Bunny Clark Fishing Update
Written & Edited by Tim Tower
Thursday, June 11, 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
The rest of the morning was on and off light rain. After noon we had light rain for a bit until 2:30 PM. No rain fell after that. The wind was just strong enough to show a southerly direction. Flags were limp. The visibility was very good at least. The highest air temperature that I saw was 51°F. But I wasn't really paying attention to the air temperature today. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 64°F (with a low of 46°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 52°F (with a low of 34°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 52°F (with a low of 36°F).
I spent the morning sprucing up my website and go-fering around. I worked at the restaurant in the morning and from noon until 5:00 PM. In between, I was getting the boat ready to fish. It was a very slow business day today.
Gill is getting periodic shots in his hind legs so he can walk. Before the weekend he got them again. He's been fairly good all weekend. But I still have to lift him into the truck, lift him down out of the truck and sling him upstairs when he wants to go. He seems a happy dog and still follows me around the house. But now he doesn't even attempt to sneak up the stairs to see me in the office, preferring to ly at the bottom of the stairs in wait. Every time I use the truck I take him with me, like today. I wanted to bring fish to my boat builder, David Pease, in York. I took him there with me. He does enjoy the ride and I think it gives him purpose. Border collies need a purpose. Young border collies need a job.
At 3:00 AM EDT the air temperature was 50°F, the sky was overcast, the wind was blowing out of the south at eight knots and the visibility over the ocean was excellent.
There was a light northwest wind at the dock before we left for the high seas this morning. As soon as we poked the nose of the Bunny Clark out between the can buoys, all that changed. But not too much. Winds were southerly at ten knots or maybe more. Seas were barely small chops over a swell the appeared to be coming out of the southeast or east southeast. It wasn't the most comfortable ride. But it wasn't bad and certainly didn't diminish our cruising speed. The sky was overcast for an hour but then started to clear as we got further offshore. The sky was clear when we finally got to our destination. The air temperature hung around 50°F for the whole ride. The visibility was very good.
On the fishing grounds, we had clear skies with some clouds all morning. You needed sunglasses which I didn't expect to pull out of the case today. The sky did start to cloud up after noon. It started to rain when I called the day. Perfect timing. The wind was southerly when we first started fishing. Not much wind. No white caps at first, ten knots an hour or two in, the wind dropped off and backed out of the southeast. Before we started to point the bow to the barn, we had easterly winds of fifteen to twenty knots. Seas were about three feet in chops, maybe more. We carried easterly wind of varying degrees all the way home. The air temperature reached a high of 54°F. The tide (current) was moderate to strong. The visibility, very good in the morning, dropped to about two or three miles in rain, mist and fog when the last fish was hauled over the rail and on the trip home. The surface water temperature reached a high of 45°F.
Ashore, these were the air temperatures in selected New England cities: In Portsmouth, New Hampshire the high air temperature was 59°F for a very short period of time. Mostly it was 56°F. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 64°F (with a low of 48°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 59°F (with a low of 49°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 63°F (with a low of 51°F).
The fishing was good to very good. We had more tide than I would have liked which created more tangles than we would have wanted. The catching, however, was excellent. Landings were very good to excellent. We had some quality fish today. There was no way we were going to catch the haddock bag limit today. There were too many other species of fish biting today to have to worry about it. Yes, we had several anglers who attained the bag limit. But the total boat bag limit was not. Most legal fish landed were haddock followed by pollock in the 3 to 8 pound range. I didn't weigh many pollock in the 6 and 7 pound range. Legal landings also included forty-six cusk, a halibut, a mackerel and a porbeagle shark. Released fish included twenty-eight small cod, five legal haddock, seven sub-legal haddock, quite a few small pollock and two halibut (one intentional and one not quite so intentional). We drift fished most of the day. We anchored for the last spot. Bait worked best.
It was an excellent day for unusual fishing experiences today. We had three halibut involvements on the boat. The first was a legal sized (30 pounds or more) halibut that followed a haddock that angler, Steve Selmer (NH), had on his line, to the surface next to the boat. Only Steve LaPlante (CT), who was fishing with Steve on the bow, Steve and Nino Pierdipino (NH), who was in the fishing position closest to the bow, saw the fish. Steve tried to bait the halibut but was tangled with Steve LaPlante's line relinquishing the freedom to move his pole to make a good presentation. The fish took a loop around the tangled lines and swam back to bottom. Second, not five minutes later, Fred Kunz,
hooked into a halibut while fishing in the stern. He was using a double bait rig. I had everyone reel up to leave Fred unfettered access to bring this fish to the surface, which he did. Danny DellaMonica has a meat hook made of stainless steel that I must have bought in the 1970s when I was tuna fishing. I call it the "Danny Hook" because Danny is deadly with it. He doesn't use it like you would a gaff. He has another method that is much more effective. So, as in true Danny Hook form, when Fred's fish got within reach, got a purchase on the fish in good shape. I followed up with a boat gaff. We both slid it over the rail and into the boat. Third, during the last half an hour, while fishing on anchor, Steve Selmer hooked into a massive halibut. He thought it was a halibut at first, then thought it was bottom, gave the rod to me, I fooled around with it for a while, bypassed drag and got it off bottom a ways until I felt two big thumps on the rod and the fish took an estimated thirty feet of line back to bottom. Steve took it the rest of the way but parted it off after twenty minutes. I don't believe Steve would have landed such a big fish. They have teeth and Steve was using hooks directly tied to monofilament leader. That long of a fight was destined to chafe the hook off. Added to this was the fact that we already had a halibut in the boat. Federal and State law prohibits boating more than one halibut per trip. And this was heavy on both Steve's and my mind. It was exciting, though. I did see other halibut on the sounding machine that we didn't hook. But we didn't get a visual on the big one.
Halibut do swim in schools. With a healthy population you might find a school in an area. A friend of mine out of Chatham, Massachusetts chased halibut in the late 1960s, early 1970s and once caught over one hundred count of halibut on halibut trawl (a long line with hooks) with each fish weighing between 110 and 115 pounds. The next day he caught fifty halibut there of that size. The day after that they were gone. I would really like to know how many halibut were there today.
The other experience of note was Steve LaPlante landing a 61 pound porbeagle shark. The sharks demise came when it decided to roll in the line, as they very often do. The sharks problem was that it started to roll while on the surface in front of Danny DellaMonica who was standing over it with a gaff. Years ago we had an angler, Danny Angerman, who had hooked a porbeagle that was about 300 pounds, plus or minus. Danny fought it for quite a while but lost it when it started to roll in the Dacron main line he was using and parted the fish off. Mr. Angerman's shark started the roll too far under water. So we never had a chance to put a gaff into it.
All but four anglers today had never seen either a porbeagle shark or a halibut boated. I would also say that the same anglers had never seen so many big haddock boated either. At least, that was the consensus as I was told.
Fred Kunz was the fisherman of the day. He was high hook with fifty-three legal fish and he won the boat pool for the largest fish with the largest fish, the 64 pound halibut. I love it when Fred hooks a big fish as his drag is always perfect. And I know that he is one of the few fisherman who comes aboard with almost a guarantee that if he hooks it he will land it. More often than not it has been the person with the gaff that has screwed up, not Fred. I also have to qualify the high hook statement. Lee Atherton (ME) might also have been high hook. He had more haddock than Fred caught. But Fred caught many more cusk than anyone on the boat. Lee doesn't count his fish. I never weighed another fish for Fred. On the other hand, it seemed like I was weighing fish for Lee all day long. Some of the fish of his I weighed included a 6 pound haddock, a 5.5 pound haddock, another 6 pound haddock, a double that included a 6.25 pound haddock an a 5.25 haddock, both fish on the same line at the same time, and the largest haddock of the trip, a 7.75 pound Maine state trophy haddock, our second largest haddock of the Bunny Clark fishing season so far. I took a picture of Lee holding the trophy haddock at the same time that Lee caught another haddock that weighed 6.5 pounds. So I took a picture of him holding both. This digital image appears on the left. The bigger haddock is in his right hand but he's holding the haddock he had just caught closer to the camera.
Steve LaPlante won the boat pool for the second largest fish with the second largest fish, a 61 pound porbeagle shark. I took a digital image of Steve holding the tail of the shark with the head resting on the deck. This picture appears on the right. It was still lively enough that holding it another way might have put Steve in a compromising position. This was a much safer picture to take. Even losing one finger is too much! I weighed a 6.5 pound cusk for Steve very early in the trip. The third largest fish of the trip was an 8.25 pound pollock caught by Jeff Breton (ME).
Other Angler Highlights: Everyone caught haddock over 5.5 pounds. I did stop weighing the bigger ones early on unless the were of trophy status. Many of the ones I thought might have been of trophy size turned out to be fat 5.5 plus pounders. Lyle Works (ME) caught the first pollock I thought I should weigh. It was 6.75 pounds. I weighed a haddock for him that weighed 5.75 pounds. Tom Mitchell (ME) caught a haddock that weighed 6.25 pounds. Travis Works (ME) landed a 6.25 pound haddock. Jeff Breton, Sr. (ME) caught a 7 pound pollock, his biggest fish. Reese Bernier (ME) boated a 6.25 pound haddock. Steve Selmer's largest boated fish was an 8 pound pollock. Both Steves caught haddock over 6 pounds that I did not weigh. Both have caught many trophy haddock in the past with me.
I received many donations today sponsoring me in the Pan-Mass Challenge, a fundraiser for cancer research with the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, Massachusetts. Those individuals and their donations included Doug Wood for $30.00, Jeff Breton, Jr. for $50.00, Lee Atherton for $20.00, Fred Kunz for $60.00, Travis Works for $30.00, Steve Selmer for $20.00 and Bill Perkins for $20.00. Thank you all so very much for your support, thoughtfulness and generosity. I do appreciate this very much as it will go toward saving lives!
It rained all morning and into the afternoon. There was one period where the rain was heavy. The rain was mostly light. The rain stopped by mid afternoon. The sky started clearing by 5:00 PM. By 6:00 PM, we had sun. We did end up with a nice sunset. The visibility, although poor in the morning, was very good or better than that by later afternoon. The wind blew out of the east or northeast all morning. Wind speeds got up to fifteen knots before noon. After noon, the wind dropped and backed out of the northwest. We had no wind by 2:00 PM. The northwest wind started after that. By sunset, the wind was light out of the west. The highest air temperature that I saw today was 55°F. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 55°F (with a low of 50°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 60°F (with a low of 47°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 60°F (with a low of 48°F).
I spent the day in the restaurants and, of course, working on this report. Processing the images take time. Well, it all takes time.
I received two more donations towards my cancer project with the Pan-Mass Challenge. Steve LaPlante (CT) donated a generous $100.00 to the cause while Harold Peck (NY) donated a very generous $500.00. Thank you both so very much for your support and help. It means a lot to me but more to others who are trying to solve the disease and those who are affected by it.
The sky stayed mostly clear all day. There was ample sun and, certainly, the best day of the spring. The wind blew out of the south at about ten knots, more or less. This kept the air temperature down to about 70°F in the Cove. Inland, it was much warmer. The visibility over the ocean remained very good at least. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 80°F (with a low of 49°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 80°F (with a low of 41°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 75°F (with a low of 49°F).
I spent most of the day at the restaurant. I worked on the Bunny Clark for a bit, getting things set up for the next fishing trip. My son, Micah, helped me go through the electrical grounding system on the boat for about fifteen minutes. I stayed at the restaurants until after closing.
Today was a beautiful summer day in May. The sky was cloudless for the first three hours of the daylight morning, dotted with cumulus clouds after that and cloudless again at 6:00 PM or before. The wind blew out of the northwest at fifteen to twenty knots in Perkins Cove. This didn't reach off as it was south southwest about ten knots at the Portland Lightship buoy. The visibility was excellent. The air temperature reached a high of 85°F in Perkins Cove. There was very little humidity so it didn't feel like 85 degrees. It was so nice to be in a t-shirt today. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 90°F (with a low of 59°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 86°F (with a low of 53°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 84°F (with a low of 61°F).
The rest of my time was spent working at the restaurant. With the beautiful weather, it was very busy today. This was the first day that I could be in a polo shirt, the uniform I wear in the summer. So many patrons were appreciative of the weather. It was nice to see.
We had a piece of Fred's halibut last night for dinner. It was very good. It was nice of Fred to give everyone a piece of this majestic fish. And, actually, most of the anglers on that trip were surprised they were being gifted a piece of halibut. Fred didn't have to give anyone a piece. In fact, we have had some who took their halibut all home for themselves. This is their right, of course. This isn't Fred.
A funny thing happened on Saturday. I was talking to a customer I have talked to so many times over the years. And, like all my days at the restaurants, I moved on the next table, etc. After I was through, one of the waitstaff came up to me and sail; "Tom Bergeron is eating here. He is just about to leave if you want to say something beforehand." My question to Jen was; "Who is Tom Bergeron?" Apparently he was the MC on Dancing with the Stars and America's Funniest Home Videos, both shows of which I have never seen. I don't watch TV. Movies and sporting events, yes. I asked to be directed to his table so I could see who he was. Turns out it was the same customer I have talked to for years. I never realized he was a TV personality until Jen brought it up to me Saturday. Some of the kids who work for us wanted me to take a picture of them with Tom before he left. Tom was gracious enough to accommodate us. The digital image appears above. Jen is the first person on the left. It was her phone I used to take the picture. After Jen, from the left is Zach, Tom Bergeron, Graham and Jackson. This is one of the fun things I like about the restaurant business. And who doesn't like a nice surprise?
Today was a beautiful spring day. Air temperatures weren't as warm as they were yesterday. But they were warm enough. The highest air temperature that I saw was 65°F. It was sunny in the morning, clouded over enough to be overcast, had a little sprinkle of rain around 10:00 AM and, then, clear skies through until sunset. With the sun beating down on the canopy of the Bunny Clark and the temperature gauge near the helm with the side curtains down, the air temperature was 83°F. Obviously, not the true outside air temperature. The visibility over the ocean was very good in some haze We didn't have enough wind to blow out a candle today. Even the weather buoys had six knots as the highest velocity that I saw. Those same buoys gave wind directions from all around the clock. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 71°F (with a low of 59°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 80°F (with a low of 53°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 64°F (with a low of 51°F).
I had a lot going on today. I had to provision the boat to get ready for the trip tomorrow. I left the boat apart after the engine work yesterday so I had to put her back together as well. The rest of the time I had to work out the new waste management procedures with a new trash company. The rest of the morning I was working with down about the repaving from the front of the Cove past our restaurants. They were supposed to start today. But that never happened.
I'm excited about fishing tomorrow. We have a stellar crew of anglers.
At 3:00 AM EDT the air temperature was 52°F, the sky was clear, there wasn't a breath of wind and the visibility over the ocean seemed excellent.
It was a different ride to the fishing grounds. From the marine weather report, I expect to be bucking seas on the way out, slowing progress and making it uncomfortable at cruising speeds. I was pleasantly surprised. The ocean was relatively calm with deep but short swell from the southeast and a one foot or more chop on top. The wind was from the west at no more than eight knots, mostly less. The air temperature going through the gate was 54°F. The sky was cloudless. The visibility was excellent. The surface water temperature was 52°F. The water temperature dropped as we increased our distance offshore. And the swell was a bit more pronounced but not that much more.
On the fishing grounds, the sky was still cloudless with a bright sun. The wind was out of the west at eight knots with a one foot, or more, chop over a swell of three or four feet from the southeast. The air temperature reached a high of 56°F. No doubt it would have been warmer but the wind increased to fifteen knots by the end of the fishing to keep the air temperature down. The wind shifted out of the southwest or west southwest and seas increased to chops of three feet. The swell never left us. There was also never a lack of sun until we got back to Perkins Cove (where we had light rain for a bit and, nearly, overcast skies). The tide (current) was moderate (perfect). The visibility ranged to no more than fifteen miles in haze. The surface water temperature reached a high of 48°F.
Ashore, these were the air temperatures in selected New England cities: In Portsmouth, New Hampshire the high air temperature was 94°F. The high air temperature continued for almost three hours starting from at time after noon. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 96°F (with a low of 68°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 96°F (with a low of 52°F). The high air temperature of 96°F, recorded in Concord today, broke the previous record high for this date of 90°F set first in 1949, tied in 1986 and tied again in 2017. The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 92°F (with a low of 49°F). The high air temperature of 92°F, recorded in Portland today, broke the record high for this date of 86°F set last in 1949. Remember, temperature records have only been taken in Portland for less than eighty years.
The fishing was excellent, the catching was nothing short of excellent and landings were excellent. Most legal fish landed were haddock, by far. Not only did we catch the bag limit by noon, the average size of the haddock was larger than we have seen all year. There was a preponderance of males, most of the females were spawned out and the frames of thirty percent of the haddock caught today would have been trophy sized fish had they been caught a month earlier. We were fishing a new spot further out in deeper water. It was a wonderful surprise. We left these big haddock for the last hour of the trip trying to also catch a halibut. I didn't even see a sign of a halibut today. Legal landings also included thirty-four cusk, fifteen pollock, four redfish and three mackerel. Released fish included thirty or so legal haddock, eleven sub-legal haddock, forty-two small pollock, one cod of 6 pounds or so and eight small cod. We drift fished for most of the trip but caught our most haddock on anchor. Bait worked best.
Fred Kunz (NH) was the fisherman of the day for the third time this season. That is quite a feat and might happen in a season for an angler but not for this short a time span or when the haddock are so prevalent. Haddock tend to put every angler on a level playing field. Fred somehow managed to surmount the odds against this going against him. I'm glad for him. An he, of all anglers, certainly deserves it. He won the boat pool for the largest fish with the largest fish, an 8.5 pound Maine state trophy haddock, the Bunny Clark's second largest haddock of the fishing season to date. It's also, to my knowledge and memory, the largest haddock I've ever seen Fred catch. He may have caught a bigger one on another boat. But I don't remember him doing that here. I believe I would have remembered such a significant fish had he caught it with me. I can always be wrong! I took a picture of Fred's trophy haddock. This digital image appears on the left. Fred was also high hook with the most legal fish. Just about his first fish over the rail was a 5.5 pound haddock. I stopped weighing haddock after that unless I thought they were pool contenders or trophy fish. There were a lot of haddock in the 6 pound range that I thought were trophy fish before weighing them.
Art Kemler, Jr. (PA) was right behind Fred in fish count as were Tom Miller (NH), Nick Kirychuk (CT) and Lewis Hazelwood (MA). Tom Miller won the boat pool for the second largest fish with the second largest fish, an 8.25 pound cusk. This is our largest cusk of the Bunny Clark fishing season so far. Tom and Lewis caught the most big haddock of any angler today. Some of the other fish I weighed for Tom included a 7.5 pound Maine state trophy haddock, a 6.5 pound haddock, a 6.25 pound haddock, a 5.75 pound skinny long haddock, a 6.75 pound haddock that I thought, surely, was a trophy and a 6 pound haddock. Lewis caught the third largest fish of the trip, an 8 pound Maine state trophy haddock. I took a picture of Lew holding his big haddock right after I weighed the fish. This digital image appears on the right. Some of the other big haddock of Lew's included a 5 pound haddock (his first fish of the day), a 7.5 pound Maine state trophy haddock, a 6 pound haddock and two haddock of 6.5 pounds each. I also weighed a 6.25 pound haddock and a 5.75 pound haddock for Nick. Art probably caught a bigger haddock but the largest of his that I weighed was a 6 pound haddock. Art was placing his haddock in the rack box on a regular basis, leaving me alone to work the deck. Art is a consistent high hook guy on the Bunny Clark.
Other Angler Highlights: Al Luther (NY) caught the first fish I could weigh for the boat pool, a 6 pound cusk. Sam Maranville (NY) caught a haddock, again, that I was sure was a trophy. It was just shy at 6.75 pounds. He also caught a long thin 6 pound haddock that I thought had a chance. Phil Ashe (NY) caught the longest thinnest haddock of the trip, a 7.25 pound Maine state trophy haddock. His fish was 29" caliper fork length. This is our longest haddock of the season to date. Chris Tierney (NH) boated a 6 pound haddock, his biggest haddock. Garry Golden (NY) landed a 7 pound Maine state trophy haddock, his largest fish of the trip, our sixth and last trophy fish of the day.
I received several donations sponsoring me in the year's Pan-Mass Challenge, a cycling event across the state of Massachusetts to raise money for cancer research. Those anglers and their donations included Fred Kunz for $40.00 (Fred has been very generous this season with many donations), a generous anonymous donation of $100.00, $40.00 from Chris Tierney and Tyler Jones (MI) and a Nick Kirychuk for $20.00 (added to the $20.00 he gave me on the last trip!) Thank you all so very much for your support and thoughtfulness. I do really appreciate your help very much!
It was another beautiful summer day today. The wind started out light from the west. The ocean along the shore was calm. Even offshore the wind was light but the wind direction was southwest, about ten knots at the strongest all morning and early afternoon. The wind hauled more west southwest to fifteen knots outside the Portland Lightship buoy. The ocean stayed calm and the wind light along the shore until 3:00 PM when it backed out of the northwest and blew up to thirty knots in gusts. This wind didn't reach off as evidenced from the offshore reports. The sky was cloudless all morning but hazy. Clouds started to show up coming out of the west northwest. A shower passed to our north around 3:30 PM. We had no wind. By 6:00 PM, the sky had cleared and was cloudless going into the night. The visibility was very good in some haze. The air temperature reached a high of 89°F in Perkins Cove. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 91°F (with a low of 65°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 89°F (with a low of 63°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 89°F (with a low of 62°F). The high air temperature of 89°F, recorded in Portland today, broke the record high for this date of 86°F set last in 1959. Remember, temperature records have only been taken in Portland for less than eighty years.
I spent the whole morning between posting this update and working with the paving company who was laying down tar on the road beside the both restaurants. Near the original restaurant, I was concerned that the sidewalk should be four inches above the road in case of flooding in northeast storms where the waves crash over the eastern side of the parking lot. If the sidewalk were flush with the road, it would be harder to keep the sea water out of the restaurant. Anyway, they did a great job fulfilling my requests. They did a great job overall.
I had an hour's worth of work getting the Bunny Clark ready for tomorrow's offshore trip. The rest of my time was spent at the restaurants. A couple meetings. Working on employee issues. And just doing what I normally do when we are open for business; talking with our patrons and working out details with the managers. My son, Micah, was on today which, to me, is always special.
At 3:00 AM EDT the air temperature was 65°F (it was 67°F an hour earlier), the sky was overcast, the wind was light out of the north and the visibility over the ocean seemed excellent.
The ride to the fishing grounds was uneventful. The wind was light out of the north the whole way to our destination. Seas were chops of about two feet over a minimal swell. I'm not sure if the chops were a function of the wind or a combination of the wind and tide. But it certainly wasn't enough to slow down the cruising speed. The visibility was very good, at least. The air temperature out of the blocks 64°F and the water temperature just outside the gate was 48°F. The water temperature seemed to remain at 48°F to the half way mark. The air temperature had dropped to 57°F. The sky remained almost totally overcast.
On the fishing grounds, the wind was out of the north northeast at eight to ten knots. Seas, again, were about two feet in chops. Slowly, the wind started to drop. We might have had two knots of wind by 11:00 AM. The wind left us after that. We had zero wind and a glassy ocean surface for the rest of the day. The ocean surface was rolly with zero wind ripples. The air temperature reached a high of 66°F. The sky was mostly overcast with some blue patches here and there but mostly there, fifteen miles to the northwest of us. The tide (current) was light, zero and light. The visibility ranged to almost twenty miles. The surface water temperature reached a high of 52.2°F, the first time the water temperature has broached the 50 degree mark on the grounds this season, while I have been fishing.
Ashore, these were the air temperatures in selected New England cities: In Portsmouth, New Hampshire, between 11 AM and 3 PM, the high air temperature was 66°F. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 73°F - at 12:15 AM - (with a low of 57°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 77°F (with a low of 55°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 66°F (with a low of 47°F).
The fishing was excellent. The drift was better than perfect, there were zero tangles and there was plenty of room, as the lines stayed, pretty much, straight up and down. The catching was nothing short of excellent; a fish or two a drop for everyone. Landings were excellent. We had the total boat bag limit of haddock by noon. And we didn't keep any legal haddock under nineteen inches. The average size haddock was over 5 pounds. Legal landings also included fourteen cusk, seventeen pollock, two redfish and four mackerel. Released fish included ninety-three legal sized haddock to 9 pounds, one sub-legal haddock, thirty-eight sub-legal pollock, six cusk, eleven small cod and one cod of 10 pounds. We drift fished the whole day. Bait worked best.
Jason Ridolfi was the fisherman of the day. He was high hook with the most legal fish and he won the boat pool for the largest fish with the largest fish, an 11.5 pound pollock. He caught the pollock as part of a double with another pollock of 6.5 pounds, both fish caught on the same line at the same time. The bigger pollock is the Bunny Clark's largest pollock of the fishing season so far. I took a picture of Jason holding his double pollock catch. This digital image appears on the left. He caught the first fish I could weigh to start the boat pool, a 5.5 pound haddock.
The big story of the day, with Jason, was his boating five Maine state trophy haddock! This ties the most trophy haddock caught by a single angler on any one trip during the forty-four years that the Bunny Clark has been taking anglers fishing. Only Jim Koplar (CT) has duplicated that feat. And that happened in May of 2024. No angler on the Bunny Clark has ever caught four trophy haddock on one trip. In the past we have had three anglers who caught three trophy haddock on one trip. That was the record before Jim made his mark in 2024. Those anglers who held the three trophy record included Gil Bonvie (MA) who achieved this feat on May 9, 2002, this was tied by Marc Holland (MA) on April 29, 2003 and was tied again by Jeff Frisby (NY) on April 23, 2010. Last season, Karl Day joined the honored second group by catching three trophy haddock during a trip on May 29, 2025. So Jason catching five on one trip is pretty special. And he stopped fishing for the last hour of the day after he caught his last one!
Jason's largest haddock, weighing in at 9.75 pounds, is this season's largest Bunny Clark haddock. It wasn't particularly long but it had a girth of eighteen inches, a minimum two inches more than any other haddock we have caught this season. This fish was the third largest fish of the trip. I took a picture of Jason holding this huge haddock. The digital image appears on the right. This fish would have looked massive had Jason been 5' 2". Unfortunately, he looks down on people that short. His other trophies included a 7.1 pound haddock, a 7 pound haddock, a 7.75 pound haddock and an 8 pound haddock. Collectively, it's the most weight in trophy haddock caught by any angler aboard the Bunny Clark in it's forty-four year history for a single trip. Some of his other good fish included a 7 pound cusk and two haddock of 6 pounds each. He, of course, had many other good sized haddock.
Jason Kenyon won the boat pool for the second largest fish with the second largest fish, a 10 pound cod. This was the largest cod of the trip by 5 pounds. It's also the Bunny Clark's second largest cod of the fishing season to date. His best fish was a 9 pound Maine state trophy haddock. This is the largest haddock he has ever caught and a tie for the second largest haddock of the Bunny Clark fishing season so far. There is a slim chance that Jason was high hook. But Ridolfi stopped fishing for the last half hour of the day. Jason actually caught the 9 pound haddock after the bag limit was caught. So I took a quick picture of Jason with the fish before he tossed the fish over alive. Some of Jason's other great fish included a 6 pound haddock, two haddock of 6.5 pounds each, two cusk of 6.5 pounds each and a 6.25 pound haddock.
Other Angler Highlights: Mike Mendola caught two Maine state trophy haddock of 8 pounds each. These are the two largest haddock that Mike has ever caught. [That's also the size of the largest haddock that I have ever caught as well!] Some of Mike's other good catches were a double that included a 6.1 pound haddock and a 6 pound haddock, two other haddock of 6 pounds each and a 6.5 pound haddock. Aaron Fox caught a 7.75 pound Maine state trophy haddock, his largest fish. He also caught another Maine state trophy haddock of 7.5 pounds. Jim Smith (NY) caught a 6 pound haddock and a 6.5 pound haddock, his two biggest fish. Dan Wincenciak caught a 6 pound haddock, two haddock of 6.5 pounds each and a 6.25 pound haddock. These were his best fish. I fished for a little bit myself. I caught two haddock of 5 pounds or more, two cusk and I suspect that I lost a small halibut. It acted like a haddock but I don't think there is a haddock left in the ocean that big. I didn't fish much. I was too busy. Danny is very protective of his fillet table. But he did let me fillet thirty-two fish today, a record number for a trip this year so far.
I received a nice $50.00 donation from Jason Ridolfi sponsoring me in my cancer research project with the Pan-Mass Challenge. Jay has supported me since I started this project in 2007. Thank you so much for your thoughtfulness and help. As you well know, it's very much appreciated! And a wonderful job in the fishing department today as well!
The wind was all over the place but not variable in direction. It just kept changing. There was relatively little wind in the morning. The ocean along the shore was calm. We started with light north wind, northeast by mid morning and easterly until after noon sometime. Around 2:00 PM, I noticed that the wind was blowing out of the south at ten knots or so. Later, the southerly wind increased to fifteen knots. This remained until after sunset. The sky remained mostly clear with some clouds and sky haziness. The visibility remained excellent. It seemed cool today. The air temperature in the morning took a while to warm. When the air temperature got to 63°F, the increased southerly wind initiated it's decline. For most of the afternoon the air temperature was 60°F. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 73°F (with a low of 57°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 69°F (with a low of 35°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 63°F (with a low of 39°F).
I spent the whole day working at the restaurant. I'm early in on Fridays. So I opened up down there at 4:30 AM and took in deliveries until 9:00. I took in a Marginal Way meeting in town after that. Spent more time at the restaurant. Went home to change and, then, went back down to the restaurant for the rest of the day.
I went home for dinner at 7:00 PM. Before bed, I watched the Colorado/Vegas NHL Stanley Cup conference game. It was played in Colorado. I didn't watch but the first period. After watching Montreal the last two weeks, this was very boring. In fact, I don't know when I have seen a more boring hockey game.
The sky filled in before mid morning and remained overcast for the rest of the day. The cloud cover never seemed that deep. But we never saw the sun or even a lume of the sun through, what appeared to be, thin cloud cover. The wind was light all day from some version of the east, either east southeast, east, northeast and east northeast. I don't believe the wind velocity got over five knots. The visibility remained excellent. The air temperature might have gone higher than 62°F but I didn't see it. Easterly winds are off the water and the surface water is still barely over 50°F. This helps us on a hot day but not on a cool one. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 61°F (with a low of 52°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 68°F (with a low of 40°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 62°F (with a low of 43°F).
I spent the day at the restaurant. Memorial Day weekend is usually very big for us. But the wind is always from the east on this weekend. It's scary how often this happens. In the past, it seemed like you could always count on a nor'easter during this weekend. And we have had so many northeast blows around this weekend, usually on it. For that reason, we have never boxed the geraniums around the patio until the week after this weekend is over. On a couple of occasions we had to have geraniums replanted because we had them in too early. They will never survive a typical three day northeast blow.
I stayed at the restaurants until close.
The sky stayed overcast all morning. But it never rained. By noon, the first rain drops were starting to fall. It rained for the rest of the day. It wasn't a heavy rain at any one time that I observed. Just a light steady rain. The wind blew out of the east all day. Wind speeds seemed to be about ten knots or less every time I looked at the anamometer. According to the closest weather buoy, the wind was out of the east northeast with gusts to thirteen knots at 8:00 PM. The visibility was good, at least, all day. The air temperature never got out of the 50s, the highest value that I saw was 54°F. For most of the afternoon, the air temperature hung around 52°F. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 55°F (with a low of 52°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 54°F (with a low of 50°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 54°F (with a low of 48°F).
I did nothing but work in the restaurant all day. It wasn't as busy as it could have been with the weather we were dealt. But it was busy enough.
Bryan Lewer took his boat, the Salty Lewer out groundfish fishing today. His passengers were Danny DellaMonica from Bunny Clark fame and his number one, Ali Laflamme (I hope I spelled her last name correctly). Ali caught a 7 pound Maine state trophy haddock while Danny boated a porbeagle shark that weighed over 300 pounds (I don't remember the exact figure that Danny told me) after a fight of about an hour and a half. It wasn't the best weather day but it was a good biting day, for sure.
It was raining before 5:00 AM but stopped for a bit. It started raining again in earnest at 5:30 AM. A mostly heavy rain continued on into the morning. By 11:00 AM, the rain was very light. By noon, it was more light was available and the rain was finished. It never did rain again. The wind was light all day, first from the southeast, then south, then southwest, west and northwest. Wind speeds were no more than five knots. The ocean was calm throughout the day. From about 10 AM until after noon, the flags in the Cove were showing northwest wind. Around 2:00 PM, the wind backed out of the southwest and backed further into the south. We had ten knots of southerly wind at 7:00 PM. The fog disappeared by 9:00 AM. By 10:00 AM, the visibility was very good in some precipitation. Excellent after that. At the same time the air temperature started to soar. At 2:00 PM, the air temperature was 68°F. After 3:00 PM, I saw 74°F. It was hot on the deck at Barnacle Billy's out of what little wind we had. I could have sworn it was 80°F, had I not looked at the thermometer. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 77°F (with a low of 54°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 77°F (with a low of 51°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 72°F (with a low of 50°F).
I spent the time between getting the Bunny Clark ready to sail and working at the restaurants. Nothing special happened except talking to the many special patrons I saw eating today. It was an absolutely beautiful day on the deck overlooking Perkins Cove this afternoon.
I did bring Gill, our border collie, down to the Cove this morning around before 8:00 AM. He was bored to death. And I didn't want to walk him down there earlier in the morning in the rain. So I finished what I had to do at home to get ready for tomorrow and took Gill down in the truck after that. His back legs won't handle much. And he can't jump out of the truck. So I lift him into the truck and lift him out of the truck when we get there. I avoid the areas with steps. Lobsters came early this morning. And I hate to have them setting in crates when I could be sorting them into the tanks. Gill loves to find those spots the night man missed in the cleaning overnight while I do my thing.
Danny DellaMonica and I hosted the Dennis Pietro (NH) charter, formerly known as the Dave Miller (MA) charter today. It would have been my father's ninety-ninth birthday had we been so lucky to have him around today.
At 3:00 AM EDT the air temperature was 56°F, the sky was clear, the wind was out of the northwest at two or three knots and the visibility over the ocean was excellent.
When we poked the bow of the Bunny Clark out through the gate, the air temperature was 54°F, there was zero wind, the ocean was glassy, the visibility was excellent and the sky was clear. The surface water temperature was 52°F. The ride to the fishing grounds was very comfortable. We had a greasy calm ocean surface over a swell from the southeast that averaged six feet the whole way out. The zero wind and calm seas lasted for fifteen miles. We carried light westerly winds for another ten miles. We carried southwest winds of about three knots the rest of the way to our destination. We might have had a one foot chop at some point but I can't confirm that. With ten miles to go, our clear skies gave way to some cloud cover from the west. It never really got overcast but there was little sun. The sun we did have was hazy. The air temperature never got any higher than 56°F.
On the fishing grounds, the wind was out of the west. Wind speeds were five knots at most. Small waves of less than a foot predominated the ocean's surface. Westerly winds prevailed until before noon. The ocean went calm for about twenty minutes and, then, started blowing out of the southwest. Five knots at most. When we struck for home, the wind was blowing out of the west at eight knots. [It blew up to almost twenty knots with three foot chops on the ride home.] We had swells of six feet, more or less, all day. The roughest the ocean surface got was when we started to head home. We had a one foot chop at that time. The air temperature reached a high of 64°F. The tide (current) was strong to moderate. The visibility ranged to thirty miles. The sky was mostly cloudy at arrival but became cloudless by 10:00 AM. The surface water temperature reached a high of 51.2°F but remained at 50.5°F for most of the day.
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 84°F (with a low of 57°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 86°F (with a low of 48°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 77°F (with a low of 48°F).
I would call the fishing very good. The sea state was perfect except for the swells. But the tide was a little bit too strong for most of the day. The wind direction and the tide worked against us. And that was good. There were plenty of fish. The bite was off. But that helped in delaying reaching the bag limit of haddock. The catching and landings were very good to excellent. Most legal fish landed were haddock, by far. We had no problem getting the total boat bag limit. But I saw way more haddock on the sounding machine than we caught. Legal landings also included eleven cusk, thirteen pollock and four mackerel. Released fish included one porbeagle shark, six cusk, three cod over twenty-three inches, eleven small cod, eight sub-legal haddock, forty-nine legal haddock, seven small pollock, a good sized wolffish and a sea raven. We anchored and drift fished. Anchoring worked best but the fish didn't stay with us very long so we had to move frequently. Everyone fished with a jig/fly combination.
Rodney Miller (MA) was the fisherman of the day. I believe he was high hook with the most legal fish. I can't know this for sure; I didn't count fillets. And there were many very successful anglers aboard today. Rod won the boat pool for the largest fish with the largest fish, a 15 pound wolffish. This is the largest wolffish that has been caught on the Bunny Clark this season so far. I took a quick picture of Rod holding his big cat before he released it back to the ocean alive. This digital image appears on the left. Rod also won the boat pool for the second largest fish with the second largest fish, an 11 pound cod. This is the second largest cod of the Bunny Clark fishing season to date. Two of his haddock that I weighed were 6.25 pounds and 6.9 pounds, just a tenth shy of a Maine state trophy.
Ron Anderson (MA) caught, far and away, the largest haddock of any angler today. His largest haddock was the third largest fish of the trip, a 9 pound Maine state trophy. This ties for the second largest haddock caught on the Bunny Clark this season so far. I took a picture of Ron and his haddock. This digital image appears on the right. Some of his other great fish included a 7.1 pound Maine state trophy haddock, a 6.8 pound haddock, a 6.5 pound haddock, a 6 pound haddock and a 6.75 pound haddock. It was a good day to be Ron Anderson!
Other Angler Highlights: Anthony Maki (MA), like Ron, caught two Maine state trophy haddock. Both fish were exactly 7.1 pounds! He caught the second largest cod at 7.5 pounds and he caught another haddock that weighed 6.5 pounds. Austin Kravitz (MA) caught a 6 pound haddock, his biggest. Doug Maki (MA) did the same. Jim Hardball (NYC) started off the boat pool by boating a 6.8 pound haddock. This was the second fish in the boat this morning. I also weighed a 5 pound haddock for him that looked like a 6 pounder to me! He hooked into a big porbeagle shark but ended up breaking it off in a tangle. This is something that I would have really looked forward to. He has always been an exceptional angler, particularly where it concerns boating big fish! Dennis Pietro caught the largest cusk at 7 pounds. He also caught the two largest pollock at 6 and 6.25 pounds. His largest haddock weighed 6.5 pounds. Dave Miller caught at least two haddock of 6 pounds each, that I weighed, and a haddock that weighed 6.75 pounds. He is the master of table fare! Jeff Smith (MA) boated a 6.25 pound haddock. I did not weigh all the haddock that were under 7 pounds or looked to be no bigger than 6 pounds.
I received a nice $40.00 donation from Dave & JoAnn Miller (The new tradition!) sponsoring me in my cancer research project with the Pan-Mass Challenge, a cycling event for fundraising. Dave & JoAnn have been very generous over all the twenty years that I have been involved in the endeavor. Dave even shows up at the start of the event to cheer me on - even when I forget to tell him that I won't be at the event! Thank you both so very much for your trust, your support, your thoughtfulness always and all your help. It means a great deal to me and I certainly don't take this for granted.
The sky stayed hazy clear all morning and into the afternoon. It was like a thin overcast with a pale sun shinning through. The mid afternoon saw more clouds moving in from the west. But instead of the sky becoming totally overcast, it clear up. By 4:00 PM, the sky was a mix of sun and clouds. This lasted all the way to sunset and beyond. The visibility was excellent in the morning but less than that in the afternoon with a bit of haze. The ocean along the shore was a ruffled calm. The wind was light all day. Wind speeds ranged up to ten knots out of the south southwest in the morning but dropped out after noon. Wind directions seemed to range from south to west and back. By sunset there was no wind at all. The air temperature was the salient feature of the day. At 3:00 PM, at the house here, in a shaded part of the building, it was 84°F. It didn't seem like it was that warm elsewhere. But I had no gauge to test it. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 87°F (with a low of 64°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 86°F (with a low of 55°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 84°F (with a low of 60°F).
I spent the day getting the Bunny Clark ready to sail, editing this update and working at the restaurant. It was a beautiful day on the deck and patios of the two restaurants. There was very little humidity. There was very little wind. It was really better than a summer day in many respects. Since the business was very light, those who were dining with us were unfettered by the crush of people.
I took Gill, our border collie, to the restaurant twice today. Once in the morning, when I took him down in the truck and we walked back home. The second time was walking from the house to bring the Bunny Clark truck back home. Gill had a harder time on the way back down. It was the steps on the patio with his back legs. It's hard to see the dog look up at me for help with just three steps. But he seems happy enough. I'm just hope we get it right for the dogs sake.
Danny DellaMonica and I ran the marathon trip today.
At 2:30 AM EDT the air temperature was 63°F, the sky was crystal clear with a nearly full moon just above the trees to the southwest of the house, there was no wind in the Cove and the visibility over the ocean was excellent.
We had a very calm ride to the fishing grounds. The wind was light out of the northwest to start. Half way to our destination we had northerly of about six knots. This turned into light northeast wind on arrival. The air temperature was 60°F almost the whole ride out, 58°F in Perkins Cove when we left. The visibility was excellent, the sky was clear and the company was fantastic.
On the fishing grounds, the wind was out of the northeast. But it was so light as to be non-existent. The ocean was flat calm all day with no discernable underlying swell. The northeast wind appeared as ripples on the surface of the ocean. The fog came in and out with the northeast wind. The wind died out by 10:00 AM. The ocean was glassy for two hours or more after that. We still had intermittent fog. Around 1:00 PM, the fog was gone and replaced by a light southwest wind. Still calm, the southwest wind blew lightly until it was time to go. We had light southwest wind for most of the ride home. The air temperature rose to a high of 67°F. The sky was clear with some clouds for most of the day, came in mostly cloudy in the afternoon and then cleared on the ride home. The visibility, after the fog, ranged to twenty-five miles. It was as low as ten boat lengths in the fog. The tide (current) was light. The surface water temperature reached a high of 52.5°F.
Ashore, these were the air temperatures in selected New England cities: In Portsmouth, New Hampshire, the high air temperature was 71°F. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 71°F (with a low of 59°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 75°F (with a low of 49°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 70°F (with a low of 52°F).
The fishing, catching and landings (anglers included) were excellent today. I don't think you could catch more haddock unless you waited for a double before you reeled in. Most legal fish landed today were haddock by far. We attained the bag limit two hours before it was time to leave to go back to Perkins Cove. So I went looking for pollock to no avail. Legal landings also included forty-two cusk, eight pollock, three redfish and seventeen mackerel. Released fish included fifty-one legal haddock, six sub-legal haddock, four cod over twenty-three inches, seventeen small cod, three small pollock and a couple of mackerel. We drift fished and anchored. We did best on anchor. Bait worked, by far, the best.
I couldn't tell you who was high hook. We had so many excellent anglers, I would have had to count fillets. And we don't count fillets. Jonathan "Griff" Griffin (MA) won the boat pool for the largest fish with the largest fish, a 10 pound cod. This is a tie for the Bunny Clark's third largest cod of the fishing season to date. Griff also caught two haddock that weighed 6.5 pounds each. I believe that these were his two largest haddock. Adam Kendall (VT) won the boat pool for the second largest fish with the second largest fish, a 9.5 pound cod, the Bunny Clark's fifth largest cod of the 2026 fishing season so far. The third largest fish was a 9 pound Maine state trophy haddock caught by Mark Girard (NH). This is the largest haddock that Mark has ever caught. I took a picture of Mark holding his prize fish. This digital image appears on the right. His largest haddock before this weight 8.5 pounds, caught with me the year before last on a spring marathon trip. Mark caught a lot of haddock today.
Other Angler Highlights: Victor Tirrito (VT) caught the first Maine state trophy haddock today. It weighed 7.25 pounds. I took a picture of Vic holding his haddock. This digital image appears on the left. The first fish he caught this morning was a 6 pound haddock. His son, Mike Tirrito, who has been fishing with me since he was twelve years old (many moons ago), was one of the anglers who I was considering for high hook with the most legal fish. He caught quite a few haddock over 6 pounds that I didn't need to weigh for the boat pool. Karl Day (ME) caught today's third Maine state trophy haddock, also a 7.25 pounder. Karl had caught a 6.5 pound haddock much earlier in the trip. Jeff Corey (MA) had a slower start for him. But once we got on the anchor, it was one after another. I didn't weigh any haddock for him but I'm sure he caught one of 6 pounds or better. I did weigh a 6 pound cusk for him. Roger Gavin (MA) caught a 6.75 pound haddock, a quarter of a pound shy of a Maine state trophy. I had weighed a 5.5 pound haddock for him earlier. Dan Pipes (VT) boated a 6.5 pound cusk, his biggest fish. He also caught a 6 pound haddock, one of his biggest haddock.
Tod Benjamin (VT) caught the largest cusk of the day at 7 pounds. Jack Decormier (NH) caught a 6.25 pound haddock and two others that were probably the same size. Dana Decormier (NH) caught a haddock that I didn't weigh that was over 6 pounds but was not big enough to be a Maine state trophy. Don Johnson (MA) caught more than his share of haddock today. He was surprised at how well he did, despite the fact that I wasn't! Darlene Chin (NH) had string of good luck continue from the first trip she took with me in 2025. May this thread of luck continue. She, again, told me that it was the best haddock day that she has had. I think that she just can't help herself, saying this, when she has such an enjoyable day on the ocean with the fishing and the weather. But, maybe, that's just me!
I received several donations today sponsoring me in my cancer fundraising drive with the Pan-Mass Challenge. The anglers and their donations included Dana Decormier for $50.00, Griff for a generous $100.00, Mark Girard for $50.00, making his donation in the form of an "eGift" through the PMC site, Don & Lisa Johnson for $60.00 and Jeff Corey for $20.00. Thank you all so very much for your thoughtfulness and generosity. All of these anglers have supported me many times through the twenty years that I have been involved with the Jimmy Fund and the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, Massachusetts. I so very much appreciate that!
The sky was a mix of sun and clouds today, mostly clouds. We had no rain in the morning and just a sprinkle or two in the afternoon. These sprinkles weren't much. By sunset wet had intermittent rain. The wind was light all morning, mainly from the east. The ocean along the shore was a ruffled calm. After noon, the wind hauled clockwise to southeast while the velocity slowly increased. By 2:00 PM, the wind was blowing at almost a steady fifteen knots. But the wind really started to ramp up after low water. By 7:00 PM, we had southeast winds up to twenty knots. By 8:00 PM, sustained wind speeds were twenty knots. The air temperature was down in Perkins Cove because of the wind off the water. The air temperature hung around 60°F once the sun got up in good shape. I saw 65°F right around noon. It might have been a degree or two higher but I never saw it. The air temperature was in the high 50s after 3:00 PM. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 72°F (with a low of 56°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 70°F (with a low of 47°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 61°F (with a low of 49°F).
I spent the day running around between my parents house, where we are dealing with a plumbing issue, the restaurant, the boat and catching up in my own office at home. The plumbing issue lasted all day. We, actually, never got finished. This will resume on Monday. But I did have to make several trips from the restaurant to the house and back. I had to prepare the Bunny Clark for the storm we are supposed to be having tomorrow. So I needed to get some filters changed on the engine and run storm lines while it wasn't raining. The restaurant on Fridays is most of my day; opening at 4:30 AM and being there most of the day after I've knocked all the items off the list. So, in the morning, I was doing my opening chores while also working on the Bunny Clark. One of our vendors didn't show up until after my morning sessions, so that was one less thing I had to do. And I didn't have to sort lobsters as we had enough to get us through the day today.
The last straw was the Canadiens losing to Carolina. Carolina is a great hockey team with one of my favorite coaches. So, now, I will be hoping they win the Cup.
The salient feature of today's weather was the wind. Out of the east northeast early in the morning, by sunrise, it was right out of the northeast. The wind kept backing to a direction out of the north northeast. Seas were very rough as viewed from the parking lot in Perkins Cove. Winds were still blowing to forty knots. It rained almost all morning, stopping for good at noon or just before. The early afternoon saw wind speeds of twenty-five to thirty knots, still out of the north northeast. Winds continued dropping, the clouds started to break up and everything was drying up. By 5:00 PM, the sun was starting to show. At 6:00 PM, there was more sky than clouds. Wind speeds had dropped to about fifteen knots. It was probably more offshore. The visibility because very good after noon. The air temperature hung around the high 40s all morning. We started to see the air temperature broach the 50 degree mark at 3:00 PM. The highest air temperature that I saw as 51°F. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 58°F (with a low of 46°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 56°F (with a low of 37°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 54°F (with a low of 41°F).
After the wind of today, leaves and branches were everywhere on the ground, on the roads and on the Marginal Way. We didn't have any downed trees in our area but there were plenty of branches down here and there. Some trees did come down in places. But this was nothing that I witnessed.
There never was much surge in the Cove. The storm was too quick moving to create seas big enough to create a surge. We did have a lot of rain. It filled all the skiffs in the Cove. I spent time bailing our skiff out. But I also bailed out a couple of other friend's skiffs/punts while I was at it. I also called one person to tell them I had done this and not to get oil gear to come down to the Cove. It saved them a trip.
I had planned to watch the Champion's League final with friends and UK ex-pats in an Irish pub in Kennebunkport. This I did. The game started at noon. So I got there before and watched the whole game, through overtime and pens in the end. Arsenal vs Paris Saint-Germain. PSG never got a goal in open play. Arsenal had a goal in the first six minutes. But Arsenal tried to defend a one goal lead. In so doing, they made mistakes, created a penalty shot where PSG scored. Neither team scored in overtime. Arsenal lost in pens at the end. It certainly wasn't an exciting game to watch. But it was interesting and seeing people I used to see on a regular basis, who I so rarely see now, by not being on the bike, was fun.
I worked for the rest of the day in the restaurants until closing. It was a fairly slow day but I got a lot of work done in the office and I was able to take my time talking with patrons.
I received two donations sponsoring me in the Pan-Mass Challenge, a ride across the state of Massachusetts to raise money for cancer research. Both donations were made in the form of an "eGift" through the PMC site. One was a $50.00 gift from Steve Guilmet (MA), who has donated to my project for twenty years. The other was a very generous $300.00 donation from Dave Burton (MA) with the note: "In memory of my dad, Dick Burton. Thanks, Tim, for all you do." Dave has been donating to the cause since I met him a few years ago. And in these last few years he has been one of the most generous. Thank you both so very much for your support and generosity. This does not get forgotten and is so appreciated by me, those patients directly impacted and the scientific community involved.
It wasn't long before a uniform thin layer of clouds covered the sky. The sun was still shinning through this layer. But it was, what my father would call, a smurry sun. It was soft lighting which would have made it perfect for taking outdoor pictures. But it wasn't as nice as a clear sunny day. The clouds thickened. A little after noon, the sky became totally overcast, blocking the sun entirely. By 2:30 PM, we were seeing a light sprinkling of rain. This was periodic and light. You didn't need a rain coat. But the roads never dried. The intermittent rain kept up into the night. The visibility over the ocean stayed very good the whole day, even with the light rain. And even the deck at Barnacle Billy's retained interest throughout the day; less so in the later afternoon. The air temperature was slow to get warm. By noon, the air temperature was 56°F. The air temperature got up as high as 65°F. This higher temperature was only attained because the wind wasn't there today. It was so light as to not be any wind. The ocean was calm until 2:00 PM, when a southerly wind was established. Wind speeds were just over ten knots at the height of it. I guess you could say that the wind was out of the west in the morning. But there wasn't much westerly wind. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 68°F (with a low of 44°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 69°F (with a low of 37°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 63°F (with a low of 37°F).
The day for me was routine. The restaurant was the focus. It was, again, slow enough to allow me to spend more time talking at the tables. I am sensitive to spending too much time and usually find an escape route before they get bored with it. I believe I know when just a question and comment is enough or, with questions from the table, how long to stay. All I'm really doing is making sure they are enjoying themselves and that the food is good.
The air temperature was slow to warm today with the wind off the water early, the wind slowly fading away as the morning progressed. The highest air temperature, in the shade, that I saw was 62°F. However, a 4:00 PM on the Bunny Clark, under the shade top with the sun beating down on the top of the canopy, it was 75°F. It was summer on the Bunny Clark. As predicted, the wind blew out of the northeast at about fifteen knots by daybreak and slowly started to drop in velocity. By 10:00 AM, the wind was more out of the north northeast, than northeast, at ten knots. By noon, it was east northeast and just showing a white cap or about eight knots. It had calmed down and was blowing lightly out of the south at 3:00 PM. The southerly wind was almost ten knots at 6:00 PM. The visibility over the ocean was excellent. The sky was mostly clear all day with zero threat of showers. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 58°F (with a low of 49°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 68°F (with a low of 43°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 62°F (with a low of 44°F).
I spent the day running around getting odd jobs done, getting the Bunny Clark ready to sail, working in the restaurants, sending off an engine oil sample, filling the Bunny Clark truck up with fuel, working with Rooterman David who was continuing working out our plumbing drainage problems at my parents house, working on a plan to re-route our sewer, water and gray water, answering emails and sending out donation checks for our various town services. It was a very busy day.
I met Danny DellaMonica down on the Bunny Clark in the afternoon. I was warming up the engine so it wouldn't take as long to bring her up to temperature before the trip tomorrow morning. Danny showed up just before I shut the engine down. He was there to get ice, fill some of the reels that needed line and putting on leaders. He worked for about an hour, I would say. Both of us are very excited about the trip tomorrow.
At one point today, I walked on to the patio at Barnacle Billy's (Original) only to find one of my best ever deck hands, Bryan Tufts, eating a cheeseburger. I spent at least fifteen minutes talking about the fishery, lobstering and old times on the Bunny Clark. It was great to see him..
When running around town in the truck, bringing the Bunny Clark truck to leave at the Cove and walking back down to the Cove at the end of the day to get the BC truck, I had Gill our border collie with me. He loves to do things. But, with his condition, had can't do nearly as much. So I help him enjoy his time with me. This includes lifting him in and out of the truck, bringing a pocket full of milk bones (sometimes I have to coax him to walk with me - he can't resist a milk bone) and encouraging him to walk with me or wait at the head of the ramp while I work on the boat. He still seems very happy and enjoys the ride.
At 2:45 AM EDT the air temperature was 49°F (47°F at the Bunny Clark), the sky was crystal with a waning gibbous moon well above the southwestern horizon, the wind was blowing lightly out of the west and the visibility over the ocean was excellent.
The surface water temperature was 50°F when we broached the gate headed to the fishing grounds.The water temperature dropped to 48°F by the five mile mark. We carried this surface water temperature to within five miles of our destination. The last water temperature I saw before we stopped was 49°F.The ocean was calm for most of the ride out. What wind we did have was from the south, maybe three knots at the twenty mile mark. Two miles before stopping we had eight knots of southerly wind with a chop almost a foot. There was a ground swell from the southeast that averaged six feet, according to the sounding machine. The visibility was excellent, the sky was cloudless and the air temperature was 56°F.
On the fishing grounds, the wind was out of the south to start but, more quickly than I expected, shifted out of the south southwest. The wind was out of the west southwest at noon. The velocity was ten knots or a little more. Seas were chops over a foot to two feet. We ended the fishing with southwest winds of twelve knots and two foot chops with the six foot, more or less, ground swells from the southeast. The air temperature reached a high of 59°F. The visibility ranged to thirty miles to start but dropped to twenty-five miles for the ride home. Clouds started invading the sky by 10:00 AM. The sky was nearly overcast by noon, was overcast by 2:00 PM. We carried overcast skies all the way home. The tide (current) was light. The surface water temperature reached a high of 51.1°F.
Ashore, these were the air temperatures in selected New England cities: In Portsmouth, New Hampshire, the high air temperature was 76°F. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 75°F (with a low of 49°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 77°F (with a low of 39°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 73°F (with a low of 41°F).
The fishing was good to very good. It could have been better had there not been so many tangles. We have certainly had worse tangles. The tangles were just more than what we have been seeing this season. The catching was very good but the bite was off. We lost a lot of good haddock on the surface that were barely hooked. Indeed, the haddock bite was tentative according to those trying to catch them. Landings were good to very good. Most legal fish landed were haddock, by far. We didn't reach the total boat bag limit but many individual anglers reached or surpassed the fifteen limit and there were a lot of good sized haddock that came aboard. Legal landings also included forty-nine cusk, sixteen pollock, nine redfish and forty-eight mackerel. Released fish included thirty-one small cod, eight cod over twenty-three inches, nine cusk, one wolffish, fifteen mackerel and two porbeagle sharks. We started by drifting but ended up doing our best on anchor. Bait worked best.
I couldn't tell you who was high hook.But, If I were to guess, I would say it was Nick Kirychuk (CT). This is purely subjective as we don't count fillets. He caught his bag limit of haddock but he also caught plenty of cusk. The only fish I weighed for him was a 5.5 pound haddock early in the trip. Matt Luce (ME) won the boat pool for the largest fish with the largest fish, a 14 pound wolffish. It was the last fish caught today on the last stop! This is the Bunny Clark's second largest wolffish of the fishing season so far. It's also the second time he has won the boat pool this year with a wolffish. That one weight 11.5 pounds, the third largest wolffish of the Bunny Clark fishing season so far! I didn't take a picture of the big one today as I was in the bow when the fish was boated. So I got a quick weight and tossed it over the side so as not to compromise it's ability to stay alive. Matt lost one of the three trophy haddock that were brought to the surface and lost there! Max Grimm (ME) won the boat pool for the second largest fish with the second largest fish, a 10.5 pound cod. This is the Bunny Clark's third largest cod of the fishing season to date. The third largest fish was an 8.25 pound pollock caught by Steve Smith (MA). He caught this as part of a double with another pollock of 6.25 pounds, both fish caught on the same line at the same time! The 8.25 pound pollock is tied for the second largest pollock to be caught on the Bunny Clark this season so far.
Other Angler Highlights: Karl Day (ME) repeated the feat he accomplished on May 29, 2025, catching three Maine state trophy haddock on one trip! There are only six other anglers who have ever caught three or more trophy haddock on the Bunny Clark on one trip and Karl is one of the six! The record number of trophy haddock caught on one trip by a single angler is five, accomplished first but Jim Koplar (CT) in May of 2024 and tied on May 21, 2026 by Jason Ridolfi (NY)! Those anglers who have caught the three trophy record include Gil Bonvie (MA) who achieved this feat on May 9, 2002, this was tied by Marc Holland (MA) on April 29, 2003, was tied by Jeff Frisby (NY) on April 23, 2010 and was tied by Karl Day last year! Karl's three trophy haddock today included a 7.5 pound haddock, a 7 pound haddock and an 8 pound haddock. I took a picture of Karl holding his 8 pound haddock. This digital image appears on the left. He also caught a 7 pound cusk and a 7.5 pound cusk, the biggest cusk and tied for the second biggest cusk of the trip.
Tom Zido (NY) caught the first fish I could weigh for the boat pool, a 5.25 pound cusk. His biggest fish was a 6.25 pound haddock. Darlene Chin (MA) landed a 6 pound cusk. Her best fish was a 6.75 pound haddock, a quarter of a pound shy of a Maine state trophy. She is no stranger to the trophy haddock, having caught five trophy haddock last year. Dick Grimm (ME) boated a 7.25 pound Maine state trophy haddock. He also caught a 7 pound cusk. Chris Tankred (OH) boated a 7 pound Maine state trophy haddock late in the day. This is the largest haddock that Chris has ever caught. Ben Sohm (NY) caught a 6.9 pound haddock, a 6.75 pound haddock and a 6 pound haddock, all three fish caught right in a row. Jim Jarvis, Jr. (MA) caught a 7.5 pound Maine state trophy haddock. I believe this is his biggest ever haddock. I took a picture of Jim with his big haddock. This digital image appears on the right. He also caught a 7.5 pound cod, the second largest cod of the trip. Zack Grimm (ME) boated a 6.25 pound haddock, his biggest fish. Jeff Tankred (PA) boated a 6 pound haddock.
I know that this recent trend of landing big haddock has got to end at some point. But, right now, I am really enjoying watching these fish being caught. Sometimes I have to pinch myself to make sure I'm not dreaming. I've also had to verify the scale I use to weigh these fish just to make sure I'm not in error. I have been wrong on a lot of things, particularly lately. Weighing fish is not one of them!
Nick Kirychuk did me another solid today as he has on two other occasions this season and donated $20.00 to sponsor me in this season's Pan-Mass Challenge, a ride across the state of Massachusetts to raise money for cancer research. If you have been atune to the news lately, the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, the research center I support, has just come out with a drug to slow down pancreatic cancer. This is a huge deal. Thank you, Nick! As you know, I appreciate this very much!
The sky cleared up until it was cloudless by late morning and early afternoon. The sky remained cloudless for the rest of the day until sunset. The visibility was excellent all day. The wind was light and the ocean along the shore remained calm. When a wind direction became established around mid morning, it was out of the south. We had southerly wind all day long. Mid afternoon saw wind speeds up to ten knots. The died to about five knots at sunset. It was, pretty much, five knots or less of wind most of the day. The air temperature reached a high of 79°F in Ogunquit, from what I observed. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 80°F (with a low of 60°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 85°F (with a low of 46°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 79°F (with a low of 49°F).
As is normal, I spent the most of the day at the restaurants or working on restaurant stuff. I did spend some time getting the Bunny Clark ready to sail tomorrow.
At 2:30 AM EDT the air temperature was 62°F, the sky was clear with a bright gibbous moon destined to sink in the west at 8:24 AM, the wind was blowing out of the west at eight knots or more and the visibility over the ocean was excellent.
The surface water temperature was 50°F, again, just outside the can buoys on the ride to the fishing grounds.The water temperature rose to 54.5°F from the five to fifteen mile mark. The surface water temperature stayed at 50°F for the rest of the ride to our destination. The sky was cloudless. The visibility was excellent. The air temperature hung just below 60°F the whole way. The wind was light out of the west, south southwest when we arrived. Seas were chops of one to two feet, at most.
On the fishing grounds, the wind was out of the southwest or south southwest for most of the day. Wind speeds were, at most, ten knots. With an hour of fishing to go, the wind dropped to nothing. We had one to two foot chops throughout the morning. There was barely any kind of sea at all by 1:00 PM. We never had much of a discernable ground swell. It never got flat calm. Just very close to it. By 2:00 PM, the wind had hauled out of the southwest. We had ten knots of southwest wind with a one foot chop an hour after we left the fishing grounds, more as we progressed. We carried a southwest wind direction all the way back home. The air temperature reached a high of 70°F. The tide (current) was moderate to strong. The visibility ranged to more than twenty-five miles. The sky went from cloudless for most of the trip to milky clear with high thin clouds. The surface water temperature had just reached exactly 52°F when we hauled the anchor to go home, the highest surface water temperature of the day while on the grounds.
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 89°F (with a low of 59°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 89°F (with a low of 49°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 82°F (with a low of 52°F).
The fishing was good, no better than that. The tide was too strong on anchor and promoted tangling. The tide was too strong to drift. Our best catching was completed on anchor. The catching was good on every stop except the last one. It was excellent on the last stop. Landings, overall, were very good. Most legal fish landed were an equal number of haddock and pollock. We could never have reached the bag limit for all the pollock we were catching. We did find a couple of spots where all we caught were cusk and, mostly, haddock. But after noon, it was mostly pollock. Legal landings also included thirty-six cusk and four redfish. Released fish included three cod of 6 pounds or so, twelve small cod, five or six cusk, three sub-legal haddock and fifty-two sub-legal pollock.We had the most success on anchor. Bait worked best for the haddock, Jigs and flies were best for the pollock.
I couldn't tell you who was high hook.Steve Laflam (NH) had the most fish but he was given a lot of cusk. His biggest fish was a 6.5 pound pollock. Steve is a fisherman's fisherman. I always expect him to perform as one of the best. He never disappoints me! Chuck Gramness (NJ) won the boat pool for the largest fish with the largest fish, a 14.75 pound pollock. This is the biggest pollock caught on the Bunny Clark this season so far. His largest haddock weighed 6 pounds. Chris Tankred (OH) won the boat pool for the second largest fish with the second largest fish, a 12.5 pound pollock. This is the Bunny Clark's second largest pollock of the season to date. I took a picture of Chris with his nice pollock. This digital image appears on the left. Chris also caught the largest haddock that he has ever caught, his second trophy in two trips. The fish today was a 7.75 pound Maine state trophy haddock. I took a picture of Chris holding his haddock with my iPhone. This digital image appears on the right. Mark Hayes (ME) landed the third largest fish, a 10 pound pollock. This is a tie for the Bunny Clark's fourth largest pollock of the 2026 fishing season so far. The biggest haddock of Mark's, that I weighed, was 5.5 pounds. He might have caught a bigger one that I didn't weigh.
Other Angler Highlights: On the first stop, Lee Atherton (ME) and Jim Feeney (MA) caught their biggest haddock, each, of the trip. They were two of the first three fish boated today. Jim's weighed 6 pounds. Lee's weighed 5.5 pounds. Tom Zido (NY) caught a lot of fish. But his biggest haddock was 5 pounds. Garry Golden (NY) boated a 6 pound haddock and a 6.5 pound haddock, his two biggest haddock. Aidan Maguire (MA) landed a 6.75 pound cusk, his biggest fish. Phil Ashe (NY) caught two haddock of 6 pounds each, his best fish. Dave Robitaille (NH) caught an 8 pound, his biggest fish and the largest cusk of the trip. It's also the second largest cusk of the Bunny Clark fishing season to date. Eric Blair (WI) caught the largest haddock of the trip and the largest haddock of his life, an 8.25 pound Maine state trophy! Not fifteen minutes later, he caught another trophy haddock of 7.5 pounds! Dana Ferrande (FL) also landed a Maine state trophy haddock. Dana's weighed exactly 7 pounds, a trophy by definition. He caught two other haddock of 6 pounds each. Dave Bagaley (NH) caught a 7.25 pound pollock, his biggest fish. Meredith Howard (NH) caught a 6 pound haddock, her largest fish.
I received several donations today sponsoring me in my cancer fundraising drive with the Pan-Mass Challenge. The anglers and their donations included Lee Atherton for $50.00, an anonymous generous $100.00 donation, Doc Murray (NH) for $40.00, a generous $100.00 gift from Dave Robitaille, Steve Laflam for $50.00 and Tom & Noreen Zido (NY) for $50.00. Thank you all so very very much for your support, generosity and for caring as much as you do. I am humbled by this and it's so very much appreciated!
It was a beautiful day ashore. The sky was clear all day, cloudless for some of it. There was no wind all day. I could see that the ocean was ruffled from time to time but I couldn't discern a wind direction. The ocean was essentially calm all day. The visibility was excellent. The air temperature reached a high of 84°F in Ogunquit, that I saw. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 88°F (with a low of 65°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 88°F (with a low of 52°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 82°F (with a low of 55°F).
It was my day to open the restaurants. I was down there at 4:30 AM. But it wasn't the busy morning that I expected. We had no lobster deliveries. Our biggest two deliveries came after I left the Cove at 9:15 AM. I did spend a lot of time on this fish report. I have to as processing pictures takes extra time. And there was a lot to write about.
Gill, our border collie, it still getting on. He now waits to be lifted in and out of the truck. And his bag legs scuff when he's walking. I try to keep him off the tar as much as I can. The grass is much better for his legs.
I got back to the restaurants at noon and worked until around 6:00 PM. Early in, early out. It was a good business day, unlike the other days this week. Lots of nice people.
By 7:00 AM, a thin layer of clouds had covered the sky. The sun was visibility as a hazy orb for a while and, then, just a light above the clouds. It kept looking like it was going to pop through. But it never really did. The day continued with varying amounts of clouds in the sky but it remained overcast. At 3:30 PM, we had a sprinkle of rain that didn't even wet the roads. That was all the rain we had for the day despite National Weather Service predictions. The wind was light out of the east or east northeast all morning and into the afternoon with wind speeds never getting stronger than eight knots. It piped up a bit at 3:00 PM. Wind speeds out of the east northeast at 4:00 PM were about twelve knots, more or less. The wind remained as such into the night. The visibility remained excellent. The air temperature reached a high of 70°F. This must have happened around noon. Air temperatures started to drop in the early afternoon. By 4:00 PM, the air temperature was 60°F.The air temperature was relegated to the high 50's for the rest of the afternoon and night. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 87°F (with a low of 62°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 62°F (with a low of 55°F).
I spent the whole day on restaurant stuff. We lit the fires at Billy's at noon even though the air temperature was still 70°F. It didn't take long to realize that this was a good move. The deck was full all day was the building provided a good break from the wind coming across the parking lot. The surface water temperature is still about 51 to 54°F so just and onshore breeze can drop the air temperature quickly.
With a short break, I stayed until closing.
The clouds moved in as the morning progressed. It happened slowly so that, even by noon, there was hope the sky wouldn't become completely overcast. But overcast it did become. All afternoon. We did have some rain showers. These lasted long enough to move people off the deck at Barnacle Billy's and move people out of the garden patio at Barnacle Billly's, Etc. This was around 3:00 PM. We still had the occasional short rain periods around sunset and into the night. The wind blew out of the west or west northwest at about ten knots for the morning and into the afternoon. At the time of the first rain, the wind had shifted out of the north or north northeast. The wind velocity picked up around sunset. Wind speeds over twenty knots were seen (or felt) for a two hour period into the night. The wind was back out of the northwest before midnight. Wind speeds were light. The visibility was excellent. The highest air temperature that I saw was 78°F right around noon. The air temperature dropped after that. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 82°F (with a low of 59°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 79°F (with a low of 52°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 75°F (with a low of 54°F).
Another day at the restaurant. And another day working around the weather. It was a beautiful day in the morning and the first, almost three, hours of the afternoon. The garden patio was full. The deck at Original was full. Business overall was not as good as the same day last year.
I continue to take Gill, our border collie, to the Cove in the morning in the truck and walk back home after getting the truck parked. This morning, I had to get the boat ready as, tomorrow, I have too much going on with it being the first day of the work week and trying to get set up to have a few repairs (restaurant & my parent's house) done at some time this week. So Gill and I walked home together after putting stuff on the Bunny Clark. I walked down with Gill to get the truck after work. His back legs are giving him more troubles. I try to keep him in the grass as much as I can. He also seeks out the grass.
It was a beautiful spring day today. The sky was clear and sunny all day, cloudless in the morning. It was nearly cloudless all day. The visibility remained excellent. The wind, when there was wind, was very light all morning. The ocean along the shore was calm. A southerly breeze picked up in the afternoon. It was about eight knots, at most. The air temperature climbed over 70°F but didn't get much higher in Perkins Cove with the afternoon sea breeze blowing over the parking lot. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 74°F (with a low of 56°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 81°F (with a low of 45°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 76°F (with a low of 49°F).
It was a manic Monday for sure. I had a list of items I had to tick off before a conference call at the restaurant at 11:00 AM. And I was rushing around to do so. Then our waste management company didn't pick up the trash. So I had to go back and forth with that. I also had a lot of boat stuff to do between working at the restaurant and talking to patrons. It was a very busy day. I was hoping to go for a run at some point but never got the chance. And I had time with Gill dropping off the truck in the morning and walking him down to the truck in the afternoon.
At 2:45 AM EDT the air temperature was 62°F (59°F at the Bunny Clark), the sky was clear with a crescent moon hanging above the eastern horizon, the wind was blowing out of the southwest at ten knots and the visibility over it was excellent.
The crescent moon was over my right shoulder when we passed through the gate into the open ocean. The air temperature was 59°F and the surface water temperature was 54°F. In fact, we carried that same air temperature all the way to the fishing grounds. The surface water dropped a degree after a couple of miles. We carried that value all the way to the fishing grounds as well. The sky was clear with high thin whispy clouds in places. The visibility was excellent. The wind blew out of the south southwest almost the whole way to our destination. The wind was out of the southwest with just a couple miles to go.
On the fishing grounds, the wind blew out of the west to start. Wind speeds were about ten knots. The wind continued out of the west but it dropped to six or eight knots. Seas were chops of a foot or a bit more. The wind backed out of the southwest for a couple hours and, then, hauled out of the west when it was time to go home. Seas were not much more than a foot in chops the whole day. The high air temperature was 64°F.The visibility ranged to more than twenty-five miles. The tide (current) was moderate. The sky was cloudless all day except for the contrails. The surface water temperature reached a high of 54.2°F.
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 59°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 88°F (with a low of 49°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 85°F (with a low of 52°F).
The fishing was excellent. You could drift or anchor, the weather was perfect, the air was warm, the sky was sunny and the tide was nearly perfect. The catching was good at best. Landings were fair. The first three or four stops were slow. The catching picked up after 11:00 AM but not to the level i had expected. Legal landings included forty-two haddock, twenty-four cusk, six pollock and four redfish. Released fish included no sub-legal haddock, one 5.5 pound cod, thirty-eight small cod, eleven or more cusk and seventeen or so sub-legal pollock. We drift fished and anchored. Drifting worked best today. Mostly jigs and flies were used with bait gommed on treble hooks and flies.
I couldn't tell you who was high hook. There were three anglers who were close. Nikki Szczepanski (DC) won the boat pool for the largest fish with the largest fish, a 10.5 pound cusk. This is the third time that she has won the boat pool in the last four trips. The cusk is the largest cusk of the Bunny Clark fishing season to date. I took a picture of Nikki with her pool winning fish. This digital image appears on the left. Her brother, Mike Szczepanski (NY), won the boat pool for the second largest fish with the second largest fish, a 7 pound cusk. He caught a 6.25 pound cusk earlier in the trip. The third largest fish was a 6.5 pound cusk caught by Kelsey Oakley (NY).
Other Angler Highlights: Craig Coleman (NY) might have caught the most haddock of the trip, at least ten. He didn't start catching them until he threw the banana overboard! His fish of note included the biggest cod at 5.5 pounds, a 5.5 pound haddock and a 5.75 pound haddock. Jason Szczepanski (NY) caught the largest haddock at 6 pounds.
I received several donations today sponsoring me in my cancer fundraising drive with the Pan-Mass Challenge. The different people and their donations included Nikki Szczepanski for a generous $150.00, Mike Szczepanski for a generous $130.00 donation, Richard Lyon (CT) for $20.00, Betsy McLaughlin (NY) for a very generous $500.00 and Mike Tirrito (VT) for $50.00. Thank you all so very very much for your support, generosity and thoughtfulness. It's a super amount of help to those who have the disease and those who are trying to solve the cancer riddle.
Today was a match of what we had yesterday except the wind was even lighter in the morning and the wind direction was southeast for south southeast. I don't believe we ever got as much as ten knots of wind. The morning saw less than five knots and a flat calm ocean in front of the Cove. The visibility was very good in some haze. The sky was nearly cloudless, much like yesterday. The air temperature soared to a high of at least 88°F. But it seemed more humid today. Most of the day I was not in Ogunquit. So this was adapted from comments of those I trust. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 90°F (with a low of 64°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 91°F (with a low of 56°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 86°F (with a low of 58°F).
After I finished my morning chores, sans a run on the beach or on the stat bike, I drove to Wakefield, Massachusetts for join a meeting held by the New England Fishery Management Council. It was a meeting of the Groundfish Committee, the Recreational Advisory Panel (RAP) and Groundfish Advisory Panel.
The meeting started off with showing improvements to the Recreational Demand Model Decision Support Tool. This is what we use as recreational managers to establish catch limits with a greater chance of staying within the boundaries of the recreational Sub-ACL (the quota established by the National Marine Fisheries Service). Going over the boundaries might cost us cod or haddock the following year. This is the beginning of the third year that we have been using the tool to establish the size limits, bag limits and season for cod and haddock, specifically. The first year I needed to be held by the hand to come up the limits I thought would be most viable for all. Last year, the tool was very much easier to use. This new version looks to be great.
The rest of the day was talking about Framework 74, the difficulties of getting raw data and accurate landings data (particularly from the private recreational angler), new tools for assimilating positive outcomes with less risk, what we are seeing out there as stakeholders and Amendment 23. Honestly, much was not anything of concern as it applies to recreational anglers. The overall handling of the fishery by the Council has always been a concern for me. And, those who know me (and who knew Ian Keniston) know what I mean. But the Council now is a fast moving train. I have felt for a few years now that I can really do nothing but let it roll on by. I do contribute as a RAP member but the fishery as a whole is sick. I'm just hoping it doesn't die.
The recreational aspect of the meeting was over at 2:00 PM.
At 2:15 AM EDT the air temperature was 67°F, the sky was overcast, it was pouring rain, you could hear thunder and lightning in the distance, the wind was blowing out of the south at ten knots and the visibility over the ocean appeared to be good, at least. Although, I know that these conditions can produce fog. And God help us if we are fishing in the fog this morning with the talent I have aboard today! More later.
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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