The 2018 Bunny Clark Guestletter

[To my knowledge, this is the only lobster that was caught last season. If we caught another, I wasn't told about it or it was too small to think about. I ran this trip near the end of May, a marathon trip. The angler who caught it is holding the lobster in the digital image on the left, Keith Wells (NY). The lobster weighed 2 pounds. It was a female lobster that, at one time, was caught with eggs, the tail "V'd" and released. The angler in the background is Phil Brown (NY). Phil boated the 282 pound porbeagle shark only a few hours before on this same trip. ]

[The digital image on the right is a shot of fourteen year old Erin Harris (MA) holding the largest double keeper catch of the season in the middle of June. By the end of the season, it was the Bunny Clark's sixth largest double keeper catch of the year, missing fifth place by a pound. Her double included a 16.5 pound pollock and a 14.5 pound pollock. Not only did Erin bring the double to gaff by herself, she held the two fish up for a picture by herself and then waited holding the two pollock (one in each hand) until I took eight more! [This girl is very athletic and plays on two soccer teams at home!] The angler in the background is her father, Dave Harris, who is not helping her hold her fish, contrary to popular belief! Dave has been one of our best anglers for many years. ]

We did not introduce any new improvements on the Bunny Clark over the 2015/2016 winter, before the 2017 season, that would have been noticeable to anglers. The improvements we did make were in cosmetics all through the boat including the engine room, mechanical repairs and changes that aided in every day operations. We did have a mounting bracket for the vane pump that runs the hydraulic anchor hauler that needed to be replaced. The previous bracket was made of aluminum. I had two new brackets made out of stainless steel. One I saved as a spare. By the end of the 2016 season I had the old aluminum bracket held together with pot warp!

At the time the Bunny Clark was hauled out at Kittery Point Yacht Yard at the end of the 2016 season, we discovered that the outside stuffing box/cutlass casting had come unbolted from the keel near the end of the shaft above the wheel (propeller). This had happened a couple of minutes before we hauled the Bunny Clark out of the water for the winter! Talk about timing! I had to have the cutlass bearing replaced and the housing changed so it wouldn't happen again. There was a minor leak we discovered in one of the fuel tanks that we had to stop. And the fixed port side engine hatch had to be removed and re-bedded as we had discovered that it was leaking when water was on the deck. We had those highlighted items, changing bilge pumps, a couple of wiring problems that needed to be addressed and the normal "every winter" checks that are always part of the work order that is, typically, seventy-five items long.

Improvements anticipated for the 2018 fishing season will included a new secondary radar. We lost our regular secondary radar during the middle of last season. We had been having power issues with it. I would have changed it out then. But the Japanese electronics company, Furuno, was coming out with an intermediate color radar that would not be available until the end of the 2017 season. So I decided to see if I could get through last season without it. We didn't, of course. Fortunately, our main radar, a thirty-six mile Furuno, worked perfectly from the beginning of the 2017 season until the end.

We will also be installing a new inflatable life raft that will be able to hold more people in case we need it. Our older life raft was going to be almost as expensive this year to inspect and re-pack. Plus, they were having a sale on this life raft to move stock. Anticipating a regulatory move in 2015/2016, many life raft companies produced well over what they needed to sell in order to be ready for the new regulation. When the regulation didn't go through Congress, those raft companies were stuck holding many more life rafts than they could sell under the current regulations. By doing this, at the end of two years I will have swapped the old life raft for a new one with larger capacity for even money. That move seemed a "no-brainer".

We found a very similar problem in the shaft/propeller system when we hauled the Bunny Clark out of water in mid November of 2017. The cutlass bearing had slid out of the stuffing box casting on the back of the keel, the aft face of the cutlass tube resting on the forward hub of the propeller while the forward part of the cutlass tube still had two inches in the aft end of the casting! That two inches was the only bearing surface holding the shaft other than the actual stuffing box in the engine room! This was the third haul-out in three years with a similar problem within the cutlass bearing area. So I decided to pull the shaft, cutlass, the outside stuffing box casting, the wheel, the keys, nuts and cotter pin completely out of the boat and take the whole works to H & H Propeller in Salem, Massachusetts. They straighted the shaft, trued the wheel, gave me a new stuffing box/cutlass casting, a new cutlass bearing, fitted everything together with the tightest of tolerances, fitted new keys, new propeller nuts and a new radius in each key way at either end of the shaft. As of this writing, we haven't put the new shaft system in the boat yet. But when we do I am going to have a whole new engine alignment completed. If I have my way, the Bunny Clark will have no vibration or future problems in this arena. By writing this I hope I didn't jinx myself!

We had less problems with the "new" engine last season. It's been my experience that problems crop up the most in new engine installations and old engines. The problems that we had during the 2016 season with the engine were solved that season and the following winter. So, aside from the cutlass bearing problem mentioned above, we ran free and clear without any engine problems in 2017. Certainly, no problems that prevented us from taking a trip out. The only quasi-engine problem we had was when Captain Jared Keniston was putting the boat back on Barnacle Billy's dock for the night and got a dock line caught in the wheel. The long and the short of that story was that I, eventually, had to dive under the boat (with a dry suit, of course) and get the rope out of the wheel in order to have the boat ready to sail the next day. That happened at the end of June. And this really wasn't what you would call an engine problem. I typically have to dive under the boat twice in a season to get something out of the wheel.

[I took the digital image on the left during the September 26, 2017 marathon trip. The subject is Jim Watson (PA) holding his 13.5 pound monkfish. This was the first monkfish that Jim has ever caught and the Bunny Clark's second largest monkfish of the 2017 fishing season. ]

There were two other problems that happened but were not related directly to the Bunny Clark but unique enough to mention them here. The first situation happened on June 21, 2017. Captain Ian Keniston and Captain Jared Keniston were running the extreme day trip. They were drift fishing peacefully when Ian noticed a sailboat, a sloop, heading toward them from the southwest. The boat was far enough away that Ian didn't pay too much attention. It became evident after a while that the sailboat was not going to change course and, in fact, was on a collision course with the Bunny Clark. As the sailboat got closer, anglers started yelling. Ian had to run to the helm, start the engine and put it in gear to get out of the way. Ian avoided a collision, but only barely. The sailboat had a light blue colored hull and was named the Noonin. The name was on the bow, which is unusual for a sailboat. Ian couldn't see the hailing port. And, from what I understand, the sail set was "wing & wing" (the main sail vanged over one side of the rail with the jib sheeted out over the opposite rail), going directly to leeward. There was no one at the helm until the last minute when someone showed up coming out of the companionway. I asked if the man on the sailboat was fully clothed, all kinds of thoughts running through my head. And I guess he was. I would have given him the nod if he were barefoot had just pulled a pair of pants on. But fully dressed, that's just plain dumb seamanship!

The other situation occurred on August 10, 2017 aboard my former deck hand's boat, the India Marie with, none other than the man himself, Captain Satch McMahon aboard. The Bunny Clark had a visual of the India Marie when Satch found a floating dead body just as he arrived on the fishing grounds that morning. Being the venerable mariner that he is, Satch called the U. S. Coast Guard about his discovery. They, in turn, dispatched a boat to his position to extract the dead person. Satch, in the meantime, had to stay on scene until the USCG arrived. It took them over three hours to arrive. In the meantime, Satch had a full boat of patrons who really couldn't fish while Satch was waiting. Apparently, the Coast Guard was very complimentary towards Satch and his actions. However, the question is; will Satch do the same thing, impeding his business were he to come across another dead body in the future?

This brings in the question of the mariner's obligation to saving a life at sea and this relationship with finding a dead person floating. They aren't the same thing. Personally, if it were my son or daughter, I would certainly like to have closure. So I don't think ignoring it is an option. However, you can't prepare for something like this. And, at the time, I'm sure that was all Satch could do. I think, if it were me, I would put a flag buoy on it and mark the position, set and drift. And go back to fishing until USCG arrival. Easy to say when you have plenty of time to think about it after the fact!

It also reminds me of a story set in downeast Maine where two guys were lobstering together and found a dead woman wrapped up in the gear with fifteen lobsters muckled on to it. "What shall we do?", the mate said to the captain. "Well, first, I want you to band those lobsters and get them in the circulating tank." "Then, I guess, we'll set her again!".

Last year, Fish-On Tackle was sold to North Atlantic Jigs & Tackle. Fish-On Tackle was the source for our Lavjigs and other assorted jigs and sinkers. Now we will get them from North Atlantic Jigs & Tackle. I have been in contact with Dennis Toubeau and Kristine Gavin, the proprietors. Although I have not bought anything from them yet, they seem very nice and have been quite accommodating. They can be reached at najigsandtackle@gmail.com. Right now I am working on a single hook setup on the Lav 16 ounce jigs. A couple of years ago we offered them. They worked great. The main purpose with using the single hook was to eliminate snagging fish. In turn, you would be boating a larger fish and spending more time fishing and spending less time taking small fish or snagged fish off hooks. The single hook accomplished that goal nicely in trials of the past. However, the hook that we used, although the perfect size, rusted.. Frankly, it made the jig less attractive to anglers. So this year I plan to work with Dennis & Kristine to come up with a more viable option.

[The picture on the right is a shot of Jim "Chip" Chiapponi (CT) on the bow of the Bunny Clark holding his 2.5 pound Maine state trophy redfish. This was the largest redfish of the 2017 Bunny Clark fishing season. I can't remember when I have ever seen a redfish with so much girth. This fish was caught on a marathon trip in the middle of June. Chip also caught a 14 pound pollock that day, a tie for the second largest fish of the trip. ]

As usual, two of the places I rely on most are Surfland Bait & Tackle, Newbury, Massachusetts (Kay Moulton, proprietor) and the Saco Bay Tackle Company in Saco, Maine. Kay is the last word when it comes to terminal gear, swivels, bait hooks, reel repair questions and rod building questions as it pertains to salt water fishing in New England. I buy all my swivels, terminal gear and some reels from Kay. I have very much enjoyed doing business with her since the early 1970's. Both of these places have been responsible for building excellent rods to my specifications. Saco Bay Tackle Company specifically builds a deep water jigging rod that is second to none with the Bunny Clark logo and my explicit stamp of approval. I also buy specialized line from them. Both businesses are top notch tackle stores, the best.

In the 2016 and the 2017 fishing seasons, I have bought all my snelled hooks and leaders from Sea Wolfe Tackle. The hook/leader combination is made by them or companies for them with my specifications. I find that Richard & Judy are very easy to work with and fair on price. Right now they are in the process of making me hook/leader setups that we can use with every day bait fishing but will also be strong enough to handle a significantly large halibut.

Our web site at http://www.bunnyclark.com continues to be the location where you can get information about the Bunny Clark operation on a daily basis during the season and off-season. We have a schedule and rates section, a photo section, a world records section and more. Our fishing update section provides anglers with up to date information on the daily catch, fish sizes, daily weather, angler deeds and fishery management information. This Guestletter resides on our web site along with some of my previous Guestletters. Although I can’t personally answer all the email that comes in associated with the site, our staff does a great job with this while also answering reservation questions and scheduling fishing dates. We are still not planning to use the email/internet as a direct source of making reservations as the phone serves as a better means to take care of anyone on an equal basis.

This is the sixth season that I haven't worked on my groundfish tagging program. I just didn't have the time. I plan to start it up again in 2018. I know I made the same statement on last years Guestletter. But I plan to be more vigilant about it this year. The proof is in the pudding. Right?

We maintain a healthy Maine state trophy program in order to recognize larger than normal fish. During the 2015 season Jason Collier (VT) came close to breaking the whiting IGFA All-Tackle world record with his 5 pounder. The fish just wasn't close enough. During the 2016 fishing season, the whiting, again, was the only species close to making world record status. But the largest one, a 4.1 pounder caught by Jon Griffin (MA), wasn't even large enough to beat Jason's fish the year before. We did catch some large barndoor skates last season. At this time, the barndoor skate is not accepted as a viable world record species. This is probably because of it's endangered species status. Bryan Lewer (FL) came closest to a world record last season with his 47.5 pound Maine state trophy white hake. The existing world record white hake is 46 pounds 6 ounces caught by John Audet (ME) aboard the Bunny Clark on October 26, 1986, caught only a mile from Boon Island. Bryan caught his fish around mid-morning ninety-five miles off shore. Bryan's hake would have had to weigh 47 pounds 6 ounces in order to beat John's world record. There was just no way that Bryan's hake would have stayed the same weight after eight hours in the boat before getting an official on-shore weight. I will talk more about size relationships below with the accompanied trophy list. You may enjoy checking out all of our current and past world and state records by accessing the records link at http://www.bunnyclark.com or by going directly to http://www.bunnyclark.com/records.htm.

At the time of this writing there are no regulation specifics available to inform you about for the 2018 fishing season. I suspect we will not be able to keep cod as was the case last season, the 2015 fishing season and all but two months (August & September - one cod a person) of the 2016 fishing season. If we are able to keep cod at all in 2018, it will not be before May 1, 2018. This is because the 2017 fiscal Federal fishing season ends on May 1. That means that the recreational angler will have a 12 fish haddock limit with a seventeen inch minimum size from April 15 to May 1, 2018. What happens after this is up in the air at this time. The data from last year will not be available until Feburary. The Recreational Advisory Panel (RAP) meeting was held on January 24. I hold a seat on the Panel. In a nut shell, preliminary findings show that the recreational angler is still catching (killing) too many cod. The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) feels that with trying to stay out to catch the haddock quota, recreational boats will again be catching too many cod. Despite this, I made a motion to keep the same regulations we had in 2017. The motion passed. And it also passed with the Council's Groundfish Committee the next day. It still has to be approved by the Council and NMFS. This could, potentially, have us facing the same problem with the regulations for the 2019 season. But the RAP believes that the cod mortality numbers are highly inflated in the private angler numbers. In fact, there is really no way to get accurate numbers. So I had no problem making this motion.

In the regulatory process, the way we fish for cod and haddock puts pressure on both species to some degree. If you are fishing for one species you are going to put pressure on the other. That is the way the scientific community sees the regulatory relationship. There is no way to ensure, for instance, that you are not going to catch cod if you are going for haddock. Nor are you going to get into the minds of the captains who go for groundfish. The cod, therefore, is the big problem. According to my most recent figures, the recreational angler caught more cod than we should have last year (fiscal 2017). This is the reason I feel that cod will be off the table again this season. The one determining factor will be the extent to which we need to protect cod and if looks like the cod are coming back. The recreational angler caught a lot of cod last year. To the casual observer, you might think that we should be able to keep some cod knowing that fact. We caught more cod so we should be able to keep more cod. But we share the resource with the commercial fisherman. If the overall cod quota goes up we may be able to keep some cod. I think this is a real possibility. We will not know this for sure until after the summer.

[On the October 3, 2017 marathon trip, Fred Kunz, shown left, won the boat for the largest fish with the largest fish, an 87.5 pound porbeagle shark. Also called a mackerel shark, this is Fred's first porbeagle and the second largest fish that Fred has ever caught. It was only the Bunny Clark's second porbeagle shark that was caught last season. Fred was reeling in a fish when this shark followed Fred's fish to the surface. While there, the shark bit on to Fred's bare jig. Fred held the shark there with enough time to gaff it had it been closer to the surface. Captain Ian Keniston did hit it with the gaff. But when he did, the shark took off and headed right straight toward bottom. Fred might have fought the fish for ten minutes before getting it close enough to the boat to gaff. It was a tough battle for a while. But the shark met its demise when it started rolling up in the line rather than trying to get away. Once the shark started doing that, Fred reeled it right in. Ian hit it with the flying gaff while I got a gaff in the tail. Ian, Fred and I rolled it over the stern and into the boat. Fred was gracious enough to let me have a steak off his mackerel shark which Deb and I ate the next evening. The best shark/swordfish steak I have had in many years! The digital image of Fred holding his shark appears on the left.]

We will not be limited in the areas we can fish except for the Whaleback Spawning Closure to the south and east of the Isles of Shoals. There will be a 12 inch minimum size on winter (blackback) flounder, a 19 inch limit on pollock (with no bag limit), a 9 inch limit on redfish (with no bag limit) and a 41 inch limit on halibut. Halibut landings are limited to one halibut per vessel per day Federally; state wise we are limited to five halibut per calendar year (Maine only). The question on halibut take will be taken up during Council meetings in late January. There is no size limit or bag limit on hake (both white, red & silver hake), mackerel and cusk. There is a minimum size of 54 inches (caliper fork length) for possessing mako sharks, porbeagle (mackerel) sharks & thresher sharks. You will be able to land a bluefin or two or three or four (per vessel) of an undetermined size (to be established at the beginning of the season on June 1, 2017). It is illegal to keep barndoor skates, eel pouts and wolffish.

The start date of Friday, April 13, 2018 has been determined as the date of our first fishing trip of the season, a marathon trip where I will be the captain and Captain Ian Keniston will be the deck hand. That Friday and Saturday, April 14th, we will not be able to keep haddock or cod. I have selected that date because I want to look around the fishing grounds. There should be plenty of redfish available. We can keep pollock. We may find a big cod or keep a halibut. Cusk will also be around at that time of year. Starting on Sunday, April 15, we will be able to keep twelve haddock per person.

I have also changed the time that reservations will be taken on Feburary 1, 2018. Reservations will start at 5:00 AM, February 1, 2018.

As of this writing, the NMFS has approved the Omnibus Habitat Amendment 2 but not in it's entirety. This Amendment is the one that would restructure the closed areas, opening up many new areas of bottom to commercial fishing that have been closed since 1996 or even earlier. The Amendment went to public comment last fall. The comments overall were in favor of keeping the status quo or, maybe, adding more areas closed to commercial fishing. Very few people, commercial or recreational, wanted the closed areas open in any way. Unfortunately, most of the provisions of the Amendment went through. What this means to us is that the Western Gulf of Maine (Jeffrey's Ledge) closure on the east side will be open to commercial fish including bottom trawling. With only 15 percent observer coverage, you know what this will mean. It will also prevent us from being as successful. And it will increase cod mortality, my biggest fear. At the present time the Cashes Ledge closed area will remain the same. But the Amendment leaves the door open to commercial exploitation in the future. I was very disappointed that this went through. It opens up too much bottom to very destructive fishing in the future. And it ruins a major groundfish habitat system [my opinion]. I'm happy to say that Area 2 on Georges Bank will remain closed. However, they will open Area 1 to the south of it. Not good. The closed areas have helped the fishery in general. They were responsible for the haddock coming back to the U.S. and Canadian waters. The protections they afforded brought back the barndoor skate and is protecting the many hake and pollock spawning areas. It is not a good idea to open any of the closed areas. And, opening the closed areas will make cod all that more vulnerable to exploitation or, even, economic extinction. Wouldn't that be nice!

As a note, right now, the mid-water herring trawlers are allowed to tow in the closed areas for herring. They are towing small mesh nets, sometimes with very large nets that can only be towed by two vessels. In the operation of towing these nets they are catching unlimited tons of other species, including haddock and cod, that die by the time the cod end (of the net) hits the deck. This, to me, is so contemptible as to defy the imagination; why would you allow commercial boats capable of killing cod in an area where we are protecting cod and haddock and no commercial groundfish boats are allowed in, even with large mesh? It makes no sense. But it is still allowed.

These are just a small number of the challenges we face in the New England fishery. And I know that I am just touching on them here. In the last two Guestletters I have put too much emphasis on the fishery management issues. I am backing off a bit this time. Suffice it to say, much work needs to be done in order for me to feel satisfied that the fishery management in New England is heading in the right direction.

As I feel that the greatest achievement in angling is the ability of a person to hook and land a trophy fish on their own, I have listed the guests who caught the top five largest of each significant species during the 2017 fishing season. Keep in mind that all the represented weights of these fish were taken aboard the Bunny Clark using a registered scale shortly after capture (the same way it has been done since our first fishing trip on the Bunny Clark in May 1983). I feel that this is the fairest comparison between the angler’s fish since weight loss is proportional to the amount of time the fish is out of water. This also makes the weight of every fish caught on the Bunny Clark comparable through all of the past fishing seasons.

NAME (STATE)

FISH - lbs.

LENGTH X GIRTH (inches)

DATE CAUGHT

Kevin Gilpatric (ME)	Monkfish 24		08-08-17
Jim Watson (NY)	Monkfish 13.5		9-26-17
Deanna Cupka (PA)	Monkfish 10.25		10-23-17
Bill Otto (PA)	Monkfish 9		9-15-17
Kory Kaulfers (PA)	Monkfish 6		5-16-17
Shaun Montgomery (NY)	Monkfish 6		7-3-17
Kevin Attanasio (MD)	Monkfish 6		10-27-17

Bill Wallace (ME) can be seen on the right holding his 15 pound wolffish just before releasing it alive. When we used to be able to keep wolffish, that size was the minimum acceptance weight for a Maine state trophy. Bill's wolffish was the third largest wolffish caught on the Bunny Clark last season.

Molly Williams (LA)

Atlantic Mackerel 1.9

8-29-17

Stephen Selmer (NH)	Barndoor Skate 27*		7-18-17
Mike Bruce (NH)	Barndoor Skate 21.5*		9-7-17
Serghie Rojco (NH)	Barndoor Skate 20.5*		9-11-17
Liam Jenks (MA)	Barndoor Skate 20*		8-21-17
Tom Staples (PA)	Barndoor Skate 20*		10-20-17

Jim Chiapponi (CT)	Redfish 2.5	15.75 X 13.5	6-15-17
Steve Selmer (NH)	Redfish 2.1	16.75 X 12	8-31-17

Dan Nye (MA)	Wolffish 17***		10-5-17
Alyssa Wright (ME)	Wolffish 16.5***		7-22-17
Bill Wallace (VT)	Wolffish 15***		10-19-17
Robert Clarke (NH)	Wolffish 13***		4-28-17
Bill Bolotin (MA)	Wolffish 12.25***		9-12-17

Wade Colby (ME) tied for the second largest whiting caught on the Bunny Clark last season, a Maine state trophy of 3 pounds. I took a picture of Wade with his great fish. This digital image appears on the right.

David Sei (MA)	Pollock 29	43 X 24	7-5-17
Jonathan Griffin (MA)	Pollock 26.5	41 X 22	10-05-17
Raymond Charles (ME)	Pollock 26	43.5 X 23	6-13-17
Neil Chamberlin (NH)	Pollock 24		9-26-17
Josh Atkisson (MA)	Pollock 23.5		8-3-17
Martin Buskey (NY)	Pollock 23.5		10-15-17
Fred Kunz (NH)	Pollock 23.5		11-2-17

Bryan Lewer (FL/ME)	White Hake 47.5	48 X 33	7-18-17
Dan Killay (VT)	White Hake 43.5	48.5 X 32	7-18-17
Bryan Lewer (FL/ME)	White Hake 41		7-18-17
Jonathan Griffin (MA)	White Hake 38	46.5 X 28	7-18-17
Stephen Selmer (NH)	White Hake 38	45 X 30	7-18-17

We had an anonymous Individual catch another Maine state trophy whiting of exactly 3 pounds, a tie with Wade above. This individual's whiting was caught two weeks later than Wade's fish. I took a picture of this individual holding his prize. The digital image appears on the right. This whiting and Wade's whiting were the second largest whiting caught on the Bunny Clark last season.

Wobbey Barnes (MA)	Haddock 8	29 X 16.5	4-20-17
Chris Cote (ME)	Haddock 7.1	25 X 15.5	6-1-17

Charlie Jacobs (NC)	Whiting 3.25	21.75 X 11	8-3-17
Wade Colby (ME)	Whiting 3	22 X 10.5	5-25-17
Errol Tabacco (VT)	Whiting 3	23 X 11	6-8-17
Sias Hechel (NH)	Whiting 2.5		10-11-17

Keith Wells (NY)

Lobster 2**

5-25-17

Jonathan Griffin (MA)	Cusk 23.5	36.5 X 25	7-18-17
Bryan Lewer (ME/FL)	Cusk 22	37.5 X 23	7-18-17
Bryan Lewer (ME/FL)	Cusk 21.5	35 X 24	7-18-17
Stephen Selmer (NH)	Cusk 21	34 X 26	7-18-17
Lewis Hazelwood (MA)	Cusk 20.5	34 X 22	7-18-17

Marie Harding (ME)	Cod 28.25***		6-29-17
Neil Feldman (NJ)	Cod 28***		7-11-17
Ny Nhath (VT)	Cod 27***		6-1-17
Andrew Gaudio (MD)	Cod 26***		10-19-17
Donna Moran (NYC)	Cod 24***		7-11-17

On the last spot of the day, Labor Day last season, just as Captain Ian Keniston was about to call it a day on one of his extreme day trips, Justin Gage (VT), hooked into something big. Ian wasn't sure what it was at first as the fish was hooked on top and stayed on top for the fight. As the fish got closer, it became obvious that Justin had a small bluefin tuna on his line. For less than a half an hour Justin fought the fish until he had the fish doing small circles around the stern of the boat. He closed the circles until the fish came within gaffing range. And that was it. The first bluefin boated on the Bunny Clark in seven years. And it's not like we haven't had our opportunities between 2010 and 2017. We don't have a scale big enough to accommodate a fish over 100 pounds. So they had to weigh the fish in pieces. The pieces came out to 110 pounds, a little less than if it had been weighed whole, unbled. Ian took a picture of Justin trying to hold the fish, shown right. What was most interesting to me, the tuna took the fly above the jig and was hooked in such a way as the teeth didn't chafe on the loop holding the fly! Justin gave me a piece of the center cut near the shoulder. Deb pan seared it with olive oil and sesame seeds that night. It was really out of this world. Thank you very much, Justin (and Bernie!).

Lewis Hazelwood (MA)	Halibut 86****	58	7-11-17
Tim Rozan (ME)	Halibut 68****	53	7-18-17
Richard Lyle (NY)	Halibut 53	48.25 X 35	7-18-17
Neil Feldman (NJ)	Halibut 38	44	7-11-17
Lee Sovie (NY)	Halibut 36	44	6-14-17

Phil Brown (NY)	Porbeagle Shark 282	81	5-25-17
Fred Kunz (NH)	Porbeagle Shark 87.5	57.5	10-3-17

Justin Gage (VT)

Bluefin Tuna 110

60

9-4-17

Where there is a tie in fish size, anglers are arranged in order of the date caught.

* Barndoor skates are presently on the endangered species list. All the skates listed were released back to the ocean alive after a quick picture of the angler with his fish.

** These fish (lobsters) were sub-legal or illegal to keep and released back to the ocean alive.

*** Federal regulation has prohibited the retention of wolffish for a few years now. Federal regulations for the whole 2017 season also prohibited the retention of cod. All wolffish and cod were released back to the ocean alive.

**** We had already boated a smaller legal halibut the day this fish was caught. Federal law prohibits retention of more than one halibut per trip! The boat rule says that the first angler to catch a legal halibut during a trip has the option to keep or release the fish alive. It that angler decides to keep the fish, no other halibut can be kept for that trip.

[On the October 15, 2017 extreme day trip, Marty Buskey won the boat pool for the largest fish with the largest fish, a 23.5 pound pollock. This pollock ties the fifth largest pollock landed on the Bunny Clark during the 2017 season. Captain Ian Keniston took a really good picture of Marty holding his prize pollock. This digital image appears on the left. Marty also caught the third largest fish of the trip, a 13 pound pollock on this day. The second largest fish, on that trip, was a 20 pound pollock caught by Marty's dory mate, Nick Costantino (NY). It was a great day to be Marty Buskey or to be on Marty Buskey's team!]

[During the full day trip on August 29, 2017, Molly Williams (LA) was high hook with eight legal fish, mostly pollock and a haddock. She was using a jig stick, jig and fly. She also caught the largest mackerel of the Bunny Clark season. It was just shy of 2 pounds! I took a picture that Molly gave me and edited it to fit this page. That digital image of Molly and her mackerel appears on the right. Her largest fish was probably a 7 pound pollock that day. It was her first trip on the Bunny Clark.]

[Ray Westermann won the boat pool for the second largest fish with the second largest fish, a 32 pound Maine state trophy white hake, on the September 14, 2017 marathon trip. I took a picture of Ray with his big hake, one of the first hake aboard that day. This digital image appears on the left. Ray caught two other notable fish on that trip. One was a 15 pound Maine state trophy cusk. The other was a 22 pound white hake. Ray is a special person and an excellent angler.]

[The shot on the right is a digital image of FY '17 Jonathan "Griff" Griffin holding his 26.5 pound Maine state trophy pollock, one of only three trophy pollock caught during the 2017 Bunny Clark season and the second largest pollock of that season. ]

Before I end this Guestletter, I want to cite those anglers and experiences of note that deserve an honorable mention for their uniqueness and/or fishing prowess during the 2017 Bunny Clark fishing season. I realize that this is a value judgment on my part but I believe that my conclusions are recognized as a popular opinion and/or statistical fact among my crew and fishing guests and are based on many fishing trips and many seasons in the business. These special anglers and incidents are as follows:

Fisherman of the Year (FY-’17): Jonathan "Griff" Griffin (MA) wins this award for the third time in as many seasons. He has been close for many years including fourth place in 2014 and third place in 2013. The 2015 Bunny Clark fishing season was the first season that he won the award. He has been the Fisherman of the Year every season since!

As most of you know by now, the FY award is based on a point system that relates to specific achievements during each trip for a season on the Bunny Clark. Each achievement is worth a set of points. The individual with the most points at the end of the season wins. In order to compete in this category, you have to have paid for and completed at least 10 different trips on the Bunny Clark. I have had many excellent anglers who fish with us on a regular basis every season, any one of whom has the potential to become the Fisherman of the Year. Griff was the man again last season. Griff did very well in a number of categories that propelled him to the top.: He came in a close second in the "fisherman of the day" (high hook and largest fish on the same trip) category, he came in second for the most boats pools last season, he took a third place in the largest double keeper catch category of the Bunny Clark season, he caught the most trophy fish, caught the largest cusk, he caught the second largest pollock of the Bunny Clark season, he landed the fourth largest hake of the Bunny Clark season, he tied with Steve Selmer for the most Maine state trophy fish caught in a single trip with a count of six fish and he was high hook ten times, which was five times more than his closest competition. Griff is always in the running for the best angler in a season. He usually fishes with his dory mate, Ray Westermann, who could also be the Fisherman of the Year on any given season, Griff is technically one of the best anglers I take fishing, he adapts most easily in any situation, never gets flustered, always enjoys himself on every trip despite the weather and, honestly, I don't think he gives a rats ass if he ever wins the Fisherman of the Year award! One of my happiest moments during a season is when I see Griff and Ray walking down the ramp early in the morning while we are getting ready to take a marathon trip. There is always a lot of fun and laughter on those trips. And I know that if I can find the fish, they will catch them. It's always a pleasure to have you aboard, Griff. And, for this one reason alone, it will be a sorry day when the time comes where I have to hang up the oil gear for the last time. Congratulations, Griff, for a spectacular season on the Bunny Clark!

Griff's total point count was 153, ten more points than he won with last season. Norm Herrick (MA/ME) came in second place with a point total of 58. Ray Westermann was third with 57 points. [Ray came in second place after the 2016 Bunny Clark fishing season.] Tim Rozan was fourth with 53 points. Lewis Hazelwood was fifth with 41 points. Incidentally, Fred Kunz would have come in second with 78 points had he completed ten trips or more. Fred finished a trip shy last season with nine!

[In the digital image, left, FY '17 Jonathan "Griff" Griffin can be seen holding the largest cusk of the 2017 Bunny Clark fishing season, his cusk, weighing 23.5 pounds. This is a rare shot of Griff with his sou'wester on. Oh, cabin boy!]

Best Bait Fisherman: Shameless Ray “The Pole Tossing Master Baiter” Westermann was back in the money again last season, his ninth season (out of the last ten) taking this award. Steve Brown (ME) might have given him a run for his money. But Steve attended less trips last season and was not as much of a stand-out as he was during the 2016 Bunny Clark season, the year that he captured this award and purloined it from Ray! But you can't hold your guard down for a second when Ray is fishing. Ray always takes advantage of every situation. He is as good a jig fisherman as he is a bait fisherman. But he does excel when it comes to fish that love bait best including haddock, cusk and hake. No, I could not find anyone to come close to Ray last year. And he caught eight trophy fish, the third most trophies for any angler on the Bunny Clark last season, all specifically fish that love bait. There are very few anglers with as good an attitude, success ratio and ability. It would really take a great bait fisherman, like Steve, who is really on his game to catch Ray. There was no one to fit that category last season. Congratulations, Ray. Always a wonderful time when you are aboard! Particularly if you are a person, like me, who loves to watch anglers catch fish!

Most Aces: For those who don’t know, an angler scores an Ace when he or she lands the three (or more) largest fish during a single trip. There can be no ties in fish size with other anglers in order to achieve true “Ace” status. There was only one Ace landed during the 2014 fishing season, six Aces in 2013 and not a single Ace in 2012. The 2012 season was the first season that the Bunny Clark didn't see a single Ace. The 2015 season was the second! During the 2016 fishing season there was only one Ace. Last season there were five Aces caught, three of which were "Double Aces" (the four largest fish caught on a trip). I will list them in chronological order. On April 14, Chris Bergier (MA) caught a Double Ace during an extreme day trip. His four largest fish included a 9.5 pound cod, a 9 pound cod and two cod of 8.5 pounds each. On April 19, Tom Murphy (VT) caught a Double Ace, also on an extreme day trip. Tom's fish included a 7.5 pound cod, a 7 pound cod, a 6.25 pound haddock and a 6 pound haddock. On June 3, John Warden (ME) caught an Ace on a full day trip. His fish included an 18.25 pound cod, a 12 pound cod and an 11.5 pound cod. Adam Quimbly (ME) landed an Ace during an extreme day trip, June 6, 2017. His three fish included a 14 pound pollock, a 10 pound pollock and a 9 pound pollock. The most impressive, however, was a Double Ace that was landed by Colin Abbott (ON) during the August 8, full day trip. His fish included a 20 pound pollock, a 19 pound pollock, a 17 pound pollock and a 15.5 pound pollock. What was even more impressive was that two of those fish were caught as a double, two fish on the same line at the same time. Those two fish were the 20 pound pollock and the 17 pound pollock, the Bunny Clark's second largest double of the 2017 fishing season! And he's a Canadian!

Most Trophy Fish (including hake over 15 pounds, cod & pollock over 20 pounds, redfish 2 pounds or more, haddock of 7 pounds or more and the fish seldom caught with rod & reel including monkfish, barndoor skates, whiting, torpedo rays, porbeagle sharks, bluefin tuna, wolffish & halibut) of the Season: Griff caught the most with a count of twelve. Steve Selmer was second with nine trophy fish last season. Ray Westermann was third with eight trophy fish on the Bunny Clark in 2017. Tim Rozan and Lewis Hazelwood tied for fourth with five trophy fish each. Mark LaRocca (NY) was fifth with four trophy fish for the season.

[The picture on the right is a shot of Devaughn "D" Tyndall (PA) holding his 12 pound pollock which he caught on an offshore marathon trip in the spring. It was a beautiful day that day. And the picture was perfect, one of the best of the year. So I had to put it in this Guestletter!]

Top Five Largest Fish of the Bunny Clark Season: Phil Brown caught the largest with the 282 pound porbeagle shark. Justin Gage came in second with his 110 pound bluefin tuna. Fred Kunz was third with his 87.5 pound porbeagle. Lewis Hazelwood was fourth with his 86 pound halibut. Tim Rozan was fifth with his 68 pound halibut.

Most Trophy Fish during a Trip: Griff tied with Steve Selmer with six trophy fish each. Bryan Lewer, Tim Rozan and Bryan Lewer (again on another trip) tied for second place with five trophy fish each. Dave Miller (MA), Griff and Ray Westermann tied for third place with four trophy fish each. There was a tie for fourth among six anglers. Those anglers included Dan Killay, Dick Lyle, Lewis Hazelwood, Mark LaRocca, Neil Feldman and Ray Westermann. All six had a trip on the Bunny Clark in 2017 when they caught three trophy fish during a single trip.

Most Pools (largest fish of the trip): Fred Kunz and Norman Herrick (MA/ME) tied for the most boat pools during the 2017 Bunny Clark fishing season. Their count was four pools each. There was a tie for second among three anglers with three pools each. Those anglers were Brian Murphy, John Russell (ME) and Jonathan "Griff" Griffin. There was also a tie for third place among five anglers with two boat pools each. Those anglers included Tim Rozan, Frank Noble (ME), Nathaniel Wells (NY), Max Sokolova (MA) and Marty Buskey.

High Hook: Griff was high hook (the most legal fish on a trip) on ten different trips, the most for an angler during the 2017 Bunny Clark fishing season. Fred Kunz had second place with five counts. Ray Westermann & Norm Herrick tied for third place with three counts each. Brian Murphy was in sole possession of fourth place with three counts. All the rest of the anglers on the Bunny Clark last season had two or fewer times where they caught the most legal fish on a single trip.

[Ben Austin (MA) won the boat pool for the largest fish with the largest fish, a 34 pound Maine state trophy white hake during a mid-September marathon trip. The digital image is shown left with Ben holding it in the pulpit. This is his first hake, the only hake he has ever caught and the only hake he caught that day. We were drifting and just starting to lose the fish when Ben came up with that one. Ben's fish tied for the tenth largest hake caught on the Bunny Clark in 2017.]

Hardest Luck: The hardest luck of the year goes to Tim Rozan while on an extreme day trip in late October. He had brought his daughter out fishing with him for the first time. While fishing in the bow on the port side, Tim had his line over the side and attempted to put his rod in a holder as he helped his daughter with a fish. Tim, unknowingly, missed the rod holder, paying the greater part of his attention on his daughter. When he turned to help his daughter his rod & reel flipped over the side so quickly he had no time to respond. Of course, his gear went right to bottom. They tried to fish the rod out with other equipment, to no avail. Tim told Ian later; "Losing a rod & reel?", "What are you going to do [in a situation like that]?", "At least my daughter had a good time." Ah, the vagaries of fishing! One often hopes that if there is a change out there, the outcome is a good one. After all it was Tim who caught two halibut in one day this year on an offshore trip. His biggest one on that trip was 68 pounds. Sometimes change is good! Not this day!

Second place has to go to Bob Mayer (ME). And I write this tongue-in-cheek because, in these two situations, he had to have good luck in order to render the bad! On a marathon trip during the end of May, mid-way through the second or third stop, Bob Mayer (ME) raised a porbeagle shark to the surface where it took a big bite of Bob's jig and got hooked in the process. Probably 250 pounds, at least, the fish thrashed on the surface enough to get Captain Ian Keniston and I running for the gaffs. We lost our opportunity; when we got to Bob we only managed a couple of chances to take a swipe at the fish before it broke Bob's line and swam away. Bob's drag was a little too tight. But, at the time, I thought; "We'll get this figured out in the future." I never really followed up on this thought. Fast forward to the July Special Offshore Fishing Trip (SOFT). Bob was fishing in the same spot that he was when he lost the porbeagle. Mid-day he hooked the biggest halibut of the day, a fish I would have loved to have boated. After getting to the point where we might get a visual, it screwed straight to bottom. I had a positive signature on the sounding machine which told me it was a very big halibut. I really believe it was a bigger halibut than the largest halibut we have ever caught on the Bunny Clark. Things probably would have been fine but Bob's drag was way too tight and it broke off half way to bottom. Bob didn't realize his drag was that tight as it had been taking line. But when I tested it, I was amazed that the fish had taken any line, as tight as Bob's drag was. So Bob had great luck in hooking two of the best fish of two different species where either one could have been a Bunny Clark record, and lost both. I can't help but think that with a little intervention on my part the outcome might have been different - at least when it concerned the halibut!

Third place goes to Mark Laroche (VT) during his trip on the SOFT in July. For a couple of reasons. First, he was sea sick, his emesis occurring early in the journey, the rest of the way to the grounds and most of the morning. Second, he fell on his favorite rod and snapped it in half at the reel seat! This rod had a beautiful butt wrap that took hours to make. Plus, it was very unique. Mark seemed heart broken. It was obvious that he had used the rod for a long time. I felt bad for him. Unlike most who have had the dreaded mal de mer over the years, he recovered for most of the fishing. And he ended up landing a 15 pound pollock along with some other good fish. I don't believe the fun of fishing that afternoon made up for the loss of the rod!

In general, this had to be the year where we lost the most halibut of keeper size.

[ While fishing on one of our marathon trips in early September, Mike Bruce (NH) won the boat pool for the largest fish with the largest fish and won the boat pool for the second largest fish with the second largest fish. His largest fish was a 21.5 pound barndoor skate, the third barndoor of the season and the second largest one caught on the Bunny Clark last season. I took a picture of Mike with his skate just before he released it. This digital image appears on the right. His second largest fish was a 21 pound pollock, a tie for the Bunny Clark's fifteenth largest pollock of the season. ]

Most Improved Angler: Mark Weldon (NH) became one of our "frequent flyers" last season. I believe last year was his first year with us. We fish differently than most party boats in New England. My approach is also different. Not necessarily better but definitely different. Because of this an angler's fishing style has to change in order to adapt. Mark's style was completely different when he first stepped aboard. I have never seen him fish. But I kept paying attention to the reports. The reports got better. A very affable individual, I had questions every time I met the boat after a trip. He was always right up front with me as was Ian's and Jared's report. The reports got better. He kept telling us that; " I won't be able to go next week." But we kept seeing him again, "next week". By the end, it was almost like he was part of the crew. He didn't catch the largest fish many times. Once that I know of. Nor was he high hook very often. But he was close on both counts. No one showed more improvement. And my decision to put him in this category is probably not fair. He was a very good fisherman to begin with. But from the time he first walked on the Bunny Clark until the time he stepped off at the end of the season his improvements were most noticeable collectively by the crew and passengers. Mark may become a force in 2018. That is my prediction!

Best Team: The team of Brian & Marian "Merv" Murphy (NH) stood alone in this category last season. Both fish together on the bow. Both work together while fishing, rotating and casting. Both were very successful last season, amazingly so. Brian won three boat pools out of five trips they attended. Both anglers landed fish in the top five on every trip. And they were the most opportunistic in the chance of hooking the biggest fish of the trip or the most fish. I would liken them to the Patriots in football. If you were taking odds before a trip, you would certainly be looking at them to be the most successful. And if you bet on them last year, you never lost. Hell, whenever I see them coming down to the boat I feel that I have already won. You have to be doing something right if they chose to fish with you! Just wonderful people, fantastic fishermen and very fun for every angler aboard to fish with. It's been a long time since I have seen them on the boat when I was captain. I miss those days!

Exceptional Good Luck: We had many lucky trips last year. We had many anglers experience lucky situations. I think the most lucky situation took place on the SOFT when Louis Hazelwood boated his halibut. Lewis Hazelwood (MA) foul hooked an 86 pound halibut that took him just a little more than a half hour to land. The fish was so worn out from the fight, I was able, with Bryan Lewer's help, to lift the fish aboard, get a weight, take two pictures and release it back alive in a bit of a Chinese fire drill. We had quite a tide (current) that day. So during the fight when it came near the surface it held at that depth for a while but got carried aft with the line almost horizontal making it look more like Lewis was fighting a tuna. When we finally did get the fish near enough, you could see that the hook was lodged in the middle of the outside edge of the fish in the fin. It was amazing that we were able to get this fish close enough to the boat with the way it was hooked. It was heart breaking to have to release the largest halibut the Bunny Clark has ever seen! But we still caught the fish, weighed it and released it. Bragging rights for life!

Quotes of the 2017 Season: "You will never see me on the Bunny Clark again!" This from Justin "Yeti" Mason (VT) after we had just returned from a marathon trip in early June. Justin was never able to fish. As soon as we got to the fishing grounds he found his way down below and stayed in the "Hotel Bunny Clark" for the rest of the trip. If fact, he never got out of the bunk until the boat was back in Perkins Cove and the Bunny Clark had the wooden anchors out. When he emerged from the companionway, he saw me, shook my hand and gave me this quote. No, I wouldn't want to be here either under those circumstances.

[The picture on the right is a shot of Tom Murphy holding his 6 pound haddock that he caught during a marathon trip in mid April. That day was probably the best day we had last season for good sized haddock.]

Most Unusual Catch: We didn't really have any catches that were extremely unusual. But I do want to key on an angler who was very successful last season. His name is Phil Brown. He can be seen in back of Keith in the lobster picture I have included in this Guestletter. On May 4, 2017, he caught the first dogfish of the 2017 Bunny Clark fishing season. It's certainly not unusual to catch a dogfish. It is, however, unusual to be the first angler to catch one. Twenty days later, he landed the first porbeagle shark of the season! Not only was it the first, it was also the Bunny Clark's second largest porbeagle shark ever caught! And there couldn't have been a more prepared angler to catch it either. Phil was fishing with a stand-up pelagic rig (rod), more suited for catching tunas, sharks and marlin than it was groundfish - although he had a very successful groundfish day as well. We hooked three very large porbeagle sharks on that trip. Bob Mayer hooked the first one and lost it. Phil hooked the second. That shark seemed a lot more aggressive, the line breaking after a fight of about five minutes. Three was the charm. Phil again. This time he was much more aggressive with the rod and reel. So much so that I almost wasn't ready for the shark. In five minutes he had the fish to the boat. Very soon after that the fish was wired, gaffed and tail wrapped! Quite a trip. Quite an angler! I was very happy to be there.

Unexplained Phenomena:

[Twelve year old Kassidy LaFlamme (ME) caught the largest fish during an evening half day trip in early July. The fish was an 8.25 pound cod, the largest cod we had seen on an afternoon trip to that point in the season. Kassidy was not in the boat pool. A quick picture was taken just before she released this cod back to the ocean alive. This digital image appears on the left.] (Captain Ian Keniston digital image)]

In Memoriam:
[I took two of my favorite Barnacle Billy's employees out at the end of September for their first trip, a marathon trip. Aaron Ham (ME), who has been with us for many years, was (on and off) sea sick for the day. However, between visiting the Hotel Bunny Clark, cradling his favorite bucket and fishing along side Mykola "Nick" Sych (UA), he did manage to catch a few fish, one of which was a 16 pound pollock, shown right, the biggest fish of his life. Nick worked for us all summer on a J1 visa from the Ukraine. One of the best workers and one of the nicest people you will find. Nick's best fish was a 15 pound pollock. I took plenty of pictures of both. It was the first time deep sea fishing for both as well. Nick is planning to come back and work for us this season. I will, hopefully, see Aaron as well. Aaron, by the way, landed the hard luck award t-shirt for being the sole hurler of the trip! Ouch! ]

A week or more ago I wrote a paragraph about John "J.D." Daley in the "Hardest Luck" section of this Guestletter. Today, January 15, 2018, I learned that J.D. passed away yesterday of an apparent heart attack in Canterbury, New Hampshire. He grew up in Littleton, New Hampshire. Maybe he was visiting family. I first met J.D. when he was captaining the Sonny W. And, as I said earlier, the Sonny W. was a very successful party fishing boat out of Kennebunkport, Maine. Being a contemporary of mine, we talked on the radio quite frequently. He later became the captain of the Indian II, out of Portland, Maine. In those days, much of my fishing on the Bunny Clark was in the area of Tanta's Ledge. I would always see J.D. and the Indian II when I fished up that way. At the time, Ian Keniston was working for him as a deck hand. We continued to be friends. Later, I enticed him to run the Bunny Clark. He captained the Bunny Clark during the 1997 and the 1998 fishing seasons. He was always a good one for finding big cod. And it was a fun competition between the two of us. In 1999, he started to run tugboats. Sometime after that he became a teacher in the Kennebunk system. When I talked to him last year he told me that he had been teaching in China when he wasn't teaching here. His daughter, MingGe, was adopted by he and his wife, Danelle. They had a son, Jack, well before that, after he had worked for me. He was always such a kind person. And always a lot of fun. That's what most people liked about him. I liked him because we thought so much alike. And because he was an intelligent caring person. Working with Ian over the years, has made me think of J.D. more than I think of most fishermen. Things he invented, sayings we remember and his uniqueness will always be remembered by me. He was 53 years old. It's very hard for me to believe he is gone. And I certainly feel sorry for myself, his family and everyone else who knew him. For to know him and know he is gone will always leave a hollow place in the heart that is distinctly J.D. I will really miss that guy.

The Maine Department of Marine Resources has a recreational program headed by Bruce Joule from the West Boothbay Harbor lab. Every year he sends out researchers to ride on various fishing boats to collect recreational data. It's a fact finding mission, of course. But it's also meant to improve data collection, so important to regulations affecting recreational anglers and businesses that rely on recreational anglers. The Bunny Clark has it's share of visits from Bruce's people. Cassie Nixon and Chris Uraneck are two of the most knowledgeable of Bruce's team who we see on a regular basis. Both have been with us many times. They are the best. But, then, we have never had any disrespectful individuals from the DMR on the Bunny Clark. We are hoping their good work leads the recreational fishery in the right direction. There is much evidence of this already. I am also hoping that the two Maine groundfish party boats in my area, one out of Wells and one out of Kennebunkport start allowing the DMR access on their boats and their fishing information. Without these boats, the DMR can't give us the whole picture. And, referencing my contemporaries again, I feel it's a bit selfish. Kind of like cutting your nose off to spite your face. After all, you can't complain if you don't participate. And there has been much complaining! I must also add, as a person who holds a seat on the RAP, the data coming out of Maine is much more accurate than the same data coming out of the other states in New England, despite the scope of involvement with all the participants. This is certainly a credit to Bruce's program.

I want to take some time here to thank the number one person running the Bunny Clark, Captain Ian Keniston. He started working for me in August of 1998 as a deck hand, under me, Captain J.D. and Captain Tom Corbett (ME). The rest is history! He has been the Bunny Clark's anchor to windward, the voice of reason and, indeed, the best thing that has happened to Bunny Clark Deep Sea Fishing. Whenever I bring an idea to the table, I always run it by Ian first. He rebuilds all the reels we use as well as customer reels. He reconditions all the rods. He is responsible for all the repair and cosmetic improvements that are completed during the winter on the Bunny Clark. And he helps me design all the trips. He also keeps me on the straight and narrow. Even if I wanted to keep an illegal fish, he would not let me do so. And for good reason. As he says, you can't start down that path. I wouldn't want to. I don't know how long it has been since he first attained his captain's license. Ten years? Since he has been the skipper, his trips have been very consistent and consistently good. And consistency is the mother of good business. I feel very fortunate to have the best captain on the coast of New England. I have bias in that regard. But how many times does he have to prove it to me? Whether I need confirmation or not, it's every day! Thank you, Ian, for being there and always giving it your all!

[Fred Tardie (MA) won the boat pool for the largest fish with the largest fish, a 20.5 pound cod on the April 18, 2017 marathon trip. At the time it was our largest cod (fish) of the Bunny Clark fishing season. I took a picture of Fred with his big cod just before releasing it. That digital image can be seen on the left. Some of his other fish that day included a 10 pound cod, a 13 pound cod, a 10.25 pound cod and a double keeper catch of cod that included an 8 pound cod and a 9 pound cod, all released back to the ocean alive - because he had to! ]

We lost one of our best deck hands/captains at the end of last season in Captain Jared Keniston, Ian's brother. He got a year round land job, a property manager's position, that he could not refuse. He has a family that includes three children. This will give him more time to be with them during the summer. Working for me is a hard job, harder for Jared because he was mostly a deck hand, captaining the Bunny Clark only one day a week. I think that if he were captain more often, he would still be with me. Regardless, I will miss Jared. He was the best. And certainly one of the most enjoyable and capable people to have aboard when you are the captain. He started working on the Bunny Clark in 2004, after helping to get the boat ready to launch in the winter. That's fourteen years with us! I appreciate all the years of excellent service he gave me and the Bunny Clark. And I wish him the greatest success in the future. He certainly deserves it if I'm any judge!

Anthony Palumbo was our "swing hand" last year, showing up when we needed him most. He had never been a mate before. But he had spent many years fishing on the Bunny Clark with us. An excellent fisherman, wonderful with the people, honest, a great sense of humor and a very hard worker, he was a quick study. It didn't take him long to learn the system and fall right into place. I was very happy to have him aboard. This season he will be taking over Jared's position, except as captain. I am very much looking forward to having him aboard again this season. Last year he received many compliments. That didn't surprise me. Thank you very much, Anthony. I'm very much looking forward to working with you again this season.

Last season we talked about Jared captaining the Bunny Clark one day a week during 2018. I'm not sure if he is still interested or if he can get away from his job for a day to do so. We shall see. Also, my son, Micah, has expressed some interest in captaining the Bunny Clark as well. All this is up in the air right now. The door to the swing captain's position and the swing deck hand's position is open at this time.

David Pease deserves a huge thank you as well. Dave was the person responsible for building the Bunny Clark to begin with. Yes, I did a lot of glass work in building the boat. But it was done under Dave's instruction. And many was the time I came in the next day to fix something I did that didn't turn out as well as Dave wanted it. Dave, of course, did all the technical stuff. During the winter of 2014/2015, Dave was responsible for the new engine installation. It is the best engine installation I have ever seen in a work boat. Dave has worried about every detail that has ever been part of the physical aspects of the Bunny Clark. Whatever I dreamed of doing, he created it. This boat is highly personalized because of Dave. It's truly my boat. And he's become one of the most important men in my life. At 80 years young, he still has the happiness and drive associated with individuals who really love their work and know what the hell they are doing. Dave's the best. No one will ever convince me otherwise. I don't think anyone would ever try.

Most importantly, I have to give a very special thanks to my wife, Deb, for all her dedicated years of service. She has been standing by me since the Bunny Clark was just an idea. She encouraged me when I went to the bank to float a loan to have the Bunny Clark designed, the hull laid up at Young Brothers and all through the building of the Bunny Clark during the winter of 1982/1983 at Dave's Boat Shop in York, Maine. She comforted me when the Mary E sailed out of the Cove with a new owner. She dove head first into managing the business of the Bunny Clark from the beginning. As the business grew she also took over the reservations, managing the reservationists and helping me make decisions in a changing volatile industry. She brought my two kids into the world and helped me make the transition into my father's restaurant business. She fought my battles ashore when I was taking customers to sea. And she did the things, too many to mention, that allowed me to enjoy the life I had chose for both of us without a single complaint.

[Alyssa Wright (ME) won the boat pool for the largest fish with the largest fish, a 16.5 pound wolffish in late July. This was the second largest wolffish of the 2017 Bunny Clark fishing season. Captain Ian Keniston took a picture of Alyssa with her wolffish while Captain Jared Keniston held the fish for the camera. This digital image appears on the right. ]

Jane Staples is the number one reservationist ashore. She takes over when Deb can't, all year round. A Godsend, she rarely says no. She grew up in the same neighborhood that I did here in Ogunquit. So she knows all the local individuals I see every day. That makes for a great business relationship with the town and with our customers who might need information that others just can't give. If Deb and I leave for any period of time, she pays bills and runs the show here. She has been there for us for many years now. Thank you, Jane, again, for all the wonderful work you do and the part you play in our business. You are such a great help and I certainly appreciate it!

Last year marked my tenth season riding in the Pan-Massachusetts Challenge (PMC), an 192 mile, two day, cycling event that takes place the first Saturday of every August. The purpose of the event is to raise money for cancer research and care at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute (DFCI), Boston, Massachusetts. I ride in the event and am sponsored for doing so with donations from anyone I can convince to give me funding. All the money goes to the Jimmy Fund, the fund raising arm of the DFCI, founded in 1948. At the time of this writing I have moved $286,703.77 in donations to the Jimmy Fund since 2007. Last year, I raised $26,009.00 from 236 donations. This figure is up slightly from the 2016 year's total in monetary value. I get a lot of support from my anglers. For this I am deeply grateful. I have already renewed my application for the 2018 PMC. I am looking forward to raising as much money as I can in a push to get to the new mark of $300,000.00, which I fully expect to do as long as I keep from dumping the bike too often! The money raised helps to maintain the most wonderful cancer facility in the country right in our own back yard. In the last few years I found that fifteen people became cancer free because of my direct involvement in the DFCI. They were going to be treated elsewhere until my writings changed their minds. Three people told me only after they became cancer free the year before, even though they had started treatment months before! I will continue to support the DFCI because of their track record, the fact that 100% of your donation goes directly to the DFCI and because the more money they receive the better their chances are of hiring the best researchers. I hope you can help me celebrate the joy I get from supporting a great cause at a wonderful place in the form of a future donation. Otherwise, let’s go fishing!

The Best Angler/Haddock Picture of the 2017 Fishing Season

If you want to send me e-mail, the current address is ttower@bunnyclark.com. My email address is sowhake@gmail.com.

With this web site in general, I hope to keep you current on all of the fishing particulars on the Bunny Clark and include updated information on fishery management decisions that could potentially affect us. For a current report go to the Fishing Update section from the link located on the index page of this web site. Thanks!