Bunny Clark Fishing Update
Written & Edited by Tim Tower
Friday, May 9, 2025, 6:30 AM EDT
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Proposed cod & haddock regulations for the 2025 fishing season (May 1, 2025 thru April 30, 2026):
Gulf of Maine cod
Gulf of Maine haddock
At 3:00 AM EDT the air temperature was 43°F, the sky was overcast, the roads were dry, the wind was light out of the south and the visibility over the ocean was excellent.
It was a fairly comfortable ride to the fishing grounds except for the left over rout we had from the southeast. It was just a little bit bumpy despite the fact that there was no wind to speak of. We carried overcast skies above us all the way out. Ahead of us it was fairly clear. We saw a nice sunrise. We had zero rain. The visibility was excellent. And the air temperature hung around 45°F for the whole ride.
On the fishing grounds, the wind blew out of the south southeast at five or six knots to start, increased in the occasional rain squall to nearly ten knots, was out of the south at about eight knots before noon and, then, blew out of the south southwest at ten knots. We carried this all the way home. Seas were chops of a foot for most of the morning, in chops. Chops increased during the day to a couple feet. Seas were a bit larger for the ride home. It started to rain shortly after we started to fish. The rain was sporadic and gone by noon. The sky was overcast for the whole time fishing. We got a peek at the sun half way home. The visibility ranged from ten miles to over twenty-five miles. The tide (current) was light to moderate. The surface water temperature reached a high of 40.1°F. The high air temperature was 47°F
Ashore, these were the air temperatures in selected New England cities: In Perkins Cove, Ogunquit, Maine the high air temperature was 61°F. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 67°F (with a low of 48°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 70°F (with a low of 43°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 55°F (with a low of 42°F).
The fishing was up and down. We had one bone move stop. The rest of the stops were a steady pick, two very good stops and one excellent stop. The last stop was excellent. We left them biting there to go home. The fishing itself was excellent. The catching was good to very good. Landings were a bit better than good. Most legal fish landed were haddock, by far. Legal landings also included seventy-one cusk, a halibut, six redfish and a 5 pound pollock. Released fish included fifty-five haddock, seven pollock, one cod of 6 pounds, eleven small cod, twenty cusk, a wolffish and a redfish. We alternated between drifting and anchoring. Our best spot was an anchor stop.
Mark Girard (NH) had to be high hook with the most legal fish. He released too many smaller legal haddock for me to count, countless cusk and a wolffish. But he kept a lot of haddock and a few cusk. His largest fish was the 14.5 pound wolffish which I took a picture of and released alive. The wolffish was the second largest fish of the trip. With this fish, Mark won the boat pool for the second largest fish. His largest haddock weighed 5.25 pounds. Troy Galloway (MA) won the boat pool for the largest fish with the largest fish, a 76 pound halibut. This is his first halibut. I believe that it's the earliest legal halibut that we have ever caught on the Bunny Clark. And we have never caught a halibut on the first trip of the year until today. Some of Troy's other good fish included a 6 pound cod, the biggest cod of the trip, a 6 pound cusk and a 5 pound haddock. Bobby Allen (CT) caught the third largest fish of the trip, a 7 pound cusk.. He did not enter the boat pool for the third largest fish. He did catch our first fish of the season, a 4.5 pound haddock. I took a picture of Bobby holding this first fish. The digital image appears on the left. Matt Luce (ME) won the boat pool for the third largest fish with the fourth largest fish, 6.5 pound haddock, our largest haddock of the season so far. I expected him to catch a halibut. But he didn't.
Other Angler Highlights: Monika Patenaude (ME), on her maiden voyage aboard the Bunny Clark, caught the Bunny Clark's second largest haddock of the season today. It weighed 6 pounds. I took a picture of her holding this nice haddock. The digital image appears on the right. Jasper Downs (ME) caught one of the early haddock, at 4 pounds. Chris Silver (NH) caught a 5 pound haddock. Willy Thurston caught an early 4 pound haddock. Dave Symes (ME) caught a 5.5 pound haddock, his best haddock. Jared Lavers (ME) caught a 5.5 pound cusk. Jonah Rogers (ME) landed a 5.25 pound haddock. It was a great day out on the ocean with wonderful anglers, a real treat to be here after all that went on this winter.
I received three wonderful donations sponsoring me in this year's Pan-Mass Challenge from two wonderful anglers. The first donation was for $100.00 from Dave & Rebecca Symes. The other was also for $100.00 from Mark Girard. But the third was a very generous $2,000.00 from Wayne & Jackie Griffin (MA) in a package that had been delivered by FedEx that had been setting behind a bush for two days in the rain. Thank you, all, so very much for your constant support in this cancer project. You are always so thoughtful and generous - to a fault. And, of course, it's very much appreciated by so many!
In Perkins Cove, the wind blew out of the northwest at fifteen knots or more all day long. The sky was clear to start the day but became partly cloudy for most of the day. The wind gained strength in the late afternoon with some gusts to twenty-five knots and a lilt from the west. The closest offshore buoy, nine miles away, showed the wind out of the west at about twenty knots all day. By 5:00 PM, I saw gusts to thirty knots. The visibility was excellent all day. I was surprised as to how mild it was, more in line with a westerly wind. Just after noon, I saw 51°F. I actually thought it was milder than that but it must have been the sun that made me feel that way. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 52°F (with a low of 41°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 48°F (with a low of 39°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 50°F (with a low of 39°F).
After yesterday's great fishing, I felt great. I was surprised that I didn't feel sore at all from rolling around on the ocean all day. I guess all the running, core work, fluid trainer and swimming this winter had to help. Last night I felt like I was going to feel it today. What I did feel was elated with the success of our anglers, particularly with Troy's halibut. So unusual.
I spent a long time this morning bringing this site up to date after the first fishing trip of the season. I wanted to put the halibut on the index page, change out images and bring my fund raising page up to date.
I had to talk the Estes Oil fuel guys before I was done. And I had to address a propane leak at the restaurant that was easily resolved. I worked at the restaurant for most of the afternoon, leaving a bit earlier than normal to get ready for fishing tomorrow. I did get caught up on some of the office work I had to do at Barnacle Billy's, Etc. It seemed a more relaxed day than it was the day before yesterday.
At 3:00 AM EDT the air temperature was 39°F, 40°F in the Cove at the float, the sky was clear, the wind was blowing out of the west at fifteen knots (more or less) and the visibility over the ocean was excellent.
The ride to the fishing grounds was uneventful and, oddly enough, exactly as the National Weather Service predicted. Who knew? Seas never got any larger that three feet, the wind from the west at fifteen to twenty knots. The sky was clear. The visibility was excellent. And the air temperature hung out at 47°F at the helm after we got past the ten mile mark. We carried a setting moon off the starboard beam that made it very easy to sail down the channel to the fishing grounds.
On the fishing grounds, the wind blew out of the west for the early part of the morning at about fifteen to twenty knots with seas of about three feet with the occasional queer one. We really had no tide (current) today. So the seas were very uniform throughout. Later morning saw a lull in the wind, dropping the velocity down to ten knots. My thoughts at the time were; "Wow! If this keeps up we will have an easy ride home." It didn't. After noon, the wind continued out of the west at fifteen to twenty knots. The sky was cloudless all day. The visibility was excellent. The air temperature reached a high of 48°F (52°F at the helm on the way back). The visibility ranged to over twenty-five miles. The surface water temperature reached a high of 40.5°F, the coldest surface water temperature at this time of year for many years.
Ashore, these were the air temperatures in selected New England cities: In Perkins Cove, Ogunquit, Maine the high air temperature was 58°F. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 60°F (with a low of 41°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 58°F (with a low of 30°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 55°F (with a low of 33°F).
The fishing was very good, although hard on the hands drifting. Plus, it was a little too quick at times on the drift in the morning. So we spent most of our time on anchor. Being on anchor was much more comfortable. And the bite was such that you needed to be on anchor for a while before the fish, haddock mostly, got into biting mode. Every anchor stop saw cusk biting when we would first start. After that, the haddock would filter in and dominate the rest of the time there. The catching was very good as were the landings. Most legal fish landed were haddock, by far, just shy of the bag limit. We could have landed the bag limit had we kept every haddock that came over the rail that was exactly legal in overall length. Legal landings also included eighty-eight cusk and two cunners. Released fish included a few more than forty-two haddock, two wolffish, a sub-legal pollock, one cod of about 5 pounds, six small cod and about seven cusk. Bait was best today.
I would say that Fred Kunz (NH) was high hook with forty-three legal. Maybe more as he released some legal haddock. But everyone did well. Fred won the boat pool for the second largest fish with the second largest fish, an 8.75 pound cusk. This is the Bunny Clark's largest cusk of the fishing season so far. He had a contending pool cusk early in the trip that weighed 6 pounds. The bigger fish was caught on the last stop. Steve Selmer (ME/NH) won the boat pool for the largest fish with the largest fish, an 11 pound wolffish. This is now the Bunny Clark's second largest wolffish of the season to date. I took a picture of Steve with his cat. This digital image appears on the left. Steve also caught the largest haddock of the trip at 6.5 pounds. This ties the largest haddock weight of our previous largest haddock caught on the Bunny Clark so far. I also took a picture of this fish as well. This digital image appears on the right. Hannah Smith (VT) won the boat pool for the third largest fish with the third largest fish, a 6.75 pound cusk. She had been leading the boat pool for the largest fish all day until the last stop. I believe that she caught the most fish that she has ever caught on the Bunny Clark today. She had done better under Captain Ian before today's trip. Hannah's largest haddock weighted 5.5 pounds, the second largest haddock of the trip. Actually, she and her dory mate, Dave Haberl (VT), commandeered the bow and did better than any other two anglers who have fished up there for years. I was very impressed.
Other Angler Highlights: Dave Burton (MA) lost so many sinkers today that, I figured, if he lost many more, he would have created an island on the fishing grounds. Along with a near brush from Steve's wolffish, he would surely have won the hard luck award t-shirt, had I been giving the shirts out today. Ron Neil (MA) had a lot of fish as well. He was very consistent. The only fish of his that I weighed was a 5.25 pound cusk. Anthony Lomonoco (NY) caught a cusk that weighed 6.25 pounds. His largest haddock weighed 5 pounds. Jeff Gellatly (ME) landed a 5 pound haddock, his largest fish. Steve Bemis (NY) also landed a 5 pound haddock as his largest fish.
I landed two donations today sponsoring me in the Pan-Mass Challenge. Dave Burton gave me another $50.00 to add to his very generous $250.00 donation he gave on April 2nd. And the team of Haberl & Hannah donated a generous $100.00 to the cause. Thank you all so very much for your support, thoughtfulness and generosity. It is so very much appreciated!
The sky was nearly cloudless for most of the morning. After noon, clouds started to creep in from the south. By sunset, the sky was overcast. At sunrise, the ocean was flat calm with wind streaks here and there. By mid morning, the wind became established out of the south. We had ten knots of southerly wind by noon. The southerly wind was blowing from fifteen to twenty knots by late afternoon and stayed that way until I went to bed at 10:00 PM. The visibility was excellent all day. The air temperature reached a high of at least 63°F. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 67°F (with a low of 41°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 70°F (with a low of 26°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 55°F (with a low of 27°F).
During yesterday's trip to the fishing grounds, during the last three miles, the steering wheel became hard to turn to port, just as easy to turn to starboard. This was at full cruise. I knew there was a problem. But it didn't seem like a bad one. When we got to a point where I could start slowing down and look at the bottom, the steering problem seemed to go away. And I, pretty much, forgot about it. But you never lose that feeling in the back of your mind if you are a boat owner. And I wondered if I had picked up something the rudder, like an old piece of float rope that limited the quadrant range when I was turning the steering wheel in a certain position. At the end of the day, when we started to head home, I couldn't get near full cruise as it was just too rough. The steering felt fine. I never did get into full cruise until the last three miles or so. The feeling in the wheel came back at that time. Backing the speed of the Bunny Clark off while coming into the outer Cove gave some steering glitches. I lost the steering altogether in the middle of the channel. I could not get the Bunny Clark from heading directly at the support structure on the west side of the footbridge over the Cove. I had to put the engine in reverse to avoid hitting the bridge. When I did, the wind caught the bow of the boat and put us sideways in the channel. This was okay because I couldn't steer forward anyway. So I backed and filled my way to the Barnacle Billy's float.
After I got our anglers off the boat and Danny had passed out all the bags of fish, he popped the two hatches over the lazarette so I could get a look at the quadrant. The starboard piston rod had come out of the rod end that was attached to the steering quadrant. We didn't have a trip scheduled for the next day. So I made some calls, finished all the other things I had to do and Danny finished cleaning the boat.
At 7:00 AM this morning, I met our harbormaster, Erin Gott, who had agreed to dive on the Bunny Clark to check out the rudder and wheel. Everything was as perfect as it was when we launched. The rudder was tight, all the bolts were tight, the wheel looked great and everything down there was clean. So my problem was definitely isolated in the quadrant area. By 9:00 AM, I met David Pease at the Bunny Clark. Together, under his instruction, we put the hydraulic system back together in a "better way" so that this wouldn't happen again. Boats are funny. My experience has been that when you have a problem, unless you totally revamp something, it will probably occur again. I had the rudder completely re-tooled with a new rudder shaft, along with a change of wheel design and a whole new set of bearings. Was a different vibration back there causing this to happen? Will it happen again? Or was it something that was just overlooked in tightening the locking nut on the hydraulic ram? Boats; you have to love them. Otherwise, they would drive you crazy.
The rest of my day was spent at the restaurant. At 4:00 PM, I needed a nap. I slept for two hours or until Deb woke me up. "Aren't you supposed to be at work?" Yes, I was. I had fallen asleep fully clothed on the bed upstairs with our smallest cat, Mizzen, curled up at my head. So I jumped up and drove to the Cove where I stayed until nearly closing time.
When I got home, I still had the Bunny Clark truck parked at the Cove. So I walked our border collie, Gill, down to the Cove to get him outside. He loves going to the restaurant. Our employees give him a lot of attention, which he loves, and he finds pieces of food on the floor there. And they feed him bits. And so do I. He's a very happy dog when he gets in the cab of the truck to drive home. What's best is that he sleeps through the night.
The sky looked like it was going to clear as daylight approached. But it really never did. The sky was overcast all day. But the major feature of the weather today was the air temperature. It was warm all day, starting around 9:00 AM when the air temperature was 62°F. After noon, the air temperature got up to 81°F at the house. I never did look at the Cove's air temperature. But it seemed cooler there, being so close to the ocean. The wind blew out of the south at about ten knots. We had very little wind in the evening. The visibility dropped to very good with the rising air temperatures. It seemed a bit hazy over the ocean. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 83°F (with a low of 56°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 80°F (with a low of 53°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 79°F (with a low of 46°F). The high air temperature of 79°F recorded at the Portland Jetport breaks the previous record high for this date of 75°F last set in 1973. Portland has been keeping temperature records for about eighty years. So not very long.
I spent all my working hours at the restaurant today. It was delightfully busy. But not too busy. Patrons could sit anywhere today. They were on the upper patio, the patio with some dogs, the whole deck with less people inside than outside. It was a beautifully lovely day with people wearing shorts and t-shirts. We ran out of lobster meat by 6:00 PM and had to cook up some "quarters" (pound and a quarter lobsters) to pick in order to offer lobster rolls and lobster sautés. Everybody was in a wonderful mood. The big surprise of the day was the larger number of Canadians at the restaurant. We love the Canadians. So I was worried that President Trump would scare a lot of them off with his trading policy and negativity towards that wonderful nation. I mean, could you ever think of a better nation to have a border with? I can't.
I had to laugh though, I had one Canadian woman ask where she could buy cigarettes in the Cove. I don't think there is a place. But she seemed desperate. I would really like to know how she made out. When I was growing up in the restaurant as a young busboy, part of my job was raking up the cigarette butts that littered the patio. In those days, our patio had wooden chairs and tables set on a ground of crushed pink granite. On Saturday nights, the dining room was so full of cigarette smoke, you couldn't see from one side of the dining room to the other. Another part of our job, as busboys, was to clean the ash trays on each table along with busing the table. Today, of course, we have none of that. The number of cigarette butts I pick up off the ground is minimal. I often think, why does anyone throw any cigarette butts on the ground, these days? It's a bit disrespectful.
The air temperature of 61°F was the warmest air temperature that I saw today. Most of the day, the air temperature was in the lower 50s, climbing to the high 50s after noon. I think that the highest air temperature that I saw was 57°F. But the air temperature might have been higher than that. And it was certainly higher than 61°F before 4:30 AM. The wind made it feel colder than it was today. In the early part of the daylight morning, the wind blew up as high as thirty-five knots. It was mostly a sustained twenty-five knots with some higher gusts during the rest of the morning. After 2:00 PM, the wind backed off a bit to about twenty knots sustained. But it never really backed off too much until around 8:00 PM. The wind direction at the restaurant was northwest. The visibility was excellent. The sky was clear with a bright sun all day. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 70°F - at 12:26 AM - (with a low of 48°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 67°F - at 12:20 AM - (with a low of 40°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 67°F - at 12:40 AM - (with a low of 41°F).
Aside from warming the engine of the Bunny Clark up, charging the batteries and making her presentable for tomorrow's trip, I worked at the restaurant all day.
It was not as busy at the restaurants as I would have thought it would be. But the weather was not the greatest. The wind blew so hard, with a lower air temperature than yesterday, that very few people ate on the deck. All the other outside eating areas were mostly vacant. It was still a very good day. It just wasn't as busy as yesterday.
At the Barnacle Billy's float at 6:00 AM, it was 32°F and the ramp was icy. I can't remember the last time I saw ice on the ramp this late in April.
The ride to the fishing grounds was excellent. The ocean was flat calm, the visibility was excellent, the sky was clear and, once we got outside of ten miles, the air temperature was 44°F.
On the fishing grounds, the air temperature only got warmer. By the time we were ready to go home, it had risen to 54°F. I really didn't look at the air temperature until then. So it could have been warmer earlier. There was a little wind at the time of viewing so it probably was a bit warmer. There was a very little northwest wind to start. But the wind kept changing direction in a clockwise pattern around the compass. Northerly, northeast, east and southeast before it became established out of the south. The southerly wind struck around 2:00 PM. It increased. Wind speeds were about ten knots or more out of the south on the way home. The other wind directions represented carried much less velocity. The sky was nearly cloudless until the last couple hours of the trip. High thin clouds moved in after that. We still had mostly clear skies until we got back to Perkins Cove. The visibility ranged to thirty miles. The tide (current) was light all day. The surface water temperature reached a high of 42.2°F.
Ashore, these were the air temperatures in selected New England cities: In Perkins Cove, Ogunquit, Maine the high air temperature was 52°F. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 56°F (with a low of 43°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 63°F (with a low of 29°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 53°F (with a low of 32°F).
The fishing was nearly excellent. There was very little current, we saw few tangles and the fish were in shallow enough water to make it enjoyable. The catching was very good. Landings were good, no better than that. Most legal fish landed were haddock. We actually caught more sub-legal haddock than legal haddock. I haven't seen that since last August. We also caught quite a few sub-legal pollock. Legal landings also included seven redfish and a pollock. Released fish also included four sculpins. We drift fished and anchored. Anchoring seemed to work the best. Jigs and flies caught the most fish, both legal and sub-legal.
I couldn't tell you who was high hook with the most legal fish. If I had to guess, I would say it was Greg Fitzgerald (VT). He was fishing with a jig and a fly. Dick Mowatt (ME) caught the largest fish of the trip, a 6.25 pound haddock. This is the Bunny Clark's third largest haddock of the fishing season so far. Dick did not enter the boat pool. Seamus Kelly (MA) won the boat pool for the largest fish with the second largest fish, a 6 pound haddock. The third largest fish was a 5.5 pound haddock caught by Brian Trahan, II (ME).
Other Angler Highlights: Phil Merrill (ME) caught the fourth largest fish, a 4.5 pound haddock. We caught a couple other haddock that were a little over 4 pounds. But most haddock weighed less than 4 pounds. And many were just over the legal limit. It was a beautiful day which I think was most of the problem. We found many haddock schools. They were very easy to find. They just didn't bite like they showed on the sounding machine.
It had stopped raining by the time we pushed off the float to head down the channel. It never rained for the rest of the ride out. The wind blew out of the southeast for the whole way. Seas were chops of a couple feet with the occasional three footer. It wasn't bad. And we were able to run full cruise.The air temperature was 43°F after the ten mile mark. The visibility ranged to about twenty miles or more. The sky remained overcast.
On the fishing grounds, the wind started out by blowing out of the southeast at ten knots with a two foot chop, at most. This wind and sea state remained unchanged for about three hours. The wind dropped after that and the fog rolled in. What little wind we did have kept working clockwise until it was out of the west. But it was so light as to be no wind at all. We had just a light westerly wind on the ride home. There was not enough wind to get rid of the fog. Two hours in the fog and we found the sun gazing down on us. The ocean was glassy for the last part of the fishing and the ride in. There was a left over two foot roll. The highest air temperature that I saw was 53°F. The tide (current) was light. The visibility ranged to three hundred yards. The surface water temperature reached a high of 42.5°F.
Ashore, these were the air temperatures in selected New England cities: In Perkins Cove, Ogunquit, Maine the high air temperature was 58°F. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 58°F (with a low of 46°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 73°F (with a low of 43°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 56°F (with a low of 40°F).
The fishing was excellent, the catching was excellent and landings were excellent. Most legal fish landed were haddock, by far. And every angler caught a haddock of 6 pounds or more. I didn't weigh them all. By 9:30 AM, I prohibited anyone from keeping a haddock less than twenty inches fork length. As it was, we still reached the bag limit with two hours of fishing to go. The last stop was all big haddock, rivaling most of the great haddock trips of last year. Legal landings also included ten cusk and two pollock. Released fish included over eighty-six legal haddock to 6 pounds, about fifty sub-legal haddock or small keepers, a dogfish, a small wolffish, three small pollock and a small redfish. We anchored mostly but did drift a few times. All terminal gear worked well but bait was best.
I couldn't tell you who was high hook with the most legal fish. I couldn't even guess. For those who go with me every year it was fish a cast - all day long. John Pereira (MA) won the boat pool for the largest fish with the largest fish, an 8 pound Maine state trophy haddock. This is Largest haddock that John has ever caught. It's also the Bunny Clark's largest haddock of the season to date. I took a picture of John holding up his nice haddock. This digital image appears on the left. The second largest fish was a 7.5 pound cod caught by Yuchen "Sam" Yang (ME). With this fish Sam won the boat pool for the third largest fish. He only entered the boat pool for the third largest fish. The biggest haddock of his that I weighed was 6.25 pounds. He had several haddock that weighed 6 pounds. The third largest fish was a 7.25 pound pollock caught by Marty Rivard (VT). He did not enter the boat pool. I weighed two haddock for Marty that weighed 6 pounds each. He also caught a 6.75 pound haddock, a tie for the fourth largest haddock of the Bunny Clark season so far. The fourth largest fish of the trip was a 7.1 pound Maine state trophy haddock caught by Nino Pierdifino (NY). He did not enter any boat pool. This is the Bunny Clark's second largest haddock of the season so far. Steve Clark (VT) won the boat pool for the second largest fish with the fifth largest fish, a 7 pound Maine state trophy haddock. This is the Bunny Clark's third largest haddock of the fishing season so far. I took a picture of Steve holding this long thin haddock that should have weighed 9 pounds had it been filled out. This digital image appears on the right.
Other Angler Highlights: Greg Fitzgerald (VT) caught a 6.75 pound haddock. This is a tie for the Bunny Clark's fourth largest haddock of the season to date. I also weighed a 6 pound haddock that he caught early in the trip. But I believe there were a few more 6 pounders of his that I didn't weigh. Jeff Corey (MA) caught fish after fish. Had they all been legal, he would have been high hook. Dave Burton (MA) caught a 6.5 pound haddock early in the day. Abe Saaman (VT) also caught a 6.5 pound haddock. Jeff Corey (MA) caught a lot of fish today. He could have been high hook. The largest fish of his that I weighed was a 6 pound haddock. Mike Cheney (VT) caught a 6 pound haddock.
I received several donations today sponsoring me in my cancer fundraising drive with the Pan-Mass Challenge. The donors and their donations were as follows: Steve Clark & Family for a generous $350.00, Richard Howard for a generous $250.00 [Richard's donation was made in the form of an "eGift" through the PMC], Jeff Corey for $40.00, Dave Burton for another $50.00 [He has been soooo generous this year and over the years!] and Nino Pierdipino for $20.00. Thank you all so very much for your support but also your thoughtfulness and generosity. It means so much to so many. But it also give hope when new procedures are invented by the very people whom you support who are behind me!
The fog left us by 7:00 AM. To my knowledge, it stayed clear, visibility wise, all day. The sky was clear with few clouds. There was very little wind today. The ocean was calm along the shore. I guess the wind blew from the west, as near as I could tell, in the morning. But there wasn't much of it. There was no wind by mid morning. After noon, the wind became established out of the south. It might have blown up to five or six knots. But, by sunset, there was, again, very little wind, if any. The air temperature was the salient feature of the day. With the light wind and bright sun, it felt like a summer day. I saw 70°F but it felt warmer than that. It was beautiful. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 73°F (with a low of 44°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 69°F (with a low of 39°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 60°F (with a low of 40°F).
I did a little work on the boat but, mostly, I worked in the restaurants today. It was busy. And we were short of help. But the help we had were fantastic and worked like two people each. I was very happy to have my son, Micah, there who was most in control. Matt Pedersen came in to take over for Micah, later in the afternoon and was fantastic as well. I am blessed with these two wonderful people. And we have others. They were my main focus today. The deck was full all day. I left a little after 5:00 PM to get ready to sail tomorrow.
I was on a bit of a high after yesterday's trip. I couldn't stop thinking about all the great anglers who we had aboard yesterday. It reminded me so much of other fishing times, when you can just feel that something is going to break open. When I looked at the sounding machine yesterday on the first stop my heart sang. It was so exciting. Then to have immediate action. And to have it last all day. I was just on top of the world today. I know tomorrow won't be as good of a biting day. But I am still encouraged as we caught new fish yesterday that we haven't been seeing yet. I expect the haddock fishing to light up in the next week. I'm just hoping we have some inclement weather to make them bite better. Like it was yesterday.
At 3:00 AM EDT the air temperature was 44°F, the sky was clear, there wasn't enough wind to write about and the visibility over the ocean seemed just shy of excellent.
There was no wind when we cruised through gate to the open ocean. We carried calm seas and light and variable winds all the way to the fishing grounds. The wind was so light that there was never any discernable direction to it. We had an air temperatures as high as 48°F. The sky was clear and we enjoyed a moon rise out of the east southeast horizon that showed only a sliver of light. The moon and Venus rose exactly parallel to the ocean horizon. The sky was clear. The visibility was excellent.
On the fishing grounds, we had no discernable wind direction until sometime after 1:00 PM, when the wind became light out of the southwest. By the time we had wrapped it up and I had given out the boat pools, we had five knots of southwest wind. We had as much as eight knots of southwest wind at the start of the ride home. By the half way mark, the southwest wind was blowing up over fifteen knots and seas were chops of two to three feet. The sky remained clear, the sun bright, all day long. The air temperature reached a high of 58°F. The tide (current) was light all day. The visibility ranged to thirty miles or more. The surface water temperature reached a high of 44.8°F.
Ashore, these were the air temperatures in selected New England cities: In Perkins Cove, Ogunquit, Maine the high air temperature was 63°F. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 70°F (with a low of 47°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 75°F (with a low of 34°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 60°F (with a low of 36°F).
The fishing was excellent, the catching and landings were very good to excellent. It wasn't the savage bite that we had on Tuesday. But we saw more haddock schools on the sounding machine than we did on the last trip. Actually, with the weather as good as it was, I didn't expect much. And I was surprised how well they did bite. Most legal fish landed were haddock, by far. We never saw one sub-legal pollock, which surprised me. I set the legal limit on haddock to 19" fork length. So we didn't quite reach the bag limit. But had we kept every legal haddock, we would have been trying to fish for something else during the last two hours of the fishing day. Legal landings also included thirty-six cusk, two pollock and thirty-three redfish. Released fish included more than one hundred and forty-six haddock to 19" fork, a wolffish, a cod of 7.25 pounds, eight small cod, a sculpin, a sea raven and eight sub-legal redfish. We drift fished for each spot. Bait and cod flies worked the best.
I don't know who was high hook with the most legal fish but I suspect that it was Jonathan Griffin (MA). His largest fish was probably a 5.5 pound haddock. I didn't weigh any of his fish. His dory mate, Roger Gavin (MA), caught a 6 pound haddock, the biggest fish between the two of them.
Dave Keeney (CT) caught the largest fish of the trip, an 8.5 pound Maine state trophy haddock. He did not enter any of the boat pools. This is the largest haddock of the Bunny Clark fishing season to date. I took a picture of Dave holding his nice fish. This digital image appears on the left. Dave caught a 6.25 pound haddock before he caught the bigger one. Mark Goderre (CT) won the boat pool for the largest fish with the second largest fish, an 8.25 pound wolffish. This is the Bunny Clark's third largest wolffish of the fishing season so far. Mark also caught a 7.1 pound Maine state trophy haddock. Jim Koplar (CT) won the boat pool for the second largest fish with the third largest fish, an 8 pound Maine state trophy haddock. This ties our second largest haddock of the fishing season to date. I took a picture of Jim holding his trophy fish. This digital image appears on the right. Chris Galletta (NY) won the boat pool for the third largest fish with the fourth largest fish, a 7.25 pound cod. I weighed two 6 pound haddock for Chris before I weighed the cod.
Other Angler Highlights: Mark Belanger (ME), who also had a shot at high hook today, caught a 6 pound haddock that I weighed. Darlene Chin (ME) caught the best double of the day. Her catch included a 5.5 pound haddock and a 7.1 pound Maine state trophy haddock, both fish caught on the same line at the same time! Later in the day she caught a haddock that weighed 6.75 pounds. Guy Hesketh (CT) finally caught his Maine state trophy haddock today after a three year wait. This fish weighed 7.1 pounds. Dave Sherwood (CT) landed a 6 pound haddock, his best fish. Jeff Pianka (CT) did one better with a 6.75 pound haddock. The last fish of the day was a 6.5 pound haddock, caught by Nino Pierdipino (NY).
I received several donations today sponsoring me in my cancer fundraising drive with the Pan-Mass Challenge. The anglers and their donations were as follows: Chris Galletta gave a generous $200.00, Jonathan Griffin donated a generous $100.00 "In memory of Ian Keniston, a great man.", Guy Hesketh gave $20.00 and Jeff Pianka donated $20.00. Thank you all so very much for your support in this cancer project of mine with the Jimmy Fund. People like you make my life so much richer and enjoyable. But it's discovering the greatness in people that puts this project over the top. And I so appreciate that.
The sky stayed mostly clear for the morning but started to cloud up after noon. By mid afternoon, if not earlier, the sky became overcast. There was a time when it started to rain very lightly. But this didn't last. In fact, it never rained again. The rain was around 3:30 PM. It was warm today. I actually ran six miles in a singlet and shorts and was still a bit warm doing so. The highest air temperature that I saw at the house was 68°F. The visibility over the ocean was excellent all day. There was no wind all day. The ocean along the shore was calm. Right around sunset, the wind came up a bit out of the southeast. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 69°F (with a low of 51°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 75°F (with a low of 46°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 66°F (with a low of 47°F).
I spent the day working at the restaurant. And most of that time was spent in the office with only a very little time working on the floor in the dining room. It was the last day of the work week. So I wanted to get in touch with everyone who I needed to before the weekend. I also had appointments that I had to confirm so I could plan next week accordingly. One was a visit by Power Products on Wednesday to fix an engine issue that won't prevent me from sailing for a couple of months but that would be hard to have them do in the summer.
Another item I had to work on the Bunny Clark was a simple air filter change. I also charged batteries for a bit of time.
Probably around 5:30 AM, or near that time, it started to rain. It rained fairly hard for most of the morning but let up a bit in the afternoon. We also had periodic rain showers into the night. In the late afternoon we also had fog. The visibility dropped to very good and good after the rain started to fall. The visibility was poor in the fog, obviously. The wind started out of the southeast but blew out of the south as the velocity increased. The high point was right around 2:00 PM where we had gusts to twenty-five knots. But it never really blew as hard as the National Weather Service said it would blow. Mostly, it was less than twenty knots. The sky remained overcast all day. The air temperature struggled to climb out of the low 50s. The highest air temperature that I saw was 60°F. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 64°F (with a low of 53°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 64°F (with a low of 49°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 56°F (with a low of 46°F).
I spent the day in the restaurant. I had no other focus today. It was not busy for a Saturday. But I was surprised how busy we were with the rain. Of course, no one sat on the deck today.
The air temperature stayed around the 46°F for most of the morning. I did see 50°F but not until well after noon. After dawn the sky became occluded with clouds. The sky remained overcast for the rest of the day. We saw a few light sprinkles of rain after sunrise. This turned into a steady light rain that lasted for the rest of the morning and most of the afternoon. After 4:00 PM, the rain became intermittent. But I never did see the sun. The wind blew out of the west for most of the day at about twenty knots, more or less. Then it backed out of the north and blew up to twenty-five knots. It wasn't the best of days but it wasn't too cold either. But it certainly wasn't a Barnacle Billy's day. We had no one on the deck all day. Surprisingly, the visibility was very good even in the rain. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 57°F (with a low of 46°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 52°F (with a low of 44°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 55°F (with a low of 43°F).
I literally spent the whole day in the engine room of the Bunny Clark. I wanted to change out the starter; I do so every five years. And I wanted to clean everything up, change out the air filter and have a good look around the engine room for leaks, etc.. Plus, I wanted to run a series of tests on the batteries, clean up terminal ends, etc., etc. These were things that are normally completed in the winter. These were jobs that Ian used to do for me. Of course, that wasn't possible last winter.
I did about two hours work in the restaurant, mostly after I got done with the boat. But I never went home to suit up. I did talk to a few regular patrons in the dining room. But I really didn't do much there. And I missed being there on a Sunday. But, hopefully, I will get the Bunny Clark in the shape she needs to be in and I can spend more time in the restaurant when I'm not on the boat and a bit of time after trips.
At 5:00 AM EDT the air temperature was 43°F, the sky was clear, the wind was blowing out of the northwest at twelve knots and the visibility over the ocean was excellent.
The wind was out of the northwest at twelve to fourteen knots when we left the Cove behind. The further we got out, the more the chops made up. By the time we were almost to the grounds, we had a two foot chop with the same velocity of wind. The air temperature rose to 46°F a mile or two out and continued to rise. Within a couple of miles from our first stop, the air temperature had risen to 54°F. The sky was cloudless, the visibility was excellent and company was very good.
On the fishing grounds, the two foot chop continued for a while but started to drop after an hour of fishing. The wind and seas continued to drop until there was no wind and the ocean became flat calm. Just as we were about to call the day, we had a light westerly wind show up. We carried a light westerly wind all the way back to Perkins Cove. The air temperature reached a high of 66°F, our highest air temperature on the fishing grounds. The sky remained cloudless. The tide (current) was light to more than moderate. The visibility ranged to over twenty-five miles. The surface water temperature reached a high of 44.8°F but we ran across a spot on the way home that got up to 47°F.
Ashore, these were the air temperatures in selected New England cities: In Perkins Cove, Ogunquit, Maine the high air temperature was 75°F. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 72°F (with a low of 49°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 75°F (with a low of 38°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 73°F (with a low of 41°F).
The fishing was very good; the tide kept it from being excellent despite the perfect weather. We had a few more tangles than I would have liked, because of the tide. The catching was very good as well but there were too many short haddock. Even the keeper haddock were small. Landings were good. Most legal fish landed were haddock, by far. But we had even more sub-legal haddock. Legal landings also included fifty-three cusk, a pollock, eleven redfish and a whiting. Released fish included eight cod from 5.5 to 9 pounds, twenty-one small cod, four sub-legal pollock, five sub-legal redfish and a dogfish. We drift fished and anchored, depending. All terminal gear worked well but I believe that bait had the edge.
Ray Washburn (VT) was high hook with the most legal fish or any fish. He caught more legal and sub-legal fish than anyone. He used a jig and a fly and was super efficient. Ray's two best fish included a 7 pound cod and a 5.5 pound cod. The 7 pound cod tied for the third largest fish of the trip. Cody Lemieux (ME) won the boat pool for the largest fish with the largest fish, a 9 pound cod. This is the Bunny Clark's largest cod of the fishing season so far. The second largest fish was a 7.5 pound cod caught by Anthony Dixon (ME). Ben Ayer (ME), Jake Rahner (NY) and Charlie Hamilton (NH) also all tied for the third largest fish all with 7 pound fish. Charlie's and Ben's were both cod. Jake had a 7 pound cusk.
Other Angler Highlights: Greg Geary (NH) caught a 6.5 pound cusk right off the bat. He took a break for most of the morning and then got into catching haddock in the afternoon. Bill Pulasky (MA) caught a 5 pound cusk and a 5.75 pound cusk. Ken Patryn (NH) landed a 5 pound cusk. Terry Wing (ME) caught the largest haddock at 5.5 pounds. Marty Buskey (NY) caught the largest redfish at 1.75 pounds, our largest redfish of the season to date.
I received three donations today sponsoring me in my cancer fundraising project with the Pan-Mass Challenge. Eric Crivac (NH) donated $20.00, Marty & Elise Buskey donated $50.00 (one of the very many $50.00 donations that they have made over the years) and Ray Washburn donated a generous $250.00. Thank you all so very much for your thoughtfulness and generosity. You humble me. And I appreciate it so much!
At 5:00 AM EDT the air temperature was 46°F, the sky was nearly cloudless, the wind was light (out of the south southwest a few miles offshore), the ocean along the shore was calm and the visibility over it was excellent.
The wind was very light and the ocean was calm along the shore for the first three hours of the daylight morning. After that the wind started to increase from the south. By 10:00 AM, we had over ten knots of wind with gust to fifteen. But the real wind didn't strike until 5:00 PM. Wind speeds over thirty knots were seen everywhere. In the Cove we lost two umbrellas to the wind. And dust eddies were common here and there. The strong wind lasted well into the night. The wind stayed out of the south for the whole time I was awake. The sky stayed remarkably clear for the whole day. The visibility over the ocean dropped a bit to very good during the height of the wind. The air temperature soared to almost summer levels. It was actually better than summer because of the lack of humidity. The highest air temperature that I saw was 81°F but Portsmouth, New Hampshire had a high reading of 83°F. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 79°F (with a low of 52°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 84°F (with a low of 35°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 70°F (with a low of 41°F).
From 7:00 AM until 2:00 PM, I worked in the engine room of the Bunny Clark. The engine was having a harder and longer time to turn over. There was a point on yesterday's trip where I thought; "Is this engine going to catch?" I kept thinking is was a fuel issue but the engine never sounded like it at full cruise. So I decided to take both my starting batteries (at about 120 pounds each) out of the engine room, go to Westbrook with them and trade them in for new ones. Once there,at Ed's Batteries, I had them tested. I run these batteries in series for a 24 volt starting system. One of the batteries was almost in the red. There is a good chance that I would have needed a tow home had we sailed on the marathon trip today. That would not have been good. Nor would I have wanted to fish with the engine on all day long. I made a good choice. When I was done, with the new batteries in place, the engine started up like the healthy engine that it is. Also, I had the help of Brian (who was supposed to be on today's trip) to the get the batteries to the truck and Danny DellaMonica to help with lugging the new batteries down and with the installation.
After a shower, went back to work in the restaurant. First to an orientation meeting for new Barnacle Billy's, Etc. employees held by Sarah Cannon and Micah Tower. I wouldn't have been there had I been fishing, of course. But I was glad I was there. And I enjoyed Micah and Sarah speaking. There rest of the night I spent in Barnacle Billy's working the dining room and deck.
I received a $50.00 donation from Barbara Brittain (MA) sponsoring me in Pan-Mass Challenge today. Barbara's donation was made in the form of an "eGift" through the PMC site. Thank you so much for your help and support, Barbara. Very generous and thoughtful. I appreciate it so much!
At 5:00 AM EDT the air temperature was 61°F, our highest morning air temperature this year to date, the sky was mostly clear with a mackerel sky, the wind was blowing out of the south southwest at ten knots and the visibility over the ocean was excellent.
The air temperature just kept getting warmer. It wasn't as warm as yesterday. But it was certainly warm. The highest air temperature that I saw was 68°F. It felt much warmer out of the wind and in the sun. The wind blew pretty hard today. Up to twenty-five knots out of the west northwest in the morning and about the same in the early part of the afternoon out of the north northwest. By 5:00 PM, though, there was no wind. The ocean along the shore went calm. The sky was nearly cloudless all day. The visibility was excellent. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 72°F (with a low of 54°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 66°F (with a low of ?°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 67°F (with a low of ?°F).
Today was supposed to be the beginning of the 2025 fiscal fishing season. But that didn't happen. The recreational fishermen of the Gulf of Maine will keep the same regulations as we had during most of the 2024 fishing season. This is the third time that the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) has done this. It might even be the fourth time that this has happened. By the time that they come up with a decision on our season it will be well into May if at all. Once the decision has been made it has to go out to public comment, which will take us well past May. So no cod will be allowed to be caught in May. And the size limit on haddock will stay at 18" overall length for an undetermined amount of time. I don't know why the level of incompetence has been appearing out of the Regional Office of the NMFS in Gloucester, Massachusetts. It's a mystery to me. I certainly couldn't run a business like that.
I spent most of the morning working with Cody from Power Products. I had to have some oil lines changed out. They started leaking oil at the end of the season last year. I knew that they had to be changed out. And I finally found the time where both Power Products and I could meet. This was helped by the day off I had yesterday changing out the starting batteries. I sat and watched Cody for most of the day. I did leave him quite often to get some restaurant things done that I needed to do. He finished by 2:00 PM.
I took a picture of Cody taking out the old oil lines. This digital image appears on the left.
By noon, I was working mostly in the restaurant with a little bit of time here and there checking on the boat. By 3:00 PM, business had slowed so much that I could leave, clean up the boat for sailing tomorrow and get Danny a flat of bait to start unthawing for tomorrow's trip. During that time I also did some office work at Barnacle Billy's, Etc.
I received a generous $100.00 donation from Dawn Beckwith (ME) sponsoring me in my cycling event for cancer research with the Pan-Mass Challenge. Dawn's donation was made in the form of an "eGift" through the PMC site. She has been supporting my cancer project for many years now. This is the second time this year that she has given me a donation. Thank you so much, Dawn. I really appreciate this. And it's wonderful that you are still so interested! All the best!
Danny DellaMonica and I ran the marathon trip today.
At 3:00 AM EDT the air temperature was 45°F, the sky was mostly cloudy, the wind was blowing out of the north at five knots and the visibility over the ocean was excellent.
We had zero wind on the ride to the fishing grounds. It was flat calm the whole way. The sky was nearly cloudless. We observed a beautiful sunrise. It seemed like every time that I looked at the thermometer the air temperature was 46°F. I didn't check out the air temperature during the last fifteen miles. The visibility couldn't have been much better.
On the fishing grounds, the wind started out light from the northeast. But it couldn't have been more than two knots, maybe less. The ocean stayed calm. After noon, we started to get a little wind from the south southwest. When I called the day, we had southwest wind of about ten knots with a one foot chop. We carried southwest wind of fifteen knots or more with seas of two to three feet all the way back to Perkins Cove. The air temperature reached a high of 57°F. The sky was nearly cloudless all day. The tide (current) was moderate. The visibility ranged to over twenty-five miles. The surface water temperature reached a high of 44.8°F.
Ashore, these were the air temperatures in selected New England cities: In Perkins Cove, Ogunquit, Maine the high air temperature was 57°F. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 61°F (with a low of 46°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 73°F (with a low of 40°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 54°F (with a low of 36°F).
The fishing was excellent all day. It was easy to hold bottom, the current was perfect and the weather was just wonderful. The catching was very good. Landings were good overall. Most legal fish landed were haddock, by far. Legal landings also included seventeen cusk and eight redfish. Released fish included one hundred and thirteen legal/sub-legal haddock, five small cusk, four cod from 5 to 6 pounds, fifteen small cod, five sub-legal pollock and three redfish. We anchored most of the morning and drift fished all afternoon. All terminal gear worked well.
I couldn't tell you who was high hook with the most legal fish. But it was between Karen Atwood (VT), Bill Harding (ME), Yuchen "Sam" Yang (ME) and Brian Plasse (ME). If indeed Karen was high hook then she was also the fisherman of the day as she won the boat pool for the largest fish with the largest fish, a 7.25 pound Maine state trophy haddock. This is the largest haddock that she has ever caught [Eat your heart out, Peter!] I took a picture of Karen holding her trophy fish. This digital image appears on the right. Karen started off the day with the first 5 pound haddock. Bill Harding won the boat pool for the second largest fish with the second largest fish, a 7.1 pound Maine state trophy haddock. I also took a picture of Bill holding his big haddock. This digital image appears on the left. Bill, I'm sure, had a small halibut on his line today. But it, obviously, was hooked very well because he lost it early in the fight. It was, by far, the biggest fish that anyone hooked today. Bill has caught six halibut off the Bunny Clark. I believe his wife, Marie, has caught two halibut with me and the biggest of the eight that they have caught off the Bunny Clark. Brian Plasse (ME) won the boat for the third largest fish with the third largest fish, a 6.75 pound haddock. Sam (ME) landed a 6 pound haddock and another 6 pound haddock. He also tied for the largest cod of the trip at 6 pounds.
Other Angler Highlights: I weighed a 5 pound haddock, a 5.25 pound haddock and a 6 pound haddock for Dirk Redington (NY). Mark LaRocca (NY) caught a 6 pound cod, tying with Sam for the largest cod of the day. Russell Seff (NY) caught a 6.5 pound haddock, his biggest fish. I also weighed a 5 pound haddock for him. Dennis Reissig (NY) caught a 5.5 pound cod. His biggest haddock weighted 6 pounds, the largest haddock that he has ever caught. Jesse Hampshire (VT) caught a 5.25 pound haddock. Bradley Maranville (NY) boated a 5.5 pound haddock. John Anderson (NY) caught a 5 pound haddock. Steve Bemis (NY) caught a 5.5 pound haddock, his biggest fish.
I received two donations today sponsoring me in my cancer fundraising drive with the Pan-Mass Challenge. Phil Ashe (NY) donated $50.00 while Bill Harding also donated $50.00. Thank you both so very much for your support on this cancer project. It is very worthwhile, in my experience with Dana-Farber. And I do appreciate it very much!
I spent the morning immersed in business. I spent more time on this site before posting because of the extra time it takes putting the digital images up. I had to make a new auto-attendants greeting on the Billy's phone. I had to edit the Barnacle Billy's site to show that we are now open at both restaurants. I wrote a piece for the Billy's Journal, talking about the opening of Barnacle Billy's, Etc. and the improvements over the winter. After I got home I posted a new index page on my site featuring our remarkable female angler, Darlene Chin (ME/FL).
In the meantime, I was running back and forth between the restaurants and home. I had to open up the restaurants before 5:00 AM. I was actually a bit late as I forgot about one special employee who was starting prep work at Barnacle Billy's, Etc. this morning. I won't make that mistake again. This meant I also missed our bread company delivery before 5:00 AM. I missed it because I like to finish what I start before I move on to something else. I get up at 3:00 PM and need to do an hour's work of core exercises for my (still healing) back before I move on other things. But I was really only 5 minutes late. But that was too late this morning. By the time I got off the computer, it was 8:00 AM which gave me time to wash barrels, the sidewalk and other items (like culling lobsters) before going home to take a shower, suit up and get back to the restaurants.
I got back to the restaurants a little after noon. My initial focus was on the chicken seasoning. We used to get our chicken seasoning directly from a company out west in the 60s. That changed when they decided to sell to a company who got the rights, as a wholesaler, to sell to us and interested users throughout the state. In the early 2000s, that company went into receivership. So I called the company who made the seasoning, explained to them that this company had gone bankrupt and achieved the sole rights to buy and sell the chicken seasoning myself. I had to order 2,000 pounds at a time. But that was no problem as I had storage at the restaurants. And I knew the businesses in Maine who used this seasoning exclusively. So for quite a few years I would order the seasoning, sometimes twice a year, and supply businesses who had helped me with information about the seasoning when we were in limbo. Businesses like French and Brawn in Camden, Maine. I would sell them the chicken seasoning for exactly what I paid for it plus shipping costs. It was a great deal for all of us as I would get it for a wholesale price and we were never out of chicken seasoning. Then the company that made the seasoning in the mid-west decided to hire a marketing firm from California to sell their product. This marketing company made it so difficult to obtain the seasoning with such high volume quantities that I couldn't possibly handle the storage. Nor was it practical or as inexpensive. So I called my partner companies who used it, explaining the situation. And we survived on two years worth of product that was left over in storage and the companies I supplied were left to use up what they had left and work it out on their own. Some went to other companies to come up with a new mix to buy from. Others, like French and Brawn, came up with their own recipe.
We had a week of chicken seasoning left when I started calling the companies that we used to sell chicken seasoning to. C. F. Riley Company in Winter Harbor, Maine, gave me the contact information for the company that made their chicken seasoning. While Todd, bless his wonderful heart, at French and Brawn gave me the recipe that they used. We ordered the ingredients from our suppliers from the French and Brawn recipe and made our own. We tried it today on our barbecued chickens. After noon, Matt Pedersen and I tested it for the first time. It was great. It still needs a bit of tweaking. But I think it will work out very well. And, if it does, it means that we will be able to make it fresh all the time, which is even better. We shall see.
The rest of the day was spent working in the restaurants with a focus on Barnacle Billy's, Etc. Talking to our regular patrons and new customers was really interesting, positive and very much fun, like it always is. I met a few actors and actresses from the Ogunquit Playhouse who had come to enjoy our food for the first time. That was fun. And I spent some time with one of my fishing customers from western New York state who isn't physically capable of sailing on the Bunny Clark anymore but who fell in love with Ogunquit and, specifically, Etc. I also checked out the food. The only problem I came across was cooking the fried clams too long. They shouldn't be dark brown, particularly on opening night when the cooking oil is brand new. They should be golden. But that was an easy fix. And I was the person the clams were cooked for. So no customers got to try the overly cooked ones. I played out the night there and went home.
I received a very generous $300.00 donation from Harold Peck (NY) sponsoring me in my cycling event to raise money to fight cancer with genetic research through the Pan-Mass Challenge today. Harold always makes it a point to support me every year. Thank you so much, Harold. I do greatly appreciate your efforts to make this happen. I means so very much to me. But it also means so much to the people who will benefit and the researchers who make the discoveries! Harold's wife died of brain cancer a few years ago. So it's a personal thing. I feel that that alone isn't reason enough to support me. He paid enough in the process of treating her. It's just in his kind nature to do so. And that is the best thing.
Shortly after, it started to rain. This lasted for less than an hour. Clearing occurred, although it was still mostly cloudy. Then it became mostly sunny. We enjoyed the sun around noon and for almost three hours after. Then it started to rain. It rained periodically on into the night. At times it looked like it was going to clear. And then it would start right in again. It was raining when I left the restaurants at 7:00 PM. The visibility was good during the time that it was sunny. It was fair after that and poor with some fog going into the night. There wasn't much wind all day. At one point we had northeast wind blowing up to ten knots. That was the strongest wind that I saw. We also had thunder where I didn't see any lightning. The air temperature rose to a value of 63°F. After the sun period, the air temperature stayed in the 50s and lower 50s. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 84°F (with a low of 57°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 80°F (with a low of 54°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 58°F (with a low of 46°F).
I spent my day in the restaurant, only glancing at the Bunny Clark from time to time. It's still hard to believe how much life has changed since last season with the fishing trips.
The weather prevented the business flourishing at the restaurants. It was hard going back and forth between restaurants as it was raining so hard at times. A couple times it was almost like a tropical rain.
During the thunder, back home, our border collie, Gill, was not happy. Panting and drooling, he could not get comfortable. He was shaking all over for most of the time. This was over an hour. Deb had to go around cleaning up after him. She was well over it by the time I got home. But, by then, the thunder had all passed. Gill was so tired from the ordeal that he was almost lifeless laying on the floor for the time that I was awake.
I received a generous $100.00 donation from Peter & Patti Vangsness (MA) sponsoring me in the Pan-Mass Challenge today. The came to Barnacle Billy's, Etc. for lunch where I was happy to find them. Thank you both so very much for your thoughtfulness and generosity. It's not lost on me. And I appreciate your support so very much!
There was no wind to speak of all day. As a result, the fog was with us all day as well. As a result the fog hanging around the shore, we had poor visibility over the ocean too! The day was damp and dreary with a mist in the air all day, some light rain only occasionally and wet roads. The air temperature might have hit the 60°F mark as it did in Portsmouth today. But I didn't see it. The highest air temperature that I saw today was 58°F. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 77°F (with a low of 53°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 63°F (with a low of 55°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 58°F (with a low of 50°F).
I did an hour's worth of provisioning on the Bunny Clark today. The rest of the day was spent working at the restaurants. It was certainly not the busiest day. But we might have had some of the best customers here. Or it certainly seemed that way. Everybody seemed so much more relaxed than normal. Maybe people took a break from looking at the news that you find on your phone every day! Whatever it was, I was glad for it. That and the anticipation of sailing tomorrow made it just a wonderful day.
At 4:00 AM EDT the air temperature was 50°F, it was raining and had been raining all morning, the wind was light out of the east northeast and the visibility over the ocean was fair in precipitation, haze and offshore fog.
It rained until we left the dock to head to open ocean. It stopped shortly afterward. We had no rain all the way to the fishing grounds. The sky stayed overcast. The wind blew about ten knots out of the northeast. The visibility was good. Seas were a foot or two. The air temperature hung around 48°F almost all the way to our destination.
On the fishing grounds, the wind blew out of the northeast and kept increasing. Wind speeds reached about twenty knots by noon or a little after. It seemed to stabilize there. Seas were about three feet in chops, more or less. The air temperature reached a high of 49°F for the trip. The visibility ranged to about 8 miles, maybe more. The tide (current) was moderate or a bit more. It never did rain. But the sky stayed overcast looking like it would rain all day. The surface water temperature reached a high of 45.5°F.
The seas were too choppy to write this report on the way in. So, as a result, I never did get time write this up before tomorrow's fishing trip. The weather stayed about the same all the way back to Perkins Cove. It started to rain about ten miles from shore and kept raining when we got back and on into the night.
Ashore, these were the air temperatures in selected New England cities: In Perkins Cove, Ogunquit, Maine the high air temperature was 55°F. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 54°F (with a low of 49°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 56°F (with a low of 50°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 57°F (with a low of 47°F).
The fishing was good. We had some tide (current) with the northeast wind which meant that I had to go further into the wind to set the anchor to get on the spot. When we did get there we had a few more tangles than normal because of it. And the seas prevented anglers from holding their rods still enough for a good haddock bite. We never did get a good haddock bite. But there weren't enough haddock in that area anyway. The catching was very good. Landings were good. Most legal fish landed were cusk, by far. Legal landings also included fifty-five haddock, two pollock, thirty-one redfish and two cunners. Released fish included nine small cod, twenty-five sub-legal haddock, seven small pollock and four redfish. We anchored for every stop. Bait worked best.
Amy Finocchiaro (MA) was high hook with the most legal fish. Her largest fish was a 5 pound haddock, the third largest haddock of the trip. Richard Gipp (NY) won the boat pool for the largest fish with the largest fish, a 10.5 pound cusk. This is our largest cusk of the fishing season so far. The second largest fish was an 8 pound cusk caught by Charles Wallace (NY). This is also our second largest cusk of the fishing season to date. But his best fish was a 3 pound Maine state trophy redfish. I did take a picture of the fish but I am saving it to use on the index page after Darlene Chin's picture gets enough mileage. This is the Bunny Clark's largest redfish of the season to date. And it could very well be our largest redfish of the season. It was huge looking and not particularly long at sixteen inches caliper fork length. But it was fat. The third largest fish was a 7.1 pound Maine state trophy haddock caught by Hal Flanagan (MA). I was so surprised to see this big haddock come over the rail. This is the largest haddock that Hal has ever caught. And that's saying something! He has caught a pile of haddock over the years, primarily with Captain Ian Keniston. To have avoided a big haddock like this through all those boated haddock in all those years is a mystery to me! I took a picture of Hal with his prize haddock. This digital image appears on the left.
Other Angler Highlights: Howard Davis (ME) caught a 6.5 pound cusk. Ricky Nagel (MN) caught the second largest haddock of the trip weighing in at 5.5 pounds. He had never ocean fished before but you couldn't prove it by his actions. He looked and performed like a seasoned veteran. His largest cusk weighed 6.5 pounds.
At 3:00 AM EDT the air temperature was 45°F (47°F on the boat in the Cove), it was misting, damp, the roads were wet, the wind was blowing out of the northeast at fifteen knots with higher gusts and the visibility over the ocean was poor in precipitation, haze and offshore fog.
It was very foggy when we headed out of the Cove to go down the channel. You couldn't see a thing until you were right on top of it. As such, I had to rely on the electronics to travel down the channel and out the gate. This led us into four foot chops from the northeast, the direction of the wind. I never did get the engine up to full cruise on my way to the fishing grounds. The best speed I could make was twelve knots. And this was after the ten mile mark. It was foggy all the way to the fishing grounds. What started out as fifteen to twenty knots of northeast wind dropped to about ten knots with a two foot chop by the time we got to our destination. We carried 48°F all the way.
On the fishing grounds, the wind was out of the northeast to start. Seas were chops of two to three feet at most. The wind would drop and then pipe up from another direction until we had a predominant southerly wind, maybe a little east of south. We had one time where we could see almost a mile. Mostly the visibility was just a few boat lengths in fog. It never rained but we never saw the sun. It might have been overcast all day. But you couldn't tell for sure because of the fog overhead. The air temperature reached a high of 55°F. The tide was in counter to the wind, moderate to strong to light. The surface water temperature reached a high of 45.8°F.
Ashore, these were the air temperatures in selected New England cities: In Perkins Cove, Ogunquit, Maine the high air temperature was 54°F. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 61°F (with a low of 49°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 57°F (with a low of 50°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 52°F (with a low of 46°F).
Half way back to Perkins Cove, the wind shifted out of the northeast again. Probably about ten knots or so. There was still enough left over slop to make it a bit rolly still. We had rain and misty wet for the last leg, the preparations at the dock when we got in and going back and forth from the dock to the house.
The fishing was good, really no better than that. The seas made it hard to fish bait. The tide (current) was too strong to be comfortable, promoting more tangles than I expected. The weather was a bit tough. The catching and landings were good overall. We had several poor stops, two or three good stops, a couple of fair stops and one excellent spot that made the day. Most legal fish landed were very big redfish, by far. Three were trophy fish over 2 pounds. But we had many that were 1.5 pounds or better. Legal landings also included seventy-three or more cusk, thirteen haddock, one pollock, one cunner and a whiting. Released fish included nine sub-legal haddock, three small pollock and a few small redfish. We alternated between drifting and anchoring. Bait worked best.
Jeff Corey (MA) was high hook with the most legal fish, although Fred Kunz (NH) was close enough to almost tie him. Jeff's largest fish was probably a 6 or more pound cusk. I didn't weigh his bigger fish because they weren't big enough for one of the three pools. Jeff's best fish was a 2.25 pound Maine state trophy redfish. This is the largest redfish that Jeff has ever caught. It's also the third largest redfish of the Bunny Clark fishing season so far. Fred won the boat pool for the largest fish with the largest fish, a 12.5 pound Maine state trophy cusk. This is our biggest cusk of our fishing season to date. I took a picture of Fred holding his big fish. This digital image appears on the right. Fred also caught the Bunny Clark's second largest redfish today, a 2.5 pound Maine state trophy. It's unusual for us to be catching such big redfish at this time of year. Steve Clark (VT) won the boat pool for the second largest fish with the second largest fish, an 11.25 pound cusk. This is the second largest cusk of the Bunny Clark fishing season so far. Ray Westermann (MA) won the boat pool for the third largest fish with the third largest fish, an 11 pound wolffish. This ties our second largest wolffish of the season so far. Steve Selmer (NH) an 11 pounder in April on a marathon trip with me. We didn't take a picture of Ray with this fish as we were handling it too much and didn't want to compromise the animal's life. It's illegal to keep wolffish.
Other Angler Highlights: Tom "The Cod Killer" Miller (NH) caught a 2 pound Maine state trophy redfish, his best fish. He caught some cusk as well as some haddock. Danny Contois (ME) caught the largest haddock of the trip at 5 pounds. His largest fish was an 8 pound wolffish. Rick Schwartz (NH) caught a 5.75 pound cusk and a 7 pound cusk, two of his fish that I weighed. Emil Sullivan (NY) boated a 9 pound cusk. This is the Bunny Clark's fifth largest cusk of the season to date. Dave Clancy (NH) landed a 10.25 pound cusk. This is the Bunny Clark's fourth largest cusk of the fishing season so far.
I received two donations today sponsoring me in my favorite charity cycling event to raise money for cancer research called the Pan-Mass Challenge. Steve Clark gave another very generous donation at $250.00 this time while Fred Kunz (NH) gave $40.00. Thank you, both, very much for your continued support of my cancer project. To say that I very much appreciate it would be an understatement!
The sky cleared, the fog moved offshore and disappeared and the wind picked up. The sky was sunny for most of the day until around 3:00 PM, when the clouds moved in. By 5:00 PM, we sprinkles of rain and, nearly overcast skies. The sky stayed mostly cloudy into the night. The wind came up out of the west at fifteen knots after 1:00 PM. But that didn't last long as it turned southerly and then a little east of south. It might have blown almost fifteen knots at times. The air temperature never got warm but it was mild, the highest I saw today was 68°F around noon. The air temperature dropped with the wind out of the south. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 73°F (with a low of 55°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 69°F (with a low of 51°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 62°F (with a low of 48°F).
My morning was filled with catching up on bookwork, including updating this site with the information I couldn't put in while I was steering in from offshore. I got everything completed before I showed up at Barnacle Billy's at 12:30 PM.
When I went into the dining room at Barnacle Billy's, I was greeted by a table in the corner attended by Cathy Harrison, Elinor Kostanski and Margie Neumann. Cathy, of course, has supported me throughout my Pan-Mass Challenge involvement. Elinor and her father, Richard Payeur, were very generous in their support as well. Richard spent a lot of time in Perkins Cove when I was growing up. A good friend and an intelligent guy. Margie, although not involved with my cancer project, has supported me in other ways with the restaurant. But has been a good friend. It was very nice to see them there. Certainly a treat for me and my wonderful sister, Meg, who I found talking to them when I walked into the dining room. It was a great reunion. I was happy to see them. See people you truly love is the best of life.
At 3:00 AM EDT the air temperature was 50°F, the sky was clear, a nearly full moon was setting in the west, there wasn't enough wind to write about and the visibility over the ocean was excellent.
The moon had just about vanished behind the trees when we headed down the channel to the open ocean. I could feel the moon on my back going through the gate but I didn't see it. The air temperature rose to 54°F before we got out but it dropped to 52°F as soon as we got a mile off shore. We carried 52°F all the way to the fishing grounds. The wind was so light out of the west that you really couldn't tell it was there. Dawn broke over a very calm ocean. The visibility was excellent. The sky was clear. The surface water temperature remained at about 45°F the whole ride.
On the fishing grounds, the ocean was very very light westerly. The ocean was just ripples with calm patches. Later, the wind dropped out of the day altogether. We were left with a glassy ocean. The air temperature reached a high of 64.4°F. The visibility ranged to twenty-five miles or more. The tide (current) was moderate to light to moderate. During the last hour of the day the wind started to blow out of the east. Maybe three knots. We carried light easterly winds all the way back to Perkins Cove. The sky was clear with wisps of high thin clouds all day. The highest surface water temperature that I saw was 48.2°F. But I did have reading of 52°F about a third of the way back for just a short period.
Ashore, these were the air temperatures in selected New England cities: In Perkins Cove, Ogunquit, Maine the high air temperature was 71°F. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 70°F (with a low of 54°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 75°F (with a low of 46°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 68°F (with a low of 48°F).
The fishing was excellent, the catching was excellent and landings were very good to excellent. This was the best haddock day of the season today. It would have been one of the best haddock days of last season as well. This day was also our best day of the year for poundage. It started off steady and rose to a haddock a drop with lots of doubles and lots of sub-legal haddock and small legal haddock that went back. So, of course, most legal fish landed were haddock. We had the bag limit for every person aboard by 1:00 PM. Legal landings also included thirty cusk, three pollock and twenty-six redfish. Released fish included at least two hundred and two haddock, six small cod, a couple of small cusk, three redfish, a dogfish and a wolffish. We drift fished and anchored. It didn't make a difference. Bait worked best.
I couldn't tell you who was high hook with the most legal fish. It could have been Mark Girard (NH). He released thirty sub-legal haddock and small keepers. And he kept quite a few. But it was probably Chris Willy (VT) who was high hook. Danny swore that it was Chris. And, looking back, he did seem to have a fish (that he marked and bled himself) every time I looked around. And I don't believe he got tangled even once! He was keeping his fish with a group so it was impossible to know exactly. He didn't land any 11 pound haddock, like he did last season. His largest was 5 pounds, like almost everyone on the boat today. Tom Murphy (VT) won the boat pool for the largest fish with the largest fish, an 8.75 pound Maine state trophy haddock. I took a picture of Tom on the bow holding this fish that he caught there. This digital image appears on the left. Calvin Loven (VT) won the boat pool for the second largest fish with the second largest fish, an 8 pound cusk. His biggest haddock weighed 5.75 pounds. But he caught a lot of 5 pounders. The third largest fish was a 6.5 pound wolffish caught by Levy Loven (VT). Levy was not in the boat pool for the third largest fish. There were three anglers who caught the fourth largest fish at 6 pounds. Those anglers were Steve Zimmer (NY), Darnell Cox (ME) and Mark Girard. Darnell was not in the boat pools. So both Mark and Steve tied to win the boat pool for the third largest fish with the fourth largest fish. Steve had two 6 pound haddock, Darnell had a 6 pound cusk and two haddock of 5.5 pounds each. Mark had a 6 pound haddock.
Other Angler Highlights: Darlene Chin (ME) probably had the best haddock day of her life today. If she didn't, she was very close. The two biggest haddock that I weighed for her were 5 pounds and 5.25 pounds. Nate Baird (ME) caught a 5.1 pound haddock and a 5 pound haddock.Stu Douglas (NY) caught a 5.75 pound haddock, his biggest fish. He had to pause the fishing at one point because the morning's breakfast and the motion of the ocean were not compatible. Leo Lamoureux (VT) landed a 5.5 pound haddock, his biggest fish. Matt Bodkin (NY) landed a 5 pound haddock, his biggest fish. He also landed one of my old hard luck award t-shirts for hurling a few times.
I received a couple donations today sponsoring me in my cancer fundraising drive with the Pan-Mass Challenge. Mark Girard gave another gift to this cause, this time to the tune of $45.00. And Tom Murphy gave $50.00. Thank you both, very much, for your support and thoughtfulness. I appreciate this so much.
At 5:00 AM EDT the air temperature was 46°F, the sky was overcast with very occasional spitting rain, the wind was blowing out of the east at twenty to twenty-five knots and the visibility over the ocean was fair to poor in mist and offshore fog. More later.
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