Bunny Clark Fishing Update
Written & Edited by Tim Tower
Thursday, August 20, 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
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 83°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 horizon, 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.
Passing through the gate, headed to the open ocean, the air temperature was 72°F and the water temperature was 58°F. Five miles out, the water temperature increased five degrees and remained so until we arrived on the fishing grounds. The wind was blowing out of the southwest and, then, south southwest almost to our destination. Our highest wind speed was about ten knots. The visibility was excellent. The sky was cloudless.
On the fishing grounds, the wind continued out of the south southwest with wind speeds as high as twelve knots and seas in chops of one to two feet. We seemed to have a long swell of about two feet from the south. The wind started dropping after 9:00 AM. And it kept backing. By noon, we had southerly wind. After noon, the wind came southeast. We had fog around 1:00 PM but it didn't last. The wind eventually petered out leaving us with a calm ocean surface and a very light wind from the southeast. The air temperature was 72°F all day until the last hour of fishing, when the wind dropped and the air temperature rose to 82°F. This is the highest air temperature we have seen out here this year so far. The sky was nearly cloudless all day. The visibility ranged to over twenty-five miles for all but the short period of time that we saw the fog. The tide (current) was moderate and into the wind. It wasn't as bad as Tuesday's trip but almost. The surface water temperature reached a high of 67°F.
Ashore, these were the air temperatures in selected New England cities: In Portsmouth, New Hampshire, the high air temperature was 90°F. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 86°F (with a low of 73°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 93°F (with a low of 65°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 87°F (with a low of 67°F).
The fishing was good overall. We had parts of the day that were excellent and parts of the day where the fishing was marred by the counter-current.We did have dogfish but nowhere near the dogs we had on Tuesday. The catching was excellent except for a two hour period of discovery. Landings were very good. Most legal fish landed were pollock, by far. Everywhere we went we caught pollock. Legal landings also included seven cusk, fourteen haddock, seven white hake, a small halibut, five redfish, three mackerel and two red hake. Released fish included twenty-two small cod, one 20 pound cod, one sub-legal haddock, eighteen sub-legal pollock, twenty-seven dogfish and two blue sharks with jewelry. We alternated between drifting and anchoring. All terminal gear worked well but bait caught the most dogfish.
I couldn't tell you who was high hook with the most legal fish. I would like to think it was Jonathan Parker (NY) but I can't qualify that. He must have caught the most keepers before noon but all bets were off after that. The two fish of his that I weighed included a 10.5 pound pollock and a 16 pound pollock. The 16 pound pollock is, currently, the Bunny Clark's third largest pollock of the fishing season.
Bill Robinson (FL) won the boat pool for the largest fish with the largest fish, a 31.5 pound (just) legal sized Atlantic halibut. This is Bill's first Atlantic halibut. He has caught halibut in Alaska but not on the east coast. I took a picture of Bill holding the halibut. This digital image appears on the left. I also weighed a 15 pound white hake for him. Laura Parker (NH) won the boat pool for the second largest fish with the second largest fish, a 20 pound cod. This is the second largest cod that I have weighed this season to date. We had another one of about the same size on Tuesday that we never got aboard to weigh. And no one beats Dick Lyle (NY) in the cod department! I did take a picture of Laura holding her steaker cod before she released it back to the ocean alive. This digital image appears on the right in this missive. The third largest fish of the trip was a 19.5 pound white hake caught by Bill's dory mate, Eric Cole (NY).
Other Angler Hightlights: I weighed an 11 pound pollock, a 13.75 pound pollock and a 10 pound pollock for Sam Tillona (MA). Ron Baker (MA) landed a 17.5 pound pollock, his biggest fish of the trip. This is the Bunny Clark's largest pollock of the season so far. Two other fish of his that I weighed included a 10 pound pollock and an 11 pound pollock. Brian Tufts (FL) had a lot of good fish that I weighed. Some of these fish included a 15 pound pollock. This ties our fourth largest pollock of the Bunny Clark fishing season to date. Other fish of his included a 12 pound pollock, an 11 pound white hake, a 5 pound haddock, an 11 pound pollock and a 10.5 pound white hake. He and Jonathan had the most bags of fillets when they walked off the boat this evening. By in large, Jonathan's fish were smaller. So, I would guess that Brian came in at second hook? No one will ever really know. Josh Dub (ME) caught the first Maine state trophy haddock we have been able to weigh in a month. We did lose about a 10 pound haddock on the surface in July that I never did get a chance to put a scale on. I'm still mooning over that loss. Josh's haddock weighed 7.25 pounds. His biggest fish today was a 13 pound pollock. Darlene Chin (VT/FL) boated a 17 pound pollock, her largest of the season and the Bunny Clark's second largest pollock of the fishing season so far. She also caught a couple haddock and lots of pollock. Robert Davis, Jr. (MD) caught a pollock double that included a 12.5 pound pollock and a 7 pound pollock, both fish caught on the same line at the same time. This was his first Maine deep sea fishing trip. Christain Tillona (MA) caught the largest cusk of the day. It weighed 11.5 pounds, a half pound shy of a Maine state trophy.
I received a very generous $300.00 donation from Norm Viens & Linda Govone (MA), sponsoring me in my cancer project with the Pan-Mass Challenge today. Norm & Linda have sponsored me since I got involved twenty years ago. This year alone that have donated a total of $500.00. This is very generous indeed. And so much appreciated by so many. Thank you so so much!
The ocean stayed calm along the shore all day long. The wind, when there was wind, was light and variable in direction but mostly from the south. Wind speeds may have been as high a six knots. The sky was clear all day with few clouds. What clouds we did have were high cirrus clouds. The visibility dropped to better than good in haze. This after noon. As the air temperature increased the visibility decreased. I saw a high air temperature of 89°F around 1:00 PM. It could have been higher but not in Perkins Cove as we had just enough southerly wind to pull the cooler ocean air over the parking lot and to the restaurants. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 92°F (with a low of 74°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 93°F (with a low of 70°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 90°F (with a low of 71°F).
It was my day to open the restaurants again. It was Friday. I was there at 4:45 AM. It was a normal delivery day. I was there for a while with Gill, as I brought him down in the Bunny Clark truck with me. I filled the cooker tanks for the steamers and did a few other things. I then walked Gill home and brought the scooter down. Ieft the restaurants to go home at 9:00 AM or shortly afterward.
Once home, I finished the fishing report that I had started at 3:00 AM before I went to the restaurants. Once I got what I needed to get finished, done, I got myself ready to spend the rest of the day at the restaurant.
This is also a catch-up day after being on the boat for the whole day the day before. I got home at 6:00 PM. It was an early out as I started early.
I received two generous $100.00 donations sponsoring me in the Pan-Mass Challenge today. One was from Rick & Sue Towne (NH). The other was from Frank & Dianne Hludik (Ogunquit). All have supported me before. It's so nice to see this support coming back every year. I really feel lucky when I get the repeat donors. It also cements my feeling that I'm on the right track. Thank you all so very much for your thoughtfulness, generosity and help. I so appreciate this.
There was no wind all day long. I guess there was some wind as I saw wind patches on the water from time to time. But the ocean along the shore was flat all day. There wasn't even any wave action on the beaches today. The visibility remained excellent. The sky was cloudy for a while in the early part of the morning but cleared by 9:00 AM and stayed clear for the rest of the day. The air temperature never got much over 80°F. The highest air temperature that I saw was 83°F. It was cooler in the Cove in the afternoon as we had a very light breeze off the water. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 94°F (with a low of 76°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 91°F (with a low of 71°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 80°F (with a low of 69°F).
My morning was spent at the computer updating my site and straightening out the Pan-Mass Challenge today fundraising details. I spent two hours of it writing thank you letters.
I arrived at the restaurants at noon ready to go. I spent the rest of the day there. I got home after 9:00 PM, after walking Gill down to get the Bunny Clark truck. It was a perfect weather day so it was a busy day in the Cove.
I received several donations sponsoring me in the Pan-Mass Challenge today. Those donors and their donations included Howard & Barbara Goldenfarb (ME) for a very generous $1,000.00 and Andy Barowsky (ME) for another very generous $1,000.00. Andy made his donation in the form of an "eGift" through the PMC site with the message; "Great cause!". I also received a generous $200.00 donation from Malcolm & Kathie Jepson (CA). They too made their donation in the form of an "eGift" through the PMC site, this one with the message; "Thank you for helping this important fund." I also received an anonymous donation of $100.00 from a couple wonderful patrons of Barnacle Billy's restaurant. Thank you all so very much for your support and generous help. I am very appreciative of all the wonderful help I do get from such wonderful people!
It was another beautiful day today with very little wind. What wind we did have, came from the south over the ocean and landing on Perkins Cove. It would have been hot today but the wind kept it just a little warmer than I would have liked. Still, we will be thinking of this day in February! The visibility was very good in some haze. The sky was clear with very few clouds. The air temperature reached a high of, at least, 89°F. I was too busy to keep track of the air temperature. It might have been over 90°F at some point in the day. The air temperature reached a high of 91°F in Portsmouth, New Hampster. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 90°F (with a low of 74°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 91°F (with a low of 65°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 92°F (with a low of 66°F).
I had a lot of catching up, still, to do in the home office. Not so much at the office in the restaurants. But it took me most of the morning to get what I needed to get done, done. When I did get to Barnacle Billy's at noon, it was full on, mostly conferring with patrons.
I worked until the evening rush and then went home.
For those who want to know, Gill is still hanging in there. I didn't walk him down to the Cove to get the truck tonight. I thought it might be too warm for him. But I did walk him around our neighborhood, trying to hit all the grassy spots so he wouldn't skin the tops of his hind paws while walking. The tar does that to him. I did almost make a mistake walking through the property of a nearby summer home that I thought was vacant when, in fact, there was a bit of a party going on at the other side of the house. I did manage to get off the lawn without anyone seeing us. God forbid that Gill be seen taking a nature break in front of everyone.
Another beautiful day in Ogunquit. This was definitely a "111". We had zero wind all morning. The ocean along the shore was like a table top, it was so flat. We did have some wind, southwest. After noon. But, by 3:00 PM, the wind was out of the south. Wind speeds got up as high as eight knots, just enough wind to lift a flag. That was the highest wind speed that I saw all day with the same wind direction and velocity at 6:00 PM. The sky was very hazy clear. No clouds, really, just a hazy clear sky was a hazy sun. The visibility was very good in haze. The air temperature was cooler today. I only saw a high of 83°F. It could have been higher but I doubt it. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 85°F (with a low of 71°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 86°F (with a low of 59°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 84°F (with a low of 62°F).
My morning was spent getting things done. I had appointments to make so I was on the phone until about 9:00 AM. I spent the rest of the day in Portsmouth, New Hampshire picking up different things I needed for the boat, for my lunch tomorrow and having a heart scan done at Portsmouth Hospital.
By 1:00 PM, I was back at work at the restaurants. I worked until 5:00 PM, took the scooter back home, grabbed Gill, our border collie, and walked to the Cove with him to get the truck. I wanted to eat and get to bed early for tomorrow's trip.
At 2:45 AM EDT the air temperature was 70°F, the sky was partly cloudy, there was very little wind, if any, in Perkins Cove (the closest weather buoy showed ten to fifteen knots out of the northwest) and the visibility over the ocean was excellent.
There was no wind for the first four miles after leaving the gate behind. When there was wind, it was light from the east southeast. We might have had four knots at sunrise, out of the southeast. The ocean was calm the whole way. The air temperature hung at 70°F for the ride out. The surface water temperature stayed around 68°F. The sky was very hazy clear, to the point of being so hazy it was hard to see a star. The visibility was very good in haze.
On the fishing grounds, the wind started light out of the southeast. Maybe a knot or two. The ocean was calm. Then we had northwest wind about three knots. This was followed by a westerly wind of eight knots with a one foot chop. From 10 AM until noon, we had west northwest wind of ten knots, more or less, with a one to two foot chop. We ended the day with no wind at all but ran into a northwest wind of eight knots with a one foot chop on the way home. The air temperature reached a high of 75°F. The tide was screwy all morning with the boat drifting bow first. We had a perfect drift for the last two hours of the day. The tide (current) ranged from strong/moderate to very light. The visibility ranged to twenty-five miles in haze. The surface water temperature reached a high of 70.8°F, the highest value we have seen all season.
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 74°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 86°F (with a low of 63°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 86°F (with a low of 62°F).
The fishing was very good overall, despite the flukey current. No one had a problem tending bottom and the weather/sea conditions were perfect. It wasn't excellent because there were too many blue sharks and dogfish at times. The catching was excellent. Landings were nearly so. Most legal fish landed were pollock, by far. Legal landings also included seventeen cusk, fifty-two haddock, twenty-one redfish and a whiting. Released fish included two cod over 6 pounds, twenty-six small cod, twelve sub-legal haddock, twenty-eight sub-legal pollock, four blue sharks with jewelry, one good sized halibut with jewelry, a tuna with jewelry and seventy-one dogfish. We drift fished, mostly, anchored once. Jigs and cod flies caught the most landed fish.
Randy Clark (VT) and Dan Dorr (ME) were tied for high hook with the most legal fish by noon. Dan slipped ahead of Randy in the afternoon. Dan caught eight keeper haddock. Randy won the boat pool for the second largest fish with the second largest fish, a 17.5 pound pollock.This pollock is tied for the Bunny Clark's largest pollock of the season so far. I also weighed a 10 pound pollock and an 11 pound pollock for Randy.
Steve Linn (PA) won the boat pool for the largest fish with the largest fish, a 19.5 pound cod. This is the third largest weighed cod of the Bunny Clark fishing season to date. [I dropped a cod for an angler on the surface last week that was approximately the same size that swam to bottom.] I took a picture of Steve holding this cod just before releasing it back to the ocean alive. And it was very much alive. This digital image appears on the left. I also weighed a 10.5 pound pollock for Steve before I could find a decent fish to weigh for the boat pool. The third largest fish was a 13.5 pound pollock caught by Bob Hensley (NH).
. Other Angler Hightlights: Pete Atwood (VT) caught a double that included a 13 pound pollock and a 9 pound pollock, both fish on the same line at the same time. It was the biggest double of the trip. I weighed a 10 pound pollock and a 12.5 pound pollock for Rob Kishbaugh (PA). Rodd Froebel (NY) caught a double that included a 12 pound pollock and a 7 pound pollock. Steve Clark (VT) caught the largest haddock of the day at 6 pounds. Steve caught eight keeper haddock today. The second largest haddock was one that weighed 5.25 pounds, caught by Marty Rivard (VT). Matt Elmer (NY) had the biggest losses today. He lost a small tuna. He lost a halibut that looked to be hooked in the side when it got tangled in some lines and busted off heading to bottom (100 or so pounds?). And he lost two keeper haddock that bounced off the washrail, in the water and back down to bottom. Matt would have won the hard luck award had I still be giving them out!
And then there was Mike Szczepanski (NY) who was fishing for halibut exlusively. Whenever a live mackerel was caught, Danny saved it for him to put on a hook so he could drop it to bottom. Closer to the end of the trip, he hooked into something big on the bottom. He called for me right away. After about a minute or more, I realized that this fish wasn't acting like a halibut. The more time I spent looking at the fight, the more I was convinced it was a blue shark. Because of the large tackle Mike was using, he had the shark to the boat in short order. I took a picture of Mike with the shark on the end of the line just before he cut the line and let the shark go. The fish looked to be about 200 pounds or so. This digital image appears on the right. It was exciting for a while, thinking that his wish had come true. We were certainly fishing around the halibut all day. Maybe if the bite had been a little less, one of those big boys (big girls) would have ended up on the deck of the Bunny Clark.
I received three donations today sponsoring me in my cancer fundraising drve with the Pan-Mass Challenge, a cyclinPg event to raise money to support a team of scientists who specialize in genetic profiling. These donors and their donations included Steve & Gail Linn for $60.00. Randy Clark donated a generous $100.00. He made the donation in memory of Alexis "Lexy" Giallella and, also, in memory of Captain Ian Keniston. I also received a very generous $250.00 donation from Roger "Bo" & Cindy Adams (ME). They made their donation in the form of an "eGift" through the PMC site, this one with the message; "Two great guys doing a lot of good! Hope to see you one of these days, Hez! All the best!". Thank you all so much for your thoughtfulness, generosity and support. It means so much to so many!
It was greasy calm for most of the morning again today. There was no wave action along the shore. And this is probably the longest time we have had such calm weather, at any time of year, for a long time. The water, for almost two weeks, has been so clear, I'll bet that most times you can see down thirty feet or more. This afternoon, we saw more wind than we have been seeing in the last few days. I started seeing the wind after noon. Southwest. It had increased to ten knots by 4:00 PM. Offshore a bit it was out of the southeast. Wind speeds there increased to twelve knots at the closest weather buoy. The sky was sunny with some clouds here and there. The visibility was very good in some haze. The highest air temperature that I saw was 84°F. It was not humid at all today. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 84°F (with a low of 70°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 85°F (with a low of 58°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 83°F (with a low of 59°F).
Today was a mix of working at the house in the morning and working at the restaurant starting at 11:30 AM. I did work on the Bunny Clark getting her ready to sail. But that didn't take very long. I Ieft restaurant and boat at 5:00 PM.
At 2:45 AM EDT the air temperature was 66°F at the Bunny Clark, the sky was mostly cloudy, the wind was light out of the northwest and the visibility over the ocean seemed excellent.
We left Perkins Cove under overcast skies with very good visibility. This continued for the whole ride out to the fishing grounds. Once we were out a couple miles, we established an air temperature of 69°F. That temperature never wavered until we stopped. There was no wind. The ocean was flat calm. We kept a constant water temperature of 69°F. Half way to the fishing grounds, I started seeing rain showers here and there on radar. Some of these had lightning showing. There was no rain when we first arrived at our destination.
On the fishing grounds, we had light southwest winds to start, very light. We started to have light showers during the first long drift. The wind direction was variable and light at that time. At 8:20 AM, we had very heavy rain showers with thunder and lightning. We had to anchor to make it more comfortable for the passengers and to keep them dry. No one, it seemed, had brought oil gear. The wind was about ten knots out of the northwest. When the rain passed, we had light northwest wind and clearing skies. From then on, the sky was a mix of sun and clouds. We were rain free for the rest of the day. The wind was light out of the north, dropped out and blew out of the southwest and west at five knots. The air temperature reached a high of 81°F. The tide (current) was strong for most of the day. The visibility ranged to over twenty-five miles after noon. The water temperature reached a high of 70°F.
Ashore, these were the air temperatures in selected New England cities: In Portsmouth, New Hampshire, the high air temperature was 84°F. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 86°F (with a low of 70°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 83°F (with a low of 60°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 80°F (with a low of 55°F).
The fishing was good to very good overall. It could have been excellent if it were not for the strong current, the dogfish and the added annoyance of blue sharks. The catching was excellent; everyone had fish on all the time. Landings were very good. Most legal fish landed were pollock, by far. Legal landings also included eleven cusk, thirty-nine haddock, fourteen redfish, a cunner, five mackerel and a whiting. Released fish included thirty small cod, six cod from 6 to 10.5 pounds, four sub-legal haddock, fifty-five (or more) sub-legal pollock, seven blue sharks with jewelry and eighty-five dogfish. We drift fished and anchored. Jigs and cod flies caught the most fish.
I couldn't tell you who was high hook with the most legal fish. There was too much going on and many did very well on fish count. If I were to guess, I would say it was Chris Atkins (PA). Chris ended up winning the boat pool for the second largest fish with the fourth largest fish, a 10.5 pound cod. He also caught the first good sized haddock, a 5 pounder. I took a picture of Chris holding this haddock. The digital image of him appears on the left.
Eddie Kantar (NY) caught the largest fish of the trip, a 14.5 pound pollock. He was not in the boat pool . I also weighed a 7 pound cod for him before it was released. Eddie's son, Kevin Kantar, (NY) caught the second largest fish, a 12.5 pound pollock. Kevin, too, was not in the boat pool. I also weighed an 8 pound pollock for him. Kevin caught the largest haddock of the day, weighing 6 pounds. Chad Roy (MA) won the boat pool for the largest fish with the third largest fish, an 11.25 pound pollock.
Other Angler Hightlights: Kenny Mosher (NY) caught the first fish I could weigh for the boat pool, a 9 pound pollock. He also caught eight legal haddock, the largest of which weighed 5.25 pounds. Ken Andrews (ME) caught a 7.5 pound cod and an 8 pound cod that I weighed before releasing. His largest weighed fish was a 10 pound pollock. But he lost a bigger pollock right beside the boat. Steve LaPlante (CT) caught four or five haddock. I weighed a 4 pound haddock for him. But it wasn't his largest haddock.
I received four donations sponsoring me in the Pan-Mass Challenge. Those donors and their donations included our own Danny DellaMonica for $20.00, Bob Munroe and Linda Burgess (both MA) for $20.00 each, Chad Roy for $70.00 and Steve LaPlante for a generous $100.00. Thank you all so very much for your support and thoughtfulness. I really do appreciate all the help, the generosity and the trust you put in me!
It was a beautiful day today. The sky was cloudless for most of the morning. Later, cumulus clouds started to show up dotting the sky, started from the west and moving east over the water. At the same time the wind picked up out of the northwest. Wind blew out of the northwest to fifteen knots. The visibility remained excellent. The sun was bright. There was no humidity. The highest air temperature that I saw was 80°F. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 84°F (with a low of 69°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 81°F (with a low of 55°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 80°F (with a low of 57°F).
It was my normal Friday at the restaurant at 4:30 AM morning. I stayed for a while getting things organized before I walked Gill back home. Then, it was back down to the restaurant. I was back to the house at 9:30 AM to get ready for my restaurant day.
I received a generous $150.00 donation from Linda Hamel (NH) sponsoring me in my cancer project with the Pan-Mass Challenge. Linda has been supporting me in this cause for as long as I have been involved. Thank you, Linda, very much I so appreciate your thoughtfulness and generosity!
Today was another perfect day with very light wind, perfect air temperatures, sunny skies and excellent visibility. The day started out with light northwest wind. That died out before noon and left us with a glassy ocean along the shore. Light southerly wind dominated the afternoon and evening. The visibility was excellent all day. The sky was clear with some clouds. The air temperature just barely cracked 76°F. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 76°F (with a low of 66°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 81°F (with a low of 49°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 76°F (with a low of 54°F).
Today was the busiest day, for traffic, that I have ever seen in Perkins Cove. There was a constant line of cars coming in and leaving Perkins Cove. The restaurants were busy. And it was the longest time I have spent at the restaurants for a day. I was so wound up after leaving them, I didn't get to sleep for another hour and a half after getting home.
I received a nice $50.00 donation from Bill & Barbara Finkle (ME) sponsoring me in the Pan-Mass Challenge cancer research project today. Thank you both for thinking of me and the support in this mission of mine with the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in our own back yard of Boston, Massachusetts! I appreciate this so very much!
I worked on getting the Bunny Clark ready, on and off, during the day. I did a bit of work in the office at Barnacle Billy's in the morning. I had Gill with me. He spent some time finding the areas that weren't perfectly cleaned. I think that if you want a restaurant perfectly cleaned, bring a dog in to find the spots you missed.
My official work day at the restaurant started at noon again today. I left at 5:00 PM. I used the time after work to take Gill down to the Cove again to get the Bunny Clark truck. The rest of the time I spent starting to build my lunch for the Tuesday trip.
By 9:30 AM, the rain was done for the day. The sky remained overcast for the rest of the day. It looked like it was going to rain from time to time but it never did. The wind blew as much as twenty knots out of the south southwest in the early morning but dropped to ten knots, out of the south, at noon. The wind stayed out of the south at light speeds throughout the afternoon. By 6:00 PM, the wind was about six knots out of the south, at most. The visibility was excellent. The air temperature reached a high of 74°F. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 76°F (with a low of 66°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 76°F (with a low of 66°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 70°F (with a low of 65°F).
I was planning to write this report and post it on Tuesday morning early. But my computer died. I will need a generous amount of time to fix this problem. In the meantime, I have transferred all my saved files to a laptop I use in emergencies. Otherwise, there would be no reports at all.
Updating my PMC page will come along a little later.
At 2:45 AM EDT the air temperature was 66°F, the sky seemed overcast, there was a light breeze from the east blowing over the parking lot and the visibility was poor in fog.
A third of the way to the fishing grounds we had an air temperature of 70°F. The air temperature stayed the same until we reefed the side curtains with a mile left to go. The air temperature dropped three degrees in so doing. The surface water temperature stayed at 65°F for the whole ride out. The sky was overcast. We had fog for the first few miles. This fog let go for the rest of the ride. We seemed to have ten miles of visibility after that. The wind was light out of the northeast. Seas were four foot swells out of the east with a light chops over them.
On the fishing grounds, we started with an air temperature of 67°F and a surface water temperature of 64°F. The wind was about six knots out of the northeast for the whole time fishing. Seas were less than a foot in chops over three to four foot long ground swell. The visibility ranged to ten miles for the first part of the day and twenty miles after noon. The highest air temperature that I saw was 70°F. The sky was overcast all day until the last hour of fishing, clear with clouds after that. The tide (current) was moderate to light. The surface water temperature reached 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 78°F. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 76°F (with a low of 66°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 86°F (with a low of 66°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 78°F (with a low of 62°F).
The fishing was excellent. The drift was perfect, we only saw three dogfish all day, one or two blue sharks that really didn't bother, one mako that did take a jig and very few sub-legal fish. The catching was excellent. Landings were very good to excellent. Most legal fish landed were pollock, by far. We released about three totes of pollock from 3 to 8 pounds back to the ocean alive. [We just had too many pollock] Legal landings also included three cusk, twenty-two haddock, twenty white hake, fourteen redfish, thirty or so squid and two whiting. Released fish included the mako (unintentionally), a small tuna or a halibut (we didn't get to see it), twenty-one small cod, one 7 pound cod, seven sub-legal haddock, thirty-eight sub-legal pollock, seven sub-legal redfish and three dogfish. We drift fished for every stop. All terminal gear worked well. Bait was best for the hake and haddock.
Jeff Crawford (NH) was high hook with the most legal fish. Joe Columbus (MA) looked like he was going to be high hook for a time, fell off for a time and then picked it up again at the end. Joe was king of the small legal fish today. The big ones seemed to avoid him. Jeff, just the opposite. They were fishing side by side. In the end, I can't really tell you who was high hook. They both had a similar number of fillet bags when we got back to the dock.
Jeff won the boat pool for the second largest fish with the second largest fish, a 28.5 pound Maine state trophy white hake. Matt Divito (NH) was the one who lost the mako. We would not have known that except the it left two feet under it's tail as it jumped out of the water for all to see. There is a slim chance that it was a great white. But it looked like a mako to me. Matt won the boat for the largest fish with the largest fish, a 29 pound Maine state trophy white hake. Neither Matt nor Jeff had ever caught a hake that big before. I took a picture of both of them holding their big fish. This digital image appears on the left. Matt also caught a pollock of 14.5 pounds and another I weighed that was 10 pounds. Jeff's second largest fish was a 15.5 pound white hake. The third largest fish was a 26 pound Maine state trophy white hake caught by Logan Racioppo (NY). That is the largest hake that Logan has ever caught. It was also his first white hake!
Other Angler Highlights: Tom Maracle (ONT) boated a 3 pound Maine state trophy redfish. This is the Bunny Clark's second largest redfish of the season so far. I took a picture of Tom holding his big red. This digital image appears on the right. Mike McNamara (MA) caught the largest pollock of the trip, weighing in at 16.25 pounds. This is the Bunny Clark's fourth largest pollock of the fishing season to date. I also weighed a pollock of 11.5 pounds for him. Nick Divito (NH) landed a 12 pound pollock, his best pollock. He might have caught a bigger hake. Cody Winch (NY) caught an 8.5 pound pollock that, I thought, looked like a 10 pounder. Cass Fabbie (NY) boated an 11 pound pollock and a 10.75 pound pollock. Roger Strauss (ME) was the one who had the tuna - or it could have been a foul hooked halibut. It took the jig when it was well off the bottom. But it came up quite a way before realizing it was hooked and screamed to bottom. It went faster than any halibut I have ever seen or remember. So it seemed more like a tuna. But it just dropped the jig, like a halibut would. He fought the fish long enough so that I would have known it was a shark; the whole mono leader was as smooth as if it had just come new off the spool Had it been a shark, the leader would have been chaffed. Roger caught the largest cod of the trip at 7 pounds. Noah Daigle (ME) caught a 10 pound pollock. Matt Luce (ME) landed a 10.5 pound pollock. Bruce Fortier (ME) boated a 19.5 pound white hake.
I received several donations today sponsoring me in my cancer fundraising drive with the Pan-Mass Challenge today. Those donors and their donations included Tom Maracle who gave a very generous $200.00, Jeff Crawford (ME) with a generous $130.00, Mike McNamara for $10.00, David Hutchins (ME) for $20.00 and Joe Columbus with a generous gift of $135.00. Thank you all so very much for being so thoughtful and kind. This has been a pet project of mine that has really saved lives in real time, some of them my best friends. So I really appreciate this. Those affected, maybe more!
The sky was overcast for part of the morning. By 11:00 AM, the sky was clear. There was fog here and there as well. When I looked over the ocean this morning for the 5:00 AM report, I couldn't see Boon Island but it looked clear enough along the shore. Turns out there was a fog bank obscuring my view of the light. All the fog, even offshore, was gone by 1:00 PM. And this was probably because the wind picked up. There was barely any wind at all at 10:00 AM. By 11:00 AM, the southerly wind started to blow. By noon, we had ten knots of southerly wind. This became southwest along the shore at ten knots but remained out of the south only a mile out. At one point, the velocity was fifteen knots. By 6:00 PM, there was barely any wind at all along the shore. The closest weather buoy had ten knots out of the south southeast at the same time. I am expecting fog in the morning tomorrow. It was a bit humid today, more so than yesterday. But, with the wind mostly off the water, it was perfect on the deck at the restaurant. The highest air temperature that I saw was 81°F. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 89°F (with a low of 68°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 86°F (with a low of 61°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 77°F (with a low of 62°F).
My day was a lot of work. I started with getting my core work done starting at 3:00 AM. This was followed by taking the Bunny Clark truck down to the Cove with Gill. He had a hard day yesterday. So I was reluctant to take him this morning. But he did okay, even wandering off to investigate a much wider area. I ended up just following him. When he laid down, as if to say; "I'm done", I found the shortest route home with the most grass to walk on and went back.
At 2:00 AM yesterday morning my computer died, the one that I have been doing my updates on for years. I had partially set up a laptop with the same operating system (XP Pro). And I had backed up most of my files. Because I didn't back up all my files, it took me an extra hour to finish up. And I'm sooo lucky I did finish up. I was nervous all morning. I worked from 5:00 AM straight through until 11:00 AM before I got far enough to stop. I still have more to do. But, at least, I'm comfortable with it now. I'm no computer geek.
The rest of the day I spent at the restaurant and getting the Bunny Clark ready to sail tomorrow.
Deb had Gill outside for most of the day today. This was good because it was really hard for him to walk with me to the Cove last time. And this might be the last time. I will keep bringing him to the Cove with me to leave the truck in the morning and when I'm getting the boat ready at 1:45 AM tomorrow morning. He likes that as it's down and back in the truck with a bit of walking around as I am on the boat.
At 2:45 AM EDT the air temperature was 66°F, the sky was hazy clear, the wind was very light from the west and the visibility over the ocean was very good in some haze. More later.
We have several future marathon trips that have openings. The dates and the number of spots available are as follows: August 18 has two spots available, August 20 has five spots available, August 25 has seven spots available, August 27th has nine spots available and September 1, 3 and 9 all have one spot available. The fishing has been very good so far with pollock being our species of most frequency, 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. The price of fuel has gone up a dollar but most of our trips are closer to shore so I have not increased the charge from the $20.00 I started with at the beginning of the year. If the price keeps going up, I will have to charge me. 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 most and biggest fish that I can.
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