Another great day of fishing!

The summer season is starting off with a bang and everything seems to be happening at once this Memorial Day weekend.What else is new? Captain Den was on hand to launch Captain Whit's Gath IV yesterday,and just in time as the Mackerel have arrived in great numbers on this mornings low tide. Now's the time to bring the kids for the time of their life. Pictured is Captain Whit and his mate Nick preparing poles for this weekends inshore trips. Gath looks like a new boat on her 1st day after the 2010 season launch.



Kieth and I were treated to a great day of offshore fishing this week and were honored to have some of New England's best ground fisherman aboard the India Marie. The Spring cod fishing continues to be the best its been in many years. Les and Linda Paul (ME)had a great time landing many beautiful cod. Linda is pictured with her largest cod of the day a 19 pounder. Re- Pete Cacciapaglia (MA) was a bit tired upon reaching the dock. He was high hook landing nice fish steadily throughout the day My old friend Dennis Cassidy (VT) won the pool and landed the largest fish of his life. Pictured top of post is Den with his Maine Maine State trophy 27.5 pounder. Jeanette Deblois (Me) landed nice double keeper cod, a nice haddock and managd to ride her new cooler to a strong 3rd place finish.


Sunday evening,Memorial Day eve's Family trip features Sir Ernie Pigeon. He will be featured playing and singing a few sea shanties on his guitar. This will be a first aboard the boats. I'm not sure how much room is left, but I may take both boats if enough of you show up for the festivities. This will be authentic family fun and you should try to attend if you possible can. Best Satch

Memorial Day Weekend !

Captain Whit's Gath IV will be launching Thursday afternoon and will officially start the inshore striper bass fishing season this weekend. Not sure of the exact time of her launch, but feel free to call and check Thursday morning if you'd like to be there.There is currently room on Sunday mornings four hr inshore striper trip, 8 to noon... Remember Gath's two hour family trip on Sunday evening Memorial Day Eve will feature" Sir Ernie Pigeon" one of New England's finest guitar pickers playing a few sea shanties for you to sign along to as we troll the beaches. The weather is predicted to be perfect. This trip will be one to be remembered for years to come, and there is still a few spots available. Call Ensign Ed (207) 337 0800 or 339- 3951.

Offshore ....Keith and I hosted the annual Dave Williams Green Mountain boy's charter on India this week.The cod fishing was quite a bit slower than last weeks all out rout. But a nice assortment of cod, haddock, pollock and cusk were landed. Mike Yandow (VT) was high hook catching fish fairly steadily amongst a lot of throw backs was our largest haddock of the season a 6.5 pounder. Steve Donovan (VT) won the pool with an 8 pound cod. Dave Williams a great guy made the day alot of fun, entertaining Keith and I with some great tales of past conquests.

This Friday's open boat 10 hr Fair Weather fisherman's trip is now full, with a very exciting and experienced crew. Can't Wait and the weather is looking good. I told Ensign Ed to open up Sunday May 30th as a 10 hour open boat trip on India, since we did not have a charter that day. So if you are in town, don't have enough folks for a charter and want to check out some good spring fishing offshore with the crew of the "India Marie". This is a very good and unusual opportunity. See you this weekend..... Best Satch

Fabulous Fishing !

The "India Marie" began her offshore fishing season in earnest this week.The weather has been perfect, a 180 degree change from last season. Large schools of herring are moving into are area, and nice schools of spring cod are hot on their tail. Our illustrious crew caught a real great assortment of fine fish throughout the day. It was great fun. There are definitely more herring than in the last few years, maybe the little moratorium on their overfishing is starting to pay dividends. Large schools of fin back whales were swimming around "India" most of the day making the trip that much more enjoyable. Randy Jewett (Me) was fisherman of the day. Randy landed the largest pollack I've ever seen in the spring, his 29 pound 46 inch trophy is seen (left). Shortly after landing this fish Randy's drag started streaming out again and after at least a 9 minute battle a 30 plus pound trophy cod broke the surface. Randy was considerate enough to allow us to release this beautiful cod back to the sea alive after I took this quick picture of him. (right) Kieth did his revival work on this beautiful big breeder, and after about four minutes she happily swam back down to her school. Fish of this size produce well over 2 million eggs each season,while it is certainly legal for our guests to keep them, we try to convince folks to consider releasing them to build up the stocks for our grandchildren. We were happy to award Randy a Captain Satch and Sons.. Catch and Release tee shirt for his quick, cool thinking. Thanks Randy! Gus Elliot (Me) fishing n the pulpit landed the third largest fish of the day a nice 21.5 pound cod."Shown top of post" A rookie on the boat Nick Sawyer (VT) was high hook landing double keeper catches fairly consistently. A fine assortment of fish was landed by all, and it looks very promising for a good week f fishing with good weather predicted for at least the next few days.





Inshore we made two family trips this week. Naomi and Tom Masterson (NY) are shown on their two hour evening trip.They spent their honeymoon in Bar Harbor and enjoyed an evening with Christin and I on their return home. It was Naomi's first trip on the ocean and although we didn't land any stripers a great time was had by all. My old mate Quintin Gallucia and I also enjoyed taking our neighbors Joanne and Charlie Anderson (Me) on a tour of the Kennebunk coast. We worked their son Neil's friends from Florida and Georgia hard trying about everything in the book to land at least a mackerel to no avail.But we all had a great time. The good news is that the bait has just arrived in good numbers inshore as well. Stripers are chasing small fish into the local rivers as I right this column. Christin landed some nice stripers in the Saco River the last few days and I beliee he and Captain Whit will land our first ones aboard India this afternoon.

As of this morning we still had room for two guests on next Friday's May 28ths 10 hour offshore trip. Don't forget the Captain Whit's Gath IV debuts her 2010 season next weekend Memorial Day. Sir Ernie Pigeon "one of Maine greatest guitar pickers" will be aboard on Sunday evening's 2 hr family trip to start the season off right with a sea shantie's . This will be one of those trips talked about for years to come. Give Ensign Ed a call @ 207 339-9531 or 337 -0800 to make your reservations while we still have room. Best Satch

First striper trip of 2010 last evening!

We all took a moment off from our hectic work schedules and went on our 1st unscheduled inshore evening trip last night. India ran perfectly!Pictured above is Capt Den's dog "Fisher". It was his first trip on board away from the dock. He gained his seas legs right away, and even shared a can of Sardines in Louisiana hot sauce with his grampy Satch. I guess he's aptly named.We searched for Mackerel and tried a troll or two for schoolie stripers with no success. Capt Whit, little Dennis, Sarah, their friend Andrea and our friend "Todd Trafton of Ocean View fame" enjoyed a nice evening on the water. We still have room for 3 guests on our 1st official four hour inshore striper trip tomorrow Saturday afternoon from 1 to 5 pm. The best number for reservations..call Ensign Ed 207 339-9531.

"India Marie" officially starts her "Specialty 10 hour offshore trips" this week. With the spring weather and fishing as good as it's been, I believe Keith and I are going to be very busy. Hope I can get these old bones back in shape quickly after the long winter lay over. We are open for charter every day and we have room weekdays next week. I believe our open boat Friday trips are full for the next two weeks. If you're party is planning an early season charter, I feel pretty confident that there are enough cod and haddock in the area to make it a worth while venture.



We also still have room for our Memorial day eve, Sunday May 29th.. 2 hr evening fish and sea chanty sing along with renowned guitarist Sir Ernie Pigeon. Reservations are required, we can only take 11 guests total.You shouldn't miss out on this one.. Best Satch

"India Marie" at sunset .Primed and ready for her next offshore trip!

F/V "India Marie" May 10th 2010 on her mooring as the sun sets over Wells Harbor Me.

Quite a busy weekend. After our first successful offshore trip with the NH boys on Friday,we spent the weekend working at the dock waiting out the weekends breezy spring weather.

Captain Whit is pictured salting and sealing some of his bait drums for a little spring lobster run.





He and Eric painted and launched the skiff Sunday so we could get back and forth to our mooring. Keith is shown making a final door repair for India's head. And little Dennis and his wife Sarah are shown as Den climes out of the engine room after making final adjustments to India's fuel injector systems.




I'm really excited about how ready Indi feels..... like a race horse ready to jump out of the gate. I think she looks prettier than she ever has, What do you think? As of this morning it appears we still have may have room for one or two guests on Friday May 14th's offshore trip, please call Ensign Ed @ 339-9531 to insure yourself a spot.

Captain Den held his first annual McMahon Construction Co, Cinco de Maya Fiesta on Saturday evening. He treated Gloria and I to a night on the town with a few members of his construction crew and their lovely wifes. We were treated to great food at the "New Litchfields" then danced into the midnight hour to live music at Bentley's Cafe'. Jen, Den, Gloria, Dawn and Mike shown having a great time.

Back in the hunt...

Ms. Jeanette and I hosted the "John Mansur, Danny Weldon Charter" on India's first offshore trip of the 2010 season yesterday. The weather as perfect as I've ever seen the first week of May. "Indi Marie" ran flawlessly thanks to the special care and skill little Dennis took reviewing all our mechanical systems. And the spring cod fishing was excellent, especially considering we had to find the schools of the new arriving stocks. By the 3rd stop of the day we were right on them and our illustrious crew caught white bellied cod steadily throughout the day. As always we had a really fun time with this fine crew. It's great to have guests that really appreciate the effort my illutrious crew puts in. John won the pool with our largest cod of the year so far a fourteen pounder, hard to believe but I pretty sure Phil Streeter was high hook, his brother Paul is shown w/ a 10 plus pounder in the picture with John. Dan "Woody "Yankabitch (top of post) led the pool for a while with a his nice 8 pounder.




We also caught a nice slew of redfish "Ocean Perch" and even with all those spines we didn't require the services of "Doc Mulligan" to pull any hooks or spines. I'm really thrilled to have India sound and ready for the new season, and I again want to thank everyone that contributed so much to get her ready. We are now available for charter every day, I believe Keith and I still have room for two anglers on next Friday May 14th's 10 hour offshore trip. Ensign Ed's number is 207 339-9531. Hopefully we will continue to enjoy fair weather. The cod and haddock are here, and the stripers aren't far behind, the first schoolies were landed at York River this week.

Captain Whit and I are still very busy putting the finishing touches on the "Gath IV", our topside paintwork is complete and she's looking fine, now on to the house and interior decks. There is always a slew of paperwork and safety items to prepare for her annual Coast Guard inspection. Whit's busy with that, she's scheduled to launch the week of May 17th so if you "like Cousin Bob" missed out on a day at the yard painting India, you still have a chance to enjoy passing a brush over the new Gath IV. Till next week..Captain Satch