Greenwich Point offers a wide variety of fishing opportunities for numerous species of finfish. For our purposes we are going to concentrate on striped bass during the autumn. My father worked in the town of Greenwich, and was able to secure me a pass for access to the hallowed Greenwich Point before the town tightened its distribution of the passes. During those years, I learned just how good the fishing can be there on foot and from a boat.

Directionally, Greenwich Point extends south toward Long Island from the mainland; so Long Island is to the south; New York City is to the west; Stamford is to the east; and north is the mainland of greater Greenwich, composed of a variety of towns including Old Greenwich and Riverside, Connecticut.

The Aquarium

Located at the northeast section of the point, to the right of the gate house if you are entering by automobile, is an area known locally as the aquarium. This area has a lot of rocks and grass. From a boat, I recommend shutting down your motor and either drifting through the area from the end of the swimming beach adjacent to the aquarium's south side, or paddling in with an oar and quietly dropping anchor.

Over the years, live bunker, bunker chunks and topwater artificials such as yellow-backed Bombers and metal-lipped swimmers have accounted for a huge number of stripers here. Old timers regularly trolled up and down the beach with great success. An excellent strategy is to set out a live bait, drop a chunk to the bottom and then work your plug slowly through the entire area.

The water depth is going to be less than 10 feet, usually 6 feet in depth. Try to keep your boat in water at least six feet deep, and cast your plug into the shallows so as not to spook the fish. Be careful when operating your motor, there are huge boulders ready to eat your lower unit.

For the shore bound anglers, this is always a good starting point to begin your fishing at the point.

Woolsey Rock

Just south of the Aquarium, on the opposite end of the swimming area is a point known as Bower's Reef. It is marked by a red nun No. 34. This has always been a top-producing fishing spot. In the autumn, when fish are on the migration, they will frequent the rip here, yielding high catch days of fish from the schoolie size on up.

During the late 1980s and early 1990s, this was a required stop during any October or early November trip. Both incoming and outgoing tides — preferably the high end of the tide — have produced well here. Lures of choice are either blue-back or yellow-back Bombers or metal lip-swimmers, flies are anglers' choice.

When working from the shoreline, I would recommend wading out to a safe perch that will provide easy access should the tide come in. Cast your fly or top-water lure above the rip and work it back across the rip to shore. Cast in a clockwork pattern to ensure that you have covered the area entirely. Should nothing show at the rip, work the areas adjacent to it, these calm water zones hold a lot of fish that are preparing to work out into the fast-moving water.

Hits occur almost immediately, although I have waited for the tide to move a while and returned to the spot to find active fish later in the tide. If I had a choice for wading, I would select the top of the outgoing.

From a boat, I have had days at this spot in the autumn when we caught more than two dozen stripers between 10 and 18 pounds on top-water Bombers in both yellow and blue. I would recommend setting up ahead of the rip and back myself in with the anchor line to minimize spooking of fish. One can drift through the rip on the outer end of the reef, however, the inside is loaded with rocks that like the taste of fiberglass, so watch it.

Start your fishing on the outside edge of the rip and then position the boat closer to the shore to cover all of your bases. A chunk or live bait drifted through the area is extremely productive, as is using bait on both inside edges of the rip closer to shore, especially between the swimming area and the rip. Similar to the aquarium, water depths are fairly shallow here, so be careful and quiet.

Flat Neck

Flat Neck is the southernmost end of Greenwich Point facing Long Island. It features a rocky shoreline, mud flats and two salt ponds. If you get here at the top of the outgoing tide, it is worth throwing a floating plug or fly into the water flowing out of the ponds. Always remember, there are a lot of boulders here.

The western most end of Flat Neck Point — where Captain's Harbor opens into the Long Island Sound, the area out front of Old Greenwich Cove, the Mianus River and Greenwich Harbor, inside of Island Beach and Captains Island — features a big boulder point that also is worth dropping a chunk or two of bunker around. Just off the point is the No. 2 can, a red nun that marks the harbor, and is a regular stop with the bunker chunking crowd looking for bluefish.

Sugar Boat

Back in the early days, Cos Cob Harbor was an active port for traders bringing molasses and other supplies to Greenwich area residents. One fateful night in January, a vessel sank just off the western edge of Greenwich Point. Only 100 yards from shore, the crew only saw the lights of Long Island and set out swimming. Unaware that safety was close by, they drowned in the process. The wreck lies just south of what now is known as windsurfer beach, and just offshore of where a groin sticks out from a parking lot, not too far from the big brown house of the park's caretaker.

This wreck is called the Sugar Boat, and over the years the wreck has produced blackfish to about 8 pounds, porgy, bluefish, weakfish and striped bass. The wreck used to be marked by a small red marker, but it has been a few years since I paid attention to it. This is a spot worth dropping a chunk at for a good 15 to 20 minutes on the outgoing tide, when fish are moving out of the harbors.

The Mouth of Old Greenwich Cove

The mouth of Old Greenwich Cove is a striper haven. Fish will take up position here to ambush bait being swept out by the tide. The north side of the entrance is Riverside, Connecticut, featuring a little park area with a picnic table. This point is surrounded by rocks and eel grass. The south side of the harbor's entrance features a large sand bar island.

In the early morning on an outgoing tide, the northside point is an excellent place to work a surface plug and a bucktail. Because the area is rocky, be careful when working the bucktail; I probably have deposited enough there to supply the local tackle shop for years.

Start your drift from inside of the cove upcurrent of the point. Work your plug or fly into the grass before the point, and then all along the shoreline until you sweep past the last area of grass on the western most tip of the point. When you drift by the point, keep casting, there are numerous rockpiles just inside of the channel, and stripers tend to hang throughout this area.

For chunking and live baiting, anywhere along the point will produce excellent fishing. Stripers are constantly moving through this area. Both anchoring and drifting will work as well for bait fishing. My favorite position is off the westernmost tip of grass just inside of the channel. Both blues and bass cruise through here.

Across the cove's entrance is the sand island, an area worth throwing a plug and bucktail through as well, althoug not generally as productive as the Riverside edge.

Horseshoe Beach

Just outside of the cove is what I call Horseshoe Beach. The southeastern corner is the mouth of Old Greenwich Cove, while the southwestern corner is the mouth of the Mianus River. This area is also extremely productive, but, as I have said all along, watch out for rocks. Fish pass by this spot in and out of the river and the cove.

The house that sits on the big rock or small island on the Mianus River side of the beach is a great fishing spot. When approached from the dead south, the rock has an indent. Anchoring just outside of this indent and work baits, both chunked and live, through the little dent area. This spot has produced countless numbers of stripers, and bluefish too, over the years. I can remember fishing here on a summer afternoon under the high sun and catching numerous stripers on live bunker. Always give this spot a shot.

Inside Old Greenwich Cove

Back inside Old Greenwich Cove, the fall migration has always been a prime time to find schools of schoolie stripers to about 10 pounds inside the cove feeding on peanut bunker or small shiners. I can remember skipping work to get out here where we would catch one after another all day long on those flat, warm autumn days. When this happens, look for birds working the bait.

A great spot to begin checking is near the Bush Holy Grove, a parking area along the causeway near where two large stone structures force traffic to slow down. You can find it at the bend on the southeastern inside shore of the cove. I favor a southern wind blowing the boat north, adjacent to the grass toward the gate house of the park. There are a number of rocks that fish seem to hang around here, so work it thoroughly. And this is a great spot to work from the shore. During the fall run, fish will pack bait into this area and work it all day long.

I can remember as a kid watching some old timers troll sandworms through Here. They always caught mammoth fish. I have not seen that size fish for a couple of decades, however, there usually are good numbers here in the autumn.

Always give Green Island a once over. It is in the middle of the cove, and it can be a hot spot. There is a good little bar on the northern tip of the island that has produced numerous schoolies. On the southwestern edge of the island, there is a big rock with some graffiti on it. Just off that, rock bass seem to hold here quite regularly. It's a good spot to fish bait if you can keep away from the moorings of the local yacht club.

Heading out of the cove, there are a number of houses high on a cliff on the Riverside shoreline, bordered by two coves. This shoreline frequently yields a couple of nice schoolies to plugs and flies when you can drift the area on the current without being blown into shore, or too far away.

Inside the cove of that shoreline is a little cove bordered on its northeast edge by a big rock. Inside the cove is a saltwater pond that will flow out with the tide. The rock is always good to work a plug around, as is the outflow.

These few spots should provide you with some exceptional fishing on fly, spin or plug. Greenwich Point is a hot spot, and give it a go. However, always be respectful of other boats working the area, and those on the shoreline. There are countless number of spots close by that shoreline anglers cannot access.