Kayak Fishing Guide Service in Connecticut. Saltwater and freshwater trips on Hobie Kayaks.
Operating as usual
08/12/2022
If you haven't yet, check out the shop at ctfishnerd.com. New products, small batch jigs, and the trusty stand-by jigs the fish know and love, all hand tied and field tested by yours truly. Gift cards for online use and guided kayak fishing trip Gift Certificates are also available!
24/11/2022
Happy Thanksgiving! I'm thankful for many things this year, but none of this would be possible without those of you who called on me for guided kayak fishing trips, kayak rigging/repair, and placed orders for hair jigs. I cannot express in words what it means to me. My little niche business will always be that, a small business, but it has grown considerably since the start thanks to the support of clients new and old. I hope you all have a wonderful holiday.
-Josh
23/11/2022
These guys were in slow motion yesterday. With 39° water temp at the start of the day, it was no surprise. Float 'n' fly was the ticket to getting them to chew. If it wasn't under a bobber (and pink), it wasn't getting any attention. It probably sounds like a boring way to fish, but not as boring as not catching! It's actually pretty fun watching that bobber get pulled under. There's more to this technique than just casting it out and letting it sit. Biggest crappies were 15.5", 15", and 14.75". Had a couple bite offs and one small pike landed as well.
17/11/2022
It's a big day across Long Island Sound.
The grades are in! The 2022 Long Island Sound Report Card will be released today at simultaneous press events in Connecticut and New York City and on Long Island.
Watch a livestream of our press conference on City Island at 11:00 a.m. here on Facebook, and learn about the health of the Sound.
16/11/2022
Kayakers need not worry, but this can make boarding some vessels a little more difficult through the last couple weeks of tog season.
Floating Dock Update!
The floating docks have been removed from the following state boat launches.
Bayberry Lane, Groton
Barn Island, Stonington
Arts and crafts time! Winter fishing calls for hair jigs and lots of them. I've been tying like a madman to fulfill orders and restock the website, and limited but continually growning inventory is now live over at ctfishnerd.com! Some new colors in the standard line-up, some new small batch stuff, and some other new stuff that will go live for Black Friday. I'm doing a massive run of Basic Hair Jigs and Hairabou Hybrid Jigs in black over the next few days, which have been the two most popular jigs I offer with both anglers and the fish they're after. Keep an eye out for my next blog post, which will basically be a how-to guide on fishing hair jigs for largemouth and smallmouth bass from turnover to pre-spawn.
13/11/2022
"Crappie" weather is here, but it will only get crappier. Get your licks in before it freezes! I have availability through December. Gift Certificates are also available at ctfishnerd.com!
06/11/2022
Interesting injury on the cheek of this slotty that fell for the big flutter spoon... What do you think happened to this guy?
05/11/2022
Mixed bag action for Tu yesterday. He went home with a half dozen crappie and one big white perch to try, releasing a ton more over the course of the day. Most of our action was on a 2" Hazedong Shad on a 1/8 oz jighead.
Putting clients in a situation like this always makes for a fun day, especially when they find a 45" fish mixed in! It can be entirely luck of the draw as to what size fish you pull out of the melee, but you can up your odds at a bigger fish by disciplining yourself to sit back and watch for the bigger ones to break the surface and firing a cast in their direction.
01/11/2022
My guiding season doesn't end when the migratory stripers leave and blackfish season closes. There are some great freshwater options for action packed trips such as jumbo panfish in the Connecticut River. Big roaming schools of crappie, yellow perch, and white perch can be found in select areas, providing all day hooksets on ultralight tackle. There are almost always surprise species mixed in, such as pike, bowfin, and channel catfish, which can be a real hoot on light gear! Though things might be starting to wind down in the salt, it doesn't mean there aren't awesome fishing days still ahead! Contact me for info and booking!
29/10/2022
Playing on slippery rocks with no Korkers. Every fall I make a point to dust off the 9' surf rod at least once.
28/10/2022
My client Greg on the albies in washing machine conditions!
26/10/2022
Paul with his first ever albie!
.n.fish
25/10/2022
Walking the beach this time of year is like an Easter egg hunt. I always get a kick out of the rusty hooks (were they that rusty when the plug was being fished or have they been floating around in saltwater for that long?), bent out stock hooks on inexpensive plugs, and the insanely light line and snap swivels people think they can get away with. The cracked Yo-Zuri pencil (bottom) had about 50 yards of what looked like 10-15# mono attached to a very weak snap. Looking forward to changing out the hooks on the mack patterned stubby pencil (middle) and fishing it!
23/10/2022
Awesome to have Matt out on the water with me yesterday! He came out with me two days in a row back in the spring, then he purchased my 2018 papaya Outback because he had a blast using it and catching fish from it. Great to see the old girl in action and to know her owner will put her to good use, lots of good memories with that yak. We had a slow start, but once we relocated we had action imparting a variety of techniques.
.labella
20/10/2022
Save the date for HRCU 2023!
We're tentatively scheduled for April 22, 2023. We hope to see you all there!
20/10/2022
Last week I caught a dinosaur by the tail. I've witnessed shortnose sturgeon breaching hundreds of times up and down the river, and I've nearly had them land on top of my in my kayak while they were breaching! This was the first time I've ever had the chance to really get a close look at one. Foul hooked in the tail but no worse for the wear, I kept this fish in the water and just admired it's beauty and complexity. It was very docile, even went catatonic when upside down like a shark, and the skin was rough like a shark's as well. These are a few screenshots I got from a short video I captured when this fish came to the surface. A true living fossil that probably would not currently exist if they weren't a protected species.
19/10/2022
Head shot
I was honored to be able to assist Paul with some field work for his bachelor's thesis. Paul is researching and contributing to the study of migratory striped bass by tagging specimens caught from Massachusetts to Connecticut, in hopes for these fish to be caught again elsewhere and reported so we can better understand their movements and migration patterns, and also to see how much they have grown in between being caught. Each fish was landed, quickly tagged, and properly revived before release. We tagged over a dozen fish up to 42".
12/10/2022
Unbelievable full day trip today with my client Gary! We caught fish from start to finish on topwater plugs, jig & plastics, Albie Snax, large flutter spoons, and he even got some nice ones on a peanut bunker fly until his Sage fly rod snapped 💥 mid fight! His biggest of the day was 45", most were between 32-38". We stopped taking photos or even removing most fish from the water by 10 am.
47" fish in 3' of water during the middle of the day... it must be fall! Contact me to book, plenty of open dates for kayak trips through October and November. This is the best time of year, don't miss out!
29/09/2022
My best of the year today at 47", lots of others over 40" today too, all on GT Eels. Shoutout to the guy in the boat behind me telling me I was fishing too shallow 👍
27/09/2022
Seeing double 😵💫😵💫
New Hobie Outbacks for my clients to have a blast in! These yaks can do it all. The Fall Run is fully underway and I have availability through November. Albies, stripers, tog, smallmouth, pike, crappie, and more. Contact me to book!
These guys are always on star mode 🌟
It was a very taxing summer, will we be taxed again this fall?
22/09/2022
New blog post on the website talking about the first week or so of albies here in Connecticut!
Albie Invasion! Like a bat out of hell, false albacore invaded Eastern Long Island Sound last week in heavy, possibly record numbers. The first few days of targeting them can only be described by a few select words, one of them being "MAYHEM". When that first push of fish came through and they were met by massive a...
22/09/2022
My client yesterday with his first albie from the kayak! New blog post up on ctfishnerd.com talking about Connecticut's albie season so far... link in bio
18/09/2022
If you don't get excited by the idea of chasing these fish from a pedal kayak, I'm honestly concerned about your mental health. I have plenty of open spots over the next few weeks. Please reach out! I have 2 new Outbacks for clients that are ready to have the decks bloodied! Oh yeah, striper fishing has also been solid and blackfish season opens Oct 10th. The best time of the year to get out is NOW.
16/09/2022
Obligatory albie double for birthday!
16/09/2022
"Melt your face off" albie action the past few days. It won't get much better than this. I have open dates for albies, contact me to book!
13/09/2022
Not albies 😭
They might be toy boats, but we don't play.
Albie time! Light tackle, pedal kayaks, and the fastest swimming fish in New England's inshore waters. It doesn't get any better than this! I have availability through September and October to target these amazing fish. Please reach out if interested, the season isn't getting any longer...
28/08/2022
My client Josh with a nice pike from yesterday's trip.
26/08/2022
Colton with a solid bass from last night's trip. Tough bite last night, we had a nice pod of fish come through on the incoming tide which slacked 2 hours ahead of prediction, then it was a fish here a fish there for the remainder of the night. Thanks for joining me again and introducing your buddy Colton to kayak fishing for stripers.
22/08/2022
Aiden with a few really nice fish along with a bunch of slots and schoolies too the other night. He was on fire with the GT Eel to the point where we only used 2 live eels out of the dozen I brought along. No visits from the taxman, but according to Elliot from and the encounters he had that same night, we narrowly got away with tax evasion. Landing fish for my clients went from being my favorite part of my job to the scariest.
19/08/2022
Summer isn't getting any longer... Upcoming open dates:
Sat. 8/20 evening/night
Sun. 8/21 all time slots
Mon. 8/22 all time slots
Tue. 8/23 all time slots
Wed. 8/24 morning
Mon. 8/29 all time slots
18/08/2022
I was pumped on this mid afternoon 43" until I looked at my lap and saw a pool of thick blood. I quickly put her back in the water with the fish grip on her lip, gently towed her to shore, got out of the kayak (nearly yard saled because it was rough) and stood in the surf for over 20 minutes trying to get her to stay upright and swim off. Soaked head to toe, water shoes full of sand and gravel, and with a lump in my throat, I knew she wasn't going to revive, so I had to let go and watch her lifelessly drift off. It's not very often a single hook lure is responsible for killing a fish (she was hooked in the gill by the jighead), but as so perfectly put it in a message to me yesterday, we play a dangerous game putting hooks in fish's faces for fun, and for the most part, the amount of damage done is extremely minimal, but there is always the possibility of something like this happening. If you know me or follow me, you know I'm all for conservation and taking proper measures to allow these beautiful fish to swim away strong. I crush barbs down to nothing on all my treble hooks, I carefully handle fish, I don't keep them out of the water for any length of time, and I swim them until they're ready to go on their own. This one hurt.
