The Benmar Fishing Report

We had a nice group from Springfield MA out on the BENMAR today.  The bites were pretty constant.  Some of the fish were caught, some were missed and some were “lost at the boat” according to Capt. George.  This usually means that a little overexuberance at the critical time allows the fish to get away just before it is netted.  However, 3 nice bass keepers did get into the cooler along with 17 jumbo porgies.  A bluefish was on for a while but cut the leader with its sharp teeth.  The ride back to the dock was extremely foggy so that Capt. George had to use his vast captaining skills (combined with modern electronics) to avoid the rocks, lighthouses and tacking sailboats.  Another good June day!  We’re going to be sorry to see this month come to an end but July, August, September and October hold the promise of many great trips and fine adventures.  Capt. George has excellent dates available for your private charter experience.  Give him a call at 413-374-4199!!

Another group of regulars returned for some chunking out on the rockpiles around Watch Hill.  The fishing was a bit slower than yesterday with only 3 keepers caught but the group had a good time and appreciated Capt. George staying out a little longer than usual to get a few quality fish to take home.  We are still waiting for the Blues to show up in force and we expect them any day.  Not everyone likes to eat them but their fighting ability cannot be questioned.  When the blues mix in with the stripers the action can be hot and heavy! 

Steve P and several of his buddies came out to enjoy one of the best weather days of the season.  Steve has been going out on the BENMAR since the boat got into chartering and he always has the classic attitude that “a bad day of fishing is better than a good day at work”!  Fortunately the guys had a pretty good day of fishing catching numerous stripers including 5 keepers up to 34 inches.  The fish were very fat and healthy looking and I’m sure the fillets will be put to good use, perhaps during a backyard barbeque!  A few of the boys were going on to the casino to complete their mini vacation.  Hope the tables were as friendly as the ocean was today!

Some sites may only write a report when the fishing was good.  We try to give our anglers a report on every trip so they can get an accurate picture of whats going on out there!  Todays trip was pretty slow with only a few bass caught, one of which was a keeper.  Everyone tried their best but for whatever reason, the fish were not active.  However, the company was great and the folks had a pretty good taste of ocean fishing and want to come back for another charter.

We had a nice return visit from our Poughkeepsie NY friends who were out the previous week.  They had another nice day with lots of hookups. 5 Bass exceeded the legal size limit and they also scored a bunch of the jumbo porgies which sometimes bite on the striper baits.  Meanwhile Capt. John and a buddy went down to Misquamicut to check out the fluke fishing.  Because fish have to be over 19.5 inches to keep, he fished in deep waters with large baits.  They caught 9 nice fluke and 4 of them were keepers up to 22 inches. 

Another nice day on the water but the stripers were harder to find.  Jumbo porgies were stealing the bait right and left but the nice family from PA were persistent and did get two nice keeper bass to bring home to Harrisburg.   Capt. George has plenty of openings in July and August including some prime weekend dates.  So far, this season has produced good to excellent bass fishing.  Porgies are biting great and are really huge!  The blues are starting to come in stronger now.  Fluke fishing requires patience due to a minimum size limit that requires most fish caught to be returned.  On a full day charter Capt. George will provide a “combo” trip (bass and fluke or bass and porgies) at no extra cost.  To book a charter please call 413-374-4199.

A group of Hartford firefighters was out today.  This trip was a special “makeup” that Capt. George provided at cost because their blackfish charter last fall was cut short due to weather issues.  This time the weather gods and fishing gods decided to smile on the group because everything was in the A+ category.  Perhaps due to Dan Flynn’s secret offering to the sea, the group caught a whole bunch of stripers and brought home a nice limit catch.

Another good day at the reefs.  8 nice keeper bass and 7  “accidental” jumbo porgies  with pretty consistent action.  We have a nice pattern going.  The weather has cooperated and so have the fish!

After a rare day off Capt. George was back on the water at 6AM this morning with Chad from Washington D.C., a veteran BENMAR angler and a couple of his buds.  They had pretty constant striper action on a rockpile east of Fishers Island.  By noon, the limit was in the cooler with the biggest about 35 inches.  Nice fat fish with deepwater sea lice here and there that indicate they are still arriving from offshore.  In addition to the stripers, a number of jumbo porgies were caught with one measuring over 19 inches.  Now that’s a beeeeg porgeeee!

Captain George had promised a fishing excursion to various family members today.  Despite the brisk west winds, everyone was ready to go and brave the wavy conditions out on the Watch Hill reefs.  The intrepid anglers were rewarded with a good striper bite and they managed 10 keepers before calling it a day.  Ryan Piper had the biggest linesider of the day and therefore has bragging rights at least until the next trip!  The BENMAR is booked up for the rest of June but there are plenty of open dates for July and beyond.

See more photos on the BenmarCharters.com Photo Gallery.

Fred from NY and four of his buddies had a nice trip today taking advantage of the bargain-priced weekday special.  They managed ten nice keeper stripers and lots of action out near Catumb Rocks in a half day of fishing!  Capt. George plans to keep the weekday special going throughout the summer……$500 for a great outting on one of the best charter boats in CT! 

Today was a beautiful day on the water with mild temperatures, light wind, and low humidity.  We were glad to share it with Mark A. who has been going out on the BENMAR for many years.  He is a vivid character who loves to fish and appreciates all the gifts of the ocean, large and small.  We started  fishing for Stripers out near Watch Hill and boated a couple of beauties.  Then we drifted in several spots for bottom fish and scored a few jumbo porgies and a sea bass.  We ended the day on an inshore reef and picked up another striper along with some more jumbo porgies.  A large fluke and a few black fish which had to be returned since they are out of season, spiced up the day’s catch. 

The weekend provided knockout striper fishing with all three trips coming back to the dock with limit catches.  The fishing was challenging due to faster tides associated with the new moon.  On Monday, the tides were really ripping and the numbers were down a bit but Capt. George and his anglers kept at it and came home with 5 big keepers.  The bite continues to be in the “good to excellent” category for stripers, “fair”for fluke and “heating up” for porgies.  Blues are not around yet in good numbers but we expect them to arrive in force very soon.

Capt. George just called in from the Watch Hill Reefs to report that the Junior Falcon Hockey Dads limited out on Striped Bass up to 35 inches.  It was another great day on the water and everyone had a blast!

Last year Joe booked a trip and we never got out due to weather.  He let his deposit “ride” into this season and was finally rewarded with a great day on the water!  A limit of stripers, a 24 inch fluke, some very large porgies and assorted other denizens of the deep made up a great day for this nice group of guys!  It looks like the season has really popped!  June is quite booked up but there are plenty of days available in July which is traditionally when we catch the most stripers.  Blues will also be running pretty good by then and of course the porgies should be a great side catch. 

Nice day on the water and very productive!

Red and his bartender crew from work quickly “limited-out” on Striped Bass today.

Today’s catch included:
12 keeper Striped Bass up to 39″
1 keeper Fluke

4 Blackfish (Tautog) throwbacks
(Can’t keep…they are out of season.)

Pictures to come soon.

The Zazzaro/Bush/Turner group enjoyed their trip last week, the returned this Saturday!

 Nice group of fish, with a hefty 36″ caught by Mary Turner. Nice Job!!!

Thanks to Joe Zazzaro of Westfield for sending us this great photo from their trip with Benmar Custom Charters on May 29, 2010!

This is Tom Bush of Lee, MA with a beautiful 36″ Striped Bass, weighing in at 25-27 lbs.