Bunny Clark Fishing Update
Written & Edited by Tim Tower
Wednesday, February 12, 2025, 6:00 AM EST
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By 8:00 AM, the visibility over the ocean was excellent. It stayed excellent for the rest of the day. By sunrise, the sky had almost completely cleared. The sky stayed mostly clear all day. The wind and dropping air temperatures were the two salient features of today's weather. The wind blew out of the west northwest at fifteen to twenty knots with some higher gusts through most of the morning. But, after noon, the wind increased in velocity to twenty-five and thirty-five knots. We had swirling tornados of light snow in the yard that would prevent you from seeing the road at times. I thought, at times, that it had to be blowing forty knots. But it wasn't. I guess having such light snow made it just seem that way. The air temperature struggled to get above 20°F. But the highest air temperature that I saw was only 23°F. By 3:00 PM, the air temperature was sinking. By 6:00 PM, the air temperature had dropped to 15°F. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 29°F (with a low of 16°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 21°F (with a low of -6°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 25°F (with a low of 1°F).
I spent a fair amount of time clearing snow off the trucks, around the house and at the restaurant. This after posting this update. Looking at it from all angles, we received about five inches in most places. It was a very light snow that will be hanging around for a while with the predicted cold temperatures in the next few days. I love seeing the snow.
For most of the rest of the day I was working on the Guestletter. I can see this being the last one of any import unless we ramp up the fishing trips this coming season. I don't see how that can happen.
For most of the afternoon, I was running recreational fishing models or, more accurately, looking at all the models others had run. Bio-economists at NOAA had made a tool, that I referenced earlier, to run models showing what the potential outcome would be if we adjusted the regulations. For 2025, the sub-ACL (recreational total quota) for the western Gulf of Maine (WGOM) is going to be 99 metric tons for cod and 1,075 metric tons for haddock. Anglers can't exceed these numbers for the 2025 fishing season (May 1, 2025 to April 30, 2026). The model run I like the most, which is fairly conservative, is having the same regulations that we had last year, including the two month cod season during September and October at one cod per person, but drop an inch for the haddock minimum size from 18" to 17" and dropping the minimum legal cod size from 23" to 22". That would give us a 90 to 100% chance of staying under the cod sub-ACL and an 80 to 89% chance of staying under the haddock sub-ACL. Projected landings in the model would come in at 64 metric tons for cod and 933 metric tons for haddock. The model does not take into account of a boat that, upon reaching the bag limit, leaving the fishing grounds or moving to target other species after the bag limit is caught. I believe it will also prevent the recreational angler from throwing back so many dead cod and haddock.
From a conservation standpoint, I'm not worried about the haddock population. It seems, even with the NE Fishery Management Council's (NEFMC) liberal moves and heavy focus on commercial fishing, that the haddock population is under control. When I look at the cod, I worry. Truthfully, I think taking any cod is not good. But then I think that what is the recreational angler doing that would actually be significant in hurting the cod stock? Probably nothing unless you consider the anglers keying in on the cod spawning spots and taking the big breeding fish. Unfortunately, there are so few cod left in the WGOM, particularly the spawning stock biomass, that it's impossible to find these spots. I do not feel the same about commercial fishing. At this point, any commercial fishing is going to allow the cod population to continue to drop. And there will come a time when we probably won't be able to keep any cod recreationally, largely because of the commercial effort and the NEFMC & National Marine Fisheries Service being unable to come up with a salient plan to save the cod.
Tomorrow I will drive to Wakefield, Massachusetts to join the Recreational Advisory Panel to discuss these models and pick one to be moved forward to the Groundfish Committee, the NEFMC and, lastly, to the NMFS for approval and implementation by May 1, 2025. We will certainly have the bio-economist's blessing if we come well under the limits of what we are trying to achieve in conservation.
Walking the dog, Gill, under the stars, in the fluffy snow at 15°F was a treat tonight. As long as you are dressed for it, there isn't a problem. But that also means that the dog has to be comfortable as well. And he was. Many times we were running in the snow together. Maybe jogging is a better description for me.
The air temperature was the stand-out feature of the day. It warmed up but not to the degree most were probably hoping for, particularly those who were skiing in the mountains. The highest air temperature in Ogunquit, I was told, was 19°F. Plus, well inland in Berwick, Maine, it was -13°F. The wind blew out of the west at fifteen to twenty-five knots in the bay. The sky was mostly sunny with some cloud cover around noon and clearer skies in the afternoon. The visibility was excellent. If the cold temperatures keep up through February, the haddock won't be here until later - my prediction. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 19°F (with a low of 13°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 16°F (with a low of -13°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 18°F (with a low of 0°F).
After posting this update, working on recreational regulation models, setting up appointments and taking a shower, I jumped in the truck and headed down to Wakefield, Massachusetts for the New England Fishery Management Council's Recreational Advisory Panel (RAP). Upon arriving at Four Points Sheraton, I found there was no place to eat except for vendor foot. So I jumped into the truck an drove to a little bar called the 909 a couple miles down the road. The food was good. And, for half the time I was in there, I was the only patron. The bar had a Beatles theme, hence the name "909", referencing a song from the last Beatles album. There were Beatles memorabilia there enough so I had to ask. They were very nice. I shall go there again if I have a meeting down there. Oddly enough, our accountants are right next door to the Sheraton Hotel.
The meeting was very quick as compared to previous meetings where we had to decide on the upcoming season's fishing regulations. This was mainly because all the members of the RAP could access the tool to run all their own models.
I put up the first model with a set of regulations in compliance with the parameters we had to meet. This was, basically, the same regulations we had last year but with an inch less on the cod and haddock minimum size. Tom DePersia (from Big Fish II fame, out of Green Harbor, Massachusetts) and I collaborated on another set of regulations. Tom wanted a season that included the whole month of May to keep cod. I was okay with that but I also wanted to decrease the minimum size on haddock from 18" to 17". The rest of the RAP agreed with us on this selection. In the end, we came up with three proposals. The first choice was the one where Tom & I collaborated on:
Gulf of Maine cod
Gulf of Maine haddock
Gulf of Maine cod
Gulf of Maine haddock
Gulf of Maine cod
Gulf of Maine haddock
I didn't do much when I got home except take the dog for a walk in the snow. This lasted about ten minutes as, for some reason, he didn't want to go. Go figure.
The sky was cloudless every time I looked up today. There may have been clouds but I didn't see them. The visibility was excellent. The air temperature didn't reach more than a value of 20°F, that I saw. The wind blew out of the northwest at ten to fifteen knots for a while but died out to calm before noon. The afternoon gave us zero wind until late. The ocean along the shore was flat calm. The wind was blowing out of the southwest at ten knots by 8:00 PM. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 22°F (with a low of 10°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 20°F (with a low of -18°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 19°F (with a low of -7°F).
The Groundfish Committee meeting was held today. For our purposes, the recreational angler, the Committee chose the first option of the three that was presented to them. Frank Blount, the chairman of the Recreational Advisory Panel, represented the RAP at the meeting. The RAP's first choice was chosen by a vote of five for, three abstained and four against. It barely passed. Most are worried about the implications of opening up the cod season a month before cod spawning, as the fish are arriving to gather and spawn. And that's where anglers can do the most damage, catching the big spawning fish. I am not so worried in our area as we haven't seen those spawning fish in May for at least ten years now. But the western Gulf of Maine area extends to the Great South Channel on the backside of Cape Cod, the whole area inside Cape Cod and includes western Georges Bank. So this is definitely something to think about. And, the more "I" think about it, the more uncomfortable I am with opening up May. I'm just worried we may go over the cod sub-ACL which will have negative ramifications for us with regulations for the fiscal 2026 fishing year. Anyway, the proposed regulation going to the Council appears below (as it appeared when I wrote about it yesterday):
Gulf of Maine cod
Gulf of Maine haddock
As for me, I was buried in work from watching the painters at Barnacle Billy's, Etc. and the Chimney Sweeps at Barnacle Billy's (putting new liners in both fireplace chimneys), to a doctor's appointment in Dover, to picking up hardware, dropping keys off to Sonya Keniston that once belonged to Ian, to being on the phone with several vendors and services and various emails including a few to Albanian J1 students. I didn't get done until 6:30 PM and just had time enough to take Gill on his nightly walk - which he loved, by the way.
I did not have time to work on the Guestletter.
What I didn't mention was that Deb and I worked on a fishing schedule for this coming season. It will be limited and will included a Tuesday and Thursday marathon schedule and an extreme day trip on Saturday that will turn into a full day trip in July and August. This schedule is preliminary and will depend on Danny DellaMonica's input before it is finalized. Reservations will take place on Februay 1 as they have always been done. So there will be a fishing season, albeit, a limited one. When I do come up with the final schedule, I will post it on this website.
It was a beautiful day today. The wind was out of the southwest all day, making the air temperature rise above normal against this dome of cold arctic air that we have been trapped in. Twenty miles inland, the air remained cold. Wind speeds were ten to twenty knots that dropped, locally, after sunset. The highest air temperature that I saw at the house, with two outside thermometers in the shade, was 30°F. I will the air temperature to go higher, and I came this close from taking the thermistor out in the sun (kidding). But it would not rise to my satisfaction. The sky clear after 8:00 AM and remained mostly clear for the rest of the day. The visibility remained excellent. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 30°F (with a low of 16°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 27°F (with a low of 2°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 26°F (with a low of 9°F).
I stayed home for most of the day working further on recreational fishing regulations, the debate online, mostly. I worked on the Guestletter as well. I also had a road tech come out from Scarborough, Maine to work on my parents' generator at the house. I went back and forth up there a couple of times. I was on the phone quite a bit and on this site quite a bit.
I don't think that we ever reached the freezing mark today. The highest air temperature that I saw was 30°F. The wind blew out of the west for most of the morning and then backed out of the northwest for all of the afternoon and into the night. Wind speeds were about ten to fifteen knots. The visibility was excellent all day. The sky was mostly clear with clouds here and there. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 33°F (with a low of 20°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 29°F (with a low of -4°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 28°F (with a low of 7°F).
I spent the morning getting ready for the U. S. Coast Guard hull inspection. We were well underway with the hull inspection by 10:00 AM. Everything was fine including all the through hull fittings, ball valves, seacocks and hull in general. The fuel fills to the fuel tanks were lacking a fuel dam around them. So we have to complete that before the boat gets dipped. I enjoy the hull inspections as they prepare me more for the topside inspection in the spring. If I wasn't aware of the fuel dam situation, I would be hard pressed to get that completed away from our winter storage place in the barn. And it's not that something else I'm not expecting will emerge. But it does eliminate some of the variables that I will have to cope with while also missing Ian Keniston, my right hand.
The rest of the afternoon was spent adjusting the work order but, mainly, continuing with writing the Guestletter. This has to be the most time I have ever spent on completing it. At least I'm in the final stages of it.
Gill and I completed a 2.85 mile walk mostly in the snow tonight. We walked through abandoned summer homes, mostly, until we got the northwest end of the Marginal Way. From there we took the Marginal Way to Perkins Cove and then through a few properties until we got back home. I was going to extend the walk a little further and go down a path to hit the Marginal Way again. But at the fork, Gill (our border collie) stopped, would look at me and then look at the direction home. I asked him if he wanted to go this way (towards the Marginal Way) but he wouldn't budge. So home we went. He definitely had a skip in his step on the short walk from there to home.
The sky was mostly clear all day. The visibility remained excellent. The wind blew out of the west all morning and into the afternoon. Wind speeds ashore were between ten and fifteen knots, tops. The wind was lighter around sunset with a change in wind direction. By 8:00 PM, the wind was out of the west southwest at fifteen knots or more. The air temperature rose slowly all day. With the sun and lighter wind, it seemed warmer outside. But, then, maybe I'm just getting used to it. The highest air temperature that I saw 28°F. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 30°F (with a low of 19°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 27°F (with a low of -7°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 25°F (with a low of -1°F).
Except for taking a short walk outside in the snow with Gill after 5:00 PM, I worked on the computer, the Guestletter specifically, all day. I do enjoy reviewing all of last year's fishing exploits in the writing. From an observers point of view, it certainly looked boring.
The stayed mostly cloudy in the morning with no threat of rain. By noon, the sky was mostly clear. It blew out of the southwest until about 9:00 AM and then backed out of the west. The westerly wind was strong for a few hours with some gusts up to thirty knots. It was still blowing after sunset, when I walked Gill. But it wasn't blowing nearly as hard, twenty knots in gusts. The wind backed off a little further into the night. The visibility was excellent all day. The night gave us a clear starry sky. The air temperature popped up to 38°F, the first day above freezing for six days. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 41°F (with a low of 24°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 36°F (with a low of 4°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 38°F (with a low of 17°F).
I spent the entire day working on the Guestletter, starting at 6:00 AM. I worked straight through lunch until 5:00 PM, completing it at that time. It's the longest one I have ever written. But I brought a lot of Ian Keniston into it. And since this is probably going to be the last long winded Guestletter, I wanted to get all the facts in but also add more so I can save time next year by using it as a reference manual. There was much to write about last year. I will be proofing it today on and off. Deb will also do so. I feel like I should send a copy to Bill Devon (VT) as he always critiques it when I first post it. He usually finds a few mistakes. And that's the beauty about the internet instead of printing it like I did the first twenty years of the Bunny Clark. I remember one printed copy I sent you that didn't give Fred Kunz (NH) credit for getting the biggest double of the year. I believe it was a 45 pound cod and a 7 pound cod. I was so enamored about the steaker that I forgot about the smaller cod on the second hook. I corrected it on my master copy but I couldn't take all the other copies back that I sent out via snail mail. I remember the last run I sent cost us $10,000.00. That's one savings I got from the internet. But then I look at what a computer cost in those days and I remember that I paid $10,000.00 for an IBM XT with a dot matrix printer that was really nothing more than a glorified word processor.
Today I will be wrestling with my schedule for this coming season. I am going to be running two marathons a week in the spring and fall, one a week during the summer and am going to try to get three trips a week total through the year. It's tricky because I want something that Danny will be happy with, something that won't take me away from the restaurants too much and something I can physically maintain. It's an ambitious schedule along with Council issues, my position as chair of Ogunquit's Harbor Committee, my commitment to cancer research, my endurance training, the restaurants and two boats. A hands-on manager, jack of all trades, master of none!
My parting thought: Captain Greg Mercurio, owner and captain of the Yankee Capts, now out of the Florida Keys, sent me a nice email. He had just heard about Ian. He had met him once a long time ago. He wanted to express his condolences, which I really appreciated. I've always liked Greg. But he had a quote from Ernest Hemingway at the bottom of the email, which I found really hit home; "Perhaps I should not have been a fisherman, he thought. But that was the thing I was born for." Long may the rod and gaff stay in my hands!
The salient features of today's weather was the wind and the rising air temperatures. Again we had air temperatures climb above the freezing mark with a high of 38°F again, that I saw. The wind blew (like hell) out of the southwest with gusts over thirty-five knots at times. That's a lot of southwest wind. Seas on some of the weather buoys were showing chops of eight feet. The wind was strongest after sunset. The sky was clear to begin the day with clouds creeping in at noon and overcast skies at night. The visibility over the ocean was excellent. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 40°F (with a low of 26°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 38°F (with a low of 17°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 38°F (with a low of 23°F).
I spent the morning editing the Guestletter, organizing the Bunny Clark's delivery of the rebuilt rudder and visiting Dave Pease and Danny DellaMonica at Dave's barn. Conferring over the fillet table, Danny and I worked up the schedule for this coming season. As of this writing, there will be eighty-five trips I will run with Danny this season. All the trips will occur during the week with no trips on the weekend. This is a move that we are playing by ear at this time. Whether we have another captain interested in taking a few more trips in the future, we will have to see. Anyway, after my time with Danny and Dave, I ran around to get materials to build the reservation book and pick up other items.
When I got home, I worked on updating the schedule and rates section of the website. Then I took all this information and worked into the night at the office of Barnacle Billy's, Etc. building the reservation book. I got home at 7:00 PM.
I received a generous $100.00 donation from Barry Woods (ME) today sponsoring me in this year's Pan-Mass Challenge. Barry made his donation in the form of an "eGift" through the PMC site with the following message: "Tim, I am so sorry for your loss and for the loss to Ian's family. I so appreciate your efforts to keep the Bunny Clark going and maintaining your voice for the rec fishermen." Thanks for the kind words, Barry. My work seems never enough but that's life. And I appreciate the condolences for a man who meant so much in my life. I very much appreciate your help in my cancer project. Thanks!!!
At 4:00 AM this morning, I looked at the air temperature and it showed 32°F. I didn't look at the thermometer again until 2:00 PM. At that time it was 26°F. It had dropped to 20°F by 7:00 PM. The long and the short is that I couldn't tell you what the high air temperature was today. In Portsmouth, New Hampshire, the high air temperature reached 37°F at 9:00 AM and then started to drop, dropping all day until it reached a low of 21°F at 8:00 PM. It was windy out of the southwest all morning until around 9:00 AM. Sustained wind speeds were twenty-five knots with the occasional gust to thirty knots. After 9:00 AM, the wind was blowing out of the west. Sometime before noon, the northwest wind came in with a rush out of the northwest with wind gusts to over forty knots. Once the wind settled in it blew twenty-five to thirty-five knots. It seemed to be backing off about mid afternoon. checking the anemometer at 3:00 PM, it seemed to be at a sustained twenty knots with higher gusts. By 7:00 PM, the wind was back out of the west at twenty knots or more. There were blinding snow squalls in places reported around southern Maine. Many of my friends reported them. The sky was starting to clear at 9:00 AM. After that the sky stayed clear with few clouds for most of the day on into the night. The visibility was excellent all day. But it was certainly not a day to be on the ocean. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 39°F - at 11:28 AM - (with a low of 26°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 34°F - at 8:53 AM - (with a low of 15°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 36°F - at 9:28 AM - (with a low of 17°F).
After I got free of this "Fishing Update" post, I did an hour's worth of work on proofing the Guestletter and then spent all my time building the new reservation book. This time it took about seven hours. It normally takes me ten hours. Like most things I do, I get into detail with certain color pages for certain trips and add things like full moon, new moon, sunrise, sunset, etc. and etc. By 2:30 PM, I had completed it. I did also have an hour talking to restaurant vendors, with people doing repair work at Barnacle Billy's, Etc. and coordinating efforts to get our repaired Bunny Clark rudder to the boat and make sure that they took our five bladed wheel back with them to the shop at H. & H. Propeller.
After quick bite to eat, I headed to Safe Harbor in Eliot, Maine where I had a meeting with my son, Micah, the manager (Dave Simonelli) and Victor Togliotti. We all met at the Petrel, where that boat is being renovated this winter for the summer. The new engine is in place with all the wiring completed. I need to get a couple of new batteries, etc., etc. But the work they are doing on the boat is something to behold. I was so lucky that they agreed to do this at such short notice this fall.
There are so many things going on, most of which I never anticipated. If everything gets completed to my satisfaction, it will be a major coup for me and include a lot of help from the outside. Help from people I have picked and trusted, some for many years and some who I have only recently brought into the fold. It will be close. And it will be expensive. But it will be necessary.
It snowed for a bit until about 7:00, maybe later? It stopped snowing by at least 8:00 AM. We got, probably, three inches of snow after midnight until sunrise. The sky stayed mostly cloudy for most of the day. We had clear patches here and there. At times, it got sunny. We had the occasional snow periods with very little wind and very little duration. After sunset the sky cleared and stars were available for the viewing. The wind was not very strong today, although the predictions were for a lot of it. The wind direction was out of the south in the morning and then out of the northwest from mid morning through sunset. Wind speeds rarely made it over ten knots. The air temperature rose above the freezing mark. I saw 40°F at one point in the afternoon. The visibility, except during the brief snow periods, was excellent. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 48°F (with a low of 22°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 41°F (with a low of 16°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 29°F (with a low of 10°F).
I spent all morning proofing the Guestletter, adjusting the website and posting the Guestletter (and the Fishing Update section). It was nice to finally have the Guestletter done.
The rest of the day I ran around working off a list of things to do. I was still working at the computer at 6:00 PM when Gill wanted to go for a walk. I felt compelled to remain at the computer until 7:00 PM.
I went to England with a friend of mine, Andy Armitage, to watch "futbol" games, walk the English countryside - since I can't ride my bike anymore - and enjoy the country. It was very enjoyable but I also had a lot on my mind while there. As you know, this has been a challenging winter for me so far. But it was enjoyable and the weather was excellent with the lowest high temperature about 42°F with a couple of days just under 50°F and sunny almost every day. The only rain we had were a couple of nights of light rain. No rain during the day. Andy and I had planned this trip in the summer when I purchased tickets to fly over there. In the meantime, many things had changed. Had I known all this I probably wouldn't have taken the time to go over there. But it was a good break and I do love this sport. I still love hockey but the NHL has become so diluted, I just don't enjoy it anymore.
I ended up getting back to the house at 3:00 PM. From there I spent all my time unpacking and shoveling snow around the house. By the time I was done, it was time to eat and go to bed.
I received three donations sponsoring me in this season's Pan-Mass Challenge. The first, made by, Sam Theodosopoulos (NH) was a donation of $100.00 made in the form of an "eGift" through the PMC site with the following message: "In memory of Joe Gula." I also received two donations through the mail. One was from Guy & C. Kathleen Hesketh (CT) for a generous $250.00 with a wonderful letter and a message that read: "In loving memory of Captain Ian Keniston." The other was a very generous $500.00 donation from Paul Kostopoulos (CT) with a note saying: "In honor of Ian Keniston." Thank you all so very much for the support, your generosity and your thoughtfulness. But also for the respect shown to the wonderful people lost and to those who felt exactly the same. Everyone appreciates this, I know.
The air temperature warmed up again to a value above freezing. I didn't pay too much attention to the weather but I had to pick up a garden hose at 1:00 PM. At that time, the air temperature at the house was 33°F. Snow was melting outside the house and I was able to chip all the ice in a path from the back door to the garage. The wind blew out of the west all day. In the morning, the wind velocity was about fifteen knots, more or less. After noon, it started to drop. By 3:00 PM we had ten knots of westerly wind. The ocean along the shore looked calm with no calm spots showing. There was no wind after 6:00 PM. The visibility was excellent all day. The sky was clear in the morning and most of the afternoon. By later afternoon, the sky was starting to cloud up. It was overcast at 6:00 PM. It never snowed while I was awake. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 36°F (with a low of 25°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 31°F (with a low of 5°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 30°F (with a low of 11°F).
I spent the majority of my time inside working on licensing for both boats, the Petrel and the Bunny Clark. I got bogged down on an FCC station license for the Petrel. This mainly because I let the license run out. In order to reinstate the license, I had to fill out a waiver. If I could have found it on the FCC website I would have. Not being able to do that, I decided I would apply for a new one. I went all through the process until I got to the last page where I had to pay and my password didn't work for my FRN. This didn't make sense as that was how I got into the site in the first place. I will wait until Monday to finish on that one. They have always been very nice to me on the phone in the past. And, yes, I have let my station license lapse before. Never on the Bunny Clark, of course.
Much of my time was also spent organizing. I was on the phone quite a bit. I'm filling in areas where Ian used to work to get things ready. It's taking a bit of organizing. As a result, the Bunny Clark will not look as pretty as it usually does in the spring.
I spent a couple hours cleaning up around the house. This meant shoveling snow and removing the ice that caused Deb to fall on her shoulder while I was overseas. I also wanted to make sure everything was cleaned up before the snow showed up again overnight.
And it was; it stopped snowing before noon. We had about nine inches in all. With the snow of previous storms, we had about fifteen inches of snow outside the worn paths in the fields and off the side of the Marginal Way along the shore here in Ogunquit. We are back to what I call a normal winter. And I'm glad for it. This area looks so drab in the winter without snow. The air temperature rose during the day and the sky was sunny with few clouds all day. The highest air temperature that I noticed was 33°F. The wind, thought out of the north with gusts to thirty knots at times, died right down to nothing by late afternoon. I took Gill for a walk in the snow around 5:00 PM and the ocean was glassy with a low swell rushing up on the rocks. The visibility went from poor to excellent, when the snow fall ended. The visibility was excellent for the rest of the day. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 32°F (with a low of 25°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 31°F (with a low of 13°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 28°F (with a low of 14°F).
I spent my working day on the computer, putting up a new index page and in the restaurant printing day sheets, cleanup check lists and stocking orders for the Bunny Clark. I also did some organizing with the restaurants. All of those who are working on repairs and renovations in the restaurant are local. So I was able to get in touch with all of them except for our plumber. I don't expect anyone to answer on a Sunday. So it was nice that I could get some feedback to move forward on, what is normally, a day off.
And I spent at least three hours shoveling snow. The hardest part was clearing the street drains in front of Barnacle Billy's (Original). They hadn't been cleared with the other storms so I had to get my ice axe as there was three inches of ice over them. Not only that, there was ice on the street side. With warm weather, the snow melt would be pooling outside the street drains in the street. So I had to chop a path to each drain. No big deal. Just time consuming.
I was glad to see the Eagles win the Super Bowl. I'm not crazy about football. And I rarely watch a Super Bowl. But I do enjoy looking at the scores. All this hype about Patrick Mahomes being the GOAT if Kansas City won this Super Bowl, was crap to me. He's got a long way to go to knock Tom Brady off that pedestal. Mohomes lost to Brady in Super Bowl LV with Brady almost twenty years his senior. Anyway, enough on that. I hope those who watched enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed hearing about the score.
The sky stayed clear all day. The wind blew out of the west at about fifteen knots all morning, backing out of the northwest around noon and increasing to almost twenty knots. I noticed some higher gusts in the afternoon. By 7:00 PM, the wind was, at most, ten knots out of the northwest and, actually, it was more north northwest when I was walking Gill at 6:45 PM. It was a beautiful night with a nearly full moon a quarter of the way across the sky to its destination. The visibility was excellent all day. The air temperature reached a high of 32°F but was melting snow in the sun on the roads. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 36°F (with a low of 27°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 29°F (with a low of 3°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 30°F (with a low of 8°F).
The day was a mix of meetings, paying bills at the Town office and arranging repairs at the restaurants. We are putting in a new dishwasher at Barnacle Billy's, Etc. In so doing, we discovered rot underneath the old one. So we will remove the old one and replace all the structure underneath before the new one comes in. I met with our carpet people to finish up items that still needed to be addressed. I also ended up securing the station license for the Petrel, our lobster/tuna boat. And I set up a marine survey of the Petrel in the spring, once all the work has been completed on it. I had to straighten out some insurance stuff with the boats, which didn't require much work to complete. And I scoped out the new helm chair that I'm really not keen on completing. I'm sure I will miss the old bar stool that I have always had.
I learned of Tim Rozan's (ME) passing on Sunday night. (obituary) Apparently, he died in the morning of February 9th. He was sixty years old. Tim was one of my best regular anglers. He won our Fisherman of the Year award for two seasons, the 2019 & the 2021 Bunny Clark fishing seasons. He caught six halibut with me, two on one trip. His largest halibut is the Bunny Clark's twelfth largest halibut at 89 pounds during the 2019 season. But he was just a good, intelligent person who I loved to talk with on the way out and who would help me any time I needed to have him take a trick at the wheel or ponder some new idea - about anything. To think that I will never see him again is devastating to say the least. I saw him at Ian's Celebration of Life at the end of December. He had driven down to pay his respects to Ian's family. He looked great. And he should; he spent a lot of time in the gym and was very fit. I can't understand how a man like that, in his late 50s (60), could leave us all behind. A heart attack, I was told. I will truly miss that man. May he rest in peace. You just never know, do you?
I walked Gill, our border collie, up and down the Marginal Way this evening. It was 21°F but it felt warmer than that. Walking all that way in the snow gave me the exercise I needed. Below is a shot I took as a nearly full moon was making its way across the sky.
Another nice, mostly clear sky, day fell before us. We did have some hazy sky conditions, some cloudy skies and some clear skies, a mixture of all three. After sunset, we had a mackerel sky under the nearly full moon rising out of the ocean. The wind blew out of the west for a while and, then, west southwest for the rest of the day, probably starting at 10:00 AM. Wind speeds were ten to fifteen knots along the shore. The visibility ranged from very good to excellent. The highest air temperature that I saw was 32°F. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 32°F (with a low of 20°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 30°F (with a low of -5°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 32°F (with a low of -2°F).
Today was a day of running around. I had two doctor's visits, a manager's meeting at Barnacle Billy's, Etc. and several meetings with carpenters, painters and flooring people. I also had to bring my truck into Mark Brown's garage. I had been losing air in both passenger side tires. Turns out I had a nail in one and a hole in the other. Mark & company got it done in two hours. The timing was perfect as I was able to get everything accomplished today was well as getting my truck fixed.
Repairs continue on at both Barnacle Billy's restaurants. We still have some brightwork to complete, stairs to fix, carpet to be adjusted, a deck to be rebuilt and a few other items to be finished before we can open. Everything is progressing nicely.
In the meantime, the Oarweed restaurant, across the street, that was badly damaged by a fire in late December, is being torn down. That started today. By the time I left the restaurant for the day, they had almost all of it removed and trucked off premises. So sorry to see all the damage. All I can think of is that it could so easily have been us. I also feel a bit helpless as there is nothing that I can do to help them. So much of this is like life itself.
I had a new helm chair ordered at Hamilton Marine. It was said to have come in today. So after my initial doctor's appointment, I stopped by to find that everything was there except for the chair itself. The chair did not come as a unit. Instead, it came in separate parts with one part missing. I don't know who's fault it was. But it doesn't really matter. The chair part should be in tomorrow. This way I can take it to the boat and see if this is something I want or go back to the bar stool. I can't drink as much anymore but I have felt at home at the helm in that chair for over forty three years, longer if you consider the previous boat, the Mary E. And, of course, it hasn't been one chair, it has been many similar bar stools over the years.
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