About Stonington
Stonington Harbor sits on the Connecticut shore at the eastern end of Fishers Island Sound, behind 2 breakwaters, close to the Rhode Island line. Block Island Sound lies to the east and south, reached through the reef passages near Watch Hill, and the Race lies to the west. Boats running offshore from Stonington go out through that sound.
Striped bass are around year-round, with the core season running from spring through autumn. Anglers also target bluefish, tautog, fluke, black sea bass, scup, false albacore, Atlantic bonito and bluefin tuna, following the northeast’s seasonal pattern. Check the CT DEEP species regulations before you fish. Anyone 16 or older fishing Connecticut’s marine district needs a Marine Waters Fishing License, and valid licenses from New York, Rhode Island, Massachusetts and Maine are honored through reciprocity. You can buy a Connecticut license online.
Access and Navigation
Two facilities cover most owner-operators:
- Barn Island State Boat Launch: a year-round concrete ramp at the end of Palmer Neck Road, with a paved lot of 60 spaces
- Dodson Boat Yard: a fuel dock and transient moorings inside Stonington Harbor
The Barn Island lot can fill on busy days, so launch early.
The harbor sits behind 2 breakwaters, with a controlling depth of about 11 ft to the inner harbor. After southerly weather, a surge can be felt at the southern side of the seaward pier, and shoal water extends about 200 yd off Stonington Point.
Stonington Harbor is approached from the southeast and from the west. The southeastern approach has fewer dangers, and the navigational aids guide you through it.
From the southwest, the route runs from the lighted bell buoy south of Ram Island Reef to south of White Rock, then east along the north side of Noyes Rock. Boats with local knowledge sometimes cross Noyes Shoal, which carries 10 to 18 ft. That is local practice, not advice.
In the main channel of Fishers Island Sound, the flood sets about 1.7 kn at 284 degrees and the ebb about 2.2 kn at 113 degrees. Currents in Watch Hill Passage can run hard enough to tow buoys under.
The Race is the alternative to the west. The flood averages 2.9 kn and the ebb 3.5 kn, and strong rips run except for about half an hour at slack water. The rips tend to be heaviest when a strong wind opposes the current. Those figures come from NOAA U.S. Coast Pilot 2.
Block Island Sound is open to the ocean. Southeast through southwest winds have nothing limiting the fetch, so seas from those directions tend to run highest. Fog tends to be heaviest with southeast winds, and in June visibility drops below half a mile nearly 9% of the time. Winter winds average 16 to 17 kn.
Fishers Island Sound has numerous shoals and thick lobster trap buoys. Boulder patches rise abruptly from deep water, and any shoal spot or abrupt depth change can mean boulders. The shoal north of Sandy Point in Little Narragansett Bay changes continually.
Before the run, check the OBS SST and Chart Contours layers in Breakpoint to read the water and the bottom. The chart layers are not for navigation; NOAA Chart 13214 and Coast Pilot 2 are the references.
On arrival, look at the water and the official NWS marine forecast. If the entrance or the passage looks bigger than you want, switch approaches.
Fishing Conditions
The grounds start close. Watch Hill Reefs, Fishers Island and its rips, Ram Island Reef and Latimer Reef are the working water inside the sound, and the Race and Orient Point sit to the west. The boulders that hold fish also hold hazards, so keep the bottom cautions above in mind when you fish them.
Winter
Winter is the thinnest season. Striped bass are the year-round constant, with scup and black sea bass on the list.
Spring
Striped bass arrive on the Watch Hill Reefs around early May, and the striped bass guide covers the fish in detail. Bluefish, tautog, winter flounder and fluke follow, with scup and black sea bass rounding out the list.
Summer
Black sea bass and scup work around Ram Island Reef and Latimer Reef, and the black sea bass guide has the detail. Fluke, bluefish, striped bass and tautog are also on the list, and Atlantic bonito show up. Bluefin tuna appear offshore (see the bluefin tuna guide), and you need a federal Highly Migratory Species permit to take them in federal waters. For longer runs after warm-water pelagics that live well beyond Block Island Sound, see the guides for yellowfin tuna, yellowfin in the northeast, mahi-mahi and mahi in the northeast.
Autumn
False albacore arrive in late summer around Watch Hill, Ram Island Reef and the Fishers Island rips, and Atlantic bonito run with them. Tautog, striped bass and bluefish carry the season, with black sea bass, scup and fluke still on the list. Bluefin tuna stay offshore, and the bluefin in the northeast guide covers that run.
