A check of the calendar shows we have three more weekends until the end of the summer, so if you haven't had the chance, now is a good time to take advantage of our local waters and the variety of fish they offer. Blue fishing, especially, is at its summer peak.

Mark at Hillyers Tackle reported The Race loaded with blues, all the fish drawing people to the local party boats even during our rainy days. Porgy catches are good on any rock pile from the mouth of Jordan Cove over to Black Point. Striper fishing is steady at night on three-wayed live eels from Outer Bartletts out to Valiant Shoal and the Sluiceway. Shore anglers have a chance for smaller bass at Harkness Park just at sunset.

Captain Brad Glas of the Hel-Cat said the blue fishing is best described as "all you could ever want and as good as it gets." Some days they are able to stay in one area depending on the time of tide change but on others days they fished two different spots to get the most out of the time. While blues make up the bulk of the catch, there were some bass mixed in like the 19.8-pounder by Erik Carlson who caught the big fish of the week.

I got in touch with Captain Jack Balint Wednesday via cell out on the water on a charter with Jimmy and Kim Duffy from Pennsylvania. The pair caught some blues on light tackle early in the morning at Watch Hill then headed to Race Point for more blues on their four-hour trip. Jimmy is a die-hard golfer who traded clubs for fishing rod on this trip to try some of our world class blue fishing and was very satisfied he and his wife did so.

There are also casting opportunities, said Jack, at the Sluiceway and Gull Island, the same for the stretch from Goshen to Bartletts, mostly blues with some bass mixed in. Fluke reports were good from the north side of Montauk Point and porgies ready for the catching on any rock pile from Niantic over into Fishers Island Sound.

Shore anglers up in the Thames River landed a mix of blues and mostly short fluke on chunks on the bottom. Rhode Island surf fishing was pretty poor, maybe a few bass at Watch Hill and perhaps some smaller ones caught by wading along the sandy beach on the north side of Napatree Point if the bugs are not too bad.

Roger at J&B Tackle said three different skippers saw a thresher shark in The Race this week chasing the bluefish around, not that unusual an occurrence at this time of season when blues are at their summer peak. Fluking is good on the south side of Block Island in 80-90 feet, some of the fish over 10 pounds. Bass are best at night as the blues are thick during the day in the Middle Race.

We weighed in an 8.35-pound fluke on Tuesday, said Don at King Cove, plus a 21-pound striper caught on a tube and worm by the grandson of John Seremet of Stonington, the young man's first bass. Fluke and sea bassing has been good over at Block Island: fluke on the south side, sea bass on the West Grounds or Southwest Ledge.

Some 5-7 inch bunkers showed up in some of the coves along Route 1 and the Mystic River, good news for striper fishermen who live to use bunker for bait. You might get some school bass from shore at Stonington Point or catch one on a chunk from the dock by the commercial boats.

Al Golinski fished down off Misquamicut in 70 feet of water for six keeper fluke and also reported a friend who went over to Block Island had a good catch of fluke but a neighbor of his that followed up a few days later caught almost nothing.

Mark at River's End got reports about fluke to 12 pounds caught this week on trips to Block Island from various docks and ramps in eastern Connecticut. One fellow also saw some bonito on top out there, the first such sighting this summer. Small boaters found blues and some bass on top at times chasing small butterfish from Goshen Reef over to Inner Bartletts. Another small boater up very early in the day landed keeper bass on a light rod casting at the mouth of the Connecticut River but that was the exception not the rule.

Tim Coleman is The Day's saltwater fishing columnist. He can be reached at thewreckhunter@aol.com