Weakfish strikes have been pretty weak

• Weakfish catches have been declining since the 1940s, but every 15 years there seems to be a year or two when numbers spike upwards. The last time weakfish showed up in Long Island Sound in significant numbers was in the early 1980s. After more than a decade of slim pickings, anglers suddenly started seeing large schools of weakfish offshore feeding on top. In 1982 the place for weakfish was Milford. The next year they were off Fairfield, where waders on Penfield Reef reeled then in by the hundreds. Then began the fish's rapid decline that continues to this day. Now when someone lands a weakfish larger than five pounds, it is big news all along the coast.
• In 1986 June Andrekco of Bridgeport set a IGFA women's world weakfish record that stands today when she landed a 17.8- pound fish while live lining a bunker of Fayerweather Island. Andrejko's weakfish remains the biggest ever caught in Connecticut by either man or woman.
• "There were times in the '80s when all you had to do was toss a jelly worm and you'd catch a weakie," said John Posh of Stratford, who recalls fishing with his dad and uncles in Bridgeport Harbor in the 1950s. "We'd catch these small fish he called yellowtail, but they were really weakfish." Even though weakfish numbers have been down for more than 20 years, Posh thinks the decline is mostly cyclical. Someday he expects to see them come back strong.
• Generally, marine biologists blame overfishing for the drop in weakfish populations. But recently The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission passed regulations that require shrimp trawlers in the southeast to use new nets that reduce the bycatch mortality of the weakfish that get caught in their nets. The new nets are expected to reduce the finfish bycatch in shrimpers nets by 30 percent. Spring is the best time to go for weakfish, which tend to hang out in inshore areas with strong tidal movement.
• Weakfish spawn in April and May in or near the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay or other large estuaries and bays. The young fish stay in brackish rivers until they are about six inches long. At that time they migrate into saltier estuaries and open ocean. By the time they are 2 years old, weakfish have reached their full maturity. Weakfish can live as much as nine years and reach a length of 30 inches.
• When the weakfish are around (a few decent-sized fish were reeled in last year near Charles Island and at the West Haven sandbar) quarter to half-ounce bucktails jigs cast on light, even ultra-light, rods is generally the top methods for hooking them. Trolling a bait-tipped bucktail very slowly works very well. It is important to keep the jigs close to the bottom. Take care not to horse a hooked weakfish. They don't call them weakfish for nothing. The fish's soft mouth parts tend to break when pulled too hard.
• They are a great fish on a fly rod. Fly selection is not vital as weakfish are not known as finicky eaters, although weighted Clousers do very well.
• In Connecticut weakfish must be at least 16 inches long with a 10 -fish per angler limit. The season is open year round. (by Charles Walsh, Connecticut Post Online). 6/24