Bunny Clark Fishing Update
Written & Edited by Tim Tower
Friday, October 24, 2025, 9:00 AM EDT
Book a Trip on Line
 |
 |
Book a Trip on Line
|
|
Proposed cod & haddock regulations for the 2025 fishing season (May 1, 2025 thru April 30, 2026):
Note: These regulations still haven't been implimented for this season yet (as of September 7, 2025). So last years regulations are still in force, including an 18" haddock minimum size. But this also means that we will be able to keep a cod a person per trip for the months of September and October or until November.
Gulf of Maine cod
Gulf of Maine haddock
Danny DellaMonica and I ran the marathon trip today.At 2:45 AM EDT the air temperature was 63°F, the sky was overcast, the wind was blowing out of the west at eight knots and the visibility over the ocean was excellent.
When we left the lights of Perkins Cove behind, I expected some chops or wave action from eight knots of westerly wind that we had inside. In fact, we might have had three knots. We had light westerly, northwest and north winds on the way to the fishing grounds, in that order. I don't believe we ever saw more than five knots. The ocean was calm the whole way. The sky, although overcast to start, cleared as we progressed offshore.. The sky was clear upon arrival. The visibility was excellent. The air temperature got as high as 62°F.
On the fishing grounds, the wind was light and the ocean was calm for about fifteen minutes. After that, we had fifteen knots of north northeast wind that showed up streaking towards us with white caps. It might have blown harder in that initial thrust. But it settled at fifteen knots. Seas built to about three feet as the wind settled in out of the northeast. The tide gave us steeper chops at times. But the wind had no teeth. By noon, the northeast wind was about ten knots, less later when it hauled out of the east northeast. We carried an east wind with a two foot chop all the way home. The air temperature reached a high of 65°F. The visibility ranged to thirty miles plus. The tide (current) was moderate. The sky was clear with few clouds. The surface water temperature reached a high of 58.8°F.
Ashore, these were the air temperatures in selected New England cities: In Perkins Cove, Ogunquit, Maine the high air temperature was 72°F. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 72°F (with a low of 57°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 80°F (with a low of 43°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 71°F (with a low of 50°F).
The fishing was fair to good. The sea state had several anglers sea sick all day, still others fell to the curse of the mal de mer at the half way mark, during the fishing. We had no blue sharks or dogfish. But the tangles were many to start. We had the tide opposing the wind and the boat was drifting obliquely to leeward, bow first. We could not sustain this drift. So I went on the sea anchor. This made the lines run to the bow. This method was a little easier to handle but we caught less fish. After two hours, the drift settled so we could go back to open drifting. For the rest of the trip the drift was fine but you still had to pay attention.
Ken Bowring (ME) won the boat pool for the largest fish with the largest fish, a 20.5 pound steaker cod. It was almost the last fish landed for the trip. I stood beside him with the gaff saying; "I hope this is one fish.", thinking it might be a double pollock. I was surprised to see the cod! Officially, this is the Bunny Clark's largest cod of the fishing season so far. I say officially because we had a young man lose a cod of 25 pounds or more right next to the boat a couple days before the cod season started. We didn't want to kill it just to get a weight and, in the mix, the fish got off the hook and swam to bottom. I took a picture of Ken holding his steaker. This digital image appears on the left. The largest pollock of his that I weighed was 12 pounds. Emile Gallant (ME) won the boat pool for the second largest fish with the fourth largest fish, a 17 pound pollock. Greg White (MA) won the boat pool for third largest fish with the second largest fish, a 19 pound pollock. This was the first fish of the trip. He had a double that broke his jig off, the 19 pounder coming in on the fly above the jig. Greg only entered the pool for the third largest fish. I took a picture of Greg and said pollock. This digital image appears on the right. He also caught the third largest fish, a 17.25 pound pollock.
Other Angler Highlights: Paul Killmyer (ME) landed a 10 pound pollock and a 13.5 pound pollock. Kevin Viel (NH) might have caught a pollock over 10 pounds but the only one I weighed came out at 9.5 pounds. Buzz Leonard (ME) caught his first ever Maine state trophy cusk today. It weighed 12.5 pounds. It looked and felt bigger than that when I gaffed it. Some of Buzz's other fish included a double with an 11.25 pound pollock and an 11.25 cod, a 12.5 pound pollock and a 15 pound pollock. Kevin White (ME) landed a 10 pound pollock and two other pollock I didn't weigh that looked to be the same or a bit bigger. Chris Sullivan (VT) landed a double that included an 11.5 pound pollock and a 14 pound pollock. Darlene Chin (NH/FL) landed a double that included a 13 pound pollock and an 11.75 pound pollock. A good time was had by at least two thirds of the anglers aboard!
I received a nice $55.00 donation from Kevin White sponsoring me in this year's Pan-Mass Challenge. I haven't seen Kevin all year even though he lives in the area. It was nice to have him aboard today. Thanks, Kevin, I appreciate the support!
At 5:00 AM EDT the air temperature was 49°F, the sky was crystal clear, the wind was blowing out of the north northeast at twenty knots and the visibility over the ocean was excellent.
The day started off crisp and fall like. Although we have had colder mornings in September, this morning felt colder still. This maybe because it took a while to get light outside? The wind was blowing out of the northeast and it kept up all day. Wind gusts in the morning got up to twenty-five knots. But the wind was already tapering off by late morning. In the afternoon, the northeast wind dropped down to almost ten knots but, then, increased again to almost twenty knots by sunset or shortly afterward. The wind kept up and the bell buoy clanged all night. The visibility was excellent. The sky was clear with some clouds all day. The air temperature reached a high of 64°F. But it was warmer than that in the shelter of the deck over Perkins Cove at Barnacle Billy's restaurant. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 63°F (with a low of 52°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 68°F (with a low of 37°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 65°F (with a low of 44°F).
I spent the morning putting up this new report, opening up the restaurant, pawing through the garbage with the collector, washing the street and getting everything ship shape for my son, Micah, who was going to take over at 9:00 AM. After a shower, I worked in the restaurant, talking to patrons at tables and working in the office.
At 2:30 PM, I took off with Deb and my sister, Meg, to watch Meg's grandson, Landon Mitchell, in an Amsbury, Massachusetts cross country meet. Landon is a sophomore in high school. They ran against Ipswich. Landon came in forth. Landon is in better shape than all the runners he competes with. However, he isn't in running shape. He's into cycling, Lacrosse and a variety of other sports and athletic activities. If he stuck to running, he would be the best. His form in terrific. Anyway, I relived my cross country running episodes in his race; the feelings, the anguish and the great joy that I got out of running. It was a wonderful event in a perfect place to run with rolling grassy hills on a beautiful day.
I didn't go back to work after that. I'm tired after yesterday's "beat up". I work at the restaurant all day tomorrow anyway.
At 5:00 AM EDT the air temperature was 47°F, the sky was crystal clear, the wind was blowing out of the north northeast at twenty knots and the visibility over the ocean was excellent.
It seemed cooler than it has been all morning. I didn't see the air temperature dip any lower but it seemed to stay at this lower level for longer. It never really got very warm with only 61°F as the highest air temperature that I observed. The wind blew out of the north northeast all morning. Wind speeds started around twenty knots. Seas in chops didn't seem that large along the shore. Although, it seemed choppy. By 9:00 AM, the wind had backed off to fifteen and seventeen knots. At noon, we had ten knots of north northeast wind. The wind had hauled out of the southeast by late afternoon with wind speeds less than ten knots. Seas on the fishing grounds (the Portland lightship buoy) were four feet every six seconds which wasn't bad but hard to head into on a fishing trip. This was around departure time, had we departed. Of course, on the grounds, these might have been bigger with the tide. The sky was clear all day. The visibility remained excellent. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 59°F (with a low of 47°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 65°F (with a low of 32°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 63°F (with a low of 40°F).
Today was one of those days where it would have been hard to get to the fishing grounds. But, once there, was very sustainable with improving weather all day long. I was happy about staying ashore in the early morning and disappointed we didn't sail during the later part of the morning. But I'm also fighting some chest thing. So this break came at a time when I could get more rest.
I've been opening early at the restaurants as our number one "night man" has been out after a surgery and is recovering. I have a series of tasks along with restaurant deliveries that have to be completed to prepare for the employees arriving later in the morning. Also, there are general setup procedures.
The rest of the day was just the normal restaurant routine.
At 5:00 AM EDT the air temperature was 46°F, the sky was crystal clear, the wind was blowing out of the west at eight knots and the visibility over the ocean was excellent.
The wind blew out of the west, ten knots at most, and, then, southwest. It backed into the south around noon and blew up to ten knots, maybe. It wasn't much. The sky stayed clear all day. The visibility remained excellent. The air temperature rose to a value of 75°F. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 74°F (with a low of 48°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 78°F (with a low of 33°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 70°F (with a low of 40°F).
I spent my morning as normal, posting this missive and opening Barnacle Billy's, including setting up. Friday is my day to get things ready, which I did.
The rest of the day was routine, very much a regular Friday at the restaurants.
Today was certainly, what my father would have called, a "111". The wind was light out of the northwest, petered out to nothing leaving the ocean glass calm and then hauling out of the south at light speeds for the rest of the day. The sky was clear all day. The visibility was excellent. But the air temperature was the weather's salient feature. It got up to 82°F at one point today. It could have been higher but that's what I saw. It was t-shirt weather all day. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 79°F (with a low of 58°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 84°F (with a low of 42°F). The high air temperature of 84°F in Concord this day ties the record high temperature for this date of 84°F that was first set in 1931 and tied again in 2023. The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 80°F (with a low of 46°F).
I did nothing with the boat today. Although, Danny DellaMonica was on the Bunny Clark this afternoon putting bait and ice aboard for Monday's trip.
I opened up the restaurants again at 4:45 AM this morning. We had some early deliveries and we two employees coming in to make the clam chowder. It was going to be a busy day and we were getting ready for it.
It was a busy day in town today. It was like a summer day in all aspects except that we didn't have the humidity normally associated with 80°F air temperatures. It was a wonderful day and everyone was happy today, particularly the patrons who I talked to during the business.
For most of the morning, the ocean was so calm that it looked like light blue glass from the shore. Later, probably around noon, the wind blew lightly out of the south. I don't believe the wind ever blew hard enough to lift a flag. The air temperature got up to 80°F in the Portsmouth area. But I never saw anything more than 77°F in Perkins Cove. Maybe I didn't look at the right time but it never felt like 80°F. The sky was clear and sunny all day. The visibility was excellent all day as well. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 75°F (with a low of 60°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 84°F (with a low of 46°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 79°F (with a low of 50°F).
As I have done, I was opening the restaurants before 5:00 AM. I worked down in the Cove for most of the morning. I also worked on the engine of the Bunny Clark, warming her up, checking systems and checking the sacrificial anodes (zincs) for wear. After regrouping at home, I was back down at the Cove at noon.
It was a beautiful day but it wasn't a busy day like it was yesterday. It was more relaxed. I was back home again at 5:30 PM. Gill (our border collie) and I walked back down to the Cove to get the Bunny Clark truck and say hello to the girls in takeout.
At 5:00 AM EDT the air temperature was 61°F, the sky was clear with a full moon setting just over the trees in the west, the wind was light out of the southwest and the visibility over the ocean was excellent.
As soon as we poked our nose through the gate, we found light southwest wind. You couldn't feel it in the Cove as it was low tide and the wind wasn't blowing hard enough in the lee of the land. We carried light southwest wind all the way to the fishing grounds. Seas were chops of a foot. The air temperature hung at 62°F for the ride. The visibility was excellent. The sky was cloudless. The surface water temperature stayed at 58°F.
On the fishing grounds, the wind blew out of the southwest all day. Wind speeds got up as high as twelve knots. Seas were about two feet, more or less. The air temperature reached a high of 66°F. The sky was cloudless. The visibility was very good or about twenty miles in some haze. The tide (current) was moderate to light. The tide was into the wind for most of the morning. The surface water temperature reached a high of 59°F.
Ashore, these were the air temperatures in selected New England cities: In Perkins Cove, Ogunquit, Maine the high air temperature was 83°F. My son, Micah, said that it was hot ashore, humid, I assume. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 84°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 of 86°F in Concord this day breaks the record high temperature for this date of 84°F that was first set in 1946 and tied again in 1990. The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 86°F (with a low of 52°F). The high air temperature of 86°F in Portland today breaks the record high temperature for this date of 84°F that was first set in 1946 and tied again in 1947.
The fishing was excellent. We had no problem tending the bottom, there were no dogfish, blue sharks were only one that bothered and the sea state and weather were great. The catching was good. Landings were good. Most legal fish landed were pollock. These pollock were mostly small keeper size, around 3 pounds. Legal landings also included two cod, ten cusk, six haddock, thirty-nine redfish, a whiting, eighteen mackerel and a cunner. Released fish included ten sub-legal cod, eight sub-legal haddock, twenty-two small pollock, seven small redfish and one blue shark with jewelry. We drift fished and anchored. Everyone used jigs and cod flies.
I couldn't tell you who was high hook with the most legal fish. Danny said that it was between Effrum Morrill and Fabian Corriveau. But Fabian had bigger fish overall so the fillet bags were bigger. Fabian won the boat pool for the largest fish with the largest fish, a 10 pound pollock. He also caught a 6 pound pollock, a few other pollock, several redfish and two legal haddock. Effrum boated the second largest fish, an 8 pound cusk. His largest pollock weighed 6.75 pounds. Gage Mowatt caught the third largest fish, a 7 pound cod. Gage's largest pollock weighed 6.5 pounds.
Other Angler Highlights: Dustin Morrill fished in the bow with Fabian. He too caught two legal haddock, a number of legal pollock and his share of the redfish. His largest fish was a 6.5 pound pollock. René Chabe caught the best double of the day. Her catch included a 6.25 pound pollock and a 5 pound pollock, both fish on the same line at the same time. Andrew Morrill caught the largest redfish of the day, just shy of a trophy in size at 1.75 pounds. He never caught anything, beside the redfish, to weigh but he was in the running for high hook.
At 2:45 AM EDT the air temperature was 63°F, the sky was clear with a full moon setting higher in the western sky, the wind was blowing out of the south southwest at eight knots and the visibility over the ocean was excellent.
The wind was already blowing out of the southwest at fifteen knots by the time we reached the bell buoy three quarters of a mile from the entrance of Perkins Cove We carried southwest winds of about fifteen knots all the way to the fishing grounds. Seas were three to four feet in chops. The sky was clear the whole way out, the setting full moon behind us lighting most of the way. The air temperature hung around 61°F for the full ride. The visibility was excellent. .
On the fishing grounds, the wind remained out of the southwest for most of the morning. However, the wind increased and the seas increased. Wind speeds increased to twenty knots plus. Seas increased to six feet, more or less, in chops, no doubt influenced by the tide. The wind backed more out of the south, giving us south southwest winds, during the later morning. It brought a light fog and overcast skies. For the longest time it looked like it was going to rain. But, it didn't. The wind and the seas were the strongest and biggest at this time. The wind hauled back out of the southwest at noon and the skies cleared. We had clear skies for the rest of the day and the ride home. The air temperature reached a high of 64°F. The tide (current) was moderate and, mostly, into the wind. The visibility ranged to twenty-five miles, down to one and three miles in fog and then to sixteen miles. The surface water temperature reached a high of 59°F.
Ashore, these were the air temperatures in selected New England cities: In Perkins Cove, Ogunquit, Maine the high air temperature was 82°F. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 81°F (with a low of 62°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 85°F (with a low of 50°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 75°F (with a low of 58°F).
The fishing was challenging at best or fair to good, in relative terms. We drift fished all day. The chops were short and big and, at times, ended up in angler's laps. Plus, you had to be careful how you let your line out, unless you were casting to leeward. We only had a couple of anglers seasoned enough and in the right spot on the boat to cast. The catching was excellent as were the landings. This was our best trip of the year for poundage per hour of fishing. Most legal fish landed were pollock, by far. Legal landings also included nine cod, twenty-seven haddock, forty-two cusk, three whiting and eleven mackerel. Released fish included twenty-one small cod, twenty-five sub-legal haddock, seventeen small pollock and two blue sharks with jewelry. Everyone used jigs and cod flies.
Shawn "Mr. Doubles" Rosenberger (PA) was high hook with the most legal fish. He caught the most pollock, by far, and the most legal haddock with a count of six. He won the boat pool for the second and third largest fish with the third largest fish, two pollock of 15.25 pounds each. He caught the most doubles of the day, the largest haddock at 4.25 pounds and another pollock that I weighed of 14.5 pounds. I took a picture of Shawn holding up a double haddock. This digital image appears on the left. The haddock in Shawn's left hand was sub-legal. Justin Brown (NY) tied with Shawn with another 15.25 pound pollock. Justin was not in the boat pool. Justin also caught a 15 pound pollock. Roman Michalko (NY) caught the largest fish of the trip, an 18.5 pound pollock. This fish ties the sixth largest pollock of the fishing season to date. Roman was not in the boat pool. One of the first fish that Roman caught today was a 10 pound pollock. Fred Kunz (NH) won the boat pool for the largest fish with the second largest fish, a 16.25 pound pollock. Fred was second hook. Some of his other fish included an 8 pound cod (he released a 7 pound cod) and an early pollock of his that weighed 10.25 pounds. Fred caught four legal haddock and three legal cod. He only kept the one cod, of course. Every angler caught pollock of 10 pounds or more.
Other Angler Highlights: Nick Kirychuk (CT) caught a 13.5 pound pollock, an 11.5 pound pollock and a 12.5 pound pollock that I weighed for him. Phil "Buddy" Hocter (NH) landed the largest cusk at 8.5 pounds. Ivan Beaulieu (ME) caught a 10 pound pollock. Raymond Charles (ME) caught a 12 pound pollock, his biggest fish. Klajdi Isaku (Albania) boated a 10.25 pound pollock, his largest fish. This is the first fish that he has ever caught. He works for me at Barnacle Billy's. I had invited him on other trips but he decided to attend the longest and roughest trip of the year to date! He had a lot of fun. Garrett Benedict (NY) caught a 10.5 pound pollock. David Hunt (NY) caught several good sized pollock. The only one I weighed was 10 pounds. Bill Harding (ME) caught the largest cod. It weighed 14 pounds. His largest pollock weighed 13.75 pounds. Mike Altomer (NY) boated a 14.25 pound pollock, his best fish. Rich Martin (NY) landed a 13.5 pound pollock.
A good day was had by most. Some were sea sick.
I received two donations today sponsoring me in my cancer fundraising drive with the Pan-Mass Challenge. Raymond Charles donated $50.00 while Fred Kunz donated another $30.00 to the growing list this season's donations. Thank you both so very much for your thoughtfulness and support. Very much appreciated!!
At 5:00 AM EDT the air temperature was 66°F, the sky was a thin overcast with the lume of a full moon barely visible behind the clouds, the wind was blowing out of the south southwest at ten knots and the visibility over the ocean was excellent.
It started to rain shortly after 5:00 AM. It poured at times but was showing signs of slowing down at 9:00 AM. The rain was all over for the day by 10:00 AM. The sky remained overcast for the rest of the morning, clearing after noon. The sky stayed clear for the rest of the day with clouds here and there. The wind blew out of the south at ten knots until about 8:00 AM (twenty knots offshore). It came northeast around 10:00 AM. Wind speeds of fifteen knots. This backed off when it blew out of the north at ten to fifteen knots. Offshore, the win blew up to thirty knots - the Portland Lightship buoy. It continued to blow twenty to twenty-five knots until later in the afternoon. Along the shore, the wind continued to blow out of the north at ten or more knots until sunset. The visibility was excellent except in the rain. The air temperature almost made the 70°F mark but fell after that and kept dropping. I believe that it was around 8:00 AM that I saw 69°F. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 70°F (with a low of 53°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 69°F (with a low of 45°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 65°F (with a low of 48°F).
I opened the restaurants as I have been doing, lately. I finished this report early but I had more work to do in the Cove before posting this at 8:00 AM.
At 9:00 AM, Power Products, out of Portland, showed up with Cody and Jim, Cody the main road tech and Jim, his trainee. I had made this reservation three weeks ago to do the normal end of the year engine tune up, coolant change and injector height analysis. This year I also wanted to look at the fresh water pump and change out the thermostat. I had a problem with the fresh water pump going bad in 2020, the bearing going and the impeller actually wearing out the casting, opening up a hole in the outside and losing the coolant. I guess this is a flaw in the engine as we discovered that it was happening again upon inspecting the pump today. I had a spare fresh water pump after I had to get towed in 2020 with coolant all over the engine room. So Cody and Jim put my spare pump in today. I'm glad I had it checked but it extended the work on the engine for another three hours. We also completed a few other things I needed to do. Sea trials started after 5:00 PM. So this was a whole day affair. Most of the time I was working in the restaurant as they were working on the engine. I checked in from time to time and, of course, ran the boat through sea trials.
In the meantime, I had to make a decision on whether to run tomorrow's trip. After checking a few factors, the weather, anglers and Phil Eastman, I decided to bag the trip for tomorrow.
At 5:00 AM EDT the air temperature was 43°F, the sky was crystal clear with a waning previous full moon high over head on the tilt to the western horizon, the wind was blowing out of the north at fifteen knots and the visibility over the ocean was excellent.
The sky stayed clear and the visibility was excellent all day. The wind offshore would not have been great and it would have been a tough ride home afterward. Some of the anglers who would have been on the boat today (Rick Gurney being one) would have remembered coming home in a similar blow where I couldn't have anyone in the forecastle (cabin) for the pounding coming home. I was just as happy to be ashore today. The air temperature was cool today with a high reading of only 57°F, that I saw. The wind, ashore, blew out of the northwest at fifteen to twenty knots with some higher gusts, hauling out of the northeast at the end of the day along the shore. Offshore, the wind blew up to twenty-seven knots; not too dissimilar to Tuesday's weather with the wind from a different direction. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 57°F (with a low of 46°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 56°F (with a low of 30°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 57°F (with a low of 36°F).
I spent no time on the Bunny Clark today. I did spend some time with our harbormaster today. I wanted him to dive on the Bunny Clark so I could figure out the status of the propeller, shaft, shaft nuts, to see if I had anything (like fishing line) in the wheel and to note any electrolysis that might be happening that I wasn't aware of. I also wanted him to check out the mooring in the Cove that I haven't used this season yet. We have an impending Nor'easter coming starting on Sunday. I do not want to be tied to the float with potential fifty knots of wind with the associated swells during that kind of weather event. Anyway, Erin Gott, our harbormaster, checked all this out for me and even gave me an underwater video of the propeller, shaft and nuts so I could see this for myself.
As I was just about to go to work today, after opening the restaurant and all the associated items that go with it, Deb was upset that our two year old cat, Tiller, a Maine Coon mix, wasn't getting better. She wanted me to go with her to the veterinary emergency hospital in Portsmouth to find out what was wrong with Tiller. So I called my managers and drove off with Deb, Tiller and me, dressed in full Barnacle Billy's regalia. Turns out it seemed to them that it was an UTI. So they gave the cat a shot of antibiotics and a steroid to take down the swelling and relieve the pain in that area. After paying over $500, we were free to go. I must say, the cat hardly made a peep on the way back home. On the way down, Tiller was moaning so much I unzipped one end of the carrier (in my lap) so her head could poke out and I could settle her down a bit. It did work for a little while. Then she tried to get out. And I had a heck of a time trying to get her back in. The cat weighs 30 pounds or more. I did the same thing on the way back without much resistance at all.
Aside from watching a "friendly" football game between England and Wales, I spent the rest of my time in the restaurants.
On this day in 1978 we had snow, the earliest snowfall I can remember. It was 28°F when I went lobstering that day. I ended up turing around as the water temperature change from the air made some of the lobsters shoot their claws, a defensive mechanism, and I wasn't ready for the cold weather yet.
At 5:00 AM EDT the air temperature was 37°F, the sky was crystal clear with a waning moon directly overhead, there were whisps of clouds in places, there was barely enough northwest wind to write about, the ocean was flat calm along the shore (as I walked our border collie (Gill) back from Perkins Cove and the visibility over the ocean was excellent.
The air temperature seemed cold all day to me. It dropped to 35°F in the Cove before rising. The high might have been 60°F today, as I heard that it was in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, but I never saw the air temperature go past 57°F. There wasn't much wind in the morning. The ocean along the coast stayed calm. After noon, the wind blew out of the south. We might have had eight knots around 1:00 PM that increased to fifteen knots in the afternoon. This seemed to keep the air temperature down in Perkins Cove. I checked the closest weather buoy after sunset and saw that wind speeds were twenty knots with some higher gusts out of the south. The visibility was excellent. The sky was sunny with few clouds all day. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 61°F (with a low of 41°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 62°F (with a low of 26°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 57°F (with a low of 31°F).
I opened Barnacle Billy's again this morning. I also spent some time on the Bunny Clark, cleaning around the engine, checking the engine out after maintenance day and running her for a while to get the coolant temperature up. She needed about a gallon of coolant, which I expected after I had left the engine for a day without starting it. Tomorrow, I will put the Bunny Clark on a mooring before we start seeing the easterly wind tomorrow.
I spent extra time at the restaurant this morning. The garbage truck came late at a time when I usually go home. So I stayed to rake the trash. As a result, I didn't post yesterday's missive until late morning. I usually also jump on the fluid trainer before taking a shower. That didn't happen either. The business at the restaurant was steady but it became busy after 6:00 PM. Although it did seem cold out, the weather was nice and was good for business.
At 5:00 AM EDT the air temperature was 45°F, the sky was filled with stars and an, almost, half moon directly overhead, the wind was out of the west at eight knots and the visibility over the ocean was excellent.
Today was an excellent weather day. The air temperature warmed up to 65°F. It could have been higher as I didn't pay attention to the thermometer during, probably, the warmest part of the day. The visibility was excellent. The wind blew lightly out of the west to start. By noon, there was no wind. The ocean along the shore was flat calm. The afternoon saw increasing winds from the south. This dropped the air temperature down later in the afternoon. Wind speeds increased to over fifteen knots. The wind backed off in velocity by sunset. The wind was southerly at eight knots when I went to bed. It was sunny all day with few clouds. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 64°F (with a low of 52°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 68°F (with a low of 30°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 63°F (with a low of 37°F).
I opened up the restaurants, walked Gill home and got to work on posting this update. Soon after, I was down lighting the lobster cooker tanks, pawing through the garbage with Nick and his garbage truck, washing the streets down, etc., etc. I got home at 9:00 AM or a little before.
At some point in the early part of the morning, I started the engine on the Bunny Clark, checking all systems again after the engine work on the 8th and warming the engine up. After noon, Grant Hubbard and I moved the Bunny Clark off the float to pick up two moorings in preparation for the impending nor'easter expected starting tomorrow. The wind is expected to be out of the east as soon as I get up tomorrow at 3:00 AM. After it gets light, I will be running storm lines off the Bunny Clark to the adjacent boats around me to prepare for the surge we normally get in the Cove with strong winds and high seas.
I had a short meeting with the managers today to tell them to expect changes in opening or closing early if the storm gets too severe. Northeast wind rises the level of the high tide and prevents the tide from getting to it's maximum low. So we could experience flooding in the dining room at Barnacle Billy's, Original. I just wanted them to be thinking about what we could be doing and how to best prepare for it. You can't assume that everyone is on the same page. Communication. Right?
It was a very busy day at both restaurants. I stayed later than I normally do because of it.
At 5:00 AM EDT the air temperature was 50°F, the sky seemed overcast, the wind was northeast at twelve knots and the visibility over the ocean was poor in thick fog.
The fog didn't last for but an hour after 5:00 AM. This was probably because the wind hadn't ramped up yet. By 6:00 AM, we had northeast winds of fifteen knots. The wind, of course, increased in strength as the day progressed. By noon, the wind was northeast at a steady twenty knots, blowing across the parking lot in Perkins Cove with the flags straight out. Around the time of high tide or about 4:00 PM, we had splash-over in the Barnacle Billy's parking lot. It was enough that Hunter, our valet there, had to move cars a few rows closer to the road. This splash over lasted about an hour or an hour and a half. The wind steadily increased to about twenty-five knots. We surely had gusts to thirty knots in the late afternoon. But it wasn't crazy windy like it could have been. The sky was mostly cloudy in the morning. Blue sky was noted toward the western part of the visible area over head. This diminished and the morning moved on. Still, there were cracks in the clouds and had light in places. I'm not sure if you could really call it overcast although we never saw blue sky patches after 9:00 AM. It didn't rain all day. I was surprised at this after looking at the early morning radar with the rain south of us. All through the night we did not have rain. The air temperature got up to 57°F. It might have risen higher but I never saw that. The visibility over the ocean was excellent in the morning after the fog disappeared. It was at least very good for the rest of the day. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 58°F (with a low of 52°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 58°F (with a low of 37°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 59°F (with a low of 43°F).
It was very helpful that we didn't have rain today, at any time during the day. It was windy in the Cove but not so windy that we couldn't get storm lines out to get ready in case the surge got really bad. With the help of the assistant harbormaster, I ran storm lines from the stern of the Bunny Clark ashore and a bow line to the closest boat ahead of the Bunny Clark. I had already secured two mooring lines, fore and aft, to the Bunny Clark. This gave me extra protection but it also kept the boat more central so that there was less of a chance of bumping into adjacent boats. I put out fenders anyway on the starboard side, the side closest to the nearest vessel.
The weather prevented us from having the busy day I would have expected with good weather. But the business wasn't bad. With no rain, we did better in this nor'easter than we should have done. The fire places were on in both buildings, blazing away. They were much appreciated. Also, the air temperature was milder than I would have expected with a northeast blow. Temperatures this time of year could have been in the low 40°s.
At 5:00 AM EDT the air temperature was 53°F, the sky was overcast, it was spitting rain occasionally after having started to rain around 2:00 AM, the wind was northeast at twenty-five knots (more or less) and the visibility over the ocean was, surprisingly, very good; Boon Island light was very visible.
I overslept this morning and got up at 3:30 AM. I didn't set an alarm as I always wake up at 3:00 AM. I had planned to be down at the Cove by 3:30 AM, as the tide was high at 4:40 AM. I wanted to make sure that there wasn't too much splash-over in the valet lot. I also wanted to make sure that I didn't have to pull the hatches out in the dining room to let the sea water in. To my pleasant surprise, the Cove water didn't even come over the lower part of the dock leading to the float where the Bunny Clark normally resides. This meant that it was three feet or so from getting into the dining room. There was also zero splash-over at the Billy's parking lot. I waited in the restaurant until nearly 5:30 AM, when the threat of flooding was clearly over. I was also surprised that we had so little rain during this weather event. I expected it to be pouring rain at some time today.
Surprisingly, we had no more rain today. The overcast skies looked very thin from time to time. It almost looked like it was going to clear in the morning. Then it looked like it was going to rain. The wind was down to twenty knots before daylight. After sunrise, the wind came up a bit but not as strong as I had expected it to be. But shortly afterward, the wind did increase. Wind gusts to thirty-five knots were common. Seas built to thirteen feet, according to the weather buoys. The seas did look massive from the shore. But not as massive, to me, as I have seen in the past. We never saw forty knots of wind today. This makes it a minor nor'easter to me. After I left the restaurant at 7:00 PM, the wind was backing off. Still out of the northeast or east northeast, as it had been all day, the velocity never showed me gusts over thirty knots. A difference, for sure. The high tide at 5:00 PM was not significant and didn't even go over the dock boards. Without the precipitation, the visibility over the ocean was nearly excellent. The highest air temperature that I saw was 53°F. That doesn't mean that it wasn't higher at some point during the day. The wind off the water seemed to stabilize the air temperature. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 56°F (with a low of 52°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 54°F (with a low of 48°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 54°F (with a low of 50°F).
It was the windiest day of the restaurant season today. Or, at least, we had the most wind off the water/ocean that we have seen. Seas seemed huge. We had splash over in the parking lot. It didn't seem like it was going to be enough to hurl rocks onto cars in the valet lot. But it had the potential. So I told the valets to keep people from driving cars to the edge in order to look at the seas close up. A verbal "it's okay" from the drivers of these vehicles is not enough to surmount a liability issue if things go further south than they imagined. Our valets are super individuals who would do anything for our customers - or anyone, for that matter. But they understood my concerns when I explained it to them. I've always said; "My employees make me look good!"
The fireplaces were going full bore in both restaurant buildings today. I like a warm sunny day but you can't beat eating steamers, lobsters and drinking a rum punch in front of the fire on a raw day in Perkins Cove.
People walking the Marginal Way got soaked with the spray off the rocks at high tide even though it didn't rain today. The water never made it up high enough to be an issue in the Cove, as mentioned above. Business wasn't the greatest but was equal to last year on the same day, even though last year's day was better weather.
Our J1 students from Albania are leaving tomorrow. It will be a sad day indeed. Not only are they good workers and have done a fantastic jog for us, they are very nice honest people who I would have back any day. It has been a pleasure to work with them and to, also, get to know them. I have learned a lot from them. Some of these people I will probably never see again. This is sad. But C'est la vie, as they say in Paris. At least, having the day off from the Bunny Clark, will give me ample opportunity to day goodbye.
At 5:00 AM EDT the air temperature was 52°F, the sky was overcast, it looked like rain but there was none, the wind was north at, nearly, twenty-five knots and the visibility over the ocean was excellent.
Once I opened the restaurant up, I took a drive in the Bunny Clark truck, with Gill (our border collie), up to Wells to get gas, as the fuel needle was on the low mark. On the ride up it was misting rain just enough to have to put the windshield wipers on. I didn't need them on the way back home.
The rest of the day was rain free, basically. We did have some very short periods of time where a couple of drops fell. It might was well have not been raining as it never got the streets wet, it wasn't necessary to put rain gear on, nor did it prevent normal activity. At times, during the day, the sun came out. But, generally, the sky was overcast all day. The visibility remained excellent. The wind started blowing out of the north in the morning. Twenty knots was the most prevalent wind speed. We had gusts to twenty-five knots until later morning. By noon, wind speeds were fifteen to twenty knots out of the north. By sunset, we had no wind at all. There continued to be zero wind on into the night. During the afternoon, I saw a high of 62°F. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 56°F (with a low of 52°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 63°F (with a low of 50°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 62°F (with a low of 50°F).
I spent my morning between doing opening chores at the restaurants and working at home on this site. The rest of the day was spent on my regular restaurant working schedule. Business was slow. But I did get a lot accomplished.
Aside from one fisherman starting his boat's engine, no activity went on in the Cove today.
At 5:00 AM EDT the air temperature was 49°F, the sky was clear with discernable cirrus clouds under a crescent moon making it's way to the apex, the wind was light out of the west southwest, there was a progression of lights on the ocean around fishing boats headed to sea and the visibility over the ocean was excellent.
The wind today was light for most of the day. In the daylight morning, the wind blew lightly out of the northwest. By noon, there was no wind at all. The ocean along the shore was flat calm. By 2:00 PM, the wind was blowing out of the north at fifteen knots or more. Northerly wind speeds picked up to twenty and twenty-five knots later and increased to gusts of thirty knots at sunset. We had a mix of sun and clouds where the morning saw mostly clear skies, the early afternoon saw mostly overcast skies and the later part of the afternoon and night saw clear skies again. The visibility was excellent. The highest air temperature that I saw was 62°F. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 64°F (with a low of 49°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 62°F (with a low of 45°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 63°F (with a low of 45°F).
After opening up the restaurants and posting this update, I worked on taking the storm lines off the Bunny Clark at her mooring and off the boats at the Barnacle Billy's float. Once I got those things to a certain point, I went back to getting things organized in Barnacle Billy's restaurant.
The rest of the day was spent working at the restaurant. It wasn't crazy busy. Nor did I expect it to be. But what I didn't expect was to see so many patrons who I love to talk to but haven't seen in a while. This was an added bonus to the day.
At 5:00 AM EDT the air temperature was 45°F, the sky was clear with a sliver of a moon hanging above the eastern horizon, the wind was out of the north northwest at twenty-three to twenty-nine knots at the closest weather buoy (nine miles offshore) and the visibility over the ocean was excellent. More later.
I had to drive two of our J1 students to the bus stop in Porthsmouth this morning. Their time at the restaurant was completed yesterday. They are from Albania. They did such a great job for us. I hated to see them leave. Very good people with a solid upbringing and an appreciation for life, work and living. Matt Pedersen, our longest standing manager at Billy's, took four others to the same bus stop two hours earlier. Matt and I split the job up so that neither one of us would be saddled with taking both trips.
The day was another cool, windy, fall day. The leaves haven't completely turned yet so many remained on the trees of Ogunquit, make it seem like a cool early fall/late summer day. Wind speeds were out of the north and ranged from twenty to thirty knots in the morning and around twenty-five knots in the afternoon. The ocean was fairly rough along the shore in the morning with fairly large seas crashing on the shore to seas of much less size in the afternoon and small white caps marching south. The sky was a mix of sun and clouds; sometimes more sun than clouds, other times, just the opposite. The visibility over the ocean was excellent all day. The air temperature reached a high of 56°F, that I saw. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 56°F (with a low of 45°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 54°F (with a low of 40°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 55°F (with a low of 44°F).
I opened up the restaurants again before 5:00 AM, this morning. This was good as the our bread man showed up minutes later. Our garbage man, Nick, also showed up early which allowed me to get the patio set up, the street and sidewalk hosed down and the garbage containers cleaned, lined and placed. I had written this update earlier and had gotten my core workout finished and out of the way earlier as well. So I was able to take a short break, edit the report quickly and post it by 6:30 AM, before I finished with the restaurants. This also allowed me to get back to the restaurants earlier.
As I have mentioned before, I spend most of my time during the day talking to our patrons while they eat, asking about the food, maybe solving a food problem, entertaining topics or questions that are brought up and saying hello to our regular patrons. I do this at both restaurants. At Barnacle Billy's, Etc., our full service restaurant, I try to limit my time at tables. This is because the wait staff does better with more table turnover. And, if I'm making them stay longer, it probably isn't the most efficient use of my time. Today I got stuck at one table for longer than I wanted. This couple was from Iowa, visiting Ogunquit for the first time, and wanted to know what most to see before they headed back home, having never been to Maine before. After talking about the beach, the Cove and the Marginal Way, I said they really should visit the Ogunquit Playhouse, an iconic venue that they should see before leaving. Barnacle Billy's, Inc. supports the Playhouse in a big way. Because of this we are given vouchers for tickets to the Playhouse that we give out randomly throughout the year. I hadn't given out one this season yet. Long story short, they were delighted when I gave them tickets to the play that started at 8:00 PM. In the background, our server was having a bad day, one of those days where one thing after another doesn't go right. Seeing me at the table was probably on her list of things that weren't happening as it should. After I left, this couple told our server (who has three kids, is a teacher and also works for us) how delighted they were that they had met me and told her about the tickets. Her reply; "Well, maybe this is your lucky day. Maybe you should buy lottery tickets." Their reply was; "Well, how about we give "you" that opportunity." and gave her $100.00 on a $79.00 purchase. The server approached me later in the day and told me how great this made her feel after having such a horrible start to her day.. She thanked me for something I thought, at the time it was occurring, might have been too much time at her table. She cried when she got the tip. I almost cried when she recounted the story. Sometimes things work out for the better. You just have to try.
I received a donation of $20.00 from Bill & Deb Kelson (MA) sponsoring me in this season's Pan-Mass Challenge. They surprised me at the restaurant with some wood cuttings with Captain Ian Keniston's visage taken from a digital image of the man that was on the internet somewhere. It's a great picture in a very unique setting. Thank you both so very much for the gifts to me and of life to those who suffer. Twenty dollars might not seem a lot to some. But the collective is the difference as many others have donated for many seasons. This is very much appreciated!
At 5:00 AM EDT the air temperature was 45°F, the sky was clear with a sliver of a moon hanging lower above the eastern horizon, the wind was out of the north northwest at twenty knots or more at the closest weather buoy (nine miles offshore) and the visibility over the ocean was excellent.
The morning sky started off clear, saw a few clouds come in during the morning but became cloudless in the afternoon. The sky stayed cloudless on into the night. The visibility remained excellent. The wind settled in out of the north or north northeast at about twenty knots. This remained throughout the morning with some gusts to twenty-five knots. After noon, the wind was more northeast than north. It started to diminish. By 2:00 PM, the wind was northeast at five knots. The wind stayed northeast until sunset. But it was light. [Conversely, I noticed that the Georges Bank buoy at noon was showing thirty knots out of the northerly wind with seventeen foot seas every thirteen seconds.] The highest air temperature that I saw in Perkins Cove was 64°F. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 61°F (with a low of 46°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 64°F (with a low of 35°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 63°F (with a low of 40°F).
Friday is the day I open the restaurant as a normal occurrence and stay until most of the chores are completed and Matt Pedersen takes my place at 9:00 AM. I did get a lot done today. And I had the good weather to do so.
I brought the Bunny Clark back to the float from the mooring with the help of Grant Hubbard, who owns and runs Finestkind Scenic Cruises. This gave me the opportunity to check the engine out, warm it up and check all the items I needed to make the trip on Monday.
Today's business was very much like the business we did on this date last year. I had some very interesting conversations with patrons today.
Waves crashed along the shore all morning an into the afternoon. The Cove was filled with sea foam. This from a system that has been slow to leave us, well offshore now, that plagued over last weekend with northeast winds and, later, strong winds out of the north. Seas, as measured by our closest weather buoy (eight miles to the southeast of us), were seven feet every eleven seconds. Not huge but certainly substantial. More passengers than normal were sea sick on our local Finestkind Scenic Cruises boats leaving from the Barnacle Billy's dock. And, yet, those who were not sick, the majority of the passengers by far, had spectacular views of the waves crashing up on the rocks from a unique sea view.
The wind settled in out of the north. At sunrise, the northerly wind was about ten knots. But it dropped to nothing by noon. The ocean along the shore was glassy over long rolling sea swells, as I mentioned, of six to eight feet. The sky was cloudless all day. I never did see a single cloud. And that's not to say that there weren't any. It's just that every time I looked the sky was cobalt blue with nary a white spot. The visibility was better than excellent. The air temperature reached a high of 62°F. It was a beautiful fall day in Ogunquit. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 59°F (with a low of 46°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 66°F (with a low of 28°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 63°F (with a low of 34°F).
The day was spent much like it was yesterday. It was certainly a restaurant day. I spent the whole day there.
Tomorrow I am going to have to decide if it's good enough to go fishing. We have had all the bad weather on the days that I chose to run the boat this last week and the Thursday before. Monday is predicted to have rain for the entire day backed by southeast winds, they say, up to forty knots. If that is truly the case, we will not be sailing. I will make my decision with the updated forecast later in the morning tomorrow.
It was another beautiful day today. Every lobster boat in Perkins Cove sailed today. The Cove was left with skiffs marking the moorings where the mother ship resided only a couple hours before. The report from one of our knights in shinning armor was that the lobstering was good but not great.
Ashore, the wind was light out of the southwest all morning. By noon, we had no wind at all. The ocean along the shore was flat calm under a rolling long swell of six feet (according to the closest weather buoy report). It seemed like a good day for surfing. And there were certainly enough surfers out there. I didn't watch them. After noon, the wind started blowing out of the south. By sunset, wind speeds had increased to over fifteen knots. I didn't check after that. High cirrus clouds were present in the sky all day giving the lighting a milky quality, soft lighting - great for taking digital images at sea. And I did wish that I had been out there taking them! The visibility was excellent. The highest air temperature I saw was 65°F. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 68°F (with a low of 49°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 70°F (with a low of 37°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 62°F (with a low of 40°F).
I opened the restaurants again today; waiting for our top "night man" to recover from his surgery. I think that it's been fun for Gill (our border collie) as I take him down in the Bunny Clark truck, we walk to the restaurant, he gets to lick every spilled "food spot" the night man missed and he gets to walk the Marginal Way home, usually under the stars. I have a flashlight with me but I never use it. At times I can barely see the dog in the tree covered parts of the path home. The last stretch the big dipper is in the sky directly over head. It's a constellation I have enjoyed looking at over the years.
I didn't do as much at the restaurant this morning as I have been doing as of late. I've been having lower back issues so I wanted to walk/run seven miles to make it feel better followed by an hour of stretching that usually does (and did do) the trick. It started a couple of days ago with, what I initially thought, was a hip flexor problem. It happened so quickly that I soon came to realize it was a lower back issue. I've been having sciatica for the last fifteen years. I have developed core exercises and stretching to cope with it. And do so on a daily basis, unless I have the boat. In an x-ray it was found that my L5 vertebrae is jinked just slightly. Enough to give me the problem but not enough to not be able to cope with it. After the walk and stretching it felt so much better, including moving the pain to the back and completely losing the bad feeling at the right hip location. I'll keep playing with it. It's not like it hasn't happened many times before. And this seems no worse than previous issues.
The day was spent at the restaurant talking to customers, working on a couple employee issues and completing the normal routine of fielding issues, checking the food and working with my managers. I enjoyed today very much. Customers constantly remind me that we "have only one week left", as if that knowledge is new and that this statement is going to make me happy. It doesn't. I hate the season ending. I know it would not be practical to keep the restaurants open through the winter. That's not the issue. The issue is purely that the season is over and winter is coming. Winter, for me, is organizing every day as it comes along, planning and planning. The season is so much better where I know well in advance what I will be doing. Plus, I have a lot of key decisions to make when the season is truly over. These decisions are going to be a real challenge.
At 5:00 AM EDT the air temperature was 56°F, the sky was mostly cloud covered with the occasional star poking through the cracks, the wind was blowing out of the south at fifteen knots and the visibility over the ocean was excellent. A half hour later, the sky was completely overcast.
An hour later it started to rain. But just sprinkles. By 8:00 AM, it was raining periodically. From 11:00 AM until 4:00 PM, we had a steady rain, sometimes a pouring rain. But it did alternate. By 8:00 AM, the wind here was out of the southeast at twenty-five knots, more or less. Southeast is a good wind for Perkins Cove. It blows right parallel to our shoreline. We don't get any surge from even the strongest southeast winds. So even with eight foot seas, like we had today, there wasn't a hint of a surge. No storm lines were needed for boats on moorings. I put a storm line off the bow of the Bunny Clark to town floats ahead of the boat just to keep all the boats on our float in place. The wind never blew over thirty knots along the shore. At the Portland Lightship buoy wind speeds increased to thirty-five knots. There are no buoys out as far as we would have been fishing today. The rain stopped after 5:00 PM. We saw the sun at 5:30 PM. At that time there was hardly a cloud in the sky! The visibility was poor in the rain and haze. By 5:30 PM, the visibility was very good at least. The highest air temperature that I saw was 61°F. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 67°F (with a low of 54°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 63°F (with a low of 51°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 60°F (with a low of 53°F).
Except for a round trip of three hours in the morning to Portsmouth, New Hampshire and back, I spent the day at the restaurant. And I spent an hour and a half getting the Bunny Clark ready for tomorrow's fishing trip. Business at the restaurants was slow. This was expected with the weather. I ended up leaving early to get ready to go fishing.
At 2:45 AM EDT the air temperature was 49°F, the sky was crystal, the wind was blowing lightly out of the northwest and the visibility over the ocean was excellent.
The wind was blowing out of the northwest in Perkins Cove, the flags waving at the southeast horizon. A mile offshore, however, the wind was out of the southwest at fifteen to twenty knots. And the wind was stronger the further off we got. Seas were three to six feet, seemingly, in chops. The sky was clear. The visibility was excellent. The air temperature hung around the low 50s for the whole ride out.
On the fishing grounds, the wind remained out of the southwest all day. Wind speeds ranged from twenty to twenty-five knots. Seas ranged from five to seven feet. Some of this was an underlying swell. But, in the morning, it was hard to tell the difference. It was choppy. But the wind and the chop started to drop around noon. It continued dropping until the fishing was over. At that time it was about ten knots with a two foot chop over a four foot rolling sea. The air temperature never got higher than 56°F. The visibility ranged to over twenty-five miles. The tide (current) was moderate. The surface water temperature reached a high of 54°F.
Ashore, these were the air temperatures in selected New England cities: In Perkins Cove, Ogunquit, Maine the high air temperature was 66°F. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 67°F (with a low of 51°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 66°F (with a low of 46°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 64°F (with a low of 44°F).
The fishing was tough. The seas were too uncomfortable to drift, initially. Even with full oil gear, anglers were getting soaked as the chops dumped, periodically, over the rail We anchored a couple of times, used the sea anchor once (it wasn't very productive) for a long drift and, after noon, drifted for the rest of the day. Drifting was very productive. The catching was very good. Landings were good to very good. Most legal fish landed were cusk and whiting. On one drift we landed a whole fish tote full.of whiting. That hasn't happened in many years as we don't target them. Legal landings also included six cod, ten haddock, a white hake, a monkfish, twenty-six pollock and two dogfish. Released fish included thirteen sub-legal cod, a handful of cusk, forty-two or more sub-legal haddock, twenty-nine small pollock, twenty-four dogfish and a couple sculpins. All terminal gear worked well.
Shawn "Happy Halibut" Rosenberger (PA) was the fisherman of the day. He was high hook with the most legal fish. And he won the boat pool for the largest fish with the largest fish, an 11 pound cod. He also won the boat pool for the second largest fish with the second largest fish, a 9.5 pound cusk. He caught over thirty cusk alone. He also caught all the other species. That included a halibut that he fought for over a half hour (I hung over it against the tide by maneuvering the boat with the engine). We got it up to where Danny could see it. I even fought it initially as Shawn was passing the rod around. But I really think that a tangle chaffed his brand new eighty pound test Spectra line. Shawn was putting the pressure on it and we got it up so I could see it on the sounding machine four fathoms down. And, as I said, Danny saw it. That's when the line broke. So did my heart. I don't think that fish had much left. We covered about an eighth of a mile of new territory before we lost that fish.
Steve Selmer (NH) won the boat pool for the third largest fish with the third largest fish, an 8.75 pound cusk. Steve caught four legal haddock, which he was very proud of. He caught the only white hake, a 7 pounder. And, he too, caught a lot of cusk but a very lot of whiting.
Other Angler Highlights: Brian St. Saviour (ME) caught the only monkfish, a small one, the first fish in the boat. I weighed a 6.25 pound cusk and a 6.5 pound cusk for Jesse Barber (CT). He also caught some pollock and two 2 pound whiting. There were actually quite a few whiting that weighed 2 pounds or more. Nick Vegeto (NY) landed an 8 pound cusk, his biggest fish. Larry Jackson (NY) caught a 5.5 pound cusk I weighed early in the day. Tod Benjamin (VT) caught a 7 pound cusk, a 5 pound pollock and a few whiting. Johnny DeClair, Jr. (NY) caught the largest pollock at 8 pounds.
A good day was had by most. Some were sea sick.
I received an anonymous $20.00 donation today sponsoring me in my cancer fundraising drive with the Pan-Mass Challenge, a cycling event that took place during the first weekend of August and, of which, I attended for the first time in two years after my back injury. Although no one but me knows the donor, I appreciate the gift to my research team at Dana-Farber very much! Thank you!
At 5:00 AM EDT the air temperature was 53°F, the sky was overcast, a light rain had fallen earlier in the morning, there wasn't enough wind to write about and the visibility over the ocean was very good but seemed excellent.
When the rain did come, it came in waves. At times it was pouring rain so hard that it looked like we were in the tropics. At times, it looked like it was going to clear up. There wasn't much high cloudiness. It was all lower clouds. It seemed like the rain was coming from the south. After noon, the rain stopped and the roads dried up. It looked like the sky was going to clear at 3:00 PM. At 4:00 PM, the clouds rolled in and it started raining again, a steady light rain for about fifteen minutes. It stayed overcast after that. But I lost track of the clouds after sunset. Only a little light rain feel before I went to bed. The visibility ranged from fair to excellent depending on the rain and type of rainfall. The wind blew out of the south at ten to fifteen knots starting at mid morning. By noon, we had little or no wind at all. Later in the day the wind became established out of the south again but blew no more than ten knots. The wind was westerly when I went to bed. The air temperature got up to 64°F. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 67°F (with a low of 53°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 63°F (with a low of 49°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 59°F (with a low of 43°F).
The early part of my day was spent going through an hour of core exercises, writing and posting this report and opening the restaurant before 5:00 AM. Actually, our night man, Danny had the restaurant open before I got there. I had a few things I had to set up but nothing that I wasn't expecting to do.
I had a meeting with our bookkeeper and accountant at 9:00 AM. That lasted an hour. Then I had a meeting with our insurance people at 10:30 AM. I was able to get a shower in after the meetings but I was late to the restaurants where I spent the rest of my day.
The only time I spent on the Bunny Clark was to talk to my fuel guy, Drew, as he was filling up the starboard tank at 5:00 AM. Drew was a Navy man. And you can tell. Presise!
At 2:45 AM EDT the air temperature was 47°F, the sky was clear, the wind was light out of the west (twelve knots out of the southwest at the closest weather buoy) and the visibility over the ocean was very good, at least.
[The shot on the left is a digital image of Danny skinning a fillet on the ride back to Perkins Cove at the end of today's trip.]
The ride to the fishing grounds was choppy. Once we got out a few miles, the wind was from the southwest at fifteen to twenty knots. Seas were about four feet in chops most of the way, a bit larger in areas more affected by the tide. The sky was clear. The visibility was excellent. The air temperature ranged from 45°F at the gate to 52°F at the fifteen mile mark to our destination. The surface water temperature remained at 54°F for the whole ride.
On the fishing grounds, the wind was fifteen to twenty knots to start but piped up a bit to twenty knots with higher gusts about a half hour into the fishing. Wind speeds remained the same for all but the last half hour of the fishing. Seas were six feet in chops on average with the occasional queer one. The sounding machine showed a difference of eight feet. The wind direction was from the west southwest for most of the day, although I did see southwest at one point - the point where we couldn't get a fish to bite. Oddly, when it shifted back to the west southwest, the biting occurred again. The air temperature reached a high of 54°F. The visibility ranged to over twenty-five miles. The sky was a mix of sun and high cirrus clouds. The tide was moderate but strong enough to promote wave height when the current was running into the wind. The surface water temperature reached a high 54°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 48°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 61°F (with a low of 38°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 59°F (with a low of 42°F).
I had some challenges today. On our second fishing stop, someone clogged up the head by using a half a roll of bum wad to clean themselves. Of course, no one could tell me who did it so I could figure out a game plan for clearing the blockage. Of course, I found what caused the problem on my hands and knees as I had the head in pieces in the toilet area. It took me half an hour. Unlike last time when I set up a drift while I was doing this and no one caught a fish as we drifted into 80 fathoms of water, this time, we bailed the pollock. Danny had laid out the pollock on the deck to weigh for the three pools we were running today. So, once I was done fixing the head, I had to weigh and record the fish.
The fish weren't big, in the 10 to 12 pound range with a few bigger fish mixed in. And I skipped weighing most of the fish as it was easy to tell which fish were the largest. Later in the day, when I went to haul the anchor, she was stuck for a bit and came free. Turns out I bent a fluke enough so that I couldn't use the anchor again. This was just as well because we caught nothing on anchor; the drift was far more productive. The last challenge was our course home after the fishing. Our course was just off the wind. So I couldn't have anyone lying in either top bunk for the ride back and I had to close the companionway door as I didn't want anglers standing in the opening and falling into the forecastle. [This has happened before]. Turns out my worst fears were unfounded and we were able to make thirteen knots for the first twenty-five miles and fifteen knots thereafter.
[The shot on the right is a digital image taken during the fishing as we were drifting along and seagulls attracted to the boat while in the process of catching. You can tell by the gulls that there were not many boats in the area where we were fishing.]
I would call the fishing fair. It was uncomfortably choppy with a few anglers sea sick or, at least, not feeling well. The drift was perfect for those who knew what they were doing. That pertained to most of the anglers today. There were a few that thought the drift was too fast. We had two excellent productive drifts with all the rest of the drifts coming in at the "fair" category. The catching was very good. Landings were good. Most legal fish landed were pollock, by far. We only caught five species of fish today. We saw no dogfish, sharks, halibut, redfish, wolffish, sculpins, sea ravens, herring or hake of any variety. Legal landings also included twenty-four haddock, two cod, fifty-nine cusk and two mackerel. Released fish included six sub-legal cod, thirteen sub-legal haddock and twenty-three sub-legal pollock. As I said, drifting worked the best. All terminal gear caught fish today.
Fred Kunz (NH) was high hook with the most legal fish, one fish more than Shawn Rosenberger (PA), who was fishing beside him and was second hook on the day. Nick Vegeto (NY) was third hook. Fred's largest fish that I weighed was a 10 pound pollock but he could have had a slightly larger one that I didn't weigh with all the fish on the deck after the head debacle. Shawn won the boat pool for the third largest fish with the third largest fish, a 14.5 pound pollock. Nick caught, by far, the most cusk.
Bill "Murph" Murphy (MA) won the boat pool for the largest fish with the largest fish, a 17.5 pound pollock. I also weighed an 11.25 pound pollock for him. Murph won the boat pool the last time he fished with me. Jay Rowe (NH) won the boat pool for the second largest fish with the second largest fish, a 14.75 pound pollock.
Other Angler Highlights: Karen Atwood (VT) caught the most legal haddock with a count of seven. All these haddock were of good size and didn't have to be measured to know. She had the biggest haddock of the day. I didn't weigh it but it looked to be 4 pounds. The two largest fish of hers that I weighed were both pollock of 10 pounds each. Colby Rowe (NH) caught a 10.5 pound pollock on the first spot before I had to deal with the head. I suspect that was his biggest fish. I did weigh another pollock of his later in the morning that was 9 pounds. Darlene Chin (NH/FL) had a remarkable day with her new (amazingly good looking) rod that she bought from Martha at Surfland in Plum Island, Newbury, Massachusetts. Darlene (Darling to most of the anglers who know her fishing reputation), had her typical great fishing day. She caught the largest cusk at 8 pounds, two pollock of 10 pounds each that I weighed and was right in there around third hook. I believe Nick had slightly more but, in actuality, I don't really know for sure. Darlene's largest fish was an 11.75 pound pollock.
Pete Atwood (VT) had a 10 pound pollock that I weighed. He might have had a couple slightly bigger ones that I didn't weigh. Neil Chamberlain (NH) caught the largest cod of the day at 11 pounds. His biggest pollock weighed 10.5 pounds. Matt Colby (MA) had the best double of the day. His catch included an 11.25 pound pollock and an 11.75 pound pollock, both fish caught on the same line at the same time. Nino Pierdipino (NY) caught the second most haddock of the trip, right behind Karen. He was probably fifth hook.
I received three donations from anglers today sponsoring me in my cancer research project with the Pan-Mass Challenge. Those anglers included Stephen Robidoux (NH) for $40.00, Matt Colby for $20.00 and an anonymous donation of $40.00. Thank you all so very much for your support and thoughtfulness. It means so much to so many people. This may include you (or I) in the future.
At 5:00 AM EDT the air temperature was 45°F at the house (42°F on the Bunny Clark), the sky was clear, the wind was light out of the west and the visibility over the ocean was excellent. More later.
Book a Trip on Line
Click the icon to view a complimentary copy of the 2025 Guestletter.
