The 2023 Bunny Clark Guestletter

As mentioned above, I have seen very little cod recruitment into our fishery in the last seven or more years. Almost all of the cod that we have been catching have been resident fish. The fall of last season was the first time we caught fish that appeared to be new. And, as mentioned, not all of the cod looked new. Those cod weren't even in the majority. Along with the numbers being down, the number of larger cod is way down as well. For instance only three cod all last season were over 20 pounds. The larger fish, in general, are part of the Gulf of Maine's spawning stock biomass. In order to produce more cod, we need these larger fish. The larger fish produce the largest number of viable eggs. We are not seeing the whale cod of old at all. None.

As to the larger number of cod that we caught last fall; is this an artificial situation that only happened in 2022? Or is this a trend? Where are they coming from if, indeed, these are recruitment fish? The uncertainty is enough for me to say; "Hey, let's not jump to conclusions here and regulate our cod take on some phenomenon where we have no idea why this happened." At the same time, Georges Bank to the south and east is seeing a deficit in cod numbers. Are these fish the cod that migrated from George's? It's certainly a big question which might not be a positive sign. All I can say is that I'm glad we saw them. And I know I appear negative. No, I'm just cautious. I would certainly hope that this cod showing is a trend.

It's unlikely that I will see a time when we can keep cod like we used to. I won't live that long. The New England Fishery Management Council (NEFMC) can't get a handle on meaningful regulations that will stop overfishing and, thus, bring the cod population back up. Commercial fishing is doing the most damage, by far. So the focus needs to be there. But it's hard to keep commercial fisherman out on the water groundfishing, targeting other species, when those vessels catch cod as bycatch. Much of this bycatch is unreported - although that is supposed to be improving. Most of these cod are dead. It would help if observers were mandatory in a meaningful way on these boats.

The haddock were not very big on average last season. Although we did have two offshore trips that yielded haddock from 6 to 9 pounds. And, on most trips, we seemed to always catch a haddock of 5 pounds or more.

I don't put individual pollock landings in a database like I do the cod, haddock and the wolffish. But I do record the number of legal pollock that we catch during a trip. Pollock landings were down to it's lowest level so far. You don't have to craft a data chart to see that. All you have to do is compare the day sheets that we fill out every trip to see it. It wasn't horrible. And it certainly made the trip more exciting when they appeared on the sounding machine. Legal pollock are unmistakable when seen on a "fishfinder". Unfortuately, we didn't see that as often as we like. And the pollock were late showing up this season as well. Random legal pollock catches were more frequent than any other year. Maybe they moved in smaller splinter groups than being in the larger schools that we were so used to seeing. Maybe they were someplace other than where we were fishing. It was an interesting year for pollock. Interesting enough to be excited to see what they do this coming season and to apply what we learned last year in finding the bigger ones.

The cusk population has grown on the inshore bottom with lobstermen being regulated out of using float rope between traps. Float rope has been illegal to use for a few years now. Using "sink rope" as a alternative means that it will get caught in the rocks, hugely promoting gear loss. So most lobstermen fish off the edge of the bottom away from the rocks and away from the cusk. Herring is the preferred bait for lobstermen. Cusk love herring. Cusk became a huge bycatch issue in lobster gear after they started to use herring exclusively for lobster bait. Today the lobstermen are having a harder time getting herring for bait. So lobster bait can be anything, including cow hide. Subsequently, there isn't nearly as much cusk bycatch in lobster traps anymore.

[The picture on the right is a shot of thirteen year old Carter Inman (ME) holding his 3.5 pound Maine state trophy whiting that he caught with me on an offshore trip in June. At that time, it was the largest whiting of the season and Carter's largest ever. By the end, it came in at number three. A very nice sized whiting and an excellent fish to eat.]

We did better on the trophy sized hake last season as well. Most of the hake on the bigger end would have rivaled most of the biggest hake that we caught the five seasons before.

The largest halibut lost was one that Steve Selmer (NH) hooked during an offshore trip. He never really got that fish off the bottom more than five feet. On the sounding machine, it looked like the bottom was being stirred up as the head pounding was reflected in the rod. To get that kind of reaction in a fish that large, it would seem to me that there was a large probability that Steve foul-hooked the fish in the head with his jig. I would think that that would make a huge fish like that act crazy. Lots of times when hooked in the mouth, halibut go with it, coming off the bottom a long way before the fish realizes it has been hooked. Steve's fight lasted five minutes or more. This was just enough time for me to tell him what to do, like a back seat driver. [Steve is fully capable without my advice - an excellent fisherman] It was also time enough to observe the sounding machine.

The five biggest whiting that were caught last season were all of trophy size or were 3 pounds or more.

[The digital image on the left is a shot aboard the Bunny Clark showing Angus MacEachern (ME) holding his small female porbeagle shark pup. Captain Ian had told Angus that the shark was too small to keep. So, as soon as the digital image was taken, Angus released the fish before it was weighed. It probably weighed about 20 pounds. The picture was taken by another angler and sent to Ian to give to me. ]

We had the porbeagles all April, most in May and early June and then sporadically throughout the year. We see very few, if any, in July, August and September. Around mid July, the porbeagle shark gets replaced by the blue shark. Porbeagles move north into colder water and then show up again in October. We also catch them into January and February. We did not land any last season. We came close on several occasions in the spring. In October we caught three small ones that were too small to keep. They have to be at least 54" fork length in order to keep them. The porbeagle is worth keeping as they taste like the most tender swordfish that you have ever eaten. Every once and a while you will get one that isn't that great eating. When we get one like that it always seems to be a male caught in the early spring.

Pre-Season Improvements: Of the improvements that were made to the Bunny Clark during the winter of 2021/2022, most were minor repairs or cosmetic work, sanding and painting. Ian Keniston and I go back and forth on all this stuff while David Pease shows us how to accomplish the goals we set. I have a list of about seventy-five items every year. Ian does most of the work. Danny DellaMonica is helping out Ian this winter. During the 2021 fishing season, we had quite a few times where the fishing trip had to be canceled due to engine electronic issues. That didn't happen in 2022. Our engine is a Tier 3 fully electronic diesel engine, a 700 shaft horse power Volvo Penta. Believe it or not, the wiring harness coupled with a failed turbo was the problem. Once we changed the wiring harness and replaced the turbo, we had no more breakdowns. We also installed a Halon automatic/manual engine room fire suppression system with the new FM-200 agent. The new fire suppression system agent is far more environmentally friendly than the previous Halon agent we were using before. We designed it so that it was much easier to maintain and, certainly, much easier to service during the winter. All fire suppression systems have to be inspected every year.

[The digital image on the right was taken during one of our fall offshore marathon trips in September. The shot on the right shows Olivia Maxam (NY) holding her 38 pound Maine state trophy white hake up in the bow pulpit, where she was fishing that day. This was the sixth largest hake of the season, her largest ever hake and the boat pool winning fish that day. Olivia has fished with us for many years but not in the last couple. Welcome back, Olivia! ]

In-Season Engine Breakdowns: As mentioned, last season we didn't have any engine breakdowns. We had one time when the Bunny Clark had to get towed in after one of Captain Ian's trips, three miles off the beach because of a fuel problem I fixed later that night. And another time we lost an alternator that charged the batteries on the house side (we have two alternators; one to charge the house side with all our electronics, one to charge the starting batteries) during a trip of mine. I was able to baby the engine during the trip without anyone really knowing about the problem. Later that night, my son, Micah, changed out both alternators. They were first installed in 2015.

When I first started fishing, no one had diesel engines. With gas engines, if the alternators failed, the engine soon gave out and you were dead in the water. Then diesel engines became available for marine applications. Diesels were great because once they were running they stayed running regardless of battery or alternator failure. Now with the new Tier 3 or Tier 4 engines, we have gone back to gasoline engines system where with these new diesels, if you lose the ability to charge the batteries, the computer system that runs the engine fails and the engine dies. But at least we don't pollute as much as in the past? Yes, I'm being facetious.

Improvements for 2023: As mentioned above, this winter Ian Keniston and Danny DellaMonica are working with David Pease at his barn to get the Bunny Clark back in shape for the upcoming fishing season. They have also rebuilt all the rods and reels that we used last season. I am having David Pease install another new search light on the bow pulpit. We installed one new one last year (January 2022) but the light beam was too narrow. So this winter we are installing two, side by side, so that we can split the beam from side to side and carry a much wider range. This will hopefully prevent me from hitting the green can buoy like I did last fall when I lost it in the shadows coming in at night. Luckily the buoy only glanced off the rub rail on the port bow and didn't touch the hull. We are also updating our electronics.

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. During the off season, I write about what we are working on, information about Barnacle Billy's restaurants and my life in general. 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 also have a service online where you can book a reservation for a fishing trip on the Bunny Clark without calling in. This online service is available on February 2nd of every year, after the first day we take our phone reservations. You can access the online service by clicking on the boat icon from my home page, my "Update Page" and various other pages on my site. Reservations for the 2023 Bunny Clark fishing season will start at 6:00 AM, February 1, 2023, phone reservations only, for that first day of bookings.

We maintain a healthy Maine state trophy program in order to recognize larger than normal fish. Maine is very good in honoring those who catch great fish. We didn't have as good a year for big fish landings last season as we normally enjoy. This was directly related to the haddock landings being so high in the first half of the season, the mismanagement of the groundfish stocks by the New England Fishery Managment Council (Council) [They are trying but don't have a handle on it yet.], cancellation of our two biggest trophy fish trips, a change in halibut locations, the slight decrease in trips due, largely, to high fuel costs and the large number of dogfish that kept us further away from the big fish areas. We also didn't see as many large pollock or nearly as many large cod last year. However, whiting landings were way up as were the white hake landings, including more big hake in accessible areas. All this being said, our total landings for 2022 came in second out of the last nine fishing seasons. The best season of the last nine was the 2020 fishing season which was just under the 2013 season and just a little bit more than last season. I was very pleased with last season overall.

At the time of this writing a decision has not been made for cod and haddock regulations for the fiscal 2023 fishing season (May 1, 2022 to April 30, 2023). There will be an open season for cod from April 1, 2023 until April 15, 2023, as there was last season for the same time period. The Recreational Advisory Panel (RAP), of which I hold a seat, had a meeting on January 18, 2023. The RAP came up with a suggestion that was rubber stamped by the Groundfish Committee, passing our suggestion on to the full Council. The Council then approved the RAP's motion and moved it to the National Marine Fisheries Service for approval. This is what has now been proposed:

The Groundfish Committee recommends to the New England Fishery Management Council recreational measures for Fishing Year 2023 (May 1, 2023 thru April 30, 2024):

Gulf of Maine cod

Gulf of Maine haddock

[The digital image on the left is a shot of Jason Ridolfi (NY) holding up his 15.5 pound pollock during a spring offshore marathon trip. At that time last year, we were not finding the bigger pollock on the inshore bottom. This was a particularly good trip for good sized pollock, bigger haddock and larger than normal sized cod. ]

Rationale: The basis of this suggestion (motion) was presented by Northeast Fisheries Science Center staff, modified for haddock – minimum fish size 18 in. (rather than 17 in.) and possession limit at 15 fish (rather than 10 fish). If the minimum fish size of 18 in is insufficient, then consider 19 in. or 20 in.

This was agreed by consensus and without objection.

This was sent to the full Council, as mentioned, approved and sent to NMFS. The NMFS can reject these regulatory suggestions, adjust them according to their data or discard them and come up with their own regulations. In the past, they have taken the Council's suggestions and implemented them going forward. There is a chance that NMFS may keep the 17" minimum haddock size and drop the bag limit to ten fish. I actually would like this better as we would be releasing less of the small haddock. But most pundits feel that the motion from the RAP will pass as presented. We will have to wait until the fiscal fishing year starts on May 1, 2023 to know fully what the new regulations will be. I will post the new regulations on the Fishing Update section of my web site when I know for sure.

As far as the other species go, 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 trip on the Federal level There is no size limit or bag limit on hake (both white, red & silver hake) and cusk. Mackerel now have a twenty fish bag limit per person. There is a minimum size of 54 inches (caliper fork length) for possessing mako sharks, porbeagle (mackerel) sharks & thresher sharks. And you are limited to one shark per boat per day. 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, 2023). It is illegal to keep barndoor skates, eel pouts and wolffish.

As a suggestion, you might want to check out the previous Guestletters if you are interested in the history of the regulations within our fishery. I have not delved into my opinions of the regulatory process as much I have in other Guestletters in hopes that this will be a more interesting read. I tend to get bogged down in the minutiae of the subject matter.

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 2022 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 forty years ago 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. The weight loss differential varies between species. Getting a weight on a fish just after it comes over the rail makes the weight of every fish caught on the Bunny Clark directly comparable through all of the past fishing seasons.

NAME (STATE)

FISH - lbs.

LENGTH X GIRTH (inches)

DATE CAUGHT

Dean Stevens (VT/AZ)	Monkfish 12		6-2-22
Javien Santiago (MA)	Monkfish 11.5		7-26-22
Bob Bready (NY)	Monkfish 9		10-20-22
Jeff Larson (NH)	Monkfish 9		11-1-22
Steve Selmer (NH)	Monkfish 7		10-6-22

The shot on the right is digital image of Jeff Reisdorf (NY) holding his 7.5 pound Maine state trophy hadddock caught during an offshore trip on the Bunny Clark in mid June. This haddock came in as a tie for our third largest haddock of the 2022 fishing season. It was a beautiful weather day on that trip, a perfect day to be far offshore.

Lost at surface

Bob Meskell (MA)	Barndoor Skate 20*		8-15-22
Will Buesser (NH)	Barndoor Skate 18*		9-19-22
Eddie Keichen (NH)	Barndoor Skate 15+*		9-19-22
Rick Hunt (VT)	Barndoor Skate 12*		8-28-22
Roy Granger (NY)	Barndoor Skate 10*		8-26-22

Walt Inman (ME)	Redfish 2.5	17 X 12.5	6-19-22
Randy Jones (ME)	Redfish 2.5	16 X 13	6-19-22
Jeremy Wilcox (ME)	Redfish 2.25	16.5 X 13	6-19-22
Randy Jones (ME)	Redfish 2.25		6-19-22
Chris Johnson (VT)	Redfish 2.1	15.5 X 13	6-21-22

Brad Roche (NJ)	Wolffish 16***		6-28-22
Dana Decormier (NH)	Wolffish 15***		5-30-22
Leyla Lytle (VA)	Wolffish 15***		8-10-22
Dennis Reissig (NY)	Wolffish 15***		9-30-22
Shawn Hubbard (NY)	Wolffish 13***		5-30-22

Bill Harding (ME) caught this 29 pound Atlantic halibut on an extreme day trip with Captain Ian Keniston in June. It was an inch shy of the minimum legal length limit, so it had to be released. This is about the smallest size that you can keep. The last 29 pound halibut we caught was just long enough to keep. Bill & his wife, Marie, have caught legal halibut with us in the past. However, this was our second largest halibut that was boated last year, even though it was only boated for a short time! This digital image was taken by Ian Keniston.

Curt Gilmore (MA)	Pollock 28	38.5 X 24	9-20-22
Steve LaPlante (CT)	Pollock 26	37.5 X 23.5	10-6-22
Rob Peeters (VT)	Pollock 24		7-15-22
Mark LaRocca (NY)	Pollock 21.5		10-25-22
Ray Westermann (MA)	Pollock 20.5		10-6-22
Kyle Secore (CT)	Pollock 20.5		10-6-22

Jasamar Domingos (NJ)	White Hake 44	45.5 X 29	10-30-22
Jim Feeney (MA)	White Hake 41.5	46.5 X 29	11-1-22
Buzz Leonard (ME)	White Hake 40.5	50.5 X 26	10-18-22
Jonathan Griffin (MA)	White Hake 39	45.5 X 28	10-27-22
Jim Feeney (MA)	White Hake 38.5	46.5 X 29	11-1-22

Steve Selmer (NH)	Haddock 9	28.5 X 16	6-21-22
David Struzik (VT)	Haddock 8	28 X 15.5	6-14-22
Jeff Reisdorf (NY)	Haddock 7.5	27.5 X 15	5-24-22
Ken Johnson (VT)	Haddock 7.5		6-21-22
Bob Greenly (PA)	Haddock 7.1	27 X 14.5	6-28-22

Ross Schneider (ME)	Whiting 4.5	25 X 12	7-2-22
Clinton Sousa (NH)	Whiting 4.5	26 X 12	7-20-22
Carter Inman (NH)	Whiting 3.5	22.5 X 12.5	6-19-22
Elizabeth Hastings (VT)	Whiting 3.25	23	5-29-22
Matt Jones (ME)	Whiting 3	21.5 X 9	6-19-22

Kris Hiltz (ME)	Cusk 21	37.5 X 20	6-19-22
Larry Merlino (ME)	Cusk 20.5	36.5 X 21.5	6-19-22
Randy Jones (ME)	Cusk 18.5	34.75 X 20.5	6-19-22
Gary Beaudet (ME)	Cusk 17	33.5 X 20	6-19-22
Randy Jones (ME)	Cusk 16	36 X 19	6-19-22

Jonathan Griffin (MA)	Cod 23		9-16-22
Ken Johnson (VT)	Cod 20.5***		6-21-22
L. J. French (ME)	Cod 20.5		9-1-22
Todd Mallory (NY)	Cod 19		9-1-22
Mike Benjamin (VT)	Cod 19***		10-21-22

Steve Selmer (NH) is holding his 7 pound monkfish that he caught with me on an offshore marathon trip in October 2022. Steve is an excellent fisherman, the kind of fisherman who always makes me look good.

Jake Higgins (MA)	Halibut 116.5	61	6-14-22
Bill Harding (ME)	Halibut 29**	?	6-12-22
Jeff Woodrum (ME)	Halibut 27**	?	5-12-22
David Struzik (VT)	Halibut 13**	?	5-12-22
Cobb Caron (MA)	Halibut 12**	?	7-13-22

Dave Kirby (VT)	Bluefin Tuna 200+****	76.5 OR	9-3-22
Gabe Daigle (ME)	Bluefin Tuna 95	55 CFL	9-12-22
Rory MacEachern (ME)	Bluefin Tuna 58	46	8-27-22

Bob Bready (NY)	Porbeagle Shark 38**		10-20-22
Brian McCormick (VT)	Porbeagle Shark 25+**		10-22-22

Angus MacEachern (ME)

Porbeagle Shark 20**

8-27-22

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 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 2022 season also prohibited the retention of cod except for a period starting September 1, 2022 until October 7, 2022 and the first two weeks of April. All the wolffish were released back to the ocean alive. Only two of the top five cod were released during the 2022 fishing season.

**** Federal regulation prohibited the retention of this tuna two days before it was caught. Before that you could retain one bluefin of 73" or more. Since this fish was not allowed to be kept, it was released without weighing. The estimate was noted as 200+. This only because a bluefin of that length could weigh anywhere from less than 200 pounds to over 250 pounds, depending on the girth. To me, it looked like it was about 240 pounds, making it the second largest tuna ever caught on the Bunny Clark. Unfortunately, I can't say this for sure.

[The digital image on the left is a picture of Danny DellaMonica (ME) - our number one deck hand last season - and Leyla Lytle (VA) holding her 15 pound wolffish, just before releasing it back to the ocean alive. She attended Captain Ian Keniston's full day trip during an August day, that day. This fish ended up tying for the second largest wolffish of the season with two other wolffish. ]

The Bunny Clark's all time largest cod:

Lewis Hazelwood's 22 pounder caught in 2019 was closer to what we like to see in size. And Dave Smith's (ME) 23.5 pound monkfish caught in 2018 was better still. The 24 pound monkfish that Kevin Gilpatric (ME) caught in 2017 was the largest monkfish that had been caught on the Bunny Clark since May 17, 2012 when Bob Foster (NY) caught a monkfish that weighed 34.5 pounds. The largest monkfish that has ever been caught on the Bunny Clark was one that weighed 55 pounds, by Nancy Lee Regimbald (VT) on a full day trip on July 9, 1991. The official on-shore registered weight was 49 lbs 12 oz. It remained the IGFA's all tackle world record until it was beaten on April 12, 2008 by a monkfish caught off Gloucester, Massachusetts that officially weighed 51 lbs 4 oz.

Below is a table showing the largest pollock that have ever been caught on the Bunny Clark, the year they were caught, the size of the fish and the angler who caught them. Those were the days!

Despite the fact that we had a great summer and fall with hake landings last season, we missed out on even more numbers on the bigger hake as we lost our two big offshore (twenty-three hour) trips last year. On one of those same offshore trips in 2020, Joe Columbus' 50.5 pound hake was the third largest hake we had seen since 1985. In 2019, on the same trip type, the Ultra Marathon, Steve LaPlante (CT) landed a 54 pound white hake. And on the Ultra during the 2018 Bunny Clark fishing season, Steve Selmer also landed a 54 pound white hake. Steve's became an IGFA all tackle world record with an official on shore weight over twenty-four hours later of 48 pounds 4 ounces. This world record still stands today. I have listed the largest hake we have ever landed on the Bunny Clark in a table below. We landed forty-seven white hake over 50 pounds in 1984, none of them ever attaining world record status because every one of them was involved in a tangle, disqualifying them from IGFA recognition. This was why Bob Jorgensen's fish never became a world record, as it should have become. I will be interested to see how the 2023 season shakes out for big hake.

A table of all our largest porbeagle sharks caught on the Bunny Clark in the last forty seasons appears below. Any time you can boat a porbeagle shark of the sizes of the fish seen below on a cod rod, it's a feat.

[The shot on the left is a digital image taken by Captain Ian Keniston of Bob Meskell holding his 20 pound barndoor skate, the Bunny Clark's largest barndoor that was caught last season. And, yes, it was released back to the ocean alive after this picture was taken. ]

Of the tuna that were landed, two ended up in the top ten list for the largest tuna ever boated on the Bunny Clark. Dave Kirby's bluefin was the hardest one to release after it was found to be too long to be legally kept. Since it wasn't weighed, this tuna comes in at number three in the table below. It looked bigger than that but I can't tell you for sure. It would depend on the girth to get a better fix. But that was not measured. And I was surprised that Gabe Daigle's tuna came in at number nine. It wasn't until I started writing this Guestletter that I realized his fish was in the Bunny Clark's top ten list.

The largest tuna caught on the Bunny Clark were the three that I landed, caught by harpoon, which really doesn't count. These were free swimming fish that I rode up to and harpooned and fought with a handline spliced to a dart. The largest was 775 pounds round. We harpooned two others in the 600 pound range. All three were caught in 1984. The largest was caught with passengers aboard on the way to Jeffrey's Ledge to go groundfishing. The other two were caught on a trip specifically designed to catch tuna by harpoon with my father, Mike Parenteau and Brad Perkins. Mike and Brad are former Bunny Clark deck hands. Of the bluefins we caught via "cod rod", the twelve largest appear in the table below. These fish are impressive, to say the least, when you consider they were all caught with no more that sixty pound test line using a jig stick!

The halibut have come back to a much better degree. If we caught one halibut per year before the 2010 season, it was a big deal. Now we expect to see them. The fact that we had so many chances on them speaks for itself. I would have loved to have at least seen some of the halibut that we lost. In fact, I almost lost the one that we ended up landing. Where's Ian when you need him?

[ David Abood (NH), shown right, is holding the sixth largest cusk that was caught on the Bunny Clark last season. At 15 pounds, it was a Maine state trophy by 3 pounds. David caught a lot of big fish with me last fall. Sadly, he will be traveling in 2023, so we will not see him this upcoming season. ]

Below is a list of the top eleven halibut caught on the Bunny Clark and the years that they were caught.

We have a history of catching big cusk, probably due to my penchant for scouting out new areas. For a time, I chased after big cusk looking for world records. The Bunny Clark's first world record cusk was a 29 pounder caught by Ross French (NY) in 1987 that broke the existing world record of 24 pounds 9 ounces caught by a guy off the coast of Norway in 1983. Ross' cusk's registered weight was 26.66 pounds. It was beaten only seven days later by a cusk caught off Massachusetts that officially weighed 28 pounds 15 ounces! We captured the world record again in 1988 when Neil Morrill (VT) caught a 31 pounder. We were drifting off a deep peak on the way back from fishing Tantas west of the Portland Lightship. It was the last fish in the boat. So I steamed home, got the fish weighed immediately and came up with the official registered weight of 30 pounds 1 ounce, the new official IGFA all tackle world record. Eight days later, it was beaten again, by a cusk caught off the coast of Norway that officially weighed 32 pounds 13 ounces! It wasn't until October 11, 2002 that we had the chance to beat it again with a 36 pound cusk caught by Kenton Geer (NH/HI). At the time, the all tackle world record was just over 34 pounds. Kenton's fish was disqualified because he caught it with a jig with a cod fly above the jig and a tube hook on the jig itself. It came under the title of "gang hooking", a no no as it concerns the IGFA. Today's existing all tackle world record cusk was caught in July of 2008, again, off the coast of Norway. The present world record weight is 37 pounds 14 ounces, a hell of a cusk. The table below shows the top twelve cusk caught on the Bunny Clark over the years:

[Shawn Rosenberger, shown left, can be seen holding three redfish, just as he pulled them out of the water, just as they were hooked. None of the three redfish were of trophy weight. But had those fish been caught during "spawning time", each one would have. The fished weighed between 1.5 to 1.8 pounds. ]

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 2022 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-’22): Shawn Rosenberger wins this award for the fourth time in the last eleven seasons. Shawn was FY-'12, FY-'13, FY-'20 and, last year, FY-'22. He is one of the best anglers that I have ever had aboard the Bunny Clark over the years. He's an expert at deep water fishing, an excellent bait fisherman, an excellent jig fisherman and one of the most trusted anglers I know when fighting a big fish. Like most of the anglers who win this award, he's grace under pressure while also having a lot of fun in the process. Last year, his high hook percentage, the number of trophy fish, the largest double of the year, the respectable number of boat pools he won, the biggest Ace of the year (the three largest fish caught during a trip), his fisherman of the trip awards and the fourth most trophy fish in a trip, allowed him to slip past one of the finest halibut fisherman I have ever had the pleasure to meet.

As most of you know by now, the FY award is based on a point system that relates to specific achievements during a trip for a season on the Bunny Clark. Each achievement is worth a point or 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. [The last two years I have considered waiving this 10 trip rule and just work on the most points in a season for any angler but I haven't done that yet.] When a competitor is within thirty points of the lead angler, I bring in comparative value points (CVPs). In other words, I look at the trips where both fished together. I double the points of the achievements that each has won on those trips and add them in. Last year, Tim Rozan (ME) was within the range to use CVPs. Shawn just slid by Tim by a couple of points, adding to his total and distancing himself from Tim by just, what I would call, a skosch. 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, like Tim Rozan did in 2021. Shawn came up on top last season.

Shawn loves the marathon trips, preferably, the offshore marathon trips. His patience last year, fishing for hake, waiting for that second fish to bite, rewarded him with the biggest double of the season with 6.5 pounds more weight than second place. In fact, he caught a lot of doubles but only one double had the combined weight to carry the year. He didn't win as many boat pools as Tim Rozan did. And Shawn wasn't the fisherman of the day as many times as Tim was. Nor was he high hook as many times as Tim was. But Shawn was second place in those same categories. The number of points garnered with trophy fish, the second largest fish of the trip numbers, the third largest fish of the trip numbers, the Ace and the double were the leading factors that sealed the deal.

[ Shawn Rosenberger, shown right, is holding the largest double of the 2022 Bunny Clark fishing season season. In his right hand, Shawn] is holding his 17 pound white hake, while in his left, he is holding his 34 pound Maine state trophy white hake, both fish caught on the same line at the same time.

It was fun having Shawn last season. He can only fish with us in October for about a two week period. He is also a charter captain during the warmer months but on the Great Lakes where the walleye is king. So if the weather is bad for those two weeks in October, he can miss a lot of key trips. That didn't happen last season, just making the prerequisite trips to qualify by a day. He has missed the chance at the FY other years because so many trips were blown out. It wasn't so much that he couldn't make the ten trips. It was more that the trips canceled were the better trips for going offshore. But there was a lot of competition during some of those years as well. Also, the weather on some of those trips were not conducive to catching the better fish inside either. But four times ties with Jonathan Griffin for the third most that any angler has ever won it. I'm blessed by having so many excellent anglers who sail with me. It's always a supreme pleasure to have you aboard Shawn. It's also a tremendous complement to me that you choose the Bunny Clark to display your fishing expertise. Thank you so much!

Shawn's total point count was 137. Tim Rozan came in second place with a point total of 106. Fred Kunz was third with 87 points. Jonathan Griffin was fourth with 65 points. Mark LaRocca was fifth with 32 points. Unofficially, Jim Feeney garnered 63 points after only fishing on the Bunny Clark for one trip, the last trip of the year.

Female Angler of the Year (FAY-'21): For the second year in a row, Darlene Chin (VT) won this award, hands down. Not only do we have less consistent female anglers, we also have very few female anglers who go more than just once. Darlene has her own equipment, her own way of fishing, knows exactly what she wants, knows where to fish on the boat and she always has the most fillets at the end of the trip. And I don't mean more fillets than the other women, I mean the most fillets. She specializes in haddock. And, unless the dogfish are hassling her, she catches the most haddock. She has the touch, she has the consistency and she has the love of the game. And when she is catching one right after another (or catching them hand over fist, as my father used to say), there is no one angler who is happier. It's always great to see her coming down the ramp ready to go fishing. And she is a tribute to her gender but is usually in command of both genders on the Bunny Clark. Congratulations, Darlene. Always great to have you here with us even if I do spell your name wrong every once and a while!

Best Bait Fisherman: I had no problem this year deciding on who was the best bait fisherman of the season last year. It was none other than Tim Rozan. This mainly because he was high hook more than any other angler who sailed on the Bunny Clark is 2022. We fished for haddock for most of the time. Haddock is a fish that is caught best and more readily with bait. Tim caught a lot of haddock. In fact, on a couple of occasions, he caught four or five times more haddock than second best. He's not only a bait fisherman, of course; he just seemed to specialize on the bait side of things last year. He is also the best halibut fisherman I've ever had on the boat - I didn't know there was such an angler until Tim started fishing with us. His halibut count is six fish total. He's also great at jig fishing. And he comes up with these lures that I have never seen before but that seem to work like a charm. Another of the excellent anglers who we are graced with on a regular basis, Tim is always a joy to have for any captain. Thanks for being there, Tim. You are the best!

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. Shawn Rosenberger caught the best Ace of the year last season. His three fish included a 36 pound Maine state trophy white hake, a 34 pound Maine state trophy white hake and a 28 pound Maine state trophy white hake. Everyone was catching hake that day in October but no one got close to Shawn's three fish in size. The second best Ace came from Jonathan Griffin who landed a 39 pound Maine state trophy white hake, a 30.25 pound Maine state trophy white hake and a 26 pound Maine state trophy hake. Like Shawn, others were catching hake but not like Griff! The biggest Ace of the year came Nick Goldsmith (NH). Nick caught a "Double Ace", the four largest fish of the trip. Nick's fish included an 11 pound pollock, a an 11 pound cod, a 10 pound cod and a 9.5 pound cod. [Interestingly, Brian McCormick (VT) lost a porbeagle shark that looked to be about 30 pounds on the day that Nick got his Double Ace. I wouldn't be writing about Nick right now had Brian boated his shark.] The first Ace of the season came on July 7, 2022 with Clyde Roberts (NH), a good friend and a brother to Mark who I used to train with X-C ski racing. Clyde's fish included a 9 pound pollock, an 8.5 pound pollock and a 5.5 pound cod.

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. The 2017 season saw five Aces caught, three of which were "Double Aces". In 2018 there were two. There were three During the 2019 fishing season. There was only one ace caught in 2020 and in 2021.

Most Trophy Fish of the Season: Fred Kunz caught the most trophy fish in 2022 with a count of twelve. Shawn Rosenberger came in second with a total trophy fish count of ten. Jim Feeney came in third with a total count of eight, every single trophy fish caught on one trip, the last trip of the season, November 1, 2022. Now that's a feat! There was a tie for fourth place at six fish each. These anglers included David Abood, Jason O'Connor (ME) - on the same trip that Jim was on - and Jonathan Griffin.

Top Five Largest Fish of the Bunny Clark Season: Dave Kirby caught the largest with his 200 plus pound bluefin tuna. Jake Higgins came in second with his 116.5 pound halibut. Gabe Daigle was third with his 95 pound bluefin tuna. Rory MacEachern was fourth with his 58 pound bluefin tuna. And Jasamar Domingos was fifth with 44 pound white hake.

Most Trophy Fish during a Trip: Jim Feeney came in first in this category with a total count of eight trophy fish on the last trip of the season. Jason O'Connor came in second with six trophy fish, also on the same day that Jim caught his eight. Fred Kunz came in third with five trophies. And Shawn Rosenberger tied himself with four trophy fish on two separate trips.

Most Pools (largest fish of the trip): As mentioned above, Tim Rozan killed it in this category, coming in number one with six pools won. Marty Buskey and Shawn Rosenberger tied for second place with four pools each. David Abood, Fred Kunz, Jonathan Griffin, Mark Girard (NH), Robbie Smith (ME) and Roger Hopkins (RI) all tied for fourth place by catching the largest fish of the trip twice each.

[In the digital image, left, Jonathan Calivas (left), my number one deck hand at the time, and Gabe Daigle can be seen holding Gabe's 95 pound bluefin tuna, that he caught with me in early September during a rare time when I was captain during an extreme day trip. Normally, Captain Ian runs the extreme day trips. We had nearly a full complement of anglers that day. We weren't on the first spot for two minutes when Gabe hooked up. I thought it was a shark at first. But then it took a screaming run. So I told him that it would probably be better to fight it unfettered until we could see what it was before I tried to break it off. So I passed the rod up to Gabe in the bow as that was where the fish was heading. Then I went back to working the cockpit. That is until I realized that his line was going aft again. So I helped him bring his rod to the stern where he worked it around until he was fishing off the windward, port, side. When he got the fish to the leader I saw a flash that could only mean one thing; he had a small bluefin! It wasn't long from then until Jon Calivas and I put the fish in the boat. This was Gabe's first tuna. And he was stoked.]

Largest Double: (The most combined weight of two fish caught on the same line at the same time.) The largest double of the year was caught by Shawn Rosenberger on October 13, 2022. His double included 34 pound Maine state trophy white hake and a 17 pound white hake. Kyle Secore (CT) came in second place with a double that included a 20.5 pound pollock and a 14 pound pollock. Bill Kelson (MA) came in third with a double that included a 31 pound Maine state trophy white hake and a 1.25 pound redfish. Santiago Gonzalez (NY) came in fourth with a 19 pound pollock and a 12 pound pollock. Steve Selmer was fifth with a 17 pound pollock and a 13.5 pound pollock.

Hardest Luck: I am going to put myself in this category along with two other anglers. This is a two part hard luck story concerning the loss of two really big halibut. The first happened in May with Karl Day (ME). Karl Day (ME) should have won the boat pool for the largest fish with the largest fish, a 60 plus pound halibut during a marathon trip with me. On the fish's third run to bottom, Karl's line got tangled with Caleb Leavitt's line. Caleb was fishing on the stern. Karl was fishing on the port side. When the halibut made another run to bottom, I told Caleb to let some line out so that it wouldn't interfere with Karl fighting his big fish. Caleb had a small haddock on his line. We would see the haddock when Karl gained line to get to that point. And we would see Caleb's haddock disappear when the halibut stripped line out of Karl's reel headed to bottom. What I didn't realize was that Caleb's haddock and line were tangled with the knot between Karl's braid and his leader material (monofilament). So when I was finally able to grab the tangle, I thought I was doing Karl a favor when I cut all the monofilament. In so doing, I cut Karl's leader off just when we were about to see how big the halibut was! Karl wasn't too upset; he has caught over forty Atlantic halibut on rod and reel. But I was heart broken. It could easily have been Karl's largest halibut ever as the largest he has caught was less than 60 pounds. When it came time to give out the hard luck award t-shirt, I gave it to Karl. We lost four halibut that day, a perfect biting day for them, but none of the other loses were my fault. Karl's halibut bothered me all summer. And two times this winter I woke up from a dead sleep thinking about that episode!

And then there was Missy Finger (NY) on an offshore trip in early October. She hooked into what looked like a big cod. She got it off the bottom a ways but it went right back down. Missy had a very hard time handling her rod. So I took it from her just to show her how to make it easier. In so doing, I realized that she didn't have a cod at all but a good sized halibut! And it wasn't that Missy couldn't handle the rod, it was just that she had never experienced a fish so large at the end of her line! She fought it for a while but it kept going to bottom. Then the line just stayed in one place. We had drifted into a gillnet! Six other anglers got hung in it as well. I had assumed that the gear had been set along the "2" loran bearing. I was wrong. When I took her rod I could still feel the fish pounding or, rather, shaking it's big head. And I did try to work the fish out of the net by moving the boat around, to no avail. We finally ended up breaking the fish off. For her disappointment (and mine) she was presented with the hard luck award t-shirt at the end of the fishing! I can tell you that all I kept thinking about was losing Karl's halibut on that trip in May!

Don't ever let it be said that Doug Connor (NH) doesn't have a heart. Such was the case when long time regular angler, Doug, showed up to go on an extreme day trip with Captain Ian in the middle of August. Doug fought a blue shark for about fifteen minutes thinking it was a bluefin during the later part of the trip. According to Captain Ian, it acted like a bluefin tuna. So if it acts like a tuna, fight it like a tuna and see if you can get it close enough to see what it is (our motto). Near the end of the fight, Doug had, what he would call, a heart episode. He had another one thirty seconds later. The long and the short of it is that he was stressing his heart out too much. Doug has an implant. It was placed in or near his heart as a precaution. I don't understand this enough to call it a defibrillator. But it could be. Or it could be just a monitor. I didn't ask him the specifics. But, because it alerted him, he thought it best to get in touch with me through Captain Ian, to have an ambulance ready at the dock when he came in. So forty-five minutes before he was due back, Ian called me to let me know. Of course, I went through all the motions to make this happen.

A mile from shore, Ian started to have engine issues, losing the engine about three quarters of a mile off Perkins Cove. The ocean was flat calm. So it couldn't have happened on a better day. But it's always an annoyance whenever there is an engine breakdown. So I gave instructions to Ian about towing the Bunny Clark into Perkins Cove. In the meantime, Captain Kevin, on one of the Finestkind Scenic Tour boats, was kind enough to take one of the boats with me and two EMTs out to the Bunny Clark. There we rafted up for a couple of minutes while the EMTs checked Doug, who is a licensed EMT himself. Doug was transferred to the Finestkind III where an EKG was hooked up as we towed the Bunny Clark back to Perkins Cove and it's home on the Barnacle Billy's float. I'm sure Doug was disappointed but all's well that ends well.

[The image on the right is a shot of the best looking cusk that was caught on the Bunny Clark all last season. The woman holding it is Lily Slazas (ME), Captain Ally Fuehrer's best friend. As most of you know, Ally started fishing with her father, Rob, on the Bunny Clark when she was 10 years old. Since then, Ally had become a second mate working on a tanker on the west coast and has been a fill-in deckhand for me on the Bunny Clark. Ally and Lily were fishing on an Ian Keniston extreme day trip that day. Lily's cusk weighed 6.5 pounds, the largest cusk of the trip.[Ian Keniston image]]

Most Improved Angler: This has to go to Anthony Schetter (NY). I believe he first started fishing with me during the fall of 2021 with his grandfather, Mike Schetter (NY), at fourteen years old. Mike is a long time regular angler on the Bunny Clark. Anthony was good in 2021. This year, he was excellent. On the day the Mike Schetter's charter fished, in late October, Anthony Schetter and Shawn Rosenberger tied for high hook with the most legal fish. It would have been impossible to count the fish that day. But, for sure, they caught the most fish as compared with the other anglers, including the man who has come to be known as Mr. High Hook, himself, Mike Schetter!. And I would probably give the edge to Shawn only because Anthony lost time in a few tangles because of the area of the boat where Anthony was fishing. Anthony won the Club pool for the largest fish with the largest fish, a 14 pound pollock. Shawn had been invited to fish so he didn't feel it right to be in their Club pool. But I was amazed; a fifteen year old kid doing nearly as well as the FY-'22? Remarkable! Congratulations, Anthony, you sure deserve the accolades. And I'm very much looking forward to having you aboard in 2023!

Best Team: The team of Ray Westermann & Jonathan "Griff" Griffin are still be best team on the Bunny Clark and have been for many years. They compliment each other tremendously and keep their fish together. And they always carry the same fillet bag number. So when they do show up, it's easier all the way around. They don't get many or any tangles. And it always seems that when one is fishing, the other is reeling a fish in. Two of the best anglers I have ever had on the boat; if they aren't catching fish, I'm in the wrong spot! Last season, Ray and Griff got together only a couple times. But, when they did, it was just like the old days.

Most Unusual Catch: Captain Ian Keniston, on a bus man's holiday late in October with me on a marathon trip, either tied Jonathan Griffin for high hook or was second hook. Either way they were the two most successful anglers on the boat that day. Ian's best fish included a, 11 pound pollock, a 10 pound white hake and a double that included an 11 pound pollock and a 13 pound pollock. His largest fish was a 14 pound pollock, a tie with Griff for the largest pollock of the trip. However, had things turned out better, Ian would have had the biggest fish of trip and, maybe, the year. He hooked a fish near bottom and was bringing it up when the line went slack; whatever fish he had on the line was racing to the surface. Finally catching up to the fish, it angled off the stern and to the surface. I thought that it must be a tuna as a tuna will come to the surface quickly as well. But when it took off across the surface it went off like a shark. Basically, it was a much more sluggish run than a tuna would make. Both Ian and I questioned that it was a tuna at that point and thought it might be a porbeagle shark acting a bit weird. It might have been five minutes into the fight when, off the stern, the fish jumped out of water. No one saw the fish but we all saw the splash and the left over white water. When the fish jumped again, everyone was looking in that direction, including me. It was a thresher shark! It jumped straight up but not high enough to show the tail. However, the fact that it jumped and it's other physical characteristics proved it was a thresher. It had that different blunt head and the longer pectoral fins associated with a thresher. Threshers are not usually that sluggish. Maybe it was the colder water; I have no idea what threshers do or where they go in the winter. Maybe it was an individual behavioral pattern. But it certainly wasn't as active as others that we have hooked. At any rate, when it jumped it threw the hook. When Ian got the jig and fly combination back to the boat, the fly hook was gapped. So the fish must have gone for the fly? Whatever. It's the only thresher that we saw last season either in the water by itself or on a line. And it was certainly exciting for a couple of minutes.

Exceptional Good Luck: Karma is everything, at times. Before the August 29 extreme day trip even started, Mike Scott (NY) lost his drivers license overboard while the Bunny Clark was at the dock. It could be seen lying on the bottom. There was no way to get the card except for diving for it. Sean McIntyre (NH), being the helpful person that he is, asked Captain Ian if he minded if he went in after it. Ian didn't mind. So Sean took all his clothes off, except his underwear, and jumped over the side. In short order, he had the license. That was how the day started. During the trip, Sean's fourteen year old son, Collin McIntyre (NH), was the fisherman of the day. He tied for the boat pool for the largest fish with the largest fish, a 13 pound pollock. And he was high hook with the most legal fish. The pollock is the largest fish that Collin has ever caught. Collin also landed a 10 pound pollock and a 9.5 pound pollock. Could this be the new thing for Sean; dive in the Cove before you start your trip with your son?

On a late September offshore trip with me, David Abood, who had been having exceptional luck with me on the offshore trips last season, had his normal great day. But this time, without the trophies. He did catch the largest haddock we had seen for a while at 5 pounds. And he also boated a 14 pound pollock. During the fishing he lost his favorite jig. A few minutes later, one of the other anglers caught it with their jig! David put the jig on again and got it broken off by a blue shark. Less than a half an hour later, someone on the other side of the boat had David's jig again! When David walked off the boat that day his jig, saved twice, was nestled safely in his tackle box!

Quotes of the 2022 Season: "That was a fish of a life time. But I wouldn't want to do it again! " A quote from Dave Kirby after fighting a 200+ pound bluefin tuna for an hour, sliding it on to the deck through the "man-overboard" opening in the stern only to measure it and find out it was four inches longer than it was supposed to be to keep! Just as soon as it was measured, it was moved back out the stern and released. We never even got the pleasure of knowing exactly how much it weighed.

"I knocked seasick off my bucket list!" A quote fromWilli Mitchell (NY) who landed the hard luck award on that late April, Saturday charter.

[The digital image on the left shows former deck hand, Dwight Maling (ME/FL) holding a 15 pound cod that he caught on the Bunny Clark during an offshore trip in late May 2022. At the time Dwight caught this cod, it was illegal to keep. So it was weighed quickly, the picture taken and then released while it was fully alive. It was also the largest cod of the Bunny Clark season that day. ]

Unexplained Phenomena:

[The digital image on the right is a shot of, from left to right, Danny DellaMonica bagging fillets and Fred Kunz holding up a small white hake behind Jim Feeney, who is holding up his 38.5 pound Maine state trophy white hake on the last trip of the season. We were graced for weather that day, as you can see from the calm water and the stable fishing platform!]

[ I couldn't end this Guestletter without showing you a picture of Steve Selmer's beautiful 9 pound haddock. So, shown left, is the digital image of Steve holding the fish just after it was boated, the best time to take a picture. He was fishing on the bow, as he normally does in such good weather. I can tell you that it was wonderful to be there when he caught this fish; the benefits of being the captain! ]

As much as Marty can have an exceptional day, he can also have a not so great one. So it was that Marty Buskey got sea sick for the first time on the October 28, 2022, three days before our last trip of the season. The wind was blowing out of the northeast at fifteen knots at the start of the trip but the weather got better and better as the day progressed. Marty remained the same. He has certainly been out in worse weather. The thing is, Marty does not get sea sick. He never has over the many years that he has fished on the Bunny Clark. So he must have had the devil on his shoulder. I know for a fact that he had not lost faith in his abilities. Actually, it was probably some kind of bug that he caught. We will never know. Things just happen.

In Memorium:

I already mentioned about my mother's passing at the beginning of this Guestletter. I'm not sure I can say much more except that this is an end of an era for me. And I felt compelled to place her in this section of the Guestletter as this will be where I look when I want to come back to reminisce. She was always so interested in what I did after my father passed. And she was keen on donating to the Pan-Mass Challenge in my name. As dementia started to take over her life two years ago, the topic never came up again. Indeed, she would always ask to have the new PMC shirt I had designed when it was ready every season. The last time I brought her a shirt, she didn't really know what it was. Nor did she wear it all the time as she had the other shirts. I never asked her again after that as I wasn't sure if she could comprehend what I was referring to. In her short obituary that my sister, Cathy, wrote, we asked, in lieu of flowers, to donate to the PMC, which many did. Thank you. Going through my parents house and trying to decide what to do with what she left behind has not been the best exercise this winter. And there is much to go over. Anyway, I will miss her and her frankness. But I will also miss her depending on me to make things more comfortable. And, of course, I will have some regrets that I couldn't spend as much time with her as I would have wanted.

On September 9, 2022, Scott Karlen (VT), Ken McLaughlin's nephew, went out on an extreme day trip with Captain Ian. He was there to fish but was also aboard to spread Ken's ashes during the trip. Ken had started taking Scott on the Bunny Clark when he was a boy and often fished with him as he was growing up. Ken was one of our most prominent and most loved anglers who died last year. When he started fishing with me in the late '80s, Ken never went back to another New England deep sea fishing boat. Both Ian and I established a strong bond with Ken when he was with us. It was a sad day when we found out that Ken would no longer be coming to Perkins Cove. Scott had a quick ceremony before releasing the ashes to the sea where Ken had requested his remains be placed. I think it was a bit hard for Ian, although he would never admit it. It would have been for me.

On July 22, 2022, I was informed in an email from Lucinda "Cindy" Fox (CA) that her husband, Dick Fox (Richard Kenneth Fox), had passed away on July 15, 2022. It was only in early January that he had emailed me to tell me to keep up the good work in the Pan-Mass Challenge. Dick had been a huge contributor over the years. And he emailed me again at the end of March 2022 to ask if I was still on vacation. When I'm on vacation, I don't write the daily update which Dick read all the time. So I was surprised and saddened when I was told that he was gone. When he lived in New England, he used to fish with me frequently. Then he moved to California. He still fished with us but only on his visits back to New England. But he always kept in touch and he was always interested in my cancer project. I was told that he died suddenly but that he had family around him when he finally passed. I don't know what killed him; I was never told. I will always remember a particular spot where he caught a big cod with me. I think it was the first time I ever fished that particular spot. It was offshore and an area that would have been hard to drag over commercially and, yet, too small to fish with a gillnet. It was the one and only big cod that I caught on that spot even though I have fished it a number of times since when in the area. It's funny how when the people who really mean a lot to you are always remembered by times and places. It becomes their spot forever. Or at least it does in my mind. He was 75 years old.

[The digital image on the right is a picture of Dean Stevens (AZ/VT) holding his 12 pound monkfish while Karli Lucas (AZ/VT) is holding her 3.5 pound haddock. Both fish were hooked and brought aboard at the same time. Dean has been fishing with me for years. But the last time he was on the Bunny Clark was five years from this day. His monkfish was the fourth largest fish caught on this offshore trip. ]

Deck Hands:

We had another tough year finding deck hands. It was not nearly as tough as 2021 but it wasn't easy either. We started the year with Jon Calivas and Brad Beckmeyer. Jon and Brad helped Ian Keniston get the Bunny Clark ready to launch. When I came home, we launched the Bunny Clark. All four of us were there. After the first week of fishing, Brad decided that this wasn't the job for him. Thankfully, Ally Fuehrer was home. She was the deck hand for three trips in April. She and Anthony Palumbo helped Jon Calivas get up to speed. As the season progressed, we had Tyler Carpenter a couple times, Anthony Palumbo four times, Kai Rosenberg twelve times, Ally for four trips, David Girard once, Nick Wixon six times, my son, Micah, was the deck hand for a trip and even Captain Ian Keniston worked the deck for me one day. Danny DellaMonica was hired and fished his first day on June 19th. This was when my luck changed for the better. We did get help from Kai and Anthony again but only because Jon wanted some time to do a trip with his family. But with Jon and Danny, we had a pretty good team. It takes a long time to be a deck hand in complete control on the Bunny Clark. Jon got good at the end and I would say the same for Danny. This made us much better off, particularly through the fall. At the end of the season, Jon Calivas gave his notice, saying that he would still be available to ask if I needed someone in the 2023 fishing season. I appreciated that. Danny kept right on working, through the fall and helping Ian bring the Bunny Clark back to life through the winter. So, as of right now, Danny DellaMonica is the only deck hand we have signed for the upcoming season.

I want to thank Jon Calivas for the great help that he was last season. And, of course, I want to thank Danny DellaMonica for deciding to work with team Bunny Clark. I don't think that there was anyone who kept the boat any cleaner than Danny. But it was great working with Danny and Jon. Of course, I will be looking forward to having Danny aboard in 2023.

It was nice to Anthony Palumbo to help out. He worked for us for two solid seasons, after having fished on the Bunny Clark for years. This made him exceptionally accomplished in the position of deck hand. He was so perfect and fast in filleting fish that we often took short videos of him filleting fish and timing him at it. There were many times when he told me that he was there if I needed him but I ended up finding someone else instead; he does have a job that keeps him really busy so I didn't want wear out his welcome just because it made it easier for me. But that and the times he was our number one, made it very special to me. Thank you, Anthony. I do appreciate that.

Just as important was Captain Ally Fuehrer. She has a full time job on the left coast as a second mate on a tanker. As is typical with maritime positions on big ships, they work a block of time on and a block of time off. Her off time is about two months. During her time off, she is usually in Maine. And, when here, she makes herself available to us. When she has time, she always seems to say yes when I ask her if she can work. I love having her on the boat. And, really, she's almost like having family aboard. She is good friends with my son and his wife. She's also good friends with many of our regular anglers and former deck hands. But most importantly, she is a good friend of mine and Ian's. But, more than that, she is excellent on boats. She's also excellent with people, excellent with a knife and just a wonderful individual. Thank's, Ally, always such a pleasure to have you aboard in any capacity!

I have to give a shout out to Kai Rosenberg and Tyler Carpenter, friends and Wells, Maine residents. Both helped me get through the season last season after they worked with me as the regular deck hands the year before. Although Kai spent most of the time on the boat. They both helped me out last season when I needed them most. They are the quickest studies that I have ever had as deck hands and very well liked by the crew and my angling patrons. Thank you both so much!

Captain Ian Keniston remains the glue that holds this operation together. No one person will ever be a better party boat captain on the water than Ian. Extremely intelligent and with more common sense than you can fill in a dream, Ian has had some amazing catches, has become a very welcome sight to all our anglers and accomplishes as much as you could possibly imagine in the business and the fun of taking anglers fishing. I knew something about this when I first met Ian, when he was a deck hand on the Indian II out of Portland. I thought of him as a special person then. He and his captain and crew used to fish with us in the fall for a trip after the Indian II was done for the season. On one of those trips I told him that if he ever wanted to work for me, I would make it worth his while. The rest is history. I believe that this is his twenty-fifth season with me? I might be a year ahead or year behind there. But, suffice it to say, he is the Bunny Clark at this stage of our business. He gets the Bunny Clark ready to sail in the winter. This also includes rebuilding all our rods and reels. He is on the Bunny Clark during the season more than anyone. But, most importantly, he is so very much like me that he reminds me of my brother when we were growing up fishing together; my brother and I would continually come out with the same comments during our time fishing. Ian isn't exactly like that because we are rarely on the boat together [It's a real treat when that happens, though.]. But we agree on so many fishing related ideas as to make it seem like we grew up together. Thank you so much, Ian. I couldn't imagine having anyone else in your place. If that ever did happen, that person would always be second best.

[Bryan Martins (MA) holds his 17 pound pollock, one of the largest pollock caught that day. ]

David Pease: After I had the hull of the Bunny Clark completed at Young Brothers in Corea, Maine, I had the hull transferred on a flatbed truck to Dave's Boat Shop in York, Maine during the fall of 1982. I had spent quite a while looking for someone to finish the boat off according to the plans drawn up by Richard Lagner, a naval architect from Woolich, Maine. It might have been Billy Coite who pointed me in the right direction. David Pease's work came up way above my expectations for what I wanted in a finished product. I was extremely lucky to have the opportunity to have Dave be the man. The Bunny Clark turned out to be exactly as planned, built by a genius who was so kind as to defy the definition. I learned a lot about the Bunny Clark from helping Dave finish the boat in the barn that winter. He was a great teacher and his teachings have sustained me until today. The Bunny Clark has been going back to his barn for, now, forty-one years. I am blessed to have had Dave work and improve this boat every year. Thank you so much, Dave, so very much.

Many people have complimented me on my business accomplishments within the context of the Bunny Clark, as a representative in the fishery management scene, my fishing accomplishments and the way I run the business. I certainly have appreciated those comments over the years. But it hasn't been just me. It has been Debbie Bowden Tower and me. It has always been the two of us. I could not have crafted this business into what it is today without her help. She has put up with a lot of things that were never her choice. But she has done all this for me and has done an excellent job of it. And, in so doing, has made this my dream job. At this point in my life, she advises me on crew decisions, she does all the books, she manages the reservationists and she manages me, of course. I could not have done any of this without her. She keeps this ship afloat. And she accomplishes this with, now, many years of experience at getting it right. Thank you so much, Deb. Not only are you my anchor to windward, you are also the one thing that keeps me going. I'm so appreciative of you being there with me.

A special shout out goes to Jane Staples. Jane has been with us for years now. Jane takes over when we can't. She also mans the helm when Deb and I go on vacation. I feel very comfortable leaving the business with Jane in charge. She is very soft spoken, direct and very nice to our customers. Thank you, Jane. Very much appreciated!

Emma Keniston worked for us again last summer, her fifth season. She is Jared Keniston's daughter [Jared, Ian's brother, was one of the two best deck hands and captain's I have ever had on the Bunny Clark,]. Emma spent most of her time on the truck at the Cove, taking reservations and helping Deb run the shore-side part of the business. Excellent with customers, she is a Keniston in her work ethic and commitment. Emma is someone who you can trust and count on. She was a great help, yet again, and complimented our business so very much. Thank you, Emma. Always great to have you with us.

I ride in the Pan-Mass Challenge (PMC), an 192 mile, two day, cycling event that takes place the first Saturday of every August, to raise money for cancer research. Last year marked my sixteenth season participating. As of this writing, I have raised over $445,500.00 with donations given to me mostly by my angling guests and Barnacle Billy's patrons. And I do so appreciate the support. I have signed up again for the event for 2023. This will be only the second time in four years that I completed the ride and the first time in four years that the ride will be completed in the manner it has been ritually completed, with no Covid protocols except for the common sense ones - you should be vaccinated. So we will be staying at the Host Hotel in Sturbridge, Massachsetts and at the Massachusetts Maritime Academy in Bourne, Massachsetts as we did in 2019. My best training comes from the Maine Coast Cycling Club and specific riders, some of whom have ridden in the PMC with me, including Jonathan Cartwright, Daniel Braun, Andrew Armitage, Harry Bajakian, Karen MacKenzie, Dan Walczyk and Paul Benya. These are the cyclists who give me the miles I need to ride the miles at the pace I like, who give me a break from my daily schedule and who have become the friends I never expected to have out of work. I am most looking forward to this year's fund raising. We support a great team of researchers. And I am proud to say that I belong to a group who is helping humanity directly. If anyone would like to donate, they can click here: PMC

I love what I do with the Bunny Clark. I love my crew, my patrons, my boat and the harbor I fish out of. It's because of this love that I write this Guestletter every year. It takes a lot of time during a time that I could be riding my bike, going to New Jersey to visit my daughter, getting more involved in the restaurants or even flying somewhere else to do something new. In fact, when Deb and I take the two weeks in early December to get away, I bring the full year of fishing update reports and read each trip and take notes. It takes me exactly ten days from 3 AM to 6 AM to complete this. But I love it.I'm not crazy about the way I write but I love to relive the subject matter presented. And this is only the first few hours of hundreds that it takes to complete the Guestletter. At the end of this season I will be seventy-two years old. I've finally gotten used to people calling me sir. What I haven't gotten used to is people asking me when I'm going to retire. I don't plan to and never want to. However, I will stop if Ian Keniston doesn't want to continue, Deb doesn't want to do it anymore or I'm physically incapable of continuing on. At this time of year, I can't wait to start fishing again. Actually, I can't wait to watch all of you fish with me again. I also dream of catching that 300 pound halibut that is still out there. But you have to understand; it's not really "me" that I'm thinking about. It's you who I want to see catch that big halibut or that big cod or that huge monkfish to take back our world record. It's Fred Kunz getting his seventh FY award or Dan Kelley catching the longest cusk I've ever seen or Dick Lyle, the cod catcher that he is. Or it's seeing that eight year old catching the first haddock. I think you know what I mean. I even live vicariously through Ian when I'm not on the boat. So I just want to be a part of the results. I want to gaff Jim Feeney's big hake, I want to say; "Yes, that was my boat where Ian caught that 365 pound tuna." Why? Who the hell knows. Does anyone know why people like to play golf? I don't. No more than anyone knows why I like this so much. But I do. And the reason? It's because of you. You allow me to do what I truly love. And I love doing it with you. Commercial fishing was never as fun as when I included anglers. And this is a commercial endeavor, although not a great business model. So thank you for making this so much fun for me. It has never seemed like a job, ever. And you make that so. I am very much looking forward to seeing you all this coming 2023 Bunny Clark fishing season. Winter well, as my father would have said!

Double Rainbow over Perkins Cove

If you want to send me e-mail, the current address is bunnyclarkdsf@gmail.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!