Bunny Clark Fishing Update
Written & Edited by Tim Tower
Thursday, October 1, 2026, 3:00 AM EDT
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Note: Note: The new fishing regulations for cod and haddock in the Western Gulf of Maine for the 2026 appear below. These regulations were approved for the season starting on April 1, 2026 and will extend until May 1, 2027.
Gulf of Maine cod
Gulf of Maine haddock
At 2:45 AM EDT the air temperature was 63°F (at the house, 61°F at the dock), the sky was mostly clear with some clouds, the wind was out of the northwest at six knots and the visibility over the ocean was excellent.
As we walked our way out through the gate, the air temperature had risen to 63°F and the water temperature was the same. The wind was blowing out of the west northwest at thirteen to fifteen knots. The visibility was excellent, seas were chops of a foot or two and the sky was mostly overcast with the occasional peek at the crescent moon low in the east. The further we went out, the less wind we saw. The wind remained out of the west northwest all the way to the fishing grounds. The wind was reduced to five knots upon arrival; seas were chops of a foot. The air temperature rose to 65°F but the surface water temperature dropped to 62°F.
On the fishing grounds, the wind dropped to almost nothing before hauling out of the northwest and blowing ten knots or more. That wind was replaced by a northerly wind that blew up to fifteen knots. Not an hour latter, the northerly wind had dropped to five knots. We had no wind in the afternoon. The ocean went calm. Just as we were about to call it a day, the wind came up lightly out of the south. The air temperature reached a high of 73°F. The tide, current, was strong all day. The visibility ranged to over thirty miles. The sky was mostly overcast to begin the fishing but cleared to the point that there was hardly a cloud in the sky by 1:00 PM. The surface water temperature reached a high of 64°F.
Ashore, these were the air temperatures in selected New England cities: In Portsmouth, New Hampshire, the high air temperature was 78°F. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 81°F (with a low of 64°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 79°F (with a low of 51°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 79°F (with a low of 57°F).
The fishing was very good to very good overall. It could have been very good had the tide not been so strong. The catching was excellent but a lot of the fish were sub-legal pollock and cod. Landings were very good. Most legal landings were pollock, by far. Legal landings also included ten cod, fourteen cusk, thirty haddock, seven squid and seven mackerel. 'Released fish included six blue sharks with jewelry, two halibut, three dogfish, thirty-one sub-legal cod, eight sub-legal haddock and too many sub-legal pollock to count. We anchored and drift fished. We drift fished mostly. Jigs and cod flies caught the most fish.
Chris Cichon (NJ) was high hook with the most legal fish. He caught the first fish I could weigh for the boat pool, an 8 pound pollock. I lost track of his biggest fish as we were catching too many over 10 pounds to weigh them all. Boo Whitten (ME) won the boat pool for the largest fish with the largest fish, an 18.5 pound pollock. She caught this as a double with another pollock that weighed 8 pounds, both fish on the same line at the same time. I took a picture of her holding her two fish in the bow, where she was fishing. This digital image appears on the left. This is the Bunny Clark's third largest pollock of the fishing season so far. Unfortunately, she lost a big halibut earlier in the day. I didn't realize that she had it on. I was running around like an idiot, marking fish and dealing with tangles. Boo had brought the fish straight up from bottom almost to the top and probably would have seen the fish had it come up another ten feet. Then it went straight to bottom. This was when she called me for help. Unfortunately, we were drifting with a lot of lines out. Even though the fish went right straight down to bottom, I never got the opportunity to tell everyone to reel up and get out of her way. So the fish got wrapped up in another line and broke off. That was our twentieth halibut hookup of the season. We have only boated five of the twenty we have hooked. A couple other fish of Boo's that I weighed included an 8 pound cod and a 10.5 pound pollock.
Don Withee (NH) won the boat pool for the second largest fish with the second largest fish, a 17 pound pollock. This is tied for the Bunny Clark's sixth largest pollock of the fishing season to date. I also weighed a 7 pound cod, a 7.5 pound cod and a 7 pound pollock for him. He caught three or four legal cod today: at least three. Don is the son of Bob Withee, one of the two best anglers who have ever fished on this boat. He and Danny Angerman introduced me to the jig stick and jigging, the way it was supposed to be done. I can't tell you how many big cod and pollock he caught with me over the years. Some of the good times that all my anglers had on this boat can be credited back to Bob Withee. It was nice that Don could be part of the winnings today. What was even nicer was that he caught the big pollock and the legal cod on Bob's jig stick, and Bob's own special jig that Danny Angerman had made for Bob and that Bob dressed up to fish with. This is the first time anyone but Bob has ever used his pole or jig. Fitting.
The third largest fish was a 16 pound pollock caught by Jake Johnson (ME). I also weighed an 8.5 pound pollock for him.
Other Angler Hightlights: Larry Reed (ME) caught the largest cod of the day at 10.5 pounds. Rand Richards (ME) caught a 6 pound sub-legal halibut. I just weighed it and released it. I didn't take a picture of it as I figured that we would probably get one to keep and I didn't want to compromise the life of a fish that, maybe, we could catch later. Those fish are too precious to only catch once! I could tell, also, that Rand did not want to have that fish released! Nor would I! Rocky Kurucz (ME) landed a 9 pound cod and an 11.5 pound pollock, his two best fish. Matt Richards (ME) caught a 9.5 pound cod. Jeff Pillsbury (ME) landed a 9.75 pound pollock, his biggest fish. Karilyn Bonney (ME) boated a 10 pound pollock. Bob Jones (ME) was caught eating a banana between stops (he had been fishing on the bow). Depite repeated attempts to make him release the banana overboard, he continued to eat. Someone did tell me that he didn't finish it before tossing it. But in the eyes of Lady Luck, that certainly does not wash. I was told that he had another banana in his lunch pail. But when Bob went to open this lunch pail later, the banana was gone. I would have loved to have caught the bastard who would do such a thing to poor Bob! [I would have shaken his hand!]
I received donations from everyone who was on the boat today, sponsoring me in this year's Pan-Mass Challenge. Before the Bunny Clark even left the dock today, I received an $190.00 donation from all fifteen of Larry Reed's (all Maine) crew. On top of that, Boo Whitten, from the "famed" Larry Reed's crew, added $150.00! After that, Don Withee donated a generous $100.00 and Chris & Pat Savarie (NY) donated $50.00. Also, today, I received a generous $100.00 donation from Lynn Welsch (NM). This donation was sent as an "eGift" through the PMC site with the message;"In memory of Jo Diggs.". This is so very kind and thoughtful of all of you all. I can't express in words how much I appreciate this generosity. And I'm not even the ones who appreciate it the most! Thank you so very much!
The sky became solidly overcast by 8:00 AM. I decided to go for a run at 10:00 AM. At that time, the air temperature was 61°F. It stayed that air temperature for the hour that I ran. By noon, the air temperature was 65°F. I lost track after that. In Portsmouth, which has very similar air temperatures, the value was 69°F. The sky stayed overcast all day. It didn't rain during the daylight hours except for a tiny bit around sunset. The visibility deteriorated as the day progressed. The humidity also increased. An hour before sunset, the visibility was good in a thicker than normal haze. The wind blew out of the northeast just enough to raise a flag in the early part of the morning, maybe ten knots at most. By mid morning there was very little wind. By noon, there was no wind. I did notice some southerly wind after coming back from a quick nap just before 4:00 PM. We had five knots of southeast wind by 6:00 PM. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 76°F (with a low of 61°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 72°F (with a low of 49°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 67°F (with a low of 51°F).
The report took me a bit longer to edit and post this morning. I wrote the initial draft on the way in from the fishing grounds yesterday. But there were parts I needed to add, values I had to punch in and statements I had to confirm. I also had to get ready for tomorrow's trip. I always get some of it done the night before, the stuff I don't have to think about.
I got to the restaurants slightly after noon. It was a mellow day. I had office work. I had to avoid checking the Champions League football games in the office. I had some catching up to do there. I also combined getting the Bunny Clark ready with the work at the restaurants.
I received a very generous $250.00 donation sponsoring me in my cancer project with the Pan-Mass Challenge today from Steve Clark (VT). Steve has been supporting my ride for many years. And he has always been very generous to the cause as he is very generous in his boating relationship with me. He's a very good fisherman. And he appreciates everything I do for him, even when it seems (in my mind) I'm not doing enough for him on my side. Thanks, Steve. I very much appreciate your thoughtfulness and generosity.
At 2:45 AM EDT the air temperature was a balmy 66°F, the sky was overcast, it had been raining earlier but had stopped, the wind was blowing out of the south at fifteen knots (more offshore) and the visibility over the ocean was very good, at least.
The ride to the fishing grounds was uneventful but much easier than I thought it would be. I didn't let anglers sleep on the top bunks on the way out for fear I would hit a queer one I didn't see and have them fall out. There are no lee boards on my bunks. We cruised out at a little over eleven knots. My compass course kept us primarily in a beam sea that was big enough to give us an easy roll with a limited amount of spray. Still, I was only able to have that one small thermos cup of coffee on the way as I couldn't set the cup on the console without spilling it. Just as well; I certainly don't need as much coffee as I want. And it does wind me up. I'm wound up enough about being able to have a day on the ocean without the added caffeine.
Once we were out of the lee of Bald Head Cliff, the seas were four to five feet with the occasional queer one. The wind direction was south southwest or southwest. The air temperature at the gate was a warm 69°F while the surface water temperature was 63°F. The air temperature was the warmest it would be on the ocean until 1:00 PM. We had overcast skies on the way out. The visibility was very good, at least.
On the fishing grounds, the surface water temperature started out at 61°F but warmed up to 62°F before we finished for the day. The wind was blowing out of the southwest at fifteen to twenty knots with short seas of four to five feet with bigger sets between. It never looked like the wind had any teeth. And it was sloppy. The wind was southwest but the seas were coming more from the south than southwest. The wind hauled more west southwest about an hour or two into the fishing. By later morning, seas were three to five feet. By noon, the wind seemed more out of the west. The last two hours of the fishing gave us west northwest wind of ten to fifteen knots. This turned to northwest wind of fifteen to twenty knots half way home on the ride back to Perkins Cove. The tide (current) was very strong and southeast, which surprised me. So we were laying in the trough on anchor. The clouds cleared away by 8 or 9:00 AM, leaving us with, nearly, a cloudless sky for most of the day. After noon, we had cumulus clouds marching out towards us from the west. The visibility was excellent all day. Seas dropped to two and three feet for the ride home. These were chops. The air temperature reached a high of 71°F.
Ashore, these were the air temperatures in selected New England cities: In Portsmouth, New Hampshire, the high air temperature was 87°F. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 87°F (with a low of 71°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 86°F (with a low of 60°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 85°F (with a low of 65°F).
The fishing was not good. The sea conditions were not the best and the tide ran a river all day long. The deeper we fished, the worse it got. But this could have been a time of day thing too. The catching was very good, despite. Landings were good to very good. We caught very few sub-legal fish today. Almost everything we caught was legal. The exception was the large number of dogfish we caught earlier in the trip. As the day progressed and location changed, the dogfish diminished to the point where, even seeing one was rare. Even Bill Harding, the dogfish king, had a hard time catching them in the last two hours of fishing. Most legal fish landed were pollock. In fact, almost every fish we boated was a pollock. The average size was much greater than, almost, every trip we have taken this year so far. But there were no really big pollock. There were very few sub-legal pollock. Legal landings also included two cod, three cusk, five haddock, twenty-five mackerel, eleven redfish and three squid. Released fish included a long horned sculpin, six blue sharks with jewelry, eight sub-legal cod, one sub-legal haddock, five sub-legal pollock and seventy-six (or more - it was hard to keep track) dogfish. We drift fished, anchored and used the sea anchor to no avail; there was no real way to make the fishing more comfortable. Anchoring was, by far, the most successful fishing method. Bare jigs and cod flies without bait caught the most fish by far.
Either Roger Hopkins (RI) or his son, Justin Hopkins (RI), was high hook with the most legal fish. Collectively, they brought home the most fish, by far, of any two other anglers. When I asked both Justin and Roger, they both agreed that Justin caught the most legal fish. So Justin, by majority vote, was high hook. Roger started right off the bat by boating a 15 pound pollock. I honestly thought he would win the boat pool with that fish or I thought he would catch a bigger one. Such is the power of a Hopkins. His second largest fish was a 12 pound pollock. He also caught the largest cod of the day at 6.5 pounds. Justin boated an 11 pound pollock, his largest fish.
Karl Joslin (NY) won the boat pool for the largest fish with the largest fish, a 16.25 pound pollock. He also caught a 14 pound pollock. Steve Laflam (NH) won the boat pool for the second largest fish with the second largest fish, a 16 pound pollock. I also weighed a 9.5 pound pollock for him. The third largest fish was a 15.5 pound pollock, caught by Chris Cichon (NJ).
Other Angler Highlights: Seth Daniels (CT) had a harder time than most. He got into tangles more than most. It wasn't his fault so much as it was the conditions, his particular rig and where he was on the boat. There is always one bad place to fish on the Bunny Clark. The conditions make it vary from day to day. On top of that, Seth got spined by a dogfish. The fish got him in the forearm. His arm was sore for the rest of the day, making it uncomfortable to fish. There was a time when he backed off from fishing. But this didn't last long. His largest fish was a 10.5 pound pollock. He lost a bigger fish. I weighed an 11.5 pound pollock and a 10 pound pollock for Chris Silver (NH). Chris fought a blue shark for quite a while on the last stop. We weren't exactly sure what kind of pelagic fish it was and he was away from all the other anglers. So he kept fighting it until we realized what it was. Tom Miller (NH) boated a 10 pound pollock. After a while, Tom was giving his pollock away. Bill Harding (ME) caught a 13 pound pollock. Mike Martin (MA) was sea sick for the first half of the trip but came into it in the later half, almost making up for not fishing earlier. He caught quite a few doubles. His biggest fish was a 10.5 pound pollock. Stephane Cloutier (MA) caught the largest haddock of the trip. It weighed 5.25 pounds. It was such a perfect looking fish, I took a picture of the fish with Stephane holding it. This digital image appears on the left.
Stephane Cloutier donated $40.00, sponsoring me in this year's Pan-Mass Challenge in the fight against cancer. Thank you so much for your thoughtfulness and support, Stephane. I really appreciate your help and generosity. It means so much to so many!
The wind blew out of the northwest or west northwest all day in Perkins Cove. Wind speeds were between fifteen and twenty knots at times in the morning. Mostly, it was ten to fifteen knots during the day. The sky was clear with few clouds. The visibility was excellent all day. The ocean along the shore stayed calm as it was an offshore breeze. The high air temperature that I saw today was 76°F, a far cry from yesterday's high. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 79°F (with a low of 63°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 76°F (with a low of 47°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 76°F (with a low of 50°F).
I got way behind this morning. I didn't have the opportunity to type up the initial draft of this report on the way in yesterday. So I had to start from scratch, writing about yesterday's trip. A lot went on. So there was a lot to write about. It was certainly a challenging trip. I can say that we probably caught the most pollock in New Hampshire and Maine. This only because we were probably the only boat who left the dock to go fishing.
So I had a lot of catching up to do with limited time to do it. I opened Barnacle Billy's restaurants at 4:30 AM and stayed there until a bit after 9:00 AM. I continued with this report once back home. But I had little time to complete it. I was back in the restaurants at noon. At 6:30 PM, I sat down with my cousin, Boo Pickering, Pat Pickering, my cousin, Ben Pickering's, former wife. Ben passed three years ago from Pancreatic cancer. Boo's former wife, Kim, was also there and Betty, who I just met. Boo (Christopher) has had a colorful life and many great experiences. Unfortunately, I haven't followed his life as much as I should have. So there was a lot of catching up to do. We hit just a small handful of some of the highlights. I had the best time I have had in a long time.
It was a gorgeous day today. The sky stayed clear all day. The wind blew out of the northwest in the early part of the morning. By 9:00 AM, the ocean was so flat calm, the little boats off the beach looked like little smelt shakes. There were just the smallest waves along Ogunquit Beach. And the ocean was like glass as far as you could see, completely devoid of wind ripples. The visibility remained excellent all day . By noon, a very light southerly wind was established. By 3:00 PM, the southerly wind was about ten knots. The wind at sunset was out of the south at fifteen knots. The wind stayed the same direction with a velocity of fifteen knots (more or less) for the rest of my time awake. The air temperature stayed in the sixties for most of the day, reaching 71°F early afternoon until the wind got up enough to knock it down again. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 71°F (with a low of 56°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 78°F (with a low of 41°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 70°F (with a low of 43°F).
Today was the annual Plein Air Painting Event in Perkins Cove. Certain parts of Perkins Cove roads were inaccessible to vehicles at certain times. And the traffic, in general, was strong but not horrific. This is a wonderful event with artists from all over the country here painting scenes and boats in the Cove and selling their art. I missed buying one of our lobster/tuna boat, the Petrel last year. Deb did the same this year as well as three paintings of the Bunny Clark. They were very well done. There is much competition for some of the paintings that come out of this event. Today was no exception.
There were also two bands playing during this whole event. I supplied gratis parking spots for them. But I didn't work hard enough to secure them. So there was a bit of confusion that was straightened out later.
There were a lot of people walking around as early as 8:00 AM. It stayed that way until about 3:00 PM. The night was relatively quiet for a Saturday. But, then, the air temperature dropped and that always has a negative effect on our outside seating at the restaurants. My brother, Court, used to call it "the insect theory".
It was a very enjoyable day at the restaurant. It was just busy enough to be doing something yet slow enough so that the patrons were relaxed and enjoying their time there. I left the restaurants shortly after closing time.
I'm still taking Gill down in the Bunny Clark truck to walk back home up the entrance of the Marginal Way. He's not doing as good as he was a month ago. But it's only slightly different. He's still very interested in the occasional mild bone and checking out all the bushes. So it's still good. He is not in pain. It just takes him a bit to get places.
It rained almost all day. At least until 4:00 PM, maybe longer. The sky stayed overcast for all of the daylight hours. The visibility deteriorated to fair, looking over the ocean. We did have a fog bank that never made it ashore. It was close enough to block out Boon Island from view. The ocean along the shore was calm in the early part of the morning but stayed calm for, at least, half the daylight morning. The wind hauled out of the south with a sudden velocity. Wind speed was only ten knots. But it went from nothing to ten knots in just a few minutes. And it really didn't get any stronger than that until noon. After noon, the wind increased to almost twenty knots at times but decreased to ten knots again by 2:00 PM. By 4:30 PM, there was no wind at all. The air temperature never reached 70°F. I saw 67°F. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 70°F (with a low of 63°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 68°F (with a low of 59°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 64°F (with a low of 59°F).
Bringing Gill, our border collie, to the Cove this morning was a little less inspiring for me. His back legs went out from underneath him twice. This is a first. He was excited to go to the Cove when the time came to do so. So I had no problem getting him to walk to the truck, having him stand by the open door and lifting him in. He made himself comfortable in the passenger seat as I made my way down there. After I parked and I lifted him out of the truck, Gill was also excited about sniffing around as we walked back home. So he seemed very happy. The first time he sat down, he looked up at me to say; "I'm alright, Tim. Just a momentary stumble. Not to worry." And a milk bone still makes him excited. So on we went, ending up at home again.
The business day was slow at the restaurant. A rainy day will do that. But the fires were going, which always reminds me of a quaint English pub. This gave me more time for the office work. And I probably spent more time at the tables of patrons than I normally do. In fact, that is what happened. But I'm also very conscious about spending too much time hanging around. It does give me insight into how the product is going out to the tables and how people like it. This is important. Consistentcy is so important.
Sunday is my early night out. I Ieft just before 6:00 PM. I thought Deb might want to go out to eat. We ended up eating at home.
Tomorrow is my annual engine check up. I will have Power Products in Portland come down and adjust the valves, etc. I also have a risor issue. It appears to be compromised. To replace it is expensive. We shall see. Anyway, I also got the boat all set up to have engine work done. They should be at the boat at 9:00 AM.
The sky became more overcast as the sun rose. At 6:15 AM, it started to rain. It kept raining, mostly lightly, until almost 7:00 AM and then stopped. It never rained again. The clouds disappeared, the sky cleared and was nearly cloudless for the rest of the day. The wind started to pipe up out of the west after the rain stopped. This wind hauled northwest and blew over twenty knots by 9:00 AM. The wind continued to blow out of the northwest in Perkins Cove for the rest of the day. The velocity stayed from fifteen to twenty knots with some higher gusts until 2:00 PM, when it started to drop off a bit. Around 9:00 PM, the wind hauled out of the north and blew up to and over fifteen knots. I'm sure it was more offshore. The visibility was excellent all day. The air temperature reached a high of 72°F, that I saw. It was very warm in the sun and out of the wind. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 74°F (with a low of 58°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 70°F (with a low of 47°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 71°F (with a low of 51°F).
The day started with bringing the Bunny Clark truck down to the Cove with Gill. He was very excited about going to the Cove this morning. And he did better. We sniffed around a little bit more than normal. This seemed better for him. The walk home was much easier.
I had a lot on my plate this morning. I had to go back to the Cove to get the boat set up for Power Products. The whole mixer housing on the exhaust riser had been showing signs of salt, meaning that I probably had a cracked weld there. Turns out that that was the case. The riser has an aluminum covering with some other material so that you can touch it when hot. So you couldn't really see the crack unless you took that apart, which I didn't want to do until we were ready to take it apart. The last thing I wanted to do was to expose a crack in the exhaust with the potential of spraying salt water around on a tier 3 fully electronic engine.
I also had a flat tire that I discovered this morning on my silver work truck. I had that to deal with.
Power Products showed up at 9:30 AM, Cody and Shye. In the meantime, I had to drive my other truck a short way to Browns Service Center to have the tire dealt with. Wonderful people. And excellent at what they do.
I made an attempt to drive to pick up my truck as the wheel (tire) was repaired. I had about a half hour. The repair work in the engine was completed. And the techs were testing and cleaning up. So I scootered home and had Deb drive me. After fifteen minutes we still hadn't reached town yet for the traffic. So I had Deb flip it and bring me back to the house to get the scooter so I could go back to the boat. I didn't want to have them waiting for me to do the sea trial. The plan was to get the truck after the sea trial.
It would have been that simple, had the sea trial gone according to plan. When I was leaving the float, I heard a clunk and a snap. This didn't sound right. I went back to the stern. As I suspected, I had picked up a line and got it in the wheel. It was a big piece of six thread. There was no way I could run the engine outside with rope in the wheel. So I put the Bunny Clark on the other side of the float. The road techs assured me that they didn't have to do a sea trial to know that the work they had finished was complete and, certainly, the problem fixed. So they did another fifteen minutes of running the engine and checking their work before packing up all their tools and leaving.
I bid them fair well and went to the house to get a wetsuit, mask, fins and a knife. I don't have a scuba tank. Nor do I dive alone. So it was all free diving, holding my breath, staying as long as I could stand it, surfacing, getting my breath back and repeating the process. During all this, Grant Hubbard, the owner of Finestkind Scenic Tours, spotted me and helped me through the process. It must have taken the better part of an hour. Some of the line was so tightly wound between the cutlass bearing and the wheel, that I couldn't get it out. So I trimmed it as flush as I could with the wheel hub and the cutlass before I left. I did leave with a wob of line I had cut out around the prop. But I was cold. If it had been a dry suit or a survival suit, I would have been fine. But I would have had less mobility so I went with just a wet suit. Of course, Brown's, where I had my truck, was closed by the time I was done with a hot shower. Plus, I was behind. And I stayed behind. But I was able to get ready for tomorrow's fishing trip.
At 2:45 AM EDT the air temperature was 51°F (47°F at the Bunny Clark in Perkins Cove at 3:00 AM), the sky was crystal clear, the wind was out of the north at twelve knots and the visibility over the ocean was excellent.
The air temperature was 47°F at the float before we left to head for the fishing grounds. At the four mile mark, the air temperature had risen three degrees. The surface water temperature was 61°F at the same time. That would be the highest surface water temperature we would see all day. The wind was out of the north at fifteen knots, more or less. The visibility was excellent. The sky was crystal clear with plenty of stars and no moon. Seas were two to three feet in chops. It was a comfortable enough cruise with the direction we were headed. At the twenty mile mark, the air temperature had increased to 54°F with a surface water temperature of 57°F.
The engine ran as smooth as a smelt for the ride to the grounds. There was no vibration in the stern. In fact, it was smoother than before. I might take another under water peek. But that isn't going to happen tomorrow.
On the fishing grounds, the wind blew out of the north northeast at ten knots to start, fifteen or more knots later. Seas were chops of three feet through the first half of the fishing morning. Two feet for the rest of the morning and a foot or less after noon. After 9:00 AM, the wind diminished all day. We had a very light southeast wind with a calm ocean surface for the whole ride back to Perkins Cove. The surface water temperature was 59°F for most of the day until the very end when we saw a value of 60°F. The visibility ranged to thirty-five miles. The sky was clear all day with the occasional cirrus cloud. The tide (current) was strong to moderate. The air temperature reached a high of 63°F.
Ashore, these were the air temperatures in selected New England cities: In Portsmouth, New Hampshire, the high air temperature was 67°F. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 66°F (with a low of 53°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 72°F (with a low of 39°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 67°F (with a low of 44°F).
The fishing was, pretty much, excellent all day. I guess if you considered the blue shark attacks, it was less so. But only half the day saw blue sharks and there were zero dogfish today. The weather was perfect with a, nearly, perfect drift. The catching was excellent. Except for one short lull, it was a fish a cast all day. Landings were very good. Most legal fish landed were pollock, by far. They were everywhere I went. Legal landings also included six cod, thirteen cusk and twelve haddock. Released fish included thirty-one small cod, forty-five sub-legal pollock, a sculpin and seven blue sharks with jewelry. We anchored once with variable success. Drifting was the way to go today. Cod flies caught the most fish. All but one angler used an unbaited jig and fly combination. Just for your knowledge, Bill Harding.
I couldn't tell you who was high hook. Everyone was pooling their fillets together so there was no real way to tell. Tim Powers won the boat pool for the largest fish with the largest fish, a 28.25 pound Maine state trophy pollock. This was only Tim's second deep sea fishing trip ever, a first on the Bunny Clark. This pollock is the largest fish he has ever caught. the Bunny Clark's largest pollock of the season to date and the largest pollock we have seen in nine years. Tim didn't fish a lot today. Much of the time he was observing. The second largest fish was a 13 pound pollock caught by Mike Kotash. He also caught a 10.5 pound pollock. There was a tie for the third largest fish at 12.5 pounds. There were two. One was a pollock, caught by Tom "Olllie" Bruyere. The other was a cod caught by John Gardiner. I took a picture of John holding his cod. This digital image appears on the left. This is the Bunny Clark's fifth largest cod of this year's fishing season to date. John's biggest pollock weighed 10 pounds.
Other Angler Hightlights: "Little" Joe Briggs caught the first fish I could weigh for the boat pool, a 7 pound pollock. An 11 pound pollock was his biggest fish today. Bill Vine, Jr. caught the next pollock I could weigh for the boat pool, an 8.5 pound pollock. As far as I know his biggest pollock was one that weighed 10.5 pounds. Rich Mallott boated an 11.5 pound pollock, his biggest fish. He caught a 9.5 pound pollock earlier in the trip. I weighed a 9 pound pollock for Kirk Hollis. Mickey Mitchell caught a 10 pound pollock, his biggest fish. Jeff Richards caught the second largest cod, an 11.5 pounder. Paul Smith was the only angler to fish with bait. He started fishing bait after he lost a jig half way into the fishing. While he was fishing bait, he boated six haddock, half of all the haddock caught on the Bunny Clark today.
I received three donations today sponsoring me in this year's Pan-Mass Challenge. Those anglers and their gifts included John Gardner for a generous $100.00, Bill Provost for $50.00 and Kirk Hollis for $50.00. Others had donated to my cause earlier in the year. Thank you so very much for your support in this endeavor. Many people's lives have been saved because of my involvement (and others like me). Plus, our supports has developed new drugs and procedures that, three years ago, were not available. This includes drug that has had a very positive affect against pancreatic cancer! I so very appreciate your thoughtfulness and generosity!
There was a canopy of clouds over us at daylight with a clear sky to the east, just above the horizon. An hour or two later, those clouds were gone. The sky remained mostly clear for the day. The wind became established out of the south after 8:00 AM. Southerly winds increased to fifteen knots. This wind remained at that velocity or less through noon and the early afternoon. It slowly diminished after that. By 6:00 PM, we had five knots of southerly wind. The visibility was very good in some haze. The air temperature reached a high of 79°F, believe it or not. I couldn't believe that it got that warm. It was beautiful. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 80°F (with a low of 56°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 81°F (with a low of 50°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 71°F (with a low of 54°F).
Gill and I had a good time in the Cove this morning. After bringing him down in the truck, he was very interested in exploring. I had a lot to do today. But he was so energetic that I went with it. When he started to go away from home I had to reel him in. I don't bring a leash. And he is a stubborn dog. But he knows my tone of voice when he thinks I can see him. If he thinks he's hiding and he believes I can't see him, voice or no, he will go his way. Like this morning. As soon as he saw me, he changed direction in my favor. He seemed very happy today. We were a little late getting home. But, in the grand scheme of things, it won't make a difference.
Once home, Deb took me up to get the truck I had planned to drive home yesterday.
The rest of the day I spent updating this report, researching my statements to make sure they were correct and true. And building a new index page with a digital image of the big pollock we caught yesterday.
It was like old home week at the restaurants. I had so many people who I love to see all there at once. Some I haven't seen for a long time and others I was hoping to see before the year ends. And it was certainly a beautiful day to see and talk to them. The funny thing was that this was all at Barnacle Billy's (Original). I never did talk to a patron at Barnacle Billy's, Etc. When I got there I went right to the office so I could catch up with the bookwork.
At 4:00 PM, I checked out the Bunny Clark and got her ready for tomorrow's fishing trip. I'm trying to be less excited for tomorrow's trip. As I've said, when I get too excited it seems to be bad luck. I survive on luck and I believe I need lots of it.
Danny DellaMonica and I ran the marathon trip today.
At 2:45 AM EDT the air temperature was 60°F, the sky was clear, the wind was very light out of the northeast but just strong enough that you could clearly hear the bell buoy and the visibility over the ocean was not quite excellent in some haze.
It was a mild morning, compared to the last two. And I was happy for it. We broached the gate with an air temperature of 62°F and a surface water temperature of 60°F. We carried a surface water temperature of 58°F the whole ride to the fishing grounds. The temperature made the drop about two miles out. The air temperature stayed about the same. We had no wind. The light northeast disappeared after couple miles. We did have a left over hubble made by the wind that was around yesterday. So it wasn't a flat calm smooth ride out. But there was no spray. The visibility was very good in haze. We had mixed cloud cover but mostly clear skies. We maintained a sixteen knot cruising speed the whole way.
On the fishing grounds, we had light and variable winds at first. The wind was so light that wind ripples were an anomaly. The wind disappeared altogether for the whole rest of the fishing day. We did have very light south southeast wind on the ride back to Perkins Cove that increased to about five knots before we got in. The ocean surface was smooth. The air temperature reached a high of 72°F. The sky was a mix of sun and clouds. The sky was overcast for the last two or three hours of fishing. The sky cleared an hour inside of the grounds but filled in afterward. We had no rain. The tide (current) was light all day, too light after noon. The visibility ranged to twenty miles or more in haze. The surface water temperature reached a high of 63°F.
On the ride back to Perkins Cove, about the half way mark, we had increased cloud cover and, then, completely overcast skies. We got completely fogged in with eight miles to go. It was so thick that you could cut it with a knife. In fact, Deb called to ask when we would hit the dock, worried about me getting in under the cover of darkness. There wasn't even a chance of us being in that late. I had enough of the evil eye from Danny on the last trip when I misjudged the time. I won't be doing that any time soon. As it was, the fog disappeared after we were in Perkins Cove about ten minutes. It would have cleared out before darkness fell anyway. It was replaced by rain. It rained from 5:30 PM all through the night.
Ashore, these were the air temperatures in selected New England cities: In Portsmouth, New Hampshire, the high air temperature was 74°F. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 76°F (with a low of 64°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 79°F (with a low of 58°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 74°F (with a low of 56°F).
The fishing was excellent all day. The weather was perfect, albeit, the drift too slow. There were few blue sharks. Almost no dogfish. We had tangles but they weren't bad. The catching was very good. Landings were good to very good, excellent for quality. Most legal fish landed were haddock, by far. I decided to change my approach today and not target pollock so much. This mainly because it was so calm; a good pollock bite needs the wind. The drift wasn't good enough for pollock. Legal landings also included two cod, twenty-four good sized cusk, thirty-seven pollock to 8 pounds, twelve white hake, eighteen redfish and seven squid. Released fish included five sub-legal cod, thirty-eight sub-legal pollock, one sub-legal haddock, two blue sharks with jewelry and one dogfish. Everyone fished with jigs and cod flies, despite the fact that I anchored on a huge school of haddock. Try as I might, I could not convince anyone to go with a bait rig. [Griff did switch and caught three doubles in a row. But he switched late. Where's Ray Westermann when you need him?] We anchored once for the haddock. We drift fished for the rest of the trip.
I couldn't tell you who was high hook for sure as we don't count fillets. However, Jason Rivera (CT) seemed the most consistent with few tangles and a fish a drop. Leslie Lauritsen (IA) won the boat pool for the largest fish with the largest fish, a 30.5 pound Maine state trophy cusk. I don't believe that there has been a bigger cusk caught in New England this year yet. It's certainly our largest cusk this season to date. And it's also the eleventh largest cusk that has ever been caught on one of my boats in the fifty-one years that I have been taking passengers out on the high seas. I took a picture of this fish with Leslie holding it. This digital image appears on the left. He also caught a cusk that weighed 10.75 pounds earlier. Jason Rivera won the boat pool for the second largest fish with the second largest fish, a 25.5 pound Maine state trophy cusk. This is Jason's largest cusk ever and it's also the Bunny Clark's second largest cusk of the fishing season to date. Jason also caught the third largest hake of the day at 22.5 pounds, a 6 pound haddock and a haddock double that included a 4 pound haddock and a 5 pound haddock, both fish caught on the same line at the same time. He caught a lot of haddock today. The third largest fish was a 24 pound Maine state trophy cusk caught by Darlene Chin (VT/FL). This is the largest cusk that Darlene has ever caught. It's also the Bunny Clark's third largest cusk of the fishing season to date. I took a picture of Darlene holding her big cusk. This digital image appears on the right. She also caught her biggest white hake of the season today. It weighed 19.5 pounds.
Other Angler Hightlights: Bryan Lewer (ME) caught a 20 pound white hake right off the bat. I believe that it was the first fish in the boat this morning. He mostly worked the deck with Danny and I. The first fish he caught when he went back to it was a 7.5 pound Maine state trophy haddock! This is his personal best haddock this season even though he has guided his passengers to haddock over 8.5 pounds on his own boat earlier this season. Mike Bragg (MA) caught an 11.5 pound white hake, his biggest fish. Mike Tirrito (VT) landed the largest pollock today weighing 8 pounds. He also caught a 6 pound haddock and a 17 pound white hake. Steve LaPlante (CT) caught his largest haddock of the season today, a 8 pound Maine state trophy. He has caught two other trophy haddock this season. One was caught with me. The other was caught with Bryan Lewer, Salty Lewer Charters, out of Ogunquit, Perkins Cove. His first 8 pounder was caught with Bryan. But I'm not sure on the exact weight. It could have been bigger. I took a picture of Steve holding the 8 pound haddock that he caught with me today. This digital image appears on the lower left. Steve also caught his largest ever cusk, a 22.5 Maine state trophy. This cusk is the Bunny Clark's fifth largest cusk of the season so far. And he caught a 20.5 pound white hake.
Hannah Smith (VT) caught the first Maine state trophy cusk of the day. It weighed 14 pounds, the largest cusk that she has ever caught. It's also the eighth largest cusk that has been caught on the Bunny Clark this season, so far. Victor Tirrito's (VT) fish of note included a 10 pound cusk and a 6 pound haddock. Emile Gallant (ME) boated his largest haddock of the last few years, an 8 pound Maine state trophy. He had a bad start when he found that his reel stopped working. Jonathan Griffin (MA) tied for the largest white hake of the trip with a 23 pounder. Dave Haberl had the other 23 pound white hake. Dave also caught a 19 pound white hake about a half hour before his bigger one. He did well all day long. Nick Kirychuk (CT) lost the biggest haddock of the season, unfortunately. He also caught the only dogfish. It wasn't his best day but his dory make, Jason, really did well. Both Danny and Bryan believed that Jason was high hook with the most legal fish today. Jason had a lot of bags of fillets. I think Nick was happier about that. Ed Brozo (MA) caught a 14.5 pound Maine state trophy cusk. Ed's cusk is tied for the sixth largest cusk the Bunny Clark has boated this season to date. Buzz Leonard (ME) boated the largest cod at 6.5 pounds, about half the size of the cod he catches at West Cod Ledge!
I received three donations from anglers who were fishing with me today, sponsoring me in this season's Pan-Mass Challenge. The cycling event was completed at the end of the day on Sunday, August 2, 2026. But cancer never sleeps and the fundraising for this year continues until the dying breath of the last day in December 2026. Then I will start again in 2027. Those wonderful people who help me out, some every year, included David Haberl and Hannah Smith for $60.00, Nick Kirychuk for $20.00 and Tom & Noreen Zido (NY) for $50.00. Thank you all so very much for supporting me in these efforts, your thoughtfulness in so doing and your generosity. As those who donate know, this is very important to me, the researchers who need the money and to those patients who may never know who contributed. This is so much appreciated!
There was very little wind all morning. What wind we did have seemed to be out of the northwest. This by judging the ripples on the water in Oarweed Cove. Flags were limp. The ocean along the shore was flat calm. We didn't see any wind at all until sometime in the early afternoon, when I realized that the wind was out of the south. At that time it could have been five knots? By later afternoon the wind was out of the south at almost ten knots. The wind was out of the northwest at twelve knots at sunset. I didn't pay attention after that. The visibility was excellent all day. The sky was clear and sunny. The air temperature reached a high of 79°F! But there was no humidity. So it felt really nice. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 80°F (with a low of 62°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 78°F (with a low of 56°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 77°F (with a low of 55°F).
It was, again, Friday. I worked at the restaurant starting at 4:30 AM and leaving after 9:00 AM. I had a lot to do with the fishing report. A lot of images and much to write about. It took some time. Too much time to complete.
I had to stop to get ready for working at the restaurant. I was there before noon. I had to leave after 1:00 PM because I had a cardiac stress test at 2:00 PM. I had an MRI earlier in the year to scan for calcium in my coronary arteries. My calcium score came back at 756. A reading of 100 is of concern. So my cardiologist set up the stress test to see if I was getting any blockage of the coronary arteries. My father had issues there, of which I was very concerned about myself with. He had to have two angioplasties. I thought I might be taking the same route. You can't fight genetics. Turns out a lot of endurance athletes have calcium buildup in their coronary arteries; even as young as twenty-five, if they are heavy cyclists. (this from a study done on athletes in the Tour de France). Turns out, I was in that league. There wasn't even a hint of a blockage after the stress test with the EKG and electrocardiogram videos. I was so relieved, I can't tell you. I've been worried since I got the calcium score. That's not to say something won't happen in the future. But, for now, I'm okay.
After the stress test, I went back to work at the restaurants. I left after 6:00 PM.
We had a north northeast wind today that was stronger offshore than it was near shore. Wind speeds were no more than ten knots. It was a bit hubbly for the Fineskind Scenic Tour boats but all the trips were taken today. I didn't ask for a hurling count. The sky stayed clear with some clouds.The visibility was excellent. The air temperature warmed to a high of 65°F. It was cool in the morning with a 57°F at 9:15 AM and an increase to 61°F over an hour later. In the sun on the garden patio at Etc, it was nice and on the leeward side of the deck at Billy's.The wind was light in the afternoon. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 62°F (with a low of 54°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 65°F (with a low of 42°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 65°F (with a low of 45°F).
I spent a fair amount of time working on finishing up the Thursday fishing report and writing yesterday's entry. That was the thrust of today's morning. I didn't finish all the desk work at home, waiting to finish up tomorrow morning. This also gave me some time to go for a run before work.
Saturday is my long day at the restaurants. As is typical of the fall, business slacks off at night, particularly when the air temperature drops. Such was the state of business this night. Barnacle Billy's, Etc. hung on for a while longer and did better business. I saw many customers today. It was a particularly fun restaurant day.
We have been having incontinence issues with old Gill. Today was no exception. He has to be let out all the time now. Oddly, he seems to be okay between 8 PM and 3 AM, the next morning. We put a diaper on him. And he stands up for me to wrap it around his body. I also have a wrap with handles that I put around his torso in order to, basically, carry him upstairs. Some nights he goes up on his own with me just stabilizing him and using the wrap as a safety net. Other times, I carry the full weight of him upstairs. If we leave him downstairs, he will bark every half hour until I take him up.
He still loves going to the Cove with me in the morning. He lingered long this morning, on the walk home. But I indulge him. Deb goes outside with him during the day but does not walk him now. It's too much on the top of the dog's hind paws to take him on the road. Even in the morning, I try to keep him on the grass as much as I can. Not having one hundred percent on the back legs gives the dog some issues. I hate to see the dog disabled like this. But that's life.
Looking at our future weather, it looks like we are going to experience an easterly flow. The wind for Tuesday's trip has been upgraded with gusts out of the east to twenty-five knots for the inshore forecast (within 25 miles) and fifteen to twenty knots with no higher gusts on the offshore forecast. Keep in mind that this is a weekend forecast which, in most cases, is not as reliable as a forecast during the week. Also, with a forecast three days out, a lot can change to make the predictions better or worse. Keep informed.
The sky became completely overcast by 8:00 AM. The sky remained so all morning. At 11:45 AM, a light rain started to fall. It remained very light but kept up for about twenty minutes before stopping. We had very light periodic rain in the early afternoon and, then, no rain after 1:00 PM. The sky stayed overcast with no rain until 5:30 PM, when I light rain started to fall again. The rain became more steady as the evening progressed. By 7:00 PM, the rain became steady, almost heavy, thing. It rained on into the night. The visibility dropped to good or maybe better than that. But there was a fog or heavy haze element to it. This largely because the wind had a southeast edge to it. It was mostly out of the south. By noon, the wind was directly out of the southeast. Wind speeds started at daylight and ten knots. But it never really got any windier. Sometimes it was over ten knots, sometimes no quite. By sunset, the wind was out of the east and the visibility over the ocean improved. The air temperature rose slowly into the 50s by mid morning. The highest air temperature that I saw was 62°F. Fall is coming. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 62°F (with a low of 54°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 59°F (with a low of 40°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 60°F (with a low of 40°F).
My day, like every Sunday, was centered about lunch time activity at the restaurants. Usually, we are busy during lunch. Then it tapers off with dinner time not nearly as busy as a Saturday night. This was one of those days. But it was less busy than a normal Sunday with the weather forecast, long before this day, with the warning of rain. So business was even a bit less than expected. And it did rain. Albeit, not as much or as soon as predicted.
Normally, I do some preparing for the fishing trip on Tuesday. I did some. But not as much as I would do if I was confident of good weather for that trip. We are going to experience an easterly flow from a system that had formed in the lower part offshore of the mid Atlantic over a week to ten days ago. At that time there was a 30% chance that a hurricane would form. That didn't happen. Wind shear had something to do with this. At that time, also, I was thinking that this might be something we might need to look out for.The system kept migrating northwest. More because of it's position and direction of travel did I expect that it would impact us. The ocean water has been so clear for the last week, I expected something would happen. Clear water has always been a warning sign in the past. Now I'm not sure how much this storm will impact us because it seems to be moving more north than northwest. The prediction for Tuesday with the inshore forecast is ten to fifteen knots with gusts to twenty-five knots out of the northeast. Expected seas are three to four feet. Not horrible. But will that really be what we can expect? northeast wind is not the best wind as, wherever I want to go fishing, I have travel right into it, the most uncomfortable direction of travel. If seas are less than expected it's no problem. If they are larger than expected? Well, that's the quandary. At least the crew I'm taking on Tuesday are driving up in the morning. That will give me a bit more time to come up with a salient decision. This, hopefully, by noon tomorrow.
The sky stayed mostly clear for the rest of the day. This was not in the forecast. There were very few clouds. What clouds we did have were insignificant in size and rain quantity. In fact, I never thought, for one second, that we would see any rain at all. And, indeed, we didn't. The wind started out from the north northeast at ten knots and slowly, throughout the morning and afternoon, diminished to nothing. The ocean was flat glassy calm in the afternoon. There was so little wind, you could have sat on the beach and lit a candle, knowing it wasn't going to get blown out. The viability remained excellent all day. The air temperature rose to a value of 70°F. By the helm of the Bunny Clark, tied stern to, to the float, the air temperature was 74°F. With no wind and the bright sun it was warmer than normal. It was really like a perfect summer day today, the day before the first day of fall. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 65°F (with a low of 55°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 69°F (with a low of 47°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 69°F (with a low of 47°F).
I was befuddled today as I was unsure about how to handle tomorrow's fishing trip. In my heart, I knew we could get to the grounds. But I wasn't sure how the day would progress. It was a charter with anglers, most of whom had fished with me for over thirty years. We have had some amazing trips in the past. And I was concerned that they wouldn't have a good time because of the weather. I like rougher weather in general because the chances are better that I would be on the grounds alone. I do like to fish when I can go anywhere without disturbing another boat's privacy. But northeast is not a great wind. When I leave the Cove, wherever I want to go to go fishing, the direction is always into the wind. And, depending on how much wind, the ride can be uncomfortable. Also, the boat's speed plus the wind direction always makes it seem rougher than it is. I have had patrons break legs in these conditions going in that direction. Thankfully, this never happened while I was the captain. But it very well could have. It wasn't until later afternoon that I made the decision to pull the plug and cancel the trip. This put me in a better mood but the day was already over. The thoughts of making the decision had kept me from being all that I could be in the restaurant. But I wanted to give it every chance so I didn't make the wrong decision. Of course, having canceled, the weather will turn out better than expected. And it's another trip denied, a trip I was really looking forward to taking.
Maybe it was this quandary in the back of my mind or maybe it would have happened anyway but going down the driveway headed to the restaurants, I went off the edge of the driveway with my motor scooter. Trying to get back on the driving, hitting that same ridge, made me dump the scooter. I wasn't going that fast. But, the way I dropped the bike, got me more banged up than I would have expected. I got my right leg caught under the scooter and tore some skin on the back side of my achilles, wrenched my shoulder by landing on my hands and hit my chin on the tar, jerking my head back in the process. I thought; "For Christ's sake, Tim, you idiot!" It was surprising how I felt I had to hide my true feelings when I started talking to patrons on the deck of Barnacle Billy's. My chin was throbbing, my leg hurt and my upper body was sore. My hands got over the fall relatively quickly. I discovered later, at 5:00 PM, when I was sitting down that I actually tore some skin off above my heel. It had been hurting all day but there was no blood soaking through my pants so I figured that was the way it was going to be. There was blood but, apparently, it was too far away from my white pants cuffs. The blood had seeped into my socks. I dressed the wound once it was discovered. No big deal, really. Just another annoying thing I do to myself with more frequency than I would like and a waste of time during a day when I feel I haven't enough of it.
My day was filled with getting the boat ready in case I decided to sail. I was hoping for more positivity in the weather forecast. I was also working at the restaurants. At some point I realized that I had the wrong cap on my head. I insist to employees that a Barnacle Billy's cap be worn if you are wearing a cap. I certainly want to lead by example. Plus, I usually change me glasses, which I hadn't. When one of our J1 students asked if I had something to measure blood pressure (she has some minor health issues), I took advantage of the opportunity to go home, change hat and glasses and, at the same time, honor her request.
The rest of the afternoon and evening went well.
I received a very generous $500.00 donation from Betsy McLaughlin (NY) sponsoring me in this season's Pan-Mass Challenge. Of course, the cycling event it over but I ask at least one person a day for donations. The fundraising goes until the end of the season or December 31, 2026. Cancer doesn't sleep and I am too serious about fighting it to stop. Of course, I am encouraged by the more money I garner in a season. And with a genetic component to pancreatic cancer discovered at Dana-Farber through genetic profiling, the very place and research I support, I'm more encouraged than ever. When the drug was first experimented with three years ago, there is a women who had stage 4 pancreatic cancer who is still alive today because of this drug that, essentially, shuts off the gene that's largely responsible for her cancer. That this comes out of Boston boosted on by the very money I am funding through my wonderful donors makes all this so real to me. So I thank Betsy and people like her, who, every year, donate to what is more than ever shown as a very good thing to do to save people with cancer. I appreciate this so much. But think how appreciative the person is who is living thanks to you all!
At 5:00 AM EDT the air temperature was 52°F, the sky was overcast, the wind was blowing out of the northeast at fifteen knots and the visibility over the ocean was excellent.
The weather turned out to be better than expected. We had light northeast winds early that strengthened to twenty-three knots by 6:00 AM. The offshore buoys had the wind out of the north northeast at seventeen to twenty-three knots until the later morning. By noon, the wind had come fully northeast but only at ten knots. This hung on until 1:00 PM, when the wind dropped further still. By 3:00 PM, the wind was hardly even five knots. Along the shore, the ocean was calm by mid afternoon, glassy calm by 4:00 PM. When I went to bed there was no wind at all. The sky was clear all day. The visibility was excellent. The air temperature reached a high of 65°F according to the thermometer at home and the high in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. Incidently, the air temperature under the canopy at low tide under the bright sun was 77°F. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 63°F (with a low of 53°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 67°F (with a low of 43°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 64°F (with a low of 45°F).
The day was, of course, centered around the restaurants. We had a good early afternoon lunch followed by, what I would call, a relaxing afternoon with just enough business to keep everyone busy. For patrons, it was really good on the deck. There were enough tables available and it was really warm out of the wind.
My sister, Meg, showed up to sit with some of our more regular patrons. It was nice to see her. She has retired but does come by every once and a while to visit. It was nice to see her.
The visibility stayed excellent all day. The sky was nearly cloudless all day. The wind blew out of the northeast and, then, east at as much as eighteen knots in gusts but was, generally, about fifteen knots for most of the day, dying out to about five knots out of the east at 6:00 PM. The wind did pick up again to about ten knots or less going into the night. The air temperature rose to the low high of 64°F. In the lee of the wind, on the deck of Barnacle Billy's, it was t-shirt weather or 75°F in the sun from opening to about 3:00 PM. It was lovely. I expect another day like this tomorrow. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 64°F (with a low of 51°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 67°F (with a low of 36°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 62°F (with a low of 44°F).
As this low pressure weather system churns in a nearly stationary position well south of Cape Cod, the isobars are getting closer together. Or, the winds are getting stronger. This storm is planted right between the Cape and Hatteras not two hundred miles or so offshore or about two hundred and fifty miles east of Cape Hatteras. The wind field of this system is enormous with threads of northeast wind affecting the Maine coast to the Delaware coast. My fear is that it will strengthen and move north, taking it right over Cape Cod, or worse, taking it outside Cape Cod and stalling again. The high pressure area above it is strong and holding it back for now. This has, pretty much, stymied the National Weather Service and prevented me from going fishing when it would have been fine to take the trip on Tuesday and, possibly, today. What worries me most is that this system could evolve into a sub-tropical storm similar to the "Perfect Storm" or even the blizzard of '78. Those two storms were a bit different as they became planted off our coast whereas this present one is south of us. I guess a lot depends on thunder storms becoming more prevalent in the middle of this whirling system, taping into the ocean heat energy, sending it aloft and creating more convection, increasing it's strength. The NWS, then, might be able to give it a name, which suggests that, if this happens, that they are agreeing with me. Wouldn't that be something? Right now the American model suggests a regular noreaster. The European model suggests my line of worst case scenario thinking. And, yes, I have put some time into working this whole weather scene out. Right now the water temperature in the area that the storm is located is about 78°F, which is plenty warm enough to create a heat rise into this thing. The fact that we have lighter wind than expected today makes me think that this system is becoming more tightly wound? And talk about tightly wound, take a look at super Hurricane Polo on the west coast of Mexico. Wow. Stay tuned.
I spent most of my time in the restaurant today, early in the morning, from noon until 3:00 PM and after 5:30 PM. Between times, I was working on Bunny Clark issues, visiting the eye doctor for my six month check, working out a plan for dealing with a noreaster or worse and visiting a high school cross country meet where my great nephew (and he is, certainly, a great nephew), Landon Mitchell, was competing. I rode up to the meet with Deb and my sister, Meg, Landon's grandmother. Landon's form is really good, in my opinion. He hasn't got that running maturity it takes to make him a winner yet. But, boy, the potential is there. He is a physical specimen. It will be interesting to see if he is interested in expanding his commitment to running or if he will just become an excellent well rounded athlete. I just know that it is very much fun watching him.
At 5:00 AM EDT the air temperature was 46°F, the sky was crystal clear and full of stars, the wind was blowing out of the north at ten knots along the shore and the visibility over the ocean was excellent.
As it has done every day since we had this easterly flow, the wind blew about fifteen knots out of the north to northeast and died in the afternoon. The wind gradually started dropping after noon. By 5:00 PM, we had three knots of wind in Perkins Cove. The sky stayed clear, almost cloudless, all day. The visibility remained excellent. The air temperature followed the same pattern it has been doing. Lows in the forties before daylight and a warming into the 60s by noon. The highest air temperature that I saw today was at home, a third of a mile from Perkins Cove. That reading value was 66°F. It was probably a bit cooler in the Cove. But you wouldn't know it sitting on the deck at Barnacle Billy's, in the sun and out of the wind. It was t-shirt weather there until about 4:00 PM, when it started to cool down. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 65°F (with a low of 49°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 70°F (with a low of 39°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 66°F (with a low of 41°F).
The focus on most mariner's minds today was on the impending coast low centered off Cape Hatteras. It's so strange, this lack of movement north. There was so much talk about it strengthening into a sub-tropical storm. Looking at it in detail without any facts to go on, I believed it was getting stronger too. It could have. But it doesn't seem to be now. And the direction the European model is giving shows it going more ashore than out to sea, hitting the Rhode Island/Cape Cod area first before going east and out to see. This will spare us the huge seas (if the storm actually follows this path) we were predicted to get. So I'm cautious but optimistic. Rainfall totals are an enigma to me now. We will have to see how that goes. How long it will linger in our coastal waters is also and unknown as well. It almost looks like it will be tough to get Tuesday's trip in. I would hate to miss another trip. We shall see.
As I wasn't on the marathon trip yesterday, I was in the restaurant all afternoon and into the night. I was also having a water shut off put in the house in the afternoon. So I had to keep going back and forth between the restaurant and the house. It was only a couple of times, really. But it was on my mind until it was completed.
Our border collie, Gill, seems to be maintaining the same level of health. Who knows what's going on internally. But he is still happy, still waiting for me in anticipation to take him to the Cove, still eating his food (although, he has to be coaxed at times) and still sniffing around every bush, hedge and fire hydrant whenever I take him walking anywhere. This is good.
And, yes, we could have sailed today.
The sky stayed clear for part of the morning with clouds moving in later. The afternoon saw mostly overcast skies with clear breaks. There was no hint of rain. The wind blew out of the north to northeast at fifteen knots with higher gusts and seven or eight foot seas (according to the weather buoys). The wind dropped off to five knots before sunset but stayed about eight to ten knots offshore of us, again, as observed by the offshore weather buoys. The visibility over the ocean remained excellent. The air temperature reached a high of 69°F in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. I didn't look at the thermometer but once and saw 67°F as a high. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 64°F (with a low of 50°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 74°F (with a low of 36°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 70°F (with a low of 41°F).
I neglected to mention the tying of storm lines the day before. This morning, I secured these storm lines, making sure we were ready for the worst. There is quite a surge in Perkins Cove with boats moving fore and aft. It was amazing that so much surge was experienced with such small seas. Seas ranged from seven to eight feet, at most.
Aside from securing our boats in the Cove, it was, again, Friday. So I was down at the restaurants from 4:30 AM until 9:00 AM. At noon and a bit before, we had splash over in the "corral" parking lot across from Barnacle Billy's (Original). It wasn't enough to move cars. But it might be tomorrow at high tide at noon. It depends on how much easterly wind we get.
The rest of the day I went between restaurants, talking to patrons as I usually do.
I received a very generous $500.00 donation from Dennis Pietro (NH) sponsoring me in the season's Pan-Mass Challenge. Dennis has been an excellent fishing patron of mine and an excellent angler. He is responsible for hooking the largest fish that has ever been hooked on the Bunny Clark. Between him and Shane Anderson, they brought a 26' basking shark to gaff after three hours of fighting it and seven miles of chasing it around with the Bunny Clark. Of course, when we got it to the boat we cut the jig off the line that it had lodged in the corner of it's mouth. Thank you for the special gift, Dennis. This is so very much appreciated by so many!
The sky became more overcast as the day progressed, totally overcast by noon. We had a hint of rain at 10:30 AM. This was not enough to see it on the ground and was only evident on the truck windshield. We had periodic rain starting at 4:00 PM and more continuous light rain after 7:00 PM. According to the closest weather buoy, the wind strength ranged from twenty to thirty knots for most of the day and twenty-five to thirty-five knots after sunset until midnight. We had a light splash-over in the parking lot of Barnacle Billy's from 11:00 AM until almost 1:00 PM. This was not steady. Seas at the time were averaging about 8', again, according to the closest weather buoy. The surge in the Cove wasn't horrible. The visibility dropped as the day went on. Looking over the ocean, it was good with mist and haze. The air temperature reached a high of 66°F, that I saw. It was mild, for sure. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 61°F (with a low of 55°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 65°F (with a low of 55°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 71°F (with a low of 56°F).
At 6:00 AM, the strong low pressure system was east of Washington, D. C., about one hundred and fifty miles or more. It was inching it's way north, expecting to strike Rhode Island and then move around the Cape Cod region. I don't think anyone can tell me definitively what is going to happen. Another model I looked at this morning showed it continuing inland. I'm not sure I have ever experienced a storm quite like this one. I have no idea what is going to happen. The National Weather Service has downgraded the wind strength in the offshore weather forecast to twenty to thirty knots for today and Sunday. The inshore forecast is the same except they predict gusts to forty-five knots. Nine to thirteen foot seas are predicted for the inshore while nine to fifteen foot seas are predicted for the offshore. I have no idea what is going to play out. We are prepared for gale strength winds but my feeling is that they will be less. But I'm certainly not convinced of anything right now.
At this same time, Frank Blount and his Francis Fleet in Point Judith, Rhode Island were experiencing light rain and forty knots of wind. I didn't ask Frank about the tides at the time. But he did send me digital images of his boats with the water almost level with the parking lot next to them. I assumed that it would be problematic for him but it turned out to be okay.
We some minor splash-over in the parking lot in to the ocean side of Barnacle Billy's. For a while, the valet's parked cars closer to the road away from the ocean side of the lot. That lasted about an hour before normal parking resumed. The rest of the day was fine, as the next high tide would occur at midnight.
This is normally my day to spend at the restaurant. Except for a nap in the afternoon, I was there from noon on. Originally, I thought I would have to go down early. But that proved to be unnecessary. Instead, I used that time to go for a four mile run with a session on the stat bike afterward.
Business at the two restaurants was not much with the weather report and the weather. We did have a large number of people walking the Marginal Way to see the surf.
Around 9:00 AM, it started to rain in earnest. That was also at the same time I decided to go for a walk/run. It rained for the whole time I was out, getting drenching wet in the process. As runners know, as long as you keep running, you will stay warm. So I ran, mostly. The rain continued after I stopped running but let up, somewhat, when I walked to the Cove from the house to start work at noon. My walk takes me right in front of the parking lot in front of Barnacle Billy's. So I had to time it, between waves crashing over the rocks onto the parking lot, to run through without getting soaked. I, actually, mis-timed it but the wave I needed to avoid was small enough as to not break over into the parking lot and over me. Thus I made it to work, dry.
The wind started to pick up on the tide, around noon. Wind speeds increased to a sustained thirty knots with gusts just shy of forty knots. Wave heights remained at ten feet or less through all this wind. I found this incredible. But it wasn't as if the storm was directly east of us. We were still protected by Cape Cod. Had the storm been to the east of us, we would have seen seas over twenty feet. And, when the National Weather Service predicted that it would move around Cape Cod and park itself out in front of us, seas were predicted to be as much as twenty-five feet. I'm so glad this didn't happen. The wind never slacked off all day, the seas never got larger, the rain never stopped (albeit, it was a misty rain for the rest of the day with the occasional rare moment when it poured) and no one lost power because the wind never got to the 40 knots value. We really lucked out. The visibility over the ocean was just good at best. The air temperature never got higher than 58°F. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 60°F (with a low of 56°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 61°F (with a low of 56°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 58°F (with a low of 54°F).
The storm was still only a hundred miles south of the south shore of Long Island at 6:00 AM. But it appeared to be losing steam down there. Frank Blount of the Frances Fleet told me that it was blowing twenty to thirty knots off Point Judith, Rhode Island. It was blowing that here at the time he told me this. I wonder if it picked up in speed like it did here during the day. We had a little bit of splash-over in the parking lot at 1:00 AM this morning. The splash over at noon was a bit more than yesterday at high tide. But not as much as I would have expected. The tide in the Cove rose two more feet than it did yesterday, lifting the dock leaves up. I saw this at noon and got help to take the leaves up, out and to higher ground for fear of having them float off. This may not have been warranted but piece of mind is worth much in a storm like this.
The business reflected the weather. We didn't have much. At times, we only had a single table in the house. It was worth staying open even if employee pay was greater than the gross sales.
I worked until 5:30 PM. Deb and I came down later for dinner as it was so quiet.
The Calypso King of the Caribbean, the Mighty Sparrow, died today at ninety-one years old. He was my favorite artist when I was running sailboats through the Caribbean winters from 1975 through 1985. His songs like Jean and Dinah, Congo Man and Erasmus B. Black were funny, witty, right on the edge and commented on social mores and politics. The music and melody were the best of any Calypso band and he won many awards for his music, particularly in Trinidad. I loved his music and brought it up north. No band was better, in my mind. He had a deep baritone voice that shook the Caribbean. And every year I would head down there, the first thought on my mind was; "Will Sparrow have a new song?" He always did. I can remember bringing my people to Anguilla and running into a guy who had pirated Sparrow tapes. It was like Christmas. And I played these tapes in my truck until the tapes died. If you look in Apple Music or Spotify, you won't find all his best songs, unfortunately. Some of the songs would never be socially acceptable here on radio. I do play the music I have found on Spotify and I have downloaded a few from Apple Music. But they will never match seeing him live at Carnival or living the experience of his music in the Caribbean. A sad loss indeed.
At 5:00 AM EDT the air temperature was 54°F, the sky was overcast, it was drizzling rain, the wind was out of the northeast at twenty-five to over thirty knots with reported seas of ten feet and the visibility over the ocean was good in haze and mist. More later.
The storm was still pretty bad in southern Maine. With this lingering on through the night, no fisherman clearing storm lines before tomorrow, seas at the mouth and trying to leave in the dark, I have canceled tomorrow's fishing trip. I didn't want to. But I couldn't see us being able to complete it. That, and all the flotsam that is out there on the surface, makes it hard to even think about going. Better days are coming. I'm looking forward to Thursday.
The wind blew out of the north northeast at twenty-five to thirty knots until almost the middle of the afternoon. Around 2:30 PM, I noticed that the gusts weren't quite as strong, although strong enough. There was splash over again at the seaward side of the parking lot. It was about the same as it was the last couple of days. The tide was as high as the day before with the Cove water level slightly over the lower part of the Barnacle Billy's dock and the ramp inclined up to the float attached to it. It rained all day, heavy at times. The wind made it worse. Seas were still ten feet. But, still, no higher. As I've said before, had this system been parked outside of us, it could have been so much worse. At sunset, wind had gusts over twenty knots while sustained winds were less. The visibility was good, at best. It never stopped raining while I was awake. The highest air temperature that I saw was 58°F. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 58°F (with a low of 56°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 56°F (with a low of 54°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 56°F (with a low of 54°F).
I spent my time checking the boat and working in both restaurants. As was true yesterday, the restaurants suffered for business. The rain all day made it hard for people to be outside. We did have people on the Marginal Way watching the surf. I left the restaurants before 7:00 PM.
At 5:00 AM EDT the air temperature was 54°F, the sky was overcast, it was drizzling very light rain, the wind was light out of the north and the visibility over the ocean was good in haze and mist.
The wind blew up to, maybe, fifteen knots out of the north at daylight. By later morning, the wind had already dropped to about eight knots. There was no wind at noon. In fact, by 2:00 PM, you could have lit a candle and walked along the beach without it blowing out. The afternoon saw the ocean in front of Oarweek Cove a mirror of calmness. At that point, I wanted to kick myself in the ass for not taking the Bunny Clark out. But, on the other hand, I couldn't have left the float until 6:00 AM, waiting for others to pull the storm lines out of the way. And there wasn't a guarantee that that was going to happen. So gypped out of three trips in a row. The sky became partly cloudy but was overcast for most of the day. The visibility went from good to excellent before noon. The air temperature reached a high of 66°F, that I saw. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 66°F (with a low of 56°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 70°F (with a low of 55°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 64°F (with a low of 55°F).
I left shortly after 5:00 AM to bring Gill, our border collie, with the Bunny Clark truck to the Cove. At the same time I was looking at the Cove to see if there was any surge left. There was very little. In fact, there was so little that I took the bow storm lines that led from the bow of the BC to the shore and town floats off. I coiled the lines on the bow. I will leave them there through the day so they will dry out and weigh less when I carry them up to the truck and, later, the house. A couple of lobstermen were also taking storm lines off so they could get out fishing.
Regardless of the weather, there were only three lobster boats who sailed today. I spent my time in the morning getting the Bunny Clark ready to sail on Thursday. This was mostly my stuff. I did spend some time getting the windows cleaned both inside and out so I can see better when heading out on the first trip in nearly two weeks.
The rest of my day was spent at the restaurants. Nothing out of the ordinary happened except that I decided, probably wrongly, to walk Gill to the Cove to get the Bunny Clark truck after work. We had no problem until we got to Barnacle Billy's. After that, Gill had a problem, more of a problem with his right back leg. I thought I was going to have to carry him the rest of the way. He was limping more than normal for the rest of the night. Heart rending stuff.
The sky stayed overcast for most of the day. Partly cloudy skies arrived at 4:00 PM. It was nice to see the sun. The visibility was excellent all day. The wind, when there was some, was light and variable in direction. The ocean along the shore stayed calm all day. The air temperature reached a high of 64°F. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 66°F (with a low of 60°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 70°F (with a low of 55°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 60°F (with a low of 56°F).
I spent a couple hours in the morning taking down storm lines, bringing them home and getting the Bunny Clark ready for tomorrow's fishing trip. The rest of the day I spent in the restaurants. Nothing exciting happened today except that Gill made it back home okay this morning after bringing the truck down to the Cove. He was limping less than he was last night.
At 2:45 AM EDT the air temperature was 56°F, the sky was clear with a waning moon high overhead, there wasn't enough wind to write about and the visibility over the ocean was excellent. More later.
As the Iran war continues, and our involvement deepens, so does the increase in fuel prices. Today, the price is over double the price I paid for fuel last year. I thought it was high last year. I will continue to request a fuel surcharge of $20.00 per person for the more inshore trips but am going to have to increase it to $30.00 when I can go offshore further. I will make the determination on the day of the trip.. Hopefully, that will be the most I have to charge. I'm sorry I have to do this. And I hope you understand. Hopefully, these fuel prices will decrease sooner than later. Whatever it is, it will not keep me from going where I need to go to catch you the number of fish you like to bring home including a few big ones here and there.
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