Bunny Clark Fishing Update
Written & Edited by Tim Tower
Saturday, June 28, 2025, 8:00 AM EDT
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Proposed cod & haddock regulations for the 2025 fishing season (May 1, 2025 thru April 30, 2026):
Gulf of Maine cod
Gulf of Maine haddock
The sky was mostly clear by 9:00 AM. There were clouds. And they looked like rain clouds earlier in the morning. In fact, at 7:30 AM, it started to rain just as I was starting a run. But it was only light sprinkles and lasted all of five minutes. By 10:30 AM, the sky was filled with cumulus clouds and the wind was blowing with speeds of twenty-five knots and gusts to thirty knots out of the northwest. Offshore, it was westerly but, in Perkins Cove, the flags were straight out from the northwest. Wind speeds kept up during the daylight hours. Even at 6:00 PM, wind speeds were still about twenty knots. The visibility was excellent. The air temperature in Perkins Cove rose to a value of 65°F. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 65°F (with a low of 52°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 64°F (with a low of 42°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 65°F (with a low of 50°F).
I spent another day at both Barnacle Billy's restaurants. The weather prediction killed us again today. We do well if the weather prediction is good, regardless of how the weather really turns out. We never do well with a bad weather forecast. Historically, this weekend isn't the greatest anyway. But it would have been much better if the National Weather Service had predicted what we actually got for weather today.
At 4:30 AM EDT the air temperature was 47°F at the house and 44°F at the boat, the sky was cloudless, the wind was light out of the southwest and the visibility over the ocean was excellent.
The wind was light out of the west when we poked our nose out through the gate. We carried westerly wind of about eight knots all the way to the fishing grounds. The sky was cloudless. the visibility was excellent and the air temperature rose to 54°F before we reached our destination.
On the fishing grounds, the wind stayed out of the west for about an hour or more. The wind stayed about eight knots but slowly died out. We had no wind for about an hour. When the wind came back, it was southwest about five knots. Then the wind backed out of the south and blew up to ten knots, more on the way home. The air temperature reached a high of 58°F. The tide was moderate to light. Chops were, at most, a foot while fishing. We had two foot chops on the ride home. The sky went from cloudless to hazy clear with some clouds. The visibility ranged to thirty miles. The surface water temperature reached a high of 52°F..
Ashore, these were the air temperatures in selected New England cities: In Perkins Cove, Ogunquit, Maine the high air temperature was 71°F. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 72°F (with a low of 51°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 72°F (with a low of 37°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 66°F (with a low of 46°F).
The fishing was excellent. All the variables were covered. However, for some reason, we had more tangles than I would have expected. The catching was nearly excellent. Landings were good. Most legal fish landed were, far and away, haddock, a much more productive trip than last Friday. Plus, we had more legal fish than sub-legal haddock. Legal landings also included a cusk, three whiting, thirteen pollock, five redfish and over ninety-eight mackerel. Released fish included four small cod, a couple porbeagle sharks, an 11 pound cod, a wolffish, an 11.25 pound cod, one-hundred and eight sub-legal haddock, sixty-two or more sub-legal pollock, two sub-legal redfish, two sculpins and a handful of mackerel. We anchored a couple of times but drifting was the most successful method of catching fish. Cod flies and bait caught the most fish.
Either Hal Flanagan (MA) or Amy Finocchiaro (MA) was high hook with the most fish. It is a typical thing to see this with them. They have two secrets. One, they are excellent fishermen. Two, it's unusual to see them tangled. I just can't tell you who, of the two, got more fish. Amy's largest fish was a 6 pound haddock, tying for the largest haddock of the trip. Hal caught the second largest fish of the trip, an 11 pound cod. This is the Bunny Clark's second largest cod of the fishing season so far.. He also caught a 10.5 pound wolffish, the third largest fish of the trip and our sixth largest wolffish of the season to date. His largest haddock weighed 5.25 pounds. Will Buesser (NH) won the boat pool for the largest fish with the largest fish, an 11.25 pound cod. This cod is the Bunny Clark's largest cod of the fishing season to date.
Other Angler Highlights: John Hijeck (CT) caught the first fish I could weigh, a 4 pound haddock. Jack Decormier (NH) caught a 5.75 pound haddock, his best fish. Mark McNally (ME) landed a 4.5 pound haddock. Jim Nagle (NY) tied for the biggest haddock of the day at 6 pounds. Dana Decormier (NH) caught a 5 pound haddock, his biggest fish. He also caught three haddock over 4 pounds. I believe that he caught the most good sized haddock. It would be hard for me to single out our best tangler today. I might tell you that it was Dana. However, Joe Petruska (ME) might have been better at this. The difference was that Joe had Amanda Beaule (ME) - who, herself, was very successful today - to help him with the tangles. Dana had to call me, thus, calling attention to himself!. I do believe that Dana, however, was the healthiest angler aboard today! Certainly a plus!
I received a very much needed donation from Ron Covey (VT) of $50.00 today sponsoring me in my cancer fundraising drive with the Pan-Mass Challenge. Thank you so very much, Ron. I really appreciate the support and for thinking of me and those in need. It's a great research crew I support. And they too appreciate it very much. See you tomorrow!
At 3:00 AM EDT the air temperature was 50°F at the boat, the sky was hazy clear, there wasn't enough wind to write about and the visibility over the ocean was excellent.
If there was any wind on the ride to the fishing grounds, it wasn't much. I never even checked the wind direction as most of the ocean was calm. The visibility was nearly excellent, the sky was hazy clear and it was, probably, the most comfortable ride that you can have on a boat. The air temperature rose from 50°F to 56°F before reaching our destination. The surface water temperature ranged from 46°F to almost 50°F.
On the fishing grounds, the ocean was calm all day. At one point, around 10:00 AM, we had a three knot north northeast wind. Aside from that, the ocean stayed glassy all day long, the longest period of extended calm that I have seen this year so far. The sky remained hazy clear all day with whisps of cirrus clouds like contrails in the sky. The air temperature reached a high of 73°F with the lack of wind and sunny conditions. The visibility ranged to twenty-five or more miles in some haze. The tide (current) was moderate. The surface water temperature reached a high of 50.1°F from 46°F when we first started fishing.
The ocean was flat ass glassy calm almost the whole ride back to Perkins Cove. About fifteen miles away, we picked up a light southeast wind. This died out about eight miles later. Enroute, I saw a surface water temperature of 56.6°F in the deep water, the highest surface water temperature I have seen this season so far.
Ashore, these were the air temperatures in selected New England cities: In Perkins Cove, Ogunquit, Maine the high air temperature was 73°F. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 72°F (with a low of 55°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 80°F (with a low of 41°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 73°F (with a low of 45°F).
The fishing was excellent, the catching was excellent and landings were excellent. The landings were suspect as I was doing some experimenting in new places. After riding and fishing for about two hours and just a handful of legal fish, I decided to bail and head to more productive areas, but also an area I hadn't fished this season yet. It turned out to be the bonanza grounds with a fish a cast for the rest of the fishing. Most legal fish landed were good sized haddock. Most of these haddock were 5 pounds, more or less. We would surely have reached the boat's bag limit had we not played around for two hours first. As it was we almost caught the angler limit anyway. Legal landings also included forty-one cusk, five pollock and a redfish. Released fish included a cod of 19.5 pounds, a 6.5 pound cod, seven small cod, seven cusk, thirty-two small pollock, forty-six dogfish and three wolffish. We drift fished and anchored. Anchoring was much more productive. Bait worked best but all terminal gear worked well.
I really couldn't tell you who was high hook with the most legal sized fish. Fred Kunz (NH) was his usual humble self, quiet, staying out of the tangles and catching fish after fish. His largest fish was a 6.5 pound haddock but he caught several haddock of 6 pounds each. He could have been high hook but I could not qualify that. Matt Luce (ME) won the boat pool for largest fish with the largest fish, a 19.5 pound cod. This is the Bunny Clark's largest cod of the fishing season to date. I took a picture of Matt holding our biggest cod before releasing it back alive. This digital image appears on the left with Jared Lavers (ME) holding one of his cusk on the right in the shot. Matt also caught a 9.75 pound pollock, the Bunny Clark's largest pollock of the season so far, and a 6 pound haddock. The second largest fish was a 16.5 pound wolffish caught by Bryan Dillon (NH). He caught this as a double with a cusk that weighed 10.5 pounds. The wolffish is the second largest wolffish of the Bunny Clark season so far. The cusk is tied for our third largest of the season to this point and was the fourth largest fish of the trip.. The double is our largest Bunny Clark double of the fishing season at the time of this writing. Bryan also caught a 6.5 pound cusk. His biggest haddock weighed 6 pounds. He did not enter the boat pool for the second largest fish.
Dave Robitaille (NH) won the boat pool for the second largest fish with the third largest fish, a 12 pound wolffish. This is the Bunny Clark's fourth largest wolffish of the season so far. I believe that Dave's largest haddock was the 6.1 pound haddock I weighed before the wolffish. Ron Covey (VT) won the boat pool for the third largest fish with the fifth largest fish, a 10.25 pound wolffish, the ninth largest Bunny Clark wolffish this season to date..
Other Angler Highlights: Darlene Chin (ME/FL) might have had the best haddock day of her life. I will find out later, I guess. She caught a haddock double that included two haddock of trophy size. Unfortunately, I brought one gaff when I really needed two, losing the bigger haddock over the side because of a flumux on my part! The haddock that I did save weighed 7.25 pounds. At the time, it was the largest haddock of her life. However, later in the day, she topped that with an 8 pound Maine state trophy haddock! That makes three trophy haddock for her that Darlene has landed so far this year and two trophy haddock that she lost over the side! I took a picture of Darlene with her big haddock, this digital image appears on the right. Her 8 pound haddock is tied for the Bunny Clark's sixth largest haddock of the fishing season to date.She also caught the second largest cod at 6.5 pounds and a 6.5 pound cusk. Bob Kent was fishing with Darlene up in the bow. Some of the fish of his that I weighed included a 7.25 pound cusk, a 9 pound cusk, a 6.9 pound haddock and a 7 pound Maine state trophy haddock.
Jared Lavers caught a 9 pound cusk, a 10 pound cusk, a 6.5 pound haddock and a 6.9 pound haddock. The 10 pound cusk is the sixth largest cusk that has been caught on the Bunny Clark this season so far. Jasper Downs (ME) caught a 6.9 pound haddock, his best fish. I weighed a 5.5 pound haddock for Larry Drew (NH) early in the game. Near the end of the trip, he caught a haddock that was just shy of a Maine state trophy at 6.8 pounds. Mark Round (MA) caught a 6.5 pound haddock, his largest haddock of the trip. "Juicy" Bruce Fortier (NH) caught a 7 pound cusk, his biggest fish. Jeff Pereira (RI) landed a 9 pound pollock, his best fish, and our second largest pollock of the season. John Pereira (MA) fought a porbeagle shark for about fifteen minutes before breaking it off. But Jonah Rogers (ME) took the cake in the shark department today. He almost boated a 200 pound porbeagle shark until it realized it was fighting for it's life. The shark broke the jig off eventually. He had a second hookup that went forward and took his line over the anchor line and broke off, his second jig of the day. Yet another porbeagle of about 100 pounds charged after a haddock that was on Jonah's line. This time the shark got half of the haddock without getting hooked!
I received several donations today sponsoring me in my cancer fundraising drive with the Pan-Mass Challenge. The anglers and their donations included Jared Lavers for $20.00, an anonymous donation of $5.00, a $30.00 donation from Steve Urbanowicz (NY). Thank you all so very much for your help and support. I really do appreciate this!
At 5:00 AM EDT the air temperature was 51°F, the sky was mostly clear with high cirrus clouds, the wind was light out of the southwest and the visibility over the ocean seemed excellent.
Today was an absolutely gorgeous day. The air temperature reached a high of 81°F in Perkins Cove. The air temperature would have been higher but there was an eight to ten knot southerly breeze blowing off the water to keep it perfectly warm without being too warm. The sky was hazy clear all day, the haze created by Canadian wild fires, I was told. The sky also had high thin clouds like we had yesterday. The visibility also suffered a bit from this. It seemed excellent with a bit of haze. So, maybe, it was very good but it seemed excellent to me. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 85°F (with a low of 60°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 88°F (with a low of 49°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 75°F (with a low of 49°F).
I spent most of the morning on Barnacle Billy's stuff with quite a few managers meetings, mostly one on one meetings. This is the time of year I like to do this. I want to make sure everyone is happy and enjoying working at the restaurant.
I got home before noon so I could take a shower and come back to the restaurant, talk to patrons and work in the office.
At 4:15 PM, I went home to change out of my cloths and work on the Bunny Clark. I had a few small projects and I needed to stock the boat for tomorrow. These are things that we were running out of like paper towels and bum wad.
We are sailing on a charter tomorrow with a group I have so enjoyed over the years. It's a trip I'm very much looking forward to but anxious that I won't find enough fish. You wish special catches for anglers like this. I'll let you know how it went after tomorrow.
At 3:00 AM EDT the air temperature was 62°F (the air temperature was 65°F only two hours earlier), the sky was hazy clear, the wind was light out of the southwest and the visibility over the ocean was excellent.
A westerly wind greeted me when I arrived at the float at 2:00 AM. This wind lifted a flag or two, almost making me think that the weather report was going to be wrong - again! It wasn't. When we left the gate to Perkins Cove behind us, the wind was blowing about eight knots out of the southwest. Seas were chops of a foot. This wind chased us all the way to the fishing grounds, dying out just as we got to our destination. The visibility was excellent. The sky was hazy clear. The highest air temperature on the ride was 57°F. The surface water temperature ranged from 46°F to 48°F..
On the fishing grounds, the ocean was glassy calm all day. There was no wind. The highest air temperature that I saw was 70°F. The viability ranged to twenty-five miles in some haze. The tide (current) was light to moderate. It was too light to anchor in the morning. The sky was hazy but cloudless all day. The surface water temperature reached a high of 55.3°F.
Ashore, these were the air temperatures in selected New England cities: In Perkins Cove, Ogunquit, Maine the high air temperature was 89°F, the highest air temperature of the year to date. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 87°F (with a low of 62°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 93°F (with a low of 56°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 86°F (with a low of 55°F).
The fishing was excellent, the catching was excellent and landings were excellent. With the weather, the sea conditions and a fish a cast, it couldn't have been a better day - unless we also caught a halibut; which we didn't. To qualify that statement, it can always be better. Most legal fish landed were haddock, by far. We ended up releasing any haddock under 4 pounds. Had we kept everything legal we would have had the bag limit by noon. As it was, we reached the boat's bag limit a half hour before we called it a day. A lot of big stuff. Legal landings also included one hundred and twenty-four pollock. We saw our first larger pollock of the season today. Also included were thirty-eight cusk and four redfish. Released fish included two porbeagle sharks, two wolffish, thirteen cusk, four good sized cod, sixteen small cod, eighty-nine small pollock, forty-nine legal haddock and seven sub-legal haddock. We drift fished all morning but did, far and away, our best on anchor at the end of the day. All terminal gear worked well today.
There was no way to tell who was high hook with the most legal fish. Everyone was pooling their fish together, everyone seemed to do equally well and there were a significant number of legal haddock and cusk released. Shane Anderson (MA) caught the largest fish, a 15 pound wolffish. This is the Bunny Clark's third largest wolffish of the fishing season so far. There only one pool today. It was for the biggest legal fish. So wolffish and cod were not included. I did take a great picture of Shane holding his big cat. This digital image appears on the left. Some of Shane's other good fish included a 9 pound cod, a 7 pound cod, a 7.75 pound cod, a 7.5 pound pollock, a 13.5 pound pollock (the Bunny Clark's third largest pollock of the year to date) and a 6.9 pound haddock. Shane's father, Ron Anderson (MA), won the boat pool for the largest fish with the second largest fish, a 14.5 pound pollock. This is the Bunny Clark's largest pollock of the fishing season so far. I took a picture of Ron with his pollock. This digital image appears on the right. Ron also caught a 5.75 pound haddock the first thing this morning, an 8 pound pollock, a 10.75 pound cod, the Bunny Clark's fourth largest cod this year to date, and a 6 pound haddock, right at the end on the last stop. The third largest fish was a 14 pound pollock caught by Dave Miller (MA). This is the Bunny Clark's second largest pollock of the fishing season so far. Dave also caught two haddock of 6 pounds and an 8 pound Maine state trophy haddock, the largest haddock that he has ever caught. This comes in as a tie for the Bunny Clark's sixth largest haddock of the fishing season to date. He would have had the boat pool had he not broken off a porbeagle shark that looked to be 300 pounds! We had porbeagle sharks of various sizes swimming around the boat today while fishing.
Other Angler Highlights: Dennis Pietro (NH) boated a 5.5 pound haddock about the same time as Ron caught his 5.75 pounder. But it wasn't too long after that that Dennis caught our first Maine state trophy haddock of the trip. That fish weighed 7.25 pounds. Anthony Maki (MA), on his maiden voyage aboard the Bunny Clark, caught a 6.5 pound haddock and many other legal fish. Austin Kravitz (MA), also aboard the Bunny Clark for the first time, caught a 9.5 pound pollock, his biggest fish. He also caught a 6.5 pound haddock and an 8 pound Maine state trophy haddock. Like Dave, this haddock ties for our sixth largest fish this year. And, also like Dave, this is the largest haddock that Austin has ever caught. Doug Maki (MA), Anthony's father, landed a 12 pound pollock, his largest fish today. Some of his other fish that I weighed included an 11 pound pollock, a 7 pound pollock, a 6.25 pound haddock and a 7.1 pound Maine state trophy haddock. This might be Doug's biggest haddock ever. He's certainly never caught as big a haddock with me before.
I received two donations today sponsoring me in my cancer fundraising drive with the Pan-Mass Challenge. Dennis Pietro donated a very generous $500.00 "in memory of Captain Ian Keniston" and Dave Miller donated the traditional $30.00 with a promise of more to come in the future. How am I so lucky to be surrounded by so many wonderful individuals? Thank you both so very much for your thoughtfulness and generosity. It really is so very much appreciated! Do I sound like a broken record? Does anyone know what that expression means anymore?
We went through the whole day without rain. After 6:00 PM, we saw sprinkles here and there, hardly getting the ground wet. After 7:00 PM, we had light rain periodically. Around 8:00 PM, we had thunder storms with hard rain. That lasted an hour. After 9:00 PM, we had light rain on into the night. The sky was, pretty much, overcast all day. The air temperature was mild to warm, reaching a high in Perkins Cove of 77°F. The wind was light and variable in direction. The ocean along the shore was calm all day. The visibility was very good to excellent. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 79°F (with a low of 61°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 80°F (with a low of 66°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 75°F (with a low of 62°F).
Catching up on the restaurant was the focus of the day today. That, and in the morning, cleaning up from yesterday's fishing. By cleaning up, I mean completing all the data bases, spread sheets, postings, PMC stuff and recognizing angler efforts.
I was about to go to bed when the thunderstorms struck. Our border collie, Gill, doesn't like them. So I stayed up and watched a movie while also consoling the dog. There isn't much I can do when the dog is upset; panting, drooling, pacing around, coming in the TV room to look at me and going back into the living room. Luckily, the living room has an open wood floor that is easy to clean when the dog makes a mistake. There were a few mistakes. And the movie was only there to give me something to do between episodes of patting the dog and getting the paper towels and cleaning agent out. By 9:00 PM, he was calmed down enough for me to retire for the evening.
Much of the morning remained in fog. We had very little wind all day. The ocean along the shore was calm. What wind we did have was out of the southeast during the afternoon and northeast into the night. The flags were limp all day. The visibility got better in the afternoon. The sky was overcast all day. We had sprinkles of rain in the morning along with the fog. But the rain stopped before 10:00 AM, leaving us with dry roads until 2:00 PM, when it started to rain again. We had periodic light rain for the rest of the day on into the night. The air temperature reached a high of 68°F after noon and then dropped as the day headed toward night. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 67°F (with a low of 61°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 69°F (with a low of 58°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 65°F (with a low of 59°F).
After posting this report, I worked in the restaurant all day, getting out at 7:00 PM, an hour before closing. This was the thirteenth Saturday in a row where it rained. So it has rained every Saturday that we have been open. The business showed it.
Today was a beautiful spring day. The sky was nearly cloudless all day. The air temperature rose to a value of 71°F, T-shirt weather and not too cold. The wind was very light and variable in direction. The ocean along the shore was quiet, devoid of on-shore wave action and calm as far as you could see. The visibility was very good in some haze. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 67°F (with a low of 57°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 75°F (with a low of 55°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 72°F (with a low of 55°F).
Again, I spent the day at the restaurants. I did some provisioning on the Bunny Clark in preparation for tomorrow's trip. But the rest of the day was spent talking to patrons, loving my employees and working out simple problems. I love being there. But I love making people happy. My staff is so good that it makes it easy for me to make patrons happy. They make them happy and, in turn, make me look good. I have so very few complaints. I try to talk to everyone. Of course, I can't talk to every single person. But I do try to accomplish that. So to have many happy people on such a nice day was such a bonus. I loved it.
At 5:00 AM EDT the air temperature was 56°F at the house and 54°F on the boat, the sky was overcast, there was no wind along the shore, the ocean beside it was calm and the visibility over it was good to very good in a thick haze.
Leaving the gate behind, we had light easterly winds that turned into winds from the east at eight knots before we got to the fishing grounds. Seas were chops of about a foot. The visibility was very good in haze and Canadian wild fires smoke? The sky was overcast. The air temperature stayed around 62°F.
On the grounds, the wind blew up to about ten knots or a bit more. Seas increased to chops of two feet, a bit more later. The air temperature reached a high of 60°F. The tide (current) was fairly strong into the wind. The sky remained overcast except for two quick peeks at the sun in the afternoon. It never rained. The visibility ranged to over twenty miles. The surface water temperature reached a high of 55°F.
Ashore, these were the air temperatures in selected New England cities: In Perkins Cove, Ogunquit, Maine the high air temperature was 62°F. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 60°F (with a low of 56°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 67°F (with a low of 56°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 64°F (with a low of 53°F).
The fishing was good, no better than that. The tide was into the wind all day and we couldn't catch enough fish on the drift to make me want to continue. On anchor, we caught fish hand over fist but we had many more tangles than normal. There was really no way around it. The catching was excellent, a fish a cast all day long. Landings were very good. Most legal fish landed were haddock, by far. There weren't many big haddock but there were many more legal haddock than sub-legal haddock. Legal landings also included eight cusk, two pollock and four redfish. We had one porbeagle strike, biting off the tail of a legal haddock. Released fish included a 6 pound cod, four small cod, one hundred and forty-two sub-legal haddock, five legal haddock, two small pollock, about fifty mackerel and four sub-legal redfish. After a couple of drifts we anchored all day. Bait caught the most fish.
Jeff Corey (MA) was high hook with the most legal fish. His largest fish was a 5 pound haddock. Mark Girard (NH) was right behind him with second hook. Both anglers caught some bigger haddock but none of the haddock they caught were over 5 pounds. Mark Thyng (NH) won the boat pool for the largest fish with the largest fish, a 7.25 pound cusk. He also caught the second largest cod. It weighed 4.5 pounds. The second largest fish was a 6 pound cod caught by Mike Tirrito (VT). His father, Vic Tirrito (VT), caught the third largest fish, a 5.5 pound haddock.
Other Angler Highlights: Ben Ayer (ME) caught a 5.25 pound haddock early and led the boat pool for the whole morning. Keith Weber (NY) caught a 4.5 pound haddock. Marty Latulippe (VT) boated a 4 pound haddock that looked to be 5 pounds. Brian King (VT) caught a 5 pound haddock, his biggest fish. Gail Clark (VT) boated a 5 pound haddock, her biggest fish. Bill Donnelly (MA) caught a 5.25 pound haddock, his largest fish. Terry Wing (ME) also caught a 5.25 pound haddock.
I received two donations sponsoring me in my cancer fund raising project with the Pan-Mass Challenge today. Jeff Corey gave $40.00 while Mark Thyng (VT) gave $50.00. They have both helped me out in the past. Their thoughtfulness is very much appreciated by me but it helps everyone starting with the researchers who depend on funding to keep up the good fight. Thank you very much!
At 3:00 AM EDT the air temperature was 55°F, the sky was overcast, it was raining, the wind was blowing out of the east northeast at eight knots and the visibility over the ocean was good in haze, some fog and precipitation.
It was sloppy in the outer cove when we left the protection of the channel as we headed to the gate. Leaving the gate behind us, I thought we would be lucky to make ten knots cruise. But once we got out a couple of miles, I was able to make thirteen knots. It was a beat and a slog, for sure, but it was okay. Not okay enough to allow anglers to sleep in the top bunks. But okay enough to allow sleeping in the bottom bunks. The wind was out of the east southeast at about twelve knots but diminishing slightly the further we went. Seas were old round chops of three feet with the occasional queer one over four feet. The air temperature was in the high 50s. The sky was overcast. The visibility was fair in fog for the whole ride to our destination.
On the fishing grounds, it stayed foggy all morning, lightning up after noon. We had about two miles visibility for most of the afternoon, just a few boat lengths in the morning. The air temperature reached a high of 58°F but was mostly 56°F. We had no rain all day until at the end of the last stop. However, the sky was overcast all day. Of course, it may have been that the thick fog made it seem like it was overcast in the morning. The tide (current) was light. The wind completely dropped out of the day an hour into the fishing. We had a glassy two to three foot roll for the rest of the day. The highest surface water temperature that I witnessed was 51.5°F.
Ashore, these were the air temperatures in selected New England cities: In Perkins Cove, Ogunquit, Maine the high air temperature was 60°F. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 62°F (with a low of 56°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 64°F (with a low of 55°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 60°F (with a low of 53°F).
The fishing was excellent, the catching was excellent and landings were excellent. It was a fish a cast all day long. Most legal fish landed were haddock, by far. These were some of the biggest framed haddock we have seen all season. We had the boat's bag limit well before we finished. Another thing of note is that these anglers have all fished with me many times over the last thirty years on the Bunny Clark. I consider them professional experts, some of the best groundfishermen in New England. Three of this anglers told me that it was the best day of haddock fishing that they have ever had. It was really "that" excellent! It's certainly magical when you find the right spot, at the right time, with the most perfect biting weather that you could ever imagine with the perfect group of anglers. Legal landings also included forty-one pollock, twenty cusk, nine redfish, ten mackerel and a whiting. Released fish included nineteen small cod, two cod that would have been keepers if cod were legal to take, seventy-six legal sized haddock to 6.5 pounds, thirteen sub-legal haddock, more than seventy-one pollock including small legal pollock and a mackerel. The drift was perfect but did much better on anchor. All terminal gear worked well.
I had no idea who was high hook with the most legal fish. Everyone did so well. Mark Girard (NH) won the boat pool for the largest fish with the largest fish, an 11 pound pollock. Other special fish that I weighed for him included a 7.75 pound Maine state trophy haddock, a 7.1 pound Maine state trophy haddock and another pollock of 7.5 pounds. The 7.75 pound haddock was the third largest fish of the trip. Don Johnson (MA) won the boat pool for the second largest fish with the second largest fish, an 8 pound Maine state trophy haddock. This is the second largest haddock that Don has ever caught ( his largest weighed 8.25 pounds). It also ties for the Bunny Clark's sixth largest haddock of this season so far. I took a picture of Don holding his big haddock. This digital image appears on the left. Some of his other good fish included two haddock of 6.5 pounds each, a 6 pound haddock and a 7 pound Maine state trophy haddock.
Other Angler Highlights: Jim Feeney (MA) caught two haddock of 6 pounds each and a 6 pound cod. He probably had a bigger one that I didn't weigh. John Baron (MA) caught a 6 pound haddock, that I weighed, and, of course, many others that I could have weighed but didn't. Dave Burton (MA) landed a 7 pound cusk. His largest haddock weighed 6.5 pounds. He also caught a double that included, what looked like, a 5.5 pound haddock and a 6.5 pound haddock, both fish caught on the same line at the same time. He gave them to me to give to Jane Staples, our top reservationist. I, in turn, filleted the two fish, put the fillets on ice immediately and gave the fillets to Jane after I left the boat this evening. You can't get fish any fresher than that. And she really appreciated it! Augie Nigro (MA) landed two haddock of 6.5 pounds each and a 6.25 pound haddock. Steve Selmer (NH) caught the best double of the day. His catch included a 7.1 pound Maine state trophy haddock and a 5.5 pound haddock! He also caught a 7.5 pound Maine state trophy haddock and two haddock of 6 pounds each. Steve LaPlante (CT) caught his largest ever haddock today, a 7.25 pound Maine state trophy. In the forty years that he has fished with me, that's the first trophy haddock that he has ever landed. I took a picture of Steve holding his trophy fish. This digital image appears on the right. Some of Steve's other fish that he caught included a 7 pound pollock, a 6.5 pound haddock and a 6.75 pound haddock. Fred Kunz (NH) missed securing a trophy haddock by a quarter of a pound, with a fish of 6.75 pounds. I also weighed a 6 pound haddock and a 6.25 pound haddock for him.
I received many donations today sponsoring me in the Pan-Mass Challenge, a cycling event across the state of Massachusetts for cancer research. The anglers and their donations included: Dave Burton for $50.00 (again; he has donated many times this year and in the past), John Baron for a generous $100.00, Jim & Angela Feeney for a generous $100.00, Steve LaPlante for a generous $100.00, Mark Girard for a generous $100.00 and Don Johnson for $60.00 (Don & family also donate every year and have already done so this year). Thank you all so much for your generosity, thoughtfulness and support. I know that this is important and that I should be doing this; the results speak for themselves. But I appreciate your backing and selfless motivation to help me all the time. It's this reinforcement that also means so very much to me!
At 5:00 AM EDT the air temperature was 55°F, the sky was clear, there was a very light wind from the southwest, the ocean along the shore was flat calm but lightly ruffled and the visibility over it was excellent.
Ashore the wind blew out of the northwest. There was barely any wind to start but increased to fifteen knots by 9:00 AM and over twenty knots by noon. The early afternoon saw twenty knots of northwest wind with higher gusts, starting to peter out by 3:00 PM. By 6:00 PM, there was hardly any wind at all. Offshore, it blew out of the south, south southwest or west at ten knots with some reports as high as fifteen knots. The visibility was excellent all day. The sky was hazy clear with sun for the entire day. It was wonderful; very much like a summer day. The air temperature reached a high of 79°F, that I saw, in Ogunquit. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 83°F (with a low of 62°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 80°F (with a low of 50°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 79°F (with a low of 57°F).
I spent a wonderful day at the restaurants. I had a bunch of stuff there that I had to do early and throughout the morning, going back and forth between the home office and the Cove. I was in the restaurants for good by 11:00 AM. I did a little office work but it was mostly talking to patrons and management. It was a very good day with much good work done.
My sister, Meg, works at Barnacle Billy's on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. So she was there today. It's always nice to have here there. Certainly, the regulars love her. And why not? She's Meg!
At 2:30 AM EDT the air temperature was 64°F, the sky was clear with a full moon above the horizon to the west, the wind was blowing out of the west at ten knots and the visibility over the ocean was nearly excellent.
The full moon hung over my right shoulder as we headed down the channel and out of the gate to Perkins Cove. It was a beautiful morning with an air temperature of 64°F almost the whole ride to the fishing grounds. The visibility was excellent. The sky was clear with Venus ahead of us. The wind was light out of the southwest to start but increased as we progressed further offshore. A mile from the grounds, the southwest wind was blowing about fifteen knots with seas of about three feet.
On the fishing grounds, the wind continued to increase out of the southwest. By mid-morning wind speeds were about twenty knots sustained with seas of about four feet with the occasional queer one. The wind started to back off around noon. Gradually at first, by the time we were ready to head for the barn, there was very little wind. The wind was light out of the west when we started home. We carried light westerly winds and calm seas all the way home. The air temperature reached a high of 62°F. The tide (current) was light to begin and strong at the end of the last stop. The visibility had to be over twenty-five miles in some haze. The sky was cloudless. The surface water temperature reached a high of 55°F.
Ashore, these were the air temperatures in selected New England cities: In Perkins Cove, Ogunquit, Maine the high air temperature was 85°F, I heard. But, in Matt Pedersen's truck driving around Ogunquit, he had a consistent reading of 88°F. He said that it was way too warm! In Boston, MassachuThsetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 89°F (with a low of 66°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 85°F (with a low of 57°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 82°F (with a low of 60°F).
The fishing was good to very good. The larger than normal seas put some of our anglers under, it was a bit uncomfortable anyway and the tide was a bit too much in the end. However, the catching and landings were excellent. The fish did not care about the conditions. Most legal fish landed were haddock, by far. However, we were denied the boat's limit of haddock because the pollock bit so well. We only landed ninety-nine legal pollock. But we had to have caught and released twice as many sub-legal pollock. Legal landings also included nine cusk, thirty-two mackerel and two redfish. Released fish included a porbeagle shark, four cod over 6 pounds, two cusk, two small cod, a dogfish, eighteen sub-legal haddock and all those small pollock. I didn't even attempt to drift; we anchored for every stop. All terminal gear worked well.
John Gardner (NY) fought a porbeagle shark for about five minutes or so before his monofilament leader broke off his line after getting the fly above the jig caught as the shark swam away, stripping line out of the John's reel in the process. John never had a chance. We never saw another shark hookup again. Although Jeff Bailey (NY) observed a very large porbeagle shark free swimming as he was fishing off the bow.
I couldn't tell you who was high hook with the most legal fish. Everybody did exceptionally well - except for three who didn't fish much. Mike Kotash (NY) won the boat pool for the largest fish with the largest fish, an 18.5 pound pollock. This is the Bunny Clark's largest pollock of the fishing season to date. Mike also caught the second largest fish of the trip, a 16 pound pollock. This fish is the Bunny Clark's second largest pollock of this year's fishing season so far. I caught the third largest fish of the trip, a 12.5 pound wolffish. I caught this fish as a double with a 4 pound haddock on the fly above the bait rig. At the time of this writing, this is the Bunny Clark's fifth largest wolffish of the season. The largest wolffish that I had ever caught before this only weighed 8 pounds! Kris Ostergaard (NJ) took a picture of me holding this cat before I released it back to the ocean. This digital image appears on the left. I was holding the mouth of this fish toward the camera so that you can see the teeth. Having one of these fish bite me would not be a pleasant experience.
Other Angler Highlights: Ted Elk (NY) caught a 7.5 pound pollock right off the bat this morning. Pete Backus (NY) caught a 6 pound cod, a 6 pound pollock and a 6.5 pound haddock, the three of his fish that I weighed. Jeff Richards caught a bunch of haddock in the 6 pound range. His largest haddock was a 7 pound Maine state trophy. I believe that this is the largest haddock that he has ever caught. John Kennedy (NY) caught an 8.5 pound pollock and was leading the boat pool for, at least, an hour or more. I weighed a 6 pound haddock for John. Three fish I weighed for Greg Mallott (NY) included a 6 pound haddock, a 7 pound pollock and a 9 pound pollock. Rod Langevin (NY) caught a 6.25 pound haddock and a 6 pound haddock. Tom "Ollie" Bruyere (NY) landed a 6 pound haddock, a 6.5 pound haddock and a 10.5 pound pollock. He caught the most legal haddock that he has ever caught on a single trip in his life today! Jeff Bailey caught a double that included a 9.75 pound cod and a 6.5 pound haddock. I had weighed a 6.5 pound pollock for him before he caught the double. Jeff's cod is the Bunny Clark's fifth largest cod of the season to date. Kris Ostergaard caught the largest haddock of the trip, a Maine state trophy of 8 pounds. This is Kris' largest ever haddock and a tie for the Bunny Clark's sixth largest haddock of the fishing season so far. I took a picture of Kris holding his prize haddock. This digital image appears on the right. Bob Tebo (NY) caught a 6 pound haddock, his biggest fish. Joe Valentino (NY) caught a 5.5 pound haddock that I weighed.
This crew has fished on the Bunny Clark for eighteen years. I started taking this crew as their captain, initially, back then. Captain Ian took over after that initial trip. They were never disappointed with Ian. Today, thought, was the first time any of them had seen haddock fishing as good as this. And this doesn't have so much to do with me as it does the sign of the times. The haddock have come back in a huge way. But it still amazes me with the average size of the haddock we have been seeing. It certainly amazed them!
I received three donations sponsoring me in my cancer fundraising project with the Pan-Mass Challenge today. Mike Kotash donated his boat pool winnings in an extremely generous show of solidarity, of which I really appreciated. But it must have been a plan that was thought out in advance collectively as everyone clapped when he gave the money back after I presented it to him. The figure was a very generous $320.00. John Gardner threw in another $5.00 from the change for a jig that he bought from me earlier in the day to make a grand total of $325.00. Later, Rich Mallott gave me $200.00 towards my fundraising drive! Thank you all so very much for your most wonderful surprise and for the support you have all given me in the past. Your generosity today may be a surprise but your thoughtfulness never is. And I appreciate that more than you will ever know. You are a great crew. I'm only sorry, and a bit sad, that your primary captain was not here to enjoy the fishing with you. He always looked forward to this charter. But he was always anxious before the trip as he was concerned about catching you enough fish!
At 5:00 AM EDT the air temperature was 59°F, the sky was clear, there was hardly enough wind out of the northwest to blow a candle out and the visibility over the ocean was excellent.
It was a very nice day, albeit, a little on the cool side. The wind blew out of the west up to about ten knots during the day, maybe a little bit north of west. That probably made the air cooler than expected, the northerly lilt. Offshore, the wind blew lightly out of the west northwest until noon where it died out and started to blow out of the south and, then, southwest. Southwest wind speeds never got to the ten knot mark. The sky was clear all day with few clouds. The visibility was pretty close to excellent. The highest air temperature that I saw was 68°F, which was perfect for me. In Boston, MassachuThsetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 70°F (with a low of 59°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 70°F (with a low of 53°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 69°F (with a low of 53°F).
My day was spent in the restaurants. It wasn't the busiest day but it wasn't too slow either.
A couple of the harpoon tuna boats were out today. I don't know how they fared. But a buyer was in the Cove when I left to go home. So I'm assuming a fish or more was caught today. I'll find out tomorrow. The conditions today were perfect for harpooning.
I received a generous $250.00 donation from Ledgy Mitchell (NH) sponsoring me in my cancer quest with the Pan-Mass Challenge today. Ledgy's donation was made in the form of an "eGift" through the PMC site. Ledgy started supporting my cancer project a few years ago and has, since, sponsored me every year. Thank you so very much for your help! I appreciate it so much!
The day looked like it was going to be horrible. But it wasn't, really. It rained for the first half of the morning and was a bit drizzly for part of the second half. By noon, there was very little drizzle. The afternoon was, pretty much, rain free. The sky stayed mostly overcast all day with a peek at the sun through the clouds after 5:00 PM. The sky never did totally clear. It was cool all day with the air temperature only making it out of the 50s in the later afternoon. The highest air temperature that I saw was 61°F. The wind was light all day with periods of zero wind. The only time there seemed to be any wind at all was in the early afternoon where we might have had nine knots out of the southeast or east southeast. The ocean was calm along the shore for most of the day. Even the wind we did have didn't last much more than an hour. The visibility was very good to excellent. In Boston, MassachuThsetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 61°F (with a low of 57°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 65°F (with a low of 53°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 61°F (with a low of 48°F).
Today was, pretty much, a normal day for me. Most of the day was spent at the restaurants. Part of the morning was devoted to Bunny Clark stuff.
My daughter's family are visiting with us for the weekend. Last night, we enjoyed dinner with them at Barnacle Billy's, Etc. Tonight they (including my sister, Meg) had dinner at Barnacle Billy's while I worked at both restaurants. It was fun visiting them and visiting a wedding reception of high profile guests at Barnacle Billy's, Etc. during the same time period, both starting at 5:00 PM. My daughter's family leaves tomorrow morning.
It was a beautiful spring day today. The sky was clear all day with a bright sun. The visibility remained excellent. The wind was light all day. East at first, east southeast and, then, southeast in the later afternoon. The strongest wind I felt was at 5:00 PM when it was blowing eight to ten knots out of the southeast. It was cool all day again, much like yesterday but warmer with the addition of sun. The highest air temperature that I saw was 64°F. In Boston, MassachuThsetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 64°F (with a low of 56°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 73°F (with a low of 52°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 64°F (with a low of 44°F).
Today was another restaurant day. I spent an hour down there starting at 5:30 AM but spent the rest of the morning at home. Some of the time was spent with my daughter's family. I also took time for a 10 kilometer run. I made sure my run was done before 10:00 AM so I could spend some time with the grandkids before they motored back to New Jersey. It was nice to have them here.
The restaurant was busier than yesterday, mostly because of the great weather. There were very few patrons inside at either restaurant. Most were on the deck, patio, garden and upper deck. It was such a nice day.
At 5:00 AM EDT the air temperature was 54°F outside the home office and 51°F where the Bunny Clark is docked, the sky was overcast, there was a hint of wind from the southwest, the ocean along the shore was calm and the visibility over it was very good in some haze.
We had an easy ride to the fishing grounds. There was zero wind, a very smooth ocean with no wind ripples and a large underlying swell of four to five feet. There was so much time between the swells that it was hardly noticeable. The visibility was excellent. The sky was clear. The air temperature stayed above 60°F for the whole ride. .
On the grounds, we had no wind until around noon. After noon, the wind started to blow out of the southeast. It stayed out of the southeast or south southeast for the rest of the day. We might have seen ten knots at most. The air temperature got up as high as 68°F. The tide (current) was light to moderate. The visibility ranged to over twenty miles in haze. The sky was cloudless. Seas were a one foot chop after noon. The highest surface water temperature that I saw was 59°F.
Ashore, these were the air temperatures in selected New England cities: In Perkins Cove, Ogunquit, Maine the high air temperature was 68°F. In Boston, MassachuThsetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 66°F (with a low of 55°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 77°F (with a low of 51°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 67°F (with a low of 52°F).
The fishing was excellent if you included the dogfish, the catching was very good and landings were good at best. It was one of our slower days. It could have been our slowest day. We did, however, have several anglers sea sick enough to not be a participating angler today. Legal landings included seventy-five haddock, twenty-six cusk, three pollock, seventy-two mackerel and four redfish. Released fish included thirty-seven sub-legal haddock, seventy-six dogfish, thirty-eight small pollock, fifteen mackerel, two cusk, two sculpins, three porbeagle sharks, five small cod and one cod of about five or more pounds. We alternated between drifting and anchoring. Both methods had their moments. Bait worked best.
Nick Longo (MA/ME) was high hook with eighteen legal fish. Three of his fish that I weighed included two haddock of 5 pounds and a 6 pound haddock. Jeff Corey (MA) was second hook with the second most legal fish of the trip. Paul DeSousa (MA) won the boat pool for the largest fish with the largest fish, a 7.25 pound Maine state trophy haddock. This is Paul's biggest ever haddock. I took a picture of Paul holding his prize fish. This digital image appears on the right. Roy Carreiro (MA) caught the second largest fish, a 7 pound cusk. His 4.5 pound haddock was one of the first haddock that I weighed today. Bill Gelinas (NH) caught the third largest fish, a haddock that weighed slightly over 6 pounds. Bill also caught a 5 pound haddock.
Other Angler Highlights: Jack Doherty (MA) landed a 5.5 pound haddock, his best fish. Sye Davidson (WI) caught a 5.5 pound cusk, his biggest fish. Steve Pesce (ME) caught a few fish. But he was most noted for losing a 200 pound porbeagle shark right next to the boat. He had two on today.
I really think that, had there been a lot less bait (herring, mackerel & sand eels) and it wasn't so calm, we would have caught more fish. It was fun seeing all the bait on the machine and to see the whales feeding on them. But, I'm sure, our fishing suffered for it.
I received three donations sponsoring me in my cancer fund raising project with the Pan-Mass Challenge today. Jack Doherty donated $20.00 before the boat even left the dock this morning, Tony Brewer (ME), one of the bow gods today, donated $20.00 and Paul DeSousa donated a generous $70.00. Thank you all so very much for your support and kindness. It means so very much to me. But it means more to those who are suffering from cancer and the researchers who are doing all the work.
At 2:45 AM EDT the air temperature was 59°F outside the home office and 59°F where the Bunny Clark is docked, the sky was mostly cloudy with a half moon shinning through high over the ocean, the wind was very light from the south and the visibility over the ocean was very good in some haze.
The sky was cloudy enough so as not to see the moon when we left the channel to the open ocean. The wind was blowing out of the south but there wasn't enough of it to bother. Three knots, mostly? The ocean was calm with an old chop hubble for the ride out. Although the sky was mostly cloudy the whole way, it was clear to the east where we saw the sun rise as an orange orb out of the ocean. We carried an air temperature of 60°F to our destination. The visibility seemed very good in some haze.
On the fishing grounds, there was very little wind. In order to set up an anchor heading, I had to drift first. The wind came up out of the south southeast late in the morning. We might have seen eight knots of south southeast wind in the early afternoon. This died out to about three knots or less before it was time to go home. The air temperature reached a high of 66°F. The tide (current) was light to moderate. The visibility ranged to over fifteen miles in haze. The sky was mostly cloudy to the point of being overcast at times but with a good view of the sun most of the day. There was enough sun to wear sunglasses. Seas were as much as a foot or two, mostly because of an opposing tide. The surface water temperature reached a high of 58°F.
Ashore, these were the air temperatures in selected New England cities: In Perkins Cove, Ogunquit, Maine the high air temperature was observed at 68°F. In Boston, MassachuThsetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 68°F (with a low of 59°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 67°F (with a low of 56°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 67°F (with a low of 59°F).
The fishing was very good to excellent. The weather conditions and the tide did not bother today. There were too many small pollock and dogfish to make a perfect fishing day. The catching was excellent. Landings were good to very good. Most legal fish landed were pollock, by far, our best pollock fishing of the year to date. Legal landings also included eighty-one haddock, eighteen cusk, four redfish and eleven mackerel. Most of the day we couldn't get through the pollock to get to the haddock. Released fish included over two hundred and twenty-eight small pollock, five sub-legal haddock, six cod over 6 pounds, two small cod, over thirty-four dogfish, a wolffish and seven mackerel. We lost two porbeagle sharks. We drift fished and anchored. Anchoring caught the most legal haddock and almost all the dogfish. There were very few dogfish on the drift. And just about all our bigger fish were caught while drifting. All terminal gear worked well.
Dave Burton (MA) was high hook with the most legal fish. There was a period of about an hour where no one could touch him for numbers of keepers. I do believe that if he had only fished for that hour, he would still have had the most fish to take home. His largest fish was a 12 pound pollock. But he also caught a lot of good sized haddock including his biggest, a 7.1 pound Maine state trophy. This is the largest haddock that he has ever caught. I took a picture of Dave with his haddock. This digital image appears on the right. Wilson Nadler (NY) won the boat pool for the largest fish with the largest fish, a 16.5 pound pollock. This is the Bunny Clark's second largest pollock of the fishing season so far. Tim Blowers (NY) won the boat pool for the second largest fish with the second largest fish, a 15.5 pound pollock. This is the Bunny Clark's fourth largest pollock of the fishing season so far. The third largest fish was a 15 pound cod caught by Nikki Szczepanski (VA). This is the Bunny Clark's second largest cod of the fishing season to date. I took a picture of Nikki holding her big cod before it was released alive. This digital image appears on the left. Of the six cod of "keeper size" that we caught today, she had three of them. Nikki's other two cod weighed 7 pounds and 7.25 pounds.
Other Angler Highlights:Paul Glowacki (NY) boated an 8 pound pollock, a 5 pound haddock and a 9.75 pound pollock. Mike Szczepanski (MA) landed the second biggest cod of the day at 10 pounds. This ties our sixth largest cod of the season so far. Mike also caught the largest cusk at 8 pounds and the third largest haddock at 6.9 pounds. Dave Bolak (NY) caught an 8 pound pollock, his biggest fish. Dexter Case (NY), an expert walleye fisherman, got the best double of the day. His catch included a 5 pound haddock and an 8 pound Maine state trophy haddock, both fish caught on the same line at the same time! I also weighed a 6 pound haddock for him. Fred Kunz (NH) caught twenty-eight legal fish. His largest was a 9 pound pollock. Glenn Cummings (NY) caught the only wolffish today. It weighed 10 pounds. His biggest haddock weighed 6 pounds and his largest pollock weighed 7 pounds. Greg Szczepanski (NY) caught a 9 pound pollock, his largest fish. Kelsey Oakley (NY) landed a 12 pound pollock and a 10 pound pollock, his two biggest fish.
I received three donations today sponsoring me in my cancer fundraising project with the Pan-Mass Challenge. The anglers and their donations included Dave Burton for another $50.00 (Dave has contributed many times this year already), Dexter Case for $15.00 and Dave Bolak for $50.00. Thank you all so very much for your support and thoughtfulness. I do really appreciate the help and your encouragement!
At 5:00 AM EDT the air temperature was 60°F, the sky was overcast, it was raining lightly, the wind was blowing out of the south at twelve knots and the visibility over the ocean was fair to poor in fog.
Thankfully, it didn't rain all day. It rained lightly for most of the morning with drizzle and fog for the rest of the morning. By noon, the rain was gone for the day. The fog hung around for about another two hours. Then, that was gone too. The sky did stay overcast all day. But the temperature rose. By mid afternoon, the air temperature had risen to 70°F. The wind blew out of the south all day today. By 5:30 AM, the wind was blowing about fifteen knots, more or less. This wind kept up all morning but started to drop off after noon. By 6:00 PM, the wind was very light out of the south. The visibility was very good after noon as well. In Boston, MassachuThsetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 78°F (with a low of 65°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 76°F (with a low of 66°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 68°F (with a low of 60°F).
Two days on the boat makes me get behind in the restaurants. So I had a lot to catch up on. And I realized that I had forgotten to do a couple of things, after I got home at the end of the day. C'est la vie. They weren't critical things. But it will just increase the work load over the weekend. But I do have three days before we go out again on the Bunny Clark. It seems so strange to be only sailing three days a week.
I received a generous $250.00 donation from Andy Armitage (ME) sponsoring me in the Pan-Mass Challenge today. Andy's donation was made in the form of an "eGift" through the PMC site. With the donation he left a message that said: "Wishing you another tremendous year in your PMC cancer fund raising efforts. You are a hero, Tim Tower." I'm not sure I agree with the hero part. But I do appreciate the donation more than you know, Andy. But, actually, of all the people I know, I think you do know! Thank you so very much!
At 2:30 AM EDT the air temperature was 58°F, the sky was a thin overcast with a crescent moon hanging high off the horizon, the wind was blowing just enough to give is a southwesterly direction and the visibility over the ocean was fair in fog.
As I was coming back with the truck, after I dropped off the passenger manifest and the reservation list at the house, what wind we did have, dropped and the fog settled in so thick it was hard to see the road in front of me as I made my way back into the Cove. We left the Cove in a dungeon of fog. I could barely see the bridge before we went under. I never did see the can buoys at the entrance to Perkins Cove. I never did see anything once we left the bridge behind. GPS and radar alone got me out of the Cove and on the way.
We had thick foggy conditions all the way to the fishing grounds. Thee was no wind. The ocean was smooth and glassy on top with a small rolling sea underneath. Our visibility ranged to about three boat lengths, no more than that. The fog didn't seem that deep as I could see the crescent moon high and ahead of us for the first ten miles. We maintained an air temperature of 63 to 64°F the whole way to our destination.
On the fishing grounds, we were locked in fog for the whole time fishing. It wasn't until five miles inside of the area we were fishing that we ran out of the fog and into clear visibility. The wind was very light out of the southwest, southeast and south. We might have had two knots or just enough wind to produce ripples on the surface. The air temperature reached a high of 73°F. The tide (current) was moderate; into the wind at first and then with the wind in the afternoon. The sky was clear and sunny. The surface water temperature reached a high of 60°F.
Ashore, these were the air temperatures in selected New England cities: In Perkins Cove, Ogunquit, Maine the high air temperature was 84°F. In Boston, MassachuThsetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 92°F (with a low of 68°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 92°F (with a low of 67°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 77°F (with a low of 59°F).
The fishing was very good to excellent. The tide was never strong enough to promote tangling, the weather conditions were prefect and everyone had a great time. The catching was excellent. Landings were very good. Most legal fish landed were haddock by far. We didn't get the boat limit but several anglers easily caught the bag limit of haddock. Legal landings also included forty-one cusk, ninety-four pollock, two redfish and a big cunner. Released fish included seven cod that would have been legal to keep had we been able to, nine small cod, seven cusk, more than twenty-eight haddock (most sub-legal), more than one hundred and eighty-two sub-legal pollock and twenty-seven dogfish. We drift fished and anchored. All terminal gear worked well.
I couldn't tell you who was high hook with the most legal fish. So many anglers did so well. Dave Stevens (AZ) caught the largest fish, a 17 pound pollock. This is the Bunny Clark's second largest pollock of the fishing season to date. I took a picture of Dave holding this nice pollock. This digital image appears on the left. The second largest fish was a 14.5 pound pollock caught by Dean Stevens (VT). He caught this as a double with a 5 pound haddock, both fish caught on the same line at the same time! These were the first two fish boated today. The pollock is tied for the Bunny Clarks sixth largest pollock of the season so far. Dean also caught an 8 pound cod, the largest haddock of the day at 6.75 pounds and quite a few haddock and pollock as well. Brayden Middlemiss (VT) caught the third largest fish, a 14 pound cod. This is the Bunny Clark's third largest cod of the fishing season to date. I took a quick picture of Brayden holding his good sized cod just before he released it back to the ocean alive. This digital image appears on the right. None of the anglers above entered the boat pools today.
Jonny Stevens (VT) and Bill Estabrook (ME) tied for the fourth largest fish, both with fish of 13 pounds. Jonny caught a 13 pound pollock but did not enter the boat pool Bill won the boat pool for the largest fish with the fourth largest fish, a 13 pound cod. Currently, this is the Bunny Clark's fourth largest cod of the fishing season as well. Bill's biggest haddock weighed 6.5 pounds. Hannah Smith (VT) won the boat pool for the second largest fish with the sixth largest fish, an 11 pound pollock. Her largest haddock was 5 pounds or more. I didn't weigh it but it was definitely that big. She and Dave Haberl (VT) caught a lot of fish together. Dave's largest haddock weighed 5 pounds, officially, with his scale.
Other Angler Highlights: Gunner Stevens (VT) caught a pollock that weighed 10.5 pounds. Owen Sherman (VT) caught one of the larger cusk at 6.5 pounds. He also caught quite a few haddock. Will Fox (NY) caught an 8 pound pollock, his biggest fish. Rick Turner (NY) caught a 9 pound pollock, his best fish. However, he caught a haddock that looked to be about 6 pounds that I didn't weigh. Sebastian Tellez (AZ) caught a double that included a 9 pound pollock and an 8.5 pound pollock. His largest fish was a 9.5 pound pollock. Bill Kelson (MA) caught a lot of nice haddock. The largest of his that I weighed was 6 pounds, the largest haddock that he has ever caught. The unselfish angler that he is, he did let three good sized haddock back to the ocean alive, via one of the stern scupper holes! Ateon Whitney (ME) landed a 6.5 pound haddock, his best fish. He caught quite a few haddock with a jig. Jonathan Griffin (MA) and Roger Gavin (MA) fished as a team and caught a lot of fish today. But neither one caught a haddock much more than 5 pounds. Nor did they catch any good sized pollock; just a lot of them!
I received four donations today sponsoring me in my cancer fundraising effort with the Pan-Mass Challenge. The anglers and their donations included: Gloria Gennari (MA) for a generous $100.00 (In Memory of Captain Ian Keniston and Rick Gelaznik (MA), Dave Haberl & Hannah Smith donated $50.00, Victor Tirrito (VT) donated $50.00 and Betsy McLaughlin (NY) donated a very generous $500.00 to the cause. I am humbled by your support for something I deem very important. Obviously, you do to. Thank you so very much for your thoughtfulness and generosity. It means so very much to so many. But I am particularly appreciative.
At 5:00 AM EDT the air temperature was 69°F, the sky was clear, the wind was blowing out of the south southwest at fifteen knots or more and the visibility over the ocean was very good in some haze.
The wind was the salient weather feature today. It blew out of the west at speeds over thirty knots. By 5:00 PM, the wind was starting to drop off. By 7:00 PM, we had about ten knots of wind out of the west. The sky was dotted with cumulus clouds all day. The ocean along the shore was feather white with chops moving out to sea. The visibility was excellent. The highest air temperature that I saw today was 78°F. In Boston, MassachuThsetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 85°F (with a low of 71°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 80°F (with a low of 62°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 78°F (with a low of 59°F).
I spent the day catching up on things I could not get done over the weekend. It's also my day to open up Barnacle Billy's, both restaurants. So I was there at 4:30 AM, getting the restaurant ready to start the day. I got back home in time to post yesterday's report by 10:30 AM. I spent the rest of the day mostly at the restaurant, largely in the office.
Today was, what my father would have called, a "111" day. It was a beautiful Saturday, the best weather Saturday we have had since we have been open. The sky was clear all day, in fact, cloudless for most of it. The wind blew out of the west or west northwest lightly to start, flunked out and then blew very lightly out of the south. The visibility was excellent. The ocean along the shore was calm all day . The highest air temperature that I saw was 80°F. But it didn't feel that warm. In Boston, MassachuThsetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 80°F (with a low of 66°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 85°F (with a low of 56°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 81°F (with a low of 54°F).
My day was spent with the restaurant, all aspects. I did spend some time working out in the morning between work. But there was nothing exciting to report. And I didn't see if the tuna boats were successful today. I didn't stay up late enough to see them come in. Until today, only twelve fish have been landed in Perkins Cove. That's way behind last year at this time.
The sky was overcast all morning with a hint of rain. It never really did rain after 9:00 AM. But it sure looked like it would. After noon, the clouds cleared and the sky was cloudless for a while. Around 2:00 PM, the wind blew out of the northwest at fifteen knots with higher gusts. It didn't reach off though as the closest weather buoy was showing southerly wind at ten knots. The sky became dotted with cumulus clouds. By 6:00 PM, the wind had dropped to just about nothing. The visibility was excellent all day. It was humid. I saw a high of 85°F. So it felt a bit too warm to me. And it also might have been warmer than that. But I didn't see it. In Boston, MassachuThsetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 94°F (with a low of 71°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 90°F (with a low of 65°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 89°F (with a low of 61°F).
I did about an hours worth of work on the Bunny Clark today. This came in the form of getting the boat provisioned for tomorrow and cleaning up; the engine room.
The rest of my time was spent working in the restaurant. I finally go caught up with all my office work there. So I had plenty of time to talk with the patrons, many of whom I have seen many times before. It was a wonderful day with just about everyone eating outside at both restaurants.
At 5:00 AM EDT the air temperature was 69°F outside the home office and 65°F where the Bunny Clark is docked, the sky was clear, there was no wind, the ocean along the shore was flat calm and the visibility over it seemed excellent.
The ride to the fishing grounds gave us a setting that was completely devoid of wind. The ocean was glassy calm with a bit of old left over little rolling chops. The sky was nearly cloudless or cloudless. The visibility was excellent. The air temperature ranged to 70°F.
On the grounds, we had no wind until around 1:00 PM, when we saw a south southeast wind pipe up. It increased to about eight knots before we left to head back to Perkins Cove. The sky was clear all day with some high thin clouds here and there. The air temperature reached a high of 77°F. The tide was on the strong side of moderate. The visibility ranged to over twenty miles in haze. The surface water temperature reached a high of 63°F.
Ashore, these were the air temperatures in selected New England cities: In Perkins Cove, Ogunquit, Maine the high air temperature was 88°F. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 90°F (with a low of 76°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 97°F (with a low of 65°F). The high of 97°F breaks the previous record high for this date of 94°F set in 1888, 1975 and 2020. The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 84°F (with a low of 66°F).
The fishing was nearly excellent. Had there been less tide, it would have been excellent. The catching was excellent. Landings were good. no better. Legal landings included eighty-seven cusk, sixty-seven redfish of really good size, six pollock, eighteen haddock and a couple of whiting. Released fish included well over a hundred mackerel, fifty-eight sub-legal pollock, forty-eight sub-legal haddock, three cod over 6 pounds, eleven small cod, nine dogfish, seven sculpins, a sea raven, a wolffish and a handful of herring. We alternated between drifting and anchoring. Anchoring helped with the current. Bait worked best.
I couldn't tell you who was high hook. It could have been Dick Lyle (NY), Phil Hibbard (ME) or someone else. I just don't know. Andy Morris (NH) won the boat pool for the largest fish with the largest fish, a 10.5 pound cusk. He also caught a 2.25 pound Maine state trophy redfish, the largest redfish that he has ever seen. I took a picture of Andy holding his big redfish. This digital image appears on the left. David Moore (ME) should have won the boat pool with a wolffish that weighed (plus or minus) 18 pounds. Because we can't gaff them (kill them), Danny tried to lift it in the boat by the snelled hook leader. And, yes, the line broke and the fish swam to bottom. That fish could have eaten the fish that won the boat pool. The third largest fish was a 9.5 pound cusk caught by Roy Monty (NY). Both Andy and Ernie (see paragraph below) have fished with me for twenty years.
Other Angler Highlights: Mark Walsh (MA) started off the boat pool off with a 7 pound cod. His son, Shane Walsh (MA), caught the largest pollock at 9.25 pounds. Jenell Swimline (NY) caught a 7 pound cusk, her best fish. Ernie Searles (NH) boated his first ever Maine state trophy redfish. It weighed slightly over 2 pounds. I took a picture of Ernie with holding his prize redfish. This digital image appears on the right. Amy Finocchiaro (MA) caught an 8.5 pound cusk after catching the lion's share of mackerel today! If she never sees another mackerel it will be too soon!
We had Ethan Taulbee (ME) with us today from the Maine Department of Marine Resources measuring fish and completing angler surveys. He also helped us with the fish as well - and some of the cleaning afterward!. It was great to have him aboard. He seemed like just another of my crew members!
I received two donations sponsoring me in my cancer fund raising project with the Pan-Mass Challenge today. Dan Potyrala (MA) donated a generous $100.00 in Memory of Captain Ian Keniston and his, father, Chet, and Cory Swimline (NY) also donated a generous $100.00 in memory of John Swimline. Thank you all so very much for the support and your generosity. It means a great deal to me but it means more to those we help, both in research and those with the disease.
At 2:30 AM EDT the air temperature was 79°F outside the home office and 76°F where the Bunny Clark is docked, the sky was hazy clear, the wind was light out of the southwest and the visibility over the ocean was very good in haze.
The ride to the fishing grounds was uneventful; just the way I like it. The wind was light out of the southwest. The wind might have blown up to eight knots. Mostly, it was less than that. The visibility was very good in some haze. The sky remained hazy clear with Venus clear enough ahead of us. The air temperature seemed to maintain 72°F for an air temperature the whole way to our destination.
On the fishing grounds, the wind kept dropping, not that it was blowing very hard anyway. By 10:00 AM, the only way you could tell that we had any wind was by looking at the wind streakes on the ocean's calm surface. After that time, the wind dropped out of the day. When I called the day, the wind was just starting to come up out of the west. The wind blew about ten knots out of the west with a one foot chop about two miles inside of the last stop. The visibility ranged to over twenty miles in haze. The air temperature reached it's highest value, 80°F, on the last stop, four degrees warmer than it had been all day. This should have given me a clue that the wind was going to come westerly. The tide (current) wasn't strong but it wasn't moderate either. The sky stayed clear and very sunny all day. The surface water temperature reached a high of 65°F.
Ashore, these were the air temperatures in selected New England cities: In Perkins Cove, Ogunquit, Maine the high air temperature was reported as being 100°F. I didn't see it. At 5:30 PM, up at the house, it was 90°F. Hot enough for sure. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 102°F (with a low of 78°F). The high of 102°F, in Boston, breaks the previous record high for this date of 95°F set in 1976 and 2013. The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 100°F (with a low of 70°F). The high of 100°F, in Concord, breaks the previous record high for this date of 96°F set in 1870. The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 99°F (with a low of 65°F). The high of 99°F, in Portland, breaks the previous record high for this date of 93°F set in 1976.
The fishing was very good. It could have been excellent if we didn't see so many dogfish and the tide was lighter than it was. The catching was excellent. Landings were good to very good. Most legal fish landed were haddock, by far. Legal landings also included thirty-five cusk, sixty-eight pollock, seven mackerel and four redfish. As near as I could figure, we released ninety dogfish and nearly two hundred small pollock. I really couldn't keep track of those two species. Also released were four cod over 6 pounds, eight small cod, three cusk, twenty-two sub-legal haddock and a mackerel or two. We alternated between drifting and anchoring. Drifting was the most productive. Anchoring seemed to bring more dogfish. All terminal gear worked well.
Dick "Fish a Cast" Lyle (NY) was high hook with the most legal fish. His best fish was a 6 pound haddock but he caught a bigger cusk I didn't weigh. He was also responsible for three of the eight small cod that were caught and released. Fred Kunz (NH) won the boat pool for the largest fish with the largest fish, a 14 pound cod. This cod ties for the Bunny Clark's third largest cod of the fishing season so far. I took a picture of Fred holding his cod before releasing it back to the ocean alive. This digital image appears on the left. Fred also won the boat pool for the second largest fish with the second largest fish, an 11.75 pound pollock. His largest haddock was probably 6 pounds. I never did weigh any of his haddock. The third largest fish was an 11 pound pollock caught by Brandon Stevens (VT). He also caught the largest haddock of the day at 6.75 pounds, a 9 pound cod and another haddock that weighed 6 pounds. He, Dave Burton (MA) and Fred Kunz were probably second hook.
Other Angler Highlights: Dave Burton caught a 9 pound cod, his largest fish. He had a couple of nice sized pollock that I didn't weigh. Steve Zimmer (NY) didn't have the day I expected him to have. Nor did he shine like he did on the last trip. But it wasn't a very good biting day anyway. And he really didn't do that badly; just not up to his standards. His two biggest fish that I weighed included a 7 pound cod and a 9 pound pollock. He did catch a haddock that looked to be about 6 pounds. I didn't weigh that fish. Johnny Mattson (VT) caught a 9.5 pound pollock and a pollock that weighed 10.25 pounds, his two biggest. Robert Riendeau (VT) landed two haddock that both looked big enough to be trophy fish. They weighed 6 pounds each. In fact, a lot of the haddock we caught today had the frames of 7 to 8 pound fish but weighed less. Luis Feliberty (NH) landed a 6.25 pound haddock. Tony Atchinson's (NH) best fish was a 6.5 pound haddock.
I received several donations today sponsoring me in my cancer fundraising drive with the Pan-Mass Challenge. The persons and their donations included Peter Voorheis (NY) for a very generous $300.00, Dick & Kathy Lyle (NY) donated a generous $100.00, Dave Burton donated another $50.00 (this after another, another, another....), Fred Kunz (NH) donated again, this time for $45.00, Tony Atchinson donated $55.00 and Bob Reindeau (VT) donated $20.00. Wow, that is a lot of donations for a day. I'm truly humbled with your contributions! Thank you so very much.
Also, right out of the blue, I received an insanely generous $1,000.00 for my cancer project with the Pan-Mass Challenge from Elinor Payeur & Cathy Harrison. The donation was made in the form of an "eGift" through the PMC site with the message: "In support of Tim and the PMC and in Loving Memory of Richard Payeur and Arnold (Harry) Harrison." I grew up in Ogunquit with Richard Payeur, so this is very special to me on top of the generousness of the donation. Thank you both so very much for your thoughtfulness, your continued support and, of course, your generosity. It really means a lot to me but so much to many others.
At 5:00 AM EDT the air temperature was 77°F, it was humid, the sky was hazy clear, there wasn't enough wind to write about, the ocean along the shore was flat calm and the visibility over it was very good in haze.
Today was another,. what my father would have called, "111" day. The weather was perfect. The wind was light and variable in direction all day. Whatever direction the wind did blow today, there was hardly enough of it to blow a candle out. The sky was clear all day. The visibility was very good in some haze. The highest air temperature that I saw was 90°F. It was humid in the morning but the humidity waned in the afternoon. It was just a comfortable day. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 93°F (with a low of 73°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 93°F (with a low of 70°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 90°F (with a low of 69°F).
I spent the day in the restaurant, early for less than an hour and, then, after noon. It wasn't that busy. Or, at least, it wasn't as busy as I expected it to be. It didn't bother me as I was able to catch up on two days away from the financial part of my involvement there.
At 2:00 AM EDT the air temperature was 71F, it was still a bit humid, the sky was mostly overcast, there was a hint of wind from the east (the bell buoy could be heard clearly) and the visibility over the ocean was very good to excellent, it seemed.
We had a choppy ride to the fishing grounds. The wind blew out of the northeast after we got out to the eight or ten mile mark. There wasn't really much wind until after that. I don't think it ever blew any harder than fifteen knots. But it was all of that. Seas were two to three feet in chops with the occasional queer one. The sky was mostly cloudy with some clear patches that never seemed to be overhead. We did see a beautiful sunrise. The visibility was excellent. The air temperature, although around 70°F at the dock, kept dropping the further we got out.
On the fishing grounds, the wind continued to blow out of the northeast at about fifteen knots or less. As the day progressed the wind speed kept dropping. Seas were two feet or more to start but diminished to barely a foot by noon and nearly calm before we headed back home. The air temperature started at 60°F but rose to a value of 65°F. The sky was mostly cloudy but we did manage to have the sun overhead a couple times. I'm probably going to wish I had sun screen on today. The visibility ranged to over twenty-five miles. The tide (current) was fairly strong for most of the day. The surface water temperature reached a high of 61°F
Ashore, these were the air temperatures in selected New England cities: In Perkins Cove, Ogunquit, Maine the high air temperature was about the same as it was when I left in the morning. The air temperature dropped in Perkins Cove when the northeast wind came up. I believe it was about 65°F most of the day. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 78°F (with a low of 61°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 76°F (with a low of 58°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 70°F (with a low of 54°F).
Today's theme was to take three anglers offshore to catch a halibut. I had never tried fishing for them during a new moon in northeast wind. But I was willing to try. After completing the trip, I wouldn't suggest doing it. They were there; I could see them on the machine. But getting them to bite was out of my realm of expertise. Maybe dead sticking might have worked. But there were enough dogfish to make me lose the desire to try. Everybody fished, including Danny and I. And it was a lot of fun.
The fishing was very good despite the tide and the few dogfish. The catching was fair. Landings were poor. But that wasn't the point of the trip. Legal landings included three cusk, eleven haddock and seven whiting. Released fish included four haddock, one halibut, nineteen dogfish and two wolffish. We drift fished, anchored and used the sea anchor. We saw our best chances on anchor. All terminal gear worked about the same but bait caught the most fish.
Danny DellaMonica was high hook with the most legal fish. His best fish was, what looked to be, a 5 pound haddock. David Cote (FL) had the two officially weighed biggest fish of the trip. Both were 9 pounds. One was a wolffish. The other was a halibut. I took a picture of Dave with the Bunny Clark's second halibut of the season. This digital image appears on the left. Karl Day (ME) caught a wolffish about the same size as Dave's. I didn't weigh it as he released the fish before I had a chance to put a scale to it.
Other Angler Highlights: Becca Day (OR) caught a handful of haddock and a good sized whiting. I might have hooked a halibut. It was a great strike but it lasted all of three seconds. I was caught unprepared. I used a single jig without a fly all day. I spent a good part of my day watching for and seeing some halibut on the sounding machine!
At 5:00 AM EDT the air temperature was 56F, the sky was clear, there wasn't enough wind to write about, the ocean along the shore was flat calm and the visibility over it was excellent.
Today was a beautiful day ashore, a day I would have loved to have gone harpoon tuna fishing. The air temperature rose to a very comfortable 73°F. The was very little wind all day. What wind there was, in the morning, was out of the northeast. It blew, at most, four knots? The died to nothing and almost immediately started blowing lightly out of the south. I noticed the wind was out of the south at eight knots at about the time I went to bed. The visibility was excellent. The sky was clear all day. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 71°F (with a low of 61°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 77°F (with a low of 55°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 73°F (with a low of 50°F).
I opened the restaurants this morning. Friday is my day to do so. I left at 9:00 AM to go back home. A good friend of mine, Andy Arimitage had told me he wanted to walk with me. I have been walking/running as much as I have time for lately. That isn't a lot of time with everything I have to do. Andy has been riding his bike to the tune of about four hundred miles a week, give or take. I used to ride almost every day with Andy and friends in the mornings. That stopped abruptly when I broke my spine in an accident early June of 2023. This is why Andy suggested the walk. Or so I was led to believe. In fact, six of my cycling friends showed up to do the walk instead of, what I was told, would just be Andy. My walks are six to eight miles. I took them on the six mile version that starts on the Marginal Way, goes 1.5 miles on the beach, to Route 1 through town and Shore Road to home. It was a very thoughtful thing for Andy to surprise me with. All these guys are top athletes and have become good friends over the years. I keep up with them all through Strava, text and email. But I have rarely seen them since the accident. So today was a great bonus. It was very fun. I was back at work by noon.
I spent the whole day in the restaurants. Business was steady for lunch, quiet in the later afternoon and steady again for dinner.
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