The Benmar Fishing Report

A tale of two trips today.  The morning charter had a hard time finding fish.  Just a couple of small bass, a nice sea bass and a blue were brought to the deck.  Capt. George felt it wasn’t up to BENMAR standards and offered a free trip to the group even though they said they were happy and had a great time.  The afternoon trip was much better with a lot more action from the stripers and blues.  There were 6 keeper stripers in the cooler and some blues and porgies as well. 

Mark, Joe and George did a little bassin and porgy fishing yesterday.  The porgies were absolutely huge and they took home a cooler full.  They added a nice bluefish as well.  The bass were not as cooperative.  A couple of shorts were caught but the tide was running really strong and the big ones just wouldn’t bite!

Freddy from NY brought his group down early today and got out for some pretty good fishing before the wind really kicked up to over 25 knots.  The group managed about 8 or 9 bass with four keepers up to 39 inches (caught by the lovely lady who joined the men for the outting).  There were a few porgies also!

Another day of good striper fishing with more than a dozen fish put on the deck and several “almosts”.  The Jason B. group had a good day and brought home seven nice keepers with the biggest going 37 inches…..a nice cow!  For some reason blues took a powder today….maybe it was the full moon. 

Despite temperatures over 90 degrees inland, Capt. George reports the conditions out to sea were beautiful.  Not too hot with a gentle breeze made for a great day on the water.  The fish were pretty cooperative and the group went home with 5 keeper bass and a nice sized blue.  There were a number of other fish caught that were released to fight another day.

Porgies, blues and bass were all biting on this trip and our group of anglers had a ball filling the cooler with delectable fare for the table.  They went home with 7 nice keeper bass and many blues and porgies.  This summer has been great so far and the weather pattern continues to be favorable for great trips aboard the BENMAR.  We have open dates and can accommodate your party.  Call the capt. @ 413-374-4199

Striped Bass fishing continues to be good to excellent.  Todays charter boated over 15 bass and they went home with 7 nice keepers up to 35 inches.  Chunking on the reefs has been the preferred method.  Our anglers like the fact that they set the lines, hook the fish and fight them all the way into the net while the boat is at anchor instead of dragging heavy wire line behind a trolling boat.

The nice couple from yesterday had a return trip on the BENMAR today and wanted to try some fluking down off Misquamicut.  The fish were biting pretty well but the 19 1/2 inch minimum size proved elusive.  About a dozen nice fluke were boated but all were a bit short and thus returned to the briny deep.  On the way back to port, the group stopped for some late tide bass action at Watch Hill reef and pulled up quite a few.  But again, the minimum size was not exceeded and thus it was catch and release.   Saturday is open due to a cancellation.  Give Capt. George a call at 413-374-4199.

Yesterday Capt. George took a nice family group for a cruise around Fishers Island.  The seas were calm, The wine and cheese were out on the table and everyone just kicked back and had a relaxing time.  Of course, Capt. George had his fishfinder on and was looking for new spots and fish concentrations as he motored around the island.  Today, the fog was intense but the BENMAR made it out to some productive areas and caught several bass up to 35 inches.  A bluefish also made his way into the cooler.  The same group is going out again tomorrow so we hope for less fog so the BENMAR can get around a little faster and find the big fish!

The Murphy clan graced the BENMAR today and both adults and kids had a great time hauling in the stripers.  11 year old Meagan was high hook!  They brought home 6 nice keepers up to 35 inches and also had a number of throwbacks. Capt. George has both Friday and Saturday (July 16 and 17) open due to a cancellation.  So if you want to get in on some good striper action give him a call at 413-374-4199.

The Sryacuse gang got up early and were leaving the dock at 5:30 AM to try to improve on their tally of bass from yesterday.  Well I guess practice makes perfect because they scored early and often on their way to a limit of bass by about 10AM.  The biggest bass was around 34 inches and 20 pounds.  Nice fat healthy linesiders, some of which had sea lice on them which means they are still coming in from deeper waters!  Back to upstate New York for these avid anglers with a nice full cooler of fillets to roast on the barbie! 

Capt. George still has available dates especially the during the last two weeks of July.  Sometimes people think stripers are better in the cooler months but our log book indicates otherwise.  July is defintely a great month for stripers and blues, fluke, sea bass, porgies and blackfish are often in the mixed bag of many trips.

A nice group from Syracuse who have been out on the BENMAR before, came down for the weekend for trips today and tomorrow out to the reefs for bass.  Today’s trip involved some heavy fog in the morning so Capt. George made his first stop at a spot near Mystic harbor.  The group bagged a couple of nice keeper bass plus a decent sized blackfish.  As the tide started to turn, the group changed locations to a rockpile out by Watch Hill.  The fishing was a bit spotty but three more nice keeper bass were added to the cooler along with some fat porgies.  The blues weren’t around like yesterday but there were a couple of “cutoffs” that were probably the work of the “choppers”.  They plan to get an early start tomorrow to fish the incoming tide from the start. 

After a few days off, Capt. George was back on the water today with the Foley group from West Springfield MA.  The warm weather must have really got things hopping because the fishing was really good!  Lots of bass (11 keepers) and now the big blues (4 keepers) are also here to keep the anglers busy!  A full cooler, and tired anglers is always the goal on the BENMAR and today was another home run!

We finished up the month of June with some hot fishing for bass and jumbo porgies.  The weather was very kind to us and the forecast is for more of the same.  Capt. George has been enjoying some well-earned rest over the last few days.  He is out today and called in with a report of some early action on the reefs but things had slowed down and he was trying some different areas.  It’s all about the bait fish……where they go….so go the bass and blues we are after.  This warm weather should get some large schools of baitfish moving into Fishers Island sound.