The 2025 Bunny Clark Guestletter

The digital image below, taken during an offshore trip on October 22 last season, shows Bill Harding (ME) holding up his 17.5 pound cod which he caught that day. He insisted that I take the picture with him holding the fish sideways despite my protests to hold it lengthwise. To placate me, he did hold it lengthwise but the picture was not nearly as good as the one he suggested I take. This cod was our sixth largest cod of the season last year. This trip also produced our second largest cod of the season at 21 pounds caught by Shawn Rosenberger (PA) (see the trophy list below) and our seventh largest cod of the year, a 17 pounder, also caught by Shawn.

Last season, the months of April, May and June saw the largest number of haddock I have seen in that time period. They were of excellent size as well. But the majority of them were further offshore than we normally see them. So it took longer to get to the haddock which gave us less fishing time. This didn't matter as, trip after trip, we had the boat's bag limit before we headed back. Sometimes we caught so many haddock, most times, really, I had to raise the size limit over twenty inches caliper fork length so we wouldn't catch the bag limit before it was time to go home. On one trip we caught a total of 444 haddock for eighteen anglers where the two smallest were 3.5 pounds. All the rest were 4 to 11 pounds, just an amazing day. During the summer months into the fall we released a large number of haddock between the 17 and 18 inches, the minimum legal size, a limit that was an inch more than the year before. There were very few legal sized haddock during that time period.

Part of the reason that we saw so many haddock, I believe, was that the commercial quota of haddock available was dropped by 85%. But we also had colder water than we did in March and April the previous year. The result was that even when the commercial boats could get them, they weren't there. When they could get them the quota was reduced too far to make it profitable to go after them. The 2023 season saw just the opposite. Those extra haddock were available in the commercial quota and the haddock showed up earlier and were available for commercial harvest. Those fish had already gone to market by the time we could chase after them. Not so last season.

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, when using it, the rope is more inclined to get caught in the rocks, hugely promoting gear (trap) 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 aren't nearly as many cusk caught as bycatch in lobster traps anymore. And, for those reasons, there are more cusk. My opinion, of course. But last year we caught less cusk on the inshore bottom or where we fish on the half day trips. There weren't a lot less cusk. But I expected to see the inshore population of cusk increase more than it did last season.

[The picture on the right is a shot of Mark Girard holding his 8 pound Maine state trophy haddock that he caught on a marathon trip with me May 2, 2024. He caught this fish as a double with another haddock that looked bigger that dropped off the hook before he was able to swing both over the rail. In hindsight, I should have been beside him with a gaff. Had I been, we would have recorded the largest haddock double that I have ever seen. I can tell you that I did. But I am unable to qualify that statement. I believe that this is Mark's biggest haddock. He caught three haddock, all weighing 8 pounds, last season!]

Most consider the whiting the most flavorful of any groundfish species. It has a delicate texture. Because it's a white fish, any recipe works. It melts in your mouth when fried as do the fillets of the two other hake species we catch. But baking, broiling or working it into a tomato sauce works well. In a chowder, it breaks apart, like the white hake. This gives you a thicker more flavorful chowder and works best when you add another fish, like pollock, haddock or cusk pieces, to it.

[The digital image on the left is a shot aboard the Bunny Clark showing Jim Koplar (CT) holding his pollock double (both fish caught on the same line at the same time) that he caught on a marathon trip with me in October of last year. The pollock weighed 17.5 pounds and 12 pounds. This tied for the sixth largest double last season. ]

Pre-Season Improvements: Of the improvements that were made to the Bunny Clark during the winter of 2023/2024, most were minor repairs or cosmetic work, sanding and painting, repairing the fillet table, installing fuel shut-offs at each fuel tank to comply with a Coast Guard request, changing the fuel fills to make it less likely for salt water to leak into the fuel tanks, revamping the fuel transfer system between tanks and various other yearly repairs we do on a regular basis every year. Ian Keniston and I worked on this together as we did since he started working for me. Having his perspective will be surely missed in the future with repair work. One thing we didn't do was put a helm seat in place that Ian had requested. Having had a helm seat years before I met Ian, there were lots of negative experiences that I had with them that I wasn't prepared to have happen again. He understood. But it was one of the items I was going to include, for him, in this season's work order. Sadly, I won't be able to complete that for Ian this winter. Although, I will probably still do that as it's less expensive to put in a ready made chair than build a new bar stool.

In-Season Engine Breakdowns: We had several engine problems last season. Early in the year we lost the neutral switch. This is something only found on fully electronic (tier 3) engines. There are two ways that the symptoms show up; one, the neutral switch can go bad or two, there is a problem with the transmission. In my case, the switch went bad. In either case, you can't start the engine. We had a bad switch. With a bad switch, you can bypass it by cutting a couple of wires and tying them together. I didn't know that before I had to make a decision to cancel or let the trip leave the dock. So I canceled the trip only to find out fifteen minutes later how I could fix the problem. We ran for the rest of the season without the neutral switch. Without it, we were limited to 2000 rpms. This was okay since we never run it much higher in rpms than that anyway.

[The digital image on the right was taken during the June 18, 2024 offshore trip. The shot shows Chris Albert (ME) holding his 14.25 pound cod. At the time, this was the our largest cod of the 2024 fishing season. Chris has fished with Ian and I many times over many years. It is uncanny how he can catch a good sized cod on almost every trip he attends. This phenomenon occurred even more so in the past when we could keep cod. On this day, we could not; cod season was still over two months away. So this fish was weighed, a quick picture taken and released back to the ocean alive. ]

We had pivot bolt problems with the Gresen pump bracket that holds the pump and keeps tension between the sheaves on the pump and the sheaves on the front of the engine - the pump is belted off the engine. The Gresen pump is the hydraulic pump that feeds the hauler motor that we use to haul the anchor, located at the front of the engine, in the engine room. The bracket never broke off, leaving us without a means to use the hauler. And it was easy to notice that problems were starting as the symptoms would show up as the pump starting to wobble a bit. You could probably go days with this situation and not have it affect operations. But, if you are like me, it would have been a constant worry. This became a reoccurring problem. It happened probably four times. In the end I found a bolt with the correct tensile strength to prevent it from happening again. But it took a few broken bolts to find that out.

We had an alternator that charged the house batteries go bad on us. I always keep a spare. So it was a matter of replacing the alternator. I was over tired at the time so my son, Micah, changed it for me. He is much quicker at engine stuff than I am. But the fact that he volunteered to do it speaks volumes and meant so much to me. We didn't have to cancel any trips to change out the alternator or to fix the Gresen pump bracket.

We did, however, lose two weeks at the end of August with a injector/wiring harness failure. We would have been down only a day if Power Products in Portland, Maine, the local Volvo dealer, had these parts on hand. We would have been down two days had they had to order it. Between a miscalculation in ordering parts and a managerial problem with the road techs, I spent most of that time waiting for mechanics to show up to complete the job. With the tier 3 engines, you need to have a tech with a computer to fix anything on the engine, just like a modern pickup truck engine. It was very very frustrating. This not only because it took so long. It was more because I had to let so many anglers down who had made reservations well in advance. It cost me $25,000 in parts and labor, I lost $30,000.00 in business and my crew lost two weeks of work. No engine company in my lifetime has ever let me down as badly as Power Products did in this instance. They put pleasure boat engine problems ahead of a commercial fisherman's problem, something I had never heard of before in my life. Power Products of old would never have let this happen to me. Actually, some of the mechanics who got me out of various messes in the past are still there. And they are still wonderful people and hard workers who are the best at what they do. Power Products has been bought out by another company. Maybe this is the reason they didn't come through for me.

In hindsight, had I known that the engine was going to be down so long, I would have had them do less on the engine. I waited ten days for two hours worth of engine work to finish the job. But, of course, how could I have known that this would happen?

Improvements for 2025: We are on schedule to complete some cosmetic work on the Bunny Clark before she gets dipped in early April. This winter, Danny DellaMonica will take Ian's place as the ultimate shore captain. Much of the enamel work will not be completed as it still looks good from last season. It certainly won't look "as" good as it would if all the cosmetic repairs were completed like a normal year. But, on the other hand, it doesn't take long for the cosmetic work to take a beating with angling guests anyway. Danny will be working with Dave Pease on all of this. Dave built the Bunny Clark in the first place after I had the hull laid up by Young Brothers. Besides the cosmetic work, I have to replace my main radar. I'm changing out the wheel (propeller) from a five bladed model back to a four bladed wheel similar to the one we started with in 2083. I've dropped the rudder out of the boat and I am having it updated at H. & H. Propeller in Salem, Massachusetts. At the same time I will be changing out a worn rudder stuffing box casting, rudder shoe, etc. We have some engine work we need to complete, including changing out the starter motor. We also have a series of repairs from seasonal damage, some damage that occurs after every season that gets addressed annually. For instance, some of the rod holders are broken that need to be repaired. We always have some rod holders that need to be fixed. Gaff holders, bilge pumps, signage and a few other wear and tear problems will be accomplished.

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 will be available by February 2, 2025, 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 2025 Bunny Clark fishing season will start at 6:00 AM, February 1, 2025, phone reservations only, for that first day of bookings. At least this is the plan as I write this Guestletter.

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 had a much better year last year for trophy fish than we did in the 2023 Bunny Clark fishing season. Trophy haddock landings were through the roof, we ran into more trophy hake than the previous two seasons, our trophy cusk were better and Ian's ability to chase down trophy whiting helped to give us the most trophy fish we have caught in a season since 2012. We caught 306 trophy fish last season as compared to 392 trophy fish in 2012. The most trophy fish that we have caught in the twenty-first century for a season took place in 2003 with a count of 1,610 fish. For a comparison we caught more trophy fish in just pollock over 30 pounds in 1986 than the total count of all trophy fish species in 2003! All this being said, our total landings (numbers of legal fish brought home) for 2024 came in fourth out of the last ten fishing seasons. However, it was our twenty-third best year for landings out of the last twenty-nine seasons. The best season of the last twenty-nine seasons was the 2001 fishing season where we landed 36,671 legal fish. We landed 20,224 legal fish last season. But we also had 311 fishing trips during the 2001 season as opposed to 179 trips last year. And we carried more passengers per trip in 2001. On top of that, we caught quite a few less dogfish in 2001. So the chance of landing a legal fish was better per angler than in 2001 but we had to fight through a few dogfish to do so. There was certainly more action this season.

[The digital image on the left was taken by Captain Ian Keniston. The picture is a shot of Greg Mallot (NY) holding up the Bunny Clark's first legal halibut of the 2024 season. Greg caught this fish just before mid June. Only three legal halibut were caught last season, one of our slower seasons in the last fifteen years. ]

At the time of this writing a decision has not been made for cod and haddock regulations for the fiscal 2025 fishing season (May 1, 2025 to April 30, 2026). The Recreational Advisory Panel (RAP) met on January 21, 2025 to come up with a proposal based the model runs that we have used in the past but with higher quotas (sub-ACLs) being allowed this next season. In effect, this gave us more room to relax the regulations a bit. In the proposal we drafted, we have an open season for cod starting on May 1, 2025 and ending on May 31, 2025. This may not be accepted as this is the time when cod start to spawn. This means that cod are easier to find than at other times of year and taking a spawning cod is much more important to conservation than a random cod of legal size. We also dropped the haddock minimum size an inch. This comes well within the boundaries of conservation with all the bio-economic models that were run. So that part of the proposal will fly, I'm sure. The proposal as a whole was accepted by the Groundfish Committee on January 22, 2025 with reluctance - It passed by one vote. It then has to be approved by the New England Fishery Management Council. If they approve it, the regional office of the National Marine Fisheries Service, in Gloucester, Massachusetts, looks it over and makes the final judgement on whether it passes in it's entirety or with adjustments.

Below, you can see the proposal that is on it's way to the Council. Hopefully, it will make it through the process unscathed. We shall see. I will keep you updated on the daily Fishing Update section of my website when decisions have been made and when the regulations go into effect. The plan is to have them implemented by NMFS on May 1, 2025.

Potential Western Gulf of Maine Regulations for the 2025 Fishing Season:

Gulf of Maine cod

Gulf of Maine haddock

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. I also tend to rail against some of the bone moves that the New England Fishery Management Council makes in the pseudo-name of conservation. I will try to stay away from my opinion as I continue on.

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 2024 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-two 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 and every species loses more or less weight differently, more or less, depending on their specific morphology. 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

Leo Lamoureux (VT)	Monkfish 9		9-4-24
John Spignardo (NY)	Monkfish 6.5		9-26-24
Ted Harris (PA)	Monkfish 5		10-8-24
Marty Nephew (NY)	Monkfish 3.5		7-26-24
Nick Johnson (VT)	Monkfish 3		6-26-24

The shot on the right is digital image of Dave Burton (MA) holding his 78.5 pound porbeagle shark caught during a mid June offshore trip last season. This was the Bunny Clark's first porbeagle last season and Dave's first porbeagle ever.

Erik Grove (ME)	Barndoor Skate 22.5*		9-24-24
Dwayne Stoll (ME)	Barndoor Skate 20*		9-30-24

Richard Antanavich (ME)	Redfish 3	18.75 X 13.5	7-2-24
Nikki Szczepanski (NY)	Redfish 2.5	16.5 X 13	6-11-24
Paul Glowacki (NY)	Redfish 2.5	16 X 13.25	6-11-24
Robert Kent (ME)	Redfish 2.25	17.25 X 15	7-2-24
Dave Burton (MA)	Redfish 2.25	16 X 12	9-24-24

Bryan Lewer (ME)	Wolffish 21.5**		7-23-24
Mark Girard (NH)	Wolffish 20.5**		7-23-24
Bryan Locke (NH)	Wolffish 14.5**		8-5-24
Hal Flan (MA)	Wolffish 15+**	Not Boated	7-5-24
Stefan James (VT)	Wolffish 11**		5-30-24

Nikki Szczepanski (NY) can be seen on the right holding her 10.5 pound cusk that she caught with me during an early June offshore trip. At the time, this was the largest cusk of the Bunny Clark fishing season. This was also the largest cusk that she has ever caught. In fact, I don't think that she had ever caught a cusk before this trip. I could tell by her excitement when she brought the fish to the surface!

Mike Schetter (NY)	Pollock 23		9-26-24
Arshad Shah (QC)	Pollock 20.5		9-12-24
Ron Neil (MA)	Pollock 20		9-24-24
Mary Glyptis (NY)	Pollock 20		10-6-24
Mike Hall (NY)	Pollock 19.5		9-26-24

James Jones (PA)	White Hake 49.5	50 X 31	10-8-24
Chris Cichon (NJ)	White Hake 42	49 X 29	10-24-24
Todd Mallory (NY)	White Hake 41.5	46 X 34	7-16-24
Jonathan Griffin (MA)	White Hake 38.5	46.5 X 28	7-16-24
Ken Altarac (NY)	White Hake 37	46.5 X 27	10-3-24

Chris Willy (VT)	Haddock 11	29.25 X 19.25	5-2-24
Charles Suelke (PA)	Haddock 9	31.5 X 16	5-30-24
Rick Turner (NY)	Haddock 9	29 X 15.5	6-13-24
Stuart Douglas (NY)	Haddock 8.75	27 X 17	5-2-24
John Herring (NY)	Haddock 8.75	27.5 X 17	5-17-24

Joe Freeman (ME)	Whiting 4.5	25 X 12	6-22-24
Joe Freeman (ME)	Whiting 3.75		6-22-24
Jason Anyan (NH)	Whiting 3.5	23 X 11	6-16-24
Stephane Cloutier (MA)	Whiting 3.5	23.5 X 10.5	9-10-24
Zach Mein (ME)	Whiting 3.25	22.5 X 12	7-26-24

Lewis Hazelwood (MA)	Cusk 28	40.5 X 21	7-9-24
Dennis Reissig (NY)	Cusk 22.5	36 X 21.75	7-9-24
James Wescom (VT)	Cusk 19	37 X 21	7-9-24
Jonathan Griffin (MA)	Cusk 18.75	36.25 X 20	7-16-24
Todd Mallory (NY)	Cusk 18.5	36 X 20.5	7-16-24

Jonathan Griffin (MA)	Cod 23**		7-16-24
Shawn Rosenberger (PA)	Cod 21		10-22-24
Bryan Lewer (ME)	Cod 19.5**		7-9-24
Jon Leavitt (MA)	Cod 19**		7-15-24
Mike Schetter (NY)	Cod 18		9-26-24

The digital image on the right was taken by Captain Ian Keniston during a late August afternoon half day trip. The picture shows Heather Bristol (MA) with someone holding her half pound squid which she caught on this trip. It was actually the third largest living thing caught on the boat that evening. The largest fish caught that night was a 3.5 pound cusk. Sometimes these trips can be slow for catching fish.

Dave Burton (MA)	Halibut 95.5	57	7-23-24
Greg Mallott (NY)	Halibut 33	43	6-12-24
Bill Harding (ME)	Halibut 30***	42	7-23-24
Jose Vera (MA)	Halibut 22**	38	8-4-24
Logan Bartlett (ME)	Halibut 20+**	?	6-21-24
Shawn Willey (NH)	Halibut 20+**	?	7-14-24

Rick Davis (ME)

Lobster 1.5

Released (illegal to keep)

8-1-24

Dennis Reissig (NY)

Blackback Flounder 1.75

7-8-24

Dave Harris (MA)	Porbeagle Shark 80	58.5	10-11-24
Dave Burton (MA)	Porbeagle Shark 78.5	55	6-13-24
Fin & Ainsley Cook-Baldauf (PA)	Porbeagle Shark 28	Released (too small)	8-1-24

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/her fish was taken.

** Federal regulation has prohibited the retention of wolffish for a few years now. Federal regulations for the 2024 season also prohibited the retention of cod except for the months of September & October. All the wolffish were released back to the ocean alive. Only two of the top five cod were kept during the 2024 fishing season. We focused on cod more during the fall, when we could keep them. Also, halibut measuring under 41" are too small to retain and were released alive.

*** Federal/Maine state regulation prohibits retaining more than one recreationally caught halibut per trip. So even if a halibut were caught and kept on the first day of a ten day trip, you couldn't keep another for the duration of the voyage. On the day that Bill Harding caught his 30 pound legal sized halibut, Dave Burton had already boated the 95.5 pound halibut earlier in the trip. Bill's halibut was released back to the ocean alive.

[The digital image on the left was taken by Captain Ian Keniston during an early September ten hour extreme day trip. The angler is Leo Lamoureux (VT) shown holding his 9 pound monkfish that he caught on that trip. This was the largest monkfish caught on the Bunny Clark last season. ]

Something else of note also took place last season. Jim Koplar (CT) caught five trophy haddock on the same trip during a spring offshore marathon with his dory mate, Guy Hesketh (CT). This is the most trophy haddock ever caught by an angler during a single trip on the Bunny Clark. In the past we had angler three anglers who caught three trophy haddock on one trip. That was the record before Jim made his mark last season. Those anglers who held the record included Gil Bonvie (MA) who achieved this feat on May 9, 2002, this was tied by Marc Holland (MA) on April 29, 2003 and was tied again by Jeff Frisby (NY) on April 23, 2010. Incidently, Mark Girard would have been the fourth angler with three trophy haddock on May 2, 2024 last year had I gaffed the trophy haddock he had caught as part of a trophy haddock double that day. In turn, it would have been the largest haddock double the Bunny Clark has ever seen. Guy, for his part, got to watch his friend, Jim, boat all five fish while he lost at least one trophy on the surface but never did get one in the boat! I don't think Guy has ever landed a trophy haddock from the Bunny Clark, or any boat for that matter, despite him being one of the most successful bait fisherman I have ever had on the my boat.

Also of note, Chris Willy's 11 pound Maine state trophy haddock is the largest haddock that has been caught on the Bunny Clark since Curt Fish (ME) caught a 13 pound haddock on April 14, 2010. There were nine other trophy haddock caught on the day that Chris caught his 11 pounder. By May 17, 2024, last season, we had already landed forty trophy haddock.

The Bunny Clark's all time largest cod:

Lewis Hazelwood's 22 pound monkfish 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. Last season, our largest monkfish was caught during an extreme day trip with Captain Ian Keniston. It weighed 9 pounds. Although not a big monkfish, Ian took the best monkfish/angler digital image that has been taken for a couple of years. As you can see, this digital image appears in the text above.

[The digital image below shows Rich Antanavich holding his 3 pound Maine state trophy redfish that he caught during a full day trip I captained in early July. This was the largest Bunny Clark redfish caught last season. But, more, it was the longest redfish, at 18.75 inches caliper fork length, that I have seen in at least twenty years. Had the fish been caught a month or two earlier, I would have registered it for a Maine state record. At the time we caught this redfish, it was already "spawned out". I have this in quotes because redfish don't really spawn, they bear their young alive.]

James Jones' 49.5 pound Maine state trophy white hake, last season, is the largest hake we have seen since Joe Columbus (MA) caught his 50.5 pound Maine state trophy hake on July 14, 2020. James' hake comes in as the fifth largest hake we have seen since John Audet (ME) broke the IGFA all tackle world record with a 51 pound hake in October of 1986. During the Ultra Marathon in July of 2019, 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 all the white hake of 55 pounds or more landed on 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 in 1983, as it should have become.

A table of all our largest porbeagle sharks caught on the Bunny Clark in the last forty-two seasons appears below. Any time you can boat a porbeagle shark of the size of each of the fish seen below on a cod rod with sixty pound test line, it's a feat.

There were no trophy redfish caught on the Bunny Clark in 2023, six trophy redfish in 2022, one trophy redfish caught in 2021, six trophy redfish in 2020, sixteen trophy redfish in 2019, zero trophy redfish in 2018, two trophy redfish during the 2017 Bunny Clark season, seven trophy redfish in 2016, fourteen trophy redfish in 2015 [Incidently, a 4 pound redfish was caught by Tom Ruggles (FL) that year. It was caught in August but was only 18 inches long.] and seven trophy redfish during the 2014 Bunny Clark fishing season.

[The digital image below shows Todd Mallory (NY) holding his 41.5 pound Maine state trophy white hake caught on the Ultra Marathon in mid July last season. This was the third largest hake caught on the Bunny Clark last year, Todd's largest hake ever and one of the few hake over 40 pounds that has been landed on any boat in the last ten years.. ]

The largest tuna caught on the Bunny Clark were the three that I landed, caught by harpoon and sold in 1984 when the regulations allowed you to do so. These really don't count as they were not caught on rod and reel. 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. 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 thirteen 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 greater degree, as mentioned in the early part of this Guestletter. 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 have had so many chances on them during the last few seasons speaks for itself. I would have loved to have at least seen some of the halibut that we lost, particularly Steve Selmer's (NH) in the spring a couple of years ago. Seeing a fish like that on the sounding machine is encouraging enough for me to feel that catching and boating larger halibut might be a thing of the future. Here's to hoping that I'm right.

[The digital image below shows Captain Bryan Lewer (ME) holding his 21.5 pound wolffish caught on our Special Offshore Trip near the end of July. This was the Bunny Clark's largest wolffish of the 2024 fishing season. ]

Since lobstermen started using herring for bait, many wolffish were caught in lobster traps and killed. Wolffish love herring most of all for bait. Lobstermen don't like wolffish so in some lobsterman's minds, it's good to be rid of them. And, indeed, in heavily lobstered areas, there are no wolffish to be found anymore. I thought the same of Jeffrey's Ledge as they started setting lobster gear there a few years ago. Since that time, our catch of wolffish has dropped precipitously. I would like to say that this follows on all the fishing banks that we visit in a season. But that just isn't true. We don't catch many wolffish on Platts Bank, Peck Ridge, Fippennies, Sigsbee and Three Dory anymore (with Platts being the only exception - but not much of one) and, unless I am missing something, there have never been many lobster traps on any of those five fishing areas. And I don't know for sure if lobster gear is that detrimental to the wolffish population. But it certainly makes sense that lobster traps would be. What doesn't make sense is why we are not catching them anywhere.

We have a rich 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. We enjoyed variable success in this department. 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 the cusk with a jig that had a tube hook on the jig itself and a cod fly/hook in a dropper loop above the jig. 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:

[Dave Burton, shown left, can be seen holding his 2.25 pound Maine state trophy redfish that he caught with me during a marathon trip in late September. This redfish came in as a tie for the Bunny Clark's fourth largest redfish of the fishing season last year. ]

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 2024 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-’24): Dave Burton wins this award for the first time. Dave spent most of his fishing time during the marathon trips or offshore trips. He is one of the six most consistent excellent anglers I have had on the Bunny Clark in recent years. Sometimes all you need is consistency. When you do get into a situation where the boat you are fishing from gets into the bigger fish, the consistent angler will always come up on top. When we got into the big hake, for instance, Dave would catch one after the other. When most anglers would be happy with one big hake, Dave would catch three. There was a series of three trips in a row that Dave attended where he caught successively bigger trophy hake. On that last trip he caught a 36 pound Maine state trophy white hake, his largest hake ever. Unfortunately, it was our sixth largest hake of the season, one pound shy of being one of our top five. Thus, his fish doesn't appear in the list above. Dave's large number of trophy fish, his trophy fish count in the top five, his many pool fish (largest fish of the trip), catching the Bunny Clark's largest fish of the season and, of course, his consistency, all contributed to put him so far ahead of the other anglers, I never had to compare his statistics with any of his competitors. Indeed, he had no competitors!

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 four 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. Since Ian's passing, I will probably start doing this in the coming season.] 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 anglers fished together. I double the points of the achievements that each has won on those trips and add them in. Last year, no angler was close enough in points to use CVPs. 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. Dave was the best of the best last season.

[ Dave Burton, shown right (in white oil gear), can be seen, along with Kai Rosenberg, who was the deck hand that day, holding the Bunny Clark's largest halibut of the 2024 fishing season. This was also the largest halibut that Dave has ever caught and the third good sized halibut that he has caught in New England waters. He also caught a 77.5 pound halibut with me during an offshore trip on April 23, 2023. Unfortunately, on that trip, he had to release this halibut back to the ocean alive as we already had boated an 150 pound halibut earlier on that same trip!]

One thing I learned about Dave, after I got to know him a little bit more, is that he loves fishing and chasing big fish. And, actually, that's what I love most about deep sea fishing angling patrons. But my thing is that I love watching anglers like Dave enjoy themselves trying. His love of fishing and his optimism in succeeding kept him hard at it on every trip. Ian had the same experience I did with Dave when Dave was fishing with him as captain. "He never gives up", Ian would tell me. Of course, in so doing, Dave was high hook with the most legal fish on many trips. Every time an angler is high hook, it's three points. If you win the boat pool for the largest fish with the largest fish, you also garner three points. If you are high hook and win the boat pool on the same trip, you are awarded eleven points total. So Dave was well represented. Add on all his other achievements and you get the star angler that he became on the Bunny Clark. And I do love an angler who shines! Thank you so much, Dave. It was indeed an honor to have you aboard the Bunny Clark last year, as it always is. But for me to have the added benefit to see you have such an excellent year is truly special and very exciting for me. I can see the fish on the sounding machine but you are the one to show the fish to me in the flesh. And I so truly appreciate this. Congratulations to an honor well earned!

Dave's total point count was 176. Jonathan Griffin came in second place with a point total of 109. Shawn Rosenberger was third with 88 points. Fred Kunz (NH) was fourth with 59 points. Mark LaRocca was fifth with 45 points.

Female Angler of the Year (FAY-'24): This is the fourth year in a row that Darlene Chin (VT) has won this award. She is one of our most consistent anglers overall. Plus, she is simply the best female angler who we have fishing with us on a regular basis. The highlights of her season last year included success on every trip. She was high hook or close to high hook many times, in the top ten percent every time. She did her first twenty-two hour trip with me and did very well. She probably would have landed her first trophy haddock with me that day if I hadn't told her to have it lifted into the boat. Of course, it fell off the hook in the process and back to bottom it went. It looked to be between 6.5 and 7.5 pounds. She did catch a 10 pound pollock and a 10 pound cod on that trip. I think the best trip she had was with Captain Ian on October 6, 2024, an extreme day trip, her favorite trip. She was high hook that day with the most legal fish, among a few of our celebrity fishermen. She didn't win the boat pool but she caught the best double, a 14 pound pollock and a 13 pound pollock, both fish caught the same line at the same time. And she caught the second, third and fourth largest fish of the trip. A 16 pound pollock, a 15 pound pollock and the 14 pound pollock that she caught with the double. She also had trips where she didn't catch a single dogfish, which is very unusual for her with the way she fishes. It's always pleasure to see Darlene come down the ramp to go fishing with us. As is typical of all good fishermen, she loves the experience and, like Dave Burton, she is ultimately consistent. Thank you, Darlene, and congratulations, an honor that is well deserved.

Best Bait Fisherman: My pick for best bait fisherman would have to be Shawn Rosenberger. I would say that, technically, he is probably the best fisherman who fishes on a regular basis with us. It's a shame I didn't go over this category with Ian as I usually do. Ian had already passed by the time I started writing this. So I never got the chance. However, having said that, I know that Ian would have agreed with me on this one. And the one fact that stands out in my mind to cement my conclusion is his singular success with catching white hake doubles. He has been at the top of this endeavor since I first turned him on to catching white hake years ago. Take into account his five Fisherman of the Year awards and you come to realize that the talent is there. He is also excellent in switching modes of operation. He is usually the first angler to go to bait if the jig fishing isn't where he wants it to be. But he is also very successful with a jig. Congratulations, Shawn. It's always a great pleasure to have you aboard.

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. No angler landed a single Ace during the 2023 fishing season. The 2012 season was the first season that the Bunny Clark didn't see a single Ace since 1983. The second occurred in 2015. The most Aces caught in a season happened in 2013 with six. And the most dramatic Ace was caught by Al Robinson (ME) in 1986 when he caught over twenty-five fish bigger than the next largest fish aboard on that trip!

Last season we landed three Aces. John Lambert, Jr. (NY) was the first. This happened during an extreme trip with Captain Ian on April 21, 2024. His catch included a 9 pound pollock, a 6.75 pound haddock and a 6.5 pound haddock. At the time, the 9 pound pollock was the largest pollock we had seen to date. Buzz Leonard (ME) caught the second Ace during an offshore trip with me. His Ace included a 16 pound pollock, an 11.25 pound pollock and a 12 pound pollock. At the time, Buzz's 16 pound pollock tied for the Bunny Clark's largest pollock of the season. The third Ace was caught by Dave Gallant (MA) with Captain Ian Keniston on his first trip aboard the Bunny Clark, an extreme day trip. His fish included a 13 pound pollock, a 12.5 pound pollock and a 12 pound cod.

Most Trophy Fish of the Season: Dave Burton caught the most trophy fish in 2024 with a count of twenty. Jonathan Griffin came in second with a total trophy fish count of thirteen. There was a tie for the third most trophy fish caught, both Mark LaRocca and Shawn Rosenberger each caught eleven. Steve LaPlante (NY) caught eight trophy fish to take fifth place.

Top Five Largest Fish of the Bunny Clark Season: Dave Burton caught the largest with his 95.5 pound halibut. Dave Harris came in second with his 80 pound porbeagle shark. Dave Burton, again, was third with his 78.5 pound porbeagle shark. James Jones was fourth with his 49.5 pound white hake. And Chris Cichon, on his first trip aboard the Bunny Clark, was fifth with his 42 pound white hake.

Most Trophy Fish During a Trip: Shawn Rosenberger tied with new comer, Tom Maracle (ON), on his maiden Bunny Clark voyage, with seven trophy fish each. Todd Mallory, Mark LaRocca and Jim Koplar all tied for third place with five trophy fish each on a single trip. And remember, all of Jim's fish were haddock, a really unusual feat.

Most Pools (largest fish of the trip): Dave Burton won the most boat pools with at total count of six. Dan Payne (ME), Buzz Leonard, John Lambert, Jr., Jonathan Griffin, Lewis Hazelwood, Matt Luce (ME), Bill Socha (NH) and Bruce Randall (NY) all tied for second place with two pools each.

[In the digital image, left, Erik Grove (ME) can be seen holding the Bunny Clark's largest barndoor skate caught during the 2024 fishing season. He was fishing with me on a fall marathon trip at the time. This skate was the last fish caught that day and also won him the boat pool for the largest fish of the trip. The fish was weighed, a quick picture taken and then released back to the ocean alive. Barndoor skates are still listed on the international endangered species list and can't be retained. ]

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. His double included 30.5 pound Maine state trophy white hake and a 21.5 pound white hake. Shawn also had the largest double of the season in 2023, 2022 and in 2021. Joe Ford (PA) came in second place with a double that included a 24.5 pound white hake and a 21.5 pound white hake. Jonathan Griffin came in third with a double that included a 22.5 pound white hake and a 19 pound white hake. Dave Symes (ME) came in fourth with a 26 pound Maine state trophy white hake and a 15.25 pound white hake. Mike Schetter was fifth with a 15 pound pollock and a 23 pound pollock.

Hardest Luck: The hardest luck, and hardest luck in the history of the Bunny Clark, was the loss of Captain Ian Keniston. I don't need to write more. The only thing that comes close was when one of my best deck hands, Christopher Linney (ME), died while lobstering in his boat too close to shore when the coast was being pummeled by a large sea swell from offshore on June 28, 1984, my second season with the Bunny Clark. That was really tough as well. I might have even taken it harder at the time as he was only eighteen years old with a bright future ahead of him, his father and mother life long friends of mine.

On an extreme day trip in mid September where we couldn't find a mate, I came on as the deck hand for Captain Ian Keniston. I have always enjoyed going with Ian in this capacity. The hard part, though, is getting into the rhythm when it's not a regular thing with me. Thankfully, I've worked at this vocation for so many years. And I know what I want from my deck hands. But I'm not as fast at filleting as I should be. On this day, we had Rich Morrell (ME) aboard, one of Ian's favorite big guns, who, usually fishes on the bow with a jig stick. This was his modus operandi today as well. As we got into the fishing, Rich came from the forecastle down below up the companionway with blood running down his forearm. "What the hell", I thought. On the way out of the cabin, Rich had caught his forearm on the tip of the flying gaff that was hanging in the companionway as you walked on deck. There had been a tip protector over the point of the gaff but it was missing when Rich ran into it. It created a huge gash which I had to attend to with bandages and tape. He had to be bandaged three times before we went in. Ian might have re-bandaged him one time. I don't remember that now. But, typical of Rich, when he saw that the bleeding was contained, he went back up on the bow and continued fishing, when an ordinary person would probably have stayed down below for the day or asked to go home. Between re-wrapping his forearm, he fished until the end of the trip. He still ended up being second hook. But Ian and I were expecting him to be high hook and win the boat pool instead. It certainly put a damper on the day. And I felt really bad for him. His view was that things happen. This was certainly one to forget. As you might imagine, this will not happen again!

We had another situation near the end of May that also involved me, after Ian brought the Bunny Clark back to the town dock after a Saturday full day trip. Ian told me the head was bound up. One of the customers had mentioned that a patron had tried to flush wipes down the toilet. I went down to check and found that the pump handle was locked up tight with pressure from trying to pump it. I was dead tired from working in the restaurant all day with prospects of working late into the night, being the first day of a weekend. So I got up at 2:00 AM the next morning with an idea about solving the problem. I got to the Cove with boots and oil gear on, ready for an early morning challenge. Even after just four hours sleep; I woke up after midnight and read a book until I got up. The first thing I did was to take off the exit hose at the head itself. Then I pumped the head, the contents of which ended up on my boots and in the bathroom itself. I actually took the whole hose off so I could make sure there were no blockages there. There weren't. I chased the blockage into the engine room where we have a ten gallon holding tank. The hose from the head led to an elbow on the top of this tank. After taking off the hose end, I found the wipes. Those wipes had completely blocked off the entrance into the tank. When I took off the hose at the elbow, the built up pressure blew the smelly contents at me and in that area of the engine room. Enough so that the toilet paper hanging off parts of the engine reminded me of visiting Gerorgia with the Spanish moss dripping off the trees. But this is why I wore full oil gear (which I cleaned thoroughly afterward, I'll have you know!). It took me nearly twenty minutes to get those wipes out of the elbow. But I got every one. My only worry then was that one of the wipes could have gotten through to the seacock that exits out the hull. If it got jammed there, the hoses are much harder to get off to clear the jam. I was done by 5:00 AM after cleaning up everywhere.Thankfully, that solved the problem and we never had another problem with the head for the rest of the season.

Near the end of September, I captained an offshore marathon trip. Although it was still a bit early in the season, I was going to start off by targeting white hake for one of the best anglers I have had the pleasure to fish with, Jim Feeney (MA). He was interested in making up a bunch of fish cakes for the winter from all the hake he was going to catch. Did I mention that it was early in the season for hake? Well we did catch hake. In fact, one of his best friends, also one of my favorite pro anglers, Fred Kunz, did catch hake, was high hook for the trip and landed the boat pool for the largest fish with the second largest fish, a 30.25 pound Maine state trophy white hake. Jim didn't catch a single hake. This is a first, ever! He has never been fishing for hake with me and not caught a hake. Usually he wins the boat pool with a hake of massive size as well! Not only did Jim not catch a single hake, he lost two jigs, probably four hundred yards of Spectra line and he fought what we thought was a huge fish for Neil Hickey (VT) that turned out to be a 12 pound pollock hooked in the side. This was such a strange occurrence for such a great fisherman, I had to put the situation in print here. And, oh yes, he won the hard luck award t-shirt. I understand that the shirt fit perfectly! And, yes, Fred gave him some hake fillets.

Last but not least, on one of Captain Ian's full day trips on a Saturday near the end of May, Jacob Hanson (VT) lost his wedding ring overboard during the heat of fishing. I know this is tough. I did the same thing while open ocean swimming off St. Barth on the first day after being in bed sick for five days. I had lost so much weight that the ring fell off my finger about a quarter of a mile offshore. I looked everywhere for that ring, even renting diving gear - to no avail. Worse, it was a wedding ring made of platinum that Deb had had made up specially after we were married. But I think the wedding ring that Donna Moran (NY) lost while fishing with me on Fippennies Bank takes the (wedding) cake! Her's was the largest, home made, fully sculptured gold ring I had ever seen on a woman. Even before it was gone I thought to myself; "How does she hold her hand up with that massive thing on her finger?" In fact, the thought did cross my mind that if Donna fell overboard, the ring would have taken her straight to bottom, no doubt! I felt for Jacob as I felt for myself and Donna.

[The digital image on the right is a shot of Stephane Cloutier (MA) taken just before sunrise during an early September marathon trip. He is holding his 3.5 pound Maine state trophy whiting, almost the first fish in the boat that day. This was his largest whiting ever. This fish also tied for the Bunny Clark's third largest whiting of the 2024 fishing season. ]

Most Improved Angler: This category is one that Ian Keniston and I discuss together before I decide on an angler. I never talked to Ian about this category.

Best Team: Ian and I did confer on this one, well before last season had ended. And, thinking back, I could have considered either one in the "Best Bait Fisherman" category. But I'm not Ian. And Ian was the one who saw them all the time. I'm talking (writing) about Harold "Hal" Flanagan (MA) and Amy Finocchiaro (MA) - Hal Flan & Amy Fino. A very stable force, they took turns competing against each other on many trips last summer. We have our other top teams, Ray Westermann (MA) & Jonathan Griffin (MA) and Brian & Marion Murphy (NH) but Hal & Amy made a business out of fishing with Ian last season on a regular basis. And they were certainly the talk of the trip, between Ian and I after the trip. It wasn't like they were optimized for maximum confrontation or competition. They were just fun. And Ian enjoyed the hell out of them and the banter that happened during a trip. Both excellent fishermen. They always caught something I could write about. And when the haddock are around, they are certainly deadly. An intrinsic function of who they are. Ian always said that they made him look good. I can't say that Ian liked them the best. But I do know that he was as happy as he could have been after a trip with them aboard.

Most Unusual Catch: Mark Coleman (NY) was dropping his jig to bottom during one of Ian's extreme day trips when he felt something hit his line. With that the line got tight and then went slack as a big fish rushed to the surface. Then, a little ways from the boat, a big basking shark jumped clear of the water and broke Mark's line. It was quite an impressive sight, I was told. A mature basking shark is usually around twenty-five feet long. We fought one like that on a Dave Miller (all MA) charter only to find out that it was a basking shark of about that size. I remember running to the bow to get a look at the fish when the knot from the leader line showed about three feet off the surface. Ian was already up there with a gaff as he was the deck hand that day. It came up nose first. And they are always a brown color. When I first saw it I said; "It's a halibut!" "We'll never get it in the boat!", was Ian's reply. We have laughed about that upon recounting that scene so many times. Had it been a halibut, we never would have got it in the boat. Except that I would have found a way. The jig was hooked right in the corner of it's mouth. We cut the fish off and watched it slowly swim away after a three hour fight and chasing it around for over seven miles.

Exceptional Good Luck: On one of Ian's early June extreme day trips, Rene Sanchez (MA) boated a 7.5 pound Maine state trophy haddock. Rene had never been on a fishing boat before. The fish won Rene the boat pool for the largest fish that trip. It was the only fish that he caught that day, legal or sub-legal, out of one hundred and seventy-one legal fish landed! Also, it was the only trophy haddock caught between May 30th and June 13th! We only caught a couple more trophy haddock for the rest of the season.

Certainly Joe Freeman's double that included a 4.5 pound Maine state trophy whiting and a 3.75 pound Maine state trophy whiting, fall into this category. The 4.5 pounder ties with the Bunny Clark's sixth largest whiting of all time. I have never seen a double that included two trophy whiting. I started taking people in 1975. Also, as you can see from the above table, they were the two largest whiting caught last season.

Dana & Laurie Decormier (NH) have a family afternoon trip every season as tradition on the Bunny Clark. Last season's group of seven had exceptional good luck with Captain Ian Keniston last year. They caught eighteen cusk total and five whiting in, what has to be, the most successful afternoon trip ever for the family. Dana, himself, was high hook with four keepers and tied for the second largest fish with a 9 pound cusk. His three other fish, all cusk, weighed 6 pounds, 8 pounds and 8 pounds, all big cusk. I was happy for them when they got off the boat.

Quotes of the 2022 Season: "You just can't un-see that!!", a quote from Captain Ian Keniston. One of the anglers aboard that day was an older woman who had a progressive case of irritable bowl syndrome. There are a few unpleasant symptoms for the individual with the problem including cramping and pain. But the symptom that day manifested itself with many trips to the head where the outcome wasn't the best and where the crew had to isolate certain areas for clean up. At one point, the woman showed up facing Ian in the location on deck just outside of the companionway door with no pants on after a particularly brutal episode.

Paraphrasing a quote from Ken Mosher (NY); "I already have the biggest fish [a 5.5 pound haddock] and I can't keep the cod." This after Ian questioned him on tossing a cod that weighed between 15 and 18 pounds over the side before getting it weighed. It would have been the Bunny Clark's largest cod at that point in the season, May 5th, a substantial pool fish and one of the five biggest cod of the Bunny Clark fishing season. Also, Ian had been hoping to get a picture of a good sized cod for the website. As it was he still won the boat pool for the biggest fish that day with the 5.5 pound haddock!

[The digital image on the left shows Rick Davis (ME) holding a 1.5 pound female berried (egg bearing - eggs located under the tail) lobster that he caught during an afternoon trip August 1, 2024. We couldn't keep this lobster anyway, by law. But if you were a lobsterman, you couldn't keep it either as any berried lobster can't be in your possession. Berried lobsters have to have a "v" put in the tail and released, which this lobster was. The image was taken by Captain Ian Keniston. ]

Unexplained Phenomena:

[The digital image on the right is a picture I took of Phil Ashe (NY) holding his 7.5 pound Maine state trophy haddock shortly after the time of catch. Phil has been fishing with us for many years now. He was lucky enough to book a trip during the period of time last season when we were catching so many trophy haddock. ]

[Joe Freeman caught a double, both fish on the same line at the same time, that has never happened before on the Bunny Clark or any other boat that I have owned or run. His double included a 4.5 pound Maine state trophy whiting and a 3.75 pound Maine state trophy whiting. The 4.5 pounder ties with the Bunny Clark's sixth largest whiting of all time. We have never caught two trophy whiting as a double before today. Captain Ian Keniston took a picture of Joe holding up his two silver hake. This digital image appears on the left. The two whiting were the largest and second largest whiting caught on the Bunny Clark last season! ]

In Memorium:

"I wish Ian were here to see all of you people, friends and family gathered together. I’m sure he wouldn’t have wanted to have this organized for him if he were alive. But at the same time, if he knew it was happening, he would certainly be humbled and honored. If he were here he would probably say to me; “Tim, I never realized that you were such a sap and a pussy.” But, in his heart, he knew I was a sap. My name is Tim Tower, for those who don’t know me. Deb and I own Bunny Clark Deep Sea Fishing, Ian’s business home for the last twenty-seven years. He was an angling patron on the Bunny Clark probably the third time I had ever met him. He was excellent on the ocean. I could see it. He was also working on the Indian II, a party boat out of Portland, Maine at the time.

When Ian got off the boat at the end of the trip that day, I took him aside and said; “If you ever want to seriously catch fish and make money at it, I can assure you that you will catch more fish and make more than twice the money you make now.” A week later he called to ask if the job offer still stood. The rest is history.

Ian Keniston was probably the most honest person I ever worked with on the boat. He was so honest for at least the first ten years that he couldn’t tell a joke. He got over that, the joking part anyway. He still remained an honest man. But I have to tell you. He lied to me. Only this once. He promised me that he would say something nice over my grave when I died, despite the disagreements we might have had in the past. We didn’t have many. Except maybe one. He hated the bar stool that I had fashioned at the steering station. This fall I relented. I was going to allow an actual captain’s chair to be installed at the helm. When I was right in the middle of ordering one while at Hamilton Marine and as I had him on the phone, Ian told me no. Let’s wait. We want to make sure we have the right one for both of us. I didn’t order it. I look back on that now and I think; "Wow".

Ian was the best man I ever had working with me on the Bunny Clark. I stress the word “with” as it was a supreme pleasure to work with him. He was the best captain I ever had on the Bunny Clark, unlike the owner who also took a turn at captain now and again. Unlike Ian, the owner was okay in his own right but a little too anal about the boat in general and the misuse of the equipment. Ian had none of those hangups. He might have, I guess, but he never showed it to our patrons. He was certainly more polite to our patrons than the owner was.

Ian was one of the elite groundfishermen in New England and certainly an elite captain. He was also an expert in all aspects of the fishing including the fishing equipment, the electronics and the catching. He was also the ultimate shore/winter captain. He, along with David Pease and Dave’s expertise as a builder, fixed up the Bunny Clark and made it presentable to our guests year after year. I would always laugh when a patron would come on the boat in the spring and ask; “Did you paint her this winter? She looks so much better than she did last fall.”

Ian did everything the way I wanted it done and humored me in my decisions, regardless of how he might have felt about them. I look at you all and I wonder who of you was lucky enough to fish on the Bunny Clark when Captain Ian and Captain Jared Keniston were running the show together, the high point of Bunny Clark Deep Sea Fishing? If you didn’t get the opportunity, I genuinely feel sorry for you. You blew it. They were the best. There was no other crew on the coast that came close. Together they caught a lot of fish and anglers truly enjoyed themselves. They had fun, the true name of the game. One of the things that stands out in my mind and that I hope to always remember, is Paul McCullough landing that 365 pound bluefin tuna on a cod rod with 65 pound test line with Ian and Jared’s help. I have never heard of such a spectacular catch. This is one example. There are many others.

I could go on and on. However, if Ian were here he would have already yanked my sorry ass off the podium. He didn’t like to be lavished with praise and I’m sure he wouldn’t have liked me to drone on. So I will end it here.

The last conversation I had with Ian before I left on vacation was; “Do you seriously want to work this winter and next season on the Bunny Clark? Because if you don’t, I do not want to run this operation any more.” “Yes”, he said, “I am really looking forward to it.”

Ian allowed me to run this business the way I wanted to and to also run the two restaurants my family owns. Please join me and raise a glass to Ian Keniston, the best of the best, my best competition, a good friend, a fisherman’s fisherman and a person who ran my business like it was his own.

The message to me after Ian’s passing is how important family is on the one hand and how fragile life is on the other. Please celebrate Ian’s life in the good memories he brought to all of us and treasure the good times we had with the man. There will never be another Ian Keniston in my lifetime."

So another chapter ends with Bunny Clark Deep Sea Fishing. I'm sure I will be thinking of Ian many times as I go about the challenges of daily living on and off the ocean. I will miss bouncing ideas off of Ian. I will miss his dry humor. I will miss him being on the Bunny Clark fishing with his kids and grandkids. I will miss him jumping on my scooter at the of a trip with all his fishing gear, backpack and belongings as he made his way up to my house to get his truck. I will miss him in his truck with the "CUSK" license plate. But, mostly, I will miss the way he handled the passengers and me waiting at the dock with anticipation, wondering what he caught on this trip. So it's the last trip for you, Ian. Enjoy the ride home.

Ian's wife, Sonya, son, Ryan, and his daughter, Deanna, have asked that I take Ian's ashes out on the Bunny Clark for a burial at sea, as Ian requested. This will happen sometime in June. And I will do it in the manner in which they want. There was some talk about making a fishing trip out of it. I've been thinking where the best place might be. Maybe where he caught his biggest cod? Stay tuned to find out.

[The digital image on the right is a picture of Chris Willy (VT) holding his 11 pound haddock which he caught with me during an early spring offshore trip. This was the largest haddock of the Bunny Clark year last season and the largest haddock we have seen on the Bunny Clark since Curt Fish (ME) boated his 13 pound haddock on April 14, 2010. ]

Deck Hands:

Danny DellaMonica was our number one deck hand, or first mate, last season. One thing you learn when you get to know Danny, is that he works his ass off. Also, when he leaves the boat at night, it is the cleanest you will ever see the Bunny Clark, until he leaves the boat again. And this followed after every trip where he was the deck hand. This was true even when he started working for us three years ago. He improved tremendously last year. His filleting got better. He rapport with captain, guests and outsiders got better. From what I see around me now, in this society and this day and age, a man like Danny is a rare person and certainly a throwback from an age where a person earned their place on a boat. To me, he's a diamond in the rough. You don't find people who want to work as hard as Danny does and who takes so much pride in his work. This is so very valuable to me. It shows me that he cares about a job well done and that the structure of the business is worth continuing, a hell of a compliment to the business. There were many ups and downs last season, something you get when you work that hard on good weather days and bad. But, in the end, he came out smiling. And, best, he is fired up to do it all again this coming season. Thanks, Danny, I so appreciate what you have done for me and the business. I am so very much looking forward to working with you on the ocean this season.

Tyler Carpenter Worked for me again last season as a part time deck hand, giving Danny a few days off and working for me on some of the bigger trips as well. He has a full time job. He had weekends off last year so when Danny needed a Saturday off, Tyler was there for him. I love having Tyler aboard. The quickest study I have ever had on the boat. The first year he worked for me he was up to speed in ten days where it normally takes a full year for a deck hand to buy into my system. I have always looked forward to having him aboard. He's also a lucky son of a gun, some of the biggest halibut that have been caught have been caught when he was aboard both on my boat and with Ian. Thank you so much, Tyler. You are another person on the Bunny Clark team that makes this business rock.

Tyler has offered his services both in getting the boat ready and for taking future trips with me next season. I hope to have him aboard a few times next season and to help Danny do what he needs to do.

Kai Rosenberg was our swing deck hand in the summer. He gave Danny regular days off when he could; he also held a position with Finestkind Scenic Cruises. He was the number one deck hand on two of the three big offshore trips we completed. And he was with me when Dave Burton boated the 95.5 pound halibut. Kai, too, has given me a lot of good luck with the halibut catches. He was still at school at Boston College so he couldn't help me in the spring and fall. But he was a tremendous help otherwise. He did get sea sick at times but it never kept him from doing his job. And a great job he did. Thanks so much, Kai. Always a special time when you are aboard.

This should be Kai's last year of school so I imagine this might be the last time I see Kai as a deck hand. But we will have to see how this coming season shakes out.

Captains:

Of course, by now, you all know how important Ian Keniston was in my life. I am not going to go any further here except to say that I had no idea that he would not make it through the whole of 2024. Indeed, I expected him to be here long after I was gone. And, in that way, maybe he would run the business and allow me to go fishing every once and a while. But life does't work out that way. Life certainly does happen when you are busy making other plans, to steal a line from John Lennon. As I write this letter, my thoughts, of course, go back to Ian time and time again. Sometimes just a picture of the man chokes me up. I talked with Dave Pease about Ian at the boat the other day. I got so choked up that I had to leave. Even Dave tells me he thinks of him at night. But I do see a lot of Ian Keniston in his son, Ryan. He looks just like his dad when his dad started working for me, now, twenty-eight years ago, by the calendar. But life goes on with or without you. So we must move on. We will just have to play it by ear, do the best we can and see if that's good enough.

I have to put my son, Micah, in the captain's category. He has helped me out a lot. He works full time in the restaurant (Barnacle Billy's, for those who don't know). But he helped me many times last spring, during the summer and this fall with the two boats (the Petrel and the Bunny Clark). Last summer, he fixed our lazarette pump system, changed out an alternator and helped me with the Gresen pump bracket problems. I've bounced a lot of ideas off him to get his opinion on things. He has also given me ideas for the future of the Bunny Clark. Thanks, Micah. All you have to do is take air in order for me to appreciate all of who you are. Your kindness, warmth and understanding precedes you. And you are a worker. But you take some your time and drop what you are doing to help me. And I appreciate that more than you will ever know.

[The digital image on the left is a shot I took of Chao "Zorro" Zou (MA - left) holding his 18 pound pollock and Scott Steinback (MA - right) holding his 13 pound pollock. Both fish are the largest of that species either has ever caught. The picture was taken during a late June offshore trip. Both are bio-economists who work in fishery management with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. I have worked directly or indirectly with them setting New England saltwater recreational groundfishing regulations for several years. ]

David Pease: Dave Pease built the Bunny Clark and allowed me to work with him to finish her the way I wanted. But what I thought I wanted changed since the first day she was launched. Dave has helped me make those changes. And he has supported me in every whim, update and improvement. Most of my deck hands have worked on the Bunny Clark at Dave's Barn over the years. None so much as Ian Keniston. But Dave unselfishly helped them all. Dave helped Ian become a better boat person, a better carpenter and a better electrician. But Dave has been so great to me, like a second father. At 88 years old, his brain retains more than mine did twenty years ago. I couldn't be in a better position with the Bunny Clark because of Dave. And words alone will never express how much I appreciate all he has done for me in my life. He has allowed me to live my dream and take part in fishery management and, indeed, to do what I do in the restaurants. I searched all over the country to find a boat builder who would do what I wanted with my new party fishing boat in 1982. It always amazes me that the best person I could have found lived and worked only twenty minutes from my house. Thank you, Dave. There will be no replacing you. I so appreciate all you have done for me, my family and my Bunny Clark family.

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 accomplishing this, has made Bunny Clark Deep Sea Fishing my dream job. At this point in my life, she advises me on a new direction forward, she does all the books, she manages the reservationists and she manages me (sick or healthy), of course. I could not have done any of this without her. Nor could I have moved forward after my cycling accident or with the passing of Ian Keniston. She keeps this ship afloat. And she accomplishes this with, now, many years of experience at getting it right. Lately, we have been working together to work on a new sailing plan for this coming season. Thank you so much, Deb. Not only are you my anchor to windward, you are also the one thing that keeps me going and my best friend. 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. But most of all, she is very understanding of us and the way we want to run our business. Thank you, Jane. We very much appreciate having you here!

Since 2007, I have been riding in the Pan-Mass Challenge (PMC) for years, missing three due to unforseen circumstances. It's 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 eighteenth season being involved. I didn't ride last season or the season before because of my back injury, first. And later, because of burst fractures with some of my vertebrae, I wasn't sure if just an ordinary fall would put me in a wheelchair for the rest of my life. At the end of 2024, I had totaled $508,356.00 in donations to the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, Massachusetts. Most of the donors are patrons of the Bunny Clark. Some are very generous indeed. And some make it a point to donate annually. At this juncture, it is hard to imagine me riding in the next PMC in 2025; but I am considering it. I plan to at least be just as involved in the fund raising. I believe in the genetic route my research team is going. I believe that there is a common link that binds all cancers together. Working towards a cure is more important that ever. I want to thank you all from the bottom of my heart for the support that you have given me over the years and for the great strides that Dr. Katherine Janeway's team has made in discovering the genes responsible and being able to shut them down while also bypassing chemo and radiation treatments. As I say all too often, cancer never sleeps. So the fund raising must never stop. You can donate to the cause by clicking here, PMC, at any time of year. I hope to continue to be involved for many years. This benefits us all and our loved ones as well.

Now that you have made it to my closing paragraph, you understand that this whole Guestletter has been dedicated to the anglers who make this business so important to me, to the experiences that bind us all together and to the memory of Ian Keniston, one of the most important people who made the modern Bunny Clark business what it was. When I first learned of Ian's death, I wondered what I would do. It was my wife, Deb, who said lets play it by ear, decide what you want to do and then we can decide how to go about it or even if it's feasible. But I have to say that it was Greg Veprek who hit the nail on the head; "You need to have fun, keep the business alive and not push yourself to the point of detriment. Two marathons a week, with a swing day each week if your schedule allows. Weekdays only. Know [that] many weeks will be blown out. None of your patrons care; they want to fish with you and will adjust to your new schedule. You have earned this right." That rang so true with my own feelings and with Deb's blessing. So we move forward with a new plan and less of a season with the hope of big halibut and special catches in the future and the possible discovery of new spots. I won't be making the tackle breaker shirts anymore. I will be eliminating the ten trip requirement to qualify for the Fisherman of the Year award and I won't be spending so much time on the Guestletter in the future. Times have changed with Ian's passing. But I still love to fish. But I really love taking anglers fishing. It's my passion. As long as I can still do this and maintain my family's restaurant business and see my kids and grandkids, I plan to continue. I'm getting older. There will come a time when the desire won't meet the physical demands of the job. I hope to be insightful enough to know when that time is upon me. Until then; welcome aboard the Bunny Clark; "Are you all interested in keeping your fish today?" Winter well!

Our Fourth Largest Double of the 2024 Bunny Clark Fishing Season

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!