The Benmar Fishing Report

We had a hearty group of anglers today who decided to brave the inclement weather and go out on Fishers Island sound after some blackfish.  Despite rain that was coming down pretty good at times, they fished right through it and bagged about a dozen nice tog up to 19 inches, 5 keeper sea bass and a bunch of porgies.  The bites were fairly constant and they did well considering the distraction of wind and rain.  The sea bass were a welcome surprise.  Generally, there are not that many of keeper size inside the Island.  So far this fall, there seems to be lots of fish around and we expect some great “brochure” type catches on upcoming trips!

Our anglers scored a nice mixed bag today with three keeper stripers up to 35 inches, 7 or 8 big blues, 9 keeper blackfish and, of course, lots of other fish that were returned to the deep.   Good action, good eatin’ and good times!

October 1st reopened the Blackfish season.  Capt. George took mate Allen and his buddy, Nightcrawler, out to see if any “crab crunchers” were around since he has a number of blackfish special charters comming up this month.  In two stops, the trio caught about 50 of the tasty, toothy, critters plus a bunch of big porgies.  A lot of the fish were throwbackers but it was no problem to come up with their limit of nice tog in just a few hours.   The Captain is running a blackfish special for $500 for the rest of the season so give him a call if you want to get in on the action and put some of those delicious filets in your freezer for the winter months.

A bit breezy but otherwise a nice day on the water.  We had Mark the porgy expert on the boat today and he and his buddies hauled them up until the cooler was filled with their limit of 45 fish each!  We also fished a while for stripers and blues….hooking up with both species.  They kept one nice bass and one hefty blue.  We were back at the dock in early afternoon before the wind got really bothersome.

The hard tides backed off  a little bit and the fishing improved.  We had an equal mix of bass and blues with our anglers catching about a dozen of each species.  Two of the stripers were keepers and the guys brought home a bunch of blues as well.

We have open dates this coming weekend 9/26-27.  The tides should be just right for good striper action! 

It was a perfect September day on the water.  We had a great group on board who have gone out with us for several years.  For them, a fishing trip is a great opportunity to get together, swap stories, get in a few practical jokes and get away from the daily routine for a while.  Throw in a few fish here and there and you have a very enjoyable day.  Due to very hard “perigee” tides, the bigger stripers were not cooperating.  We also had a little bad luck on a few of our bigger bites where the rods really buckled but the fish just didn’t get hooked.  Our anglers did boat 5 blues, 3 of which were of the “slammer” variety and they decked about 8 stripers but none exceeded the 28 inch minimum size.  In the “exotic” category they caught a real nice sea bass and also a fluke, which had to go back in, of course, since it was out of season.

Mark and Joe came out today in search of porgies and were not disappointed!  They limited out (45 fish each) on slab-sized scup up to 17 inches.  In addition, they had a bycatch of 5 stripers and 3 blues.  It was a day of constant action and a nice way for Mark to spend his birthday!  We have good dates available including some weekends.  Don’t forget the blackfish special in October!

Blues, Blues & more Blues!

We had 1 “Keeper” Striped Bass and three “throw-backs” Saturday.

The Blues were agressively taking everything they could. We hooked 30 during the course of the day, with a monster Bluefish measuring 39″.

A beautiful day to be out on the sea!  Fishing was pretty good with about 10 stripers landed (3 keepers), 4 or 5 bluefish and several jumbo porgies.  A nice bunch of filets to bring home for some great fish dinners! 

Due to a cancellation, Sunday 09/20/09 is now available! This is prime time for Striped Bass.

Call Capt. George at 413-374-4199.

Wind with a capital “W” was the word of the day today. Not a wash-out, though… One 46″ Striped Bass was brought over the rail. A couple of cut-off Bluefish and several smaller “throw-back” Striped Bass as well.

Captain George reports an excellent day of action on the Sound. Seven “keeper” Striped Bass up to 37″ for the day, with 12 “Throw-backs”. A good number of Porgies and Bluefish, as well. Weather and water conditions were as good as they get! A beautiful day. Photos to come…

Beginning October 1st, Capt. George will be offering specials on Blackfish charters.

He is offering 6 hour trips for $500 (plus $100 minimum tip for the mate).

This is a great time of year to fish and Blackfish (Tautog) is one of the most delicious fish you will have ever had.

If you never tried it… Very mild, similar in texture and taste to Grouper, in my opinion.

We have openings for charters on Monday, September 7.  Come on out for some end of summer fun.  The fishing has been quite good for stripers and blues plus the porgy limit for charter boats goes to 45 fish per person on 9/1!

Gary, Rich and Chris from Bristol, CT went out with Capt. George at 8AM today.  It was the first time since  Hurricane Bill passed offshore that the Captain went outside Fishers Island sound to fish the Watch Hill reefs.  The seas had been very riled up for a few days but things were pretty nice out there today despite the fact that the tides were still running strong.  The guys did hook up with numerous fish, boating about 12 striped bass, 6 blues and a number of jumbo porgies.  The bass were just short of keeper size but did provide a lots of entertainment! 

We enjoyed a beautiful day on the water with John and Eddie who were in Mystic for a little R&R.  Although they professed to be “novices” and never having caught any ocean fish, they mastered the chunking technique quite quickly and caught about a half dozen stripers plus two slammer bluefish.  Only one of the stripers was a keeper but John also wanted to keep the bluefish because he knows that, handled and cooked properly, blues can be really delicious!  He should know because he formerly owned a restaurant in Westport.  Not wanting to disappoint him, we carefully bled the big bruisers and put them on ice.  We gutted each fish on the way back to the dock including removal of all the gills.  I hope the fish feast is A-One!

Capt. George took a nice group out today for an economy trip starting at 9:30AM.  With the new moon tomorrow, the tides were fast so the Capt. decided to chunk with mackerel on some shallow reef spots where the anglers would be able to get down to the fish.  It was a good plan because there was plenty of action with stripers and large porgies.  The weather was really nice and everyone had a good time.  The group didn’t convert every opportunity but did haul in 3 nice keeper bass up to 33 inches.   With the right method and location, you don’t have to get up at 4:30 to catch fish!  The best fishing months are September and October….don’t let the season pass you by!

Capt. George reports 5 “Keeper” Striped Bass, a number of “throw-backs” and some healthy Porgies for this Sunday.

Capt. George reports a great day on the Sound!

Five “keeper” Striped Bass and nine Bluefish.

Catch of the day: 40″ Striped Bass

Photos to come this week…

Benmar News Flash…A number of weekdays are still open and available for charter.A couple of PRIME Weekends are also available, but booking fast!Call Capt. George Rettew at 413-374-4199 to see what is still available.We are in the middle of the choice time of the season and the fishing has been great.Call us now!

Mark from New York City’s Metro Auto Body and Towing made his customary trip out for Porgies Tuesday. Mark “limited-out” on Porgies, ranging between 15 and 19 inches. He also got 3 “keeper” Striped Bass. Mark loves the constant action of the Porgies, which kept him busy with something on the line every few minutes.

Jason Balog, the “Band of Brothers” and his father had a great day fishing Sunday! They had 8 “keeper” Striped Bass, a lot of “throw-backs” and three nice Bluefish. They plan on coming back in the fall for another trip.

Linda Voll, her father and sister enjoyed a busy day of fishing on Saturday. Five “keeper” Striped Bass were caught, with the largest in at 38″.

Mark from Metro Auto Body in NYC wanted to go specifically for Porgies and Capt. George reports some very nice ones were caught this day. A good number in the cooler…

Capt. George reports a great trip was had by Fran Santaniello’s group this Monday. They “limited-out” on Striped Bass, caught a few Bluefish and some big Porgies.

Captain George reports several nice Striped Bass on Sunday, ranging up to 38″.

Skies actually brightened in the morning, after an early thunderstorm.The change in pressure seemed to shut down the fishing this day.Late morning… the area was hit with a squall that sent us back to the dock. Safety first! High winds, heavy rain and lightning continued after we got back. In the end, the Mystic/Stonington area reported over 8″ of rain just that morning!We managed to get one Striped Bass “throw-back” and had two Bluefish “cut-offs”.

The Zazzaro group sends along this photo of their May 30th trip.Looks like they had a great time!

Foggy again today, but what else is new this week?

Fishing was a little slower than the block-busting Friday trip, but still some nice “keeper” Striped Bass today. Two in the neighborhood of 34″.

We went fishing for Fluke for about an hour and a half. The minimum size now is 19.5″. We had 4 “keeper” Fluke and one monster at 27″.

Capt. George reports the fog has been extremely heavy for the last week.

The Benmar is fully equipped with GPS mapping and color radar. The equipment and Capt. George’s 30+ years experience in the area make getting to the hot spots easy.

Saturday had two trips doubled-up this day. The morning trip had 7 “keeper” Striped Bass ranging 32″-34″. The afternoon trip had 9 “keeper” Striped Bass ranging up to 34″ as well.