As any responsible fishermen would do, we shifted our work and household responsibilities and joined Chris and his friend, Rob Lanza, for an afternoon of blacks, blues and bass.

We left the dock at around 1 p.m. and headed toward the western side of Long Island Sound. About a 30-minute ride later, we were on one of the captain’s preferred fishing spots.

We rigged up four poles with 8 ounces of weight and some heavy-duty blackfish hooks on a three-way and prepared to do battle with the blackfish. We had two kinds of bait.

The first were Japanese crabs, which measure an inch or so across the body and pinch a little, but not too hard. We hooked the crabs through the back of one of the legs and through the abdomen.

The other bait was green crabs, which were were much larger, measuring a good 2½ inches across, and they pinch a lot harder.

We split the green crabs in half to expose the gooey inside and removed the long legs to avoid free meals for the togs. While anchored over structure, we dropped the lines down, sat back, and tried to figure out how much George Steinbrenner was going to pay for Pedro.

For those of you who haven’t fished for blacks, I will try to explain the hook setting technique. There is a small window of opportunity to set the hook correctly or you will just be feeding the fish for free.

After the first or second quick tap the blackfish is already eating the bait. Unlike blues that like to run with your bait, blackfish will chew and leave, sometimes without you even knowing it.

By the second quick tap, you probably should have set the hook already or you are looking for another crab in the basket. After a couple of whacks and misses, it doesn’t take long to figure out this technique.

Among the four of us, we managed some short blacks and put some keepers in the cooler, but with daylight burning, we wanted to hit the tide drift for striped bass.

We motored over to Southwest reef, hooked up three rods, and three-way rigged bucktails tipped with Uncle Josh pork rinds. It took a good 10 seconds before all three rods were bent, and we hooked up with bluefish after bluefish after bluefish, with an occasional striper in the mix.

Matt has managed a few small blues in his life, but fish exceeding the 12-pound class were new to him.

The look of excitement on his face will carry him through the sore forearms he was sure to have the next morning.

Around an hour or so before sundown, we hit the slack tide. Slack tide is when the outgoing, or incoming for that matter, is at its peak.

The water stands still and that makes drifting impossible, or does it? With fish on the fish finder stacked like people trying to get a flu shot, the captain had a trick up his sleeve.

Power drifting is the tip of the week. With all the rods down, the captain slowly rolls the boat into gear and forces a drift. It is a lot slower than trolling but just as effective as drifting.

All totaled we landed some blackfish, kept one striper, released dozens of good sized bluefish, and tossed back the biggest porgy I’ve ever seen. Special thanks to Chris for the invitation.

High Seas Charters will be running through November and there are still some dates open. You can visit their Web site at www.highseascharters.com or call (203) 530-4492.

NOW FOR THE SCOOP

The freshwater talk of the day is the salmon on the Naugatuck and Shetucket rivers. Fishing is great with some in the 6-12-pound range being consistently caught.

This fishery is catch and release only until Nov. 30. From Dec. 1 through March 31, there is a one fish per day creel limit. The only legal method to use is a single fly or a lure with a single, free-swinging hook.

Landlocked browns in Candlewood and East Twin Lake as well as Squantz Pond have been keeping anglers busy. The river trout on the Farmington, Farmington TMA, Housatonic, and Salmon rivers are being tricked and not treated by deeply fished nymphs, such as a pheasant tail as well as gray and black ghost streamer flies and very small blue winged olives.

Candlewood and Cedar lakes seem to be the hotter spot for largemouth bass. Lanza, one of the guys on trip described above, is a freshwater tournament fisherman and gives me a new resource to tap for information.

As far as saltwater goes, I think you have most of it. The porgy season opens on Monday and as the water gets colder, the blackfishing will only get better. I expect to see the blues here for at least a couple more weeks until they leave for good.

Is there something you would like to see in this column that hasn’t been covered? Contact Dennis Barnum at barnum70@aol.com.