Bunny Clark Fishing Update
Written & Edited by Tim Tower
Thursday, August 6, 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 67°F, the sky was clear, the wind was blowing out of the west northwest at ten knots and the visibility over the ocean was very good at least.
As I headed out the gate through the can buoys, I thought; what a beautiful morning to be going fishing. Weather wise, it was going to be a challenging day. But I didn't know that at the time. The air temperature then was 66°F and the water temperature, at the head of the Cove, was 55°F. As we progressed to the fishing grounds, the water started to warm up but the air temperature stayed, pretty much, the same. Ten miles out, the water temperature had increased to 65°F. The wind was out of the west northwest. It was about ten knots ashore but we had more wind on the ride out. I would say fifteen knots. Seas were chops that, gradually got larger the further we got offshore. Almost there, chops were about two feet under a mix of old swell and tide created slop. The visibility was excellent. The sky was crystal clear with no evidence of the smoke from the Canadian wild fires that we lived through for the last couple of days.
On the fishing grounds, the wind blew out of the west northwest, at first. Wind speeds were fifteen to eighteen knots. By noon, it had backed out of the west and blew up to a sustained twenty knots. We even had a gust to twenty-five knots, which really surprised me. Seas were mostly chops of three to four feet. It was just rough enough to know you were fishing in the bow and just calm enough to remain there. It was a struggle for those fishing up there - and one reason we lost, what might have been, our biggest haddock of the season. We only had three anglers who were sea sick. This didn't surprise me as, most of the anglers, I knew from previous trips, some, many previous trips. It was, actually, a wonderful crew to a man/woman. The air temperature reached a high of 75°F. The visibility ranged to twenty-five miles, at least. The sky was cloudless and very clear. The tide (current) was light. This surprised me as we went through huge tide rips in the Jeffrey's Ledge area. The surface water temperature reached a high of 68°F.
Preparing to head back to Perkins Cove was a process. I had to have everyone out of the forecastle as I didn't want anyone to get hurt. We were going to be traveling right into the wind for the ride home. And it was going to be a crashing/thrashing spell for a period of time. It was hard going for the first few miles; I could only make about ten knots. But I was gradually able to increase our speed after forty-five minutes. I was into full cruise after an hour and a half. I couldn't let anyone stay in the cabin until we were about an hour from getting back. I had to stop the boat so anglers could use the head after an hour and a half. Twenty miles from Perkins Cove, the wind let go for about fifteen minutes. Clouds had been forming for the last hour and it looked like rain. A squall with about thirty knots of northerly wind hit us with a hard rain. We carried this for about ten miles with four foot chops from the north. This was more a beam sea, which was much easier to handle than the strong westerly we had experienced earlier. For the last three or four miles we had a very calm sea and clearing skies, the only calm spot of the day except for Perkins Cove at the dock in the morning!
Ashore, these were the air temperatures in selected New England cities: In Portsmouth, New Hampshire, the high air temperature was 88°F. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 89°F (with a low of 69°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 89°F (with a low of 55°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 85°F (with a low of 60°F).
The fishing was very good despite the sea state. The catching was excellent as were the landings. There were a couple of anglers who caught the most fish for an angler this year to date. It was a fish a drop all day long. Many doubles were caught. Most legal fish landed were pollock, by far. We were in a totally different area than we have been all season. The pollock were all legal. We only had three sub-legal pollock, if indeed they were sub-legal. Other than the three smaller ones, every pollock was over 3 pounds. But there were very few pollock over 7 pounds. Five to 7 pounds seemed to be the flavor of pollock for the day. Legal landings also included thirty-two haddock on the last stop of the day, ninety-five redfish (no sub-legal redfish were seen) and fifteen cusk. Released fish included, probably, six blue sharks (mostly lost on bait rigs), one tiny cod, one sub-legal haddock, one huge haddock, the three small pollock and ten dogfish. We drift fished for the first stop and boated two totes of (mostly) pollock. We anchored for every stop afterward. All terminal gear worked very well.
Either Matt Luce (ME) or Chris Cote (ME) was high hook with the most legal fish any angler has caught with me this season so far. We don't count fillets. So I can't know for sure. Bruce Andersen (FL) was also in there somewhere. Third hook? Second hook? I don't know. Chris Cote won the boat pool for the largest fish with the largest fish, a 13 pound pollock. This pollock ties for the Bunny Clark's second largest pollock of the fishing season so far. I took a picture of Chris holding his pollock in the bow where he was fishing. This digital image appears on the left. Phil Milligan (ME) won the boat pool for the second largest fish with the second largest fish, a 12 pound pollock. This fish is tied for the Bunny Clark's fifth largest pollock of the fishing season to date. Phil also caught the fourth largest fish of the trip, a 10 pound pollock. And he caught the only keeper haddock double of the trip. He was also hanging on and fishing in the bow. Matt Luce, fishing in the "ten spot" on the stern (the he now calls Luce Corner) caught the third largest fish of the trip, an 11 pound pollock. I weighed a 7.5 pound pollock that he caught early in the trip, thinking it might be a pool contending fish. Matt also caught the second largest cusk at 8.25 pounds.
Other Angler Highlights: Ali Laflamm (ME) caught the first fish I could weigh for the boat pool, a 9 pound pollock. Shortly afterward, she caught a 7.75 pound pollock, the two biggest fish of the trip at the time that she boated it. She also caught the largest cusk of the trip at 9 pounds. And Ali caught two haddock, a species that she was hoping to catch. Chris Patchem (NY) caught an 8 pound pollock. Silas Amlaw (NY) caught an 8 pound pollock and a 9.5 pound pollock. Mitch Cashman (ME) boated an 8 pound cusk, the third largest cusk of the trip. And then there was Tom Brown (NY), who was fishing in the hoop in the bow. He was having a hard time getting his fish in the boat as it was. At times, I thought he was either going fall overboard, drop the rod overboard, fall on his rod or break something. After a while he seemed to get the hang of it, sort of. That is until he caught the trophy haddock and tried to get that in the boat. It might have been the biggest haddock of the last couple of years at 10 pounds or so. He tried everything he could to lose that fish. And, finally, he did. I instructed those guys in the bow to call for a gaff well "before" they saw the fish on the surface. Chris and Phil had no problem with that. Tom, on the other hand, not so much. Oh, well. I cried a little bit for the lack of a good trophy haddock picture. But I will surely get over it - after a few weeks.
Several people gave me donations sponsoring me in this year's Pan-Mass Challenge. The donors and their donations appear as follows: Barry Ano (NY) gave a generous $100.00, Elizabeth Scott (NJ) gave a generous $100.00. Her donation was made in the form of an "eGift" through the PMC site. Bruce Andersen gave $50.00. Chris Cote gave $40.00. Thank you all so very much for your support, thoughtfulness and generosity. It means a lot to me but to the researchers who are doing all the work and the patients who see the benefits of this research, it's priceless! Needless to say, this is much appreciated by so many.
After another coolish morning, the day turned into a "111" for weather. We had northwest wind over ten knots until the end of the day. The sun was warm but it was not humid. And despite a high air temperature of 83°F, it was very comfortable all day. The sky was clear and there was plenty of sun. There was no cloudiness or haze from the wild fires in Canada. The visibility was excellent. There were few clouds. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 85°F (with a low of 67°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 83°F (with a low of 52°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 80°F (with a low of 57°F).
After we got back in last night and settled stern to the float until we sail again, I drained all the engine lubricating oil out into containers while the engine was still warm. It was my early day in to the restaurants again, this being a Friday. I got there at 4:30 AM, walked our dog, Gill, back home at 5:15 AM and went back down to go through the routine of getting the restaurants ready for business. While there, I also spent time working getting the new engine oil back in the engine and changing out the three engine oil filters. Because of this, I did not have time to edit this fishing update section of my website. It was too rough on the way in yesterday so I had to start from scratch to write this up. Not a big deal. But it all takes extra time. And time away from other things.
Between all the work, I have had Tim Darling's company tear up the old driveway at the house, run new sewer and water lines and get the driveway ready for paving. It's been a lot of work requiring the expertise of plumbers, electricians and the good work of Tim Darling. I've had to go back and forth on decisions. And, during all this, it's been a musical chairs dance with moving vehicles around all the time. I'll be glad when it's all done but I expect that it will end in a couple of weeks. A lot of capital outlay.
I spent the rest of the day at the restaurants. I have the greatest employees. I really do. It's just one of the things that truly make me love what I do ashore. I also have a great deck hand in Danny DellaMonica. When I came down to finish the oil change this morning, the boat was spotless. This after a very busy day of filleting almost five hundred fish, untangling lines, answering the demands of our patrons in the nicest way possible and just working like a demon. He still had four boxes of fish to cut on the way in, including almost a full box of redfish, with the boat crashing and thrashing as we poked through the waves home. Granted, the redfish were big redfish. But they were redfish, which are harder to fillet and have spines that sting. And, try as you might, as good at filleting as you might be, doing a lot of them, inevitably, you get stung. The boat wasn't trashed when we got in. But it wasn't in "Danny shape" when we pulled up to the float to unload. I think when he did get everything clean, that night, he went around and spent two hours with a toothbrush getting the rest! Needless to say, when I got to the boat it looked and smelled like it never saw a fish and was just launched. So I enjoyed my day with my restaurant employees while also thinking how lucky I was to have hooked up with Danny. A most enjoyable day.
The ocean started off calm with a lack of wind over it. That changed as the day progressed. Even at 10:00 AM, there was zero wind. By noon, the wind was out of the south at almost ten knots. But, at the high tide, 2:30 PM, the wind struck at twenty knots from ten to fifteen knots just twenty minutes earlier. The wind steadily increased with gusts to thirty knots offshore. Southerly winds never did subside while I was awake. When I went to bed, the Portland Lightship buoy was showing five foot seas every six seconds. Shortly after sunrise, the sky started to cloud up. Some of this occlusion might have come from the smoke from the Canadian wild fires. The sky was fully overcast by 10:00 AM. By 1:30 PM, we saw a few drops of rain. There wasn't even enough rain to don foul weather gear until 3:00 PM, when it really started to come down. It rained for two hours, soaking everything. It drizzled for a while after that but was done by 6:00 PM. The sky stayed overcast through into the night. The visibility was good in the rain. The air temperature was mild with a high that I saw, around noon, of 78°F. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 82°F (with a low of 63°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 77°F (with a low of 57°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 73°F (with a low of 54°F).
I spent a lot of time catching up, finishing up the writing of this report and finishing up items in the office. I managed to save enough time to jump on the stationary bike for twenty-five miles in front of Tour de France TV before taking a shower and going to work at noon. Today's stage was a mountainous stage that was particularly interesting to watch.
The World Cup game for the bronze was much more interesting than anticipated. I swore I was not going to watch after the pathetic show England put on against Argentina. But it was actually a fun game, both teams seemingly agreeing to not tackle hard and just play the game. It brought out the best in some of the players included Mbappé for France and Saka for England. I couldn't watch all of it because of work but I did watch about thirty minutes while eating my dinner in plain clothes in the lounge. There was a lull in business at the time.
The restaurants were busy before the rain. But the rain quelled the fire of business to a degree. I went back home at the close of business this evening.
The wind didn't stay out of the southwest very long. By 6:00 AM, the wind was out of the west northwest or northwest at fifteen to twenty knots with higher gusts. This wind stayed with us for most of the daylight hours today before fading away before sunset. The sky was clear the whole day. The visibility was excellent. The air temperature, that I saw, reached a high of 79°F. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 81°F (with a low of 69°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 79°F (with a low of 57°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 79°F (with a low of 62°F).
The day was spent working on getting everything ready for tomorrow's offshore trip along with working at the restaurants and taking a peek at the final World Cup match. Had I had time, I wouldn't have watched the half time show.
A friend of mine gave me some bluefin tuna steaks. The buyers didn't want a fish over 90 inches so the fish couldn't be sold. So lucky us, Deb & I. We had some as sushi and some as seared steaks on the grill. It was extremely good. Deb said it was her best meal of the summer.
I received a generous $100.00 donation from Bob Zuker (MA) sponsoring me in the Pan-Mass Challenge, as you know by now, a cycling event to raise money for cancer research. Bob made the donation in the form of an "eGift" through the PMC site. Thankyou very much, Bob. I so appreciate your thoughtfulness and support!
The day was another beautiful summer day. The sky stayed clear most of it, the part of it that I saw. The visibility was very good to excellent. The wind was light out of the west, died out and backed out of the southwest. Wind speeds might have approached ten knots. The air temperature reached a high just over 80°F. I didn't check it closely. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 82°F (with a low of 64°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 83°F (with a low of 49°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 83°F (with a low of 56°F).
I spent the day getting ready for the overnight trip tonight and working at the restaurant. I worked mostly at the restaurant.
We left the float at 10:00 PM with a select group anglers I had invited to do this trip. It's an annual trip, called the SOFT, I arrange that doesn't go as far out as we go on the Ultra Marathon but is still special in that we do things I can't do on a regular marathon trip and, of course, we have more time and can take advantage of every time of day. Bryan Lewer (Salty Lewer Charters) was my second captain and Ali Laflamm was my second mate. Of course, Danny DellaMonica is may deck hand, or first mate, on all my trips this season.
For the first few miles after we left the float, I stayed at the wheel arranging the pool money, setting the engine rpms, going over my plan with Bryan and checking everything I needed to check before retiring. Bryan took over steering after that.
The weather day turned out better than expected. I don't think we had more than ten knots of wind at any time of the day. There was always some wind and some drift. We went from a southwest wind that might have been fifteen knots, just before we arrived. Daylight saw less than ten knots of southwest wind. This dropped and was replaced by a southerly wind of ten knots or less. Seas were, at most, two feet in chops but mostly less than that. The sky was clear, hazy clear, mostly cloudy with high thin clouds that were thicker than normal, followed by a haze clear sky with sun, just before we left to head home. The air temperature reached a high of 71°F. The tide (current) was light to moderate. It was a very slow drift to start. The visibility seemed to range from fifteen to twenty miles. However, it would be hard to qualify that with no reference points, no land or boats. The surface water temperature reached a high of 66.7°F.
The wind backed out of the southeast when we went to leave for home. Wind speeds picked up to twenty knots with seas in chops of three to four feet. The sky remained haze clear until about an hour or more from Perkins Cove. There, we ran into heavy rain with no more wind than we brought with us. This lasted until we arrived at our destination. The rain stopped as the hull of the Bunny Clark kissed the float in Perkins Cove. It was an easy ride home despite the wind and the seas.
Ashore, these were the air temperatures in selected New England cities: In Portsmouth, New Hampshire, the high air temperature was 75°F. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 79°F (with a low of 62°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 75°F (with a low of 60°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 73°F (with a low of 60°F).
The fishing was excellent. When the drift picked up it was also time to anchor. Both drifting and anchoring were accomplished easily. The catching was good to very good only because of the large number of blue sharks that were there. We ran into pollock almost everywhere we started. The blue sharks were right with them. We ended up losing twenty-three jigs today, twenty were to blue sharks, one was to a halibut and two were lost after getting hooked on bottom. Landing were very good overall, excellent on the last two stops. Most legal fish landed were pollock, by far. They were all about the size that we have been seeing everywhere we go. The average size was about 5 pounds with some bigger and some smaller with very few sub-legal ones. Legal landings also included thirty-nine cusk, fifty-nine haddock, a halibut and a redfish. Released fish included the blue sharks, ten market sized cod, eleven small cod, one cusk, four sub-legal haddock, three halibut we didn't actually see, eleven sub-legal pollock, thirty-one dogfish and two wolffish. As mentioned, we drift fished and anchored. Each had it's time. All terminal gear worked well but most used jigs and cod flies.
I couldn't tell you who was high hook today with the most legal fish. My picks today would have been Steve Selmer (NH), who also caught fifteen legal sized haddock to bring home, Mark Girard (NH), Mr. silent and deadly who had a great day for quality, Karl Day (ME), who was one of three individuals who hooked into a halibut and lost it and Lewis Hazelwood (MA), who is so often high hook that I assume he will be when I see that he will be on the trip. These four anglers caught by attention by actions alone. They continually caught fish all day long. I didn't count fillets, nor did I ask Danny his opinion - which I should have.
Jeff Corey (MA) was the star of the day. He hooked into a halibut during the mid morning and boated it after more than fifteen minutes. I didn't time him. He hooked it while fishing in the bow pulpit. I knew he had one right away. He hooked it with a rod that his daughter had commissioned Bryan Lewer to build for him as a Christmas gift. Bryan builds some excellent, good looking, great feeling and great fishing rods. This rod acted exactly like it was supposed to. Jeff had had a great time with it before today and was loving it today. If someone told me that he took it to bed with him this evening, it wouldn't surprise me. It seemed like everyone took part in helping get the fish aboard. I had everyone reel up so we wouldn't have any unwanted tangles. The fish was boated in the cockpit. It weighed 94 pounds exactly, a Maine state trophy for size and 59" caliper fork length. With this fish he won the boat pool for the largest fish with the largest fish of the trip. He also caught the biggest haddock of the day at 6 pounds. This is the third halibut that Jeff has caught on the Bunny Clark. The first was a 28 pounder that was sub-legal by an inch that was caught with Captain Ian Keniston. The second was an 18.5 pounder he caught with me a couple years ago on Platts Bank. He has caught Pacific halibut up to 60 pounds. But this is the largest halibut that he has ever caught. We brought four large fillets to the dock where Danny portioned up the fillets and, at Jeff's urging, gave out bags of halibut steaks to everyone who participated in today's event. Jeff always catches a lot of fish. Today's trip was no exception.
That was an amazing, exciting thing that happened to Jeff. But we did have another exciting thing. At least it really appealed to me. Dave Burton (MA), who had a very successful day today in fish count, caught three barndoor skates. We haven't seen a barndoor skate on the Bunny Clark this season yet and Dave gets three? No angler has ever caught three barndoor skates on one trip before. Steve Selmer held the record with two barn door skates caught on the same trip. No one person had ever caught more than one on a trip until Steve caught his two. Now Dave has caught three. This gave him the second, third and fourth largest fish of the trip. And he won the boat pool for the second largest fish and he also won the boat pool for the third largest fish. His barndoor skates weighed 24.5 pounds, 22.5 pounds and 20 pounds. I took a picture of Dave holding his second largest barndoor skate. This digital image appears on the left. Dave now has caught the top three barndoor skates of the Bunny Clark fishing season and the only barndoor skates of the Bunny Clark fishing season. We have now seen seventy-eight barndoor skates caught on one of my boats via rod & reel since 1975, all caught starting in 2008 on the Bunny Clark! Dave also caught the largest cusk of today's trip at 10.5 pounds. And he lost a halibut, just when we were about to see it. It broke his leader line right at the jig.
Mark Girard caught the largest wolffish I have seen on the Bunny Clark this season so far, today. [I didn't actually see Matt Luce's big wolffish before it swam to bottom the other day.] It weighed 19.5 pounds. I took a picture of Mark holding this big wolffish before dropping it back into the ocean alive. I didn't get the best image I could have as waiting too long would have compromised the life of the fish. This digital image appears on the right. Mark also caught a big haddock of about 6 pounds, that I didn't weigh, which he gave to Deb & I to eat tomorrow night.
Other Angler Highlights: Steve LaPlante (CT) caught an 8.5 pound cusk that I weighed early in the trip. He caught a lot of fish which I am now accustomed to seeing. Pete Atwood (VT) caught a lot of pollock and the haddock he was hoping to catch. I was hoping he would catch a halibut. Steve Selmer caught the two biggest pollock today. One weighed 9.5 pounds. The other weighed 10 pounds. He also caught a 10 pound cod head. A blue shark had bitten it off right behind the gills. It would have been a 20 pound fish? Bill Harding (ME) did a similar thing catching a gutted cod, where the blue shark had totally bit out the belly section of the cod. What was left weighed 9.5 pounds. Joe Columbus (MA) caught a lot of fish, mostly pollock and haddock, his biggest was a 10 pound wolffish. It was great to have him aboard today. Ali Laflame fished today but did not do as well as she did on Thursday's trip. But, then, it would have been hard for anyone to do as well as she did Thursday. Buzz Leonard (ME) didn't catching anything outstanding, just a lot of fish including just about all the species of fish he wanted to catch but one. Bryan Lewer fished a bit but not as much as he usually does on these trips. He's an excellent all-rounded fisherman.
I received several donations today sponsoring me in this season's Pan-Mass Challenge. The donors and donations included: Larry Ingham (MA) for $50.00. Larry made the donation in the form of an "eGift" through the PMC site. He included a note that said; "Always great saying hello at Barnacle Billy's. Good luck on your 20th ride!" Jeff Corey for $50.00, Dave Burton for a generous $140.00 and Mark Girard for $50.00. Thank you all so very much for your thoughtfulness and generosity. I so very much appreciate the support!
The fog was just about gone by 7:00 AM. By 9:00 AM, there wasn't a hint of it. The visibility was very good in some haze all day. It was also fairly humid. Had the air temperature been higher than it was at 83°F, it might have been unbearable. We had no wind in the morning to write about. This is why the fog hung around for a while. By 6:00 AM, we had about ten knots of southerly wind which kept the shoreline cooler than it would have been. Wind speeds increased to fifteen knots by noon. By 2:00 PM, we had wind gusts to twenty knots with a sustained southerly wind of fifteen knots. But this wind started to back off at 3:00 PM. Or, I should say, I noticed it had backed off at that time. Wind speeds at 6:00 PM were about ten knots, still out of the south. We had sunny skies all day until around 2:15 PM, when a line of showers moved over Perkins Cove and drenched us for fifteen minutes before leaving us and the sun behind. I did see another shower go over York. But we didn't see another one during the day. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 86°F (with a low of 69°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 85°F (with a low of 61°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 82°F (with a low of 64°F).
I had so much catching up to do that I never did to exercise much except for my core work that helps my back. I couldn't write the fishing update on the way in because it was too choppy to work on the laptop and steer in. So all of it I had to do at the desk. And I was over three hours at the desk at home. I also went back and forth to the restaurant on the scooter. I took our dog, Gill, down in the Bunny Clark truck so I could walk him back. It was a four bone morning for him - which has been the norm. I was also able to get all my stuff ready to run the boat tomorrow.
I was at the restaurant at noon. I was there until 5:00 PM. I took the scooter back to the house, grabbed Gill and walked him down to get the truck. He does still enjoy his walks, albeit, a bit slower than they used to be.
Mark Girard and Dave Burton each gave me a haddock which I filleted. Deb cooked it for us. It was absolutely delicious. Nothing like eating haddock that you know where it came from and that is prepared so fresh and ready to eat. Thank you both for the opportunity!
I received another generous $100.00 donation, this time from Peter & Patti Vangsness (MA), sponsoring me in this year's Pan-Mass Challenge. Peter & Patti have supported my cancer project for years now; I don't remember how many. But they always give me the utmost support. Thank you so very much, Peter & Patti. This is so very much appreciated!
Danny DellaMonica and I hosted the annual Theresa Burke (PA) marathon trip charter today.
At 2:45 AM EDT the air temperature was 62°F, the sky was clear, the wind was light out of the southwest and the visibility over the ocean was very good at least.
It was a beautiful morning to be headed to the fishing grounds. The air temperature was a perfect 62°F, the wind was light out of the southwest, seas were not more than a couple feet in chops, we had an underlying sea swell from the southeast that averaged about five feet, the visibility was excellent and the water temperature went from 54°F at the gate to almost 63°F upon arrival at our destination.
On the fishing grounds, we had an air temperature of 63°F and a surface water temperature of 63°F when we arrived. The air temperature increased and the water temperature decreased as the day progressed. The highest air temperature we saw for the day was 71°F. The wind started out of the west southwest at fifteen knots with seas of two to three feet in chops. The five foot long period swell from the southeast never left us. It seemed more pornounced in some areas, less so in the deeper water. I should say that they seemed longer in the deeper water. The wind dropped and was more out of the west later on. By the time that we had to leave, the wind was very light ouf of the west with seas in chops of less than a half a foot. The visibility ranged to thirty-five miles all day. The tide (current) was light. Only the wind moved us. The sky was clear for most of the day. There were a few clouds during the early part of the fishing. The surface water temperature bottomed out at 59°F by the end of the fishing.
Ashore, these were the air temperatures in selected New England cities: In Portsmouth, New Hampshire, the high air temperature was 80°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 80°F (with a low of 54°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 79°F (with a low of 57°F).
The fishing was excellent. We had no tide, we didn't see a single dogfish, the blue sharks were very few, losing only three rigs to them all day and the sea/wind state couldn't have been much better. The catching was excellent. Landings were very good for numbers. Most legal fish landed were pollock, by far, followed by haddock. Legal landings also included eight cusk, ten squid and fourteen redfish. Released fish included seven small cod and twenty-three sub-legal pollock. We caught no sub-legal haddock. We alternated between drifting and anchoring. All terminal gear worked well.
I couldn't tell you who was high hook with the most legal fish. I couldn't even guess. Dwayne Lockburner (PA) won the boat pool for the largest fish with the largest fish, a 23 pound Maine state trophy cusk. This is the largest cusk that Dwayne has ever seen and the largest cusk caught on the Bunny Clark this season so far. Indeed, it's probably the largest cusk caught in New England, as I write this. I took a picture of him holding this monster of a cusk. This digital image appears on the left. Dwayne caught a lot of pollock. Matt Fitting (PA) won the boat pool for the second largest fish with the second largest fish, a 14.5 pound Maine state trophy cusk. This is the Bunny Clark's second largest cusk of this year's fishing season to date. I took a picture of Matt holding his triophy cusk. This digital image appears on the right. Some other fish of Matt's that I weighed included a 5 pound haddock and a 6.75 pound pollock. He too caught a lot of pollock. The third largest fish was a 9.5 pound pollock caught by Theresa Burke (PA).
Other Angler Highlights: The tag team of Tim Tower and Blossom Wright (PA) existed for a while until he decided he wanted to fish with his own pole again. I did manage to catch a haddock and a few pollock for his bag before he took over again. His largest fish was a 7.25 pound pollock. Tony Tewksbury (PA) caught the most haddock. Some of the ones that I weighed included two at 5 pounds each, a 4 pounder and a 5.5 pound haddock. Gary Woleslagle (PA) got the most tangled lines. Joe Tonkovich (PA) was right behind him. Eric Earls (NY) shared a number with Matt. Both anglers caught a lot of doubles. Evereyone caught a lot of fish.
Peter Bradley (CA) donated a very generous $200.00 to sponsor me in the Pan-Mass Challenge, a cycling event to raise money to support a team of scientists who specialize in genetic profiling. Peter made the donation in the form of an "eGift" through the PMC site. He has been supporting my fundraising for the full twenty years that I have been involved in this project. Thanks so much, Peter, again. I appreciate this so very much!
The day was just a perfect day in Ogunquit, for weather. The sky was cloudless for most of the morning and sunny with few clouds all day. The air temperature took it's time to reach 80°F for a high. There was no wind all morning. After noon, we had a light southerly breeze that kept the humidity at bay. This made it so enjoyable on the deck at Barnacle Billy's or the garden patio at Barnacle Billy's, Etc. The visibility was excellent all day. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 79°F (with a low of 62°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 84°F (with a low of 50°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 81°F (with a low of 52°F).
It seems like Friday comes every two days. Wasn't it yesterday that I had to sort lobsters in the morning? As normal, I brought the Bunny Clark truck down early with Gill, our aging border collie. He's having a harder time walking. But it was still only a four bone walk home. I felt this was success. I feel lucky that he still drools and seems like he really enjoys a treat! It's getting harder for him to walk. It's all so very gradual. Once I got him home, I jumped on the scooter and spent the morning at the restaurants. I arrived with Gill at 4:45 AM and got back down there again at 5:30 AM. I left at 9:00 AM, which gave me enough time to write up yesterday's fishing report, shower and get ready for a day at the restaurants.
I received a $50.00 donation from Mike Barrows (PA), long time regular angler of the Bunny Clark, sponsoring me in this year's Pan-Mass Challenge. His donation came in the form of an "eGift" through the PMC site. Mike has supported the cancer cause through me for years. Thanks, again, Mike. Very much appreciated!
The ocean stayed calm all morning with hardly a breath of wind. After noon, the wind started to blow out of the south. But, if we had eight knots of southerly wind, I would be surprised. The visibility was excellent all day. The sky was cloudless for most of the morning with some clouds in the afternoon. The air temperature rose to just about 80°F. I never saw it go any higher than that. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 76°F (with a low of 60°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 84°F (with a low of 52°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 78°F (with a low of 55°F).
Today was just another day at the restaurant. However, I spent the whole morning working on the website and crafting an email to be sent out to garner donations for the Pan-Mass Challenge. I've never sent out an email trying to get support. We shall see how that goes.
There was little wind until a northeast flow was established around mid morning. There was no real strength to the northeast wind. We might have seen eight knots in the afternoon? The visibility was excellent all day. The sky was clear all day with few clouds. And the air temperature had a fall feeling to it. We only topped out at 74°F as a high air temperature, probably because of the wind off the water. It was perfect while the sun was out but it was cooler than a normal summer day in the late afternoon. But, then, what's normal? In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 72°F (with a low of 60°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 82°F (with a low of 49°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 74°F (with a low of 49°F).
Today was another beautiful day for the restaurants. The tides seemed to make it more of a restaurant day than a beach day.
I didn't get to talk to many patrons for the first two hours. This mainly because I was full of meetings until 1:30 PM. All but one issue got resolved but that's business with one hundred and eighty employees. And why everything seemed to come to head today for so many items, I don't know. Of course, you never know. Never a dull moment in the restaurant business. And I am very grateful to the wonderful team of employees that I do have.
The rest of the day was business as normal with a bit of time spent getting ready for the fishing on Tuesday.
I received three donations sponsoring me in the Pan-Mass Challenge today. One was from Steven Goodman (FL) who's family supplied Barnacle Billy's with paper products for years (Portsmouth Paper) from the initial day of opening the first restaurant. His was $50.00. Another was from Norm & Linda Viens (MA) for a generous $100.00. Norm & Linda have supported my work with Dana-Farber Cancer Institute for years. The last was from Jack Gordon who was a classmate of mine at Wells High School who runs a charter sailboat of Perkins Cove called the Silver Lining (an all wood Hinckly, New York 50 design). He gave a very generous $1,000.00 to the cause. This is the first time he has supported me. All these donations came in the form of an "eGift" through the PMC site. Jack's came with a note that said: "In memory of my sister, Phyllis who died of cancer in May." Thank you all so very much for your generosity and thoughtfulness. It means so much to those with the disease and to those scientists working to solve the puzzle. Of course, I appreciate this very much!
There was so very little wind in the morning. The ocean was flat calm. There was a three foot roll on that I discovered when I took the Bunny Clark out for a sea trial. I was surprised about that. By noon, the wind was blowing out of the southeast at six or eight knots. It never blew any harder than that. The sky was crystal clear in the morning but became hazy clear around 5:00 PM. Or, maybe, that's just when I noticed it. The visibility went from excellent to very good in some haze. The high air temperature that I saw was 80°F. We had zero humidity. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 77°F (with a low of 59°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 87°F (with a low of 50°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 80°F (with a low of 49°F).
I worked in the office for almost the whole morning. A little after 10:00 AM, I met Matt, the tech from Stewart & Stevenson Power Products at the Bunny Clark. I had asked them to fix an oil leak I had been dealing with all season. It wasn't bad enough to stay home but I didn't want it to get worse. Turns out the rubber gasket between the crankcase breather and adapter plate was rotten. Matt took the rotten one out, cleaned up the breather and plate and reassembled it. We ran it at the float for a long time and then took it for sea trials. Not a drop oozed out. Dry as a chip. We are now ready to sail for tomorrow.
The rest of the day I spent at the restaurant. I spent and hour on an email solving a customer problem that I will fix when I get back ashore on Wednesday. It was a very helpful email which will allow us to improve in a small area. Every improvement is a way up, no matter how small.
I walked Gill down to the Cove to get the truck. It was a four bone walk. He had a hard time tonight. He didn't sniff around as much. His back legs were bothering him. He enjoyed most of it but I think he had more pain this time. He never would have wanted me to leave him behind. He was slow. So I took it slow with him. Us old guys; we have to keep plugging along.
I received several donations sponsoring me in this year's Pan-Mass Challenge today. I don't have time to list them here now. But I will tomorrow or the next day.
It was a beautiful ride to the fishing grounds. The wind was light out of the southeast with a one foot, or less, chop. The visibility was very good, at least. The sky was clear with a setting nearly full moon. The air temperature was in the 60s. The surface water temperature averaged about 65°F.
On the fishing grounds, we had a light southeast wind that picked up ever so slightly on the tide and brought fog with it. We were in the fog all morning. Just a little after noon, the fog lifted. A half hour after that we had blue sky and very sunny conditions. We might have had southeast wind to ten knots as a high wind speed. Seas were never more than a foot with a long two to three foot swell underneath. The high air temperature was 75°F. The tide (current) was light. The sky seemed overcast all morning but it might have been the fog. The visibility ranged from one hundred and fifty feet in fog.to eight miles in haze. The surface water temperature attained a high of 66°F.
Ashore, these were the air temperatures in selected New England cities: In Portsmouth, New Hampshire, the high air temperature was 81°F. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 85°F (with a low of 65°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 83°F (with a low of 56°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 75°F (with a low of 57°F).
The fishing was excellent. We had an excellent drift that lasted all day. There were few dogfish. We only lost one rig to a blue shark. There were very few sub-legal fish today. The catching was very good to excellent. Landings were very good. Most legal fish landed were pollock, by far, followed by haddock. We caught, predominantly, pollock in the morning and mostly haddock in the afternoon. The fishing was very steady. Legal landings also included twenty-eight cusk, eleven redfish and a whiting. Released fish included nineteen small cod, one 5 or 6 pound cod, eight sub-legal (or close to sub-legal) haddock, twenty-five small pollock, a sculpin, one blue shark, a couple cusk and four dogfish. The whole day was spent drift fishing. All terminal gear worked well.
I couldn't tell you who was high hook with the most legal fish. It could have been one of the three anglers with team Marcin Zawisza (CT) or Peter Lawrence (MA). Marcin won the boat pool for the largest fish with the largest fish, a 14.75 pound pollock. This is tied for the Bunny Clark's largest pollock of the fishing season so far. Ray Westermann (MA) won the boat pool for the second largest fish with the second largest fish, a 14 pound pollock. This is the Bunny Clark's third largest pollock of the fishing season to date. Ray also caught an 11 pound pollock that I weighed. There was a tie for the third largest fish of the trip at 12.5 pounds, both pollock. There were two. Ryan Colley (Ont) caught one as a double with another pollock of 8 pounds. Jeremy Agresti (FL) caught the other. The largest fish of Peter's that I weighed was a 10 pound pollock.
Other Angler Highlights: Nick Rello (NJ) caught a 5 pound haddock, an 11.75 pound pollock and a 10 pound pollock that I weighed. Cody Lemieux (ME) also caught a 5 pound haddock. Dennis Mora (ME) caught the largest haddock of the trip at 5.5 pounds.
During the last couple of days I received several donations sponsoring me in my involvement with the Pan-Mass Challenge. Those donors included: Kate & Kevin Strong (NC) for a generous $100.00, Frank Blount (RI), owner of the Francis Fleet in Point Judith, for a generous $250.00, and Patrice McCarron (ME) for a generous $100.00. Both Frank's and Patrice's donations came in the form of an "eGift" through the PMC site. Thank you all so very much for your generosity and support. Good research comes with good funding. I certainly appreciate the help in this project!
The sky was overcast all day. At 2:00 PM, it started to rain. It rained steady for twenty minutes then became light. But it continued to rain, mostly light, for the rest of the day and into the night. At times, it was just a drizzle. The wind blew out of the east for most of the day backing more out of the northeast as the day progressed. It was out of the east northeast after noon. That seemed to be the predominant direction until 8:00 PM when I saw that it was blowing out of the northeast. Wind speeds were fifteen knots or more in the morning and early afternoon. I saw mostly twenty knots after 3:00 PM with stronger winds from the weather buoys after I went to bed. The visibility seemed good for most of the day. I never did see any fog. But there was plenty of mist and haze associated with the system. We had a very short period of time where I saw the air temperature rise to 70°F. Most of the day it stayed around 65°F or lower. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 69°F (with a low of 65°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 71°F (with a low of 64°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 71°F (with a low of 62°F).
I canceled tomorrow's marathon trip at around noon today. I didn't want anglers to drive all the way here to be turned back. The chances were great that, at 4:00 AM, it would be taking too much of a chance to push offshore right into a six foot sea that would probably be larger as we kept going. It would be very uncomfortable at least, prone to make those who ordinarily don't get sea sick to become sea sick. And it would take us a much longer time to get to where I wanted to fish. So the long travel would cut into our fishing time -which is already precious on a normal day. I can always use more time.
The weather kept the business down today. I had a lot of stuff I had to get done in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. But I had to get back well before 10:00 AM as I had a dentist appointment at that time. At any rate, I was busy all morning and got to work a hair after noon, and rushing to do so.
Jim Nantz, the announcer for CBS sports, showed up for lunch today at Barnacle Billy's. I first met him when he was here for lunch with former President, George H. W. Bush. The last time I remember seeing him was after my father died - he has been here since when I was on the boat. On that day thirteen years ago, he had come to the restaurant to specifically give me his condolences in person. In fact, I mentioned it to him today and how grateful I was and how much I appreciated that moment. That was one of the hardest times of my life. It took a me a couple weeks to get over it. But you never really get over it. You try to convince yourself that it's the normal course of life. But any rationalization doesn't work. He's gone. The fact that you will never see him again, never confide in him again or never see his reaction when you tell him about a particular fishing moment or work related experience, just hits you so hard. At any rate, talking to Jim was a lot of fun today. And it brought back some wonderful memories. In 2006, he stopped by as the guest of former President, George H. W. Bush along with other guests that included former President, Bill Clinton, and Patriots quarterback, Tom Brady. It was a "Tim Tuesday" so I was offshore in the Bunny Clark at the time. But a picture was taken of all three personalities that also included my brother, Court, my father, Billy, and my sister, Meg. We have the picture hanging on the wall in both restaurants.
The wind blew out of the north up to twenty-five knots until about mid morning. Seas were five to six feet, according to the closest weather buoy. It was blowing about ten knots out of the north by 10:00 AM. It was about the same at noon. After noon, the wind hauled out of the east northeast and increased a couple of knots. The wind finally let go by 6:30 PM. The sky had scudding dark clouds all morning and in the afternoon. The backdrop for these clouds was a gray overcast sky. It started raining almost exactly at 2:00 PM. It rained for a while and then stopped. It didn't rain again until around 5:00 PM. After that, it continued to rain on into the night. The visibility remained good throughout. The air temperature rose to a value of 77°F. But this was only for a short period of time. It was mostly above 70°F during the late morning and early afternoon. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 73°F (with a low of 63°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 81°F (with a low of 64°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 78°F (with a low of 63°F).
We are doing a Saturday trip. So I spent some time on the Bunny Clark with Danny getting things ready. I was also going back and forth between the restaurant and the boat.
I didn't walk Gill down to the boat tonight to get the truck. Maybe it was on the walk back home from the Cove this morning. But, he skinned the hair off the top of his right back paw. He can't lift his leg like he used to be able to do. So he runs the top of one foot over the tar. It must have been more than normal. But he was licking his foot when we noticed it later in the day. I certainly don't want the paw to get infected on top of everything else that's happening to the dog. He wanted to go, that's for sure. I could hear him barking when I left to walk down. Another day, Gill. Another day.
I received three generous donations via an "eGift" through the PMC site, sponsoring my ride in the Pan-Mass Challenge, a fundraiser for cancer research. I am not doing the ride this year as my PMC buddy, Paul "Hez" Haseltine, can't make it. We always do the event together. Both of us are still heavy into the fundraising. We just decided to back off the ride for this year. Hez isn't in good enough shape yet and I don't do it without him. Next year! The donors and the donations are as follows. Norm & Linda Viens (MA) for another $100.00, Chuck MacDonald (ME) for $100.00 and Patricia Morrill (ME) for $100.00. Thank you all so very much for the support and your generosity. It means a lot to me but so much more to the researchers who need the funding and those who benefit from it!
The day was beautiful, overall. The clouds broke up early and cleared and stayed clear for three hours. Before noon, scattered cumulonimbus clouds appeared. Some bore light rain, very light rain, as they passed by. I only saw on such event over Ogunquit and it lasted about a half hour with rain so light it was lighter than a mist. It might not have even been a half hour. These clouds left us after 2:00 PM and left us with a clear sky. There was no wind until noon. After noon, we saw light southerly winds that did blow up to ten knots by 4:00 PM. The southerly winds increased to fifteen knots around 8:00 PM. The visibility was very good at least. The highest air temperature that I saw was 81°F around 2:30 PM. It was also a bit humid. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 75°F (with a low of 66°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 85°F (with a low of 62°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 80°F (with a low of 64°F).
I spent most of the morning working on the Bunny Clark, setting the boat up for a trip leaving tomorrow night. I also worked on the Bunny Clark for almost two hours in the afternoon, replacing a halogen deck light with a bright LED deck light. The LED light is also more waterproof.
I was Friday, when I open both restaurants. So the early part of the morning was spent at the restaurant, grading lobsters, starting the lobster cooker tanks, checking off deliveries and sorting product. I was replaced by Matt Pedersen at 9:00 AM. The work on the Bunny came between 9:00 and 11:00.
I received two more donations sponsoring me in this season's Pan-Mass Challenge. One was a very generous donation of $500.00 from my brother, Court (ME). This is his first time donating to the cause. The other was a generous $100.00 from Stan Wasserman (FL) who donates to me ride every year without fail. Thank you both so very much for your support and thoughtfulness. I know I sound like a broken record but I mean every word. It is so appreciated by so many.
There was no wind all morning. The ocean was flat calm along the shore with hardly a wind ruffle on it's surface. By noon, a wind direction from the south was established. But we didn't really feel it ashore until mid afternoon when six or eight knots of it was apparent. The wind blew out of the south for the rest of the day, increasing to almost fifteen knots by 8:00 PM. But, the wind never increased any more than that. In fact, it backed off to about ten knots or less through the night, hauling out of the south southwest before midnight. The sky was sunny all day with high cirrus clouds, posing no danger of rain at any point. The visibility was very good in some haze. The air temperature reached a high of 83°F in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. I didn't get a good look at an air temperature during the day as I was trying to lay low before the overnighter coming up, starting at 9:00 PM. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 85°F (with a low of 69°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 89°F (with a low of 61°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 82°F (with a low of 61°F).
I spent the day preparing for the "Dave Burton Ultra", as I mentioned, leaving at 9:00 PM. After the original "Ultra" was canceled due to the weather, Dave had asked if "you would consider doing another Ultra later...." Yes, I said, I would would consider it. At about the same time, Hez, my long standing partner in riding the Pan-Mass Challenge, had visited me at my house to tell me that he wasn't going to be fit enough to ride in the event. After consideration, I decided not to ride in it. This has been a long standing partnership, riding the PMC together. If he wasn't going to do it, it certainly wasn't going to be as much fun for me. Besides, the ride is not the important part; it's generating money for cancer research that is, by far, the most important. So, at that point, my mind strayed to organizing another Ultra during that same weekend time period. I called Dave, posed the question to him. He loved the idea. I called a small select group of regular anglers, seven who Dave likes to fish with and the idea turned into a trip.
This morning was spent getting the Bunny Clark ready to sail, the final details. Other details had been completed the two days before. I worked at the restaurants from late morning through until 2:00 PM. After that, I went home and went to bed. And, believe it or not, I got into bed as soon as I got home and overslept! I had planned to get up at 6:00 PM, have dinner and, then, go to the boat. Instead, I woke up at 7:15 PM, looking at my watch in disbelief, wondering if something happened to it while sleeping. I stumbled downstairs to find my dinner ready with Deb almost finished hers! I never did tell her to wake me up. Nor did I set an alarm! Ouch!
All turned out okay. I got to the boat on time, checked everyone in, brought all the paperwork back to the house and left the float at 9:00 PM, just as I had planned. I steered out for about a half hour, collecting the pool money that Danny DellaMonica, my number one, had collected plus some of the fishing items he had sold for me. I set the course, I had a whole plan layed out well ahead of time, as you might expect. I had told everyone of the plan I had before we left so everyone was prepared for the length of time, etc. At the seven mile mark, I turned the wheel over to Captain Bryan Lewer, my second captain, while I hit the rack. Pete Atwood, my second, stayed up with Bryan for the ride out.
I slept like a baby until 1:45 AM, when I took over the helm for Bryan. I was to steer nearly two more hours before we arrived at our destination. The sky started off fairly clear last night with some scattered clouds, but, essentially, clear. It was mostly overcast when I took over. We had a light wind (six or seven knots) from the south southwest with a one to two foot sea in chops. It was a very comfortable ride the whole way.
We started out the fishing with overcast skies and light south southwest winds. Eight knots was the strongest wind that I saw. Between what little tide (current) we had and the wind, seas were about two feet or less in chops. We had fog for a few hours in the morning that just gave us a better bite. Unfurtunately, this weather didn't last. As we headed to the second area I wanted to fish, the wind picked up, hauled more southwest, the sun came out with a clear sky and the visibility improved to about ten miles in haze. This remained until it was time to leave to go back in. Just at the end, the wind picked up out of the southwest to fifteen knots, more or less, with a three foot chop. The tide was moderate at first, strong enough later to inhibit the drift but backed off so the drift was perfect for the last two hours of the day, just what we needed. The visibility remained at about ten miles. The sky remained clear without a hint of a thunder shower.
Ashore, these were the air temperatures in selected New England cities: In Portsmouth, New Hampshire, the high air temperature was 86°F. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 86°F (with a low of 71°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 89°F (with a low of 70°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 81°F (with a low of 65°F).
The fishing was excellent, the catching was excellent for the morning, good to very good for the afternoon. Landings were very good to excellent. Most legal fish landed were white hake, by far. I was surprised to find so many white hake. I truly believe it was the later time of the year that I first try for them that gave us this benefit - plus the state of the moon and tide. And the fact that we had a weather event coming further endeared me to believing I had made the right choice for a day to do this. Halibut and other species of fish were the target after noon. Pollock were the most prevalent species from then until we cruised back to Perkins Cove. Legal landings also included a halibut, four cusk and six haddock. Released fish included two barndoor skates, four cod over 6 pounds, eighteen small cod, two halibut (not by choice - we lost them), twelve sub-legal pollock, a sub-legal haddock, sixteen dogfish, a handful of blue sharks and one wolffish. Incidentally, we never lost a jig to a blue shark. The ones we did lose, four, we got back - don't ask me how. The other shark attacks just got the fish and not the lure! We drift fished for most of the day and made a few anchor stops. All terminal gear worked well.
I couldn't tell you who was high hook with the most legal fish. There was just too much going on. Lewis Hazelwood (MA) won the boat pool for the largest fish with the largest fish, a 48 pound Maine state trophy white hake. This, of course, is our largest hake of the year so far and will probably remain so. Roger Gavin (MA) caught a 50 pound white hake last season, our biggest for a few years. But Lew's 48 pounder is Indeed a truly great fish with the potential of being a much bigger fish had we caught it earlier. It was 52" caliper fork length! That makes it the longest hake of the biggest hake that we have landed at any time during this millennium. It's also tied for seventh place with two other 48 pound white hake caught in over thirty years on the Bunny Clark. Incidentally, Lew caught a 47 pound Maine state trophy white hake with me during the 2018 Bunny Clark fishing season! That fish, too, makes it into the top twelve white hake for weight caught on the Bunny Clark in the last thirty years. Lew also makes it into the Bunny Clark record books by being only one of three anglers who have ever caught two or more barndoor skates in a single trip. His skates weighed 24 pounds and 14 pounds. Only Steve Selmer, with two, and Dave Burton, with three, match up to Lew! I took a picture of Lew holding his biggest of the two barndoors. This digital image appears on the left. Some of Lew's other good fish included a 22.5 pound white hake and a 30.5 pound Maine state trophy white hake. It was a great day to be Lew Hazelwood!
Steve Selmer (NH) won the boat pool for the second largest fish with the second largest fish, a 43.5 pound Maine state trophy white hake. Steve broke the world record with a 54 pound white hake with me in 2018. That fish wasn't as long as Lew's fish today but it certainly was girthier. The all tackle world record still remains in Steve's name. Steve also caught a 27 pound Maine state trophy white hake, a 20.5 pound white hake and 34.5 pound Maine state trophy white hake. He lost one of the biggest, if not "the" biggest, halibut of the day. He fought it for quite a while before losing if just before we saw the leader knot. I don't know what happened. Maybe it was foul hooked? It was under the boat when he lost it so we never even got to see it!
Bill Harding won the boat pool for the third largest fish with the third largest fish, a 39 pound halibut. At 45" long, it's the smallest of the three we have landed on the Bunny Clark this season to date. We have now hooked up with seventeen but only boated three. Bill had number fifteen on today but blew it. losing it when the line went too limp. Who really knows; he might have lost it even if he did everything right. I do like to abuse him as much as I can get away with! At any rate, I took a picture of Bill holding his halibut. This digital image appears on the right. Bill was one of the more successful hake anglers today. He also landed a 27.5 pound Maine state trophy white hake, a 33.5 pound Maine state trophy white hake, a 25.25 pound Maine state trophy white hake, 23 pound hake, a 37 pound Maine state trophy white hake, the fourth largest fish of the trip, A 32.5 pound Maine state trophy white hake, a 16 pound white hake, the biggest cusk at 9.25 pounds and the only wolffish at 12 pounds. The wolffish is, officially, our fifth largest wolffish caught this season to date. On June 30 of this year, Matt Luce (ME) brought a wolffish to the surface that looked to be about 20 pounds, more or less. Danny tried to left it out of the water by the jig but it wasn't hooked well enough and flopped into the water, never to be seen again. So, even if it were bigger, which it was, I never got a weight on it.
Other Angler Highlights: Ali Gregoire (MA) was on her maiden voyage aboard the Bunny Clark today, thanks to Dave Burton (MA). She really enjoyed herself, had never caught a white hake before and had never seen an operation quite like this one. Her biggest fish was a 20.5 pound white hake, her first. I took a picture of Ali holding this fish. The digital image appears on the left. Dave Burton's biggest fish was a 31.5 pound Maine state trophy white hake. He caught two haddock of about 4 pounds each. I didn't weigh them. Mark Girard (NH) caught our largest pollock of the season today, so far. It weighed 15 pounds. Some of his other fish included a 27 pound Maine state trophy white hake, a 22 pound white hake and a 34.5 pound Maine state trophy white hake. Steve LaPlante (CT) landed a 23 pound white hake, a 16 pound white hake, a 24.5 pound white hake, a 26.5 pound Maine state trophy white hake, two more hake of 16 pounds each, and, his biggest fish of the trip, a 35 pound Maine state trophy white hake. Bryan Lewer caught a hake that would have been one of the three biggest of the day. But a huge blue shark took all of the body behind the gills. The head itself was almost a trophy at 23 pounds! Some of his other good fish included a 34 pound Maine state trophy white hake, a 28.5 pound Maine state trophy white hake, a 21 pound white hake, a 30 pound Maine state trophy white hake and a 25.5 pound Maine state trophy white hake. Jeff Corey (MA) didn't get his second halibut in two trips, as I expected him to do. His best fish included a 27 pound Maine state trophy white hake, a 25 pound Maine state trophy white hake, a 22.5 pound white hake and a 28 pound Maine state trophy white hake. Pete Atwood, who also works for the Rick LaPierre on the Yellowbird, a really good party fishing boat out of Seabrook, New Hampshire, did get some time to go fishing. His best fish included a 28 pound Maine state trophy white hake, a 35 pound Maine state trophy white hake, a 34 pound Maine state trophy white hake, his biggest, a 36 pound Maine state trophy white hake, a 27 pound Maine state trophy white hake and the largest cod at 10.25 pounds.
On the ride in I was reminded why I only do one of these trips a year. It took forever to get home!
I received several donations sponsoring me in the Pan-Mass Challenge today. Those anglers and their contributions included Dave Burton for a generous $100.00, Ali Gregoire for $50.00, Jeff Corey for $40.00 and Mark Girard for $60.00. You all continue to amaze me with your thoughtfulness and support. I could not do this fundraiser as well as I do without it. I always laugh to myself when people tell me what a wonderful job I'm doing with this, when, in fact, it's all of you that make it look that way. So thank you for making me look so good, for your help and, certainly, for your generosity. I really appreciate this, as you must know by now!
As the wind increased, and it did increase, the fog left us. By 7:00 AM, it was completely gone. At that time, the wind was out of the southeast at fifteen knots or so. The wind increased at steady rate. By 9:00 AM, the wind was blowing out of the south at eighteen knots with higher gusts. By noon, the wind at the Portland Lightship buoy was out of the south at over twenty knots with gusts to almost thirty knots. The southerly wind blew at twenty to twenty-five knots throughout the afternoon. It rained all day with periods where it was not. Just as soon as I thought it was over, the rain would start again. It was humid today, more than expected. The air temperature didn't get as high as I expected. But, with the humidity, it seemed higher than it was. The highest air temperature that I saw was 79°F at almost 6:00 PM. All I could figure was that the southerly wind brought in the warmer air temperatures. The visibility along the shore was good all day, not really any better than that. The sky, of course, was overcast all day. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 80°F (with a low of 71°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 82°F (with a low of 61°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 74°F (with a low of 64°F).
I never got a chance to write up the report even though I had five hours to do so on the way in. The Bunny Clark is a bitch to steer in a following sea so I had all I could do to keep the boat going in the right direction. I, actually, didn't feel like it anyway. I had a pile of trophy cards to fill out and lists to make out for the next day at the restaurant.
The rest of the day I spent at the restaurant, much of it in the office as I wasn't here for the busiest part of the week (Saturday and Sunday). I did get to go over the engine and get the boat ready for tomorrow. But I was late getting to bed.
I received three donations sponsoring me in my quest for a cancer free world through genetic research with the Pan-Mass Challenge today. Those anglers and their donations included David & Kathleen MacDonald for a very generous $250.00. David is fighting the disease and both his parents passed from cancer. He is an excellent person and a wonderful fisherman, who used to fish with me on a regular basis. We still keep in touch. I also received a generous $100.00 for Albert "Stoney" Stone (NH), a guy who taught me a lot about the meaning of life when I was young while working at Barnacle Billy's. His gift is in remembrance of his brother, Douglas, who was on Flight 11 AA on 11 September 2001. Still another very generous donation was received from Bill & Roseann Pakenham (MA) for a very generous $300.00. Their donation came in the form of an "eGift" through the PMC site with the message; "Tim, thank you for fighting the good fight!" Thank you all so very much for your thoughtful generous donations. I do so appreciate the help!
At 2:45 AM EDT the air temperature was 62°F, the sky was clear with a, nearly, half moon making it's way to the apex, the wind was blowing out of the west at ten knots and the visibility over the ocean was excellent.
We passed through the gate with a half moon bright in back of us and excellent visibility going forward. We had excellent visibility all the way to the fishing grounds. The wind was blowing about ten knots out of the west northwest. Seas were chops of a foot or two. The air temperature was about 66°F for the whole ride. The sky remained clear.
On the fishing grounds, the sky remained clear with a bright sun all day. The wind started out of the west northwest up to fifteen knots with seas in chops of two feet, maybe a bit more. The wind backed out of the west before noon. We had westerly wind until about 2:00 PM. From that time on, the wind blew out of the southwest. The westerly wind had been dying all day. Before the wind hauled southwest, there was just about no wind until the wind shift. The air temperature reached a high of 75°F. The visibility ranged to thirty or more miles. The sky stayed clear and sunny all day. The tide (current) was into the wind all day (moderate). The surface water 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 87°F. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 87°F (with a low of 66°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 88°F (with a low of 57°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 86°F (with a low of 61°F).
The fishing was good overall, no better than that. The first drift was nearly perfect. We never had a good drift after that. Anchoring was the only way we could comfortably fish. We saw the most dogfish we have seen this year so far, today. And the bite wasn't as good for the fish I was seeing. The catching was good, very good if you included the dogfish. Landings were good, no better than that. Most legal fish landed were pollock, by far. We caught pollock everywhere we went. We had enough pollock after the first drift so that most didn't want anymore pollock. Legal landings also included seventy-two haddock, nine (or more) cusk, two redfish and five mackerel. Released fish included eight cod over 6 pounds, nineteen small cod, six sub-legal haddock, I guessed at twenty-two sub-legal pollock (maybe more), two blue sharks with jewelry and ninety-three dogfish. We rotated through drifting and anchoring. All terminal gear worked well enough. I almost think that jigs worked the best.
I couldn't tell you who was high hook with the most legal fish.There was a group of four excellent fishermen aboard with me today. It could have been any one of them. Actually, one of them, Leon Skolnik (CT) should have won the boat pool with a cod of about eighteen or twenty pounds. The fish was hooked in the pectoral fin. I didn't want to gaff it and kill it. So I tried to lift it. It wasn't hooked well enough to bring it into the boat. It fell off and swam to bottom. Leon caught the largest haddock of the trip. It weighed 4.5 pounds.
Paul Kostopoulos (CT) won the boat pool for the largest fish with the largest fish, a 13 pound pollock. Peter Lawrence (MA) won the boat pool for the second largest fish with the second largest fish, a 12 pound pollock. Peter caught more than ten legal haddock and a bunch of pollock. I weighed a 9 pound pollock and a 9.5 pound pollock of his before it was clear that that size fish was not going to be a pool contender. The third largest fish was an 11.5 pound pollock caught by Matt Luce (ME). Other fish of Matt's that I weighed included a 10 pound pollock, a 9 pound pollock and an 8 pound cod. And, of course, he was fishing in Luce Corner.
Other Angler Hightlights: Kim Martin (ME) caught a 9.5 pound pollock early in the trip. Izzy Martin (ME) caught a 9 pound pollock and a 10 pound pollock. She also caught one of the first 4 pound haddock. I took a picture of Izzy holding this fish. The digital image appears on the left. Jeremy Agresti (FL) caught a 10.25 pound pollock, his biggest fish. John Tanguay (ME) boated an 11 pound pollock, his biggest fish. He also had the best catch, for landings, I have seen him have in a couple of trips. Mark Coleman (NY) caught a few pollock and a 3.75 pound haddock. Kyle Hamblin (VT) caught a 4 pound haddock and a cod that was about 7 pounds. Ron Dohan (CT) landed a 4 pound haddock. Everyone caught pollock up to 9 pounds.
I received two donations today sponsoring me in my cancer fundraising drive with the Pan-Mass Challenge. The donors included Schan Martin and family (ME) for $50.00 and Mark Coleman for $50.00. Thank you for the support on this project. I really appreciate this a great deal - for reasons it would take me too long to list!
The ocean remained flat calm for most of the morning. Indeed, the surface along the shore was glassy. Around noon, the wind became established out of the south. It blew up to about eight knots. By 6:00 PM, the wind had dropped to about three knots. The sky was clear all day with cirrus clouds, at most. The visibility was very good in some haze. The air temperature reached a high, that I saw, of 87°F. It wasn't very humid so this felt nice. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 88°F (with a low of 67°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 89°F (with a low of 56°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 82°F (with a low of 58°F).
I lost the computer I use to write these updates on Tuesday morning. I thought about this all day. I was too tired to do anything about it Tuesday night. So I tackled it at 3:00 AM this morning. I did get it fixed; a miracle. I love my XP operating system. So simple. And something I am so used to. By 9:30 AM I had fixed the problem and posted the update. But it put me well behind everything else I had to do today. I never did get caught up. But that's what weekends are for, right? It's not like I haven't been behind many times before. During the Captain Kenton years, I was always behind. But that was mostly because we were competing with each other for trophy fish. That was so much fun. Ahhh, memories.
We were starting to have a yellow jacket problem in one of the beams at Original, Barnacle Billy's. I met the man, Keith, from Ehrlich Pest Control at the restaurant at 7:00 AM this morning. I watched him for a half hour before going back to work on my computer problem. By the end of the day, there was hardly a bee to be seen. Keith told me it would be this way.
By noon, I was back at the restaurants. I worked until a little after 5:00 PM, when I took the scooter home and got Gill for a walk to the Cove to get the truck. He enjoyed his walk but it seemed harder than ever for him. He never seems any different to me, watching him. He still sniffs every bush, investigates different areas, loves getting a milk bone and picks up his sloppy pace to receive one. He seems very content when he's finally situated in the truck and will open the passenger side window if I don't. So he seems okay. Hell getting old.
At 2:45 AM EDT the air temperature was 70°F, the sky was clear with a waning crescent moon hanging high above the eastern horiizon, the wind was out of the west at six knots in Perkins Cove (out of the southwest at eight knots at the Portland Lightship buoy) and the visibility over the ocean was excellent. More later.
We have several future marathon trips that have openings. The dates and the number of spots available are as follows: August 4 has three spots available, August 6 has twelve spots available, August 11 has nine spots available, August 13 has seventeen spots available, August 18 has fourteen spots available, August 20 has seven spots available and August 25 has 13 spots available. The fishing has been very good so far with pollock showing up, less haddock but enough for everyone who wants one (or ten) and new spots to try. Be there or be square!
As the Iran war continues, so does the increase in fuel prices. So I'm afraid we will have to ask for a fuel surcharge. If we go offshore, the price will start at $20.00, for the offshore trips. If we end up fishing closer to shore, I will refund $10.00 of it. I'm sorry I have to do this. And I hope you understand. Hopefully, these fuel prices will decrease so we can go
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