The 2026 Bunny Clark Guestletter

Annual Review of the 2025 Bunny Clark Fishing Season, Our Forty-Third, & the Plans & Outlook for the 2026 Season.

January 2, 2026

Dear Bunny Clark Angling Guests:

For the start of the 2025 fishing season, I had a decision to make. I had lost Captain Ian Keniston, my number one captain of twenty years, to an untimely death. I was unable to run a complete season with Ian gone. I had to make a decision as to how I was going to approach the upcoming season. Should I keep Bunny Clark Deep Sea Fishing alive? And, if I do, how will the season be completed? I'm not exactly sure how it happened. But I know that I mentioned my thoughts online. I have to give credit to Greg Veprek (MA), a long time angling patron and friend, who communicated to me this idea, and I am paraphrasing here; "You have loved this for so many years. You should run a limited season where you can divide your time between the Bunny Clark and the two (Barnacle Billy's, Inc.) restaurants." I had thought about this before but Greg made it sound so appealing that I talked to Deb, my wife, about this as a real possibility. I would be leaving the restaurants for more time during a week than I had in years or would like but it could be done and Deb agreed. I have a great crew behind me at the restaurants that would allow me to do this. So I hatched a plan and called Danny DellaMonica to the house to go over it with him to see if this would be something that he would be interested in continuing. He was. In fact, we were both excited about the prospects of moving forward. Danny would be my only deck hand for the season, except for my two biggest trips where I had to have extra crew. This is something that was very appealing to him.

I had to give up fishing on the weekends. It was more important for me to be at the restaurants for those two days. I would be running the Bunny Clark during the week only, for three different days; every Tuesday and Thursday for the whole season while alternating between a Monday or a Friday, depending on what days were most important for me to be at the restaurants.This actually worked very well. The season progressed smoothly. The challenges we had arose when we had engine problems during the week where it meant canceling previously booked trips and only being able to get mechanics to the boat from Monday through Friday. We also had some bad timing with the weather. In the spring, most of the weekends were rainy and rough, favoring the trips I had planned for the weekdays. It was completely opposite in the fall. The roughest days from September through October were during the week days. October, particularly, was so windy that most of our October trips were canceled. The trips we did take in October were choppy and challenging. Many were the times when I would look back at Danny cutting fish at the fillet table with the salt sea spray pelting him in the face, the seas making it hard to stand, as he tried to get the fish filleted, fillets sorted and bagged - which he always did. Even with full oil gear on, it was hard for Danny to stay totally dry. His attitude was great through all this. I just shook my head and was thankful that he enjoyed it.

[The digital image on the left is a shot of Danny DellaMonica skinning fillets on the way back from an offshore trip in late October with twenty knots of southwest wind and three to four foot chops on the way back to Perkins Cove. The Bunny Clark is a wet boat. I've always thought that the only vessel that gets any wetter is, in fact, a submarine.]

It was a challenging winter getting the Bunny Clark in a physical position to take passengers again. I had an ambitious winter of boating projects I had set up for Ian Keniston with David Pease at Dave's Boat Shop. But, without Ian, these projects became huge or unable to be completed. We had one major project I had to finish for the U. S. Coast Guard in order to pass inspection. Dave, at eighty-eight years young, with one functional eye, completed this project on his own. But it took him much more time to complete this. It was a complicated issue that took a lot of thinking and required work in tight places. Along with this, Ian and I also had this idea for a new more efficient propeller to replace the one I had been using. It was going to have a longer hub which became more of a challenge for Dave fitting it on the shaft. but it would give us more cruising speed and more bite in reverse. This was a great success during the season. It gave us two and a half more knots of cruising speed. Unfortunately, Ian never got the chance to enjoy this. I had a whole new rudder built and new rudder port/stuffing box that Dave built and installed as well. It seemed almost too much. But there were a lot of other things as well that were either challenging or had to be abandoned. There just wasn't enough time to complete all the cosmetic work that Ian would have been involved with had he been here. So almost all of the painting did not get completed. Ian and I were in the middle of designing a new, more comfortable helm chair, that Ian had wanted for years. It had been fine for me and my boney ass to have the converted bar stool that had been a fixture on the Bunny Clark since it's launching. But Ian wanted more. And I agreed. This project was abandoned after Ian passed. I didn't need the better chair. In fact, if I did complete the chair project, it would have been a constant reminder of the man not being with me anymore. With a hurculean effort, Dave completed all the major Bunny Clark projects before the boat was launched. In the end, he had to hire outside help. But he got it all done. I'm very grateful.

Thankfully, Ian had rebuilt thirty of the Bunny Clark regular boat rod reels, our Penn 113H reels that we loaded with monofilament. Our jig reels needed to be rebuilt. Tyler Carpenter volunteered to rebuild those reels and also to clear coat all the rods that Ian had sanded in November before he passed away . At the same time, Martha Moulton from Surfland Bait & Tackle, on Plum Island, Newbury, Massachusetts, was able to get me twenty new Penn 113HN USA reels (known as the Penn Baja Special reel before the USA designation came into being). These are one of the better reels we used on the jig sticks. Danny spent a lot of time loading these reels with line, checking the reels out and combining them with the rods that we were going to use for each reel. I went back and forth between Danny and the restaurant, trying to get both the restaurant and the Bunny Clark projects completed on time.

The season as a whole was very successful. We never did have a bad trip, our worst being a trip with smaller than normal legal fish that filled two fish totes (240 lbs of round fish). As noted, the spring weather was rainy at times with much cloudy weather but very little wind. This was very conducive to fish biting. The spring haddock fishing was phenomenal, although the best haddock fishing was found offshore. In general, we caught bigger fish than normal for the season. The plan was to complete almost ninety trips, initially. We actually only completed seventy-two trips mostly due to cancellations for heavier weather than normal. However, we did lose a significant number of trips to engine breakdowns. True to his word, Danny made it through the year with flying colors. I also got through it. But I was surprised at how much more physically challenging it was than I had previously thought it would be. I was also left with the feeling that I never gave enough time to either the restaurants or the Bunny Clark. The proverbial phrase; "Jack of all trades, master of none.", came to mind most often.

The issue I will have after this season will be the comparisons made with other seasons. We didn't complete the number of trips that we normally complete during a season. Day to day comparisons can't be made. The graphs and tables comparing the number of certain species landed from year to year can't be completed. And, really, the success of last season can't be compared because, not sailing every day, kept us away from fish trends and movement, which is the most important part of being successful in fish landings. Knowing what the fish are doing and where they are going depends on day to day knowledge that I didn't have last season. So, in too many ways, this was a satellite season. A partial season that was very successful just the same.

One thing I did learn was that I needed another day at the restaurants. I also came to the conclusion that I will not try to replace Captain Ian Keniston. My operation is very unique. That doesn't mean that it's better than the other deep sea fishing operations. But it is different. And I think the demands are more. Or, at least, I demand more of my captains. Ian worked for me as a deck hand for seven years before he started captaining the Bunny Clark. By then, he knew exactly what I wanted and how to do it. We learned from each other, grew together and became a team that I do not have time to attempt to build again. Ian never once questioned a decision that I made, regardless of whether he thought it was a good or bad idea. I can't imagine working as well with another individual. This coming season I will only be running two marathon trips a week, Tuesday and Thursday. I am dropping the extreme day trips. That was a trip I had designed for Ian and Ian's customers. I like the longer trips. Plus, it will give me more time ashore and a day to recover between trips. Danny DellaMonica and I have already committed to this for next season. The schedule details for next season will be available in the coming weeks.

The 2025 Fishing Season Specifics:

Barndoor Skate: The barndoor skate is the largest skate caught in New England waters. Last year was not a big barndoor skate year. Normally we start seeing them in August. Barndoor skates can't be retained. In 1994, the World Conservation Union (ICUN ) listed the barndoor skate as "vulnerable" under it's "Categories & Criteria". The barndoor skate (Dipturus laevis) became listed as an endangered species in 2003 by the ICUN ). In 2019 it made the ICUN "Red List" for least concern species, which is just about the lowest level before it's taken off the list altogether. This species of fish is only found in the western north Atlantic ocean (New England & Maritime Canada). It is the eleventh largest skate found in the world. Specimens of over 60 pounds and larger have been caught on trawlers (draggers). The common or blue skate (Dipturus batis) is the largest skate in the world attaining weights up to 220 pounds. This skate is found in the eastern north Atlantic off the coast of Europe, the British Isles and the Mediterranean sea. It was listed as critically endangered in 2021 by the ICUN . Very few of these skates are seen anymore. At one time this skate was highly prized by anglers in the UK. The big skate (Raja binoculata) is the largest skate caught in North America attaining weights up to 200 pounds. It is found in the eastern north Pacific from Alaska to California. Since the fishery is much younger than all the other fisheries in the world and the range of this skate is much larger, this species is still available. The ICUN had listed this species "near threatened" but in 2014 changed it's designation to least concern. A directed fishery was started in the eastern north Pacific in 2003 for the big skate. Since then the population has dwindled considerably. Regulations, later, stopped this directed fishery. They have been making a come-back recently. All three of these skates share the same morphological characteristics (they all look similar with the pointed nose), have the same behavioral characteristics, display the same eating habits and are vulnerable to exploitation (dragging/trawling) due to their very slow growth rate, late maturity (8 years for the barndoor), low fecundity, ease of catch by the trawling method and large body size. My point is that the recent increased catch rate of the barndoor skate within the closed areas should be recognized. Although it's early, this could be another fishery management success story, the reasons for which seem very clear to me. To date there is no management or regulatory measure in place in New England for the barndoor skate apart from ad hoc protection in the closed areas in the Gulf of Maine and the closed areas of Georges Bank and, of course, it's "threatened species status" in the US. We caught two barndoor skates last season (2025), two during the 2024 fishing season, two during the 2023 season and five in 2022. The most we have caught in a season was fifteen in 2015. There have been seventy-five barndoor skates caught on the Bunny Clark since the first one was caught by the late Rick Gelaznik (MA) on October 4, 2008. I had never seen one caught on rod & reel on any boat in my lifetime before that date. They are fun to catch because they get so large and because it reminds one of hooking a halibut when they first get on a line.

Cod: As I have mentioned in previous Guestletters, I have been keeping track of all the cod of near or over 5 pounds (a "keeper" in my book) that we have caught on a daily basis since 1996. I then enter these figures in a database so I can get the total number of cod that we keep or might have been able to keep if we were able to bring them all home. Last year, with so few trips run, I still included the data in spread sheets and the database but I really can't compare numbers. What I can say is that we had a larger percentage of trips last year that saw no cod or only a few sub-legal cod than any previous year. There were places I went offshore, where I expect to find more legal cod, where I didn't find nearly enough cod to make sure everyone who sailed with us that day could bring one home. In fact, we only had one trip last season where we caught a legal cod per person during the two month fall cod season. If someone had told me twenty years ago or before that this was the future of codfishing in New England, I would have laughed them off the boat. But, when I think of it, looking back at the manner in which the New England Fishery Management Council was moving forward with regulatory decisions twenty years ago, I might have also had a thought that this was a real possibility. I do know that I still had a lot of hope for the future in those days. I'm sorry to think that these hopes were unfounded. I don't know how we are going to turn this cod crisis around.

The digital image below, taken during an offshore trip on September 11, 2025, shows John Kennedy (NY) holding a 20 pound pollock caught that day. As you can see from the table showing the top five of every species caught last year, below, this was the Bunny Clark's third largest pollock of the 2025 fishing season. In the past, a trip like this one, where we were fishing, would have seen the cod as the main target species. Over the years, our fall focus has shifted to the pollock as a species we target, while also keeping in mind that we could see some nice sized cod in the same area as well on John's trip. And we did see some; eight legal, as well as twelve sub-legal cod. This in an area where I specifically went to catch cod years ago.

Haddock: Last season, for only seventy-two trips, we had the eleventh best season for total number of haddock caught since I started taking anglers fishing on the Bunny Clark in 1983. This is because it was our third or fourth best spring for haddock fishing that I have ever seen. Mostly offshore, we saw our most and largest haddock during the months of April, May and June. After that, we still saw better than normal haddock fishing, again, mostly offshore, until after mid August where had very few, if any, trips where haddock was our most prevalent species. For the 2019 Bunny Clark fishing season we saw the most haddock we have ever seen caught with a total count of 24,688 (plus or minus two percent). This statistic applied to 191 trips that year. That comes out to about 129 plus haddock per trip including about sixty half day trips where we hardly see any haddock. Last year we saw a total count of 8,439 haddock which comes out to a little more than 117 haddock per trip, mostly due to the high volume landings in the spring. [When I think of the time period between 1984 and 1994, when, if you caught twenty to fifty haddock in a year, to see what we have been catching in the last ten, is incredible!] We had another huge year for trophy haddock last year. Details On all our trophy fish will be discussed later in this Guestletter.

For more detailed discussion on our haddock catches over the years, you may want to read our previous Guestletters where I have written more on this subject as it concerns me and my perceptions of the fishery.

Pollock: Last season was probably the hardest season to find a good number of pollock in the 8 to 10 size range. We found them. Yes. And we had trips where we had big pollock numbers and fish to 20 pounds. But these trips were very infrequent last season. There were places, like other years, where we could go and find these fish. But there seemed to be many less fish in these places than other years. In fact, every year previous to last year had more pollock in these places. In the last twenty years, with few exceptions, we rarely see a trophy pollock. Before then, we relied on these bigger fish to win pools and register trophies for anglers. There was none of that last season. But this is what it has been like for all those previous seasons after 2005. We did find places where there were large numbers of smaller "keeper" sized pollock. But we didn't find these places as often either. In my opinion, the number of trips we ran had nothing to do with our pollock take. It just wasn't a good year for pollock, our worst. We had an uptick in pollock landings in 2023. Pollock landings have dropped the two seasons since then.

Cusk: It was another big year for cusk. And, just like the season before last, most of these cusk had clean fillets. No worms (nematodes). It is normal to find worms in cusk and, for that matter, in cod as well. All our groundfish have worms at times. I have always associated worms with fish that are more territorial, like the cusk. School fish, like school cod, that move or used to move into our area in the spring, mostly for spawning purposes, rarely have worms. The darker skinned cod and cusk, which are the "resident fish", usually do have worms. Even the haddock, when we see them in the early spring have worms. This, to me, has always meant that we have an overwintering population of haddock that remain before the spring run of spawning haddock show up. The "new" spawning haddock rarely ever have worms. I've always thought of a cusk as a more territorial fish. So why the change in the last two years? Was there some movement from deeper water where they are less likely to have worms? The fact of the matter is that we saw more cusk last season, just like we did the year before. More than normal. There were many trips where we had more than sixty cusk caught during a trip, inshore and offshore. Also, we caught bigger cusk last year as well, a discussion for later in this Guestletter. We had some very exciting cusk catches.

[The picture on the right is a shot of Jeff Corey holding two cusk as a double, both fish caught on the same line at the same time. The cusk on the left is a 22 pound Maine state trophy cusk while the cusk on the right weighed 10 pounds. This was the Bunny Clark's second largest double of the fishing season last year, Jeff's largest cusk ever and the third largest cusk of the 2025 Bunny Clark fishing season.]

White Hake: White hake landings were down last year. Most of the reason we didn't see as many or to even know if there were as many was that we normally see them in August when they first show up and target them in the fall. Last fall gave us very few opportunities to try for them. Even then, we did not have good enough weather for, what I call, a good hake bite. So we had missed opportunities, having no trips where I could take my time and look for them on the sounding machine. We were lucky enough to get a good chance on them well offshore during an excellent weather day in July but not so lucky in September and October.

Atlantic Halibut: When you consider how few trips we took last year, our halibut season was excellent. This is one fish that we have seen more of in the last twenty years, unlike every other species we chase, with the exception of the haddock. Last season we caught a total of eight halibut, six of legal size. The season before last we caught fourteen halibut with only three that were big enough to keep. Our best seasons were 2021 with eighteen halibut, 2020 with fourteen halibut, 2019 with eighteen halibut (mostly legal sized), 2018 with twenty-three halibut (mostly sub-legal), 2017 with twenty halibut (mostly small) and 2012 with fifteen halibut (all small). Halibut became a regular occurrence in 2011. From the beginning of 2011 until the end of 2016 we caught sixty halibut total. We didn't see a single legal halibut in that time period until 2015. Starting in the year of 1983 (our first year) until the end of 2010 we saw a total of eighteen halibut caught on the Bunny Clark. Only two of those fish were over 30 pounds or what would be called a legal fish today. So we are seeing the halibut come back. All through the Bunny Clark seasons, on any given year, we have lost big halibut. We lost some huge ones in the 80's and 90's. It was so infrequent to catch one then that very few anglers were prepared to hook into a fish that big and keep from breaking the line. Most anglers are still not prepared to bring a big halibut to gaff. There have been over two hundred halibut caught from the Bunny Clark since we launched her in 1983. We have lost about half that many during that same time period. Last season was no exception. Even though there is no way to qualify this, we lost some of our largest halibut last season, yet again. I will write of this later on in this missive.

One thing I will say is that we landed halibut on only three occasions. We lost halibut on seven other occasions where we only saw the fish on two occasions before losing them. And we saw a sub-legal halibut that we weighed quickly before releasing it. The first occasion that we boated a halibut last season was on the first trip, a 76 pounder. The next time was in July where we brought four in to weigh and lost our biggest one. The last time was in August where we boated two legal fish and lost the largest one before we got a chance to see it. The weirdest thing about the last two trips, particularly the one in August, was that I knew we were going to have good halibut trips both times. Particularly the August trip, normally a poor time to plan to catch a halibut. The weather was perfect for it both times. This so infrequently happens, particularly where we didn't sail every day last year.

Monkfish or Goosefish: Last season was another relatively poor season for monkfish. We might have caught the fewest monkfish in Bunny Clark history last season. We might have caught three other monkfish than the five below found in the year's trophy list. Monkfish are certainly not a target species. They are an incidental species at best. But they are very fun to see. And they are excellent eating. So it's always a good thing when an angler catches one. Of note, we might have caught more had we fished every trip that we missed in October and November, a good time to see them.

Whiting: We didn't catch as many whiting as we did the year before last, our best. Part of this was because of the reduced number of fishing trips. Part was because Captain Ian wasn't there, the captain responsible for catching the most and our biggest whiting in Bunny Clark history. Part was because I stayed away from them, targeting other species. We did have one trip where we landed nearly a fish box of whiting tailing on one drift. And it wasn't because there weren't a lot of whiting around. There were times where I would sail over school after school of them on the way to other areas I wanted to go. The whiting as well as the haddock and the halibut have come back to higher levels than were seen in the '80s and early '90s.

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

Wolffish: Oddly, we had a much better year for wolffish last season. We caught thirty-two. Extrapolated out this would be seventy or eighty wolffish, had we completed our normal complement of 180 trips last season. We didn't, of course. And extrapolations don't work in fishery management. I will say that it would have been very interesting to see how many we would have caught had we made the extra trips last year. We don't often fish in the rocky areas where we find most of our wolffish. However, some years, they are found on the gravel with the haddock we are catching. This was the case last year. A handful of other years were like that as well. During these years we caught more wolffish than we were used to seeing during the "normal" years. Why this made the difference last year, I will never know. It was much the same in 2021 when we caught a total of sixty wolffish for 175 trips. During the years of 2022, 2023 and 2024, averaging 177 trips a year, the wolffish were found almost exclusively associated with the hard bottom rock piles and wrecks. With those years we caught a total of twenty-seven, six (our worst year) and eighteen respectively. My feeling is that we are seeing less and less wolffish in general. Since I started seriously counting them in 1996, 1998 was our best year with a total of three hundred and ten wolffish for 293 trips, including 85 half day trips (where wolffish rarely feature). From 1983 until the end of 1995, if we didn't catch at least four hundred to five hundred wolffish a year, I would be in shock. We haven't been able to keep wolffish since May 1, 2010 as they have been deemed a threatened species by the National Marine Fisheries Service. In recent years, when they are brought to gaff, if they are small, we just release them as carefully as we can. If they are trophy worthy, we quickly weigh them, take a picture and release them to ensure their survival. There hasn't been a trophy award presented for catching a wolffish in the state of Maine since 2010 as the state does not want to encourage targeting them. Before the prohibition went into effect, the minimum acceptance weight for a trophy wolffish was 15 pounds.

Redfish or Ocean Perch: I don't target redfish. When I do, it's because customers want to bring some home or because there are other fish on a specific piece of bottom, along with the bigger redfish, that make it more attractive to try. We had no problem finding redfish last season. During the last few years, our season has started after haddock season has started. So we have been starting right out on the haddock, finding redfish only as an incidental species in the process. During the early part of the spring, in the colder water, we find them in the shallowest of water. Later, we find them in the deep water much more frequently.

Atlantic Mackerel: We are in a new phase with the mackerel. For the past six years or more we have been finding them on all the offshore fishing spots, particularly in the fall. They have become so prevalent, at times, that it has forced us to move to other areas where they won't bother us as much. By bother I mean, sometimes, you just can't get your line to bottom because a mackerel will take a fly or a bait hook before you even get to where the desired groundfish are hanging out. This scenario played out many times last season. The population of mackerel must be huge to see them inside along the shore and on every major bank or ledge that we fish offshore. I have gone into greater detail about the status of the mackerel, recent regulations on them and my thoughts, in previous Guestletters.

[The digital image on the left is a shot showing Mark Girard holding his first ever Atlantic halibut, a 56.5 pound Maine state trophy, presenting the underside of the halibut to the camera. This was the Bunny Clark's third largest halibut caught last season.]

Porbeagle Sharks or Mackerel Sharks: During the last eight seasons in a row, we have seen porbeagle sharks or hooked them on the first trip of the season. The rest of the spring, before the water warms up, we try to avoid them in order to concentrate on catching the desired species of groundfish that we target. We normally see a lot of them. Last year, we were rarely bothered by them. Locally, they are also called a mackerel shark as they show up when the mackerel show up. There is a good reason as this is their main food source. We had plenty of mackerel last year but very few porbeagle sharks. Many spring trips were devoid of porbeagle sightings. It isn't as if the porbeagle, as a species, is in crisis. The population is deemed to be very healthy. For some unknown reason, we just didn't see very many last season. We do occasionally land one if the opportunity is such that the anglers want to do so. And we did have a few opportunities. Just not as many. I figured that we would be plagued by them this year, my thoughts before season started. That was certainly not the case. Not a single porbeagle was brought aboard last season of legal size or a pup.

Dogfish or Sand Sharks: The dogfish has always been a pest. They tangle lines, break off terminal tackle, smell bad, chaff fishing lines, bite anglers, spine anglers and never stop moving around when you are trying to take them off the hook. It used to be, when I first started with the Bunny Clark, that they would strike the offshore banks in June and then move inshore, leaving all the offshore banks devoid of them until they started to move offshore again in the fall. Sometime in the twenty-first century they remained on the offshore banks. It's been that way for quite a few years now. That was certainly the case last year. However, we didn't really see many dogfish last season. The most we ever saw was a count over one hundred and fifty on June 30 and July 10, 2025. We caught one hundred and thirty-five, our third worst day on July 3, 2025. After that, we rarely saw more than fifty caught in a day. Sometimes a whole week would go by without seeing one. I loved it. It's the least number of dogfish we have seen per trip in many many years, maybe ever! What is most amazing is that Fred Kunz rarely saw one, Larry Reed (ME) didn't catch a single one (for only the second time?) and Darlene Chin, the dogfish queen, was never bothered by dogfish this season. Darlene sailed on many trips with me last season. If she caught one, I don't remember it. She certainly didn't mention it to me! And it was never something she was ever proud of!

Blue Shark or Bluedog: The blue sharks were not bad last year. Certainly less than either last season or the season before. There was only one time where we had to move from an area to avoid them. We were only bothered by them occasionally. Last year they showed up a month earlier than in the 2024 season. The first we saw them was August 5th, to be exact. We lost eight rigs to them that day. The worst day we had was on September 4th, when we lost twenty-six rigs to blue sharks. We saw one or two blue sharks a trip from the end of September through most of October, none in the last week of fishing.

Bluefin Tuna: We had only, maybe, a couple bluefin tuna hookups. Because we never did see the fish, they might not have been tuna. Whatever they were, they were too big to handle. At the end of July, the National Marine Fisheries Service curtailed bluefin tuna landings for the rest of the season for recreational vessels with tuna permits. This was an unprecedented move that had never occurred before with recreational bluefin tuna permit holders. It didn't matter to us anyway. But I'm sure it hurt those charter boats who rely on going tuna fishing, and landing them for their patrons, to make a living. If you look through my former Guestletters you will see years where we caught quite a few tuna, incidentally, of course. We don't target them.

Baitfish in General: On the very first trip this season, as I was heading offshore and coming up to the top of the fishing bank that we were going to try first, I noticed, what looked like, sandeels. I started seeing them at sixty fathoms all the way to less than forty fathoms. It wasn't until the first fish was hauled aboard that I realized that the schools of fish that I had been seeing were, indeed, sandeels. I had never seen sandeels on that bank before. We saw them on that bank for the rest of the year, every time we fished there. In the spring they seemed to be everywhere. As the fall came on we saw less of them. We found sandeels on every major bank we fished on last year. This is something I have never seen before. I've seen sandeels on Stellwagon Bank and Fippennies Bank but have never seen them anywhere else until this last season.

The herring were nowhere to be found until they showed up on southern Jeffrey's Ledge after the first of November. I'm not sure how long they stayed there as we had stopped fishing after November 3rd.

The year before last, we had a run of squid on some of the offshore banks. We found the fish eating squid at different times during the season but not the extent that we saw in 2024 and 2023.

Pre-Season Improvements: As mentioned above, most of the pre-season improvements were done, almost single handedly, by David Pease. This included but was not limited to building the new rudder port, installing the new rudder, rudder shoe, rudder stuffing box and new propeller as well as completing all the requirements of the U. S. Coast Guard, one a lengthy process that required some serious design work. Some other items included rebuilding my helm (bar stool) seat, all systems checks, rebuilding a gaff holder and many minor repairs.

[The digital image on the right was taken during the June 17, 2025 offshore trip. The shot shows Nikki Szczepanski (VA) holding her 15 pound cod. At the time, this was the our second largest cod of the 2025 fishing season and it was the third largest fish of that trip. It still ended up making the top ten cod list, in size (#7or #8), for the season. Nikki has always been able to catch a special fish whenever she sails with us which is, normally, once a year. Of the six cod of keeper size that we caught that day, she caught three of them. It wasn't the season so they all had to be returned alive. But that isn't the point, is it. ]

In-Season Engine Breakdowns:

The Bunny Clark's D13-700 Volvo Penta marine diesel engine ended ten years of service at the end of last season. We were fraught with engine problems again in 2025, collectively, the most engine problems I have ever encountered during a season. Just after launching in early April of last season, we replaced the neutral switch at the transmission that allowed us to start the engine and run the rpms up as far as I wanted to. Without the neutral switch, we were limited to 2000 rpms. This was close to our normal cruising rpms but not close enough.

We had a hard time starting the engine during the last two months of the 2024 season and for most of the early part of the last season. This turned out to be a combination of things but was mostly due to the fuel pump, which we had to change out in the middle of last season.

However, the starting batteries needed to be changed out, as we weren't getting the amperage. Also, the voltage would drop at starting time. So we replaced both starting batteries. And I also replaced the starter. I had four or five years on both the starting batteries and the starter. I like to change out the starter on every engine I have ever owned after five years, max. There was a time when I rebuilt the starter and alternators every year. I stopped doing that about fifteen years ago, deeming it a little bit over the top.

The rod end disengaged from the starboard piston rod at the steering quadrant in the lazarette. That was easy to fix as soon as I knew what had happened. We lost our steering coming down the channel into Perkins Cove. We got turned sideways just before the footbridge. The only way I could get the Bunny Clark to her overnight resting place was to back (and fill) into the Cove, under the bridge, through the boats moored there and to the Barnacle Billy's float!

We replaced all the oil lines around the engine. They were all starting to leak and creating a mess in the engine room.

We had to replace a water temperature sensor and the rubber boot connecting the air filter to the turbo.

In late June, the splined shaft that holds the rubber impeller inside the raw water pump, and is the mechanism that moves the salt water through the engine, cooling the fresh water, snapped at the base. Without the salt water movement, the engine immediately started to over-heat. It also made a horribly loud noise, making me think that a plane was landing on the Bunny Clark or some boat was trying to buzz us. We were dead in the water and had to get a tow back to Perkins Cove. Luckily we were only, three miles out. This required replacing the whole raw water pump. At the same time, I had all the fuel check valves around the fuel pump replaced - thinking this would help our continued starting problem. It turns out that the check valves weren't the problem.Who knew?

As a normal course, I had planned to take a day off in the middle of October to time the engine, replace all the coolant, change out the thermostat and check the fresh water pump. Five years into my first season with the engine I lost the fresh water pump where the shaft/impeller actually chewed into the housing casting, making a hole that blew coolant into the engine room and left us dead in the water three miles offshore. I replaced the fresh water pump at the time. This was another five year mark so I wanted to make sure the pump still had some life. It didn't! It was lucky that I decided to check this. The replacement fresh water (coolant) pump from almost five years ago was in the midst having the same problem that the original fresh water pump had! I might have made it until the end of the year but I didn't want to take that chance. So I had the fresh water pump replaced.

All these engine problems were much easier to cope with during this season where we only completed three trips a week. The nice thing is that all these pumps, hoses, sensors, wiring harness, batteries, starter and neutral switch are only a year old at the most. So this coming season I "should have" fewer engine problems? Let's hope!

Improvements for 2025: We will be completing some minor cosmetic work this season. Much of the enamel work will be touched up, the trunkhouse and bow deck need to be re-Awlgripped and the wooden trim around cockpit needs to be looked at. How much of it to be completed will depend on what I decide when I go over the work order with David Simonelli, the manager at Safe Harbor in Eliot, Maine. I have two items the U. S. Coast Guard asked me to complete for the coming season. One involves some electronic work as it will enhance my communication capabilities offshore. I'm also considering a Starlink platform. Other than that, most will concern items that our patrons will never see including minor repairs below the water line, painting the bottom, engine check (ground wires, linkages, hoses, etc.) checking the cutlass bearing, etc. The actual project list will be finalized after this Guestletter is posted. The boat will never look as good as it did when Captain Ian and Dave were working on the boat at Dave's Boat Shop. One of the two of them was always working on the boat all winter. This won't be the case this winter ('25/'26). David Pease had a health setback. So he won't be able to have the Bunny Clark in his shop this winter. Instead, the old girl will reside at Safe Harbor in Eliot. A final note; if I left the total work order with Safe Harbor to complete, the boat would come out perfectly, I have no doubts. With the limited season ahead, I don't want to get the boat in yacht condition. I don't need to. I just want to get it to the point where it can be cleaned and always be made to look nice and to be one hundred percent functional with all the USCG requirements completed. The saga continues!

Our web site at http://www.bunnyclark.com continues to be the location where you can get information about the Bunny Clark operation on a daily basis during the season and off-season. We have a schedule and rates section, a photo section, a world records section and more. Our fishing update section provides anglers with up to date information on the daily catch, fish sizes, daily weather, angler deeds and fishery management information. During the off season, I write about what we are working on, information about Barnacle Billy's restaurants and my life in general. This Guestletter resides on our web site along with some of my previous Guestletters. Although I can�t personally answer all the email that comes in associated with the site, our staff does a great job with this while also answering reservation questions and scheduling fishing dates. We also have a service online where you can book a reservation for a fishing trip on the Bunny Clark without calling in. This online service will be available by February 2, 2026, 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 2026 Bunny Clark fishing season will start at 6:00 AM, February 1, 2026, phone reservations only, for that first day of bookings. At least this is the plan as I write this Guestletter.

[The digital image on the left was taken on June 5, 2025, during the Dennis Pietro (NH) offshore marathon trip charter. This was a resurrection of the Dave Miller charter. Dave used to organize the Bunny Clark charters for years and years. I loved those charters, some of the best fishing trips I have ever taken, more so than any other series of charters. And it just happened that way. It wasn't as if I did anything different than I did with others. The picture is a shot of the Dave Miller (MA) holding up his 8 pound Maine state trophy haddock. Even after all those trips with me in the past, and all the trips made on his own boat, this is the largest haddock that Dave Miller has ever boated. And that's the kind of stuff that makes me proud of what I do! ]

We maintain a healthy Maine state trophy program in order to recognize the anglers who catch the larger than normal fish on the Bunny Clark during a season. Maine is very good in honoring those who catch great fish. We had a much better year last year than I expected we would have for trophy fish with a total count of 171 out of seventy-two trips. I know I can do better. Trophy haddock landings, again, were exceptional, our trophy cusk list was amazing and we filled our other trophy species categories with more ease than I would have hoped with such a limited season and good weather where it was needed, except in the fall. The 2024 season saw the most trophy fish we have recorded since 2012. We caught 306 trophy fish that season as compared to 392 trophy fish in 2012. But, to be fair, we ran one hundred and seventy-nine trips in 2024 and completed two hundred and sixty-seven trips in 2012. The most trophy fish that we have caught in the twenty-first century for a season took place in 2003 with a count of 1,610 fish for three hundred and fifteen fishing trips.. For a comparison we caught more trophy fish in just pollock over 30 pounds in 1986 than the total count of all trophy fish species in 2003! When I think of all the dogfish we used to catch in the early days, it was a wonder that we caught as many trophy fish as we did. But, in those days, the huge schools of big fish seemed to displace the schools of dogfish to the point where it wasn't a bother. It was the smaller schools of big fish that were bothered by dogfish. Still, for what we had in weather, number of trips and breakdowns last season, I think we did remarkably well. The big key for catching trophy fish is having the anglers with the ability to catch them. I had that in spades last season.

At the time of this writing a decision has not been made for cod and haddock regulations for the fiscal 2026 fishing season (May 1, 2026 to April 30, 2027). The Recreational Advisory Panel (RAP), where I hold a seat, is due to meet on January 20, 2026, like we always do, to propose a set of regulations that the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) will accept for the coming season. How it works is that once we (the RAP) comes up with a plan, it goes for review by the Groundfish Committee. After it passes muster there, it moves on to be voted by the full New England Fishery Management Council (Council). If the regulations are accepted there, it moves on to NMFS. If accepted by NMFS, the new rules are supposed to be implemented on May 1, 2026. It hasn't worked that way for the last five years. For the last few years, the regulations have not been implemented by May 1. Last season, they were not implemented at all. For the two years before that it was delayed until September. In January of 2025, for last year's regulation proposal meeting at the RAP, I made the motion with the set of new regulations that were supposed to be in place by May 1, 2025. These regulations were accepted by the RAP, and pushed forward to the Committee, the Council and, then, NMFS. It included the recreational angler being able to keep a cod a person in May and a decrease in the minimum size of a legal haddock from 18" to 17" for the season. Since these new set of regulations were not implemented, we missed the May cod season and the legal haddock size stayed at 18" all year. So, in the western Gulf of Maine, where the Bunny Clark fishes, we had the same regulations as the year before. This didn't bother me as we don't catch many cod in May anymore. And a 17" haddock is very small. Too small, really. My opinion, of course.

These were the regulations for the 2025 fishing season, which were the same regulations we had for the 2024 fishing season in the western Gulf of Maine.:

Gulf of Maine cod

Open season: September 1 - October 31 and May 1 - 31.

Minimum size: 23 inches

Possession limit: 1 fish per day

Gulf of Maine haddock

Open season: May 1 � February 28; April 1�30

Minimum size: 17 inches

Possession limit: 15 fish per day

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. 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. I have no idea what we will be allowed to keep with bluefin tuna. Since NMFS completely shut down the angling of bluefins in July 2025, for the rest of the 2025 season, I have no idea what the plan is for 2026, at this time. It is illegal to keep barndoor skates, eel pouts and wolffish.

I will post the new regulations in the Fishing Update section of this website when I know. The progress taken in making these regulations will also be posted in a timely manner on this site when I know.

As a suggestion, you might want to check out the previous Guestletters if you are interested in the history of the regulations within our fishery. I have not delved into my opinions of the regulatory process as much I have in other Guestletters in hopes that this will be a more interesting read. I tend to get bogged down in the minutiae of the subject matter. I also tend to rail against some of the bone moves that the New England Fishery Management Council makes in the pseudo-name of conservation. I will try to stay away from my opinion as I continue on.

As I feel that the greatest achievement in angling is the ability of a person to hook and land a trophy fish on their own, I have listed my angling guests who caught the top five largest of each significant species during the 2025 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 on the first day of the first year, May 1983). I feel that this is the fairest comparison between the angler�s fish since weight loss is proportional to the amount of time the fish is out of water and every species loses weight differently, more or less, depending on their specific habitat driven morphology. The weight loss differential varies between species. Getting a weight on a fish just after it comes over the rail makes the weight of every fish caught on the Bunny Clark directly comparable through all of the past fishing seasons.

NAME (STATE)

FISH - lbs.

LENGTH X GIRTH (inches)

DATE CAUGHT

Buzz Leonard (ME)

Monkfish 11

7-15-25

Olivia Swenson (RI)

Monkfish 10.5

5-15-25

Scott Leavitt (NH)

Monkfish 7

7-8-25

Rich Mallott (NY)

Monkfish 5

9-11-25

Brian St. Saviour (ME)

Monkfish 3

10-21-25

The shot on the right is digital image of Scott Leavitt (NH) holding his 7 pound monkfish. This fish was caught on one of our two big offshore trips in July. And, as you can see from the table on the left, it was also our third largest goosefish of the year, last year. But it's also just a great picture!

Steve LaPlante (CT)

Barndoor Skate 23*

7-15-25

Steve Selmer (NH)

Barndoor Skate 18*

7-15-25

Charles Wallace (NY)

Redfish 3
16 X 14

5-5-25

Boo Whitten (ME)

Redfish 3
17 X 14

9-2-25

Fred Kunz (NH)

Redfish 2.5
16 X 11.5

5-6-25

Jeff Corey (MA)

Redfish 2.25
16 X 13

5-6-25

Andy Morris (NH)

Redfish 2.25
15 X 12.25

6-23-25

Jeremy Agresti (FL)

Wolffish 21**

7-28-25

Darlene Chin (FL/NH)

Wolffish 19.5**

7-29-25

Luc Girard (QC)

Wolffish 18**

5-27-25

David Moore (ME)

Wolffish 17+**

Not Boated

6-23-25

Bryan Dillon (NH)

Wolffish 16.5**

6-3-25

Shane Anderson (MA)

Wolffish 15**

6-5-25

Steve LaPlante can be seen on the right holding his 23 pound barndoor skate that he caught with me on one of our two biggest offshore trips last season. This was the first barndoor skate that Steve has ever caught.

Karl Day (ME)

Pollock 22.5

9-4-25

Carl Balliet (PA)

Pollock 20.25

7-31-25

John Kennedy (NY)

Pollock 20

9-11-25

Karilyn Bonney (ME)

Pollock 19

9-2-25

Kevin "Greg" White (MA)

Pollock 19

9-30-25

Roger Gavin (MA)

White Hake 50

50 X 34

7-8-25

Roger Gavin (MA)

White Hake 42

N/A

7-8-25

Ray Westermann (MA)

White Hake 38

45 X 29

7-8-25

Steve Selmer (NH)

White Hake 36

46 X 27

7-8-25

Steve LaPlante (CT)

White Hake 34.5

45 X 28

7-8-25

Karl Day (ME)

Haddock 9

29 X 15

5-29-25

Tom Murphy (VT)

Haddock 8.75

27.5 X 17

5-8-25

Dave Keeney (CT)

Haddock 8.5

27 X 16.5

4-24-25

David Daigle (MA)

Haddock 8.5

28 X 15.25

5-27-25

Alain Stanislas (MA)

Haddock 8.25
28 X 15

5-27-25

Greg Kidd (ME)

Whiting 3.75

22 X 11

7-11-25

Raymond Hickman (NY)

Whiting 3.75

24 X 11

9-25-25

Bobby Gelinas (NH)

Whiting 3.25

22.5 X 11

7-18-25

David Beaulieu (ME)

Whiting 2.75

10-27-25

Rich Mason (CT)

Whiting 2.5

10-27-25

Darlene Chin (FL/NH)

Whiting 2.5

8-28-25

Kris Cichon (NJ)

Cusk 32.5

42.5 X 22.5

7-22-25

Jonathan Griffin (MA)

Cusk 27

38.5 X 23.5

7-8-24

Jeff Corey (MA)

Cusk 22

38 X 20

7-22-25

Dick Lyle (NY)

Cusk 19
36.25 X 19

7-8-25

George Bright (NJ)

Cusk 18.5

36 X 21.5

6-30-25

Shannon Tibbetts (ME)

Cusk 18.5

36.25 X 25

7-29-25

The digital image on the right was taken on an extreme day trip in July. The shot shows Greg Kidd holding his 3.75 pound Maine state trophy whiting that he caught on that trip. As you can see, it tied for the largest whiting that was caught on the Bunny Clark last season.

Orry Blake (ME)

Cod 25+**

Released

8-28-25

Ken Bowring (ME)

Cod 20.5

9-30-25

Matt Luce (ME)

Cod 19.5**

6-3-25

Andrew Fuller (ME)

Cod 18.5**

8-26-25

Steve LaFlam (NH)

Cod 18

9-2-25

Troy Galloway (MA)

Halibut 76

54

4-15-25

Alex Medunitza (ME)

Halibut 57.5

49

6-12-24

Mark Girard (NH)

Halibut 56.5

47

7-15-25

Steve LaPlante (CT)

Halibut 53***

Released

8-25-25

Bill Harding (ME)

Halibut 52.5***

Released

7-15-25

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

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

** Federal regulation has prohibited the retention of wolffish since May 1, 2010. Federal regulations for the 2025 season also prohibited the retention of cod except for the months of September & October. All the wolffish were released back to the ocean alive. Two of the top five cod were kept during the 2025 fishing season. We focused on cod more during the fall, when 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.

[The digital image on the left is a shot taken of John Lambert, Jr. (NY) shown holding his 2 pound Maine state trophy redfish which he caught in early May with me on an extreme day trip. This was only one of eight trophy redfish caught on the Bunny Clark last season.]

Steve LaPlante caught the most trophy fish in the top five last season with a count of three. Roger Gavin, Steve Selmer, Karl Day, Jeff Corey and Darlene Chin all tied for second with two trophies each in the top five.

Since the 2015 Bunny Clark fishing season we have only had three seasons where all the top five slots were taken with trophy (haddock weighing 7 pounds or more) haddock until the last season. Last season was the fourth time. The seasons before last season included the 2021, 2022 and 2024 season. During both the 2021 and 2022 seasons seven trophy haddock were landed. Only three trophy haddock were landed during the 2023 fishing season. The 2024 season saw fifty-six (or more - some were lost on the surface) trophy haddock, the third best year for trophy haddock in Bunny Clark history. Last season there were forty-four trophy haddock landed, the Bunny Clark's seventh best trophy haddock ever, with only seventy-two trips completed last season! During our best trophy haddock season, in the year 2000, there were ninety trophy haddock landed. Our second best season occurred in 2001 when we landed sixty-nine trophy haddock. Our fourth best year occurred in 2002 with a trophy haddock landing count of fifty-five. The year of 2010 came in at number five with fifty trophy haddock. That year was our best year for exceptionally big haddock with the top eight haddock weighing between 10 and 13 pounds!

During the 2024 fishing season, Jim Koplar (CT) caught five trophy haddock on a single trip, a marathon offshore trip in the spring. This is the most trophy haddock ever caught by an angler during a single trip on the Bunny Clark. In the past we had three anglers who caught three trophy haddock on one trip. That was the record before Jim made his mark in 2024. Those anglers who held the record included Gil Bonvie (MA) who achieved this feat on May 9, 2002, this was tied by Marc Holland (MA) on April 29, 2003 and was tied again by Jeff Frisby (NY) on April 23, 2010. Last season, Karl Day joined the honored second group by catching three haddock during a trip on May 29, 2025. As you can see, above, he caught the largest haddock of the year last season, a 9 pounder, on the same date that he caught the three total. Nice going, Karl. Another record in the books for the old BC!

The 2013 season was the first Bunny Clark season ever where we didn't see a cod over 20 pounds. In fact, it was the first season that we didn't see a cod over 30 pounds! And, because of that, I didn't take the time to list the top five cod in that Guestletter. After the 2014 fishing season I decided to list the top five, in keeping with every other Guestletter I have ever written. During the 2014 fishing season we did catch two cod of 20 pounds or better. During the 2015 season, Larry Kabat's 25.5 pound cod was the largest cod the Bunny Clark had seen since Liam Kennedy (NJ) caught a 32 pound Maine state trophy cod on May 15, 2012! Bryan Lewer's 45.5 pounder, caught in 2016, is the largest cod we have seen since Liam Kennedy caught his 47.5 pounder in May of 2011. The 2017 Bunny Clark fishing season was the first season since the 2012 fishing season that the top five cod were all over 20 pounds. There were thirteen cod over 20 pounds caught during the 2017 season. In comparison, there were ten cod caught that were 20 pounds or more during the 2012 Bunny Clark fishing season. In 2019 we saw eleven cod of 20 pounds or better. During the 2020 season there were only nine cod of 20 pounds or better. The 2021 season we only saw four cod of 20 pounds or more. During the 2022 fishing season we stooped to a new low with only three cod caught over 20 pounds. Two of those fish were 20.5 pounds each. The 2023 season saw only five cod over 20 pounds. Another low occurred during the 2024 fishing season when we only saw two cod caught over 20 pounds. Last season, again, we only saw two cod over 20 pounds and, one of the two, we never even got a chance to weigh! Clearly, fishery management is dropping the ball as it concerns helping the cod spawning stock biomass. With the decreasing numbers in the cod population, specifically the larger breeding cod, I'm not sure I would like to have a crystal ball right now. I can't see a viable solution unless the groundfishery were stopped altogether. I'm hoping that I am wrong about this but I really don't think I am! So much for not giving my opinions on fishery management in future Guestletters!

The Bunny Clark's all time largest cod:

Angler (State)	Species - Weight	Season Caught
1. Marjory Kerr (VT)	Cod - 83 lbs.	1984
1. Neil Downey (MA)	Cod - 83 lbs.	1992
3. Dave LaRue (NH)	Cod - 78 lbs.	1989
4. Bill Kellerman (NY)	Cod - 77.5 lbs.	1987
5. Ken Ott (NY)	Cod - 77 lbs.	1984
6. Robert Withee (MA)	Cod - 76 lbs.	1990
7. Samuel Massey, Jr. (TN)	Cod - 75 lbs.	1989
8. David LaPlante (VT)	Cod - 74.5 lbs.	1991
9. Dennis "Satch" McMahon (ME)	Cod - 72 lbs.	1990
10. Lloyd Chapman (ON)	Cod - 71.5.	1988
11. Carl Ellsworth (NH)	Cod - 71 lbs.	1987
12. Richard Plumhof (NY)	Cod - 70 lbs.	1988

There was another decrease in average monkfish size last year. But I can't help but think that, had we had more trips, we might have seen something different, particularly since we lost the best part of the season for catching them due to the heavier than normal fall weather.

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.

Our average pollock sizes continue to go down. Last season, we witnessed the smallest pollock average size we have ever seen in a Bunny Clark season. This was very similar to the season before and the season before that. Our biggest pollock last season was only 22.5 pounds caught by, already mentioned, excellent angler, Karl Day, as you can see in the table above. Our largest pollock during the 2024 and 2023 fishing season was 23 pounds. The most interesting part about Karl's 22.5 pound pollock, last season, was that he caught it as a double with another pollock of 9 pounds, both fish caught on the same line at the same time. This made it the third best double of the season last year!

In 1986 there were 996 anglers aboard the Bunny Clark who caught Maine state trophy pollock of 30 pounds or more. Thirty pounds was the minimum acceptance weight to register a trophy pollock caught in state of Maine waters in those days (a trophy pollock starts at 25 pounds today). With Maine trophy fish you are only allowed to apply for one trophy per species per year. That year some of my anglers caught over a hundred trophy pollock each. I will never see that again and it's unlikely anyone reading this Guestletter will ever see that again. In turn, I feel very lucky that we were able to take advantage of the opportunity to catch such nice sized pollock and to secure as many pollock world records as we did. It all stopped after 1991.

[The digital image, below, is a shot showing Danny DellaMonica, our illustrious deck hand, holding Troy Galloway's first ever halibut, a 76 pound Maine state trophy. This is the first time the Bunny Clark has ever seen a legal halibut on her deck during the first trip. It was also the largest landed Bunny Clark halibut of the fishing season last year and it comes in as the sixteenth largest halibut ever caught on the Bunny Clark.]

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

Angler (State)	Species - Weight	Season Caught
1. Linda Paul (ME)	Pollock - 51.25 lbs.	1990
2. Jim Plunkett (RI)	Pollock - 47.5 lbs.	1990
3. Bob Withee (NH)	Pollock - 46.75 lbs.	1990
4. Omer Hudon (NY)	Pollock - 46.25 lbs.	1991
5. Greg Boyt (ME)	Pollock - 45.5 lbs.	1990
6. "Steaker Jim" Strobridge (NH)	Pollock - 45 lbs.	1990
6. Tom Perrea (MA)	Pollock - 45 lbs.	1990
8. Gene Barcomb (VT)	Pollock - 44 lbs.	1988
8. Linda Paul (ME)	Pollock - 44 lbs.	1990
8. Floyd Raymond (NH)	Pollock - 44 lbs.	1990
8. David Dinsmore (ME)	Pollock - 44 lbs.	2002
12. Michael Parenteau (ME)	Pollock - 43 lbs.	1986
12. Tony Nucci (NY)	Pollock - 43 lbs.	1989
12. Floyd Raymond (NH)	Pollock - 43 lbs.	1991
12. George Tuttle, Jr. (ME)	Pollock - 43 lbs.	1991
12. Joe Lawley (PA)	Pollock - 43 lbs.	1994
12. Peggy Halburian (NY)	Pollock - 43 lbs.	1999

We started seeing a dramatic increase in whiting, particularly big whiting, starting in 2021. Every year since has been better, including last season. We caught a few nice sized whiting, Maine state trophies, but no exceptionally big whiting. But I never really focus on whiting.

The existing all tackle IGFA world record is 6 pounds 12 ounces caught by John Kapeckas out of Seabrook, New Hampshire on fishing grounds where I have fished before and less than twenty miles from Perkins Cove! A Bunny Clark angler, Jayde Meader (ME), would have held the IGFA world record whiting trophy before this, in 2018, with a fish weighing 5.5 pounds had he followed through with registering this fish. At the time, the world record whiting had been caught on the Bunny Clark in 1995 by Erik Callahan (RI), a half pound smaller, and was the existing world record. However, Jayde's opportunity to be awarded a world record was lost when he decided not to follow through with the procedure of completing the registration process. This would have been the first world record caught on the Bunny Clark under a captain other than myself. In this case, it was Captain Ian Keniston's boat. I felt bad for Ian at the time. I also spent a lot of my time when the fish was brought ashore, bringing Jayde to a weighmaster, officially weighing the fish and showing Jayde how to fill out all the forms appropriately. Alas, it was not to be. Ian was responsible for four of the top five biggest whiting caught on the Bunny Clark.

Angler (State)	Species - Weight	Season Caught
1. Jayde Meader (ME)	Whiting - 5.5 lbs.	2018
2. Erik Callahan (RI)	Whiting - 5 lbs.	1995
2. Jason Collier (VT)	Whiting - 5 lbs.	2015
2. Rick Schwartz (NH)	Whiting - 5 lbs.	2018
2. Trey Shaw (ME)	Whiting - 5 lbs.	2023
6. Jeff Gallatly (ME)	Whiting - 4.5 lbs.	2015
6. Dave Walden (CT)	Whiting - 4.5 lbs.	2018
6. Ross Schneider (ME)	Whiting - 4.5 lbs.	2022
6. Clinton Sousa (NH)	Whiting - 4.5 lbs.	2022
6. Joe Freeman (ME)	Whiting - 4.5 lbs.	2024
11. Dave Bingell (CT)	Whiting - 4.25 lbs.	2018
11. Chad Johnston (ME)	Whiting - 4.25 lbs.	2018
13. Jonathan Griffin (MA)	Whiting - 4.1 lbs.	2016
14. Nick Gatz (ME)	Whiting - 4 lbs.	2000
14. Justin Hopkins (RI)	Whiting - 4 lbs.	2013
14. Chris Porter (MA)	Whiting - 4 lbs.	2014
14. Joe Columbus (MA)	Whiting - 4 lbs.	2020
14. Carter Bogden (NY)	Whiting - 4 lbs.	2021
14. Jonathan Griffin (MA)	Whiting - 4 lbs.	2023

[The digital image below shows Darlene Chin (FL) holding her haddock double that she caught on a beautiful day in late April last season on the Bunny Clark. This was not Darlene's best haddock double of the year. She also caught a double that included two trophy haddock that, one haddock of which, I managed to lose for her as I didn't bring a gaff!]

As I have mentioned a couple of times, the fall was not the best in the weather department, preventing us from chasing the big hake like we did in 2024 and the year before. The wind direction is very important for the bite and the light wind gives you much more mobility and options you don't have otherwise. The wind direction was never right and we never got the calmer times even on the days that we were able to take the trip. Of course, we had to cancel too many trips last fall as well.

Roger Gavin's 50 pound Maine state trophy white hake, caught last season, is the largest hake we have seen since Joe Columbus (MA) caught his 50.5 pound Maine state trophy hake on July 14, 2020. Roger's hake comes in as the fifth largest hake we have seen since John Audet (ME) broke the IGFA all tackle world record with a 51 pound hake in October of 1986. During the Ultra Marathon in July of 2019, Steve LaPlante (CT) landed a 54 pound white hake. And on the Ultra during the 2018 Bunny Clark fishing season, Steve Selmer also landed a 54 pound white hake. Steve's became the IGFA all tackle world record with an official on shore weight over twenty-four hours later of 48 pounds 4 ounces. This world record still stands today. I have listed all the white hake of 55 pounds or more landed on Bunny Clark in a table below. We landed forty-seven white hake over 50 pounds in 1984, none of them ever attaining world record status because every one of them was involved in a tangle, disqualifying them from IGFA recognition. This was why Bob Jorgensen's fish never became a world record in 1983, as it should have become.

Angler (State)	Species - Weight	Season Caught
1. Robert Jorgensen (ME)	White Hake - 63 lbs.	1983
2. Marie Gronczniak (NY)	White Hake - 58.5 lbs.	1983
3. John Pomainville (VT)	White Hake - 58 lbs.	1984
3. Kevin Macia (VT)	White Hake - 58 lbs.	1984
5. Duke Dam (VT)	White Hake - 57.5 lbs.	1984
6. Howard Blackmore (VT)	White Hake - 56.5 lbs.	1985
7. Armand Durand (QC)	White Hake - 56 lbs.	1983
7. Diane Bleil (UT)	White Hake - 56 lbs.	1984
7. David Chenevert (MA)	White Hake - 56 lbs.	1984
10. Linda Tabor (NY)	White Hake - 55.5 lbs.	1984
11. Bill Dyer (NY)	White Hake - 55.25 lbs.	1984
12. John Woodtke, Jr. (MA)	White Hake - 55 lbs.	1983
12. Judd Cohen (MA)	White Hake - 55 lbs.	1983
12. Jack LaManna (NY)	White Hake - 55 lbs.	1984
12. Tom Giorgio (NY)	White Hake - 55 lbs.	1985

Porbeagle sharks are not a fish that we ever target. We don't chase them. We don't need to, generally, because there are usually enough around to catch a few every season. Except last season. We landed zero porbeagle sharks. We had very limited opportunities to boat even a small one for show.

A table of all our largest porbeagle sharks caught on the Bunny Clark in the last forty-two seasons appears below. Any time you can bring a porbeagle shark of the size of which is shown in the table below, using sixty pound test line on a cod rod, is quite a feat. Our largest porbeagle shark was caught during one of Captain Ian Keniston's fishing trips.

Angler (State)	Species - Weight	Season Caught
1. Dick Slocum (NJ)	Porbeagle - 304 lbs.	2015
2. Phil Brown (NY)	Porbeagle - 282 lbs.	2017
3. Andrew Claehsen (NJ)	Porbeagle - 233.75 lbs.	2016
4. Jon Tesnakis (NY)	Porbeagle - 217.5 lbs.	2005
5. Marissa Collins (NY)	Porbeagle - 213.25 lbs.	2023
6. Silas Amlaw (NY)	Porbeagle - 203 lbs.	2023
7. David Miller (MA)	Porbeagle - 200 lbs.	2018
8. David Haberl (MO)	Porbeagle - 171.5 lbs.	2012
9. Martin Buskey (NY)	Porbeagle - 153 lbs.	2021
10. Mark Laroche (VT)	Porbeagle - 135 lbs.	2016
11. Robert Mayer (ME)	Porbeagle - 101 lbs.	2019
12. Donald F. X. Angerman (MA)	Porbeagle - 93 lbs.	1993
13. Fred Kunz (NH)	Porbeagle - 87.5 lbs.	2017

In the colored trophy list table above, you can see that we filled all five slots with trophy redfish. As mentioned, we caught eight trophy redfish total last season. It seems that you have to be so specific to land trophy redfish in the last ten years. When we do search for them, we do so at the end of their reproductive cycle (they produce young in the spring of each year). This presents a problem as they always weigh more when they are full of young in the colder water spring months. But we are usually chasing haddock for the first three months of the season. The redfish is the only teleost (boney fish) in New England waters to bear their young alive. Cartilaginous fish, like sharks, skates and rays also bear their young alive. By July, it's game on when I want to boat a big redfish. But because we wait so late, the fish have to have a large frame to make up the difference; to make trophy size. This brings me to the most important point of my discussion. Charles Wallace caught a 3 pound Maine state trophy redfish on an extreme day trip May 5, 2025 (see the last digital image in this Guestletter). His fish was 16" caliper fork but had a large girth of 14" because it was carrying young. In contrast, Boo Whitten also caught a 3 pound Maine state trophy redfish but hers was caught on September 2, 2025. Much thinner, it was longer at 17", had a larger frame, also with a 14" girth, but was carrying no young. Boo's fish would have been our largest redfish of the year had it been caught at the same time that Charles' fish was caught. On July 2, 2024 Rich Antanavich (ME) caught a 3 pound Maine state trophy redfish that, at 18.75" caliper fork length, is the longest redfish that has been caught on the Bunny Clark in the twenty-first century. I can't remember seeing a frame so large before. We may have caught larger ones in the '80s and '90s. But, in those days, there was no trophy program that included redfish. I was discovering new areas then that had never been fished. Or, if they had been, the fishermen didn't do a very good job of catching the fish found there. Some of those spots yielded redfish of 4 and 5 pounds that I never registered. Likewise, when I was a kid, some of the redfish racks in the lobster bait were from fish that had to have weighed 5 pounds or more. Redfish are a very slow growing long lived fish. It has been thought that some may live to be over eighty years old when they get to an 18" length. Redfish became commercially extinct in the '80s. The commercial fishery only started up again about ten years ago. It's taken that long for them to come back. This attributed to their slow growth rate.

There were six trophy redfish caught in 2024, no trophy redfish caught on the Bunny Clark in 2023, six trophy redfish in 2022, one trophy redfish caught in 2021, six trophy redfish in 2020, sixteen trophy redfish in 2019, zero trophy redfish in 2018, two trophy redfish during the 2017 Bunny Clark season, seven trophy redfish in 2016, fourteen trophy redfish in 2015 [Incidentally, a 4 pound redfish was caught by Tom Ruggles (FL) that year. It was caught in August but was only 18 inches long.] and seven trophy redfish during the 2014 Bunny Clark fishing season.

[The digital image below shows Boo Whitten holding her 3 pound Maine state trophy redfish caught in early September last season on a perfect weather day. This tied for the Bunny Clark's largest redfish last year.]

We didn't land a single bluefin tuna last season. Nor did we have a chance. We had chances in 2024 but didn't capitalize on them that season.

The largest tuna caught on the Bunny Clark were the three that I landed, caught by harpoon and sold in 1984 when the regulations allowed you to do so. These really don't count as they were not caught on rod and reel. These were free swimming fish that I rode up to and harpooned and fought with a handline spliced to a dart. The largest was 775 pounds round. We harpooned two others in the 600 pound range. The largest was caught with passengers aboard on the way to Jeffrey's Ledge to go groundfishing. The other two were caught on a trip specifically designed to catch tuna by harpoon with my father, Mike Parenteau and Brad Perkins. Mike and Brad are former Bunny Clark deck hands. Of the bluefins we caught via "cod rod", the thirteen largest appear in the table below. These fish are impressive, to say the least, when you consider they were all caught with no more that sixty pound test line using a jig stick! The largest bluefin, like our largest porbeagle shark, was caught under the direction of Captain Ian Keniston with his brother, Jared Keniston, as the first mate. This is the largest fish that has ever been landed on the Bunny Clark but not the largest fish brought to gaff.

Angler (State)	Species - Weight	Season Caught
1. Paul McCullough (NH)	Bluefin Tuna - 365 lbs.	2009
2. Emile Gallant (ME)	Bluefin Tuna - 208 lbs.	2001
3. Dave Kirby (VT)	Bluefin Tuna - 200+ lbs.	2022
4. Jim Phelon (NH)	Bluefin Tuna - 176.5 lbs.	2010
5. Dave Henderson (MA)	Bluefin Tuna - 158.5 lbs.	2008
6. Justin Gage (VT)	Bluefin Tuna - 110 lbs.	2018
7. John McLaughlin (MA)	Bluefin Tuna - 100 lbs.	1999
8. Joe Wyatt (NH)	Bluefin Tuna - 96 lbs.	1999
9. Gabe Daigle (ME)	Bluefin Tuna - 95 lbs.	2022
10. Art Kemler, Jr. (PA)	Bluefin Tuna - 93 lbs.	2023
11. Ken McLaughlin (ME)	Bluefin Tuna - 92 lbs.	2004
12. Floyd Raymond (NH)	Bluefin Tuna - 89 lbs.	1994
13. Dan Kelley (ME)	Bluefin Tuna - 81 lbs.	2007

Only two barndoor skates were caught on the Bunny Clark last season, the same number that were caught during the 2024 season and the 2023 fishing season. Last year, both were caught on the same trip. Steve Selmer caught one of those skates. He holds the record for the most barndoor skates caught on the Bunny Clark by a single angler with a total count of six! There have only been a total of seventy-five caught since I started taking passengers angling in 1975! He's also the only angler to catch two barndoor skates on the same trip! The largest barndoor skates in Bunny Clark history can be viewed in the table below.

Angler (State)	Species - Weight	Season Caught
1. Sheri Fister (ME)	Barndoor Skate 37 lbs.	2018
2. Wayne Statham (QC)	Barndoor Skate 33 lbs.	2015
2. Christian Huebner (VT)	Barndoor Skate 33 lbs.	2020
4. David Macklin (MA)	Barndoor Skate 32.5 lbs.	2021
5. Josh Cabral (RI)	Barndoor Skate 31 lbs.	2015
6. Bill Weller (NY)	Barndoor Skate 28 lbs.	2018
7. Steve Selmer (NH)	Barndoor Skate 27 lbs.	2017
7. Steve Balevre (NH)	Barndoor Skate 27 lbs.	2018
7. Anthony Arria (MA)	Barndoor Skate 27 lbs.	2018
7. Chris Tankred (OH)	Barndoor Skate 27 lbs.	2018
7. Dennis Reissig (NY)	Barndoor Skate 27 lbs.	2021

As mentioned above, we caught eight halibut last season, most were of legal size. Unfortuneately, we lost all our largest ones, five of which we had the potential to land. Two were too big to handle for the angler, one was just a matter of bad luck and a couple must not have been hooked well enough to stay. But, hey, it's why we keep trying, right?

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

[The digital image below shows Roger Gavin holding his 50 pound Maine state trophy white hake caught last July. This was the Bunny Clark's largest hake of the 2025 fishing season and the largest hake caught on the Bunny Clark since Joe Columbus' (MA) 50.5 pound hake in 2020.]

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

Angler (State)	Species - Weight	Season Caught
1. Jim Thurston (NH)	Halibut - 149.5 lbs.	2023
2. Jordan Evans (MD)	Halibut - 134.5 lbs.	2021
3. Neil Hickey (VT)	Halibut - 121.25 lbs.	2021
4. Jake Higgins (MA)	Halibut - 116.5 lbs.	2022
5. Joe Balas (OH)	Halibut - 103.5 lbs.	2018
6. Steve LaPlante (CT)	Halibut - 102 lbs.	2018
6. Jon Place (VT)	Halibut - 102 lbs.	2023
8. Bryan Johansmeyer (ME)	Halibut - 100.5 lbs.	2018
9. John Baker (ME)	Halibut - 98 lbs.	2018
10. Dave Burton (MA)	Halibut - 95.5 lbs.	2024
11. Jay Rowe (NH)	Halibut - 95 lbs.	2018
12. Tim Rozan (ME)	Halibut - 89 lbs.	2019
13. Lewis Hazelwood (MA)	Halibut - 86 lbs.	2017
14. Ron Worley (PA)	Halibut - 83.5 lbs.	2007

Our largest wolffish, last season, was caught by Jeremy Agresti (FL). It weighed 21 pounds, just a half a pound shy of our biggest wolffish of the 2024 season caught by Bryan Lewer (ME). Before that we hadn't seen a wolffish of 20 pounds or more since Steve Selmer (NH) caught a 25 pound wolffish on July 14, 2020. And that was the largest wolffish the Bunny Clark had seen since John Gardner (NY) caught his 28.5 pound wolffish on September 26, 2010. During the first ten years of the Bunny Clark, it was not uncommon to see a wolffish over 20 pounds. In those days I was always hoping for one over 30. In fact, we lost one near 50 pounds right next to the boat only a mile away from where Steve caught his big wolffish in 2020. That 50 pounder was hooked by Fred Kunz in the early '90s. Fred's fish was hooked lightly in the dorsal fin. It dropped off the jig too far away from the boat for me to gaff it while anchored in a strong tide. At the time, I was wondering how I was ever going to get it aboard without it biting and seriously hurting someone. It wasn't long before I realized that we wouldn't have to worry about that.

We caught eighteen Maine state trophy cusk, cusk 12 pounds or over, last season, one of our best years in many years. That's a lot of big cusk for such a limited season. Our largest was caught by Kris Cichon at 32.5 pounds, a Maine state trophy cusk by 20.5 pounds! This makes it only the second largest cusk that has ever been caught on the Bunny Clark. As you can see, the largest cusk that was ever caught was a 36 pounder, caught by Kenton Geer (HI) during the 2002 Bunny Clark fishing season. Kenton's fish remains the largest cusk that I have ever seen.

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 too 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 the 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 sixteen cusk caught on the Bunny Clark over the years:

Angler (State)	Species - Weight	Season Caught
1. Kenton Geer (NH)	Cusk 36 lbs.	2002
2. Kris Cichon (NJ)	Cusk 32.5 lbs.	2025
3. John Madden, Jr. (MA)	Cusk 32 lbs.	2002
3. John Spinardo (NY)	Cusk 32 lbs.	2018
3. Scott Leavitt (NH)	Cusk 32 lbs.	2021
6. Neil Morrill (VT)	Cusk 31 lbs.	1988
6. Tim Williams (CT)	Cusk 31 lbs.	2002
6. Joe Columbus (MA)	Cusk 31 lbs.	2021
9. Alan Coviello (NH)	Cusk 30.6 lbs.	1989
10. Ray Johnson (NH)	Cusk 30.5 lbs.	2004
11. Sean Grogan (NY)	Cusk 30.25 lbs.	2002
12. Annette Curry (NY)	Cusk 30 lbs.	2017
13. Ross French (NY)	Cusk 29 lbs.	1987
13. Donald F. X. Angerman (MA)	Cusk 29 lbs.	1991
13. Dan Kelley (ME)	Cusk 29 lbs..	2008
13. Adam Towle (NH)	Cusk 29 lbs..	2019

Incidentally, Dan Kelley's 29 pound cusk at 43 inches caliper fork length is tied for the longest cusk that has ever been caught on the Bunny Clark. Kenton Geer's (HI) 36 pounder also had a caliper fork length of 43 inches. In fact, Kenton's cusk spit out six big herring on the surface before the fish was boated and weighed. Had that not happened, that cusk would have been over 37 pounds. Adam's cusk, caught in 2019, in comparison, was 42 inches caliper fork length. Adam's was another long lean fish that must have had the potential to be a much heavier fish at some point in it's life. As you can see, above, Kris' cusk was 42.5 inches caliper fork length, our third longest cusk ever.

[Fred Kunz, shown left, can be seen holding his 14 pound cod that he caught with me on an offshore trip in late June. This cod won the boat pool that day for the largest fish of the trip and was the third largest cod caught on the Bunny Clark at that time in the season. The cod came in at number eleven by the time the season was over. Fred also won the boat pool for the second largest fish of that trip with a pollock just under 12 pounds. ]

Before I end this Guestletter, I want to cite those anglers and experiences of note that deserve an honorable mention for their uniqueness and/or fishing prowess during the 2025 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 fifty-one seasons in the business and almost seventy years with boats on the ocean. These special anglers and incidents are as follows:

Fisherman of the Year (FY-�25): Fred Kunz wins this award for the seventh time in twenty-five seasons. Only four other anglers have won this award more than once, other than Fred. Tim Williams (CT) has won this award six times. Shawn Rosenberger (PA) has won this award five times. Jonathan "Griff" Griffin won this award four seasons in a row and the late Tim Rozan (ME) won this award two times. This is, indeed, an elite group of five. Fred won the award for the first time for his fishing excellence in the 1995 fishing season after having first started fishing with me a few years before that. It was 1990 when he first started fishing with me and earned the name Fred "Stormy" Kunz because he didn't care what kind of weather I fished in. The other years that he won this award included 1996, 1998, 1999, 2001 and 2002. So it's been a few years. During those years of winning, his most important asset was his ability to catch the most legal fish per trip or, what we call, high hook. A close second was, and is, his ability to catch big fish and lots of them. But there have been many special angling situations that Fred has brought to the Bunny Clark which I have enjoyed so much over the years. One year he caught a 39, 42 and a 43 pound Maine state trophy hake. During the 1996 season he caught the largest cod at 62.5 pounds. When he won the award in 2001, he also caught the largest cod. That year it weighed 59 pounds. It doesn't hurt that he is an expert at filleting fish and that being on the ocean is second nature to him in all situations. Last season, his high points for winning this award were attaining high hook status more than any other angler, tying for winning the most number of boat pools, catching the second largest fish of the trip the most times, being the fisherman of the day the most and for landing his complement of trophy fish. Of the small group of anglers who I call my best, Fred has probably been the most consistent over the years. Hence, his success in winning this award more than any other angler. I have very much appreciated his angling ability and I am truly honored that he chooses to fish on the Bunny Clark as often as he does.

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 the past, in order to compete in this category, you had to have paid for and completed at least 10 different trips on the Bunny Clark. (Last season I waived that condition for the first time. With Captain Ian Keniston's passing, we only ran a limited number of trips last season. So I thought it unfair to hold anglers to ten trips in order to compete.) 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, Steve Selmer and Steve LaPlante were close enough to consider CVPs. But, in comparing the trips all three fished together, it all balanced out evenly, leaving Fred still in the lead - by 3 points! On top of this, Fred did not attend our two longest and most successful trips last year that both Steves did. Incidentally, the same thing happened to Fred at the end of the 1999 fishing season where Paul Revels (NH) was so close that I also had to engage CVPs. Fred ended up winning that year by a single trophy cusk, again, putting him ahead by 3 points! However, total points that year were three times the total points garnered last season. 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. Fred was the best of the best last season.

[ Fred Kunz, shown right, is holding a 12.5 pound Maine state trophy cusk, the Bunny Clark's first trophy cusk of the 2025 fishing season. Fred has always had a penchant for catching cusk but for also catching trophy cusk in the least expected areas. To my recent memory, there are three spots that Fred caught trophy cusk where I have never seen one caught before!]

Fred started his fishing career out of Hampton, New Hampshire, fishing on the groundfish party boats there. Al Gauron's fleet was his preferred mode of fishing operations. And, at that time, it was the steaker capitol of New England. So, right off the bat, Fred got a taste for the big fish, particularly big cod. And some big pollock as well. Later, he became a deck hand on the F/V Thumper under Captain Johnny Lagerstrom out of Hampton, New Hampshire, part of the Al Gauron Fishing Fleet. So between Captain Johnny Lagerstrom, Captain Ronny "The Steaker King" Gauron, Captain Ricky Gauron and Captain Rocky Gauron, excellent captains all, Fred learned about catching groundfish, big groundfish in particular. So when he appeared on the Bunny Clark, he was ready to go. I remember my first trip with Fred as a passenger. We had a family aboard with only a few other patrons. The wind came up out of the southwest and blew up to twenty-five knots in the afternoon. We were catching quite a few cod. But, as Fred told me later, he had never drift fished in that amount of wind and caught so many cod. What I saw in Fred was that he could have cared less about the amount of wind. He told me how much fun he had that day, fishing in the larger than normal seas; seas he was not used to fishing in while on a smaller boat than he was used to. From there, I expanded his horizon in fishing much deeper water, going for hake, which he had never tried before, and fishing the far off places, some of which, became his favorite places to fish. We had so many interesting fishing experiences together that I could write a long book. The point being, he was ready and willing to adapt to all the situations I placed before him. He excelled. Thank you, Fred, for all those wonderful experiences that you brought to me and to the Bunny Clark and to all those anglers who appreciate great fishing and wonderful times. Congratulations on another FY award well won. I have always appreciated having you aboard the Bunny Clark.

Fred's total point count was 70. Steve Selmer came in second place with a point total of 67. Steve LaPlante was third with 65 points. Karl Day (NH) was fourth with 50 points. Ray Westermann was fifth with 49 points. Darlene Chin was sixth with 32 points.

Female Angler of the Year (FAY-'25): This is the fifth year in a row that Darlene Chin (VT) has won this award. She remains one of our most consistent anglers overall. Last year she had the most successful year that she has ever had on the Bunny Clark. In fact, out of the twelve best anglers, those top twelve anglers who had the highest point total to vie for the FY'25 award, she came in at number six. There was no female angler even close last season. And, like Fred, she didn't attend either of our two biggest and most successful trips last season where, surely, her potential catch could have moved her up into fifth or fourth place in the FY contest, had she been as successful as every other trip that she attended. She tied for high hook on a couple of trips that, had I counted her fillets, I might have found that she was the one. She caught the fourth most trophy fish of any angler last season with a count of six. She landed the second largest wolffish of the year at 19.5 pounds which makes the top ten list for the last ten years. She had the two best haddock doubles of the season. She had two trophy fish in the top five, something she has never accomplished before. She caught the three largest haddock of her life, the largest a Maine state 8 pound trophy haddock (My largest haddock was also 8 pounds). In fact, she would have joined the elite company of Karl Day, of catching three trophy haddock in one trip, had I brought a gaff instead of trying to pull her trophy haddock aboard by the line alone. (see the trophy haddock discussion above). She also caught one of the Bunny Clark's largest cod weighing in at 13.5 pounds. Like Fred, she was one of the most consistently successful anglers on every trip, she had one of the best attitudes of anyone, she excelled at bait fishing and she has a unique way of fishing that classes her up there with my elite. Also, there was a point when Shawn Rosenberger and Fred were a bit anxious that she might take the FY'25 award. Congratulations, Darlene, on a fantastic year of fishing. I was elated that I had the opportunity to be aboard for every great catch last season, something I have never had the opportunity to enjoy before!

[In the digital image, left, Darlene Chin can be seen holding the Bunny Clark's second largest wolffish caught during the 2025 fishing season. This is also one of the top eight wolffish caught in the last ten years and her largest wolffish ever!]

Honorable Mention: Last year was the first year since 1995 where I was captain on every trip. As such, I had the opportunity to fish with some of our top female anglers. All of these anglers are extremely talented fishermen, only needing a couple more trips a year under their bests to vie for our top two angling spots. I felt compelled to put their names here. These anglers included Hannah Smith (VT), Karilyn Bonney (ME), Olivia Swenson (RI), Karen Atwood (VT), Boo Whitten (ME), Nikki Szczepanski (VA) and, last but not least, Amy Finocchiaro (MA). Thanks for allowing me the pleasure of being there to witness your many exploits last season and for being the Marsha Biermans of my world!

Best Bait Fisherman: There was no better bait fisherman than Amy Finocchiaro. She proved it time and time again, on every trip that she and her dory mate, Harold "Hal" Flanagan, attended. It didn't matter what I presented to her, small haddock, big haddock, pollock, cusk, a lot of cusk, mackerel, whatever, she caught it. Amy & Hal fished only the extreme day trips. This was also their trip of choice in the past. And, in the past, they fished with Captain Ian Keniston, exclusively. Ian would always tell me about Amy & Hal, in glowing terms. But I never got to see them fish until last season. All that Ian told me was true. And I had no doubt. Ian was one of the most honest individuals I had ever met. I trusted him for everything that I was not a part of, including recalling incidents for the writing of this Guestletter. He was right about Amy & Hal. I saw it first hand last year. Congratulations, Amy. You (and Hal) are excellent at what you do. And I very much enjoyed watching the show!

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 or during the 2023 fishing season. The 2012 season was the first season that the Bunny Clark didn't see a single Ace since 1983. The second occurred in 2015. The most Aces caught in a season happened in 2013 with six. And the most dramatic Ace was caught by Al Robinson (ME) in 1986 when he caught over twenty-five fish bigger than the next largest fish aboard on that trip!

Most Trophy Fish of the Season: Steve Selmer caught the most trophy fish in 2025 with a count of ten. Steve LaPlante came in second with a total trophy fish count of eight. Ray Westermann slid into third place with a count of seven trophy fish. Darlene Chin was fourth with six trophies. There was a tie for the fifth most trophy fish caught; both Bryan Lewer and Jonathan Griffin each caught five.

Top Five Largest Fish of the Bunny Clark Season: Troy Galloway caught the largest fish of the year with his 76 pound Maine state trophy halibut. Alex Medunitza came in second with his 57.5 pound Maine state trophy halibut. Mark Girard was third with his 56.5 pound Maine state trophy halibut. Steve LaPlante was fourth with his 53 pound Maine state trophy halibut. And Roger Gavin was fifth with his 50 pound Maine state trophy white hake.

Most Trophy Fish During a Trip: Steve Selmer caught the most trophy fish on a single trip with a count of seven, all white hake. Bryan Lewer was second with a count of five trophies. Both Steve LaPlante and Ray Westermann tied for third place with a total trophy count of four each. Ray Westermann, Jonathan Griffin and Karl Day all tied for fifth place with three trophy fish each. As you might know by now, Karl's were all haddock. Darlene Chin should also be considered; one of her three trophy haddock was one I lost for her!

Most Pools (largest fish of the trip): The highest count for number of pools won last season was two. Only three anglers won two pools each last season. Those anglers included Fred Kunz, Karl Day and Mark Girard.

High Hook: Fred Kunz was high hook (the most legal fish on a trip) on nine different trips, the most for any angler during the 2025 Bunny Clark fishing season. Chris Galletta (NY) and Jeff Corey tied for second place, attaining high hook status on four different occasions last season. Dick Lyle came in with three high hook trips for fourth place. There was a tie for fifth place with six anglers for two trips each. These anglers included John Lambert, Jr., Mark Girard, Shawn Rosenberger, Greg Fitzgerald, Ray Westermann and Amy Finocchiaro.

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 Tom Miller (NH). His double included a 32.5 pound Maine state trophy white hake and a 30 pound Maine state trophy white hake. This is the largest double that has been caught on the Bunny Clark since Lewis Hazelwood (MA) landed a double that included a 40 pound Maine state trophy white hake and a 30.5 pound Maine state trophy white hake on July 9, 2019! Lewis' double might be the largest double that the Bunny Clark has ever seen. Jeff Corey came in second place with a double that included a 22 pound cusk and a 10 pound cusk. Karl Day came in third with a double that included a 22.5 pound pollock and a 9 pound pollock. Brian Dillon (NH) came in fourth with a 16.5 pound wolffish and a 10.5 pound cusk. Chris Sullivan (VT) was fifth with an 11.5 pound pollock and a 14 pound pollock.

Hardest Luck: For me it was a challenging year, the first in twenty-eight years without Captain Ian Keniston. I saw the most engine problems I have ever seen during a season. And I believe that my patrons saw the worst season on the Bunny Clark for not having the selection or variety of fishing trips we normally provide. Every trip was full last season as there weren't enough trips for the total number of anglers who wanted to go. When you add in the days lost to engine breakdowns and canceled trips due to heavy weather, that isn't a lot of trips to choose from.

During the first part of September, when the cod season had only been open for four days, Kyle Santor chartered the Bunny Clark for an extreme day trip for himself and his hard working crew. Kyle had been chartering or fishing on the Bunny Clark for many years. Collectively, we had a good day, the highlights mostly coming from Kyle's crew fishing in the cockpit. Kyle chose to fish in the bow, as he normally does. Kyle didn't do as well in the bow as his crew did closer to the stern. But, I'm sure, that's the way Kyle would prefer it. He's a great guy. A good fisherman. As luck would have it, only one legal cod was caught all day. Kyle caught it! He got the fish to the surface and stopped to look at the cod. As he was mooning over this fish in the water, a blue shark came up and ruined the cod dinner that, I'm sure, he was thinking about having! One moment the fish was there, the next it was gone!

On May 15th last year, during an offshore trip, Allen Foster (NY) was having a great day. He was catching legal fish all day long. Haddock after haddock. On the last cast of the day he launched both rod & reel overboard, never to be seen again. It's never a good thing to lose your rod & reel overboard.

On two separate occasions, each at the start of the fishing during an offshore trip, someone clogged the head with massive amounts of toilet paper. These two situations happened within a week of each other. The first time it happened I was caught down below taking the toilet apart, shit, literally, everywhere, as we drifted off a deep edge catching nothing in choppy seas. It took me forty-five minutes to "get her done" and a partial cleaning before Danny came down to do the final touch ups. The second time it happened it was in the middle of a pollock blitz. It took me the same amount of time to get to the "Danny point". But, this time, there were pollock all over the deck to weigh and weights to write down for the boat pools. The biggest mess was getting the deck cleaned up from the pollock that had been there waiting for me. The day certainly got better after that. Both days were choppy days offshore and challenging fishing, because of the conditions.

I think the hardest luck was the luck that came down on Shawn Rosenberger. He books the whole of October every year to go fishing with me and other deep sea fishing boats in the area. Normally, he does so well during the time that he is here that he ends up with the FY for that year or comes close. It's the best time of year for big fish, doubles and the most fish. And he's really an angler who can take advantage of it. This last fall, the weather was so off, he was only able to attend just a small handful of trips. He did unbelievably well on one particular offshore trip with me. The others were just vanilla in production and fish size. But it was mostly all due to the weather. There was no hake bite last fall, a fish that he seems to command. Nor did we have many opportunities to even go to them. Fishing with me in the seven seasons before this one, he appeared in the top five doubles category every time, winning that category during the last five seasons and finishing second the two seasons before. Three of those seasons he appeared twice in that category!. He caught doubles last fall, yes, particularly on that one good trip I mentioned. But nothing significant. And, to top it all off, he got a massive halibut within sight only to break it off because of a chaff in his line that he didn't realize he had from a previous tangle. There are few anglers in this world that I would rather have fighting a big fish with the hope of landing it. I love watching Shawn perform in the fall. Last fall, both Shawn and I lost the opportunity!

[The digital image on the right is a shot of Olivia Swenson showing us the business end of her 10.5 pound monkfish, the Bunny Clark's second largest monkfish of the 2025 fishing season. She caught this fish on May 15th. ]

Most Improved Angler: I know I am writing a lot about Darlene Chin in this Guestletter. But I have to include her in this category. She did not have a bad fishing day last season. In fact, any one of those days an angler would have loved to have the success that Darlene had last season. She caught a lot of fish, caught great fish, boated special fish, never had a twinge of sea sickness, dogfish feared her and if she had a blue shark attack, I don't remember it. It was the best she has ever done on the Bunny Clark. How could I not put her in this category?

Best Team: It was refreshing to have Hal Flanagan (MA) and Amy Finocchiaro aboard last year. I had been warned about their successes from Ian the years before. But I never witnessed it until last year. There was no better team. Both excellent fishermen, mostly fishing bait, I was splitting hairs when I have to decide who was better at it between the two of them. In fact, they compliment each other. They exclusively fish the extreme day trips, as mentioned. These trips don't allow me to fish as far offshore as I would like to. It was much slower fishing on these inner grounds last season as compared to every other season before it. Collectively, they were the most successful on every trip. Hal ended up catching one of the only two trophy haddock that we saw on the inner grounds. They caught whatever I put them over. If there was a slower time for them, it certainly was the captain's fault. Congratulations. A category well deserved!

Most Unusual Catch: I think that hooking five halibut on one trip is very unusual. It's certainly becoming more common with every season. But it's still so very special. It was an amazing trip. We boated four of those halibut, three of legal size and one sub-legal halibut. But we lost the biggest one that day. Had Steve LaPlante landed that fish, he, no doubt, would have been the FY'25!

Exceptional Good Luck: Exceptional Good Luck: On May 20th, Fred Kunz and Jeff Pianka (CT) were fishing on the stern while anchored. I was up close to the helm when I heard; "Gaff! Gaff! Get the gaff!" Jeff had been reeling in a big haddock but I had no idea as he never said anything to me. When he got it to the surface, Jeff tried to pull it out of the water but it fell off the hook. Fred happened to have his line out of the water waiting to make another cast after previously boating a haddock. When he saw the fish start to float off and turn its head to the bottom, Fred calmly took a short cast and hooked the fish with a fly, pulling it into the boat. It was a 7.1 pound Maine state trophy! But, most important, it was the largest fish of the trip! Since Jeff didn't bring the fish to gaff, Fred won the boat pool for the largest fish with the largest of the trip. That fish would have swum off otherwise. Since Jeff initially hooked the fish and brought it to the surface, I gave him the credit for the trophy award from the state! Fred's largest fish to that point was a haddock that weighed 5.5 pounds. He also had caught quite a few haddock that were in the 4 to 5 pound range. The fish itself was twenty-nine inches caliper fork length, tied for our longest haddock of the season with Karl Day's 9 pounder, a spawned out female. Had the frame of the fish been filled out, it could have weighed as much as 10 pounds.

Fred is no stranger to the likes of unusual fishing occurrences. The year that he won one of his FY's, 2001, he caught the largest cod of the year in a way unlike anyone would expect. He was fishing an offshore marathon trip on October 29, 2001 when he hooked into a big fish. He knew it was a very big cod from the beginning and his seriousness on the matter demanded that I stand right next to him with the gaff. When his jig reached the surface, it had a small cusk hooked to the treble hook. At first, Fred and I just stopped and stared until I noticed that a green monofilament line was also wound up on the treble hook. I grabbed the jig and started to pull the line in. It wasn't long before a big greenish lume appeared that transformed into a huge cod before our eyes. As I had my hands full, Tim Rider was able to gaff the fish and bring it aboard. It weighed 59 pounds, the largest cod that had been landed on the Bunny Clark since Fred caught a 62.5 pound cod on October 28, 1996, almost exactly five years earlier! The interesting part was that the fish was caught with a yellow fly, the same yellow fly that was part of Tom Giammattie's (CT) line when we drifted over the same spot an hour earlier. On that first drift I had to break off Tom's line because it was caught on the bottom. When did the big cod take the fly? Was the fish on the fly when Tom was stuck on the bottom or did it take the fly later when Fred had the fish on? One thing for sure, if Tom's line hadn't broken at the surface, there wouldn't have been enough line to tangle around Fred's jig.

[The digital image on the left shows first mate, Danny DellaMonica (left), with Tom Miller holding Tom's big double, a 32.5 pound Maine state trophy white hake and a 30 pound Maine state trophy white hake. This is the largest double that has been caught on the Bunny Clark since July of 2019! This double was caught on the Bunny Clark's last fishing day of the 2025 season. ]

Quotes of the 2025 Season: I'm paraphrasing here; "Ian could have done a better job." A quote from Matt Luce (ME), one of the Bunny Clark's best anglers, referencing my boat handling abilities as I was backing and filling to place the stern of the Bunny Clark on the Barnacle Billy's float after an offshore trip. Danny laughed. Actually, I did too, after a fashion.

"Funny, we caught more haddock with Ian." Again, paraphrasing about a statement that Hal Flanagan made on one of the first extreme day trips I took with Hal & Amy as anglers. I admit, it was the poorest haddock fishing we have seen on Jeffrey's Ledge in the last ten seasons last season. At the time of this statement, I was wishing I could have taken them on an offshore trip where we were doing so well. The very next day we caught the bag limit for haddock on an offshore trip and had to release legal haddock before the fishing ended! Hey, you can't have everything. Could Ian have caught more haddock on Jeffrey's last season? This is indeed a moot question that will never be answered. And, of course, I would love to see the Bunny Clark more successful!

"What do you want me to do with this?", a direct quote from Ron Sheerer (NY) after I gave him his rod back after he, first, gave it to me to get his jig off bottom. I thought it strange as we were drifting over a mud/gravel bottom. Once I had his rod in my hand, I realized that he had a halibut on his line. A massive halibut. He fought the fish for five minutes and lost the fish. When he retrieved the jig, the cod fly was chewed off! Apparently, the fish bit/taken the fly and the monofilament holding it. Apparently, the mono loop chaffed off from the teeth of the fish sawing on it!

Unexplained Phenomena:

For some reason, after July, Dave Burton (MA), threw himself down a set of stairs, taking him out of the fishing on any boat for the rest of the year and, possibly, for the spring of 2026! At first, I thought it might have been something I said, when he decided to cancel all his trips. Turns out, he really did have a serious accident. Not only did I lose one of my best fishermen for the rest of the season, we also suffered in numbers of trophy fish for the year! Imagine how many more big hake we would have seen had Dave been there! This accident made me conscious of the length I made this Guestletter while writing it, as I wanted to make sure it was long enough to give Dave plenty to read while he was on his back healing!

Greg Veprek (MA) encourages me to take anglers fishing another year but, then, doesn't show up to go fishing? However, he did show up for a photo op at the restaurant!

Bill Kelson (MA) releases three haddock of size through the stern scupper ports because he couldn't wait to get his line back down to bottom again? One of those three fish had to be his biggest haddock of the day, denying his wife, Deb, a prime haddock dinner. Ah, don't worry, Deb, he was able to bring home some thinner, more tender haddock fillets. To his credit, Bill did have plenty of fish that day.

Bill & Deb Kelson did surprise me early this season at the restaurant with a print in wood of Captain Ian Keniston from a picture I had never seen before, posing with a "thumbs up" sign and a laugh that was typical Ian Keniston during the good times. Of course, it choked me up in private when I placed it in a prominent place in the office at Barnacle Billy's, Etc. Later in the season, they brought me a duplicate so I could have one at home.

Not a man to buck a trend, Marty Buskey (NY) made sure that having a bummer of a last trip of the season with me was a thing. "The trip" was such that he did poorly catching, certainly not a Marty Buskey thing. But he also got sea sick! The only other time he felt even remotely like that was with me another year. He was never sea sick with Captain Ian, unless he hid this condition from me. I guess I will have to do a better job to earn the right to have a healthy, happy and productive Marty B on the boat with me. I'll certainly try harder if he gives me the chance in the future!

Steve Clark (VT), one of the nicest guys I know, one of my favorite fishermen and someone anyone would be honored just to be associated with, had his truck vandalized in the Barnacle Billy's lower parking lot. There are some cameras near the area but none actually in the parking lot itself. But, regardless, we couldn't find anyone going in or out of the camera angles available in the recorded video feeds. Steve mentioned something about people not liking Vermont plates. But I have always had the highest regard for people from Vermont. In the early years, they were, by far, my best anglers. I tried to help Steve in my own way. But you never get that feeling out of you heart when someone intentionally goes out of their way to hurt you. It's not what they do, it's the intention of the act that bothers. I guess you could say that it couldn't have happened to a nicer guy. But is that even a positive thing to say? This world wouldn't be as good a place to live without Steve Clark, and those like Steve Clark, in it!

We had five opportunities to land halibut over 200 pounds and blew it on all five of them. On two of those trips it didn't help that we already had a legal halibut dead on the deck while these fish were being fought. I would have at least liked to have seen one of them. We did have one sighting. But it wasn't me who saw the fish. It was Danny, a first mate who does now know what a "big" halibut looks like. Thanks a lot, Shawn!

One of the Bunny Clark's best ever deck hands, Anthony Palumbo, gets a tatoo of Captain Ian's "CUSK" license plate on his right calf then sends me a digital image of him standing backwards on the stern of Alec Levine's lobster boat with a rolled down right boot showing the tatoo while holding two cusk that he caught as props for the picture.

I had an angler drop out of the SOFT invitational last summer. Instead of taking on another paying passenger, I decided to call Anothony Palumbo to give him a chance to catch a halibut. This was a fish he had always wanted to catch, had seen many landed on the Bunny Clark but had never caught one himself. I let him use one of my special jigs that the late Bob Mayer (ME) turned me on to years ago. The result was Anothony's first halibut, a legal sized fish of 45 pounds! That's bigger than the biggest halibut that I have, personally, ever caught on rod & reel.

Donna Moran (NYC) makes a big deal about being invited on the SOFT after I had filled the boat and decided to invite her anyway. Then she tells me that she can't make it because she caught Covid? Was it really Covid, Donna, or was the air temperature or potential sea state a major factor in your decision?

A slow year for dogfish? Thank God!

[The digital image on the right is a picture I took of former deck hand, Anothony Palumbo, holding his first halibut, a 45 pounder, caught during one of our over-nighters last July. Anthony could have kept that fish had we not already boated a larger one earlier in the trip.]

Tom "Ollie" Bruyere (NY) catches the most legal haddock that he has ever caught on a single trip in his life on the same day that his college roomate catches his largest wolffish ever!

Ali LaFlamme (ME) is not defined by her equipment but it doesn't hurt to have new fishing gear.

Ray Westermann and I finally came to terms on the fact that Captain Ian, indeed, was the Bunny Clark's best captain. last winter I found an old Bunny Clark green hoodie hanging in the hall. I thought the hoodie was Eric Pysar's (NY) that he left on the boat. I was waiting for a phone call from him about it that never came. It stayed in the hall for months before I checked the tag, finding that it was actually Captain Ian Keniston's! I brought it with me on the Ultra as, on that trip particularly, I need all the luck I can get. Ray wore the hoodie that day in honor of the man. He ended up catching the Bunny Clark's third largest white hake of the fishing season that day, a 38 pound Maine state trophy, one of the largest hake that Ray, "the pole tossing master baiter", has ever caught. This fish also won him the boat pool for the third largest fish of the trip.

Dana Decormier (NH) loses a big halibut by breaking it off, thinking it was a big blue shark. The only problem with the shark thing was that it was the wrong time of year and I was specifically drifting over a halibut spot with the sole intention of catching one of my favorite fishermen a big flat one. Maybe I should have told him I was fishing there for that intended purpose? It was one of the top five biggest halibut last season and had a dynamite signiture on the sounding maching as it headed back to bottom!

Jim LeMay gets skunked for the first time on the Bunny Clark? This just had to happen year 1 AI (after Ian) on the first year in twenty-eight years where I was the sole captain!

Shawn Rosenberger calls for a gaff before realizing that all he had was a sea raven hooked in the side? Might you need a shovel to dig that hole a bit deeper, old boy?

Only one day where the number of legal codfish matched the number anglers fishing that day? Are we really doing the best job managing the spawning stock biomass of cod? That's a very easy question to answer; No, we are not!

I refuse to abuse Shawn Rosenberger again in this Guestletter. Well, at least it wasn't a tuna this year!

Troia Burgess (VT) loses an impossibly big halibut late last August. This fish would have been nearly impossible for anyone to land. It might have been our biggest of the year last year. But this fish did have a lot of competition.

Twelve year old Orry Blake loses a trophy sized cod right next to the boat. As his parents said, we couldn't keep it anyway so why hurt the fish. True. But I can find a way to be gentle and still get a weight and a good picture!

Bill Harding (ME) boating a 26 pound Maine state trophy white hake on a piece of shallow bottom where I have never seen a hake in my life? Devine intervention, good timing, excellent fisherman or was he just a lucky bastard? I would choose the later two

Jon "the Staten Island Assassin" Tesnakis, a name I called one of my best all time anglers who has since moved upstate. I'm not sure Jon appreciated the moniker as much as I did! But it does have a nice ring to it.

Nice to organize a charter and have it rain all day as well as having it windy and cold with just a fair bite, wouldn't you agree Mike Schetter (NY)?

Before the beginning of the season, Dana Decormier showed up at our house bearing gifts; a ball cap paying tribute to Captain Ian Keniston and a copy of his "CUSK" license plate. Yeah, it drove the point home just a little bit more. Are you now satisfied that you made me cry, Dana? He certainly took advantage of an old sap but I appreciated the thoughtful gifts. I considered having duplicate caps made but my heart just wasn't into it. I just needed some time away from it. I didn't need an emblem on my body to remind me that Ian will never be forgotten. Ah, to live until you die with all good memories intact.

[The shot on the left is a digital image of Alicia Constance (NY) holding her 11.25 pound pollock which she caught with me during an extreme day trip, the last day of July last season. It was one of the bigger fish at the time. So I took this picture of her with the pollock. The picture turned out so much better than I expected, deserving a spot in this Guestletter. ]

On a chartered fishing trip on the Bunny Clark in 2024, Billy DiBello (NY) was highlighted on the trip for only catching a single dogfish the whole day. Last year, Billy had a turnaround trip where he caught a lot of fish, the last Maine state trophy haddock caught on the Bunny Clark last season at 7.25 pounds, which was also his first trophy haddock ever, a 21 pound white hake and a 13.5 pound Maine state trophy cusk! Sometimes it is good to be Billy DiBello!

In Memorium:

I learned of Tim Rozan's (ME) passing on Superbowl Sunday night, February 9, 2024. (obituary) Apparently, he died, or was found dead, that morning. He was sixty years old. Tim was one of my best regular anglers. He won our Fisherman of the Year award for two seasons, the 2019 & the 2021 Bunny Clark fishing seasons. He caught six halibut with me, two on one trip. His largest halibut is the Bunny Clark's twelfth largest halibut at 89 pounds, caught during the 2019 season. But he was just a good, intelligent person who I loved to talk with on the way out and who would help me any time I needed him. He would take the wheel any time I wanted someone to steer for a while. I also liked to bounce ideas off him. He was a just a practical clear thinking individual, a math teacher and, former, submariner. To think that I will never see him again is devastating to say the least. I saw him at Ian's Celebration of Life at the end of December 2024. He had driven down to pay his respects to Ian's family. He looked great. And he should; he spent a lot of time in the gym and was very fit. I can't understand how a man like that, so young, could leave us all behind. A heart attack, I was told. I will truly miss that man. May he rest in peace. You just never know, do you?

Deck Hands:

Danny DellaMonica was my number one deck hand, the principle guy and the reason we were able to run Bunny Clark Deep Sea Fishing last year, as limited a season as it was. Danny was there on every trip. And he did an excellent job all year. As most of you know, he is handy around boats, cleans the boat at the end of the trip as if it were his own boat and is very good at filleting fish. And he's getting much faster. He is detail oriented. A couple of years ago, I could say I did a better job at filleting than Danny. Not anymore. He's also become a good man with the gaff. He's also learned enough so that I can work out new ideas I have and get his opinion on how I should deal with things. He knows and remembers our passengers like they were his special guests. And he is a very considerate person. It was great having him on the Bunny Clark as first mate last year. As most of you know, I have decided to run the boat again this coming 2026 Bunny Clark fishing season. I am only going to be running two marathon trips a week all season. He has agreed to work with me on those trips. And I am delighted to have such excellent help with me again. Thanks, Danny, for a job well done and allowing myself and our patrons to enjoy many days of excellent fishing and more to come!

Tyler Carpenter worked for me again last season as a part time deck hand. He only worked the two over-nighters that we offer, as a second mate. But he and Danny worked very well together. I so appreciate Tyler's work ethic and expertise. He had never been deep sea fishing when he first started working for me a few years ago. But he was a quick learner and soon became a regular deck hand I could trust. In the early spring last season, he rebuilt all the reels that Captain Ian Keniston hadn't finished. He clear coated all the rods for the 2025 season as well. So when the time for fishing came, we were prepared. The gear worked fine all season. Tyler had agreed to help in a limited capacity again this coming season. He won't be working on fishing gear. But he did say that he will work as a swing deck hand when needed. Thank you so much for your help last season. It was excellent work and I so appreciated it!

Also, I want to make a quick note about Martha Moulton at Surfland Bait & Tackle in Plum Island, Newbury, Massachusetts. She has helped my fishing customers for years with fishing equipment, tips and ideas to use when deep sea fishing. She was a huge influence on Darlene Chin and, indeed, made her much more comfortable on the Bunny Clark last season. The new rod that she made for Darlene was pure Darlene Chin; I knew it was her rod before anyone even told me. Martha has agreed to rebuild some of my reels this winter. This is a huge help. But that's what she is. Her mother, Kay, helped me when I first started fishing in 1975. Martha has taken right over since. I so appreciate her help and, seriously, going out of her way so many times to accommodate me. Thank you!

Captains:

As you know, I was the best captain I could find to hire last year. I do feel sorry for those of you who had to endure his lopsided personality, his cryptic manner of boat operations and questionable fishing abilities.

I have to give a shout out to my son, Micah Tower, and Captain Grant Hubbard who helped me get through many engine problems I had last season. Micah has a degree in diesel mechanics while Grant has been doing his own diesel mechanics on his own Finestkind Scenic Tours boats for many years. Grant gave me his time and tools on so many occasions whenever I needed him. It was so much appreciated. Micah would show up in a moments notice to go over issues with me and give me direction and a hand. Grant was the one who discovered that the raw water pump problem was, actually, a broken shaft. Micah was the one who solved part of my starting problem. Together, the three of us saved me time and money last year. Thank you all so much. Doing this alone last year was an eye opener. Having you both there gave me the optimism and knowhow to keep going. And that's a fact.

[The digital image on the right is a picture of Shawn Rosenberger, Mr. Doubles himself, holding his double haddock catch for the camera during an early October offshore trip last fall. The haddock on the right was sub-legal. The haddock in his right hand probably weighed 4 pounds. He caught the most legal haddock that day. It was one of his best trips of the season overall. ]

David Pease:

As mentioned in the very beginning of this Guestletter, Dave Pease did all the major repair work to get the Bunny Clark ready for the 2025 season. After the Bunny Clark was launched in April last year, the season was progressing nicely. Dave even came down to Perkins Cove to help me with the steering quadrant problem on Friday, April 18th. It was probably a month or so later that Dave suffered a health issue that will keep him from working on boats for the rest of his life. This was a real shock to me, mainly because I love the man. But also because it will prevent him from doing what he likes to do most. He will still do some consulting work. But that will be it. I will no longer be able to put the boat in his barn to be worked on in the winter before every season. Nor will I be able to spend time with him going over ideas and giving me first hand options for moving forward. Much of my boat equipment is still in the barn which I will have to remove at some point. I am so sorry for this unfortunate situation. Dave has been allowing me to bring the Bunny Clark back to Dave's Boat Shop every year after she was launched in May of 1983. He built the Bunny Clark, all except the hull, which is a Young Brothers 40' hull that was made in Corea, Maine in November of 1982. The hull was brought to Dave's Boat Shop by flat bed truck shortly afterward. Dave built the boat from there, on time and on budget, something unheard of in the world of boat builders. I couldn't have been happier with the product. And it served me so very well over the years. Year after year I would bring the boat back to the barn with a work order of seventy-five items, more or less, that Dave would either complete or show someone how it was to be completed. In most cases, this was Ian Keniston. But many of my other deck hands worked there as well. The Bunny Clark improved year after year. Because of Dave, I was able to pay my top deck hands and Captain Ian year-round so I had them as part of the business until they moved on. Such was my winter arrangement with Dave and his lovely wife, Jeri.

I can't even begin to tell you how much I have appreciated Dave Pease over the years. I Iooked all over Maine to find someone with the expertise to finish off the Bunny Clark and make it into the last boat I will ever want or need. I was downeast for most of my travels, looking for a yard or a person who could make a finished product that met my desires. It was strange to me that I would find someone only twenty minutes away from my house to do a better job than I would have ever dreamed of being completed. A boat I have grown to love over the years. And a fishing platform in forty feet that is second to none. I was less mature in the beginning of this project. Dave made me more mature, along with many other things. So Dave not only made my boat, he made my life. And he made my life better on the journey. I will be forever grateful for this wonderful opportunity and for giving me a life on the ocean I could have never otherwise thought possible. Thank you so very much! I will so miss working with you, Dave. You have been such a wonderful person to me over the years. On top of that, a boat building genius second to none.

Deb & Jane:

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

Last season, Jane Staples became more of an asset than ever. With the shortened season, we didn't need any other reservationists. So it was just Deb or Jane who answered the phone for booking trips or answering pertinent questions. Many times the phone would ring and the call would be forwarded directly to Jane's house. The reservation book was passed back and forth between Jane and Deb all season. Last year I seemed to get more complements about Jane than ever. I even became the runner bringing customer gifts from the Bunny Clark to Jane's house, mostly via motor scooter. Needless to say, Jane has been indispensable to our business for so many years now that it seems like forever. And I'm so glad. She and I grew up in the same neighborhood since she was born, as I am older than she. So I sort of knew what I was getting into when we offered her the job. It's been another match made in heaven. I have been graced with knowing excellent people over the years. She is one. On top of that, she has been wonderful working for us. Very honest, smart, polite and a worker, she checks all the boxes on my score sheet. Thank you, Jane, for being the wonderful person who you are, working so well for us and for making us look good. Much appreciated, I can tell you.

Since 2007, I have been riding in the Pan-Mass Challenge (PMC), missing participation in three of the events due to unforseen circumstances. Last season I rode it again for the first time since I broke my back in early June of 2023 in a cycling training accident. The ride itself is an 192 mile, two day, cycling event that takes place the first Saturday of every August, to raise money for cancer research at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, Massachusetts. At the end of 2025 I had raised $543,356.00 in the nineteen years that I have been involved in this event. Most of the donors are patrons of the Bunny Clark. Some are very generous indeed. And some make it a point to donate annually. I am planning to ride again in the event in 2026 or, in the off chance that I don't ride, I plan to at least be just as involved in the fundraising. I believe in the genetic route my research team is going. I believe that there is a common link that binds all cancers together. Working towards a cure is more important that ever. I want to thank you all from the bottom of my heart for the support that you have given me over the years and for the great strides that Dr. Katherine Janeway's team has made in discovering the genes responsible and being able to shut them down while also bypassing chemo and radiation treatments. As I say all too often, cancer never sleeps. So the fundraising 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, more importantly, our loved ones as well.

I turned a new chapter in the Bunny Clark Deep Sea Fishing with the start of this different last limited season. And the route changed somewhat as the season progressed with new developments I didn't expect. Some of these were good. Some of these will make it more challenging to move forward in the future. What this has done for me is to make me appreciate so much more of what I had, what I have and what can be accomplished in the future. This business had grown dramatically over the years. I have been able to improve my fishing technique and equipment by observing the many excellent fishermen who have graced the deck of the Bunny Clark. The system has improved because of the many ideas that were brought forth by my patrons, deck hands and Captain Ian over the years. And the Bunny Clark itself has improved from my involvement with David Pease. I have a lot to be thankful for. It is certainly not lost on me that it has taken many good people to get the business from where it started to where it is today. I am very appreciative of those of you who made it happen and continue to make this something I have loved for so many years. You all make it happen. I hope you liked reading this latest Guestletter. It's the best I can do and full of the best that people with a rod & reel can do along with the good weather and good luck that brought us here. Thank you for all that you do for us here. Winter well, as my father would have said. And I hope to see you all again for another Bunny Clark saga in 2026, our forty-fourth season.

Our Largest Redfish of the 2025 Bunny Clark Fishing Season

I took the digital image above on May 5, 2025. The angler is Charles Wallace (NY) holding his 3 pound Maine state trophy redfish. This was a tie for the largest Bunny Clark redfish of the 2025 fishing season. This had to be our fattest redfish of the season as well. Charles has been a "frequent fly" on the Bunny Clark over the years. And he is an excellent angler. He also takes a good picture which is why I ended this Guestletter with him and his trophy fish.

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!

Back To Home Page, Deep Sea Fishing Maine

Buzz Leonard (ME)	Monkfish 11	7-15-25
Olivia Swenson (RI)	Monkfish 10.5	5-15-25
Scott Leavitt (NH)	Monkfish 7	7-8-25
Rich Mallott (NY)	Monkfish 5	9-11-25
Brian St. Saviour (ME)	Monkfish 3	10-21-25

Steve LaPlante (CT)	Barndoor Skate 23*		7-15-25
Steve Selmer (NH)	Barndoor Skate 18*		7-15-25

Charles Wallace (NY)	Redfish 3	16 X 14	5-5-25
Boo Whitten (ME)	Redfish 3	17 X 14	9-2-25
Fred Kunz (NH)	Redfish 2.5	16 X 11.5	5-6-25
Jeff Corey (MA)	Redfish 2.25	16 X 13	5-6-25
Andy Morris (NH)	Redfish 2.25	15 X 12.25	6-23-25

Jeremy Agresti (FL)	Wolffish 21**		7-28-25
Darlene Chin (FL/NH)	Wolffish 19.5**		7-29-25
Luc Girard (QC)	Wolffish 18**		5-27-25
David Moore (ME)	Wolffish 17+**	Not Boated	6-23-25
Bryan Dillon (NH)	Wolffish 16.5**		6-3-25
Shane Anderson (MA)	Wolffish 15**		6-5-25

Karl Day (ME)	Pollock 22.5	9-4-25
Carl Balliet (PA)	Pollock 20.25	7-31-25
John Kennedy (NY)	Pollock 20	9-11-25
Karilyn Bonney (ME)	Pollock 19	9-2-25
Kevin "Greg" White (MA)	Pollock 19	9-30-25

Roger Gavin (MA)	White Hake 50	50 X 34	7-8-25
Roger Gavin (MA)	White Hake 42	N/A	7-8-25
Ray Westermann (MA)	White Hake 38	45 X 29	7-8-25
Steve Selmer (NH)	White Hake 36	46 X 27	7-8-25
Steve LaPlante (CT)	White Hake 34.5	45 X 28	7-8-25

Karl Day (ME)	Haddock 9	29 X 15	5-29-25
Tom Murphy (VT)	Haddock 8.75	27.5 X 17	5-8-25
Dave Keeney (CT)	Haddock 8.5	27 X 16.5	4-24-25
David Daigle (MA)	Haddock 8.5	28 X 15.25	5-27-25
Alain Stanislas (MA)	Haddock 8.25	28 X 15	5-27-25

Greg Kidd (ME)	Whiting 3.75	22 X 11	7-11-25
Raymond Hickman (NY)	Whiting 3.75	24 X 11	9-25-25
Bobby Gelinas (NH)	Whiting 3.25	22.5 X 11	7-18-25
David Beaulieu (ME)	Whiting 2.75		10-27-25
Rich Mason (CT)	Whiting 2.5		10-27-25
Darlene Chin (FL/NH)	Whiting 2.5		8-28-25

Kris Cichon (NJ)	Cusk 32.5	42.5 X 22.5	7-22-25
Jonathan Griffin (MA)	Cusk 27	38.5 X 23.5	7-8-24
Jeff Corey (MA)	Cusk 22	38 X 20	7-22-25
Dick Lyle (NY)	Cusk 19	36.25 X 19	7-8-25
George Bright (NJ)	Cusk 18.5	36 X 21.5	6-30-25
Shannon Tibbetts (ME)	Cusk 18.5	36.25 X 25	7-29-25

Orry Blake (ME)	Cod 25+**	Released	8-28-25
Ken Bowring (ME)	Cod 20.5		9-30-25
Matt Luce (ME)	Cod 19.5**		6-3-25
Andrew Fuller (ME)	Cod 18.5**		8-26-25
Steve LaFlam (NH)	Cod 18		9-2-25

Troy Galloway (MA)	Halibut 76	54	4-15-25
Alex Medunitza (ME)	Halibut 57.5	49	6-12-24
Mark Girard (NH)	Halibut 56.5	47	7-15-25
Steve LaPlante (CT)	Halibut 53***	Released	8-25-25
Bill Harding (ME)	Halibut 52.5***	Released	7-15-25