You might remember Captain “Big” Ben Zdan, who fished with us last year. The 6′ 4” Captain fished with the Main Attraction team primarily in the summer, as he is also a commercial lobster and stone crab trapper. Ben also fishes with Marty on tournament teams and helps fill in whenever necessary.

Ben and his fiancé welcomed their second baby girl recently, and decided he wanted to build a charter boat business for his family.

Captain Ben has been around long enough and understands the importance of starting your business on the right foot. Ben approached Captain Marty and asked for advice on starting his own operation.

Captain Marty and Ben go way back. Ben was born and raised in the Florida Keys and was Captain Marty’s mate earlier in his career. Ben has always been reliable and has a great work ethic; Marty told Ben he thinks he would make a great charter business owner. After some discussion, a deal was worked out where Captain Ben could purchase their 42′ Morgan, the Main Attraction 2 , while fishing out of their Marina and building his business.

To be clear The Main Attraction 2 / Ben O’fishal remains in the Main Attraction operation, and we can still book clients on that vessel.

All Main Attraction Customers that are currently booked on Main Attraction 2, will be in great hands, because Captain Ben is a stellar captain. Ben comes with years of experience and tons of local knowledge. Captain Ben puts forth a lot of effort to put a catch together, and we compare his skill level to Captain Marty; just a bit taller!

So, what does that mean? The Main Attraction will manage his operation as Captain Ben builds his business. Captain Ben is being booked through the Main Attraction website and Katie Lewis, as a standard charter would. The night before your charter, you will still receive a phone call from Captain Marty or Katie, to review the departure time and a friendly reminder of what you need to bring. And when you show up to the same location, Marathon Sailfish Marina, Captain Ben will greet you and inform you of the recent change and his new business called Ben O’fishal Sportfishing.

So, in the big scheme of things, the only real difference is, Captain Ben receives payment now, vs the Main Attraction.

Recently it has been tough to find hard-working individuals in the Florida Keys due to the current housing crisis. Long-term rentals are near extinct, and houses are expensive to buy here. This means much of the workload has fallen on Captain Marty. The selling of the Main Attraction II will take some of that load off Captain Marty, who is spread extremely thin these days.

As Captain Ben grows his charter business, Captain Marty and Katie are here to guide him along the way and act as a sounding board. With their years of experience in the charter boat business, there is always something that needs to be addressed, fixed, or improved, and they usually have had a similar situation to compare it to.

We are confident you will love to fish with Captain Ben on the Ben O’fishal, former Main Attraction 2, just as much as we think you will. We wish Captain Ben the best of luck, and if you want to fish on the Ben O’fishal, call Katie at 305-289-0071 or visit our contact page.