Captain
Satch and Sons... Wells Harbor,Me.
" 2004 Season highlights"
"India's Marie's"
First Blue fin Tuna!
Korey Sweatt (NY) landed India's first blue fin Tuna on
Wednesday, August 11th...
Korey fought his 50 pound Tuna for
forty-four minutes and landed him
approx 3/4 of a mile from his hookup........
First mate
Keith McAvoy (left) stood by with the harpoon and directed the
action. It was the best and most prolonged fishing fight I've ever
witnessed. Schools of Blue fin tuna are abundant in our waters during
the months of August and September. The "India Marie" is licensed
by the National Marine Fisheries Service to land these blue ghosts of
the seas, but it is not your typical trophy. We've landed some really great fish on
our offshore trips*SEE PICS
BELOW* this season, but catching our 1st Blue fin is
a really special accomplishment.
Congratulations Kory!
Capt Satchies weekly update 2004
season!
Below are a few of our latest picture requests...."left" Adam Battles (Ma)
with his 25 pound trophy cod,
caught on Sept 24th ...Picture by Captain Whit....."Right" Les Paul (ME) enjoying
another beautiful day offshore day with a 10 pound pollock, Captain Den with his wife Linda in the
background.
We've still been running inshore trips at our guests requests. On
Sunday October 10th, we found large schools of Blue fin Tuna within a
mile of the beach. We had a great time chasing them with Sarah and Ed Aunchman (NY). In
fact, Dan Bawlick (CT) had
one striping line on one of our shark rods for at least a minute or
two. Sarah who spent summers as a mate in Booth bay harbor was right at
home, landing three nice bluefish. My
grandson Joey "left" won the pool with this nice 10 pound blue
and then spent it all shopping in the cove with Miss Sarah... Lucille Breen brought her
husband Bill aboard for their "25th plus" anniversary on the 14th of
October. We enjoyed a real nice 4 hour trip. The catch of the day was
horse- size Atlantic mackerel. Bill
"right" landed all he wanted to, as I chased
Lucille around the deck with them. I did manage to get
her to reel one about half way to the boat, before she bolted for the
cabin.
Week
ending Oct 3rd: A special thrill for Captain Satch... I had a very
special
treat this week. On Thursday evening Les and Linda Paul (ME) called and
filled the last two spots on Friday's 10 hour offshore trip. They
have kept in touch over the years, but I haven't seen Les and Linda
since Bunny Clark days at
least 9
years ago. Les
and Linda hold numerous
ground fish World records, and without doubt they are the best husband
and wife fishing team in New England.They are also
wonderful people who've always been special to me. Needless to say, I
couldn't sleep a wink Thursday night. I also had three other
experienced anglers aboard who had never fished with me before: Wayne
Laverty (CA), Frank Podilec (NY),and Russ Trieller (NY). And one
of our
best regular best anglers on the "Indi Maria", Paul Dvoretsky (Me).
Ohhh the pressure
on a
poor captain!
Well to make a long story short, Linda out fished
everyone
as usual catching over 20 nice size cod and pollock with Les
backing her up, matching her jig for jig.. As some of you have
surmised over the years, Les and Linda have a few special jigging
tricks they use to entice big fish....
At one point during the action Linda jig was bitten
off by a hugh fish,and as she was re-rigging , I stealthy dropped my
own
line. I was
fishing on the left side of her, with Les on her
right...
As
soon as I hit bottom my line started throbbing as I've only felt it
once before. After an action packed ten minute fight, I landed the 2nd largest cod of my
life, and the 2nd largest cod
ever landed on the "India
Marie".
Les and
Linda brought me back that old magic from years ago. The
only thing that could have been better would have been Les catching
this
Maine State trophy forty pounder
instead of me. Linda
Paul (ME) with a nice 20 pound steaker "left". Captain Satch with
his 40 pound trophy cod "right".
Everyone had a great day landing good size cod, pollock,
haddock and cusk in the 10 to 20 pound range. I believe Wayne and Paul
were tied for the second most fish. I saw there stout poles bent over
most of the day. Russ Trieller (NY) won the pool
with the largest pollock of his life a
beautiful 23.5 pounder "left".
Earlier in the week I hosted my cousin Ken Warzocha and his
friends from Rochester NY, on their first outing on the India Marie. It was an absolutely
beautiful weather day and this always makes for a great outing. Kenny's
friend Rich Gangemi "NY"was high hook , Rich caught steaker size cod
and pollock all though the day. Rich on the left with his 18.5 pound
cod. He was beaten for the pool by our own smiling Franklin W. Davis
(ME) who landed this nice 23.5 pounder "below left". Rounding out the
frame is a very happy"below right" is John Savinelli (MA) with his
largest ever 17.5 pound pollock........Great fall fishing
continues!!!!!!
Week
ending Sept 28th: One hell of a run ! This was "the best September" we've
ever experienced on the "India Marie".
A combination of fair skys, good biting days, and a super effort by my
great
crew made for our best offshore fishing ever. Captain Mike Osborne flew
in from California for a three day run this week. Mike is a renowned
Tuna captain who skippers out of Los Angeles. Mike's also a super guy
who's
been a tremendous help to us during our start up years.. It's an real
honor to
have a fisherman of his caliber coming all that way to fish with us.
Mike rebuilds all our striper and cod reels during the winter season
and keeps his eye out for the latest in new fishing technology and
equipment to help us keep our competitive edge. Anyway we had three
great day's offshore, I think Mike had to charter another small plane
to bring all his fillets back to the west coast. Captain Mike below
"left" with his and "India Marie's" largest hake ever a 35 pound, 38
inch Maine Trophy fish. Joe "Paco" Limbert (MA) right with his largest
ever 26 pound trophy hake.
My good friend Paco,"Trophy Joe" rounded out his day with a trophy cod of 27 pounds and a trophy
haddock of 7.5 pounds. He just wanted to say that he wished
"his good buds that coped out" on his earlier charter could have have
been there.
Another great guy who stuck by us all these years, Gil Ranta"ME" escorted Mike on his
three day adventure. We installed a bow rail this July for our guests
who love to cast a jig in solitude., and Gil made good use of it this
week Every time I walked up to the cabin their was another fish flying
thru my cabin window. Only Gil is allowed this indulgence. Anyway Gil
caught a few trophy's of his own as well as over a dozen cod and
pollock in the 17 to 20 pound range. Gil on the pulpit with his 25.5 pound
trophy cod and a 17 pound pollock and a shot looking thru my
window at his 2# trophy red fish.
It was also a pleasure to have the father and son team of Les an Lee Williams of Texas, fish
with us on Thursday. A relaxed Les spent his first
day deep
water fishing "It's only 40 feet deep in Texas you
know" sittin in his comfy lounge chair in
the starboard corner. He managed to lull all the other experienced
offshore fishermen like Pete Leman(CT) and Jeff Skinner(NH) to sleep,
then won the pool with his 28 pound trophy cod "left". Actually Peter
was high hook landing large cod and pollock all day long. Peter
released over a dozen large cod in the 10 to 18 pound range.This is
also a new boat record for most nice fish released in a single trip..
It's conservation minded anglers like Peter who teach the rest of us
the true value of our great fishery. We had another experienced but new
to us, fine angle and gentleman, Dave Manning (NH) aboard this week.
Dave landed our 2nd biggest Monkfish of the season a nice 12 pounder.
Dave was was kind enough to release his monk, after I took this picture
of him with teeth barred. But he sure wanted to keep all his cod to eat
over the long New Hampshire winter. I think Dave would have died if he
was on the boat watching as Peter was releasing those 18 pounders to
swim back to bottom.
Even last
years "fisherman of the year" had a great day as he always does. Ray "Red fish"Washburn (VT). Ray landed over 35 redfish single
handedly. Along with a few nice haddock, pollock, and cod. Another good
omen this week was the good number of large hake we managed to find. Ray Washburn shown with one of his
largest fish of his trip a nice 16 pound " left". Captain Den also landed the largest hake of his life, a
nice 20 pounder "center. And Randy
Porter (MA) also with the
largest hake of his life, a 26
pound Maine state trophy.
This weekend. we hosted the annual Chuck Porter (ME) offshore charter. Chuck's another good
friend who's fished with us since we began Striper fishing on the Gath
III all those years ago. This year Chuck brought his family on what was
probably his most fun day he's ever had with us and thats
saying something. The
family portrait below taken shortly before we left the fishing grounds.
"Left to right" John, Randy, George,
Chuck, Captain Den, Tom and Joe. Joe landed the largest pollock of his
life a 17.5 pounder. Randy's 26 pound trophy hake was featured above.
George landed double keeper catches of 10 to 15 pound pollock on at
least two occasions. Chuck tied his largest ever cod at 16.5 pounds.
Tom below won the pool with a 27.5 Marine state trophy cod, and
also caught a 7.5 pound trophy haddock, one of eleven landed in the
morning. And Joe landed many of the 40 plus pollock landed in the
afternoon. It was a good day to fish, in fact one of India's best days
of the 2004 season!
Week
ending Sept 19th: Good fishing and a
good time ! We had a great week both inshore and
offshore. On Friday's Warren Turns (NY)
charter everyone had a great day steadily landing
cod and pollock mostly in the 12 to 18 pound range. Four nice
keeper haddock rounded out the mix. Warren "left" with his largest ever 18 pound pollock, we had quite a
few double keeper pollock catches as well, including one by Captain Satch! Warren's son James "right" with his largest ever
16.5 pound cod.
While we were landing our ground fish a large
shark showed up to eat our cod as we were reeling them up. We lost two
jigs along with our fish, as she ate them on the way up. Our 50 pound jigging sticks couldn't
hold this monster..
I got out one of
our sturdy shark
poles with a Penn 114-H, and rigged it with a 180 pound Tuna leader.
Add a little herring for chum and Blam...James, Warren, and Ed, "reeling
together" in the picture below fought her for over an hour. The reel
was "smoken hot",
John and Bill Farrell had to
join in the fight as well. To make a long story short, five
tired and sore fishermen brought an exhausted 11 plus
foot, 500 plus pound Blue up to the rail after
I chased her for over a mile. Keith
had the harpoon ready in case it was a porbeagle or mako. Once
we determined it to be a Blue" not that good as table fare". I decided
not to harpoon and kill it. So we tried to gaff and loop it's tale for
a picture. A big gaff hook in her
tale woke her up, with a giant slash of it's tale against the hull of "Indi" the gaff hook straighted out, the
line parted at the swivel and she swam off to live and fight another
day. It was the largest fish we've brought to gaff on the
"India Marie" so far.. Congratulations guy's....More big sharks in the
future!
Meanwhile inshore we had a great week as well.
My good friend Dwane
Messner "MN" traveled all the way from the "Land of lakes" to
fish with us again this season. Dwane
"left" with his largest ever 13 pound bass. I was also excited
to have my "ol friends" from Cyro
Industry's
on board this Thursday. A great time was had by all,and I
believe almost everyone landed a striper. Joe Dubinsky "NJ"(
right), with a nice cunner.
Week
ending Sept 13th: Best weather of the season! The last two weeks have brought us the
nicest weather of the season. Today was absolutely fantastic and Captain
Den took great advantage of the day. Den brought Jill
Cormier "NH" on the
fishing outing of a lifetime.. Jill who requested Captain Whit as he
took her for a great trip last year, changed her mind this
morning
"Poor Captain
Whit just a faint memory in Jill's mind". Jill
landed the largest fish of her life and the 3rd largest striper on
either the "Gath
III" or the "India Marie"
this season. Jill's
trophy
striper was 42.5 inches long and weighed 28 pounds. This means the
ladies have the top three largest striped bass of the 2004
season so
far. Come on guys there's still a few good weeks of striper fishing to
go. A surprised
Jill (left) after her hookup with 1st mate Keith McAvoy coaching her on,
and a pic with Captain Den and
her special trophy on right...... Congratulations
Jill! It should be noted that her dad Gene landed a
miserly little 17.5 pound
striper as well.
We've spent
most of the week concentrating on inshore trips at our guests request.
That's the biggest accomplishment our crew has made this season, we
continue to expand our guest's range of fishing options and we're still
keeping it fun for our them and for ourselves... Next week we'll be
spending five or six, 10 hour days offshore weather permitting, if
you've been planning to go on an offshore trip, now's the time to call.
Today, I made our appointment to haul "Indi" home for the
season on Monday November 8th. "Gath III" will
be coming home on Thursday September 22nd. Thats the only thing
I don't like about fall, knowing that the season is coming to an end so
quickly.
We've
been able to
land both blues and stripers on most of our trips this week and that
makes for exciting inshore fishing. On yesterday's Phil Grenier "Me"
Charter everyone had a blast (left to right) Lynn,
Kevin, Armand, Al, Phil and Bill. You had to watch you didn't
bump your knees as Bluefish
were jumping all over the deck trying to bite anyone who wasn't paying
attention.
On
Tuesday's "Reformed Texans charter", Dave
and Nancy Garbowsky "TX" landed more stripers than they
cared to count.
Dave generally doesn't like to
over exert himself, especially on such a nice vacation day, landed the
most stripers of the trip, four or five at last count. Nancy and her friend
Terrie Messer "Tx" (left) with dinner. Stacy Williams "NH" waited
until we hit the blues to catch her fish of the day a 9 pounder "right".
Week
ending Sept 8th: A few more Trophies and such....We had a very successful labor day
weekend, with many of our guests catching the fish of their lifetime. A fine testimonial
to my grandfathers who were tireless workers and prominent leaders in
promoting the rights we enjoy as working folks in our country today. We
were able to land two, State of Maine Trophy stripers. Captain Whit started off the
action Saturday. In this magazine style cover photo taken by Whit, John Shipley (NJ)
is all smiles with his 28 pound,
39 inch striped bass.
On Monday's trip Captain
Satch followed suit. I was thrilled to watch as Liz Currie (CT)
"left"
landed
the largest striper caught on the "India Marie" this season.
Liz's trophy bass was 41.75 inches 30
pounds. Only
Kelly Roy's 43 inch 32 pound striper caught with Captain
Den aboard the Gath III was
larger. It's hard to land these beautiful fish on light line,
but Liz just did everything right. She also did it with the "Mom handicap", keeping an eye on
her well behaved boys, Evan Age 7
and Eric Age 4 at the same time she was showing her husband Rick who had bragging
rights this season.
Friday's offshore trip was excellent as well.
Craig Saums"NJ"
landed the largest fish of his life. Craig's 25 pound Trophy cod
"center" had a 25 inch girth. It was
only 39 inches long but was one of the fattest cod we've landed all
season. George
Moulton (VT) had the time of his life, landing fish
steadily all day. The largest of
his nineteen keepers was this 15.5
pound pollock "right" .
In other news, Al Timm (Ma) "left"....
" also shown
seated on his fighting chair center"....landed
more fish than he every really wanted to. Al with his largest ever 14.5 pound pollock. Al
also landed some nice cod and a
double keeper pollock catch with a 14
and 10 pound fish on the same drop. Yesterday we caught
a slew of mackerel for the first time since the bluefish arrived on
July 21st. Fall fishing is indeed setting up nicely and inshore striper
fishing especially for stripers remains very good. Rick Lacki (NY)
finally out fished his son Elliot, at
sunset Rick "right" landed his largest ever 37.5 inch 23 pound Striper.
Week
ending Sept 1st: Trophy stripers... Many
families had to return home this week to begin school a week earlier
than normal. Captain
Whit began a new year at Graduate school at Plymouth State University
this afternoon, 1st mate Joe Godin began his senior year at UNH
yesterday, and my grandson Little McCary started his first day of
kindergartin in the morning.
Captain Den who graduated with his B.S.from Fitchberg State this
spring is home to help me keep the boats running in full swing for the
fall fishing season.Den and I shared the helm on the "India Marie" this
morning for the first time since June and we had a great inshore trip.
There are allot of really nice stripers in the area fattening up for
their return trip to Delaware and Maryland. John
Brandts "Me" landed the largest striper caught on "Indi" this season and the
third largest striper on either boat this season. John's fish was 40.5
inches 26 pounds, pictured on right with Captain Den. Couldn't
have happened to a nicer guy.Congratulations John! Another great friend
and
renowned fisherman Franklin Davis
had three very large fish spool him into the rocks. Frank landed three
or four other bass the largest of which was 11 pounds..but never has
he been so close to catching the largest fish of the year. Nikki
Quartaro"NY" had no mercy on her dad Jeff. Nikki landed
three stripers the largest was the 10.5 pounder (left).
She also boated a 10 pound Blue.We all had a great time. I would consider
booking a striper trip in the next week or so if you want to try your
hand at catching that trophy.. I don't think we seen the last of them...
Best Satch !
Week
ending Aug 30th: The
girls continue to out fish the boys! We had another great week on the water.
The weather turned in our favor, every day his week was sunny with
light breezes. This made for excellent fishing. The water temp cooled
down just enough to push the large schools of Bluefish a little south,
allowing big schools of striped bass to make their way into our area on
their fall migration south. It was the best striper fishing since June with
catches exceeding 25 fish per trip on at least three charters this week.
We were still able to catch Blues on most of our trips as well. This
makes for great inshore fishing when a guest can have a good shot at
both species.A few mackerel have also returned for the 1st time in six
weeks, by Sept 10th on our inshore trips you'll be able to catch a "box
of 1 to 1.5 pound Macs" if you have the desire. Offshore
fishing continues to be the best its every been for us. I've
been able to treat allot of my favorite families to some special
offshore trips. And the girls did out fish the boys this week. Jessica Luby (CT) won
the pool on Thursday with the
largest fish of her life a 22 pound cod. Her brother Brian
"right" with his
largest ever 20 pound cod.
On
her offshore trip Robin Provent "FL" simply
out fished everybody. Robin on her first fishing trip in Maine, but
certainly not her first in the ocean, landed nice fish all day long
from the moment we arrived until it was time to head for home.
Her largest fish "right" was this 16
pound pollock. She had that look in her eye, when she landed
double keeper 12 pound pollock at the same time. Robin also landed five or six nice cod in the 8 to
12 pound range. My grandson Joey made
it back offshore this week as well, thats to the generosity of my good
friend Bob Luby. Joey landed the
largest haddock of his life, which he
traded to Mr. George at the Wells
House of Pizza for his famous shrimp topped pizza pie, as
well as his largest ever 17.5 pound pollock "right". This is a
potential "State of Maine Jr. Angler" record pollock. Congadulations
Joey!
Heather Clement "MA"
landed the largest bluefish on the "India Marie" this week an 11
pounder. It was a great family outing her husband Rich 's Blue
was 31 inches 9 pounds. Her daughter Anna tied dad with
another 31 inch 9 pounder Bluefish "right" and their 9 year
old son Brad was
high hook of the trip with five striped bass, his largest was a nice 25
incher..... "Fish On !"
In other news, we were also honored this week to be noted as the best fishing
charter in York county by readers of our local York County Coast Star Newspaper. This is the
3rd time we've been voted* number one
in the last four years. It's a fine testiment to how hard
our great crew works and how much they truely enjoy taking our guests
fishing. I'm very proud of the sincererity of our crew! I'm not sure
that we really are the best , but its a high honor to be in the running
with Maine's
premier fishing vessels like
the"Bunny Clark of Ogunquit" and the "Rebecca Lynne of Kennebunkport."
Week
ending Aug 24th: Stiring's of
Autumn on the coast... Fall weather and all
that means for our fishery seems to be at about two weeks ahead of
normal. It's been the 2nd coolest summer that I've experienced in the
nineteen years since I started taking folks fishing for a living. This
seems to be having a good affect on the fishing and catching... but a
little cooler and wetter for our guests! The cool weather has started
to push the large schools of bluefish a little to the southard,
allowing nice size stripers to start their fall migration into our area
sooner than normal. Large size
stripers are showing up ahead of schedule. Captain
Dennis landed the two largest bass of the year yesterday.
On left, Captain Den on the "magic Gath III", helping Kelly Roy "NH" hold up her "trophy 43 inch, 32
pound striper "our largest of the year
to date. Kelly husband, Dwayne
also landed a 41 inch, 26 pound trophy striper. Dwayne was wise
enough to release his trophy fish unharmed even though he could have
kept it by law. John
Brown "ME" right with his 18
pound, 37 inch striper landed with Capt Satch on the "Indi Marie". His sons Jason and Justin also landed bass in
the 14 and 15 pound class.These large stripers are breeders each
one producing millions of eggs in the spring. It's thoughtful
anglers like the Roy's and the Brown's that have helped our striper
fishery come back to what it is
today.
Thanks guys!
Another sign of fall is the large quantity of pollock we are
catching on our offshore trips. There not really big yet. Most of these
fish are in the 10 to 12 pound range, but all signs point to great
pollock fishing this September and October with the much bigger pollock
soon to come. I can hardly wait... These beautiful fish
are my favorite to eat and they also put up the best fight of any
ground fish. Almost as good as catching a large
striper....(Left) Captain Satch and his old friend Dick
Basile "CT" with a matching pair of 10
pounders..."Right" An exashted Tommy O'Brien "MA"
with one of his nice 12 pounders caught Friday on "Indi Marie".
A couple other noteworthy anglers insisted I post their
pics for their brothers and brother in laws to see... Mark Dinkwine "AR"
left, says "Wish
you were her Wayne". Mark beat out all the Yankees on his
offshore trip with this nice 14.5 pound cod. And a happy Jared Keniston
out fished all his mates on a
fishermans holiday, while his older brother "Captain Ian"
toiled away as the finest new Captain on the premier fishing vessel "Bunny Clark"... "Wish you could have
been here Bro.."
Week
ending Aug 21th: A great
assortment of game fish ! It's very full filling for me to look at
all the various species of fish we caught this week. It shows how far
our little company, crew and guests alike have come in a short 9 years.
Special thanks to the great families that have returned to fish with us
each season and our great crew that got it all together .........
Fishing
continued to be excellent on almost all our trips this week. Of course
you always have the occasional slow day, it's fishing! Captains Den and Whit report
good to excellent catches of both bluefish and stripers inshore. In my
travels offshore we are catching a fine assortment of nice ground
fish. For example:on
yesterdays trip we landed and kept... 11 haddock, 11 cod, 10 pollock,
and 9 cusk. On our last
stop of the day, I noticed something unusual on the fish finder...
stopped, dropped and as soon as we hit bottom everyone hooked up. Three
trophy cusk were landed within five minutes."Left
to right" Mark O'brien (Ma), Chuck Hlib (Pa) with twin 14 pounders, and
Bobby Conroy ( Ma) with his pool winning 15 pounder...
It's an honor to have Paul Sullivan
(FL) return to fish with us each season. Paul's an avid and
excellent fisherman. It makes me feel that we must be doing
something right to have fisherman of his caliber on board. Paul (left) with his largest catch of the
day a 12.5 pound pollock. Young John Mier (PA) a "2003 graduate of our family fishing camp"
is off to his 1st year college this fall. John with his new roommate
Bill showing off a couple of nice bluefish they landed Monday on the
"India Marie".
On
Tuesday's 2 hr family discovery
evening trip, the Allen Family (CT)
proudly displays Tommy's first ocean catch "Left to right" JP, Sarah, 1st mate Joe Godin,Tommy
and Megan. I had to return to
harbor sooner than I wanted to as thunderstorms threatened as they have
almost ever evening. Picture on left: Nick Carhilara (VT)
with his 11.5
pound, 31 inch striper.This is the 3rd largest striper, I've
landed as Captain of the "India Marie in the last two weeks. I've been
spending allot
of time offshore this August. Captain's Den and Whit have been spending
more
effort inshore and have been landing a few larger bass on
the Gath III. Hopefully they will update their web page soon..but
please be patient were all very busy taking care of our guests fishing
needs first.. Thanks Satch
Week
ending Aug 13th: Offshore excitement continues.....
Both
offshore Cod fishing and inshore Blue fishing were excellent this week.
Not to
mention the Blue fin
Tuna that have arrived in our
waters... Mary Ann McAvoy (ME)
"Keith's wife" finally took a day off from work and
landed
three cod over 23 pounds, two of which were tackle breaker
trophies.. Mary
Ann and Keith "
left" with her largest, a 28 pounder. Mary
Ann was thoughtful enough to release her third largest cod a 23 pounder back
to the sea unharmed.
This was the largest
cod weve ever released aboard the "India Marie" to date. Keith
and Mary Ann celebrated their 9th Wedding anniversary
this spring... It's already been nine years since Keith first started
helping the boys and I rebuild the "classic" Gath III...
Meanwhile, Laruren Goebertus (FL) landed out largest monkfish of the 2004
season on Monday. Laureen's special fish was 15 pounds and was also
released back to the ocean right after we took this picture...
Speaking of time flying..The last time I saw "Garrett Kunz" he was a two month
old baby in Betsy's arms....
Like father like son.. Garrett son of the" great cod slayer Fred Kunz" made
his first ocean adventure on the "India Marie" Friday
evening.." 8 yr old Garret
below with his first bluefish (left) and his first striper
(right). It was a real treat and honor to have Fred and his
family aboard for a family afternoon trip.
There are also a lot more pollock in the area than in previous
Augusts..It look like a great pollock catching fall..The Gobertus Family
(FL)
always join us for a trip each season.. This year they ventured
offshore for the first time..(Left to right) with a string of 10 pound
pollock. Sue,Greg, Lauren, Elena,
and Keesy.
On the Savoie
Family annual
charter, all the
boys landed cod in the 15 to 25 pound range. Brother
Scott (left) won the pool with this 26 pound Maine State
trophy, Mike's
three largest fish were 14,
16,and 18.5 pound cod. Mike with his 18.5
pounder on right.. Ernie
"center" almost managed to keep up with his sons with his largest fish
of the day a respetable 13 pound pollock......
We're sincerley greatful that so many
good
families return to fish with us every season..
Week
ending Aug 2nd: India's new bow
rail sees first action! Captain Whit took the offshore trip
on Friday so that he could break in the new bow rail. He was so excited
that he wanted to leave Thursday night at midnight, only my elder
wisdom slowed him
down a bit. Whit
landed the 1st fish on the new pulpit on his 1st cast,
a 16 pound cod.
Fishing continued excellent all day. "Left" 1st mate Keith McAvoy and
Terry lamb (NY) enjoy a smoke break while posing with three steakers on
the new pulpit. "Right" Bob Parks
(NJ) with the
largest cod of his
career a 24 pound beauty. Nice size pollock are also coming into
the
area earlier and in larger numbers for the 1st of August. It looks like
its going to be a great fall for those of you who like to catch fish
who like green teasers!
The girls of the "India Marie"..Kelly Wilkenson "PA" landed the
most fish of the day as she most always does. Kelly landed
17,18, and 19 pound pollack. Her largest cod was 24 pounds, but her
best picture (left) is of this nice 14 pounder. Lynne Shaffer "NJ" daughter of
our esteemed angler Paul Dvoretsy
(ME) landed her largest ever
23 pounder.
It's pretty girls like this that we like to see out fish the "old boy"
cod barons on the" Indi
Marie"
Inshore Fishing........ Blue fishing continues
to be hotter than I've ever seen it this time of year. Captain Den reported catching
over 40 Bluefish on Saturday and over 50 on Sunday. Sue Fedorich (NY) hooks the big
one!
Week
ending July 27th: Fast and furious ! Despite the
coolest July in at least 10 years, our guests are having a great time.
Both "India and Gath" are
running hard every day and the fishing continues to be excellent both
inshore and offshore. The
Blue fish arrived in great numbers this week, that slows the striper
bite down a bit, but it makes for some fast and furious blue fish
action inshore.
Offshore fishing continues to be the best its every been
for us,
we continue to catch some nice size cod, a few quality haddock and the
pollock also seem to be moving into the area early this season. Keith has rigged up
an 18 foot outrigger, so we have the new capability of trolling for the
big ca"TUNA" if we have the good fortune of seeing a school of Blue fin
on our offshore forays.
Paul
Wallace our welder has completed the fabrication of the new bow
rail on "India"... a very
special place to cast a jig or a fly!!!
Last night we
completed the installation of our new bow rail, Captain Whit can't wait
to get offshore to try it out tommorrow......(left to right) 2nd mate Bob Demers, Captain Den and
Keith, Paul Wallace our welder and an anxious Capt.Whit "What a thrill for me".
It's quite an accomplishment for the "Satch
and Sons Crew" to have come so far in a few short years..Thank you'all so much for your support and
for the confidencee youv'e shown in us over our first eight years.
Lisa "Snowie Owl "Quinn and
Keith (left) with one of her 10 pound blue fish. It's always great
fishing when Lisa is aboard, her good spirit attracts great quantities
of fish to the Gath III or the India Marie, then we just have to
land them. Captain Den leads all the captains in Maine this Blue
fish season. On Sunday's trip Bernadette Whitcomb
(VT) landed the seasons
largest 12 pound
blue...
Congradulations
Bernadette!
The Richard
Brothers (MA) fish have with us every season for the last seven
years...I remember when Shawn was just three year old,, our youngest
angler at the time. Rob, Andrew
and Shawn all caught keeper stripers on Tuesday's trip with Capt
Den. "Left to right" Rob,
Andrew and Shawn with Shawn's 26.5 Inch bass. 1st Mate Joe Godin (NH) helps Steve Fabriano (NH) hold up his 37.5
inch 17 pound striper. It's great fun for families to
be able to catch these great fish without having to travel so far
offshore...
Me "ole mate" and good friend Dwight Mailing "Fl" took a day
off from his Air Force duties to spend on the "India Marie". Dwight
is one of the brave and selfless folks that are giving their all to
protect us during these troubled times. We were really honored
to have him aboard for the day thanks in part to the generosity of the
Lamb Family. Dwight with his 20
pound cod "left" and 12 pound wolfish "right". Dwight was also
good friend of my daughter India, I think she might have brought him a
little special luck!
The girls of the Lamb Family
(NY). Trish driving India home
after a great offshore adventure, 9 year old Marilyn in front, Tara in
background and Amber on the right. These "NY State Dairy Princesses" were
brought up as hard working dairy farmers in upstate New York. Don't let
their beauty fool you, they are some of the most able, strongest,
fisher girls you'll ever see. They can out fish just about anybody no
matter how deep the water is. They usually want to go with my sons Den
and Whit, but always humor me with a fun day with the old man
offshore.. Amber with a double catch of redfish, and her pool winning
8.5 pound Blue, and Tara center with a nice market cod....
Week
ending July 13th: Kid's
Week ! My wife Gloria and I were thrilled to have
our three grandsons together again this week. This is the 1st time in a
year that we've enjoyed their company together for an extended stay.
Again "Special thanks" to all of you who helped in this
endeavor.
Meanwhile offshore
my oldest grandson Joey Tavares landed the largest fish of his life..This
was a big accomplishment since Joey is one of the most avid young
anglers on the Maine coast and has a lot of nice fish under his belt.
There was a pretty big smile on his face when his 25.5 pound Maine
state trophy cod hit the deck. Not to be outdone my good friend Paul Dvoretsy (Me)
had no problem teaching Joey a little humility, Paul scun Joey
out of the pool money with the
largest cod of his long career, a
30 pound Maine State trophy "right"...
Jeanette Deblois (NJ) celebrated
her dad's "Fred Burketts 91st
birthday" aboard the "India Marie" on July 7th. Fred who passed
on this January, was a well renowned fishermen who fished all the best
boats on the Maine coast. For the last five years,we were honored to
have him fish with us every year on his birthday..Fred was our oldest
active fishermen and he'll be missed up and down the coast.
Jeanette with one of her three
nice haddock...
On Friday's Fisherman's Club outing, Gil Ranta (ME) won the pool with
a nice 15 pound cod. It was such a beautiful day that you had to cast a
jig in order to do well fishing. I
was also excited to have my 1st cousin ,Tom Markham (Pa) up for the
first time in seven years. Tom "right" with his haddock of the day, we
enjoyed a special day reliving "ole tales of days gone by! Clair Risley
(NH) out fished her husband Ray. Clair below with her
27.5 inch stripped bass.
We had another slam bang day Monday on the Bill Allen (NH) charter. Everyone
on the boat landed beautiful cod over 18 pounds. It was a
special day for fishing and catching. Mark Dewolf landed the most fish
of the day catching fish on almost every cast.. But "woe be it" Mark
somehow managed to drop his largest fish just yards from the rail ..Even though Mark is the most precise and
careful " realer upper" I've ever seen aboard the India Marie"...
Ron Fuller (NH) "left"
won the pool with this nice 27.5 pound trophy
cod . Scott Thompson (NH) "right" rallied
just behind Ron catching his largest ever, 26 pound Maine State Trophy..
Happy Independence Day ! This week
has brought incredibly great weather and great fishing as well....We
have so many good pictures of you'all, that it's difficult to pick out
a few to put on the site. You should also check out Captains Whit's log for pictures he has taken on
the Gath III
the last week or so. Special thanks
to the many families who return and keep us so busy this time of year.
Eric Walsh (RI)"left"
celebrates his "pool winnings" with a $20 cigar. Captain Den reported
that his largest striper was 14
pounds, 34.5 inches. It was the largest fish landed Monday
evening on "all
five of Kennebunk and Well's best striper boats" chartered by Al Kallis
(ME) for his annual
company outing. "Right" Rich and Richie
Hesterhagen and their good friend Jimmy Rigley (NY) enjoyed
a great offshore day with us this Tuesday. The cod in this picture are
in the 10 to 11 pound range. Our crew
feels blessed to take so with many special guests like the
Hesterhagens...
Allot of nice trophy fish were landed this week aboard the "India Marie".
Steve Sampson
(MA) enjoyed two great trips offshore. Steve's largest cod
"left" was a Maine
state trophy 26 pounder. Steve
put on a fishing show for all his friends and employees. The
"King" thoroughly enjoyed his vacation week, landed fish steadily on
both his trips. John
Conneli (Ma) gave Steve a run for his money on Saturdays trip. John "right" landed this nice 25 pound
trophy cod and a 12.5 pound trophy cusk as well. John "C is for
cusk" Conneli landed over 20 cusk single handedly , so it's not
so surprising that one of them was large enough to be a state of
Maine trophy.
John's son Brian is in the photo below
showing off his 15
pound trophy wolfish. I
chased Brain at least three times around the cabin ..just trying to
show him his pretty teeth....
Week
ending June 28th: A very busy time... Both "Aggie and Indi" are running
every day and I have very little time left to update the website or
anything else for that matter. Den,Whit,
Kieth, Joe and I are putting all our efforts into making our
guests fishing adventures the best they can be.
We are doing
extremely well on our offshore trips on India..The water offshore is
warming up and we expect to have very good cod fishing in July. We've
prepared our Shark and Tuna poles
and I hope to have a picture of a very large fish to post sometime
soon. Inshore the water is also finally warming up and larger stripers
are moving up the Maine coast. On Mike
Johnson's bachelor party trip June 25th, Captain Whit reported landing an 11
pound bluefish..That's the largest bluefish ever caught in
July....Anyway I just wanted to post a few pictures of our happy
anglers with some of the nice fish they landed this week, wish you all
the best, encourage you to come up for a visit, and ask for you
understanding if I don't answer all your e mails at this busy time..
Best Satch
Jillian Lurie "McMahon" with
Captain Den and her
largest ever 26 inch Striper..Anyone notice any resemblance to her
Cousin Den...Jillian took to the boat and the water like her Uncle
Satch did at her age. It wouldn't surprise me to see a female captain
in the family one of these days..
Week
ending June 14th: We had another exciting week fishing
offshore on the "India Marie"..Friday
we celebrated Emil Gallant's *%$# th birthday in style. Mark Walsh "MA"
shows off his 8.5 pound wolfish ,which he somehow manages to look like
a 20 pounder. Paul Dvoretsky "ME" won the pool with this nice 17 pound
cod (left). Paul's grandson Dave who is off to freshman year of college
and football camp in August, worked hard all day on his muscle tone,
landing three nice cusk and a handful of cod. Kevin White (ME) was high
hook. Kevin and his new rod and reel landed nice keeper cod, steadily
throughout the day, proving you can catch the most fish for the least bucks!!!
Week
ending May 31st: Memorial
Day week end ! We had our busiest Memorial day weekend
ever. Both the "Gath III"
and the "India Marie"
were full every day . On our offshore trips on "Indi" two trophy wolfish were landed. Dave Rush (CT)
left, landed the
largest wolf caught in Maine so far this season @ 20.25 pounds. Alec Dvoretsy, age
11 (NJ) right, hauled in this nice 15.5 pound trophy unassisted.
Alec fished the deep water all day, jigging and reeling and never
tireing. I never seen any boy his age so enthused about fishing with
the possible exception of my grandson Joey..They need to have another
fish off on of these days!
Our largest cod of the
weekend was caught by Michael
Flader (CA) a 20 pounder. Michael joined his friend Capt Mike Osborn and flew to
Maine from California to fish with us this Friday. All other Maine
charters boats with the exception of the Bunny Clark canceled do to the blustery raining
conditions. It looked like a
movie offshore with heavy rain blowing sideways and the tops blowing
off the whitecaps... I hate to say it but these conditions
were most probably brought on by this seasons inaugural appearance of Hurricane
Mike McCay, it's always an exciting day with Mike aboard.
To top off an already great weekend, Captain Den graduated with his Bachelor of Science degree from Fitchberg State College
(MA). Left to right,
Den's girlfriend Kim, my wife Gloria, Capt Den and my mom Carolyn. We
had a little after graduation party for him at the Fitchberg Social Club where we were
treated like royalty by the club's officers Dicky Gould and Jack Mulcahey,and
by our old friend Dave Reynold's
brother Don..
Congratulations Den........
Week
ending May 24th: Off and running! The classic "Gath III" was launched for her
60th season on Thursday May 20th. As Gath was coming down the ramp,
large numbers of schooly stripers were jumping in the channel for the
1st time this season. I took this picture Thursday evening as I was
coming in from an offshore trip on "India Marie". Captain Den at
the helm ,Captain Whit in red shirt, 1st mate Joe Godin "back for his
3rd season" on deck and Pattie and Jim Krupsky (ME) enjoying a test
drive around the harbor. We landed over 25 small stripers in less than
an hour Thursday evening, all the stripers were in the 13 to 19 inch
range.
If we're lucky enough to find a school its fast spring fishing action !
We had to cancel trips
on both boats on Saturday Morning May 23rd thanks to a raw 20/ 25 knot
northeast breeze, other than that we had our most successful May
weekend ever ..Eight
trophy fish were landed on India and Gath... Rookie of the year,
Conor Hughes "Ma" (left)
landed the largest fish of his life, the
largest fish ever caught on the "India
Marie" and I believe the largest cod landed in the state of Maine so
far this season. Conor's fish was just over the 50 pound mark!
Conor followed that feat
with a
36 pound Maine state Trophy.. his
dad Frank's (right) 23.5
pound Cod looked like a fry by comparison.
Greg
Gallager "Ma" (left) also landed the largest cod of his life a
33 pound trophy, and Captain Den
bested his biggest fish mark with a 36.5 pound Trophy cod.(right)
*Every
year at
this time I find it important to stress that we are a family style
boat, we target large fish for recreational enjoyment. We
happily abide
by all state and federal fishery conservation regulations and enjoy
releasing fish including state trophies at the angler's discretion. I do not enjoy or
condone "Ole boy charters"with allot of beer drinking and the main goal
of filling up the freezer with coolers full of fillets. Times
have changed, and I feel for the better. There is a 10 fish per person
per day cod fish limit, a 3 fish per person blue fish limit, and a one
fish per person striped bass limit. Our intent at Captain Satch and
Sons is to offer families and our individual guests a real opportunity
to catch a fish of a lifetime. We will continue to operate as a family
style boat that offers enjoyable, professional sportsfishng both
inshore and offshore, and we want to thank all the folks who supported
us in this philosophy over the last 8 years... *
Week
ending April 25th: Launch
day! 
"Independent Boat haulers"
arrived Friday morning to help us launch the "India Marie" for our 2004 season. This will already be our third year with
the new boat. Everything went extremely well. Rick does such a great job
hauling the boats to the harbor every spring. This year was the 1st
year, that I rode in his truck with him with "Indi" trailing along behind us. Special
thanks to everyone that helped get her ready this spring. Kieth, Den
and Whit spent the
last few days working till 11pm to get it all together for todays launch,
and we couldn't have completed all our new projects without Bob and Frank's consistent
help.The engine started perfectly, there where no leaks at any of our
through hulls, and all the paint was dry ..another first!
Many of you will be happy with all the new improvements we've made this
winter. I'm very proud of what the boys have accomplished, she's really
a nice boat to fish on and she should make allot of guests happy this
season.
I'll be spending this week getting all our safety and fishing
gear ready for our first trip this
Friday April 30th. All our offshore reels have been rebuilt and
re spooled, and Monday has been set aside to get our jigging and shark
poles ready and placed on board. Den and Keith spent yesterday
installing a new overhead davit in the event we need to haul a large
shark aboard. I'm off to launch the skiff this morning.
*Please note our new
post office box address:
Capt. Satch and Sons... PO. Box 225, No. Berwick.Me. 03906. It helps allot
if you send your fishing deposits to the new address
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