A few days ago I had the opportunity to do some ocean fishing on a charter boat called the Blackhawk II out of Niantic, CT. My friends had been on this boat several times in the past few years and we decided to try out Porgy fishing this time around. The downside for someone living in Upstate NY is the 5 hour drive. In order to make it a bit more accommodating we drove into town the night before and stayed at Motel 6 in Niantic, only 8 minutes away from the docks. Motel 6 could be rated an "ok" place to stay for a few hours. The pluses were: short drive from the dock, surrounded by several restaurants, and the easiest checkout-"leave your key cards in the room."
We got into town around 8:30 pm and the only 2 places open were Five Guys and Flanders Fish Market. All of us enjoy seafood therefore we decided to check out Flanders. It turned out to be a great place with delicious food and 90% of the menu are seafood options. A couple of us enjoyed swordfish which was cooked really well. Overall a great place to eat and hang out for a couple hours.
The next morning we had to get up nice and early at 4:30 am to be at the dock around 5:15 am to check in. While driving to the dock we noticed that all of the breakfast places were still closed until we came to a gas station that had coffee and some sweets.
Once at the dock we saw a small crowd already waiting and a few minutes there were 60 people waiting to board. We were glad we bought our tickets in advance online when we realized that its the weekend before Father's Day and the weather was supposed to be really nice. The tickets are $80 per person with a $7 equipment rental fee (rod, sinker, and hooks). The other option was to come before 5 am and purchase a ticket at the gate but run the risk of finding the trip sold out.
Before we board the boat, the captian explained that there was a full moon a couple days ago and therefore the porgy fishing has been unpredictable the past few days. That did put us a little on edge because we didn't travel 5 hours to not catch anything but we hoped for the best.
Once we set out we were told that it's a 2 hr trip to Montauk on Long Island which is about 18 miles from the dock. The mates were helpful in giving us the proper instructions on baiting the hooks, casting, and reeling the fish in. Throughout the trip I realized that the mates were not expert fishermen but mostly helpful with the equipment, untangling lines and taking the unwanted fish off the hook.
Bait cut up by the mates
There aren't many things to do while going out to the fishing spot, so I snoozed for 45 minutes inside the boat away from the wind and spray. I also came across the fishing regulations chart. We learned that the limit per angler was 30 for porgy. We would not be able to fish for sea bass because the season had not opened in the New York waters. Most of the fishing is done in the waters managed by NY DEC. On the other hand striper bass, fluke, and blue fish were still allowed if they met the minimum length.
Boat Bathroom sign
We came to a lighthouse on the eastern side of Long Island. Once we got around the corner of Long Island we had some serious winds with plenty of ocean spray. At the fishing spot we were one of nine or 10 other fishing boats. One downside was we lost some time trying to find a good spot to drop our anchor. Once we got the word from the captain the four of us started fishing at the front of the boat. But after an hour it got really frustrating to see people catching plenty of fish at the back of the boat and nothing was happening up front.
I decided to move further back, closer to the back of the boat. Once at that spot I quickly landed several Porgy. Over the course of an hour and a half I caught 20 fish. Some of them were not kept because they did not meet the minimum length. These fish included: one dog shark, one Seabass, and one skate. Other anglers caught a striper bass, a flying fish, sea bass, several sharks, and several skates.
At this new location I was able to catch the maximum of 30 Porgy and then some more. This was also the spot where I change my fishing technique. Instead of putting tension on the line with the sinker on the bottom, I allowed my line to have some slack so that the two hooks would lay at the bottom. Earlier in the trip the captain explained that there were plenty of shrimp in the area and therefore the Porgy were picky in their food selection. I noticed this technique working and continued to use it for the remainder of the trip. For a short period of time I went to the back of the boat because several people were saying that there were very large Porgy. Once there I only caught one fish in the span of 30 minutes. So I moved back to the side of the boat where I was earlier.
On the return trip, I had the opportunity to speak with the captain so that I could better understand why not everyone was catching the fish. He explained that the boat was anchored in such a way that the fish were first coming underneath the boat from the back and then going to the front. The back of the boat fishermen were therefore hitting most of the fish and the people at the front were only getting a few.
At 12:30 PM we stopped fishing, pulled anchor and started to go back to the dock. This is the point in the trip when we realize that we will not be fishing for eight hours. It was a bit disappointing to everyone in our party because not everyone reached their limit. Later at the ticket booth it was explained that the traveling to and from the fishing spot was included in the allotted eight hour timeframe. Between the four of us we caught 89 Porgy and one bluefish.
For a dollar per fish it could be cleaned in a couple different ways. I chose to have half of the fish, primarily the larger ones, to be filleted. The other half, smaller fish, I had scaled and gutted. On the way back the mates cleaned several hundred fish, which was very impressive.
Overall it was a great fishing trip, especially for a first time ocean fishing experience. I would recommend the Blackhawk to charter boat in a heartbeat and I hope to come back to try some different fishing. Yes there were a couple things that were disappointing because we didn't ask about them specifically before the trip. There were many things that I personally learned about ocean fishing that I will be able to apply towards future ocean fishing trips.
