The 2024 Bunny Clark Guestletter

We started the season last year with a healthy population of haddock as we have seen them every spring in the four previous seasons. In June, haddock numbers started to drop off, more so than previous Junes. In July, however, landings dropped off a cliff. Dogfish came into play at the same time. But we didn't see as many dogfish as we did in 2021 and 2022. In most other years were I might have blamed the dogfish for our poor haddock catches. This year it was more often because the haddock weren't there. Also, we ended up seeing more haddock in the summer that were smaller, on average, than other years. And there were more sub-legal haddock than legal haddock, in a lot of cases. Plus, there were more resident haddock caught after June than we have seen in the recent past. Last fall I was expecting a recruitment of newer bigger haddock into the areas we fish on a regular basis. We didn't see that last year. But we also didn't see the herring come in like we have in so many previous fall seasons either.

I must also mention that the haddock showed up outside of southern Jeffrey's Ledge a month early in the spring last year. The commercial sector hadn't filled the haddock quota by a long shot that year, their fiscal year ending on May 1, 2023. So they still had a lot of haddock quota yet to fill. And they used this to their advantage. Many boats came into that area and loaded up on haddock, day after day. Were the fish that they were catching the haddock that would settle in on Jeffrey's Ledge for most of the season? Or would these fish have passed through into Canadian waters had these new fish gone unnoticed? That's a good question. We had a great April and May on our daily fishing grounds but it was even better offshore in the northeast quadrant where it isn't normally that good at that time. And fish never do the same exact thing every year anyway. There are too many variables to say that the fish did this because of X, Y & Z. You can speculate all you want. But no one knows for sure. All anyone knows is that haddock landings everywhere were down in the 2023 fishing season, both commercial and certainly recreational.

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

[The picture on the right is a shot of the Bunny Clark's largest halibut caught by Jim Thurston (NH) in the digital image on the right. Pictured in that image are Jim Thurston (in the middle), Neil Chamberlain (NH - left) and Justin Stroup (NH). We were very lucky to boat that halibut on this day in April.]

[The digital image on the left is a shot aboard the Bunny Clark showing Dave Burton (ME) holding his pollock double (both fish caught on the same line at the same time) that he caught in the spring. The pollock on the left weighed 17.25 pounds while the pollock on the right weighed 15 pounds. This was the largest double for most of the season until the fall. ]

Pre-Season Improvements: Of the improvements that were made to the Bunny Clark during the winter of 2022/2023, most were minor repairs or cosmetic work, sanding and painting. Ian Keniston and I go back and forth on all this stuff while David Pease shows us how to accomplish the goals we set. I have a list of about seventy-five items every year. Ian does most of the work. Danny DellaMonica and Tyler Carpenter have been helping Ian this winter. During the 2022 fishing season, we had a serious electrolysis problem that was eating away at the propeller and the bronze bolts in contact with the sea water under the hull. Turns out, the ground plate on the bottom of the hull came off. We installed a new plate, made sure everything was properly bonded, added sacrificial anodes in new places on the hull and solved this problem for the 2023 fishing season. There was nothing else major that we had to do on the engine or the Bunny Clark herself except for repairs on items that didn't hold up during the season. In all cases, the repairs were made to reduce the chances of these repairs being addressed in the future.

[The digital image on the right was taken during one of our spring marathon trips. This is a picture of Jim Balfour (ME) holding his 15 pound cod. At this time of year it was illegal to keep cod of any size. So this fish was weighed quickly and released back to the ocean alive. ]

In-Season Engine Breakdowns: We had no engine breakdowns during the 2023 Bunny Clark fishing season.

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

Improvements for 2024: We are on schedule to complete all the cosmetic work on the Bunny Clark before she gets launched in late March or early April. This is still Ian's baby, Ian being the Bunny Clark's primary captain and "the" shore captain. I don't even get involved anymore except for making decisions on Ian queries and building the work order sheet for the winter work. We have several projects that I had planned for years ago. We are changing out the coupling that goes between the transmission and the engine. This has an expected life of 10,000 hours before it needs to be changed. We have only a couple hundred hours shy of that figure now so I would rather change it this winter rather than have a breakdown on the high seas next season and have to be towed in. This has happened before with the previous engine. When it did happen, it was a hardship for the passengers, it was expensive and we lost several fishing trips in the process. It's an expensive process anyway without compromising the fishing schedule. Several other new improvements include putting another search light forward for increased vision while traveling in the dark. I want to improve our internal fuel line system coming from the fuel tanks and I want to have an improved fuel shut off system at the fuel tanks. I want to be able to immediately shut off the fuel at the tanks in case of an potential engine fire.

Our web site at http://www.bunnyclark.com continues to be the location where you can get information about the Bunny Clark operation on a daily basis during the season and off-season. We have a schedule and rates section, a photo section, a world records section and more. Our fishing update section provides anglers with up to date information on the daily catch, fish sizes, daily weather, angler deeds and fishery management information. During the off season, I write about what we are working on, information about Barnacle Billy's restaurants and my life in general. This Guestletter resides on our web site along with some of my previous Guestletters. Although I can’t personally answer all the email that comes in associated with the site, our staff does a great job with this while also answering reservation questions and scheduling fishing dates. We also have a service online where you can book a reservation for a fishing trip on the Bunny Clark without calling in. This online service is available on February 2nd of every year, after the first day we take our phone reservations. You can access the online service by clicking on the boat icon from my home page, my "Update Page" and various other pages on my site. Reservations for the 2024 Bunny Clark fishing season will start at 6:00 AM, February 1, 2024, phone reservations only, for that first day of bookings.

We maintain a healthy Maine state trophy program in order to recognize larger than normal fish. Maine is very good in honoring those who catch great fish. We didn't have as good a year for big fish landings last season as we normally enjoy. This was directly related to the haddock landings being so high in the first half of the season, the mismanagement of the groundfish stocks by the New England Fishery Managment Council (Council) [They are trying but don't have a handle on it yet.], cancellation of our two biggest trophy fish trips, a change in halibut locations, the decrease in trips due to my absence, high fuel costs and the large number of dogfish that kept us further away from the big fish areas. We also didn't see as many large pollock or nearly as many large cod last year. However, whiting landings were way up with bigger than normal individual fish landed last season. We also had good white hake landings in the fall but not as many trophy sized white hake as I would have liked.. All this being said, our total landings (numbers of legal fish brought home) for 2023 came in fifth out of the last ten fishing seasons. However, it was our twenty-third best year for landings out of the last twenty-eight seasons or, really, forty-one seasons. The best season of the last twenty-eight seasons was the 2001 fishing season where we landed 36,671 legal fish. We landed 19,567 legal fish last season. But we also had 311 fishing trips during the 2001 season as opposed to 178 trips last year. So the chance of landing a legal fish was better per angler than our best year in 2001. There is always a better chance of seeing bigger fish if you are catching more fish overall. But I was very pleased with last years results per trip. I want to do better next season, quantatively and qualitatively.

At the time of this writing a decision has not been made for cod and haddock regulations for the fiscal 2024 fishing season (May 1, 2024 to April 30, 2025). There will be an open season for cod from April 1, 2023 until April 15, 2023, as there was last season for the same time period. The Recreational Advisory Panel (RAP), of which I hold a seat, will hold a meeting on January 22, 2024. At that time we will make a proposal to the Groundfish Committee that will push the proposal forward as suggested or make changes and pass this on to the New England Fishery Management Council which will review this and pass it on to the National Marine Fisheries Service for approval. The last couple of years, all groups have passed on the RAP's suggestions unfettered to the NMFS. The only problem with NMFS is that the regulations haven't gone into effect by the time May 1 rolled around. Implementation took place on September 1 in 2022 and in August last season.

These were last years regulations that were adopted. Some of these regulations like cod size, bag limits and some dates will apply until April 30, 2024. And I am assuming that these or similar regulations will apply for the whole season with minor changes (like lowering the haddock size limit, for example). I will keep you updated on the daily Fishing Update section of my website when decisions have been made and when the regulations go into effect.

Gulf of Maine cod

Gulf of Maine haddock

As far as the other species go, there will be a 12 inch minimum size on winter (blackback) flounder, a 19 inch limit on pollock (with no bag limit), a 9 inch limit on redfish (with no bag limit) and a 41 inch limit on halibut. Halibut landings are limited to one halibut per vessel per trip on the Federal level There is no size limit or bag limit on hake (both white, red & silver hake) and cusk. Mackerel now have a twenty fish bag limit per person. There is a minimum size of 54 inches (caliper fork length) for possessing mako sharks, porbeagle (mackerel) sharks & thresher sharks. And you are limited to one shark per boat per day. You will be able to land a bluefin or two or three or four (per vessel) of an undetermined size (to be established at the beginning of the season on June 1, 2024). It is illegal to keep barndoor skates, eel pouts and wolffish.

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

As I feel that the greatest achievement in angling is the ability of a person to hook and land a trophy fish on their own, I have listed the guests who caught the top five largest of each significant species during the 2023 fishing season. Keep in mind that all the represented weights of these fish were taken aboard the Bunny Clark using a registered scale shortly after capture (the same way it has been done since our first fishing trip on the Bunny Clark forty years ago in May 1983). I feel that this is the fairest comparison between the angler’s fish since weight loss is proportional to the amount of time the fish is out of water. The weight loss differential varies between species. Getting a weight on a fish just after it comes over the rail makes the weight of every fish caught on the Bunny Clark directly comparable through all of the past fishing seasons.

NAME (STATE)

FISH - lbs.

LENGTH X GIRTH (inches)

DATE CAUGHT

Tom Hartley (ME)	Monkfish 16		10-31-23
John Ford (PA)	Monkfish 14		10-11-23
Brett Aucoin (NH)	Monkfish 13.5		10-12-23
Jeremy McDonald (ME)	Monkfish 12		6-26-23
Neil Hickey (VT)	Monkfish 11		5-9-23
John Ford (PA)	Monkfish 11		10-10-23

The shot on the right is digital image of Jonathan Griffin (MA) holding his 4 pound Maine state trophy whiting caught during an offshore trip on the Bunny Clark in late May. This ties for the thirteenth largest whiting that has ever been caught on the Bunny Clark. Incidentally, Griff caught our twelfth largest whiting on a marathon trip in 2016.

Brian Donahue (VT)	Barndoor Skate 21.5*		9-4-23
Tristan Winslow (MA)	Barndoor Skate 21*		8-21-23

Hal Flanagan (MA)

Wolffish 18**

6-11-23

Darlene Chin (VT)	Pollock 23		9-24-23
Keith Edwards (MA)	Pollock 20		7-27-23
Steve Garanin (MA)	Pollock 19.5		8-21-23
Fred Kunz (NH)	Pollock 19.5		10-31-23
David Harris (MA)	Pollock 19		6-15-23
Ryan McFee (NY)	Pollock 19		7-26-23
Patrick McGonagle (ME)	Pollock 19		8-6-23
John Ford (PA)	Pollock 19		10-10-23
Peter Atwood (VT)	Pollock 19		10-31-23

Jim Feeney (MA)	White Hake 43	49 X 29.5	10-24-23
James Jones (PA)	White Hake 33	45.5 X 27	10-19-23
Raynor Bemis (VT)	White Hake 33	45 X 25.5	10-24-23
Peter Atwood (VT)	White Hake 32.5	45.5 X 25	10-24-23
Raynor Bemis (VT)	White Hake 32.5		10-24-23

Jack Judge (ME/CT) caught this small spider crab on an extreme day trip with Captain Ian Keniston in June. Called a queen crab locally, it is the only spider crab of that particular species that we have seen on the Bunny Clark for a few years now. They do get about fifteen times bigger than the specimen that Jack is holding on the right. The digital image was taken by Captain Ian Keniston.

Tim Adams (NH)	Haddock 7.5	27 X 16	5-30-23
Chris Silver (NH)	Haddock 7.25	25 X 16	5-11-23
Scott Leavitt (NH)	Haddock 7.25	28 X 15	6-1-23
Jim Feeney (MA)	Haddock 6.75		4-20-23
Chris Cote (ME)	Haddock 6.75		5-9-23

Trey Shaw (ME)	Whiting 5	27 X 12	6-20-23
Jonathan Griffin (MA)	Whiting 4	23 X 11	5-25-23
Jim Quinney (NH)	Whiting 3.25	23 X 13	6-15-23
Sean Menge (NJ)	Whiting 3	24 X 12	5-21-23
David Provost (ME)	Whiting 2.75		5-10-23
Tim Williams (CT)	Whiting 2.75		6-6-23
Chopper Sawyer (ME)	Whiting 2.75		6-15-23
John Russell (ME)	Whiting 2.75		7-10-23

Brian Plasse (ME)	Cusk 12	31.5 X 18	10-12-23
Bill Harding (ME)	Cusk 11		4-20-23
Chris Phinney (ME)	Cusk 11		6-20-23
Henry Della Penna (NY)	Cusk 11		8-9-23
Randy Campbell (ME)	Cusk 11		9-5-23
Shawn Rosenberger (PA)	Cusk 11		10-12-23

Tanner Lattrell (NY)	Cod 24.5		10-12-23
Dan Matusko (ME)	Cod 24		10-15-23
John Ford (PA)	Cod 23		10-10-23
Dave DeGraw (NY)	Cod 20.5**		5-25-23
Matt Jones (ME)	Cod 20.5**		8-13-23

This digital image was taken by Captain Ian Keniston. The shot shows seven year old River Keniston (ME), Ian's granddaughter, standing behind her first legal catch of groundfish, two pollock. These pollock were caught as a double, both fish on the same line at the same time. The bigger pollock weighed 6 pounds while the other weighed 3 pounds. Her father, Ryan Keniston, is holding the two fish in the picture.

Jim Thurston (NH)	Halibut 149.5	65.5	4-27-23
Jon Place (VT)	Halibut 102	60	7-23-23
David Burton (MA)	Halibut 77.5***	? (released before being measured)	4-27-23
Lucas Nock (NJ)	Halibut 47	47.5	7-1-23
Phil Hahn (NY)	Halibut 38	43	8-2-23

Art Kemler, Jr. (PA)

Bluefin Tuna 93

55.5

10-13-23

Jack Judge (ME/CT)

Spider Crab 1

6-16-23

Marissa Collins (NY)	Porbeagle Shark 213.25	84	4-6-23
Silas Amlaw (NY)	Porbeagle Shark 203	83	4-9-23

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

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

** Federal regulation has prohibited the retention of wolffish for a few years now. Federal regulations for the 2023 season also prohibited the retention of cod except for the months of September & October and the first two weeks of April. All the wolffish were released back to the ocean alive. Only two of the top five cod were released during the 2023 fishing season. We focused on cod more during that part of the season where we could keep them.

*** Federal/Maine state regulation prohibits retaining more than one recreationally caught halibut per trip. So even if a halibut were caught and kept on the first day of a ten day trip, you couldn't keep another for the duration of the voyage. On this day, we had already boated the 149.5 pound halibut fifteen minutes earlier.

[The digital image on the left is a picture of Darlene Chin (VT) holding a dogfish. I asked Captain Ian Keniston if he might take a picture of someone holding a dogfish so I could post it on my daily fishing update. This he did. Although Darlene was our best female angler of last year's season, she was not immune from catching the occasional dogfish! ]

The Bunny Clark's all time largest cod:

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

[The digital image below shows first mate, Danny DellaMonica, during an offshore trip in the middle of April when we first started getting into the haddock. Danny is very comfortable in this shot with the haddock laid out evenly on the fillet table before him. Little did we know then that just a week later we would find so many haddock that it would be hard to get them all filleted during the trip and on the four hour ride home. Danny was one of the top five best things to happen to the Bunny Clark last season. ]

This was the second year we didn't take the big offshore trips where we have the opportunity to find the bigger hake before they move further in towards shore. This time it was because I was recovering from my bike crash and was unable to take part. Ian was not comfortable running the trips without me or a better plan. On one of those same offshore trips in 2020, Joe Columbus' 50.5 pound hake was the third largest hake we had seen since 1985. In 2019, on the same trip type, the Ultra Marathon, Steve LaPlante (CT) landed a 54 pound white hake. And on the Ultra during the 2018 Bunny Clark fishing season, Steve Selmer also landed a 54 pound white hake. Steve's became an IGFA all tackle world record with an official on shore weight over twenty-four hours later of 48 pounds 4 ounces. This world record still stands today. I have listed the largest hake we have ever landed on the Bunny Clark in a table below. We landed forty-seven white hake over 50 pounds in 1984, none of them ever attaining world record status because every one of them was involved in a tangle, disqualifying them from IGFA recognition. This was why Bob Jorgensen's fish never became a world record, as it should have become.

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

[The digital image below shows Brian Donahue (VT) holding his 21.5 pound barndoor skate in a digital image taken by Captain Ian Keniston. This was the largest barndoor skate caught during the 2023 Bunny Clark fishing season. The angler in the background is Matt Luce (ME), an extremely good regular angler on the Bunny Clark. ]

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

The story associated with landing the 149.5 pound halibut is worth repeating. I wasn't even supposed to take this trip as I only had five anglers aboard. But it was going to be such a nice weather day and such an easy trip for me to take that I told them; "Ah, what the heck; I don't get many opportunities to captain the Bunny Clark. We will go anyway." I am so glad we did. But the same thing happened in June of 1984 when Marjory Kerr (VT) caught the Bunny Clark's first world record, an 83 pound cod. It is still a an IGFA 50 pound test woman's world record today. We only had six anglers that day. But I decided to go anyway. I was thinking of the Marjory Kerr episode when I made the decision to go. The halibut story:

As you can see from the colored table above, Jim Thurston caught the 149.5 pound halibut. Both of us tried everything we could think of to lose that fish. I noticed him at his fishing spot in the stern when more than half the day had passed. But his rod was lying on a bench and he was yanking on his line. A quick inquiry found that he thought he was caught on the bottom. Knowing that he was fishing with a jig, I said; "Let me try to get this jig off the bottom for you." So I took his rod, reeled up the slack line and tried to jiggle his lure off the "bottom". It felt to me like he might be in an old net or something. Then I felt two big "bumps". "Jim, you have a big fish on this line, maybe a halibut." So I gave the rod back to Jim, whereupon he sat down, put the rod under his arm, laid the rod on the rail and proceeded to reel, all the time I was talking in his ear and telling him to "just reel!" Time passed. I left him. After fifteen minutes I checked him again, making sure the other anglers were well out of his way. Jim would reel in a couple of feet and lose a couple of feet. But, overall, he hadn't gained a foot of line! At this point I thought that it must be an old net. And I told him so. "Can I see that rod for a minute, Jim", I said. "Sure." said Jim. I took the rod from him, a jig stick, stuck the butt of the rod in my gut, did a slow pull to the height of the rod and reeled as I slowly dropped the tip, repeating this several times. After a couple minutes I realized that my back wasn't going to take it.

So I told Jim to take the rod back, lay it on the rail and keep reeling while I pulled on the line between the guides so we can get this old gill net to the surface. So that's what we did. And this sped up the process tremendously. The whole time it was like pulling up a dead weight. When we got to the monofilament leader I was relieved that we might finally get to see this net and go back to fishing. That is until I realized It was a big (for us) halibut! Having not prepared a flying gaff, both Tyler and I scrambled with the boat gaffs to get prepared. He and I gaffed the head of the halibut at the same time. And then the fish went ballistic and the water went flying. I honestly thought that we would lose it. It was jumping around so much that my gaff came out of the fish. The jig that had hooked the fish went flying into the cockpit and Jim jumped on the gaff with Tyler trying to hold the fish while I got the second gaff back into the head again. Which I did. With three of us pulling, the halibut came flying into the boat on top of all three of us. As we were struggling, one of us must have hit the latch on the man-overboard door which suddenly opened with the halibut headed out! If it hadn't been for Tyler's quick thinking we might have lost it then. But we didn't and I do believe that Tyler still has one fingernail left. All he had was his bare hands to slide the fish forward while I latched the door. Like I said, we tried everything to lose that fish but we boated it anyway!

I don't have a scale big enough to weigh a fish that big. Nor did we have anyone who could have held a scale like that if we did have one. So we weighed the four fillets and then weighed the carcass (rack). We have hooked bigger ones, even had two up alongside the boat that were much bigger. But we have never put one in the boat as big until this day.

The halibut have come back to a much greater degree. If we caught one halibut per year before the 2010 season, it was a big deal. Now we expect to see them. The fact that we have had so many chances on them during the last few seasons speaks for itself. I would have loved to have at least seen some of the halibut that we lost. Seeing a fish like that is encourging enough for me to feel that catching and boating larger halibut might be a thing of the future. Here's to hoping that I'm right.

[The digital image below shows Brett Aucoin (NH) holding his 13.5 pound monkfish caught during an offshore marathon trip in the fall. This was the Bunny Clark's third largest monkfish of the 2023 fishing season. ]

As you can see in the colored table above, Hal Flanagan was the only angler to catch, what would have been, a trophy wolffish last season or a wolffish big enough to note. Maine does not accept wolffish as trophy fish anymore as they are illegal to keep. The state does not want to encourage the catching of wolffish, which I can understand. We weigh them, take a picture and release them while they are very much alive. Captain Ian did this with Hal's wolffish. The minimum acceptance weight for a wolffish trophy used to be 15 pounds.

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

[Shawn Rosenberger, shown left, can be seen holding a 9.5 pound cusk, his largest cusk last season and one of the top ten cusk of the year for us. This fish was caught during an extreme day trip with Captain Ian Keniston who took the picture. ]

Before I end this Guestletter, I want to cite those anglers and experiences of note that deserve an honorable mention for their uniqueness and/or fishing prowess during the 2023 Bunny Clark fishing season. I realize that this is a value judgment on my part but I believe that my conclusions are recognized as a popular opinion and/or statistical fact among my crew and fishing guests and are based on many fishing trips and many seasons in the business. These special anglers and incidents are as follows:

Fisherman of the Year (FY-’23): Shawn Rosenberger wins this award for the fifth time in the last twelve seasons. Shawn was FY-'12, FY-'13, FY-'20, FY-'22 and, last year, FY-'23. He is one of the best anglers that I have ever had the pleasure to have aboard the Bunny Clark over the years. He's an expert at deep water fishing, an excellent bait fisherman, an excellent jig fisherman and one of the most trusted anglers I know when fighting a big fish. Like most of the anglers who win this award, he's highly focused, very lucky and detail oriented. But as I mentioned when writing about Art Kemler, Jr., you have be good to be that lucky so often. Last year, Shawn's high hook percentage, the number of trophy fish, catching three of the five largest doubles of the year, his number of trophy fish per trip and his ability to attend so many fall trips, allowed him to fly above any other angler who was near.

As most of you know by now, the "FY" award is based on a point system that relates to specific achievements during a trip for a season on the Bunny Clark. Each achievement is worth a point or a set of points. The individual with the most points at the end of the season wins. In order to compete in this category, you have to have paid for and completed at least 10 different trips on the Bunny Clark. [The last two years I have considered waiving this 10 trip rule and just work on the most points in a season for any angler but I haven't done that yet.] When a competitor is within thirty points of the lead angler, I bring in comparative value points (CVPs). In other words, I look at the trips where both anglers fished together. I double the points of the achievements that each has won on those trips and add them in. Last year, no angler was close enough in points to use CVPs. I have had many excellent anglers who fish with us on a regular basis every season, any one of whom has the potential to become the Fisherman of the Year. Shawn was the best of the best last season.

Shawn loves the marathon trips, preferably, the offshore marathon trips. His patience last year, fishing for hake, waiting for that second fish to bite, rewarded him with the biggest double of the season for the second year in a row. In fact, he caught the third largest and fifth largest Bunny Clark double as well, something that no other angler has ever done previously on the Bunny Clark. He didn't win as many boat pools as you would think he would. It wasn't his year for the biggest fish. And Shawn was the fisherman of the day (the pool winner and high hook) only twice. But what Shawn excelled at was the number of trophy sized fish and the number of trophy sized fish that he landed on a trip. Without Shawn aboard last season, the Bunny Clark wouldn't have looked nearly as good a fishing platform.

[ Shawn Rosenberger, shown right, is holding the biggest double of the 2023 Bunny Clark fishing season. In his right hand, Shawn] is holding his 25 pound Maine state trophy white hake, while in his left, he is holding his 29.5 pound Maine state trophy white hake, both fish caught on the same jig at the same time. One of the hake was caught on the tube hook attached to the split ring at the top of the jig while the other hake was caught on the treble hook at the bottom of the jig.

It's always fun having Shawn Rosenberger with us. He has most recently started fishing with us in July. Usually, he only fishes during the month of October. October can be a tricky month. We have many days canceled in a typical October due to heavy weather. Last year this wasn't the case. Except for charters or lack of passengers, Shawn was able to fish on just about every October trip we had. Shawn is a charter captain during the warmer months on the Great Lakes where the walleye is king. So he is unavailable for most of the rest of the year. Had he had more trips in previous years, where he wasn't blown out of many of the October trips, he would have qualified for more FY awards; my opinion. The most seasons that any angler has won the Fisherman of the Year award is six; both Fred Kunz and Tim Williams (CT) have achieved that distinction. There is no doubt in my mind that Shawn would have won this award one or two more times had he completed the larger number of trips. I'm truly blessed to have so many great anglers aboard fishing with us every year. It makes this competition very much fun for me. And, likewise, it's always a supreme pleasure to have you aboard Shawn. As I have said before, it's also a tremendous compliment to me that you choose the Bunny Clark to display your fishing expertise. Thank you so much!

Shawn's total point count was 202. Fred Kunz came in second place with a point total of 86. John Ford was third with 82 points. Dave Burton was fourth with 70 points. Mark LaRocca was fifth with 64 points. The last time any angler won the Fisherman of the Year award with more that 202 points was when Bryan Lewer (ME) won this award with 309 points in 2011. It was a good year to be Shawn Rosenberger!

Female Angler of the Year (FAY-'23): This is the third year in a row that Darlene Chin (VT) has won this award. She is one of our most consistent anglers overall. Plus, she is simply the best female angler who we have fishing with us on a regular basis. Actually, we didn't have any female anglers aboard that I would have considered being a better angler than Darlene. There were very few men either. Her consistency in catching numbers of legal fish, her penchant for catching haddock when they are around, her responsibility for knowing the best places to fish on the Bunny Clark in any situation and her reliability when she has a fish on the line all made her the best in 2023. One of her most notable exploits last season included catching the Bunny Clark's largest pollock of the season, at 23 pounds. The largest Bunny Clark pollock after hers was three pounds lighter. This same pollock was the largest fish of the trip that day as well. She rarely enters the boat pool. She also caught one of the few monkfish caught last season. And she caught a white hake of 20.5 pounds, one of the bigger hake of the season. She was high hook with the most legal fish on two occasions and nearly high hook on many others. She caught the third largest fish on three occasions. And the one thing she shares with all the best fishermen I have ever taken fishing over the years is the love of the game and the excitement that goes with it. That alone doesn't make her the best. But it certainly has to be the key for her tremendous success. Congratulations, Darlene; it was my great pleasure to have you aboard with us last season.

Best Bait Fisherman: Tim Rozan (ME) was the best bait fisherman of the season last year. There is usually no one better. This can be proven by the simple fact that almost every time that Tim sails with us he is high hook. When we are on the haddock, there is no one better. Plus, he's just an excellent fisherman overall. Part of his being so good is knowing when to fish with bait and when not to. Tim has made a science out of this. He's also made a science out of catching halibut, having caught six of that species with us on the Bunny Clark over the years. He is also a very practical man with a lot of fishing common sense. And he picks up on things quicker than most. Tim didn't fish with us as much as other years last season, primarily due to his vocation schedule. But when he did he was almost always the best. Thanks for being there, Tim. Much appreciated. Because you are better you make us better.

Most Aces: For those who don’t know, an angler scores an Ace when he or she lands the three (or more) largest fish during a single trip. There can be no ties in fish size with other anglers in order to achieve true “Ace” status. No angler landed a single Ace last season. The 2012 season was the first season that the Bunny Clark didn't see a single Ace since 1983. The second occurred in 2015. Last season was the third time that this has happened. The most Aces caught in a season happened in 2013 with six. And the most dramatic Ace was caught by Al Robinson (ME) in 1986 when he caught over twenty-five fish bigger than the next largest fish aboard on that trip!

Most Trophy Fish of the Season: Shawn Rosenberger caught the most trophy fish in 2023 with a count of twenty-six. Fred Kunz came in second with a total trophy fish count of twelve. There was a tie for the third most trophy fish caught, both Mark LaRocca and John Ford each caught ten. Nino Pierdipino (NY) caught five trophy fish to take fifth place. All Nino's trophy fish were caught on one trip!

Top Five Largest Fish of the Bunny Clark Season: Marissa Collins caught the largest with her 213.25 pound porbeagle shark. Silas Amlaw came in second with his 203 pound porbeagle shark. Jim Thurston was third with his 149.5 pound halibut. Jon Place was fourth with his 102 pound halibut. And Art Kemler, Jr. was fifth with his 93 pound bluefin tuna.

Most Trophy Fish during a Trip: John Ford came in first in this category with a total count of eight trophy fish on one trip. Shawn Rosenberger came in second with a count of six trophy fish. Nino Pierdipino (NY) came in third with five trophies. And Shawn Rosenberger tied with three other anglers himself with four trophy fish on three separate trips. The other anglers who caught four trophy fish included Mark LaRocca (who himself caught four trophy fish a trip twice), Fred Kunz and Paul Pearson (NH).

Most Pools (largest fish of the trip): There were four anglers who tied for the most pool fish caught in 2023. The count was three pools each. Those anglers included Art Kemler, Jr., Dave Burton, Mark LaRocca and Ray Westermann. There were five anglers who tied with two pool fish each for the season. Those anglers included Shawn Rosenberger, Jonathan Griffin (MA), Brian McCormick (VT), John Ford (PA) and Bill Socha (NH).

[In the digital image, left, Marissa Collins (NY) can be seen holding the tail of the largest fish that she, at that time, had ever caught, a 213.25 pound porbeagle shark. It was the Bunny Clark's first trip of the 2023 fishing season. This is also the Bunny Clark's fifth largest porbeagle boated with a "cod rod". ]

Largest Double: (The most combined weight of two fish caught on the same line at the same time.) The largest double of the year was caught by Shawn Rosenberger on October 24, 2023. His double included 29.5 pound Maine state trophy white hake and a 25 pound Maine state trophy white hake. Ted Harris (PA) came in second place with a double that included a 28 pound Maine state trophy white hake and a 22 pound white hake. Shawn Rosenberger came in third with a double that included a 31 pound Maine state trophy white hake and a 12 pound white hake. Paul Pearson came in fourth with a 24.5 pound white hake and a 15 pound white hake. Shawn Rosenberger was fifth with a 24 pound white hake and a 13 pound white hake.

Hardest Luck: I think the hardest luck of the season came to a woman who's name I will not mention. I'm just not sure she wants her name out there. And, rather than put her on the spot by asking permission, I am just not going to identify her. This happened during an extreme day trip on a Sunday in the later part of August. Not even an hour into the fishing, this woman had a seizure and went down. After assessing the situation, Captain Ian made the decision to head back home to Perkins Cove. This is where the good luck came in. One of the passengers happened to be Anna McNamara (NH), a professional nurse who took up the challenge and jumped right in to monitor this woman, keep her safe and make her comfortable the whole ride in. This gave Ian the opportunity to call the Coast Guard and to call me. I got in touch with the Perkins Cove harbormaster, Erin Gott, and the town ambulance so they would be waiting at the float where the Bunny Clark was going to land. Meanwhile, this woman continued to have seizures the whole ride in. It was an easy transfer from the Bunny Clark to the ambulance. They took her directly to the hospital. She continued to have seizures until the attending physician made the call to put her in an induced coma. She stayed in that state for eight days! The woman called me a little over a month afterward. After coming out of the coma, she had to learn many things all over again, like learning how to walk and talk! In fact, she couldn't call me right away because she couldn't express herself over the phone. When she did, she just wanted me to know how grateful she was to Captain Ian, Anna McNamara and Tyler Carpenter for getting her through this ordeal. She had never had a history of seizures of any kind. And, as of two months after the incident, they hadn't determined why she had them! Also, she had taken many trips on other deep sea fishing boats without incident. She expressed no interest in ever going fishing again when I talked to her. I wish her the best of luck.

Another angler with a little hard luck was Kris Williams (MI) on 9/11, during a Monday extreme day trip. Kris managed to get part of the treble hook of a jig hooked in his head behind the ear. The hook went so deep that they had to cut the hook at the turn and leave most of the hook in place to be extracted in a hospital. It was too close to the ear canal to fool around with it on the boat. Mike Pakulski (ME), who is an ER nurse, isolated the hook and contained the injury so he could keep fishing. According to Captain Ian, it didn't seem all that painful to Kris. But the hassle of going to the hospital after a nice calm, windless day on the ocean must have been a pain in the neck. I never did hear how he fared.

During an offshore marathon trip, one of the few trips last year that I captained, Brian Plasse (ME) was in the process of lifting a pollock over the rail by using his own rod. I caution anglers about this all the time. He almost had the fish in the boat when the rod couldn't take the pressure anymore and it snapped in two! Brian was a bit upset with himself as it was his grandfather's rod that had been given to him thirty years ago. It had great sentimental value. And that's a loss that you just can't measure. It's one thing to lose your favorite rod. It's a totally different thing when it represents someone who meant so much to you while growing up.

Last but not least, during an offshore trip with me on a Thursday marathon on May 11, Calvin Moreau (ME) was having a great day catching ten good sized redfish, one of his favorite fish to eat. And he caught many other fish including a 12.5 pound pollock. Unfortunately, he also lost his own rod & reel setup overboard. I didn't know it had even happened until he came down from the bow and told me his sad story. It does happen but usually with my equipment!

[The image on the right is a shot of Chris Cote (ME) holding his 6.75 pound haddock caught with me during an offshore in May. As you can see from the tables above, this fish tied for the fourth largest haddock of the Bunny Clark season last year. In fact, had we not had the months of April and May, we wouldn't have caught any good sized haddock. ]

Most Improved Angler: Barry Ano (NY) has to be the best fit we have had in the category for years. Barry is one of the nicest guys you will ever meet. Along with his being such a nice individual, he is also one of those guys that brings us gifts of food in various categories all the time. He supplies both our restaurants with apples for our employees, brings my crew and I the most delicious cheese filled pepperoni sticks, the freshest corn and vegetables you will ever find, various types of delicious pickles, etc., etc. He is a regular angler of the Bunny Clark and has been for many years. During past trips his ability to be involved in the most tangles while fishing is legendary. There were trips when the tangles were so bad that his landings suffered greatly. Also, in the past, his penchant for picking the worst time to fish on the Bunny Clark was also noteworthy. He was here the year I had so many cancellations because of engine breakdowns. He was here during some of our worst stretches of weather where we had to cancel trips. During the Covid years he was here when we couldn't sail because we didn't have enough people. I would never call Barry a jinx because some of the past trips he attended were some of the most successful trips we took. It was just that, for such a great person who loves to fish, you wanted more for him. I often think of that scene in the movie, An Officer and a Gentleman, where the recruits are going through the gauntlet. Every time a recruit gets hit he says; "Yes, sir; may I have another!" That was Barry before, going through the gauntlet. Last year all that changed! He was one of or was the most successful angler during a trip, was high hook quite often and he was free of tangles. He improved so much that Captain Ian took him aside and said; "Barry, what have you been practicing back in New York when you haven't been here?" Where before he seemed to be using the right equipment at the wrong time, last year he was jigging when he should have been jigging and bait fishing when that was the thing to do. Also, I think he sailed on every trip that he booked last season. He went from Barry to Super Barry. Barry's attitude has always been great. When he's had bad days and I had questioned him about it, his reply was always; "Well, that's the way things go sometimes." When I have confronted him about his many gifts saying that "You really don't have to do this." His reply has always been; "I only give things to people I like and who do good things for me." You can only wish the best for someone like Barry. Last year he was one of the best and most improved!

Best Team: The duo of Ray Westermann & Jonathan "Griff" Griffin are still be best team on the Bunny Clark despite the fact that they weren't fishing together as much last season. Every time they did fish together there were no two people any more successful. They always seem to catch the most or nearly the most legal fish on the boat, they are most successful on the bigger fish, pollock and hake in particular, and as a team, one is always reeling in a fish while the other is fishing. They very rarely ever get tangled even in the strongest currents, the roughest sea conditions or in the deepest depths we fish. They are the definition of how anglers are supposed to fish and work together. It's always a great pleasure to have them aboard. And, even on the bad days with lower than normal landings, they always seem to have the best of times. And the best part is that their appreciation of the trip. Their collective attitude is contagious with the other anglers aboard. Thanks so much for being there. When I look to remember how much fun my job is, I always think of them.

Most Unusual Catch: The most unusual catch we had last season had to be Jim Thurston's landing of the 149.5 pound halibut. Despite the fact that we tried everything to lose this fish, we still managed to get the fish in the boat. If you haven't read the paragraphs on the details of the catch, they appear just ahead of the halibut chart that lists all the largest halibut in Bunny Clark history.

Exceptional Good Luck: There are three things I think of when thinking of experiences of exceptional luck last season. The first is the fact that I walked away from that cycling accident without being paralyzed from the waist down. The second is landing the 149.5 pound halibut, mentioned in the previous paragraph. The third is landing the 102 pound halibut with just a snelled bait hook attached to a 60 pound test monofilament leader, the largest halibut that has ever been landed on my boat with just a single bait hook, just another reason I just love Ian Keniston on that boat!

Quotes of the 2022 Season: "It could have been worse; I could have thrown up more!", a quote from Coree Peters (ME) in response to my question about how the trip went when she walked off the boat at the dock in Perkins Cove. She attained high hurler status during the trip and was presented with the hard luck award t-shirt by Captain Ian Keniston.

"You know, had I known we would have had such a [great] day, I would have paid to go on this trip! Wait a second; I did pay to go on this trip!" My quote after I finished skippering an offshore trip with only five paying passengers in which the gross sales would barely cover the money spent on fuel but didn't cover things like depreciation, deck hand wages, administration, my time or bait costs. In a strictly business sense, sometimes you have look at a trip as an advertising day. But it really was a trip that I would never have wanted to miss even if there were only two anglers aboard that day. And how would you know if you didn't go? Every trip is an opportunity to get special fish. After all; "Special fish like Jim's [149.5 pound halibut] are the kind of fish we like to see caught on the Bunny Clark."

[The digital image on the left shows the Bunny Clark's female angler of the year, Darlene Chin (VT) holding her 23 pound pollock, the Bunny Clark's largest pollock of the season last year. I never did ask her if this was the biggest pollock she has ever caught. The image was taken by Captain Ian Keniston. ]

"Apparently, Mark Girard (NH) didn't get the memo that the catching and landings were on the slower side today"; paraphrasing a quote from Captain Ian Keniston after the Sunday, May 7th extreme day trip in which Mark Girard was by far the best fisherman of the trip. Not only was Mark the fisherman of the day (most legal fish and pool winner). He was high hook with almost a third of all the fish landed. He won the boat pool for the largest fish of the trip with the largest fish, a 12 pound pollock. His second largest fish, a 9 pound cod, was the third largest fish of the trip. Had everyone done as well as Mark, it would have been the best trip of the season. Of course, it never works that way when the bite is off, does it?

"I hope we aren't driving right home!", "I need some land time, no motion!" A quote from Amanda Nyhan (NH) who was probably most affected by the dreaded mal de mer during a trip in late October. She was also the most vocal before the boat left the dock that morning. I talked to her after the trip. She didn't look good but did look like she was soon to recover. Knowing that she had a two hour drive home, I asked if she was going right back. Sometimes it's not just about the catching, it's what happens while you are fishing.

Unexplained Phenomena:

[The digital image on the right is a shot of Art Kemler, Jr. holding the only bluefin tuna that was caught on the Bunny Clark last season. Art is one of the best fishermen we are lucky enough to have aboard every season. The digital image was taken by Captain Ian Keniston.]

[On the left is a digital image of Jim Feeney holding the Bunny Clark's largest white hake last season, a 43 pound Maine state trophy. It was also Jim's largest hake of the year. The second largest hake last season was a fish that weighed 10 pounds less. But, then, that's what Jim Feeney does!]

In Memorium:

On September 1, 2023 I learned from a good friend that Donald F. X. Angerman (MA) - Danny - passed away the day before. Danny, along with Bob Withee (NH), changed my life for the better with the Bunny Clark. They introduced me to the best way to catch big groundfish, particularly cod. It was because of them that I incorporated jigs sticks on the Bunny Clark. Danny was responsible for the innovative jigs that we use on a regular basis today. He was also responsible for introducing the cod fly to me. His fly design is the same design we use today, made exactly as he used to make them for me. He had a t-shirt design that we still sell today. He worked with Captain Howard Cutler (ME) on my other boat, the Petrel, catching bluefin tuna. They were very successful. Danny and I lobstered together in the winter. And he's even the one who first used the term; "Best Fishes", with which I end every entry on the daily updates page. He helped me make the Bunny Clark a much better fishing platform than if I had to do it all myself. He and Bob opened up a whole new world of groundfishing for me. I was much better at my business on the water because of them.

I lost contact with Danny over the years. He started working for the phone company as a linesman when the groundfishing got worse and the government regulations changed the way we did our business. But some of my best times on the water were with Danny. He fished with me on the Bunny Clark over eighty times one year when it was legal to sell fillets from groundfish caught off a party boat. He was probably the best fisherman I ever had on the Bunny Clark. In my mind, he was the best. I am sad that I won't ever be able to see him again or recount all the wonderful fishing adventures we had together.

Bob Mayer (ME), long time Bunny Clark regular angler, passed away on September 15, 2023 from complications with cancer. He had been fighting it for over a year. Between the chemo and the radiation, he had nothing left to fight infections. And that's what got him in the end. Bob used to love to go on the marathon trips with me. And he was always very successful. Three years ago he caught two 32 pound halibut on two separate trips, one a half hour before sunrise, the only halibut ever caught on the Bunny Clark before daylight. He also lost one of the biggest halibut we have ever hooked. He was using 100 pound test with the sole purpose of catching a big one. However, without any drag on his reel, he broke the 100 pound test line he was using. The fish nearly dragged him overboard in the process. He was also very good at catching haddock. And he insisted on being "number four" for his fillet bag number. A great guy to have aboard, Bob will be missed. He always fished the number 20 spot on the Bunny Clark. At some point I will spread his ashes on the fishing ground he loved the most, as requested.

Barry Gibson (ME) passed away on October 11, 2023. He was my age, born in the same year as I was. A wonderful individual who did so much for the recreational angler in New England. He was the chair of the New England Fishery Management Council. He was the initial chair of the Recreational Advisory Panel. He was the editor of the Saltwater Sportsman Magazine for almost twenty-five years. He wrote articles in that magazine, one about me in 2001 after attending one of my offshore marathon trips with some of my favorite anglers including Fred Kunz, Jim Feeney, Regis Jauvin, Dave Gray, etc. I was looking at the magazine article yesterday after thoughts about Barry. Barry also wrote for the Maine Sportsman. He was also a charter boat captain out of Boothbay Harbor, Maine. He held seats on many other fishing panels and organizations, all to help the cause. But, above all this, he was a compassionate individual who knew how to speak from the heart and capture the high points of every issue. He was a guy where, when thinking about his life, you knew you were only seeing "the tip of iceberg", that there was much more to Barry than anyone could see. And it was all good. Always ready to take a call from me to explain something I didn't understand. Always on the angler's side. He saw the unfairness and worked to correct that for everyone. He was one of the key pieces who shaped our fishery so that we enjoy the freedoms in the fishery that we otherwise would not have. I never got to thank Barry before he passed. I wish I could have. He meant a lot to me. And he was taken by a disease so close to my heart; cancer. He fought that battle for a year. I will miss Barry a great deal. And I am sorry for all of us in the fishery that he is gone.

[The digital image on the right is a picture of Dave Burton (left) holding his 77.5 pound halibut with Tyler Carpenter helping in the process. Since we already had another legal halibut aboard at the time, this halibut had to go back. Once the picture was taken it was released back to the ocean very much alive. This was the Bunny Clark's third largest halibut of the season last year. ]

Deck Hands:

As I have told many over this last season, I could not have chosen a better year to have a major accident. This was the first year in few that I had regularly scheduled deck hands for the whole season. Most importantly, they helped Ian complete the extra work required when I wasn't there. It allowed me to heal without concern for the well being of the business, the safety of the passengers and the satisfaction of our patrons.

Danny DellaMonica started with us near the middle of June during the 2022 fishing season. He worked straight through the season, on and off helping Ian Keniston with sprucing up the Bunny Clark in the winter and on a regular basis for all of last season. He had very little ocean experience. But it didn't take him long to get into the program. Last year he was invaluable. By the time I had the crash in early June, Danny was fully up to speed with the program. What is most special about Danny is the nice way he treats our customers and the fact that whatever I ask him to do, he does it to the letter of the law. When anyone steps aboard the Bunny Clark in the morning, they are walking aboard the cleanest the Bunny Clark has ever been, if Danny was working the day before. Being very athletic, Danny was great around the big fish we landed. He was also a quick study handling the Bunny Clark. I was very lucky to have someone as trustworthy and honest as Danny, our first mate. But it was extra special the way he treated me and the business. Thank you very much, Danny. This is very much appreciated!

Tyler Carpenter contacted me in the early winter of 2023 to ask if he could work on the Bunny Clark as a deck hand again. I was delighted! He first stated working for me as a new deck hand in early May of 2020. He was the quickest study I have ever seen. He was filleting fish with alacrity in ten days. And yet, neither Ian and I could really teach him as he was left handed. Ian showed him the finer points but, the rest, he did on his own. What was more impressive was that Tyler had never worked on a boat before. And yet, in the audition, he could steer a compass course as well as I could! He worked most of the 2020 fishing season for us and did an excellent job. He was going to work for us in 2021 but he was also trying to figure out a vocation that would sustain him year round. So the 2021 season didn't work out for him. So I was surprised and delighted that he wanted to work last season. Still looking for a sustainable life time job, I took his employment with a grain of salt. I needn't have worried. He stayed with us all season and worked with Ian on getting the Bunny Clark ready for the next season in the fall. Last season, Tyler was the excellent deck hand I had come to know and love during the 2020 season. He was very dependable (like Danny was) and he did a super job. He was the perfect addition to the team. I will miss Tyler if he doesn't work for us this coming season; I know that he's still looking for something he can do on a regular basis year round. But I will thank my lucky stars that Tyler decided to work for us. He always had my (our) back and he did an excellent job. Thanks so much!

Captains:

In the past, Captain Ally Fuehrer worked as a deck hand for us when she wasn't involved in her regular job, as a second mate on a sea going tanker on the west coast. Last season, I was already in the hospital when she showed up back in her home state of Maine. I asked her if she might want take my place as a captain on the Bunny Clark. She told me that she would. But I also knew that her plans had been to work for a local harpoon tuna fisherman/lobsterman out of Perkins Cove. And, after all, it was her time off. She started to work with Ian on the Bunny with the aim of making the jump from deck hand to captain. But, in order to do this, there was a lot of extra time she needed to take to meet the higher standards that I have set to become the captain on the boat. She could certainly do this. She is fully capable and I couldn't think of a better fit. But the conflict of interest reared it's ugly head between working full time for me and the fun of helping one of my best friends commercial fishing. So in a mutual parting of the ways, we both decided that it was best she do what she initially planned to do and leave the door open for some future involvement in the Bunny Clark operation at a later date. In the short time that she did work for us, with Captain Ian, she was responsible for one of our patrons landing one of the five legal sized halibut that was caught last season (the 47 pounder caught on July 1) and yet another halibut caught with a single bait hook. There is no doubt in my mind that she would do a great job in any capacity aboard the Bunny Clark. And I do appreciate her giving it a go, even though, in her heart, it wasn't the thing she really wanted to do last summer. Thanks for giving it a try, Ally. I really love having you aboard the Bunny Clark in any capacity. You are very special! I can't think of anything you could do that would ever change that feeling in me.

Captain Ian Keniston became the skipper of the Bunny Clark during the 2004 Bunny Clark fishing season. The first trip he ran for me was on May 26th that year. The rest is history. He's been my principle captain on the Bunny Clark ever since. The six years before that, he was my best deck hand and one of the best guys who I have ever had behind me. He loves fishing like I do so we worked very well together. Now, I don't know what I would do without him. Not much, I would suspect. He has always been the best. I also consider him the best captain in New England. And I have known a lot of them. I know that you might think that previous statement is heavily biased. But I would debate you on that. I have always been very objective when it comes to business. And I've also been very competitive in my life. To be that way, you also have to be detail oriented. And, as you know, the devil is in the details. But success is also in the details. Ian's success rate is through the roof. Not only are his catch rates excellent. Ian's satisfaction index is also through the roof, with regard to the patrons who frequent the Bunny Clark. He would be the captain I would most want to fish with.

Last season, with my injuries, he went over and above what I could have expected from him. Eventually, I had to give Ian a day off because it was physically just too demanding for him to do this seven days a week. But the manner in which he took over the helm was just typical Ian. In other words; "Let's get at it, let's have fun and lets catch some fish!" For this I am truly grateful. Ian is the cement that holds this operation together. He's my sounding board when we have problems within the operation. He's the guy I look to when I'm trying to pick up species trends. And he is the shore captain from the end of the season until we launch the Bunny Clark in April. I dare say he knows more about the Bunny Clark and the operation than I do. And, indeed, all the reports I write during a season are the result of a very detailed daily sheet that he fills out during and after every trip that he takes. He makes it easy to be me. But he also makes the Bunny Clark. No definition of the Bunny Clark would be truthful without his name involved. He's the principle captain. He's Ian. He's the best. Thanks so much, Ian. You make my life and you make it better.

[Ted Harris holds the second largest double of the 2023 Bunny Clark fishing season that he caught with me last October. His catch includes a 28 pound Maine state trophy white hake and a 22 pound white hake, both fish caught on the same like at the same time. Don't let the serious look on Ted's face make you think that this man is not having a good time! ]

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

Many people have complimented me on my business accomplishments within the context of the Bunny Clark, as a representative in the fishery management scene, my fishing accomplishments and the way I run the business. I certainly have appreciated those comments over the years. But it hasn't been just me. It has been Debbie Bowden Tower and me. It has always been the two of us. I could not have crafted this business into what it is today without her help. She has put up with a lot of things that were never her choice. But she has done all this for me and has done an excellent job of it. And, in accomplishing this, has made Bunny Clark Deep Sea Fishing my dream job. At this point in my life, she advises me on crew decisions, she does all the books, she manages the reservationists and she manages me (sick or healthy), of course. I could not have done any of this without her. Nor could I have completed this season after my accident without her help. She keeps this ship afloat. And she accomplishes this with, now, many years of experience at getting it right. Thank you so much, Deb. Not only are you my anchor to windward, you are also the one thing that keeps me going and my best friend. I'm so appreciative of you being there with me.

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

Since 2007, I have been riding in the Pan-Mass Challenge (PMC), an 192 mile, two day, cycling event that takes place the first Saturday of every August, to raise money for cancer research. Last year marked my seventeenth season being involved. I didn't ride last season due to my poor health after the accident; I was not capable of riding even if I had thought it might be a good idea. Which it wasn't. At the end of 2023, I had totaled $474,146.00 in donations to the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, Massachusetts. Most of the donors are patrons of the Bunny Clark. Some are very generous indeed. And some make it a point to donate annually. At this juncture, it is hard to imagine me riding in the next PMC in 2024; the chance of putting myself in a wheelchair is much greater with the reduced strength in my spine. But I will be just as involved in the fund raising and I plan to attend PMC weekend. I believe in the genetic route my research team is going to cure not only gene oriented cancers but to also find the undiscovered genes associated with cancers the riddle of which hasn't been solved yet. I also believe that there is a common link that binds all cancers together. Working towards a cure is more important that ever. I want to thank you all from the bottom of my heart for the support that you have given me over the years and for the great strides that Dr. Katherine Janeway's team has made in discovering the genes responsible and being able to shut them down while also bypassing chemo and radiation treatments. As I say all too often, cancer never sleeps. So the fund raising must never stop. You can donate to the cause by clicking here, PMC, at any time of year. I hope to continue to be involved for many years. This benefits us all and our loved ones as well.

So ends another season, our forty-first to be exact. I am so grateful to have made it through my accident without being forced to spend the rest of my life in a wheelchair. It was tough for me not to be able to complete the trips that I wanted to. But I did manage to complete all the trips I was scheduled to captain in October and, one, in November. I'm grateful that I have the captain that I do in Ian Keniston. I was grateful to have two solid deck hands, Danny DellaMonica and Tyler Carpenter, who I could trust in the excellent work they did and for being there for every trip that was needed. We could not have completed the year without those three. I'm grateful to the managers at Barnacle Billy's who supported me through all this and who picked up most of the daily activities that I had been responsible for before the accident. I'm grateful to my wife, Deb, who spent way too much time in the hospital and at my side, making sure everything was going as well as it could go. I'm grateful to Jane Staples her great work and for helping Deb. And I'm so grateful to have the anglers who make the Bunny Clark experience the best that it can be, in my eyes and the eyes of Captain Ian and our crew. When our angling guests do well, we do well. When they are happy, I am happy. I love the experiences I witness first hand and through the mind and eyes of Captain Ian Keniston. I love writing about all fishing stories that happen. Our fishing patrons mean the world to me. I have got some new ideas I want to try for next season. This and anticipating a better fishing season, is making me look forward to the 2024 Bunny Clark fishing season more than ever. So thank you for a wonderful year last year, thank you for your understanding and I am very much looking forward to seeing you all this coming season. Winter well, as my father would have said!

View from the Footbridge Across Perkins Cove at Dawn on November 11, 2023

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

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