Captain Ian Devlin's Charters

10/24/2023

10/23/2023

I have more, but here are a few. Comments like these about what I do are flattering and make me proud.

10/19/2023

A few pics from this season.

10/19/2023

Compliments like these make me proud and happy at what I do.

10/19/2023

Mark and Ed from New Hampshire.

10/19/2023

Good fun fishing the Tightlined Tournament. This was my first time in it. I guided Jeff and his son Charlie to place in the tournament for prizes.

My strategy was to fish in harbors, coves, creeks, and river mouths around baby Bunker schools to find nice Stripers and Blues. This is a normal pattern for mid-October, and the start of peak Fall fishing. We did also look for Albies, and found one school. But, our opportunity was quick and they never came back up.

10/19/2023

When fishing two fly anglers on my boat, I carry a minimum of 6 fly rods. 2 with full floating lines, 2 with full intermediate lines, and 2 with sinking lines. I may carry another rod or two with a full floating line with clear intermediate tip, or another rod or two with different rod tapers to accommodate an angler’s casting style. Or, a lighter rod weight if needed or wanted.

05/09/2023

Ready to fish this season.

01/16/2023

I want to thank all my clients who have fished with me over the years. This post is dedicated to the young anglers who have fished with me over the last 25+ years. Take a kid fishing! 🎣

08/03/2021

I have been monitoring the advent of lithium batteries for the boating world now for the last 5-6 years. Prices are coming down on them now it seems, as some of them were twice the price just a few years ago.

My next purchase on my boat is lithium batteries after using AGM batteries for over 20 years. I will reduce my current three group 31 marine battery setup that each weigh 70lbs and dedicated for my 36V bow mount trolling motor down to just ONE single 36V lithium battery that weighs only 35lbs. I will switch out my 12V AGM cranking battery dedicated to my outboard and electronics that weighs about 50lbs over to a single lithium cranking battery that weighs only 25lbs.

Total weight for AGM batteries: about 260lbs
Total weight for Lithium batteries: about 60lbs
Total weight savings: about 200lbs

Average AGM lifespan on my boat 4-5 years.
Expected lifespan with lithium batteries: 8-12 years

Warranty on lithium batteries: 12 years

Cost of AGM battery system (4 batteries) on my boat at $300-$375 each: $1400+

Cost of lithium battery system (2 batteries) on my boat: $1900 (12 year warranty)

Also, will reduce 4 bank onboard charger down to just 2 bank onboard charger. Further reducing weight.

https://nextgenlithium.com/pages/marine

LiFe PO4 Lithium Iron Phosphate batteries Marine lithium batteries RV lithium batteries Lithium Ion batteries trolling motor batteries Lithium batteries

07/08/2021

I'd like to take a moment to thank all the marinas, marine mechanics, tackle shops, manufactures, and fabricators that have helped me over my 30 year career thus far of past and present:

The Bait Shop Inc. Rowayton, CT. (Art, Ray, Nick, Phil, Drew)

All Season’s Marina Westport & Rowayton, CT. (Nate, Ted, Gary, Stephen, Cory, Mike, and the entire crew)

Compleat Angler Darien, CT. (Tom Shubat, Eric Peterson, Scott Loecher, Scott Bennett)

Fisherman’s World Norwalk, CT. (Rick Mola, Gloria Mola, Ashley Mola, Nick Massaro, Rich Mahoney, and Max Finch)

Gasparilla Inn Boca Grande, FL. (Gary, Keith, Echo)

Fort Myers Marine Ft. Myers, FL. (Chuck and his entire staff)

Boatmaster Trailers Ft. Myers, FL. (Joe Isley Jr and all his staff)

Lake and Bay Boats Stuart, FL/Sebring, FL. (Gene DuBois original owner/designer), and the new crew at Lake and Bay Boats and current owner Mike Whittaker

Bob's Machine Shop Ruskin, FL. (Robert and his fine staff)

John Tiger in NY state. (outboard guru, writer, outboard drag boat racing competitor, and high performance outboard technician)

Select Plastics in Norwalk, CT.(Tony and his staff)

Royal Canvas in Norwalk, CT.(Leon and his staff)

Smith Marine in Ft. Myers, FL. (Jason, Craig, Shannon, and all at Smith Marine)

Action Welding in Cape Coral, Florida

D.A.H. PRO-PELLERS (John Janaky and his incredibly skilled crew)

Brett at BBlades propellers

Advanced Marine in Englewood, FL.

Stump Pass Marina in Grove City, FL.

Ingman Marine in Port Charlotte, FL. (Richard, Gary, Allen Ingman and all their fine staff)

J & C Drydock Marina (John and his helpful staff)

And friends of mine for charter referrals and friendships (not in any order, and not all of them). Also my family.

Capt. Dan Latham, Capt. Bo Johnson, Capt. Lew Morgan, Capt. Phil O'Bannon, Capt. Zeke Sieglaff, Capt. Cole Fairbanks, Capt. Jon Ochs, Capt. Keith McCabe, Capt. Anton Berrington, Capt. Rhett Morris, Capt. Bruce Morris, Capt. Dino Torino, Capt. Joe LeClair, Capt. Alan Hastbacka, Capt. Tim Griffith, Capt. Sal Tardella, Capt. Jeff Northrop, Capt. Bob Robl, Al Gag, Alberto Knie, Bob Popovics, Henry Cowen, Larry Dahlberg, Bob Clouser, Steve Rajeff, Mark Sedotti, Angelo Peluso, Scott Wessels, AJ Hand, Lou Klopfer, Nick Gagliarti, Phil Hampton, Kevin Conroy, David Nelson, Dave Skok, Chris Windram, my dad, my mom, my grandmother Nana, and many others.

06/13/2021

I sure do miss when we used to have abundance of medium sized Striped Bass in so many locations! My last good year for this was in 2011. These fish are of 28”-34” or so size bracket and are of age of young breeding fish. Precisely the current slot harvest zone. We need to up the current 28”-35” slot to 35”-39” slot to not only protect those fish up to 34” for anglers, but for the species themselves. We need them to breed on BOTH sides of a kill zone, and a 35”-39” slot would allow this to happen. It would recruit more fish in less years back into the overall biomass on the East Coast. Allow these fish (and any species) to reproduce before making a law for harvest that kills them without any chance to allow them to replicate themselves right as they become sexually mature.

Many younger anglers have not even experienced what it was like to have a ton of Stripers of ALL sizes in most locations. No need to network to do well. No crowding of certain spots. No need to. Also, they have never experienced what it’s like to see massive amounts of large Bluefish feeding on bunker schools and harbors. We have not seen that in years as well.

05/30/2021

I am happy to announce that I will be the official judge at Bassapalooza again this year. A great tournament, and evolved into a catch and release tournament too. A fundraiser for Save the Sound also, which helps fund preservation, research, and cleanup projects to help out our resources.

I have guided my clients over the years in this tournament, and placed 2nd two times. It gathers local anglers and families for some fun on the water. Hopefully I will see you there!

 https://www.bassapalooza.com/

14th Annual Western Long Island Sound Bass-A-Palooza Fishing Tournament Bass-A-Palooza is back! Please join us this year for the 14th Annual Bass-A-Palooza fishing tournament on June 5, 2021. You can still support Save the Sound’s programs with your gift if you do not wish to participate. Click he...

05/30/2021

Best Stripers from 2020 season. Biggest was 32lbs (the first photo). All casting lures in my favorite habitat to target them. In the rocky shallows, and most often with topwater lures early in the morning.

I target larger Stripers about 10% every season, so I do ok for the little time I target them. I just want my clients catching fish in a fun way on every trip. Most clients book short notice too, so aligning ideal moon phases, tides, barometer, etc and migration ideally to target big fish on every trip is unrealistic. We used to have medium sized fish in abundance from the late 1990’s-2011 or so. That is gone. Those perfect 28”-34” fish for casting lures on medium powered rods and flies.

My fishery has become either small or big (and the big Stripers locally mostly late May-early July), and virtually no mediums now for the last decade. This is why I have been targeting larger Stripers more in mid to late May-early July locally, as well as promoting more deep water Bluefishing. I simply have less options in my fishery of the style I love.

Hopefully we get new laws to up the current slot for Stripers from 28”-35” to 35”-39” 1 fish per day per angler. As this will allow the fairly abundant 26” and less size bass to reproduce (they first start to spawn around 30”) in the next 3-5 years before getting into a kill zone, as well as maintaining a no kill for big fish over 40”. Have these fish breeding on both sides of a harvest zone makes the most sense to me. Plus, our medium sized fish will be protected too.

05/21/2021

Announcement: In order to keep better track of guiding or casting lessons, inquires must now be through my email: [email protected]

No more DM’s on Instagram or Facebook. It has become too much for me to track. Unfortunately I have missed a couple, and I am sorry about that.