06/18/2026
Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen from Zack here at Zah's Bait and Tackle. We are located here at 204 B Main Street in Portland, CT, just across the street from Walgreens pharmacy at the intersection of Route 66 and Main Street. We're a quick stop over the Arigoni bridge from Middletown on the way to the shoreline, and a fast stop on your way out to great freshwater spots like the Salmon River, Moodus Reservoirs, and more!
It's about 1:00 here as I write this post this morning, and we are open until 6 PM.
We got some orders in today and just wanted to let everyone know we restocked on Zah's hats, stick worms from both YUM and Gary Yamamoto, ultralight combos, and push button spin cast zebcos for the kids! YMCA Fishing camp will be starting soon here in town and we have everything you need to get your young angler ready for camp!
We're also still loaded up with bait of all kinds for both fresh and saltwater!
Shiners (small, medium, and large), nightcrawlers, troutworms, dillyworms, eels, sandworms, and a limited amount of bloodworms for live bait.
Squid, spearing, clam chum, bunker, herring, mackerel, smelt, suckers, and more for frozen bait with more clams coming tomorrow!
Striped bass fishing continues to be very good south of Essex on the Connecticut River as well as the inshore reefs and the Race and Plum Gut! Live eels, bucktail jigs, diamond jigs, soft plastics on jigheads, flutter spoons, topwater plugs like the Doc and the Waterdog, trolling tube and worm, as well as chunked bunker all seem to be producing fish, depending on the time and place, all of which we have in stock!
Porgy and Sea Bass fishing have been heating up with the warmer temperatures and I've been selling more rigs lately which tells me guys are catching them! Sandworms, squid and clams are the hot baits, and clam chum helps draw the fish in! We've got plenty of rigs in stock as well as loads of bait!
Fluke fishing continues to be hit or miss but lots of short fish around with the occasional keeper or 2. Bucktails, drift spoons, poisontails, and fluke rigs have all been popular methods, with the hot baits being GULP!, squid and spearing, all of which we have in stock.
Carp and catfish have been fishing very well on the Connecticut River as well with the best action being around sunset. We have plenty of bait for catfish as well as a small variety of carp rigs, hooks, and pop up corn. I did some fishing yesterday with a carp pro who highly recommends just a few kernels of corn on a hair rig for the best action!
Freshwater bass fishing has also been very good with many anglers catching quality fish locally on senkos, yum dingers, topwater frogs, as well as large shiners and small live sunfish. We do have large shiners in stock as well as quite the variety of bass lures and tackle. Come on down and pick some up before hitting your favorite lake, River or pond!
If you're headed out today, keep an eye on the radar as there is possibility for some thunderstorms, but luckily the weekend looks great for fishing! "Make memories!" - Mark Grover and "Have Luck!" - Carl Winicki and now Zack Hintz of zahsgratefulguideservice and Dare Devil Sportfishing!
