Bunny Clark Fishing Update
Written & Edited by Tim Tower
Saturday, April 18, 2026, 7:00 AM EDT
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Note: Note: The new fishing regulations for cod and haddock in the Western Gulf of Maine for the 2026 appear below. These regulations were approved for the season starting on April 1, 2026 and will extend until May 1, 2027.
Gulf of Maine cod
Gulf of Maine haddock
Today was a day of running around and getting things organized so I can get the Bunny Clark launched and do my part in getting Barnacle Billy's restaurant open. Barnacle Billy's, Etc. restaurant won't open until May 1st.
At 5:00 AM EDT the air temperature was 41°F, the sky was clear, the wind was blowing out of the south at ten knots and the visibility over the ocean was excellent.
The wind blew out of the south all day. Winds speeds were over twenty knots in gusts at times. The wind averaged about fifteen knots for the day. The air temperature was the significant feature of the day. It rose steadily all morning to 57°F by noon. But, after noon, it rose to at least 64°F at our house. In Portsmouth, New Hampshire, the recorded high air temperature was 69°F. And I'm sure it was higher in Ogunquit at one point. I just wasn't near a thermometer to see it. The sky remained mostly clear, with few clouds, all day. The visibility was very good, at least. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 67°F (with a low of 40°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 69°F (with a low of 30°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 69°F (with a low of 35°F).
I spent the morning at Barnacle Billy's restaurants working with the carpenters on issues, catching up on all the repair work and making decisions about a host of issues. I was just getting my feet wet, really. The original building looks fantastic. We have mostly new shakes on the outside of the building, new roof shingles and many repairs that you will be able to see. I can't say enough about Jayson Lessard and son. They do such wonderful work.
Late morning, I headed to Safe Harbor in Eliot, Maine to check out the Bunny Clark, look at the technical improvements that had been completed and make a few decisions there. We are hoping to launch on April 1st. So I wanted to make sure we are headed in that direction.
From there I headed to Surfland Bait & Tackle to visit Martha Moulton who had rebuilt thirty-eight of the reels we will be using this season. She rebuilt all the Penn Baja Special reels which we use on the jig sticks. This was critical. I approached her in the fall at the end of last season after my initial idea fell through. Martha was my best option. But I didn't approach her first because I thought she would be too busy. She was too busy. But she took my reels on anyway! Because that's how she is. Surfland has been so important to my business since I started it in 1975. When I first started taking people angling on the high seas I was told to visit Kay Moulton, Martha's mother, to make my business better. Kay and, her husband, Ray, owned Surfland at the time. I can't say enough about that family and how they shaped the way I fish. I was humbled by Martha taking on my reels this winter.
The rest of the day was spent on restaurant issues. I don't want to go into detail about all this because; 1.) There is too much to write, and; 2.) It's boring stuff.
While I was gone I received three donations to support my ride with the Pan-Mass Challenge, my cancer research funding project with the Dana-Farber Cancer Institue in Boston, Massachusetts. Those donors and their donations included Susan Paurowski (GA) for a very generous $500.00, Kelly & Jim McCoy (ME) for a generous $100.00 and Wayne & Jackie Griffin (MA/ME) for a very very generous $2,000.00! Thank you all so very much for your support, your generosity (above and beyond) and your thoughtfulness. It means so much to so many people. And it's a proven thing.
It rained all morning and into the afternoon, stopping around 2:00 PM. The rest of the day stayed overcast with the very occasional light rain until around 4:00 PM. By that time, the rain had stopped altogether. It never rained, to my knowledge, for the rest of the evening. The visibility was very good to excellent most of the day with, maybe, less visibility with the heavier rain. There never was a heavy rain. The air temperature dropped during the day. But I never saw it drop lower than 41°F. The air temperature was in the low 50s at 3:30 AM. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 56°F (with a low of 40°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 52°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 37°F).
I worked at home until it was time to go to the Bunny Clark talk to Vic at the Safe Harbor yard about changing the location of the emergency radio battery. One of the projects that I needed to finish was having a separate battery above the water line that would run the VHF radio in case the engine batteries were compromised with a water level rise there. I found the battery in the crew sleeping area when I arrived back from vacation. It was in the way enough that we couldn't place the rail bunk in there. So we needed to talk about putting it up higher above the water line, making the battery more accessible and in it's own place. By the end of the day the battery move was made and in a good secure position.
We also went over several other items, more so I knew how items were completed. After a little more than an hour I was able to get back to the restaurants for orders and the like. I spent the last couple hours of the afternoon back at the Bunny Clark looking at the completed items and deciding on the launching times tomorrow.
The last thing I did was working about an hour on loading the truck up for the trip back over to Eliot to work on the Bunny Clark and to launch her.
Unfortunately, looking at the economic climate and the war in Iran, we are looking at a fuel surcharge. If the fuel prices go down we won't have to worry about it. But the prices right now, particularly with diesel fuel, are very high, about as high as they ever were for us. I just shake my head at how are government is working or not working, as the case may be.
The sky cleared later in the early part of the daylight morning. The sky stayed sunny until around noon. It was mostly cloudy in the first part of the afternoon, overcast for the later part and into the night. I never did seem like it was going to rain. The visibility remained excellent. The air temperature got much warmer than I expected with a high, that I saw, of 60°F at the house. The wind remained very light with an easterly bent from mid morning onward. The wind had backed out of the north about the time I went to bed. It was probably about fifteen knots by 8:00 PM? In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 71°F (with a low of 40°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 60°F (with a low of 39°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 54°F (with a low of 37°F).
Danny DellaMonica showed up at the house here at 7:00 AM. We gathered materials that we needed to bring to the boat and arrived in the Eliot yard after 8:00 AM. The Bunny Clark was still inside at the time. Danny and I put up the life preserver carriers and the new side curtain straps and side curtains. The BC was launched around 11:00 AM. We spent the rest of the time checking all the systems, running lights, etc. We didn't check everything as most of the checks included starting the engine, checking for leaks, warming the engine up enough so that I could get the reverse gear checked and getting organized. We left the boat at 3:00 PM. Danny had some things that he had scheduled at home. And I had to spend the rest of the afternoon at the restaurants.
Just after 6:00 AM it started to rain. We had a steady rain all morning. It wasn't particularly heavy but it certainly was steady. And it did seem cooler than normal. The wind blew out of the northeast, east northeast or east at different times of the day. East at night. Wind speeds varied from fifteen to twenty knots for most of the daylight hours. Backing off a bit by sunset. It did stop raining as steadily by 1:00 PM. We had very light occasional rain for the rest of the afternoon into the night. The sky was overcast all day. The visibility ranged from good to very good with our best visibility over the ocean in the morning. The highest air temperature that I saw was 41°F. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 42°F (with a low of 37°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 42°F (with a low of 33°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 40°F (with a low of 34°F).
Danny DellaMonica showed up at the house at 7:00 AM. Together we went to various storage areas and gathered life preservers, cushions, fish boxes, etc., etc. to bring to the boat. After loading all that aboard, I drove around buying life jacket (PFD) lights, flares (to replace the out-dated flares), tide charts, etc., etc. After I got back to the boat it was time for lunch. So Danny and I went to a sandwich place close to the yard. For the rest of the afternoon, Danny got all the new lights on the PFDs, the head working and the forecastle organized while I installed the electronics and tested everything. We finished around 4:00 PM.
I worked at Barnacle Billy's restaurant in the morning before traveling to the Bunny Clark. I also checked in around noon. And again after work was completed on the Bunny Clark. Most of what I was concerned with was pricing and product. As is normal, lobster meat and lobster prices are up. Some of our other product items went up in price while others stayed about the same as they were at the end of last season.
We will be ready to open Barnacle Billy's (Original) at 11:00 AM tomorrow. I'm looking forward to being there at opening.
It rained periodically all morning and into the afternoon, stopping, probably, around 1:00 PM? The weather continued to improve. By sunset, we had some small sections of clear sky, stars a couple hours later. The wind was light all day. The most wind we had was before dawn. After 7:00 PM, to my knowledge, never saw a wind speed of ten knots or more. In fact, there was very little wind with a calm ocean for most of the day. By 5:00 PM, the ocean was flat glassy calm. The ocean stayed flat calm until you couldn't see the ocean because of the nightfall. The air temperature stayed at 39°F all morning, after jumping up to that level by 7:00 AM. When I looked again at 1:00 PM, the air temperature had risen to 45°F. I never did look again. However, the air temperature in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, rose to 58°F by 6:00 PM. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 68°F (with a low of 38°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 55°F (with a low of 34°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 49°F (with a low of 35°F).
I spent the morning with Danny DellaMoncia at the Bunny Clark. Danny organized the boat while I worked on finishing up with the electronics. I had one more GPS to install, the sounding machines to check and the loud hailer to get repaired. The Safe Harbor yard repaired the loud hailer system for me. The speaker had gone bad. I had another at the house which I brought down to the boat. They installed it. I didn't have the time this day to do this. And they are much quicker and much more efficient anyway.
I got back home at 10:30 AM. From there I worked on getting ready to work at Barnacle Billy's restaurant. I arrived at the restaurant, ready to go, at 11:30 AM, a little later than I would have liked. But the business was in full swing by the time I did get there. It was very busy all day. It could have been busier had the weather been better. For the rest of the morning and most of the afternoon there was no seating outside. It was just too rainy and cool. By 4:00 PM, tables on the deck were being occupied. This continued until nightfall, when the temperature started to drop. It was a great day and night overall.
At 3:30 PM, I had to leave to chair a Harbor Committee meeting in the town office uptown. The Committee is trying to secure extra parking for the commercial businesses in the Cove including shop owners, commercial fishermen and party/charter boats. A proposal was drafted by our harbormaster, approved by the Committee and passed forward today to be placed before the Select Board at their next meeting. I was back at the restaurant shortly after 5:00 PM. I stayed at the restaurant until 8:00 PM.
In the meantime, Danny DellaMonica was at Barnacle Billy's, Etc. getting rods and reels ready for our first fishing trip on April 14th. The digital image below is a picture I took of Danny's setup with all the rods, reels and linewinder set to go. The reels had been rebuilt over the winter by Martha Moulton (mostly) from Surfland Bait & Tackle in Plum Island, Newbury, Massachusetts and my son, Micah (all the left handed reels).
The wind was light at sunrise. The wind direction was northwest to north by 8:00 AM. Right around 8:30 AM, the wind came in a whoosh out of the northeast at fifteen to twenty knots. The air temperature had held at 50°F until the wind shift and increase off the water. Ten minutes later, the air temperature dropped to 45°F with the wind off the water wicking the colder over-water air temperature, from a 39°F surface water temperature, and moving it ashore. By 10:00 AM, we had a sustained twenty knots of wind out of the east northeast. After noon, the wind was more easterly with the same wind strength. And this went on into the night. The visibility over the ocean remained excellent. The sky remained clear. The air temperature at 4:00 PM was 41°F. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 62°F - at 5:16 AM - (with a low of 38°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 61°F - at 3:07 AM - (with a low of 36°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 54°F - at 2:10 AM - (with a low of 37°F).
I spent the morning updating this site and writing up the minutes for the Harbor Committee's meeting from the day before. We only had one item on the agenda at the meeting yesterday. But it was a contentious one that involved a change in parking policy for an area of the Cove that included seven parking spots. These spots had been abused in the past. And with more commercial boats than ever in Perkins Cove, this was something that we felt needed to be addressed. But it took me two and a half hours to write it up because we had fifteen or so questions that were asked by the Select Board addressing this issue and the reasons for the change. We took every question at the meeting and answered every one. So the minutes also included writing the questions with the answers. I didn't think I would have time at any moment during the week. And I also didn't want to let this set very long as so many people were looking for answers from the Committee as soon as we could provide them. It was nice to have this done and to move on.
The rest of the day was spent at the restaurant with a two hour break between. I left after closing time. It was a cool day, temperature wise, with the easterly wind whipping over the parking lot from the ocean. Looking into the teeth of the wind provided a sea of white caps marching toward the shoreline. Business was brisk but not as busy as yesterday. We filled the deck but not until 1:00 PM or so as it just was too chilly.
As far as the Bunny Clark was concerned, Danny DellaMonica continued to work on the rods and reels starting at noon. He was a DJ at an event last night until 1 or 2 AM. I don't know when he got to bed. But he didn't want to work without sleep. So he came in later than he normally does. I took two food breaks, both at Barnacle Billy's, Etc. where Danny was working on the rods and reels. I took them in the office there where I also worked on getting my paperwork in order for the Bunny Clark's USCG inspection taking place on Tuesday morning. Some of this was downloading a letter from the USCG telling everyone who wanted to know (including my inspector) that my expired captain's license (MMC) was still valid until June 30, 2026. I went through the renewal process in December of last year for that and, at the same time, the renewal my medical certificate. I received my medical in late January. The MMC was held up because of the closing of the Department of Homeland Security. The MMC always takes longer because the Coast Guard does background checks to make sure there were no violations in the last five years, I didn't get a DUI in that time and I didn't have a drug violation. I was informed in January that all my renewal papers were in order. So I knew I was just waiting for the background check to be completed. But when the DHS was shut down, I knew I was in trouble. The Coast Guard issued an extension until April 30th but, later, issued another until June 30th only just recently. Hopefully, by then, I will have my new MMC. I'm not sure I have as much faith in our government, except for the USCG, as I did before.
The rain started around sunrise. The visibility was only good and only along the shore. There was fog offshore until, almost, the last light of day. We did start to see the clouds breakup just after sunset. It rained all day with some short periods of no rain. The sky was overcast all day until after 7:00 PM. The rain had stopped for good by then. The wind blew out of the south or southeast for most of the day. However, from 8:00 AM until 2:00 PM, there was no wind at all. The ocean along the shore remained calm. When the wind did start to increase, it blew out of the south and, then, southwest. The wind was out of the southwest when the clouds started to breakup after sunset. Wind speeds were around ten knots when I went to bed. Looking at the buoy reports, the wind started to blow out of the west at about 10 PM. The air temperature hung around 41°F, or less, all morning and into the afternoon. But the air temperature rose after noon. I saw a reading of 46°F later in the afternoon. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 57°F - at 6:17 PM - (with a low of 40°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 48°F - at 7:36 PM - (with a low of 36°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 47°F - at 8:07 PM - (with a low of 37°F).
I drove to the Bunny Clark after getting some things together to take over there. I checked everything out once there and tested the electronics again to make sure all was in proper order. I got back to Ogunquit in time to take a shower and get ready to work at Barnacle Billy's restaurant.
The rest of the day was spent at Barnacle Billy's. It wasn't the busiest of Easter Sundays today. In the past, our busiest Easters have happened when the weather was good. Today did not meet that definition. On the flip side, our worst Easter days have been during lousy weather. That was today. We do have traditionalists who show up with their families on this day. We did host them. And it was fun. But this was not a huge day. Just about every customer at Barnacle Billy's this weekend were people I knew from other times here at the restaurant. Old home week, for sure!
The sky was a mixture of white cumulus clouds and bright blue sky for all the daylight hours. The visibility remained excellent. The wind blew out of the west and northwest from twenty to thirty knots for most of the day. Offshore, the wind was slightly less, by five knots? The air temperature increased to 49°F by mid afternoon. It was a slow climb all morning, only reaching 45°F by noon. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 51°F (with a low of 38°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 47°F (with a low of 25°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 48°F (with a low of 29°F).
It was a manic Monday by all accounts. I spent the day getting the final paperwork in order for the USCG inspection that will, hopefully, take place tomorrow. At the same time, the company that takes our garbage at the restaurants will no longer be with us once June arrives. We have the next three days to come up with another company and to have the carpenters makes adjustments within the restaurant to accommodate larger garbage containers to fit whatever company we go with. Several company representatives will be at the restaurant tomorrow while I'm in Eliot going through Coast Guard inspection.
On top of everything else, I had a lot of go-foring to do. Our new Barnacle Billy's flags came in that should last another four years. I had to pick those up in Portsmouth. I met Danny DellaMonica at the Bunny Clark. He had been there all morning cleaning, getting items in order and helping with some of the yard employees who were also making last minute adjustments to the Bunny Clark. By the time 5:00 PM rolled around, I was ready to quit.
The Greater Atlantic Regional Fisheries Office (GARFO) of the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS/Service) in Gloucester, Massachusetts, approved the decrease in minimum haddock size that the Recreational Advisory Panel had offered two years ago as a regulation change. This went into effect on April 1, 2026. This will be carried forward until at least May 1, 2027. They also approved a cod season for all of September and October with a minimum cod size of 23" at one cod per person per day. This will also remain in effect until May 1, 2027. This is good news. One, because we won't be waiting to see what regulations will be in place for the season, like we have had to do the last few years. Two, because we won't be throwing so many dead haddock over the side. The haddock bag limit will still remain at fifteen fish per person.
The clear sky didn't last long. Deb asked me early in the morning if I thought it was going to snow today. I told her that I doubted it. I was wrong. By 7:30 AM, the sky was completely overcast. By 9:00 AM, it was snowing. It snowed all morning, stopping after noon and clearing a bit in the late afternoon. The wind wasn't much. At times the snow was falling straight down. There was no wind at early dawn. The ocean along the shore was calm. When the wind did come up it only came up to about six knots before noon, out of the southeast. Seas were a light chop over a rolling two foot swell. After noon, the wind backed out of the east and blew over ten knots but continued backing until, before sunset, it was out of the northeast at less than ten knots. At noon, the air temperature was 36°F. I never did look at the air temperature after that. The Portsmouth, New Hampshire high air temperature for the day was 39°F at 5 PM. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 46°F (with a low of 33°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 41°F (with a low of 24°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 37°F (with a low of 24°F). For perspective, the record low air temperature for this date in Portland, Maine is 15°F set in 1943. Portland has only been keeping air temperature records since 1940. Concord's record low is 8°F, set in 2003!
Today was the U. S. Coast Guard topside inspection at Safe Harbor in Eliot, Maine. The inspector arrived to the boat at 9:00 AM. This inspection took about an hour and a half, maybe a bit more, the second shortest inspection period I have ever had. The shortest one was fifteen minutes in the early '90s on a day in March when it was 15°F and blowing forty knots out of the northwest with the occasional snow shower. The inspector on that day was a gentleman from Portland who had inspected the Bunny Clark during the two previous year's inspections and had come up with zero deficiencies. At the time, he checked all the major items quickly. We had set every up on the boat so it could be as quick as he wanted it to be. He didn't waste any time. But the weather was certainly a factor.
Today, the weather certainly wasn't a factor. But we had set up the boat so this could be as quick an inspection as the inspector wanted it to be. We had completed the items he had asked me to complete over the winter. The two major items were installing a separate battery system for the VHF radio well above the waterline so if the engine room flooded, we still had comms with outside help and rearranging the starting battery cables in the engine room so they too were well above the bilge and away from the water. This inspector had been very helpful to me during the three seasons he has been involved with inspecting the Bunny Clark. If I have any issue, I always call him first for advice.
We would have been ready to go when the inspection was over had it not been for a problem with the CHIRP sounding machine. The display unit could not find the transducer. I had checked this two days ago. Everything had been fine. But I had Safe Harbor install a battery voltage meter for the new emergency battery and I also had them clean up a ground plate where the terminal ends were threaded on to a bolt leading to it. Turns out that one of the terminal ends wasn't sandwiched tightly on the bolt with the others, it had gotten hung up on a thread. So I wasn't getting a good ground to the sounding machine. This was a good find because it also could have meant some eletrolysis problems in the future.
Once that was solved, we headed down the river in the falling snow. You could hardly see the banks on either side of the river, the snow was so thick. I kept getting engine warning alerts. We checked the engine. Everything seemed to be fine. Continued on. Got the warning again. Turns out the inspector had hit the valve on the Racor filter, partially closing off the fuel to the engine. I checked the other valves for we left the float. But I didn't check that. When we had the problem yet again, Danny suggested I check the Racor valve. Sure enough, that was the problem. That was the second time Danny came to the rescue today. I should have included that item in the check before I left the float.
The rest of the cruise to Perkins Cove was uneventful. It snowed the whole way down the river and all the way to Perkins Cove. I had to rely on the two radars that I keep as well as the track plotter to keep me on course. But there wasn't much wind. And, because the wind was out of the southeast, we had it on our stern quarter, making it an easier than normal run. The Barnacle Billy's float was not ready yet. But the harbormaster had given me permission to put the Bunny Clark on the town dock overnight.
My sister, Meg, took a few pictures of Danny and I bringing the boat into Perkins Cove before she drove us back over to Eliot to get our trucks. One of the digital images appears below. The snow was starting to taper off at the time. We had fun driving back to Safe Harbor. Danny was crammed and folded up in the back while I teased my sister the whole way there. I don't often get a chance to see Meg for any length of time. So that was well worth the drive.
The wind blew out of the north all morning. At first, we saw the occasional wind gust to twenty knots. But that didn't last. By mid morning we had ten knots of north northeast wind blowing over the parking lot. By noon, the weather buoy reports had a light easterly wind. But there was no wind in front of Perkins Cove. The ocean was calm. Near the end of the afternoon, the wind had hauled out of the south. The wind blew out of the south for the rest of the day and into the night. Wind speeds were no more than ten knots. The visibility was excellent all day. The sky was clear with clouds. The air temperature was cool, particularly for a sunny day in April. The air temperature never got above freezing until around 9:00 AM. The highest air temperature that I saw was 40°F after noon. The high temperature in Portsmouth, New Hampshire was 42°F. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 40°F (with a low of 29°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 49°F (with a low of 23°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 43°F (with a low of 24°F).
The day's focus was on prepping for a colonoscopy tomorrow. Along with that, I worked with the managers at Barnacle Billy's to figure out a garbage removal plan. We are losing our man, Nick Albano, from Portland, Maine who, for six years, has taken our refuse from the two restaurants. Now we have to find some other company. We have liked Nick, a small time guy who's family is in the business as my family is in Barnacle Billy's. I will miss having him there in the morning. He is done by June 1.
While the restaurant stuff was going on, I was working with Danny DellaMonica who was working on the Bunny Clark, getting her ready for fishing. I too spent some time there in the engine room sorting that out for the season. At 1:00 PM, I stayed at home, taking the potions I was supposed to take before the big day tomorrow. In the meantime, I fielded calls from both the restaurants and Danny on the boat until the day was done.
I have been walking Gill, our border collie. Tonight I didn't do that. He was disappointed. At the anointed time, or near it, he started following me around the house. He was expecting me to say; "Co'mon, Gill. Let's go for a walk." But I really couldn't for fear that I might need a head that would never be close enough. And you can't make a dog run that can't or has a mind of his own. So we stayed home. At the dinner table I watched Deb eat a lobster dish she prepared for herself while I ate some luke warm broth that I was supposed to be ingesting. Gill looked to me expectantly. I couldn't even sneak a piece of chicken to him. Well, I go under anesthesia tomorrow. Hopefully, I will see a good outcome.
At times, I think of Barry Gibson, one time editor of the Saltwater Sportsman magazine, one time chair of the N. E. Fishery Managment Council, good friend, charter captain/guide and a true friend of the recreational angler who (with only a handful of other caring individuals) was responsible for keeping the recreational angler in the groundfish fishery. He opted out of a colonoscopy check only to find out, when he did have one, that it was too late, the cancer having metastasized. He didn't last long enough after that. And we lost a good man.
The wind backed out of the south later in the morning and dropped to about ten knots. It backed even further, after noon, to come out of the south southeast (according to the closest weather buoy) and blew up to almost thirty knots in gusts late in the afternoon or around 6:00 PM, when I was walking Gill on the Marginal Way. You could see big breaking chops from shore. It continued to blow from twenty to twenty-five knots into the night. Looking at the wave heights at the closest weather buoy, they averaged six and a half feet. The sky was clear all day with some clouds. The visibility remained excellent. The air temperature was cool all day. The highest air temperature that I saw was 50°F. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 58°F (with a low of 31°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 63°F (with a low of 25°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 48°F (with a low of 25°F).
Deb drove me to York Hospital, arriving at 8:30 AM to get prepped for my colonoscopy, both upper and lower GI. Deb drove me home at 10:30 AM. The anaesthetist put me completely out for the procedure. So I had a nice sleep. Not much was found but they took tissue samples in both areas to be sent out to check. I have had the same doctor before. A great guy and a true professional.
The Doc said I had to stay home all day, no going out. And since he said it to my wife, I couldn't go out. So I hung around all day. Yesterday, I had all that prepping time to work on my website. Having completed all that I decided to remain horizontal, reading and watching the Europa League games.
Danny, in the meantime, worked on the Bunny Clark, continuing to get her ready for Tuesday's trip.
It was beautiful day today. It stayed mostly sunny with few clouds in the morning, a mix of sun and clouds in the afternoon and mostly cloudy after 4:00 PM. It looked like it was going to rain in the late afternoon but it didn't. The wind blew out of the south all day. Wind speeds were lighter in the morning or about ten knots. After noon, the wind increased to about fifteen knots. the southerly wind was blowing at fifteen to twenty knots at 4:30 PM. It even blew more than that after sunset. The visibility seemed excellent all day. The highest air temperature that I saw was 56°F in the early afternoon. It never really felt warm today with the wind blowing across the parking lot. I know that, inland, the air temperature got up into the 60s. But that didn't happen in the Cove. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 69°F (with a low of 37°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 75°F (with a low of 35°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 56°F (with a low of 37°F).
I spent the earlier part of the morning running around getting things started and picking up items that were finished. The last two hours of the morning, I worked on getting the engine room of the Bunny Clark straightened out. As far as the engine room is concerned, the Bunny Clark is ready to sail.
I showed up at Barnacle Billy's at noon and worked until about 4:30 PM, took a break to go home for dinner and then finished working at the restaurant at 8:00 PM. It was a better day at the restaurant than I expected. But I wouldn't call it busy.
I suspect that we will have to have a fuel surcharge to start our season this year. I hate to do it but it's essential to keep running. Right now I'm thinking that $20.00 will be the figure. Oddly enough, that will not cover the fuel increase but it will help. That figure will also be the largest I have ever charged for a fuel surcharge. But my biggest expense is fuel.
I received a nice $50.00 donation from Dawn Beckwith and Sally (ME) sponsoring me in my ride across the state of Massachusetts for cancer research with the Pan-Mass Challenge. Dawn & Sally have supported my ride since the beginning. They are both wonderful people, good customers of Barnacle Billy's. Thank you both so much. I do really appreciate your thoughtfulness and your generosity over the years. It's special to me. And Dawn is always the peach!
The salient weather feature today was the wind. It blew twenty knots all day with some higher gusts, at times, and some slower speeds. The wind was out of the west or north of west all day. The sky was deep blue dotted with the whitest clouds throughout with a bright sun in between. The visibility was excellent. The air temperature was cool all day. The highest air temperature that I saw, at the house, was 56°F. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 60°F (with a low of 44°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 58°F (with a low of 36°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 55°F (with a low of 36°F).
I took most of the morning off for exercising. I'm not as fit as I want to be. And I do have the Pan-Mass Challenge coming up in the first week of August. If I want to have a chance of enjoying myself on that ride, I have to start getting in riding shape now. I will have very little experience riding outside before the event. So I have to ride on the trainer inside and find other ways to work on my breathing and building up my quads. I will do this by running hills. This all goes a long way toward getting physically ready for the fishing trips and feeling good while just living.
I found some time during the part of the morning and during breaks in the afternoon to work on getting the Bunny Clark ready. Danny DellaMonica, on the other hand, spent all day, working like a fiend, getting all the rods and reels ready and the Bunny Clark ready to take passengers. We were in constant communication today. We are both excited for the first trip.
The restaurant, Barnacle Billy's, was steady today. It certainly wasn't a crush. But it stayed steady all day long. This was something one would expect with the weather report, the date and the time of year. It wasn't a particularly calendar worthy weekend. Like last weekend, it was like "old home week" with many patrons who I love to see but hadn't seen yet this year. This makes for long conversations at tables. But this is more like a one time thing after not having seen these people since last year. A homecoming of sorts for me - and, hopefully, for them. I was done for the day at closing time.
The sky was cloudless all morning. After noon, we still had cloudless skies but, later, the sky started to lose the blue as the gray started to take it's place. By 4:00 PM, the sky was overcast. By 6:00 PM, it looked like it was going to rain. It didn't, at that time. The visibility was excellent for the day. The wind was light out of the northwest all morning. It was so light that the ocean appeared calm from the shore. And it was. Around noon, there was no wind whatsoever. We started to see southerly wind at 1:00 PM. The wind blew up out of the south at ten knots by 2:00 PM and slowly increased. When I left work at 5:00 PM, it was blowing up to fifteen knots. After sunset, the wind blew out of the south at fifteen to twenty knots. The air temperature was cool, best around noon with the sun out. At that time it was 51°F in Perkins Cove. That was the highest air temperature that I saw. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 59°F (with a low of 31°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 56°F (with a low of 26°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 51°F (with a low of 31°F).
I worked on the Bunny Clark, getting her ready to sail, for most of the morning. I moved her over to the Barnacle Billy's dock around 8:00 AM. She will remain there until we sail on Tuesday. I spent the rest of the morning doing odd Bunny Clark jobs.
I was back in the restaurant at noon. I spend the next five hours there. It's my early night out so I left after 5:00 PM. I started to get into the data bases and spread sheets today. We are behind last year by a bit. But it's early.
It rained on and off all morning. The rain was light. By noon, the sky was just overcast. there was no rain again until about 3:30 PM. It only rained for about a half hour. The rain was light. The sky cleared somewhat before sunset. We had a nice sunset. The wind blew out of the south at twenty to twenty-five knots. By 10:00 AM, the wind speed was dropping. By noon, we had about five knots of southwest wind. Then the wind hauled south. We had southerly winds of about ten knots or less until sunset. The wind backed out of the southwest again after that and started to blow. But it never blew over fifteen knots through the night. The air temperature rose to a value, that I saw, of 66°F. It was beautiful and warm. This was around 5:00 PM. The sun was shinning through the clouds. The visibility was very good to excellent. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 72°F (with a low of 44°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 69°F (with a low of 41°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 63°F (with a low of 40°F).
I spent the whole day getting ready for the fishing trip tomorrow. I never did have time to step into the restaurant as I had wanted to do. I ended up working on the boat until 8:00 PM.
At 3:00 AM EDT the air temperature was 57°F, the sky was clear and full of stars, the wind was blowing out of the west at ten knots or less and the visibility over the ocean was excellent.
There was very little wind when we sailed down the channel to the gate and entrance to Perkin Cove. The air temperature 52°F, the sky was clear, the visibility was excellent and the wind was light from the west.
The ride to the fishing grounds was uneventful. With excellent visibility, light westerly wind and a stable platform, it was a very comfortable ride. At one point, somewhere around 5:30 AM, I saw what I thought was a flag buoy (high flyer). It was red or dark orange. When I saw it again, it looked like a sailboat with a bowed spinnaker. Then I realized it was a sliver of a moon coming up out of the horizon in the east southeast. Of course, the higher it got in the sky, the more yellow it got. This isn't the first time I have been fooled by the moon rising. We had a three foot swell out of the south under a one foot chop out of the west. It never blew more than ten knots.
On the grounds, the wind blew out of the west at eight knots or less to start, died out to nothing and stayed calm all day. The three foot long swell remained with us all day. But the surface water was glassy. When we started for home, the wind was just starting to blow out of the southwest. The southwest wind blew as much as eight to ten knots on the ride back to Perkins Cove. The sky was very clear to start with a bright sun and few clouds all morning. After noon, the sky started to get milky, the lighting soft. Clouds could be seen in the west extending out toward us. The air temperature reached a high of 60°F. The visibility dropped to five to eight miles in haze. The tide (current) was light. The surface water temperature reached a high of 45°F. This probably seems warm but a flat calm ocean all day does warm the shallow surface water to a higher degree. It was an excellent weather day.
Ashore, these were the air temperatures in selected New England cities: In Portsmouth, New Hampshire, the high air temperature was 76°F. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 78°F (with a low of 57°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 83°F (with a low of 47°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 68°F (with a low of 47°F).
[Incidentally, the sky was overcast when we sailed back into Perkins Cove from out fishing day. The wind had backed out of the southeast at fifteen knots and the visibility was fair. It started to rain within an hour and a half. At times, it was a drenching rain. But these were short bursts with drizzle and light rain between. Further inland, they experienced thunder and lightning. We had drizzle and rain with the occasional burst until at least 9:00 PM.]
The fishing was excellent. We had no problem tending bottom. The drift was very light with a current strong enough to move us along the bottom but not strong enough to promote tangles. Lines were, pretty much, straight up and down all day. We made one anchor stop. The fishing was the same either way. It was steady catching all day except for one period when I wanted to look at another spot and try it out. That spot did not work out. So we went back to where we were. Most legal fish landed were haddock, by far. We caught the haddock boat limit for every person aboard about forty-five minutes before it was time to go home. Legal landings also included ninety-one cusk. Released fish included seventy-nine, mostly haddock (half legal/half sub-legal in size), two tiny pollock, two wolffish and seven small cod. Bait and cod flies caught the most fish but we did catch a few haddock and cusk on jigs.
Ben Ayer (ME) lost a halibut within the first half hour of fishing. He wasn't ready for it and had his drag too tight. On it's first run to bottom only probably fifty feet up, it broke Ben's jig off. Ben's largest fish was a 5 pound cusk. But he most probably caught the second most haddock.
Fred Kunz (NH) was high hook with fifty legal fish. He fished until he caught his fifty legal and then hung it up for the day. He won the boat pool for the second largest fish with the second largest fish, a 10.5 pound wolffish. Matt Luce (ME) won the boat pool for the largest fish with the largest fish, an 11.5 pound wolffish. His largest cusk weighed 5.75 pounds. He also tied for the second largest haddock at 5.5 pounds. Nino Pierdipino (NY) caught the third largest fish, a 7 pound cusk.
Other Angler Highlights: Steve Clark (VT) caught the largest haddock of the trip at 6 pounds. He also tied with Matt for the second largest haddock at 5.5 pounds. Steve was quite vocal about losing three nice sized haddock on the surface right next to the boat. How big were they? Judging by the pitch and strength of his voice, I would say, huge! Nick Varnum (ME) caught the largest cod at 5.5 pounds. We caught several double keeper haddock catches. I took a picture of Jasper Downs (ME) holding one of the better doubles of the day. This digital image appears on the left. I also took several pictures of Danny with a table full of haddock to fillet. The best shot can be seen on the lower right.
I received two donations today sponsoring me in my cancer fundraising drive with the Pan-Mass Challenge. Steve & Robbin Clark donated a very generous $300.00 while Fred Kunz gave $20.00 to the cause. All these people have been very generous over the years. Thank you so very much for your thoughtful contributions to, what I feel, is a great cause. I so very much appreciate this.
The fog hung around all morning and part of the afternoon. However, right around 7:00 AM, the fog moved about a half mile offshore to reveal a clear sky. Then the fog moved in again. Around noon, the fog had moved offshore a bit. The sky was again clear. But clouds started to move in from the west. By 5:00 PM, the sky was overcast. A light rain started to fall. That lasted for two minutes total. Rain drops fell on the windshield but before I went from the Cove to my house, half of the drops had dried off before I got there. An hour and a half later, the sky cleared. The visibility never got any better than good over the ocean. There was not enough wind to write about all day. I assume that the wind that there was, was southeast with so much fog. Southeast wind in Ogunquit brings fog. I did see the flags barely moving showing a southerly direction in the afternoon. The air temperature was in the 50s all day. The highest air temperature that I saw was 58°F. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 73°F (with a low of 46°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 76°F (with a low of 53°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 61°F (with a low of 48°F).
I spent the day running around working on Bunny Clark things and going back and forth to the restaurant. It was a slower day than yesterday today. But the weather prediction wasn't great.
Fidium finally fixed the webcam at the restaurant. When they worked on the phone system almost a week ago, they took out the webcam in the process. After almost three days they realized that it was them that created the problem. In the sixty-six years of working at Barnacle Billy's, Fidium had created more problems than any vendor we have ever been involved with. And we haven't even completed a half year with them yet. I don't know if it's because they are growing so fast, they can't find the help or they aren't good at what the do. I hope it's not the later.
At 1:00 PM, I drove to my doctor's office for my annual physical. I was okay but as I am an older white male, my doctor would like to have my heart viewed and tested. All my blood work came out fine. I got my marching orders and left. I got home after 3:30 PM and worked at the restaurant until about 5:00 PM, when I went home to get ready to go fishing.
Danny DellaMonica messaged me later in the day to say that he read my report from yesterday and thought that Jared Lavers (ME) was high hook with the most fish. That could have been true. Certainly, it could have been true; he was catching fish, mostly haddock, hand over fist, the whole day. I gave high hook status to Fred Kunz because his frequency of catch was greater while he was fishing at the same time that Jared was fishing. Plus, Fred is one of those mathematically gifted individuals who can count and keep track of everything he catches. [I have tested this time and time again] I know of only one other Bunny Clark angler who could do that, and he passed away a couple of years ago, Tim Rozan (ME). Neither Danny nor Jared had an accurate fish count while Fred did. Danny didn't count either Fred's fish or Jared's fish; he looks at the bags of fish fillets afterward. But a bigger fish size will make an individual look like he has more individual fish than he caught. Like I mentioned, Jared caught a lot of fish. And he could have been high hook. But there was no proof. So, really, this is a value judgement on my part and, obviously, from my perspective.
It had stopped raining altogether by the time we left the dock to head to the fishing grounds. The fog was completely gone. So we had an unobstructed view all the way to the gate.
The ride out, again, was uneventful as it was on Tuesday. The visibility was good, at least, for the whole ride. The sky was overcast. The wind was light from the east. Seas were about a foot or more over a swell of about two feet. The air temperature remained in the high 40s the whole way.
On the grounds, the wind blew out of the east or southeast when we first arrived. We might have had three knots of wind. Later in the morning, the wind became established out of the east. It blew up to five or six knots. Seas were less than a foot in chops all day. There were no white caps. We did have an underlying sea swell of a couple feet; nothing of significance. The highest air temperature that I saw was 50°F. The visibility ranged to about fifteen miles or more. The tide (current) was moderate. I have the feeling it will be strong tomorrow with the new moon coming right up. The sky was overcast all day with a thinner overcast sky later in the afternoon. We saw the lume of the sun shinning through on the way home. The surface water temperature reached a high of 42°F.
Ashore, these were the air temperatures in selected New England cities: In Portsmouth, New Hampshire the high air temperature was 55°F. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 54°F (with a low of 45°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 74°F (with a low of 51°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 54°F (with a low of 43°F).
The fishing was just shy of excellent. There was just enough tide as to keep the fishing from being perfect. The catching was excellent as were the landings. Most legal fish caught were haddock, by far. We were catching so many by 10:00 AM, that I wouldn't let anyone keep a haddock less than nineteen inches overall length. As it was we reached the bag limit by 11:30 AM. All but three fishermen stopped fishing for the day. Those who remained went to jig fishing while I let the boat drift. Legal landings also included twenty-nine cusk, two pollock and two redfish. Released fish included ninety-three haddock (mostly of legal size), seven small cod, three small cusk and thirteen small pollock. We tried drifting but it wasn't nearly as productive as anchoring was. We stayed on one anchor stop for over two and a half hours. And it just kept getting better the longer we stayed. The only reason I left was that we had caught the bag limit of haddock. All terminal gear worked well but bait worked the best by far.
Jim Feeney (MA) was high hook with the most legal fish. Some of the fish that Jim caught included a 5 pound haddock, the largest pollock of the season at 4.5 pounds, a 5.3 pound haddock (the third largest fish of the trip) and a 4.75 pound haddock. Fred Kunz (NH) was second hook with sixty-two legal fish. Most of the haddock he caught were released. His largest fish was a 4.75 pound haddock. However, he lost a fish that could have been a real big haddock or, what I suspect was, a small halibut. Stanley Johnson (MA) won the boat pool for the largest fish with the largest fish, a 5.5 pound haddock. He also won the boat pool for the second largest fish with the second largest fish, another 5.5 pound haddock. These fish are tied with the second largest haddock of the season to date.
Other Angler Highlights: Jim Thurston (NH) caught a 4.75 pound haddock, his biggest fish. Two years ago, in early April, he caught an 150 pound halibut with me. Bryan Lewer (ME) caught a 4 pound haddock, his best fish. Neil Chamberlin (NH) landed a 5.25 pound haddock, his biggest fish. Darlene Chin (MA) probably caught the most haddock over 3 pounds today. She did exceptionally well. Her largest haddock weighed 4.75 pounds. Steve LaPlante (CT) caught a 5 pound haddock, his biggest fish. Dan Wescom (VT) landed a 4.5 pound haddock and a 5.25 pound haddock, his two best. Nino Pierdipino (NY) boated a 4.5 pound haddock, his biggest fish. Drew Mastrorillo (ME) caught two haddock of 4 pounds each.
I received three donations sponsoring me in my cancer fundraising drive with the Pan-Mass Challenge today. The anglers and their donations included Drew Mastrorillo for $40.00, Captain Bryan Lewer for $60.00 and Jim Thurston for a generous $100.00. Thank you all so very much for your thoughtfulness and for helping me help Dana-Farber in Boston, Massachusetts, to find a cure and to keep some of the best research scientists in the world on the job. I do so appreciate this and believe in their excellent research very much!
It rained and drizzled for a bit longer and then stopped. The sky stayed overcast for the rest of the morning but there was no rain. After noon, the clouds became thinner with blue sky showing up around 4:00 PM. The sky cleared completely by 6:00 PM and was almost cloudless. I think I only saw one small cloud to the south. The air temperature was 64°F at 4:00 PM. It was the best weather we have had at the restaurant this season so far, a perfect afternoon to be on the deck. The wind blew out of the northeast until about mid morning. Not much. About eight knots. But it was enough, with an air temperature of 53°F to make it feel uncomfortable. The wind dropped to nothing by noon. The ocean along the shore was flat calm for the rest of the day. The visibility became clear by the afternoon. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 57°F (with a low of 47°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 72°F (with a low of 47°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 66°F (with a low of 44°F).
I opened Barnacle Billy's at 5:00 AM. I stayed there until just before 9:00 AM. I went back in at noon, went home for a nap and then worked until about 7:00 PM. Deb had a haddock dinner prepared from a fish that Fred Kunz gave me from Tuesday's trip. It was excellent. Nothing like fresh haddock before the spawning period. The haddock on Tuesday were mostly resident fish, which was nice.
It wasn't a very busy day at the restaurant. In the afternoon, the deck filled. It was a beautiful time to be out there.
As the Iran war continues, so does the increase in fuel prices. So I'm afraid we will have to ask for a fuel surcharge. If we go offshore, the price will start at $20.00, for the offshore trips. If we end up fishing closer to shore, I will refund $10.00 of it. I'm sorry I have to do this. And I hope you understand. Hopefully, these fuel prices will decrease so we can go back to normal business.
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