day today for us (me and Tom Migdalski), as we limited out on blackfish in one hour out of New Haven, with the biggest blackfish weighing in at 11 pounds - on the Boga Grip! I'm proud to say that I caught that fish -- which is by far my largest blackfish (though I only began fishing for blackfish 48 hours ago!). For what it's worth, the big fish ate half an Asian crab, and I caught it on a Penn International 975 Baitcasting reel, filled with 30-pound test Sufix Performance Braid. That fish fought me as hard as a 10-pound mutton snapper would have back home off South Florida. I'm impressed with these blackfish! If they grew as large as 30 and 40-pounds, I doubt they could be landed! The neat thing about this trip, is that I brought up my Inshore Mako - a Mako 2201, named the Shallow-Water MARC. What a thrill to be driving and fishing from your own boat in "foreign" waters!"

Foreign waters? Geez!

Poveromo's show moves to VERSUS beginning in January 2011. ESPN will be officially out of the fishing/outdoors TV business beginning January 1, 2011 -- save for B.A.S.S. His popular show got picked up by VERSUS the day after ESPN made that announcement.

T-Shirt Giveaway Winner!

Congratulations to the winner of the t-shirt drawing:

Chuck, e-mail me your t-shirt size and your address to georgepoveromo@gmail.com!

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DOWN TIME (for now!)

Got home around 2:00 p.m. Friday, after flying from Hartford, CT, to Baltimore, then changing planes in Baltimore and flying to Fort Lauderdale. Was up since 2:45 a.m., as we were set to leave the hotel at 3:30a.m. Again, I thoroughly enjoyed my trip up north. A huge thank you to Kevin Tierney and Steve (Mr. Miller) Miller – who are among the very best fishing videographers in the business - not so much for their talents (which I really appreciate), but for always putting up with my stubbornness to keep fishing all day long – even when they have more than enough fishing footage in the can for a great episode.

Now, a nice, relaxing weekend in store! Took the girls out for dinner on Friday night, and then just got back - per tradition - from the local Starbucks with my eldest daughter Lindsay and her husband (Aaron) -- guess who gets stuck picking up that tab every Saturday!

Keeping a very close eye on the weather for the Keys next week, as I’m thinking seriously about trailering down my Mako 284 and fishing around Big Pine Key – if the winds appear as if they’ll break and that storm just west of Cuba will keep away. I’d get back up here by Thursday night, and be ready to spend Friday, Saturday and Sunday at the Fort Lauderdale Boat Show. And most of that time (10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.) will be spent in the Mako booth, signing and giving out Mako hats.

It's A Wrap!

It's a Wrap!

Getting ready for some sleep, as we need to leave New Haven at 3:30 a.m. for Hartford, to check in our gear and catch a 6:00 a.m. flight to Baltimore and then onto Ft. Lauderdale. Should touch down at noon.

Awesome trip, and the most unbelievable weather window - two sensational, flat-calm, chilly days, and loads of hungry blackfish and bluefish. Then, today, a front pushed in and ramped up the winds. Glad today was the "on land" day.

I'll gladly fish up here again!

Homeward bound!

New Haven Wrap Up

I got the "knack" of this blackfishing down - here's my 11-pounder!

I can get used to this Connecticut fishing! Blackfish are all over this place, as we limited out very quickly by mid-morning (we didn't start until 9:30 a.m.). Not only did I get in the "groove" with what it takes to catch these fish, I scored an 11-pound blackfish. According to Tom Migdalski, my fishing partner for this trip, this was the biggest blackfish he has seen in his fishing efforts in two years. This fish nearly rocked me up twice, and even when I had it ten feet or so off the rocks, it still made several strong runs. I'd equate this fight to hooking and catching a 10 pound mutton snapper on 12-pound test line, but with the grouper tendencies of trying to run you straight into the rocks. I keep saying this, but gunning for blackfish is precision fishing. You need to precisely anchor right on a piece of prominent structure, and drop your bait into any holes or drops on that reef. Then, after acquiring the knack of hooking these fish, you have to get them out of the rocks. I'll tip my white visor to these fish, as I underestimated them. Plus, once you have them for dinner - WOW! What a fun and challenging fish. If Connecticut would guarantee me weather and fishing like we had the past two days, I would move here. But they can't!!! So, I'm going back home to hurricane country!

Our fishing here is done. My boat is on the trailer, and ready to go back to South Florida. We'll do our "on land" TV stuff tomorrow and enjoy the area, then fly home early Friday morning.

I can't say enough good things about the fishing folks in Connecticut or their fishing! I thoroughly enjoyed them both!

Big blackfish bite off New Haven, CT, with blackfish as heavy as 11-pounds!

RELIEF! - My 11-pound blackfish in net after a determined fight to hole me up in the rocks off New Haven, Connecticut!

The Shallow-Water MARC goes back on the Float-On trailer for its tow back to South Florida.

Blackfish

Me and my first blackfish!

Could not have asked for a nicer day, with calm winds and a high of around 57 degrees. The blackfish bite was awesome, with lots of action. Very similar to our grouper fishing off South Florida and the Bahamas, but on a smaller scale. Scored my first blackfish, and must admit I was impressed with the head of steam they get and effort they put forth to rock you up! A couple did just that! Very strong fish. When the tide picked up, we went jigging for bluefish, and caught a bunch of them Big bluefish of the day went to Tom, with a 16-pounder. Lots of action on the bottom and jigging.

Perfect cap for the day was back at Indian Neck Yacht Club, where Bill Manzi cooked up our blackfish. I have to admit that after eating blackfish for the first time, I now understand completely why this fish is held in such high regard among Mid-Atlantic and Northeast anglers! As ugly as it might be, it fights like heck and its firm, white meat is out of this world! Without a doubt, it will top the fish sandwich at McDonalds!

Tomorrow, more super weather. We'll be back on the blackfish and then jigging up more bluefish.
Have to hand it to CT anglers - when the fish are in the Sound, you keep mighty busy catching them What a treat.

Tom Migdalski with one of several blackfish caught off New Haven, CT.

Impressive blackfish bite off New Haven!

Bill Manzi at the Indian Neck Yacht Club cooking up freshly caught blackfish!

Update from New Haven, Connecticut

Met up with the Shallow-Water MARC and my fishing companion for this shoot - fellow fishing writer Tom Migdalski, in New Haven, CT, this afternoon, after an early morning flight north from South Florida. Weather conditions look perfect, and there are plenty of fish around. It's going to be hard to sleep tonight, knowing I'm just several hours away from running my boat in Long Island Sound and catching a bunch of fish with Tom!

Hope to share a catch report tomorrow night!

Tom Migdalski and me aboard the Shallow-Water MARC in New Haven, CT.

"The Gang" - minus Kevin Tierney, who took this pic! Left to right - me, Tom Migdalski, Steve Miller (no, not the "Fly Like An Eagle" guy!) and Ed Maturo.

Don't forget to enter the t-shirt giveaway!

New Haven, Connecticut

Today, I'm packing warm clothes, flutter-style jigs, swimming- and top-water lures, for my trip to New Haven, Connecticut, tomorrow (Monday). I'll be meeting up with my Shallow-Water MARC (a Mako 2201, which was trucked north for the TV shoot) and Tom Migdalski - a friend who is a long-time writer for Salt Water Sportsman and authority on fishing this section of Long Island Sound. He and I will fish Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, shooting an episode for my 2011 television season.

Our plan is to fish for blackfish (tautog), which are up there in full force right now. When the tide really kicks in and makes bottom fishing challenging, we'll then go after bluefish and striped bass on top water plugs and flutter-style jigs.

Blackfish is a hugely popular fish in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast, ugly as it may be! It's a member of the wrasse-family and its habits parallel that of our grouper: hangs around pronounced structure, pulls hard and requires stout tackle to "horse" them out of structure. Plus, they're excellent table fare.

I've yet to fish for or catch a blackfish, so I'm excited over the opportunity. And I've fished Long Island Sound when the blues and bass were solid, and know how much fun that can be.

I just need to survive the cold!

I'll send updates from CT.

P.S. - Don't forget to enter the t-shirt giveaway!

Welcome To My Blog!

Welcome to my blog!

Through this blog, I will keep you updated on my fishing adventures, television shoots, seminar series and just plain anything that has to do with saltwater fishing!

I'll occasionally stage a few contests to see what my angling friends are catching out there.

So let's have some fun!

To kick off my new blog, I will give away an "official" George Poveromo's World Of Saltwater Fishing t-shirt!

To win this shirt, leave a comment with your name and where you fish.

I'll have a random drawing to pick the winner! Winners will be announced on this blog on Saturday, October 23rd at 10:00 AM EST.

Good luck!