Bunny Clark Fishing Update

Gulf of Maine haddock

Sunday, June 29, 2025

The day started off cloudy and foggy just outside the coast. There was no wind all morning. After noon, the wind came up out of the south southeast. Wind speeds were about eight knots. It was foggy along the shore until about 9:00 AM, when it cleared out. It was still hazy. The overcast skies turned to mostly cloudy skies with a peek at the sun every now and then. By 3:00 PM, the clouds had moved away and the sun shone down. The visibility was very good until around 4:00 PM, when the fog moved in again. It didn't seem to stay long. The air temperature was on the cool side with the wind, what little there was, blowing in off the water. Temperatures were in the low to mid 70s for most of the day, in the 60s for most of the morning. The highest air temperature that I saw was 78°F. That was in the shade in a wind protected area. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 77°F (with a low of 62°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 81°F (with a low of 62°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 77°F (with a low of 58°F).

I was down at the restaurants at 5:30 AM, working on a few things. By 10:00 AM, I was back down at the Cove after running ten kilometers that included Ogunquit beach. I had meetings that lasted until 11:15 AM. I got back to my normal restaurant work before noon. I also had about forty-five minutes getting the Bunny Clark ready to sail tomorrow. There isn't really much to write about. Business was slow in the morning, better in the afternoon. And it was all outside. There very few patrons in the dining room at either restaurant. People seemed particularly nice today, for some reason. They are always nice. Today was exceptional.

Monday, June 30, 2025

At 5:00 AM EDT the air temperature was 61°F, the sky was clear, the wind was very light out of the west, the ocean along the shore was flat calm and the visibility over it was excellent.

The ride to the fishing grounds was so easy. We had excellent visibility the whole way. The ocean was as smooth as a baby's bottom over a three foot rolling long swell from the southeast. The sky was clear. The sun was bright. We carried an air temperature of 66°F the whole way out.

On the grounds, we had no wind until the last hour and a half of the day. When we did get wind, it was light from the south southeast. It was just ruffling the surface when we left to head back to Perkins Cove. The air temperature reached a high of 79°F. The tide (current) was moderate to light. The visibility ranged to over thirty miles. The sky was clear and sunny with few clouds. Seas stayed as long three foot swells all day. The surface water temperature reached a high of 67°F, the highest surface water temperature we have seen this season so far but right about normal for this time of year. Maybe it was a little low for these conditions.

Ashore, these were the air temperatures in selected New England cities: In Perkins Cove, Ogunquit, Maine the high air temperature was 80°F. In Boston, MassachuThsetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 83°F (with a low of 67°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 87°F (with a low of 55°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 78°F (with a low of 58°F).

If the dogfish didn't ruin your day, the fishing was nearly excellent. The drift was fine, the weather was perfect and there were few tangles - even with the dogfish. Usually the tangles are much worse with the number of dogfish that we saw today. The catching was good, excellent if you included the dogfish. Landings were fair. Legal landings included thirty-one cusk, eleven haddock, ten pollock, five redfish and four mackerel. Released fish included four sculpins, two porbeagle sharks, three small cod, one good sized cod, twelve sub-legal haddock, one mackerel, one sub-legal redfish and over one hundred and fifty dogfish. We drift fished all day. I would say that a well fished jig won the day today.

I couldn't tell you who was high hook. It could have been anyone. The legal fish were spread out around the boat fairly evenly. However, collectively, the team of John Andreychak (NJ), Brad Roche (NJ) and George Bright (NJ) walked off the boat with the most bags of fillets. George Bright won the boat pool for the largest fish with the largest fish, an 18.5 pound Maine state trophy cusk. This is the Bunny Clark's largest cusk of the fishing season to date. Its also the largest cusk that George has ever caught. George also caught the second largest fish of the trip, a 17.5 pound cod. This is the Bunny Clark's second largest cod of the season so far and his largest cod. I took a picture of George holding his cod before he released it back to the ocean, very much alive. This digital image appears on the left. The third largest fish was an 11 pound cusk caught by Dave Walker (VT). This is the Bunny Clark's fourth largest cusk of the fishing season to date. It's also the largest cusk that Dave has ever caught.

Other Angler Highlights: Keith Wells (TN) caught the first fish that I could weigh for the boat pool, a 4.75 pound cusk. His largest fish was a 7 pound cusk. Delaney Gray (ME) caught the next largest fish I could weigh for the pool, a 5.5 pound cusk. Brad Roche (NJ) caught the fourth largest fish of the trip, a 7.5 pound cusk. Fourteen year old Sam Martin (ME) caught a 7 pound cusk along with a surprising number of other legal fish. I believe that it was his first trip on the Bunny Clark. Its certainly his first trip with me. His mother told me that he fishes fresh water a lot. It showed.

I received three donations sponsoring me in my cancer fund raising project with the Pan-Mass Challenge today. John Andreychak (NY) donated a generous $100.00, Rebecca Dore (ME) also donated the same with the message: "In Memory of Glen Dore" and Marty & Elise Buskey (NY) gave $50.00, one of many $50.00 donations this year and years previously. Thank you all so very much for the support and your generosity. I feel so very lucky to know so many giving individuals who support this cancer project. It is so appreciated by so many! Cancer touches all of us, either directly or indirectly.

About two miles from shore, the engine made a loud noise that sounded like another boat was coming right up behind us to buzz us or something. I looked in back of us to find no boats there, just as the engine alarm system was going off, telling me I had reduced raw water pressure. I ended up calling my son, Micah, at work at Barnacle Billy's, to ask if he could grab our other boat, the Petrel, to come out and two me in. I wasn't sure of the problem but I certainly wasn't going to take the chance of overheating the engine or the exhaust system. So Micah came out, we threw him and tow line and Danny took the wheel behind the Petrel while I tried to make arrangements for getting the engine up and running. I also made a call to my wife, Deb, to cancel tomorrow's trip. I didn't know what the problem was but I knew I couldn't fix it until tomorrow. As it turned out, including me donning a survival suit to look under the boat at the raw water intake, the splined shaft that holds (and turns) the impeller had sheared off at the base inside the bronze pump casting. Grant Hubbard, from Finestkind Scenic Tours, helped me figure all this out and, alone, took the pump off the back of the engine. Phase two will start tomorrow.

After I wrote all this I noticed that I had received another $100.00 donation from Don Stedman (TN) supporting me in my quest for better cancer treatments with the Pan-Mass Challenge. Don & Rebecca Stedman have supported me for years and always dedicate the donation to their brother, Jim Stedman, in memory of. Thank you so very much for thinking of me again and this project to help fight cancer through sound genetic research. I believe in this team of researchers and I appreciate your help.

(A not so) Tim Tuesday, July 1, 2025

It stayed hazy all day. There was never any fog to write about. The visibility was very good over the ocean. The air temperature reached a high of 90°F. But it didn't seem that humid to me, despite the heat index warnings. The sky remained mostly cloudy, about as near as you can get to being overcast without being so. We did see a peek at the sun every now and again. The wind blew out of the south all day. Wind speeds seemed to always be just about ten knots or more. It did not over-blow as predicted. I don't believe the wind ever got close to fifteen knots. In Boston, MassachuThsetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 93°F (with a low of 70°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 92°F (with a low of 67°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 84°F (with a low of 63°F).

I spent all morning working on getting the engine back up and running. I have an old raw water pump that I took off four years after the engine was new. In Perkins Cove, raw water pumps don't last on the Bunny Clark. But I didn't want to put in the old pump just to get by when I could have a new one installed. And I couldn't rely on getting one through the internet as there was no way I would get the pump and have it installed before the Thursday trip. So it was a matter of working with one of two companies coming down. I finally went with Power Products. Initially, they said they couldn't come down until July 14th. That, of course, was not going to work. But then they called to say that the job that was planned had been moved forward. Since they have done all the work on the engine, I decided to go with them. Hopefully, they will come through with securing the pump. Of course, I paid extra to have the process expedited.

I had all this wrapped up by 1:00 PM. There were a lot of calls and return calls to wait for. In the meantime, I worked on office stuff at the house. Updating the index page was first on the list. But I had lots of other things to do. By 1:30 PM, I was back in the restaurant for a few hours. I took the night off to take Deb to Greenleaves for Chinese instead of working at the restaurants until closing.

Wednesday, July 2, 2025

It was a warm and humid day today with air temperatures in the 80s for most of the day. The highest air temperature that I observed (at home) was 87°F. It didn't feel any different at the Cove where I worked for most of the day. The wind blew out of the south all day offshore and south southwest along the shore. Wind speeds were less than ten knots but close to ten knots. The sky was cloudy to start but sunny by mid morning onward. The visibility was very good in some haze. In Boston, MassachuThsetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 88°F (with a low of 73°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 89°F (with a low of 67°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 87°F (with a low of 69°F).

I had an eye appointment after a meeting with our accountant for Barnacle Billy's, Inc. The financial meeting only lasted a half hour. The eye appointment lasted for over two hours. I need new prescription lenses for my glasses. I had to make two stops to pick up equipment on the way home.

Cody, from Power Products, called me at 10:30 AM to tell me that the new raw water pump had been delivered but with only two of the three fuel check valves that I also wanted to replace. I figured two was better than none. I met Cody at the boat after noon. He worked for over two hours replacing the pump and replacing two check valves. By 3:00 PM, we were ready for sea trials. Everything went smoothly. For a half hour before that time, I went through both restaurants talking to patrons. That was the only time I got to work at the restaurants. After Cody left, it took me an hour or more to clean up the engine room and get the boat ready in order to sail tomorrow. As usual, I'm excited to fish. So is Danny!

Thursday, July 3, 2025

At 5:00 AM EDT the air temperature was 67°F, the hazy sky was mottled with clouds (almost like a mackerel sky), there wasn't enough wind to write about, the ocean was flat ass calm and the visibility over it was very good in some haze.

We had another flat calm ride to the fishing grounds. The sky was mostly sunny. The visibility was very good in some haze. The air temperature ranged from 69°F to 71°F.

On the fishing grounds, the ocean stayed flat calm until some time after noon. It might have been 1:00 PM. When the wind did come it was out of the south southwest. Wind speeds got up to five knots or so. We had a squall area move by us to the north, never seeing a drop of rain on us. At the same time I realized that we missed a dousing. The wind switched out of the west northwest at that time, blew up to fifteen knots and then died out to about five knots about the time we started for home. The air temperature reached a high of 84°F. The visibility ranged to twenty miles. The tide (current) was light to start, moderate to end. The sky was hazy sunny for most of the trip, excluding the time the squall rolled to the north of us - at that time, the sky was overcast. The surface water temperature reached a high of 68°F.

Ashore, these were the air temperatures in selected New England cities: In Perkins Cove, Ogunquit, Maine the high air temperature was 85°F as observed by a person I am very close to. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 90°F (with a low of 69°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 86°F (with a low of 56°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 82°F (with a low of 64°F).

The fishing was excellent. The air temperature warm but not too warm, the sea state was perfect, there wasn't much tide to speak of and the anglers knew what they were doing or learned very quickly. The catching was excellent if you included the dogfish. Landings were fair to good. Everyone caught legal fish but the fish, on average, were small. Legal landings included twenty cusk, twenty-six haddock, thirty-eight pollock, seventeen redfish, over fifty-eight mackerel and a whiting. Released fish included about one hundred and thirty-one dogfish to my count (I'm sure I missed a few), seven small cod, one 5 pound cod, twenty sub-legal haddock, over one hundred and fifty small pollock and five redfish. We drift fished and anchored. All terminal gear worked about the same.

Art Kemler, Jr. (PA) was high hook with the most legal fish. He had the largest pollock at 5 pounds. His biggest fish was a 7 pound cusk, the second largest fish of the trip. Caileb Stanley (ME) won the boat pool for the largest fish with the largest fish, a 10.5 pound cusk. The third largest fish was a 6.25 pound cusk caught by Tess Sapone (DC).

Other Angler Highlights: Randy Clark (VT) caught the biggest haddock at, about, 4.5 pounds. I didn't weigh it. He also caught the biggest cod. It weighed 5 pounds. Ali Laflamme (ME) caught the second largest pollock at 4.5 pounds and the only whiting, just shy of 2 pounds .

I received a few donations today sponsoring me on my ride with the Pan-Mass Challenge, a ride across the state of Massachusetts for cancer research. . Those donors and their donations included Art Kemler, Jr. for $50.00, Randy Clark for a generous $100.00, this "In Memory of Captain Ian Keniston.", Mark Coleman (NY) for $40.00, Andrew Mastrorillo (MA) for $50.00 and Karen Atwood (VT) for $25.00. Thank you all so very much for your support and generosity. This has been a harder year than normal for generating the funding I want. And a harder season in general for me. So I appreciate this very much.

Independence Day, Friday, July 4, 2025

At 5:00 AM EDT the air temperature was 62°F, the sky was cloudless, the wind was blowing out of the west northwest at ten knots or more and the visibility over the ocean was excellent, the clearest it has been for over a week.

It was an excellent day today, weather wise, a "111", as my father would have said. The sky was nearly cloudless all day. There was no humidity. The visibility was excellent. The air temperature rose to a most comfortable 77°F. It was a perfect day for Ogunquit, on Independence Day and for the fireworks at Ogunquit Beach. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 81°F (with a low of 65°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 77°F (with a low of 52°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 76°F (with a low of 57°F).

I spent all my time and attention to the restaurants today, aside from writing and posting this report. I always open the restaurant on Friday's. So I was down there before 5:00 AM, getting things started and working on deliveries, hosing the street, etc. etc. The lobster order came late, so I stayed later for that. I ended up getting home at 9:30 AM.

When I was done at the Cove, I had just enough time to run 6.3 miles; I have to get some aerobic exercise every day. Since I punctured both lungs in June two years ago, my breathing has suffered. It has never come back the way it was. In a way, that's good. Before that time my breathing was so good, I tended to get leg injuries from keeping too high a pace while running. These paces were just above a seven minute mile. Now an eight minute mile is struggle distance running so my leg (calf, quad & hamstrings) injuries are less. I don't think my breathing will ever come back to the way it was. Plus, I'm at a fairly advanced age.

After noon, I was back at the restaurant. I stayed there until after closing time. It was a very busy day, our busiest ever.

Saturday, July 5, 2025

It was a beautiful summer day today with very little humidity and perfect air temperatures. The highest air temperature that I saw was 81°F. The visibility was very good to excellent is some haze. The sky was very clear in the morning but became nearly overcast in the afternoon, almost to point of looking like rain. Late afternoon saw those clouds disappear and the sun coming out. The wind blew out of the south all day. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 84°F (with a low of 66°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 83°F (with a low of 49°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 78°F (with a low of 54°F).

I spent part of the morning with Danny DellaMonica doing repairs on the Bunny Clark and getting Danny set up to continue on with it. I met him down at the Cove at 9:00 AM. He continued on into the afternoon.

I spent the day at the restaurant, all day, after opening. It was the busiest day we have ever seen down at the Cove. The restaurant went very smoothly. I was tired by the time I got home.

Sunday, July 6, 2025

The day was a very warm one after all. But it didn't start out that way. By 11:00 AM, the air temperature was still in the 80s. It was mid afternoon, when we saw our highest air temperature. The highest that I saw was 94°F. The wind stayed out of the west southwest along the shore. So we never got the benefit of a cooling on shore breeze. Wind speeds of ten knots reigned all day. The visibility stayed at very good to excellent in less haze than I would have expected with the higher than normal air temperatures. There was also less humidity than I expected. Although it did feel nice working in an air conditioned office at Barnacle Billy's, Etc. The sky was clear all day with few clouds. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 94°F (with a low of 69°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 95°F (with a low of 60°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 92°F (with a low of 67°F).

It was another fairly busy day at the restaurant but not nearly as busy as the two days before it. I did some work with the Bunny Clark for most of the morning. Danny DellaMonica and Ali Laflamme showed up, Ali to go over an article she is writing and Danny to install a steel fire extinguisher bracket that had been rusting. He had taken the bracket off the day before, wire brushed it, barrier coated it and painted it before reinstalling it today.

By noon, I was ready for my restaurant duties.

Monday, July 7, 2025

The weather was great today. The sky stayed cloudless almost the whole morning but started clouding up. The afternoon saw mostly cloudy skies with the sun peeking through occasionally. The wind blew out of the south or south southwest for most of the day. The wind was a bit stronger in the afternoon. The visibility stayed very good all day with some haze. The air temperature reached a high of 88°F that I saw. We had moderate humidity. It wasn't oppressive. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 90°F (with a low of 73°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 89°F (with a low of 69°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 84°F (with a low of 70°F).

My day was a mixture of working at the restaurants and getting ready for the Ultra Marathon that was slated to leave the dock at 10:00 PM. This also meant that I tried to take naps here and there to no avail whatsoever. I think the fact that I was horizontal certainly helped.

By 9:00 PM both Danny DellaMonica, my number one, and Tyler Carpenter, who had agreed to be my second, showed up at the house to get the Bunny Clark truck. I always follow on the scooter. Everyone was aboard and ready to go before 10:00 PM. Bryan Lewer, my alternate captain (and excellent fisherman), showed up last.

As is the normal routine for these trips, I steered out of the Cove, working with Danny on collecting the boat pool money and taking care of all the angling needs (selling cod flies, etc.). Most anglers have their own equipment so Danny didn't have to do to much. Bryan took the helm after a few miles outside of the Cove. The wind was out of the south southwest at ten knots or so with seas of a couple feet in chops. I went down below to sleep as did Danny. Tyler stayed on watch with Bryan at the helm.

Tim Tuesday, July 8, 2025

Bryan said it was a choppy ride out with south southwest to southerly wind of fifteen knots or more and three or four foot chops all the way out. The visibility was clear until Bryan was outside of Jeffrey's Ledge. We had fog for the rest of the trip out and for most of the day. The fog only left us during the last couple hours of the fishing but not completely. I left the running lights on all day, something I have never done before. The wind only really blew for the trip out. By daylight, we have very little wind and very little current. The light tide stayed with us all day. We saw about ten minutes of very light rain. Otherwise, we had mostly clear skies or times of fog deep enough to not be able to see the sky. During the late afternoon, when the fog did clear, we had blue skies, zero wind, a flat calm ocean and good visibility. The last hour of fishing saw a northeast wind arise. Wind speeds started at about ten knots and ramped up to fifteen knots with wind streaks before we left to head back to Perkins Cove. It looked for all the world that the northeast wind was going to be a significant part of our weather on the ride back in. It wasn't. After about ten miles, it started to peter out. We had very light easterly wind and one light rain shower with ten miles to go.

The highest air temperature that I saw was 79°F. Mostly the air temperature was 72°F to 74°F. The surface water temperature was the coldest at the furthest point of fishing. The highest it got out there was 57°F. This is way too cold for blue sharks. And it was one of the only times we haven't seen blue sharks on this trip. Further inside, in the area where we last fished, the surface water temperature got up to 65°F.

Ashore, these were the air temperatures in selected New England cities: In Perkins Cove, Ogunquit, Maine the high air temperature was 88°F. In Boston, MassachuThsetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 94°F (with a low of 68°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 90°F (with a low of 70°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 85°F (with a low of 64°F).

The fishing was excellent. We had a few dogfish here and there but they were very spotty. Some places we fished had no dogfish only a mile from places where I thought there were a bit too many for my liking. The weather was great and certainly not what was predicted by any online service. The tide was light. The catching was excellent in most places. Landings were very good to excellent overall. Most legal fish landed were haddock, by far. Legal landings also forty-four cusk, thirty-four white hake, one monkfish, forty-two pollock and six redfish. Released fish included only six small cod (amazing that we find so few cod in places where they were the most prevalent species when fishing these same areas in the past), eight cusk, fourteen sub-legal haddock, fifty-eight small pollock (near as I could figure) and fifty-three dogfish. There could have been more dogfish but not many more. We alternated between drifting and anchoring. We were far more successful with the haddock on anchor. All terminal gear worked well.

I couldn't tell you who was high hook. Contenders included Dick Lyle (NY), Steve Selmer (NH), Bryan Lewer, Steve LaPlante (CT) and Jonathan "Griff" Griffin (MA). Roger Gavin (MA) won the boat pool for the largest fish with the largest fish, a 50 pound Maine state trophy white hake. This is his largest hake ever and the Bunny Clark's largest white hake of the fishing season to date. We haven't seen any white hake this season yet. Going way offshore certainly helped in that department. Roger also won the boat pool for the second largest fish with the second largest fish, a 42 pound Maine state trophy white hake. This becomes the Bunny Clark's second largest hake of the fishing season so far. Roger also caught the largest pollock of the trip at 14.5 pounds. Ray Westermann (MA) won the boat pool for the third largest fish with the third largest fish, a 38 pound Maine state trophy white hake. This becomes the Bunny Clark's third largest white hake of the fishing season to date. I took a picture of Ray holding his big hake. This digital image appears on the left. Some of his other special fish included a 15 pound Maine state trophy cusk, the Bunny Clark's fourth largest cusk of the season so far, a 20 pound white hake and a 17.5 pound white hake. As I consider the "Ultra" our best trip (and my most favorite trip) of the season, I decided to take Captain Ian Keniston's Bunny Clark hoodie on the trip with us for good luck. He left it at the house at some point last fall. I only discovered that it was his when I looked it over this spring! And I have no idea under what circumstances it was left with us! At one point during today's trip, Ray donned this sweatshirt while he fished, on a sentimental basis. We both agreed that Ian was our most favorite captain, present company included!

Other Angler Highlights: Both Dick Lyle and Steve Selmer caught over their bag limit of haddock. There might have been a couple other anglers who caught the limit as well. I know that Karen Atwood (VT) caught a few but I didn't get an actual count. And Dave Miller (MA) caught a lot of haddock as well. Dick and Steve have always traditionally counted theirs as they know that I would like to know. I measure a successful trip by their results. If they don't catch fish, I am definitely doing something wrong; they are just too good at this game. Dick's largest fish was a 24.5 pound white hake. Some of his other fish included a 19 pound cusk, the Bunny Clark's second largest cusk of the fishing season to date, an 18.5 pound white hake, a 5.5 pound haddock and the largest haddock of the trip, weighing in at 6.5 pounds. Steve Selmer had the most trophy fish of the trip. His largest was a 36 pound Maine state trophy white hake, the Bunny Clark's fourth largest hake of the fishing season to date. He also landed a 28.5 pound Maine state trophy white hake, a 25 pound Maine state trophy white hake, a 28 pound Maine state trophy white hake, a 33.5 pound Maine state trophy white hake, a 33 pound Maine state trophy white hake and a 15 pound white hake. Dave Miller landed a 12.5 pound Maine state trophy cusk, a tie for the Bunny Clark's fifth largest cusk of the fishing season so far. Dave also caught the second largest haddock of the trip at 5.75 pounds. It was only a couple weeks ago that he caught an 8 pound Maine state trophy haddock with me.

Griff started off the fishing by boating a 27 pound Maine state trophy cusk, the first fish in the boat! This is, by far, the largest cusk of the Bunny Clark fishing season to date. But it's also one of our biggest cusk all time, at least in the top twenty. Not only that, I believe he has caught two other cusk with me that were bigger than that! He's an excellent fisherman. His largest hake weighed 22.5 pounds. He caught a lot of fish.

Bryan Lewer tied with himself for the Bunny Clark's sixth largest white hake of the season so far. Today he caught two 34 pound Maine state trophy white hake. Some of his other fish included a 32 pound Maine state trophy white hake, an 18 pound white hake and a 20.5 pound white hake. Steve LaPlante caught the Bunny Clark's fifth largest hake (so far) of the fishing season by boating a 34.5 pounder today. Some of his other fish included a 25.5 pound Maine state trophy white hake, a 28.5 pound Maine state trophy white hake and a 32 pound Maine state trophy white hake. Steve also caught eight or nine cusk in a row, in short order, a lot of haddock and his share of the pollock.

Scott Leavitt (NH) caught our second largest monkfish of the season today. It weighed only 7 pounds, certainly large enough to make a meal for two with the fish. I took a picture of Scott holding his goosefish. This digital image appears on the upper right. Scott's largest fish was a 33 pound Maine state trophy white hake. This is the largest hake that he has ever caught. I kick myself for not taking a picture of the fish. Pete Atwood (VT) caught a 26 pound Maine state trophy hake, his biggest fish. But, he too, caught a lot of fish today, as experts do. Bill Harding (ME), Jonny Bravo (ME/RI) and Chris Albert (ME) managed to avoid any massive hake that were underneath them today. They all caught fish, of course. And the present is no reflection of their past performances - which is why they were invited in the first place. both Bill and Chris caught a 5.5 pound haddock each.

It's tradition that Dave Miller gives me a $30.00 donation after every Ultra he attends to sponsor me in the Pan-Mass Challenge. Today was no different, making sure that he had a word with me on the way back in. Dave (and his wife JoAnn) has supported me, sponsored me, built me up, cheered me on and promoted me since I started this cancer project in 2007. The $30.00 is a represented token of all the effort that goes into making the world a better place. Thank you for your thoughtfulness and support, Dave. It means a lot to me, as you know.

Wednesday, July 9, 2025

We never saw another drop of rain again today. The sky was mostly cloudy all day. Later, the sky was clear in patches with clouds. The wind blew up to about eight knots out of the northeast in the early part of the morning but petered out after 9:00 AM. I guess the wind was somewhere out of the east all day. But you could hardly tell, the wind was so light. The ocean along the shore was calm all day. I never did see any wave action on the surface from the shoreline. The air temperature reached a high of 76°F. It was a very comfortable day today with perfect air temperatures (mostly around 70°F) and light wind. In Boston, MassachuThsetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 71°F (with a low of 66°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 78°F (with a low of 67°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 76°F (with a low of 64°F).

I did a lot of work on the computer today, went to the restaurant a couple of times but only stayed at the restaurant for an extended period of only two hours. I was tired all day. I decided to go home and watch the PSG/Real Madrid, Club World Soccer Cup game only to fall asleep and wake up at 6:30 PM. I never did see the score of the game. I had to look online to see who actually won it. There was no surprise, for me, with the winner.

The only other thing I did today was to prepare for tomorrow's extreme day trip.

Thursday, July 10, 2025

Happy Birthday to Brother, Court, and Sister, Cathy!!!

At 5:00 AM EDT the air temperature was 64°F, the sky was overcast, it was drizzling rain, there had been a steady rain earlier in the morning, there was barely enough wind out of the east to blow out a candle and the visibility over the ocean was very good, at least.

The sky was overcast when we poked our nose out through the gate to head to the fishing grounds. It remained overcast. It started to rain about a half hour from our destination. It continued to rain until we got there. Seas were a foot or two in chops pushed by an eight knot easterly breeze. The air temperature stayed at 68°F the whole ride out, until we pulled the side curtains. The visibility was excellent. The surface water temperature maintained a value of 65°F.

On the fishing grounds, the wind stayed out of the east or northeast at five to eight knots all day. Seas remained at a foot or two in chops. It rained for the first three hours of fishing. We had light sprinkles after that. Then, no rain. Despite the rain, the visibility ranged to over twenty-five miles. The air temperature stayed at 65°F for the whole time. Surprisingly, the tide was light all day. The surface water temperature hung out at 65°F.

Ashore, these were the air temperatures in selected New England cities: In Perkins Cove, Ogunquit, Maine the high air temperature was 70°F. In Boston, MassachuThsetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 67°F (with a low of 63°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 74°F (with a low of 63°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 67°F (with a low of 60°F).

The fishing was excellent if you didn't include the dogfish. The weather was perfect, the tide was light, the tangles were few and the sea state was great. The catching was excellent if you included the dogfish. Landings were good, no better, no worse. Most legal fish landed were cusk, by far. Legal landings also included twenty-two haddock, four pollock, seventeen redfish and four whiting. Released fish included about one hundred and fifty dogfish (more or less), eight sub-legal redfish, four small cod, twenty-four sub-legal haddock and ten small pollock. We tried drifting a couple of times. It wasn't feasible. We were most successful anchoring. All terminal gear caught fish. Bait worked best.

I honestly could not tell you who was high hook with the most legal fish today. It was probably Hal Flanagan (MA); he caught the most cusk! Juan Lopez (MA) won the boat pool for the largest fish with the largest fish, a 9 pound cusk. The second largest fish was a 7.25 pound cusk caught by Charlie Hamilton (NH). There was a tie for the third largest fish at 7 pounds, both cusk. Hal Flanagan caught one, while Bruce Fletcher (NH) caught the other. Hal also caught a 6 pound cusk that I weighed earlier. Bruce did the same, a 6 pound cusk caught earlier.

Other Angler Highlights: Joey Marks (VT) caught some of the largest redfish we have seen, just shy of trophy size. He fished on the bow. Junior Ebank (JA) caught the first fish that I could weigh, a 5 pound cusk. Bruce Andersen (FL) caught a 6.25 pound cusk.

I received a generous $100.00 donation from Bruce Andersen sponsoring me in the Pan-Mass Challenge after the trip today. It's actually more of a donation than that as he put another $100.00 into my Venmo account that I didn't know I started a few years ago! I still have to figure out how to get the money out and to Dana-Farber! All in due time. Thank you, Bruce, for your patience, generosity and support. I do really appreciate this!

Friday, July 11, 2025

At 4:30 AM EDT the air temperature was 61°F, the sky was overcast, it wasn't raining, there was zero wind and the visibility over the ocean was poor in dense fog.

It was another easy ride to the fishing grounds. I thought we would be socked in with fog on the ride out. It was foggy enough along the shore to make me feel that way. However, soon after we cleared the cans, the fog disappeared. The visibility was excellent for the rest of the day. The sky was overcast.The air temperature stayed at the 65°F value the whole way, once we got a couple miles offshore. The wind was light out of the east with, maybe, a one foot chop. We carried a surface water temperature of 64°F.

On the grounds, the wind remained light out of the east or northeast. Seas were chops of a foot to fairly calm. We did have a bit of a hubble under the calm surface, probably left over two foot chops from a wind offshore or earlier that I wasn't aware of. An hour before departure, the wind hauled out of the southeast. Wind speeds were about five knots or more with a one foot chop. The air temperature reached a high of 69°F. The tide (current) was light. The sky was overcast with the occasional peek at the sun through the clouds. The visibility ranged to about twenty miles in some haze. The surface water temperature reached a high of 66°F.

Ashore, these were the air temperatures in selected New England cities: In Perkins Cove, Ogunquit, Maine the high air temperature was reported to be 75°F. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 75°F (with a low of 63°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 85°F (with a low of 63°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 72°F (with a low of 60°F).

The fishing was very good. The weather and sea state were excellent. We did have dogfish but not as many as we had yesterday. There were some spots where we only saw one or two. The catching was very good, excellent if you included the dogfish. Landings were good, better than yesterday. Most legal fish landed were pollock, by far. We managed to stay away from the cusk today. The pollock were a new feature in the places we fished today; new recruits! I was happily surprised. Legal landings also included twelve cusk, twenty haddock, six white hake, a mud hake, seven redfish, seven mackerel and seven whiting. Released fish included one 7.5 pound cod, twenty-seven small cod, forty-two sub-legal haddock, thirty-eight sub-legal pollock, eleven sub-legal redfish, eighty-five or so dogfish, a couple mackerel, three sculpins and a sea raven. The anchor stayed aboard today; we drift fished every spot. All terminal gear worked well today.

I really believe that Brian Murphy (NH) was high hook with the most legal fish, a count of eleven. His largest fish was the 7.5 pound cod. One of his pollock weighed 5.5 pounds. I don't think that that pollock was his biggest pollock. Marion "Merv" Murphy (NH) won the boat pool for the largest fish with the largest fish, a 13 pound white hake. This is only the second trip that we have seen any white hake and the first time we have seen white hake so close to shore. They weren't everywhere, just the one spot where we drifted off a little deeper. Merv was probably second hook with nine legal fish. There was a tie for the second largest fish at 10.5 pounds. There were two. Ali LeFlamme (ME) caught a 10.5 pound pollock, the last fish of the trip. Ben Buesser (NH) caught a 10.5 pound cusk. Ali's pollock is the largest pollock that she has caught so far. I took a picture of her holding her best pollock. This digital picture appears on the right.

Other Angler Highlights: Greg Kidd (ME) was right up there with numbers of legal fish and could also have been high hook. I didn't get a count from him. Nor did he care. His best fish was a 3.75 pound Maine state trophy whiting. This is the Bunny Clark's largest whiting of the fishing season to date. I took a picture of Greg holding his prize silver hake. This digital image appears on the left. Dan Kirby (VT) caught a 6.5 pound white hake. His largest pollock weighed 9.5 pounds. James Fowler (ME) caught a white hake that weighed 8.5 pounds. Laura Parker (NH) landed a 7.5 pound pollock. Dan Nguyen (MA) didn't start off the day very well. He used bait and caught dogfish, after dogfish. I expected better out of him after being absent for six years. It wasn't until he switched to a jig stick and went up in the bow that he caught fish, and did very well for the limited time that he fished there. Jim Mailea (MA) would have been proud!

Saturday, July 12, 2025

I spent the day at the restaurant. I had several employee meetings today along with talking to our patrons and working with the managers. All was good. And it was busier than I had anticipated with the weather we had today.

After coming back from the fishing trip on Friday night, I popped the engine hatch, as I always do after a trip, to go over the engine. In the engine pan, at the front of the engine, there was some greenish water. A coolant leak? I tasted the water to see if it was coolant. There was a hint of a coolant (sweet) taste but didn't seem like it. With Danny at the controls, I climbed around the engine room looking for leaks. I found a raw water line that had popped a hose clamp. There was a steady drip of sea water going under the engine. That was certainly the problem. We have clamps on the boat, which Danny found and passed to me while I was in the engine room. I suspected that the green color was from coolant that was contained in the oil soak pads that I keep under the engine to collect the oil. Some coolant got under the engine the last time Cody, from Power Products, was here. But I wanted to check the engine today to make sure that the coolant level was still where I left it when I checked it yesterday morning. It was. And there was no more water under the front of the engine. It's always something.

Sunday, July 13, 2025

The fog hung around for most of the morning. But there was less fog close to shore than yesterday. We did see a fog bank offshore all day. So it was probably foggy outside. The wind became light out of the south by 7:00 AM. After noon, the southerly wind picked up to about ten knots, backed out of the southeast and increased to about fifteen knots and then came back out of a south southeast direction. Wind speeds seemed to stay at fifteen knots through the afternoon. The sky was mostly overcast all day with the very occasional peek at the sun. The visibility, as I said, was good along the shore in the afternoon but only fair or poor offshore. The highest air temperature that I saw was 75°F. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 78°F (with a low of 66°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 87°F (with a low of 65°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 74°F (with a low of 63°F).

I worked exclusively with the restaurants today. I had a lot of book work to complete. I had a few meetings. And I had a lot of patrons to talk to. Everything went very well today. We have lost a couple of kitchen people at Barnacle Billy's, Etc. Restaurant business is always a challenge.

Monday, July 14, 2025

The salient feature of the day was the wind. It blew out of the south all day at fifteen knots, more or less. It irked me as all I could think about was the rough ride we were going to have tonight on the ride to the fishing grounds. It only stopped blowing when a range of thunder showers came through around 8:00 PM. The sky was mostly sunny in the beginning of the day but mostly overcast after noon. It was a hazy day with visibility enough that I would call "good". The high air temperature for the day was 80°F in the Cove. The humidity wasn't bad. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 83°F (with a low of 67°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 90°F (with a low of 69°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 77°F (with a low of 64°F).

I spent limited time in the restaurant today as I wanted to some rest before the overnighter that was coming up on the Bunny Clark. I completed some desk work I wanted to finish. I talked to as many patrons as I had time for. And I worked with the managers on a couple of items that caught my attention. But I made it home by 2:30 PM, so I could get a nap and have something to eat at 5:00 PM. After that I had to work on my game plan.

At 9:30 PM, I met Danny DellaMonica and Tyler Carpenter at the our house to start the process of getting ready to sail. By 10:30 PM, all the anglers were aboard, Danny and Tyler were getting everything ship shape and I was going home to complete the process.

We left the dock at 11:00 PM. I wanted to start everyone fishing before sunrise. As normal, I took the wheel until all the pool money was collected and everyone knew what they wanted to fish with. Danny is the key to that part of the operation. Once I was satisfied, Bryan "Salty" Lewer, my second captain, took the wheel. I crashed in my bunk under the companionway.

Tuesday, July 15, 2025

It was a fairly choppy ride out to the fishing grounds. There was a lot of left over slop from the wind blowing all day out of the south. I gave us enough time, leaving when I did, to go easier in order to make it more comfortable. Coming out of the channel last night required all the electronics. There was enough ground fog to make it impossible to run through it visually. It was the same on the way to the fishing grounds at times. When Bryan gave me the wheel with five miles to go, the visibility was good. The sky was overcast. The air temperature 73°F. Seas were two feet in, mostly, left over chops. The wind was light out of the southwest.

On the fishing grounds, the wind stayed out southwest for the first part of the morning. Seas dropped to about a foot without the stronger wind of yesterday. We might have had five knots of southwest wind in the morning. Eventually, the wind hauled out of the south southwest and remained so until we got home. The wind got up as high as eight knots but not until we left the grounds. The sky was overcast for most of the morning with sun breaking out for part of the morning and for the middle afternoon. Betweent times it was foggy. The air temperature rose to a high of 79°F. The tide was strong to start, counter to the wind and light in the afternoon. The visibility ranged from poor to fifteen miles or more, depending on the time of day. The surface water temperature reached a high of 69.3°F.

Ashore, these were the air temperatures in selected New England cities: In Perkins Cove, Ogunquit, Maine the high air temperature was 87°F. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 89°F (with a low of 74°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 92°F (with a low of 67°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 85°F (with a low of 67°F).

The object of the trip was to find and catch halibut. The finding has been easy this season. The catching has been something else altogether. But, today, we were much luckier. By 5:00 AM, Mark Girard (NH) had already hooked into a halibut. Before sunrise, he already had it in the boat! mission accomplished!

Because I stayed with the plan, the catching, overall, was no better than good. I sacrificed quantity for the hopes of catching quality fish. The fishing was excellent; there were few dogfish, the weather was perfect and the sea state was great. Abeit, the drift was too slow for over an hour. It's amazing to think that it could have been a more productive halibut day. But to what end? Most legal fish landed were haddock, by far. Legal landings also included a halibut, thirty-three cusk, a monkfish, twelve pollock and a redfish. Released fish included twelve cusk, thirty-two sub-legal haddock, four halibut, seventeen pollock, sixty three dogfish and three wolffish. We drift fished and anchored. All terminal gear worked well today but bait caught the most dogfish.

I couldn't tell you who was high hook with the most legal fish. I really couldn't. Mark Girard won the boat pool for the largest fish with the largest fish, a 56.5 pound halibut, the first fish in the boat. Luckily, it was the largest halibut of the trip. This is Mark's first Atlantic halibut and the Bunny Clark's second largest halibut of the fishing season so far. I took a picture of Mark holding this special fish. This digital image showing the underside of the fish appears on the left. Bill Harding (ME) won the boat pool for the second largest fish with the second largest fish, a 52.5 pound halibut. A quick pic and a weigh and over she went. At least I think it was a she. This is the largest halibut Bill had caught out of the six he has caught with me. His second largest halibut was a 32 pounder that he boated and released with me last season. Anthony Palumbo (MA), one of the best deck hands I have ever had (he worked for me for a couple of seasons) the pleasure to work with, caught the third largest fish, a 45 pound halibut. This is the Bunny Clark's fourth largest halibut of the season so far. As a curtesy, he did not enter any of the boat pools today, although I had encouraged him to do so. This is the first halibut he has ever caught. I invited him aboard yesterday specifically for this reason. One of my other patrons, who was supposed to be on this trip today, Donna Moran, texted me to tell me that she had Covid and wasn't going to make the trip. Anthony had been trying to get on a trip with me all season but the boat was always booked, the result of too few trips a week. I was so happy Anthony got his halibut and was able to get a picture with it before it was gone.

Steve LaPlante (CT) won the boat pool for the third largest fish with the fourth largest fish, a 23 pound barndoor skate. This is the only barndoor skate that Steve has ever caught, the Bunny Clark's largest barndoor skate of the season to date and the second barndoor caught today! I took a picture of him holding this skate before it was released alive. This digital image appears on the right. Steve lost the largest halibut of the day. It was a massive fish that we never got to see. It made several runs to bottom. Just when we thought we would see it, it made a run and gapped the hook! Because of his position on the boat, I never even got to see a signature on the sounding machine! He also caught the second largest wolffish of the trip, a 10 pounder. Steve Selmer (NH) caught the first barndoor skate of the day (season). His fish weighed 18 pounds. Steve caught the third largest wolffish at 8 pounds. His largest haddock weighed 5 pounds.

Other Angler Highlights: Dave Burton (MA) could have been high hook today (as could have Mark Girard and a few others). It would be impossible for me to say. His biggest fish was a 20.5 pound halibut which I took a quick picture of (and a weight) before he released the fish back to the ocean alive. This is the Bunny Clark's fifth largest halibut of the fishing season. He caught the largest wolffish of the trip, an 11.5 pounder, the largest wolffish that he has ever caught. His biggest haddock weighed 4.5 pounds. Bryan Lewer caught the largest pollock at 12 pounds. His biggest haddock weighed 4 pounds. Dick Lyle (NY) may also have been high hook. I couldn't tell. Lewis Hazelwood (MA) caught the largest haddock at 6 pounds. Don Johnson (MA) caught a lot of haddock today. His biggest weighed 5 pounds. Buzz Leonard's caught an 11 pound monkfish today, the Bunny Clark's largest goosefish of the season to date. His largest haddock weighed 4.5 pounds. Tom Lewis (ME) and Pete Atwood were here today. Although their big fish catch was not significant, they did catch plenty of fish and Mark shared halibut with everyone aboard - including me!

I received several donations today sponsoring me in my cancer fundraising drive with the Pan-Mass Challenge. The anglers and their donations included: Mark Girard for a generous $100.00 with the quote: "[A donation] to keep Ian's [Captain Ian Keniston] memory alive." Dave Burton for another $50.00 donation "for the cause". Don Johnson gave another $50.00 donation. Kristin Bullwinkel (MA) came down to the boat to give me a generous $100.00 donation. She had told me that she missed her opportunity to help two years ago. It had been on her mind since and wanted to make up for it! Ed LaPlante (MA) also gave his annual $50.00 donation. Thank you all so very much for the support that you give me and the help that you give so many others. It's important to me. But it's very important to those who benefit from the research and the researchers themselves. And who knows, it may help one of us!

Wednesday, July 16, 2025

The fog left us early this morning. By 8:00 AM, we had no fog along the shore. The fog may have been offshore. But I wasn't there to see it. Indeed, if the fog was there it was a long way off. The wind blew out of the southeast or some version of that. The wind was light; never blowing over six knots. The visibility ranged from very good to excellent. The sky was cloudless nearly all morning. The sun was out all day. The air temperature stayed in the lower 80s today near the shore and around the restaurant. There was very little humidity. If there was, I certainly didn't feel it. The breeze was just enough around the deck at Barnacle Billy's and the garden patio to be absolutely lovely. Or maybe I just felt that way after the great fishing trip we had yesterday. Portsmouth, New Hampshire showed a temperature value of 91°F at 2:00 PM. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 95°F (with a low of 71°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 95°F (with a low of 62°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 89°F (with a low of 67°F).

I laid low for a bit today. I went into the restaurant but it wasn't crazy busy so it seemed to match how I felt. I spent some time in the office working on sales figures. But I spent a lot of time on the floor, talking to patrons. I received a lot of nice texts from yesterday's anglers.

Back at it again tomorrow.

Thursday, July 17, 2025

At 5:00 AM EDT the air temperature was 71°F at the house and 70°F at the boat, the sky was cloudless, there wasn't enough wind to write about, the ocean along the shore was flat calm and the visibility over it seemed very good in some haze.

The ride to the fishing grounds was uneventful except that shortly after leaving Perkins Cove we became enveloped in fog. We carried the fog all the way to the fishing grounds. The wind was about five to eight knots out of the south southeast. We had a wind chop of about a foot, maybe a bit more at times. You could tell that the sky was clear through the fog, at times. We carried an air temperature of 74°F the whole way to the fishing grounds.

On the grounds, the wind continued out of the south southeast all morning. Wind speeds were about ten knots, more or less. Seas were chops of a couple feet. The air temperature reached a high of 78°F after noon. Right around 1:00 PM, the wind backed out of the south southwest and blew up to a speed just shy of twenty knots. Mostly it was about fifteen knots. Seas, in chops, increased to two and three feet. The fog disappeared with the wind shift. You could tell the sky was clear in the fog all morning. But it wasn't until the wind shift that we realized the sky was cloudless. The visibility increased to a range of twenty-five miles. The tide (current) was into the wind all morning, which made it seem like the drift was fast (later in the morning) but it really wasn't. The surface water temperature reached a high of 67.3°F.

Ashore, these were the air temperatures in selected New England cities: In Perkins Cove, Ogunquit, Maine the high air temperature was 90°F, I was told. When we landed in Perkins Cove, it was very humid. At 6:00 PM, I checked the thermometer on the boat to find that it was only 80°F. With the humidity, I expected to find at least 90°F. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 91°F (with a low of 72°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 92°F (with a low of 73°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 84°F (with a low of 68°F).

The fishing was very good. We drift fished and was able to hold bottom exceptionally well all morning. The weather was very nice with an air temperature of, at most, 72°F while we had the fog, higher once it left us. And everyone stayed healthy. The catching was mostly excellent but mostly sub-legal haddock. I counted a total of seventy-nine small haddock but I'm sure I missed a few. We also caught the most cod we have seen at a count of forty-nine. Not a single cod met the twenty-three inch size. Landings were good, despite. Most legal fish landed were pollock, by far. Legal landings also included twenty-six cusk, thirty-three haddock, seven redfish and seven whiting. Released fish, along with the haddock and cod, included about fifty-six small pollock, thirteen sculpins, a tiny cunner and about sixty-one dogfish (that's purely a guess after conferring with Danny). The dogs weren't that bad today. Drifting was the primary method. We did anchor a couple times. Jigs and cod flies worked best. Bait was the preferred choice for dogfish today.

Dana Decormier (NH) 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, a 13.25 pound pollock. However, he could have won the boat pool with a much larger fish, a massive halibut. We were certainly in halibut territory; I have caught many in the area we were fishing during the morning. I didn't say anything before the trip because I didn't want to jinx myself. I was on the bow behind Dana when he hooked the fish. Before I had a chance to react, he grabbed the line, intentionally breaking the fish off, mentioning that he didn't want to fight a shark. It wasn't a shark. He thought it was a shark because the fish took the jig half way off bottom. But this is what a halibut will do on occasion. And I told him so. I'm not even sure if he believed what I said - I do tease him a bit. But it was definitely a big flat one!

Dana started the day off with the second biggest fish over the rail, a 5 pound cusk. I think he had all species covered today, except for the halibut!

The second largest fish was an 11.25 pound pollock caught by Travis Nephew (NY). I also weighed a 6.5 pound pollock for him. Tony Forstner (ME) caught the third largest fish, an 8 pound pollock.

Other Angler Highlights: Ronny Schofield (NY) caught the first fish I could weight, a 6 pound pollock, early in the trip. Eric Weidman (NY) caught the largest cod at 5.5 pounds. Chris Cote (ME) landed a 5.75 pound pollock. Justin LeBreck (ME) caught a 5 pound cusk. Sheila Horgan (ME) caught the fourth largest fish of the trip, a 7 pound pollock. Tom VanValkenburg (NY) boated a 6 pound pollock. Our biggest haddock today weighed less than 3.5 pounds.

I received several donations today sponsoring me on my ride with the Pan-Mass Challenge,a cycling event to raise money for cancer research. Those donors and their donations included Karl Livollen (ME) for $10.00, Marty Nephew (NY) for $50.00, Phil Milligan (ME) for $50.00, the Dana Decormier family for $25.00 (again this year), an anonymous donation of $50.00, Chris Cote for $50.00 and Jeff Corey (MA) (again this year) for $40.00. Thank you all so very much for your faith in me, your support, your generosity and your thoughtfulness. Who says we don't care enough for each other? Many in this world appreciate your kindness. Most of all, me!

Friday, July 18, 2025

At 5:00 AM EDT the air temperature was 70°F at the house and 69°F at the boat, the sky was cloudless, the wind was blowing out of the west northwest at ten to fifteen knots and the visibility over the ocean was excellent.

It was a very comfortable ride to the fishing grounds. The sky was mostly clear with only a few high cirrus clouds to get in the occasional way of the sun. The visibility ranged to over thirty miles. The air temperature held at a very comfortable 72°F. The wind started out light from the northwest but backed out of the west southwest at the ten mile mark. Seas were about a foot in chops over three foot chop swell, left over from yesterday's wind.

On the fishing grounds, the wind started off light out of the west. That didn't last long. Before the first drift was over, the wind had hauled out of the northwest. Wind speeds picked up to ten knots. But it didn't have the teeth and dropped off. This was followed by a northerly wind that blew up to fifteen knots and looked like it would last forever. Seas increased to two to three foot chops. I would say that the northerly wind lasted about three hours. This wind died leaving us with no wind, a left over small chop and very little drift. The highest air temperature that I saw was 77°F. The visibility ranged to thirty miles for the whole day. The tide (current) was light to moderate. The sky remained very clear with a bright sun. The highest surface water temperature that I saw was 66°F.

Ashore, these were the air temperatures in selected New England cities: In Perkins Cove, Ogunquit, Maine the high air temperature was 81°F. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 82°F (with a low of 65°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 79°F (with a low of 54°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 80°F (with a low of 60°F).

The fishing was excellent. Except for one anchor stop, the drifting was perfect, the weather was great and the sea state only bothered one person. I appreciated the low humidity and air temperatures. The catching was excellent even with the dogfish. Landings were good at best. Legal landings included sixteen cusk, thirty-two haddock, many less pollock than yesterday with a total count of twenty-five, two redfish and thirty whiting. We had a lot of nice sized whiting today Released fish included one porbeagle pup, seventeen small cod, more than eighty-eight sub-legal haddock, thirty-five sub-legal pollock, more than eighty-five dogfish, a mackerel or two and seven sculpins. Jigs and cod flies caught the most legal fish and the least number of dogfish.

I couldn't tell you who was high hook with the most legal fish. However, the angler who had the most fish was Jim Cholette (NH). He caught the most fish of all sizes. It was a fish a drop for him all day. He caught the lion's share of sub-legal haddock, most of the dogfish and everything else. Andy Robbins (NY) won the boat pool for the largest fish with the largest fish, a 10..25 pound pollock. The second largest fish was a 9 pound pollock caught by Braeden Billert (VT). The largest fish should have been about a twenty pound porbeagle shark pup. Jonathan Spearin (ME) hooked in the side, which made it really hard to reel in . When it came to the surface, there was no real way to get it in the boat without killing it. So it just popped off the hook when trying to lift it by the sink enough to grab it by the tail.

Other Angler Highlights: Bobby Gelinas (NH) caught our second largest Maine state trophy whiting today. The fish weighed 3.25 pounds. I took a picture of Bobby holding his fish. This digital image appears on the left. Herman Summers (ME) caught the largest haddock of the last two trips. The fish weighed in at 4.25 pounds. I weighed a 4 pound cusk and a 5.5 pound cusk for Charlie Glidden (NH). Jim Scaccia (NY) boated a 5.5 pound pollock. Ken Sears (NY) landed a 6.5 pound pollock, his biggest fish.

I received a $10.00 donation from that killer of giant haddock, Jim Cholette (NH), today sponsoring me in the cycling event called the Pan-Mass Challenge, a charity ride to support cancer researchers at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, Massachusetts. In the nineteen years in which I have been involved, I have raised $528,000.00 through donations such as Jim's. I so appreciate the support Jim and others have given me over the years. This has shown up in many success stories too numerous to mention. Thank you, Jim, for your part!

Saturday, July 19, 2025

At 5:00 AM EDT the air temperature was 59°F, the sky was cloudless, there wasn't a breath of wind, the ocean was so calm you could float a scallop shell on it and the visibility over it was crystal.

The ocean stayed flat calm all morning. The surface was like a mirror for most of it. Right after noon, we saw some wind out of the south. By later afternoon, we might have had eight knots. At least the flags were moving with a wind from that direction. When I got home from work, around 9:30 PM, there was zero wind again. The sky was nearly cloudless all day. The visibility was excellent. The air temperature reached a high that must have been kissing 80°F. Most of the day was in the mid 70s. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 87°F (with a low of 65°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 85°F (with a low of 50°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 78°F (with a low of 54°F).

I spent the day working at the restaurant. It was very busy. But you would have expected it with the perfect weather on a Saturday, potentially, the busiest day of the week. And it was a perfect weather day. There were a lot of people in town. I went home to lay down for an hour between 3 and 4:00 PM. When I went back, I didn't come home until 9:30 PM, as mentioned above. We had a lot of nice people in the restaurant today, their mood, undoubtedly, buoyed by the great weather.

Sunday, July 20, 2025

The wind, and later, the thunder storms were the salient features of today's weather. By 7:00 AM, the wind had backed out of the south. Wind speeds were about the same; ten knots. But that was the lowest velocity that we saw today. By mid morning it was blowing at fifteen to twenty knots. This, pretty much, remained the same all day. Seas built enough by mid afternoon to cause cancellations of all the scenic tour boats and sailing charters. It wouldn't have been terribly rough for us, the Bunny Clark, out there. But it was a sea sick promoter for sure. The National Weather Service called for a cloudy rainy day today. But that didn't happen. We had mostly overcast skies in the morning that cleared by late morning and no rain. The sky was clear all afternoon until clouds moved in ahead of the thunder showers at 4:30 PM. By 5:30 PM, we had thunder showers and heavy rain. That lasted about a half hour, the heavy stuff anyway. We had intermittent light rain, sporadic thunder and lightning until about 7:30 PM, when the fog rolled in. It was still foggy and devoid of wind at 8:30 PM. The visibility was very good in haze until the showers. The highest air temperature that I saw was 80°F. It was probably warmer at one point but I didn't see it. The onshore breeze kept us much cooler than the inland areas of southern Maine. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 87°F (with a low of 70°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 91°F (with a low of 64°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 81°F (with a low of 64°F).

I worked at the restaurants, mostly, with some time in the morning working on getting the Bunny Clark ready to sail for tomorrow. We had steady business but I think the weather report made it less busy than it should have been.

I got off work at 5:15 PM so I could beat the storm and, also, get the rest of the provisioning done for the Bunny Clark. I spent a good amount of time trying to calm our border collie, Gill, down to no avail. He was shivering and panting for a good two hours. Luckily, he followed me around the house. This was easy access for me as I could just pat him and tell him; "Gill, what a good boy. You're okay!" A lot of good that did. Not! But it must have helped somewhat as he didn't use every part of the house as his personal latrine!

Monday, July 21, 2025

At 5:00 AM EDT the air temperature was 62°F, the sky was cloudless with a sliver of a moon high in the eastern sky, the wind was light out of the northwest and the visibility over the ocean was excellent.

It was a fairly easy ride to the fishing grounds. The wind started out at about ten knots out of the northwest but started to die out about eight miles offshore. The ocean was almost calm five miles from the first spot that I was going to fish. The wind backed out of the north at about the same time that we got to the fishing grounds. Seas for the whole ride out were no more than a foot. The visibility was excellent. The sky was cloudless or nearly so. The air temperature never broached 64°F. On the fishing grounds, the wind was blowing out of the north at ten knots almost from the start. But it didn't take long for the wind to increase. And increase it did. After an hour, wind speeds had reached twenty knots. It got windier still within the next hour. Seas built from two feet to three and four feet in chops. This continued all day with the occasional five footer. The highest air temperature that I saw was 68°F. The tide (current) ran a river. You could hold bottom once you were on anchor but it was far from perfect. The problem was that I could not hold bottom with the anchor. I had to re-anchor a few times as we dragged the anchor off the spots. It was very frustrating. I consider myself an expert at anchoring. Today I felt foolish. The sky remained cloudless over a whitecap filled ocean. The visibility ranged to over thirty miles. The surface water temperature reached a high of 65°F.

The fishing was tough between the wind, the sea state and the time wasted while anchoring. The catching was fair. Landings were poor for numbers, okay for the size of some of the fish. It was my least productive trip of the season. Landings for fourteen anglers included eleven cusk, fifteen haddock, three pollock, two redfish and three whiting. Released fish included three small cod, twenty-two sub-legal haddock, seven small pollock, two sub-legal redfish and fifteen dogfish. Even the dogfish weren't biting! We anchored for every stop. All terminal gear worked the same.

Ashore, these were the air temperatures in selected New England cities: In Perkins Cove, Ogunquit, Maine the high air temperature was 75°F. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 80°F (with a low of 66°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 76°F (with a low of 53°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 74°F (with a low of 55°F).

I don't exactly know who was high hook with the most legal fish but it was either Dwayne or Virgina Rivers (NY). They caught the lion's share of all the fish today. Dwayne caught the most haddock. Virginia caught an 8.75 pound cusk, her largest fish. Dean Wolf (NJ) won the boat pool for the largest fish with the largest fish, a 17 pound Maine state trophy cusk. This is Dean's largest cusk and the Bunny Clark's fourth largest cusk of the fishing season to date. The second largest fish was a 13 pound Maine state trophy cusk caught by Charlie Yattaw (ME). This is Charlie's largest cusk ever and the Bunny Clark's sixth largest cusk of the season. Danny Whisenant (TX) caught the third largest fish, an 11 pound cusk.

Other Angler Highlights: Jim LeMay (ME) got skunked today, the first time, ever, on the Bunny Clark. He has fished with us for decades! Ben Ayers (ME) didn't do much better with an 8 pound cusk. Rusty Davis (CT) caught a 10 pound cusk.

I received three donations sponsoring in my ride with the Pan-Mass Challenge today, in the fight to solve the cancer riddle through research at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, Massachusetts. Those donors and their donations included Chris Galletta (NY) for a generous $100.00, Russell "Rusty" Davis (CT) for $10.00 and Danny Whisenant (TX) for $30.00. Thank you all for your help in this cancer project of mine. I very much appreciate it!

Tim Tuesday, July 22, 2025

Danny DellaMonica and I ran the marathon trip today.

At 3:00 AM EDT the air temperature was 58°F, the sky was clear, the wind was light out of the west northwest and the visibility over the ocean was excellent.

We had a bit of choppyness from the seas on the way out. Not enough to keep people from napping but enough to know it was choppy. The wind was out of the north northwest about ten knots or more. The further we got from shore the choppier it got. But seas never were more than two feet. At sunrise, we saw white caps. The air temperature coming through the gate was 54°F. At the fifteen mile mark, the air temperature had warmed to 59°F. I never looked at the thermometer again until near the end of the fishing. The sky was cloudless with a sliver of a moon on the left and Venus on the right staring me in the face as we started out. The visibility was excellent.

On the fishing grounds, the wind was blowing out of the north northwest with seas in chops of two feet or more. But the wind had no teeth. You could tell. But it, actually, hung on for longer than I expected. The wind gradually petered out. The ocean was flat calm by noon. There was no wind and a calm ocean surface for the next two hours. The wind started to blow out of the west for the start of the ride home. Wind speeds were about two knots for the first fifteen miles on the ride back to Perkins Cove. The air temperature reached a high of 78°F around 1:30 PM. The visibility ranged to over thirty miles. The sky remained cloudless overhead but not around the horizon in all directions. The tide (current) was light all day - a far cry from yesterday's tide. The surface water temperature reached a high of 64°F.

Ashore, these were the air temperatures in selected New England cities: In Perkins Cove, Ogunquit, Maine the high air temperature was 76°F. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 73°F (with a low of 61°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 79°F (with a low of 47°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 75°F (with a low of 52°F).

The fishing was excellent. The weather was perfect, the drift was slow, the sea state was the best and there were no dogfish, The catching was excellent, a fish a cast all day. Landings were good to very good. Most legal fish landed were pollock, by far. Our best pollock day of the season for numbers. Legal landings included sixty-seven cusk and fifty-seven haddock. Released fish included a pile of sub-legal pollock, five dogfish, twenty-two sub-legal haddock, fourteen small cod and one 16 pound cod. We drift fished for every stop. All terminal gear worked well.

I couldn't tell you who was high hook today with the most legal fish. But it was one of three anglers including Khris Cichon (NJ), Jeff Corey (MA) or Chris Galletta (NY). Khris Cichon won the boat pool for the largest fish with the largest fish, a 32.5 pound Maine state trophy cusk. This is the largest cusk that Khris has ever seen, the second largest cusk that I have ever seen and the Bunny Clark's largest cusk of this year's fishing season so far. It's also the second longest cusk I have ever seen at 42.5 inches caliper fork length, a half inch shy of the longest cusk that has been landed on the Bunny Clark. I took a picture of Khris holding his huge cusk. This digital image appears on the left. The picture doesn't do the fish justice as Khris is 6' 4" and just a big guy. Some of Khris' other fish that I weighed included an 8.5 pound pollock and a 10.5 pound pollock. Jeff Corey (MA) won the boat pool for the second largest fish with the second largest fish, a 22 pound Maine state trophy cusk. This is the largest cusk that Jeff has ever caught. It's also the Bunny Clark's third largest cusk of the fishing season to date. He caught this cusk with another cusk that weighed 10 pounds, both fish caught on the same line at the same time! This is the Bunny Clark's largest double of the fishing season so far. I took a picture of Jeff holding both fish right after catching them in the bow. This digital image appears on the right. Jeff's largest pollock weighed 11.5 pounds. But he caught quite a few pollock in the 8 pound range, plus or minus. Phil Devereaux (MA) won the boat pool for the third largest fish with the third largest fish, a 16 pound cod. This is the Bunny Clark's third largest cod of the season so far. Phil caught the most haddock by far. His count was more than ten and less than sixteen.

Other Angler Highlights: Steve Clark (VT) caught three good sized haddock. The two that I weighed were 5 pounds each. His largest haddock was lost on the surface. It probably weighed close to 7 pounds. It was big enough to have eaten our largest weighed haddock of the trip, a 5.5 pound haddock caught by Mike Cheney (VT). Steve's biggest fish was a 12.5 pound pollock. Randy Sheltra (VT) caught the largest pollock at 14 pounds. He also caught a 9.5 pound cusk. Eric Charbonneau (NY) landed a 12.25 pound pollock, his largest fish. Andrew Broadbend (ME) caught a 13.5 pound pollock, his best fish. I weighed a 9 pound pollock and an 8.5 pound pollock for Andrew's father, Michael Broadbend (ME). Patrick Caron (ME) caught a 5 pound haddock, his best fish. Chris Galletta (NY) landed an 11 pound cusk. I don't think I weighed his biggest fish.

I received a several donations today sponsoring me on my ride with the Pan-Mass Challenge. Those donors and donations included an anonymous $40.00, a very generous $200.00 donation from Steve & Robbin Clark, $60.00 from Phil Devereaux and $40.00 from Jeff Corey. Thank you all so very much for your support and generosity. I truly appreciate your help!

Wednesday, July 23, 2025

At 5:00 AM EDT the air temperature was 57°F, the sky was cloudless, the wind was light out of the west northwest, the ocean along the shore was flat calm with light wind patches and the visibility over it was excellent.

The ocean stayed calm all morning with a flat calm sea as far as the eye could see. The wind was light and variable in direction all morning. After noon, the wind became established out of the south. By 3:00 PM, I noticed the wind was a bit stronger than ten knots, thirteen knots by 6:00 PM. The sky was cloudless and, then, mostly clear for the rest of the day. A few high clouds kept the sky from being perfectly clear. The visibility remained excellent. The highest air temperature the I saw before the wind got going was 80°F. It was a "111" day, as my father would have said. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 78°F (with a low of 63°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 85°F (with a low of 49°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 77°F (with a low of 54°F).

I spent the morning going back and forth between the house and the restaurant, working on posting two days of fishing trips and getting myself ready to do another trip on the Bunny Clark tomorrow. By noon, I was well established at the restaurants. We had a good lunch and a relaxing afternoon. We had business but it was mellow and easy to manage. At 5:30 PM, we hosted a wedding anniversary at Barnacle Billy's, Etc., for a friend of mine who I grew up with around the restaurant. We don't normally host big groups in the summer. But Peter is a good friend of mine and he worked at Barnacle Billy's (original). He was a great friend of my brother, Court. I could not refuse. I made sure I was there when they were all there so I could say hello and wish them a good time. I was home by 6:00 PM, so I could get ready for tomorrow's fishing.

Thursday, July 24, 2025

At 5:00 AM EDT the air temperature was 64°F, the sky was cloudless yet again, the wind was light out of the west at the dock and the visibility over the ocean was excellent.

The ride to the fishing grounds started out okay but, as we distanced ourselves from shore, the seas got rougher and the ride more unpleasant. The last ten miles before our destination had chops of two to three feet with the occasional queer one that I had to steer around, just so I wouldn't launch the Bunny Clark into space and come crashing down. Wind speeds were ten to fifteen knots out of the south southwest. But the tide was certainly a factor in the shape and size of the seas. The sky was clear the whole way. The visibility was nearly excellent. The air temperature hung around 71°F for the whole ride out.

On the fishing grounds, the wind seemed to hold at ten to fifteen knots. There seemed very little tide when we settled in on anchor. But it seemed like the tide was into the wind as it took us a while to settle back on the anchor. After a few anchor stops I realized that it was much better fishing on the drift. The air temperature reached a high of 73°F. The wind remained out of the south southwest all day. Seas were about three feet with some larger chops. Wind speeds were about fifteen knots with higher gusts. Sustained winds were over fifteen knots for the last hour of the trip. The sky was hazy clear all day. The visibility ranged to over twenty miles. The tide (current) was not a factor in tangles. The surface water temperature reached a high of 65°F.

Ashore, these were the air temperatures in selected New England cities: In Perkins Cove, Ogunquit, Maine I could not get anyone to tell me what the highest air temperature was. All I got was that it was warm with cooling in the afternoon from the wind off the water. In Portsmouth, New Hampshire, the high air temperature came in at 94°F. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 90°F (with a low of 67°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 93°F (with a low of 62°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 84°F (with a low of 63°F).

The fishing, despite the seas, was excellent. We had no tide to worry about, very few dogfish and the wind held the boat directly into the chop. Even anglers fishing on the bow had no problems. The catching was very good. Landings were good, no better - except for one angler, who had a fish a cast all day long. The only problem I had with the day was the extra time it took to anchor, cutting into our fishing time. Legal landings included twenty-one cusk, thirty-one haddock, fifteen pollock, a redfish and three mackerel. Released fish included three legal haddock (one about 5 pounds), four cod of 6 pounds or better, fourteen small cod, thirty sub-legal haddock, Thirty-one small pollock and sixteen dogfish. As mentioned above, we anchored all morning and drift fished in the afternoon. The drift fishing, particularly one drift, caught almost all of our haddock and was productive otherwise. All terminal gear worked about the same.

Chris Galletta (NY) was high hook with, by far, the most legal fish. He might have caught half of all the legal fish today. I know that he caught most of the cusk. And he caught a pile of haddock. But I never checked to see how many were legal. In fact, my sub-legal haddock count might be low because of this. The only fish of his that I weighed was a 5.5 pound cod. Steve King (NH) won the boat pool for the largest fish with the largest fish, a 7.25 pound cod. He also tied for the second largest fish with a cod of 6 pounds. And he lost a haddock of the surface that looked to be about 5 pounds. Dave Soucy (NY) caught the other 6 pounder, also a cod.

Other Angler Highlights; Josh Radigan (NY) caught the largest cusk at 5 pounds. Debbie Wolbert (FL) caught a 5 pound cod. Greg Kidd (ME) caught the most legal haddock while using bait. I would guess his count was seven. It could have been higher.

I received two donations sponsoring me in this year's Pan-Mass Challenge. Rob & Debbie Wolbert donated $20.00 while Chris Galletta donated another $20.00 after already donating at least $200.00 earlier in the year! Thank you all so very much for the support and thoughtfulness. I do really appreciate this!

Friday, July 25, 2025

At 5:00 AM EDT the air temperature was 71°F, the sky was hazy clear, the wind was blowing out of the southwest at ten knots, showing in the trees around the neighborhood and the visibility over the ocean was very good in some haze.

The heat and humidity was the salient feature of today's weather. Unlike yesterday, where we had and onshore breeze to keep the air temperature down, today the wind was blowing out of the west or west northwest, an offshore breeze. I'm not sure if the air temperature got any higher than 88°F; I didn't keep on track today. But it was certainly humid and uncomfortable if you were walking around. It was nice in the garden patio at Barnacle Billy's, Etc. while sitting, the wind blew freely through the locust trees there and it was comfortable. But everywhere else, along with running around trying to get things accomplished, it was too warm. The sky was clear all morning, cloudy in the early afternoon and mostly clear in the later part of the afternoon. We had about five minutes of light sprinkles. But that was all the rain we had despite the predictions of showers. The visibility remained very good over the ocean in haze. Westerly wind speeds were up over ten knots at times. Mostly we had eight to ten knots. In Portsmouth, New Hampshire, the high air temperature came in at 94°F. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 95°F (with a low of 72°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 93°F (with a low of 65°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 93°F (with a low of 65°F). The high temperature of 91°F seen today in Portland, Maine, ties the record high for this date last set in 1989. Portland has been keeping temperature records for only about eighty years.

Today was a day of working at the restaurant. I started before 5:00 AM opening everything up for deliveries and for some of our employees who start on prep work at 5:00 AM and 6:00 AM. I was replaced by Matt Pedersen at 9:30 AM. After being home for a bit I was back at 11:30 AM and left for the day at 7:00 PM. We had a good lunch. But there was no huge dinner rush. Just a lot of wonderful people to talk to.

I received a couple new donations today sponsoring my ride in the Pan-Mass Challenge today , all made in the form of an "eGift" through the PMC site. I received a generous $150.00 donation from long time friend and angler, Mark Walsh (MA) and I also received an even more generous $200.00 donation from Norm & Linda Viens (MA). Thank you all so very much for your support, thoughtfulness and generosity. It means so much to me. And I do appreciate you helping me fund cancer research in New England!

Saturday, July 26, 2025

It was a perfect weather day all day today. The sky was clear, at times hazy clear. The visibility was very good in some haze. The wind blew so very lightly out of the northwest, went dead calm and then blew lightly out of the south. The ocean along the shore was calm all day long. We had very little humidity. The highest air temperature that I saw was 80°F. It dropped to the mid 70s in the later afternoon. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 77°F (with a low of 66°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 85°F (with a low of 55°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 81°F (with a low of 59°F).

I spent most of the day in the restaurants again. With such perfect weather, everyone in town was busy. I received a $50.00 donation from Larry Ingham (MA) today sponsoring me in the Pan-Mass Challenge after talking to him on the deck at Barnacle Billy's yesterday. He made this donation in the form of an "eGift" through the PMC site with the attached message: "Great seeing you again at Barnacle Billy's. Good luck on your 19th ride." I thought this a very nice thing to do for me and so thoughtful. So thank you very much, Larry. And it was great to see you as well. Very much appreciated on both fronts!

Sunday, July 27, 2025

Those high thin clouds had formed a cloud cover after sunrise. This cloud cover changed to overcast skies by mid morning. By noon, we saw our first drops of rain. It rained periodically all day. Sometimes it was just light drops. We never did have a very steady hard rain. There was a period of about a half hour where it was steady enough for an oil top between buildings. Mostly it wasn't raining that hard or not at all. The wind picked up out of the south during the afternoon. At one point I saw a gust of eighteen knots. The visibility was good in a thick haze. It never did get foggy. I saw a high air temperature of 73°F but the average air temperature was between 67° and 68°F for most of the day. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 76°F (with a low of 65°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 75°F (with a low of 63°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 75°F (with a low of 60°F).

I spent another day at the restaurants. I also spent some time working on the Bunny Clark. I moved her to a different position on the float. I checked the engine all out for the trip tomorrow. I also provisioned her.

I got my racing bike tuned up today to ride in the Pan-Mass Challenge next Saturday. I haven't made my mind up one hundred percent yet. But I have contacted Paul "Hez" Haseltine, my best friend, to make sure we can do this together as we did at the start of this cancer campaign in 2007. That is all a go, although he's not so much in agreement that I should be doing it after my back injury. But, then, neither is Deb. If I do indeed go, I will not be racing it like I have in the past. Those days are over. And I'm not in great cycling shape. I just want to enjoy the ride. And I want to be with all the wonderful people who I have ridden with in all the previous PMCs that I have enjoyed. There is still much to do to get ready for it - including packing. We shall see.

Monday, July 28, 2025

At 5:00 AM EDT the air temperature was 64°F, I couldn't tell if the sky was clear or not with the thick fog around us, there was zero wind and the visibility over the ocean was poor in such thick fog that you could cut it with a knife.

It was a calm ride to the fishing grounds, flat calm. Not a breath of wind. I had the radar on before I headed under the bridge down the channel. The fog was black thick. We carried the fog all the way to the fishing grounds. I couldn't tell if the sky was clear or overcast; I couldn't see through the fog above us. I never did look at the air temperature on the way out. The surface water temperature hung around 64°F. On the fishing grounds, the wind blew out of the northwest very lightly at first then out of the north at two or three knots, just a ripple. We had fog for the whole morning but it wasn't as thick as it was on the ride out. We could almost see a quarter of a mile at times. The fog left us sometime after noon. The air temperature reached a high of 79°F. By 1:30 PM, the wind started to blow out of the south. Wind speeds were as high as four knots, more on the ride home. Esseentially, the ocean was calm all day. The visibility ranged to over eighteen miles while on the last stop of the day. The tide (current) was strong all day. The surface water temperature reached a high of 67°F.

The fishing was very good. The weather was excellent but we had enough tide to knock the category down a notch. Catching was good to very good. Landings were good, at best. Most legal fish landed were pollock. Legal landings also included twenty-five cusk, eleven haddock, a whiting, a redfish and a cunner. Released fish included two cod that would be legal had we caught them in September (assuming we can keep them in September), six small cod, thirty sub-legal haddock, thirty-two small pollock, one sub-legal redfish, forty-eight dogfish and a big wolffish. We anchored periodically but drifting was our primary method of fishing. Cod flies caught the most fish.

Ashore, these were the air temperatures in selected New England cities: In Perkins Cove, Ogunquit, Maine the high air temperature was 87°F, so I was told. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 84°F (with a low of 65°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 93°F (with a low of 64°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 86°F (with a low of 62°F).

Jeremy Agresti (FL) 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, a 21 pound wolffish. This is our largest wolffish of the fishing season to date. It's also the largest wolffish that Jeremy has ever caught. I took a picture of Jeremy holding his big cat before releasing it back to the ocean alive. This digital image appears on the left. Unfortunately, the fish wouldn't relax for a better picture. Jeremy caught just about every species of fish today, including a tiny cod. The second largest fish was a 14.5 pound pollock caught by twelve year old Daniel Abdulin (ME). He caught pollock with Captain Ian Keniston last year but this is the largest one he has ever caught. It's also the Bunny Clark's seventh largest pollock of the early season so far. I took a picture of Daniel proudly holding his big pollock. This digital image appears on the right. Also included in Daniel's catch were a 6.5 pound cusk and a 7 pound pollock. There was a tie for the third largest fish at 12.25 pounds. There were two. One was a cod caught by David Sands (NH). The other was a pollock caught by Clint Rettenmaier (NY).

Other Angler Highlights: Barry Ano (NY) caught the first fish of the trip, a 5 pound pollock. He didn't have a typical Barry Ano day! But he did end up with a bag of fillets, albeit, a smaller thatn normal bag. Mike Wicks (NY) caught a 5 pound pollock and a 6.5 pound pollock, his best fish. Trevor Sands (NH) caught a 5 pound pollock that I weighed. Serge Shrolniev (ME) landed a 7.25 pound cusk, our largest cusk of the trip. His largest pollock weighed 7 pounds. Dmitry Bond (ME) landed an 11 pound pollock, his biggest fish of the trip. Val Ladygin (VT) boated a 7.5 pound pollock. Linar Abdulin (ME) landed an 8 pound pollock, his biggest fish.

I received two donations today sponsoring me in my cancer fundraising drive with the Pan-Mass Challenge. One was a $50.00 donation from Barry Ano, who has givem me many donations over the years and many donations this year! David Sands also donated with a gift of $25.00. Thank you all so very much for your support today. Like I always say, it means a great deal to me but it means so much more to the researchers we support and the patients who really need the help!

Tim Tuesday, July 29, 2025

At 2:30 AM EDT the air temperature was 65°F, the sky was clear with stars, the wind was blowing out of the south southwest at about five knots offshore but there was no wind in Perkins Cove and the visibility over the ocean was very good in some haze.

It was another pleasant ride to the fishing grounds. The wind blew out of the south southwest. But no more than ten knots. Mostly it was less than that. Seas were a foot, more or less, in chops. The sky was hazy clear but with plenty of stars visible at the onset. The surface water temperature ranged from 59°F to 64°F. The visibility was very good in haze. The sky was clear the whole way out. The air temperature ranged from 64°F to 68°F.

On the fishing grounds, the wind blew out of the south southwest all morning. At first it was about ten knots. But the wind kept decreasing as the day progressed. Sometime after noon, the wind died altogether but, then, came up out of the west southwest. Winds speeds then ranged from three to four knots. The ocean was calm leaving only the wavelets to alert you to the direction of the wind. The air temperature reached a high of 75°F. Most of the morning it got no higher than 72°F.The tide (current) was light. The visibility ranged to about twenty miles in haze. The sky was clear all day. The surface water temperature reached a high of 66°F.

Ashore, these were the air temperatures in selected New England cities: In Perkins Cove, Ogunquit, Maine, I heard that the high air temperature was 98°F. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 99°F (with a low of 73°F). The high temperature of 99°F in Boston today is a new record high for this date. The previous record high was 97 set in 1931 and duplicated again in 1933. The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 97°F (with a low of 63°F). The high temperature of 97°F recorded in Concord today is a new record high for this date. The previous record high was 96 set in 2015. The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 94°F (with a low of 64°F).

The fishing was excellent.Or it could have been if it weren't for the dogfish. Everthing else was perfect including the weather, the sea state and the drift. I would say we hand forty or more dogfish. Fred Kunz (NH) thought it was more like seventy. Of the two of us, Fred in more analytical and much better with numbers. It's hard for me to count fish being released. Others might argue that we had more. And we certainly could have had. The catching was very good. Most fish were small. Landings were fair to good. Most legal fish landed were pollock, by far. Legal landings also included thirty-six cusk and thirty-one haddock. Released fish included the dogfish, four small cod, eighteen sub-legal haddock, more than seventy-one sub-legal pollock and a wolffish. We drift fished all but one spot. On the only anchor stop we were held captive by the dogfish. So we didn't stay long. Cod flies and bait caught the most fish.

Either Fred Kunz or Lee Atherton (ME) was high hook with the most legal fish. I don't know how many keepers Lee caught but I do know that Fred caught sixteen. Lee won the boat pool for the largest fish with the third largest fish, a 17.5 pound Maine state trophy cusk. I'm not sure if Lee has ever caught a bigger cusk. If he has, it hasn't been with me. Darlene Chin (FL) caught the largest fish of the trip, a 19.5 pound wolffish. This is the Bunny Clark's second largest wolffish of the season so far and the largest wolffish that she has ever caught. She did not enter the boat pool. Darlene caught six or more legal haddock today, which is true to form for her. The second largest fish was an 18.5 pound Maine state trophy cusk caught by Shannon Tibbetts (ME). This ties the Bunny Clark's fifth largest cusk of the fishing season so far. It's also Shannon's largest cusk ever. Obviously, he didn't get in any of the boat pools. I took a picture of Shannon with his massive cusk. This digital image appears on the left.

I thought for sure that someone in the three boat pools would catch a fish of decent size today. So I didn't weigh any fish in the 7 pound range. I had planned to give the money back to the anglers who entered the boat pool for the second and third largest when I realized that I wouldn't know who won!. Right at the end of the last drift, Colin McMahon (NY) caught an 11.75 pound pollock, the fourth largest fish of the trip and a fish big enough to win Colin the boat pool for the second largest fish! I did end up giving all the money back to those anglers who entered the boat pool for the third largest fish.

Other Angler Highlights: Bill Estabrook (ME) caught the largest haddock of the trip at 4 pounds. Aiyana Tibbetts (ME) caught a 7.25 pound cusk and other legal fish including a haddock over 3 pounds which I took a picture of. This digital image appears on the right. Barry Ano (NY) did better than yesterday.

I received three donations today sponsoring me on my ride with the Pan-Mass Challenge, a cycling event to raise money for cancer research that will take place this coming weekend. Those donors and their donations included Barry Ano yet again for $50.00, Owen Sherman (ME) for $5.00 and Lee Atherton for $50.00. Thank you all so very much for your thoughtfulness and generosity. It is so very much appreciated.

Wednesday, July 30, 2025

At 5:00 AM EDT the air temperature was 70°F, the sky was clear, there wasn't enough wind to write about, the ocean along the shore was glass calm with wind patches and the visibility over it was very good in some haze.

The sky was hazy clear and sunny all day. There was zero wind all day as well. Or it seemed it. The ocean was flat calm all day along the shore with very minor wave action on the beach. The offshore weather buoy reports showed the wind no more than seven knots, predominantly from the east southeast or southeast. We had no fog. The visibility stayed very good in some haze. It wasn't very humid. But the air temperature got up to 90°F by mid afternoon. There was no wind in the Cove to cool it down any, despite the lack of humidity. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 90°F (with a low of 71°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 96°F (with a low of 64°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 84°F (with a low of 66°F).

I spent the whole day working on the engine, after posting the daily fishing report. I was supposed to work in the restaurants all day. Instead, I had to fix an "air in the fuel" problem that caused Danny and I to have to open up the engine hatch yesterday, prime and vent the system, in order to start the engine. That happened twice. I couldn't go tomorrow with the same issue. So I changed the whole feed line from the Racor fuel filters to the engine. Later, I had Cody from Power Products come down and install the new line, that I had had made up, and test the engine properly. The proof will be in starting the engine tomorrow morning. The fuel seems to be draining back so it takes to look to start the engine to begin with, along with issues during the trip. I was done with the engine by 7:10 PM after spending all day on looking over (just about) everything.

I received two donations sponsoring me in the Pan-Mass Challenge, a cycling event to raise money for cancer research that will be starting from Sturbridge, Massachusetts at 5:30 AM this coming Saturday. These donations were both made in the form of an "eGift" through the PMC site. I received a generous $100.00 donation from Dan Killay (VT) with the note: "Tim, thank you for all you do for cancer research. In memory of Ian Keniston!" The other was from Deb & Vic Finnemore (FL) with the note: "Tim, with great admiration for all you do for Dana-Farber...enjoy the ride! Cheers!" Thank you all so very much for your support in this cancer project. I really do appreciate the help!

Thursday, July 31, 2025

Danny DellaMonica and I ran the extreme day trip today.

At 4:00 AM EDT the air temperature was 72°F, the sky was mostly clear, the wind was light out of the north and the visibility over the ocean was excellent.

The sky was mostly cloudy on the ride to the fishing grounds. The wind was probably about eight knots out of the north. Seas were chops of a foot. The visibility was excellent. The air temperature was 72°F. It was an easy ride.

On the fishing grounds, the wind started to pick up out of the north. Maybe ten knots. The sky started to fill in with clouds. It might have been an hour and a half into the fishing when it started to rain. It rained for the rest of the day. Sometimes it was a hard rain. Mostly it was light. The wind hauled out of the northeast about half way into the fishing. This wind blew up to fifteen knots with higher gusts. Seas were about two to three feet in chops. The air temperature reached a high of 67°F. The tide (current) was light all day. The visibility ranged to about fifteen miles in precipitation. The surface water temperature reached a high of 65°F.

Ashore, these were the air temperatures in selected New England cities: In Perkins Cove, Ogunquit, Maine the high air temperature was 72°F, as viewed at 4:00 AM! In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 84°F (with a low of 61°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 73°F (with a low of 59°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 72°F (with a low of 60°F).

The fishing was very good. It could have been excellent if people had dressed a bit better for the weather and we didn't have the dogfish. But the dogs really weren't that bad. And drifting or anchoring worked great. The catching was excellent, particularly if you included the small pollock and dogfish. Landings were very good. Most legal fish landed were pollock, by far. Legal landings also included fifty-two cusk, fifteen haddock, five redfish and a pile of mackerel. Released fish included two cod over 7 pounds, five small cod, over a hundred small pollock, quite a few mackerel, forty dogfish and one sub-legal redfish. We drift fished, mostly but we had a couple good anchor stops. Drifting was best. Jigs and cod flies caught the most fish.

Ray Westermann (MA) was high hook with the most legal fish. His largest fish was a 14 pound pollock, the second largest fish of the trip. Some of his other fish included a 3.25 pound haddock, an 11 pound pollock, a 9.5 pound pollock, a 7.25 pound pollock, an 8 pound cod and a 7 pound pollock. Jonathan "Griff" Griffin (MA) was second hook. Griff caught the third largest fish, a 13 pound pollock. Carl Balliet (PA) won the boat pool for the largest fish with the largest fish, a 20.25 pound pollock. This is the Bunny Clark's largest pollock of the fishing season to date. I took a picture of Carl holding his holding his big pollock. This digital image appears on the left. I also weighed a 9 pound pollock for Carl.

Other Angler Highlights: Mark (pronounced Maaack) Constance (NY) caught a 6 pound cusk, a 10 pound pollock and a 9.5 pound pollock, his best fish today. Micky Tanguay (NH) landed a 5.5 pound cusk and a 6.5 pound pollock. I believe I weighed a bigger pollock for him but I forgot to write down the weight! John Tanguay (ME) caught an 8 pound pollock, his biggest fish. Roger Gavin (MA) caught the largest cusk at 7.25 pounds. I also weighed a 5.75 pound cusk for him. Matt Elmer (NY) caught the largest cod at 12 pounds. David Archambault (NH) caught a 6 pound cusk, a 7.5 pound pollock and an 11 pound pollock. R.J. Froebel (NY) boated a 6.25 pound pollock and a 9 pound pollock. Ali Laflamme (ME) landed the largest haddock of the day. It weighed 3.75 pounds but had the frame of a 5 pounder. Tony Pinto (NY) boated an 11.5 pound pollock. Charlie Collier (NY) caught an 8 pound pollock, his biggest fish. Alicia Constance (NY) caught an 11.25 pound pollock. At the time it was one of the biggest pollock of the day. So I took a picture of her holding this fish. This digital image appears on the right. This fish does look massive in her hands but she is petit as compared to Carl.

Rodd Froebel (NY) gave me a $5.00 tip which I applied to the fundraising pot for the Pan-Mass Challenge during the trip today. Thank you, Rodd. Always great to have you aboard now and in the past. Thank you!

Friday, August 1, 2025

At 4:00 AM EDT the air temperature was 59°F, the sky was overcast, it was raining and had been raining since we got back in last night, through the night and through this early morning, the wind was blowing out of the north at ten knots and the visibility over the ocean was good to very good in precipitation and some haze.

Monday, August 4, 2025

At 4:30 AM EDT the air temperature at the house was 63°F, at the boat it was 61°F, the sky was very hazy clear, the wind was light out of the west southwest and the visibility over the ocean was very good in haze.

I rode the full, two day, Pan-Mass Challenge over the weekend, a ride that started in Sturbridge, Massachusetts and ended in Provincetown, Massachusetts. As you know, all in the quest of getting funding for cancer research. I had no crashes, no mechanical issues and no pulled muscles. I'm not in cycling shape. The last few miles of both days had me wondering if I would be able to finish. But finish I did. And I do feel fine today, ready to go fishing. I will write about the ride a little bit more once I have the chance.

The ocean was perfect from the moment we left the gate behind. The wind was very light out of the northwest with a left over small chop roll and wavelets from the northwest. Ten miles from our destination, the wind was out of the south southwest at five knots. Seas were a foot in chops. The sky was clear the whole way. The visibility was very good in haze. The air temperature stayed at 68°F the whole way. The surface water temperature hung around 65°F.

On the fishing grounds, the wind started out of the south southwest, backed out of the southwest, then west southwest, west and then the wind dropped out of the day leaving us with a glassy and a bit of a small roll. There was never more than five knots of wind. The seas never were more than a foot in chops, maybe not even that. The air temperature reached a high of 79°F. There was not enough drift the whole day to suit my needs. The sky remained hazy clear. The visibility ranged to fifteen miles or a little more. The surface water temperature reached a high of 67°F.

Ashore, these were the air temperatures in selected New England cities: In Perkins Cove, Ogunquit, Maine the high air temperature was 84°F? In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 82°F (with a low of 64°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 87°F (with a low of 56°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 83°F (with a low of 57°F).

The fishing was very good. There weren't as many dogfish as we have been seeing. The air temperature was perfect. The sea state was great. No one was sea sick. The catching was nearly excellent. Landings were good. Most legal fish landed were cusk, by far. Legal landings also included fifteen haddock, twenty-seven pollock, two whiting, nine redfish and twenty-five mackerel. Released fish included five or six porbeagle sharks, one (what seemed to be) small tuna, forty-eight dogfish, eighty-nine sub-legal pollock, twenty-two sub-legal haddock, twenty-five small cod, three cod over 6 pounds and fifty-eight mackerel. We drift fished all day. Cod flies caught the most fish.

Jesse Damiano (NY) was high hook with the most legal fish, over thirteen. She had four legal haddock, a few pollock, cusk and redfish. Her two largest fish were an 8.25 pound cod and a 7 pound cod. Alysha Goulet (ME) won the boat pool for the largest fish with the largest fish, a 9.25 pound cusk. Carmen Damiano (NY) caught the second largest fish, a 9 pound cusk. The third largest fish was an 8.5 pound cusk caught by Gene Vogt (FL).

Other Angler Highlights: Ryan Colley (ON) caught the second largest cod, weighing in at 8 pounds. Isaac Osinchuk (VT) caught an released a 5.5 pound cod. Chuck Manning (VT) landed a 7 pound cusk, a 5.5 pound cusk and a 5 pound pollock, three fish of his that I weighed. Paul Kostopoulos (CT) boated the biggest pollock at 5.5 pounds. His largest fish was a 7.5 pound cusk. Ten year old "Action" Jackson Manning (VT) landed a 7 pound cusk, his largest fish. Terry Wing (ME) caught an 8 pound cusk.

I received several donations today sponsoring me in my cancer fundraising drive with the Pan-Mass Challenge.

I did garner two donations sponsoring me in the Pan-Mass Challenge while I was riding over the weekend. One was from Rick Wixon (NH) for $100.00 with the note: "In memory of Captain Ian Keniston. The other was a $50.00 from Bobby Zuker (MA) made in the form of an "eGift" through the PMC site. Thank you both so very much for your support and generosity. I appreciate this so very much. And, yes, Rick, I miss Ian very much. For many reasons.

Today, I received three donations of $20.00 towards my Pan-Mass Challenge ride. One was from Roger Osinchuck (VT), one was from Gene Vogt (FL) and one was from Gene's son, Ian Vogt. I also received a very generous $300.00 donation from Bill & Roseann Pakenham (MA). This donation was made in the form of an "eGift" through the PMC site.Thank you all so very much for your contribution to life. That's what it means when you donation. We all appreciate this more than most can imagine.

Tim Tuesday, August 5, 2025

At 2:45 AM EDT the air temperature at the house was 64°F, the sky was very hazy clear, the wind was light out of northeast (you could hear the bell buoy like it was on the lawn) and the visibility over the ocean was very good in haze.

The sky was clear when we headed out of the gate at the entrance to Perkins Cove. But you would have never known it. The sky was so hazy from Canadian fires, it was only at sunrise when we were able to see a celestial body, the sun! It came up as an orb of orange that you could look at plainly without the need of protective lenses. The wind was light from the northeast to start but the velocity kept increasing the further that we went out. What was barely a chop morphed into a three foot chop only a couple miles from our destination. Of course, some of this might have been helped on by the tide that was running into the wind. The visibility over the ocean was very good. We carried a 64°F air temperature almost all the way to the fishing grounds..

On the fishing grounds, the wind blew out of the northeast at ten knots to start but increased to fifteen and eighteen knots sustained for most of the morning. Seas were three and four feet. The wind started to back off during the late morning. By 1:00 PM, the wind was back down to ten knots again. Seas had dropped to two feet. It backed off even more by the time we were ready to leave to go home. The air temperture reached a high of 67°F. The visibility ranged to over twenty miiles in some haze. The tide was fairly strong. The sky was hazy clear with a noticeable sun all day. The surface water temperature reached a high of 63.6°F.

Ashore, these were the air temperatures in selected New England cities: In Perkins Cove, Ogunquit, Maine the high air temperature was 76°F. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 73°F (with a low of 65°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 80°F (with a low of 60°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 77°F (with a low of 60°F).

The fishing was good. I wouldn't say it was any better than that. The sea state was such that we only had eight anglers fishing at one time. A few were sea sick. One angler thought he could handle the fishing with a shoulder injury. He never made it to one fish and sat out the whole day. We had blue shark attacks at different times all day, losing seven or more rigs to them. The catching was excellent. Landings were very good. Most legal fish landed were pollock, far and away. In fact, there we so many pollock, we couldn't get through them to get the other desired species. Very few pollock were sub-legal but none were very big. We lost what I thought was a big one but we never saw it. Legal landings also included twenty-eight cusk, eight haddock and two redfish. Released fish included the blue sharks, four small cod, one 6 pound cod, two short haddock, thirty-five small pollock and eight dogfish. We anchored for most of the spots, drifting twice. Cod flies caught the most fish.

I don't know who was high hook with the most legal fish today but, if I were a betting man, I would say it was Matt Luce. (ME). He caught most of the bigger pollock today. He caught a fish a cast. But so did the other fishermen who were seriously fishing. Matt's largest fish was a 7 pound cusk, the third largest fish of the trip. Garry Golden (NY) won the boat pool for the largest fish with the largest fish, a 8.5 pound cusk. Jeremy Agresti (FL) won the boat pool for the second largest fish with the second largest fish, a 7.25 pound pollock. Jeremy also caught the largest cod at 6 pounds.

Other Angler Highlights: Carolynn Luce (ME) caught one of the bigger pollock at 5.5 pounds. Scott Holsapple (NY) also caught a decent pollock weighing 6 pounds. There were quite a few pollock in the 4 to 5 pound range.

I received three donations sponsoring me in the Pan-Mass Challenge, a ride across the state of Massachusetts, that I completed last weekend to raise money of cancer research. Garry Golden donated $40.00. Deb & Vic Finnemore (FL/ME) donated a generous $200.00. Anthony Consigli (MA/ME) donated a generous $250.00. Bruce Andersen (ME) for a generous $100.00 after I figured out how to transfer the money out of my Venmo account! Thank you all so very much for your contributions to cancer research. It all is so very important. Discoveries don't happen without financial support. All the best to you all!

Wednesday, August 6, 2025

At 5:30 AM EDT the air temperature at the house was 62°F, the sky was partly cloudy, the wind was out of the north at five or six knots and the visibility over the ocean was excellent.

There wasn't very much wind all day today. We saw the most wind in the morning. Out of the east, it might have blown up to eight knots around 11:00 AM? The sky was not clear. There were clouds and haze. We saw most of the sun in the morning. In the afternoon, clouds obscured the sky along with some hazy clear patches. I guess the Canadian wild fires are to blame for this? I just know what I hear, obviously. The visibility remained excellent. It was on the cool side today, a perfect air temperature. I saw 75°F as a high after noon. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 75°F (with a low of 64°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 80°F (with a low of 58°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 76°F (with a low of 59°F).

I've been having a nagging fuel issue with the Bunny Clark since I launched her this spring. It started with the engine being hard starting. Now I feel that it a issue of getting air in the fuel lines. I'm not going to get into the details of my work. But it took a lot of time out of my day this morning to resolve an issue with no positive outcome. I gained more knowledge, I think. But I didn't solve the problem.

After noon, I was in the restaurant all day. At 5:00 PM, I went back to the Bunny Clark to put things back together they way they were when I first starting working on the boat this morning. Tomorrow will be a day of fishing and trying new ideas to isolate the issue.

Bill & Marie Pimley (ME) donated $75.00 to sponsor me in this year's fundraising drive with the Pan-Mass Challenge. This donation was made in the form of an "eGift" through the PMC site with this note: "Keep up the good work through your continued fundraising." Thank you both so very much. I really appreciate your thoughtfulness and support!

Thursday, August 7, 2025

At 4:30 AM EDT the air temperature at the house was 62°F, the sky seemed mostly cloudy, there wasn't enough wind in Perkins Cove to write about and the visibility over the ocean was excellent. More later.

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