Bunny Clark Fishing Update
Written & Edited by Tim Tower
Monday, November 12, 2018, 8:30 AM EST
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Captain Ian Keniston and I ran the marathon trip today. At 3:00 AM EDT the air temperature was 58°F, the sky was overcast, the flags were limp and the visibility over the ocean was good, at least.
We had clear sailing out of the gate. There was a misty rain at the dock before we were to head out. But that was gone once we left Perkins Cove behind. We never saw another drop of rain for the rest of the day. For the first half of the ride to the fishing grounds, we had a light southerly chop. The second half showed us a southwest chop. It was full cruise this morning. No holding back. We had plenty of visibility and plenty of sea room. The sky was overcast for the whole ride. The air temperature was mild.
On the fishing grounds, the wind was light out of the south by southwest, a one foot chop over long rolling sea swells of four to six feet. The wind velocity increased as the day progressed and hauled more southwest by south at the end of the fishing. At that time we had a solid three or four foot chop ahead of a fifteen to twenty knot breeze. The air temperature 60°F for most of the day. No higher. The tide (current) was light to moderate and, mostly, into the wind. The sky was overcast, mostly, with some blue sky and sun. In fact, it looked like it was going to clear in the early morning but that never happened. The visibility ranged to about twenty miles, at most. The surface water temperature reached a high of 58°F. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high was 73°F with a low of 59°F). Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 71°F (with a low of 57°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 65°F (with a low of 56°F).
The fishing conditions were very good. Even when it got windy in the afternoon, the tide into the wind made the drifting perfect. The catching was good. Landings were less so. We caught some nice sized fish today. But, for what I saw, the bite was off. This meant much roaming around and many stops. We caught only a third of the fish that were caught on yesterday's trip with two less anglers. But the overall poundage landed was just shy of yesterday's poundage. Most legal fish landed were pollock, by far. Legal landings also included three mackerel, four redfish, four cusk and two white hake. Released fish included eighteen cod from 5 pounds to 18 pounds, eleven small cod, twenty-two haddock, seven dogfish and fifty-five sub-legal pollock. One of our anglers (Jim Taylor) fought what could have been a small tuna. We never got to see the fish before it bit off the fly. There was no chaffing on the monofilament that would have told me it was a shark. But it was a lazier than normal tuna, if indeed it was a tuna. Regardless, we never saw the fish despite the fact that Jim got the fish up as far as the mono leader. We spent most of the day drifting. We did try the anchor three times with variable success. Cod flies caught the most fish.
Madison Williams (DE) was the fisherman of the day. I suspect he was high hook with the most legal fish. But he did catch the largest fish of the trip, a 22 pound pollock. This is the largest pollock that Madison has ever caught. He was, however, not in the boat pool for the largest fish. I did take a picture of Madison with his big pollock. This digital image appears on the left in this entry. Some of his other good fish included an 18.5 pound pollock, a 15 pound pollock, a 17 pound pollock, a 13.5 pound cod and a double that included an 8 pound pollock and a 14.25 pound pollock, both fish caught on the same line at the same time. In addition, he broke off a really big groundfish, probably a pollock, maybe a double. He was using 80 pound test leader material! Jim Taylor (NY) won the boat pool for the largest fish with the second largest fish, a 21.5 pound pollock. I took a picture of Jim with his big pollock as well. This digital image appears on the right. Jim also tied for the third largest fish. Both fish were 21 pounds. Both were pollock. Mike Dow, Jr. (CT) caught the other one. They both would have tied for the boat pool as well. But Mike didn't enter the boat pool. So Jim won the boat pool for the second largest fish with the third largest fish. Jim also caught a 15 pound pollock. It was a good day to be Jim!. Incidentally, Mike, Jr. caught another pollock that weighed 18.5 pounds.
Other Angler Highlights: Josh DeBerardinis (NC) caught a bunch (school?) of nice fish. Some these included two pollock of 18 pounds each, a 10.25 pound pollock, a 10 pound pollock, a 12 pound pollock and a 19 pound pollock. Smokey Dorsey (NC) landed a 12 pound pollock and a 19 pound pollock, his two biggest fish. Dave Vanatta (PA) caught the biggest double of the day. His double included a 9 pound pollock and a 19 pound pollock. Mike Dow, Sr. (CT) caught a 12 pound cod. His largest pollock weighed 11.5 pounds. Dennis Pine (PA) caught the biggest cod. It weighed 18 pounds. He also caught an 18 pound pollock and two pollock of 11 pounds each. Jim Watson (NY) caught the only trophy fish of the trip, a 12.25 pound cusk. His largest pollock weighed 11 pounds. Cornell "Chef" Brown (NJ) caught the fifth largest fish of the trip, a 19.5 pound pollock. I'm sure this is the largest pollock that he has ever caught. He also caught a big cod double. One of these cod weighed 13 pounds. The other got off the hook when I was taking the bigger one off the hook. His smaller cod was still over 10 pounds, although I did not get to weigh it.
At 5:00 AM EDT the air temperature was 55°F, the sky was clear with a sliver of a moon hanging high over the eastern horizon, the wind was out of the north northeast at fifteen knots and the visibility over the ocean was excellent. Ashore, the wind blew out of the northeast at twenty to twenty-five knots. From the start of the daylight hours, the wind looked like it had no teeth. And, indeed, it didn't. The wind was there at the start, for sure. But the seas were chops, smaller than what is associated with that velocity of wind from such a long reach. The wind had already dropped ten knots by 10:30 AM. By 1:00 PM, the wind was blowing out of the northeast at ten knots, max. The air temperature was cool all day. At one point I saw an air temperature of 58°F. I don't know if this was the high air temperature for Perkins Cove but it had to be close. The visibility was excellent. The sky was nearly cloudless all day. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high was 69°F with a low of 53°F). Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 63°F (with a low of 43°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 65°F (with a low of 44°F).
On the fishing grounds, the wind blew out of the Northeast, sustained, at fifteen to twenty knots. Seas were chops of three to six feet. By noon, the wind had hauled out of the east and was blowing about ten knots or less. Seas were long rolling chops of two to five feet. The air temperature reached a high of 59°F. The visibility ranged over twenty miles. The tide (current) was moderate. The sky was cloudless. The surface water temperature reached a high of 57°F.
The fishing conditions, weather wise, were not the greatest. But this only helped the bite, which was very good, maybe excellent. The bite stayed very good for the rest of the trip. The catching was excellent. Landings were very good, overall. Most legal fish landed were pollock, by far. Legal landings also included two cusk, one white hake and one monkfish. Released fish included twelve cod of 5 pounds or greater, eighteen haddock, five dogfish and a couple small cod. They anchored for most of the day, drift fished at the end. Jigs and cod flies caught the most fish.
Mike "Madison" Williams (DE) was clearly high hook today. I'm sure he caught a pollock around 10 pounds but Ian had his hands full weighing pollock of 10 pounds and continued weighing fish but only over 10 pounds. Garry Golden (NY) won the boat pool for the largest fish with the largest fish, a 14.5 pound pollock. The second and third largest fish were both caught by Lucas Cauller (NH). one was a 13 pound pollock. The other was a 12.5 pound monkfish. The monkfish is the third largest monkfish caught on the Bunny Clark this season so far. Ian took a picture of the monk. This digital image appears on the left.
Other Angler Highlights: Steve Bemis (NY) caught the best double of the day. His double included an 11.5 pound pollock and a 7 pound pollock, both fish caught on the same line at the same time. Steve also caught a 10.5 pound pollock. Phil Ashe (NY) caught an 11 pound pollock, his largest fish. Cayenne Amey (NH) landed the hard luck award for being a little green around the gills!
Gary Golden sponsored me today in my in my involvement with the Pan-Mass Challenge, a cycling event to raise money to fight cancer. Garry has fished with me for many years. He has always been a great angler. Thank you so much for your help and support. I appreciate it very much, almost as much as I appreciate having you on the Bunny Clark! All the best!
At 5:00 AM EDT the air temperature was 46°F, the sky was clear with a sliver of a moon was hanging over the eastern horizon, the wind was light out of the northwest and the visibility over the ocean was very good, maybe excellent. Today, ashore, the wind was light during the daylight hours. First from the northeast and then southeast. The ocean was calm along the shore. By sunset the wind became established out of the south. The southerly wind had piped up to fifteen knots by 7:30 PM. The air temperature got up as high as 61°F by 2:00 PM. I didn't check it after that but the air temperature was mild in the late afternoon and well into the night. The sky was nearly cloudless all morning, a mix of sun and clouds in the afternoon. The visibility was very good. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high was 63°F with a low of 51°F). Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 61°F (with a low of 40°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 59°F (with a low of 42°F).
On the fishing grounds, the wind blew out of the northeast at five knots, died out and then hauled out of the southeast at five knots. The ocean's surface was calm over a long rolling sea swell of six feet, more or less. The air temperature reached a high of 62°F in the shade. The visibility ranged to over twenty miles. The tide (current) was moderate. The sky was a mix of sun and clouds. The surface water temperature reached a high of 58°F.
The fishing, catching and landings were very good today. There were no dogfish to speak of, the weather conditions were nearly perfect and it was a pleasant day to be on the ocean. Most legal fish landed were pollock, by far. Legal landings also included a redfish, three cusk, a white hake and another monkfish. Released fish included twenty-six cod over 5 pounds, twenty-five haddock, two dogfish and a handful of small cod. Drifting was the method. Jigs and flies were, really, the only terminal gear worth using.
Ray Westermann (MA) was high hook with the most legal fish. His two largest fish included an 11.5 pound pollock and a 13 pound pollock. Justin Wehry (MA) won the Club pool for the largest fish with the largest fish, a 15 pound pollock. He also caught a 10 pound pollock and a double that included a 12 pound cod and a 10 pound cod, both fish caught on the same line at the same time. Steven Scott (MA) won the Club pool for the second largest fish with the second largest fish, a 14.5 pound pollock. Steven also caught a 10 pound pollock, a 13 pound cod and a 12 pound cod. The third largest fish was a 14 pound pollock caught by John Hayes (MA). John also caught a 14 pound cod and a 12.5 pound pollock.
Other Angler Highlights: Paul Carr (MA) landed the Bunny Clark's fourth largest monkfish of the fishing season today. It weighed 12 pounds. It's actually a tie for fourth as there was another 12 pound monkfish caught by Edson Setzer (NY) on July 16th. Jason Murphy (MA) landed a double that included a 12.5 pound pollock and a 10 pound pollock. Fred Ostrander (MA) landed an 11.5 pound pollock, his largest fish. Jessica Murphy (MA) caught an 11 pound pollock, her biggest. Ed Blake (MA) caught a 13 pound cod, his largest fish. Rob Carnevale (MA) also caught a 13 pound cod as his biggest fish. And Andy Zurrin (MA), too, caught a 13 pound cod. Andy also caught the hard luck award for being involved in almost every tangle on the boat today!
At 5:00 AM EDT the air temperature was 59°F, the sky was overcast, the wind was out of the southwest at fifteen knots and the visibility over the ocean was good to very good in some haze. Ashore, we had very light winds out of the southwest with air temperatures feeling mild. The southwest wind dropped to calm at around 9:30 AM and then started to blow out of the northeast and, then, east. The wind was light out of the east until mid afternoon when it started to increase. But not a lot. We had fifteen knots of northeast wind blowing over the parking lot by 6:30 PM. The velocity remained until the restaurant closed at 10:00 PM. The air temperature got up to a high of 64°F or maybe more. I'm sure the air temperature might have reached 70°F had the wind not hauled out of the northeast. The morning was overcast with light rain until 11:00 AM. It never rained again the rest of the day. The sky stayed overcast, however. The visibility was very good. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high was 80°F with a low of 60°F). Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 70°F (with a low of 54°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 64°F (with a low of 53°F).
On the fishing grounds, the wind blew out of the southwest in the morning, five to ten knots was the velocity. Seas were two to three feet in chops, probably more from the wind overnight than the wind velocity there at the time. There was also a three to four foot swell underneath. Before noon, the wind dropped, as it did ashore, and then hauled out of the northeast. Wind speeds were five to ten knots for the rest of the fishing trip. Seas became chops of a foot over the existing swell. The air temperature reached a high of 61°F. The sky was sunny in the morning which was a heck of a lot different than it was ashore. Although I do remember seeing blue sky to the east after sunrise. The afternoon saw overcast skies. The tide (current) was moderate to strong. The visibility was about fifteen miles in some haze. The surface water temperature reached a high of 57°F.
The fishing conditions were variable today. Some places had dogfish. Ian moved away from those areas. The seas/weather improved as the day progressed. The catching was slow in the morning, very good in the afternoon. Landings were good overall. Most legal fish landed were pollock, by far. Legal landings also included two redfish and six cusk. Released fish included thirty-six dogfish, eighteen cod over 5 pounds, sixteen haddock and a handful of small pollock and small cod. They anchored and drift fished. Jigs and flies caught the most fish.
Ian couldn't tell me whom was high hook. Ron Sadlon (NY) won the boat pool for the largest fish with the largest fish, a 15 pound cod. The second largest fish was a 12 pound pollock caught by Richard Morrell (ME). His biggest cod was a notable 10.5 pounder. Joe Colford (ME) caught the third largest fish, an 11.5 pound cod. Dave Cannistraro (MA) landed the hard luck award for being the sole/high hurler of the trip. Sometimes being number one is not so great!
And an interesting thing happened to Richard Morrell today. He was fishing with a sinker and two flies above the sinker, one green. During the early morning pollock blitz, where all hell seemed to be breaking loose with a great bite, Richard broke his gear off. Ian re-rigged him with another setup very much like the previous one with a green above the sinker. After the bite tapered off with the drift, Ian moved the boat about a thousand yards from the original spot where Richard lost his gear and set up another drift on a different school of pollock. A little while into the drift Richard caught a pollock with a green fly, his earlier green fly, hooked into the corner of it's mouth. The interesting part was that he caught the pollock with the new green fly caught in the same side of the mouth as the other green fly, maybe a millimeter away! Without Ian knowing, when Ian set up the new drift, the current had changed and brought the boat right back to where Richard had lost the fly in the first place! It was not Ian's intention to drift back to the first spot but it certainly made a better story because of it!
At 5:00 AM EDT the air temperature was 53°F, the sky was overcast, the wind was out of the northeast at fifteen knots and the visibility over the ocean was very good. The northeast wind had been stronger with a sustained twenty knots of velocity earlier in the morning. The wind was already decreasing when I got down to the Cove to figure out the parking situation. The wind continued to back off during the morning. By 2:00 PM, the wind had hauled out of the east and was only blowing at about six knots along the shore. The ocean was fairly calm except right along the shore where the offshore swells where making good surfing waves along the beaches. The air temperature was raw all day and didn't get much above the air temperature at 5:00 AM. I didn't look at the thermometer but it was cold and damp from the on shore breeze. We had a glimpse at the sun around 10:00 AM but that was only a quick out and in. The sky was, essentially, overcast all day. The visibility was very good over the ocean. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high was 60°F with a low of 55°F). Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 54°F (with a low of 43°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 53°F (with a low of 47°F).
They had a choppy ride to the fishing grounds. Ian held his cruising speed at ten knots to make it easier on the passengers. By the time they made it to the grounds, the wind was backing off but there were still wind gusts to fifteen knots and seas of two to four feet. The wind diminished duirng the trip. Later in the afternoon, there was a one foot chop over a long two to three foot rolling sea swell. The air temperature reached a high of 55°F in the shade. The visibility ranged to over twenty miles. The tide (current) was moderate. The sky was overcast for the whole time. The surface water temperature reached a high of 57°F.
The fishing conditions were good, the catching was very good as were the landings. Most legal fish landed were pollock, by far. Legal landings also included a cusk and a white hake. Released fish included thirty-two cod over 5 pounds, nineteen haddock, twenty-four dogfish and a few small cod. Drifting was the method. All anglers used the jig/fly combination. No bait was used at all.
Fred Kunz (NH) was high hook with the most legal fish, by far. His largest fish was an 11 pound pollock. Effrum Morrill (ME) won the boat pool for the largest fish with the largest fish, a 18 pound pollock. Effrum also caught an 11 pound pollock. There was a tie for the second largest fish at 17 pounds. Both cod. Dustin Morrill (ME) caught one and Kevin Zimmerman (ME) caught the other. Dustin also caught an 11 pound pollock and a 12 pound pollock.
Other Angler Highlights: Lewis Hazelwood (MA) caught a 10 pound pollock, his biggest fish. Israel Copp (PA) caught a 15 pound cod, his biggest fish today by far. Tim Rozan (ME) caught a 12 pound cod, his biggest fish. Tim also landed the hard luck award for a bit of hurling. I don't believe anyone else was sick today. Of course, Tim doesn't give up and did fish. He just wasn't as comfortable as he could have been doing it!
At 5:00 AM EDT the air temperature was 55°F, the sky was overcast, the wind was blowing out of the southwest at ten knots (more offshore) and the visibility over the ocean was good in haze. The wind blew out of the southwest at ten to fifteen knots ashore in the early part of the morning and then hauled out of the west southwest during the later part of the morning. Winds speeds got up as high as twenty knots. Winds appeared to diminish later in the day but it never got calm. The air temperature soared to the high 70s. The highest air temperature that I saw was 78°F but it could have been higher. The sky cleared and was mostly sunny all day. The visibility was good in some haze. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high was 80°F with a low of 58°F). Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 80°F (with a low of 50°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 82°F (with a low of 50°F). It's hard for me to believe that it was 82°F in Portland.
I spent the day in Barnacle Billy's restaurant. We are short of staff so it was certainly a help that I was there. But it didn't do anything for my fishing fix. Particularly when I could see the boat tied to the dock every time I looked around!
At 5:00 AM EDT the air temperature was 66°F, the sky was clear, the wind was blowing out of the southwest at ten knots (more offshore) and the visibility over the ocean was good to very good. Ashore, the wind blew out of the west most of the day. After a southwest showing before sunrise, the morning featured fifteen to twenty knots of westerly wind and sunny skies. The sky stayed sunny all day. The air temperature rose to abnormally high values, quickly. By 2:00 PM, I saw a reading of 85°F. And high temperature records were broken in towns along the coast. The night was warm until, at 7:30 PM, the wind hauled out of the east and blew twenty to twenty-five knots. The wind had dropped to zero before the easterly wind change. This dropped temperatures about ten degrees almost immediately and brought us back to reality. The visibility was very good all day. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high was 86°F with a low of 68°F). Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 84°F (with a low of 57°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 84°F (with a low of 55°F). Today's high temperature of 84°F breaks the previous record high for this date of 81°F set in 2011 and 1949. Most of the other cities that have kept records for longer periods had warmer temperatures for this date ten years earlier.
On the fishing grounds, the wind blew out of the southwest at ten to fifteen knots. Seas were chops of one to three feet with no ocean swell to write about. The air temperature reached a high of 65°F. The visibility ranged from ten to fifteen miles in haze. The tide (current) was strong. The sky was clear and sunny all day, cloudless at one point. The surface water temperature reached a high of 58°F.
It was a vanilla day on the Bunny Clark when you compare it to the rest of the fall. The fishing has been very consistent, very good and with plenty of pollock. Today was very good overall. Nothing out of the ordinary happened, really. The fishing conditions were good. It could have been better had there not been so many dogfish around, the tide not been so strong and the sea state been better. The catching and landings were very good. Most legal fish landed were pollock, of course. Legal landings also included one redfish, two cusk and ten mackerel. The mackerel were very big. Released fish included nineteen cod over 5 pounds, forty-four haddock, eighty dogfish and a few small cod. They drift fished the whole day. Everyone used jigs and cod flies.
It was too difficult to keep track of high hook. John Manis (NY) won the boat pool for the largest fish with the largest fish, a 12.5 pound pollock. The second largest fish was an 11 pound pollock caught by Vince DeBari (NJ). Franco Liquori (CT) landed the third largest fish, a 10.5 pound pollock.
Other Angler Highlights: Catlin Fox (VT) landed a 10 pound pollock, his largest fish. Jim "Chip" Chiapponi (CT) had a big shark on the line for a while. Chip ended up breaking the fish off before they caught a glimpse of the fish. So they never did fish out if the shark was a porbeagle or just a blue shark. We start to see the porbeagle (mackerel) sharks at this time of year. Those sharks are very good eating. Michael Wang (ME) landed the hard luck award for becoming the sole hurler of the trip.
I received three donations sponsoring my ride in the Pan-Mass Challenge today. This is a cycling event designed to raise money to fight cancer with the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and the Jimmy Fund in Boston, Massachusetts. Those donors and their donations included: Vince DeBari for a generous $60.00, Franco Russo (MA) for $25.00 and James Chiapponi for $30.00. Thank you all so very much for your thoughtfulness and generosity. I very much appreciate the support!
At 5:00 AM EDT the air temperature was 57°F, the sky was overcast, it was spitting rain, the wind was blowing out of the northeast at fifteen knots or more and the visibility over the ocean was good at best. The rain, pretty much, started at 5:00 AM. From there it rained all day. Sometimes it was a hard rain. But that was rare. Mostly it was a light rain or drizzle all day. The wind blew out of the northeast at fifteen knots or more for the first three or four hours after 5:00. Then it started backing off. There was very little wind in Perkins Cove from noon through sunset. The rain stopped around 10:00 PM. The sky was overcast all day. No chance for a sun sighting today. The visibility was fair to good, back and forth, throughout the day. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high was 72°F with a low of 58°F). Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 67°F (with a low of 53°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 55°F (with a low of 50°F).
I spent the day working at Barnacle Billy's. I had repair parts to pick up for the lobster tank, year end tax/book keeping decisions I had to make and the general work with orders and greeting patrons. My daughter, Halley, had driven up from New Jersey. So I had a normal family dinner with my son and daughter and wife before heading back to work at 6:00 PM.
At 5:00 AM EDT the air temperature was 55°F, the sky was overcast, the wind was light out of the north and the visibility over the ocean was good as far as I could tell. Ashore, the wind was light out of the north through half of the morning, stronger (ten knots?) through the last half. After noon, the wind hauled out of the northwest and blew up to twenty knots for a bit before backing off. The northwest wind blew at ten to fifteen knots for a couple of hours before backing off. The sky was overcast for most of the day. We had no rain at all despite the pounding of rain and wind that lower Massachusetts and Rhode Island had, the remnants of Hurricane Michael sliding by. Michael was too far offshore today to bother us, thankfully. The sun showed up at 2:00 PM and stayed out for the rest of the day. It was a beautiful late afternoon. The visibility was very good. The air temperature got up as high as 61°F. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high was 63°F with a low of 51°F). Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 61°F (with a low of 39°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 60°F (with a low of 41°F).
On the fishing grounds, the wind blew out of the north at five to ten knots in the earlier part of the morning, ten to fifteen knots in the later part of the morning and into the afternoon. The air temperature reached a high of 57°F under the shade top. The visibility ranged to over twenty miles. The tide (current) was strong. The sky was overcast for the whole trip. The surface water temperature reached a high of 57°F.
The fishing conditions were good. The tide and the weather conditions kept it down a category. The catching was very good. Landings were also very good. Except for one small cod and one dogfish, the only fish that was caught today was the pollock. And they caught plenty of them. They anchored for the trip. Only jigs and cod flies were used.
They ended up leaving the fishing grounds early as they had enough fish and they had had enough. We only had five anglers to begin with. Everyone fished in the beginning. But as the day progressed, all but Rich Callahan (CT) had equilibrium problems. Rich was fishing alone with Captain Ian and Anthony taking a trick at the rod & reel as well. Rich had as many fish as he wanted and the other anglers felt the same. So they headed home. The Bunny Clark kissed the float just before 4:00 PM.
"The Compassionate" Rich Callahan (he called the trip when he realized that he was the only one left fishing) was high hook with the most legal fish. Rich caught the second largest fish, a 13 pound pollock. He also caught a pollock that weighed 11.5 pounds. Rich Hess (PA) won the boat pool for the largest fish with the largest fish, a 15 pound pollock. The third largest fish was a 12.5 pound pollock caught by Steve Day (ON). Beth Anne Hess (PA) landed the hard luck award for being the first one to relinquish breakfast. She was also, probably, the hardest hit as well. Captain's opinion, of course.
I received a generous donation sponsoring me in this years Pan-Mass Challenge today. The donation was a monetary amount of $50.00. The donors were Roger & Linda LaVallee (VT). They were down visiting Ogunquit yesterday. I happened to see them at the restaurant where they gave me the check. Thank you so very much, Roger & Linda. So very thoughtful and generous. All the best to you both!
At 5:00 AM EDT the air temperature was 46°F, the sky was overcast, there was no discernable wind and the visibility over the ocean was very good. Ashore, the rain started around 7:00 AM. It rained all morning and into the early afternoon. The sky remained overcast until, at 3:00 PM, the clouds parted, the sun came out and remained out for the rest of the afternoon and evening. The highest air temperature that I saw during the day was 46°F. There was no wind until mid morning when it came out of the west. Westerly winds of fifteen knots or so was the rule throughout the rest of the day. The visibility cleared up after the rain to very good, as it was early morning. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high was 54°F with a low of 46°F). Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 52°F (with a low of 32°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 50°F (with a low of 37°F).
I started the morning working on a lobster cooking tank at the restaurant and figuring out a computer glitch with the engine of the Bunny Clark that happened after I changed the oil last evening. By mid morning, both problems were solved. The lobster tank will be an ongoing thing until we close next Sunday.
The rest of the day was spent at Barnacle Billy's restaurants. I took some time to eat with daughter's, fiances, parent's, Halley and Deb. And went back to work after that. It was a slow last hour in the restaurant. I got back home at 9:30 PM to watch the Red Sox have trouble against the Astros. Ouch.
At 5:00 AM EDT the air temperature was 40°F, the sky was clear, the wind was light out of the northwest and the visibility over the ocean seemed excellent. Ashore, the wind blew out of the west northwest at ten to fifteen knots to start but backed off to light westerly in the later part of the morning. The wind stayed light out of the west or west northwest all day ashore. The highest air temperature that I saw was 51°F but that was a 11:00 AM, not a good time to see a day's high temperature. I never looked again. The sky was clear all day, cloudless most of the morning, with a bright sun. The visibility was excellent. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high was 59°F with a low of 45°F). Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 58°F (with a low of 28°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 57°F (with a low of 33°F).
On the fishing grounds, the wind blew out of the west at fifteen knots in the morning to ten knots later in the morning and afternoon. Seas were chops of two to three feet when they first arrived to two and one foot chops in the afternoon. The air temperature reached a high of 55°F. The sky was sunny all day. The visibility ranged to over twenty miles. The tide (current) was moderate. The surface water temperature reached a high of 57°F, fairly warm for this time of year.
The fishing conditions were not bad. So I would rate the fishing as very good. The weather wasn't bad, there were no dogfish to speak of and the tide was fine. The catching was very good to excellent as were the landings. Most legal fish landed were pollock, by far. In fact, there were no other legal species caught. Released fish included fourteen haddock, fifteen cod over 5 pounds, two dogfish and a couple small cod. Drifting was the method. Mostly only flies were used.
I didn't ask Ian who was high hook and he didn't volunteer that information. I should have asked. Phil Lamb (MI) landed an "ace" today. An ace in Bunny Clark lingo means the three largest fish of the trip. It can happen with anglers as many as six or seven times in a season. In two seasons, there wasn't a single angler who recorded an ace. This season, this is only the second ace that has been landed. Phil won the boat pool for the largest fish with the largest fish, a 13.5 pound cod. The other two fish were a 12.5 pound cod and an 11.5 pound pollock. It was a good day to be Phil Lamb!
Other Angler Highlights: Matt Clark (ME) caught an 11 pound pollock, his largest fish. Richard Clark (CA) caught a 9 pound pollock, his largest fish. However, he fought a porbeagle shark for an hour and fifteen minutes before losing it near the surface. It was a very big porbeagle. Had they landed it, it would have been the largest we have caught on the Bunny Clark. Richard's fishing set up was not conducive to landing big sharks, however. He was fishing with a sinker on the bottom and two cod flies above the sinker. He had hooked the shark with one of the flies. His leader was 80 pound test. Even then I wouldn't have expected the fight to last fifteen minutes with that set up. They had the fish to the leader twice but just could not get it close enough for the flying gaff. Nor could they have harpooned it effectively - had they had a harpoon. David Yaede (ME) landed the hard luck award for getting sea sick as soon as they arrived on the fishing grounds and never landing a legal fish because of his malady.
Also, I have canceled tomorrow's marathon trip. The National Weather Service has been upgrading the weather forecast all weekend to gale warning out of the west with gusts to forty-five knots and seas (offshore) to fifteen feet. It would be a very uncomfortable day on the ocean tomorrow. And not a time to have problems. Not that I expect any. Better days are coming.
At 5:00 AM EDT the air temperature was 41°F, the sky was clear, there was zero wind and the visibility over the ocean was excellent. By 6:00 AM, the air temperature had dropped to 38°F. At sunrise, we had sea smoke appearing on the surface of the ocean along the shore in a scene more appropriate for the middle of the winter. The surface water temperature is still 57°F along the shore. With the higher than normal surface water temperature and the lower air temperatures, the sea smoke appeared like little white elves dancing on the surface. The air temperature struggled to get above 50°F this morning. By noon, the air temperature was only 51°F. But the air temperature increased as the afternoon progressed. By 2:30 PM, the air temperature reached 57°F. But I saw the highest air temperature at 7:30 PM. At that time the air temperature had reached 63°F. That was the highest air temperature that I saw in Perkins Cove. We had no wind all morning. The southerly wind struck at 11:00 AM, the same time that we started to see the rain. The sky had been clear at sunrise. But high clouds soon appeared overhead followed by overcast skies at 9:00 AM. From that time on it looked like rain. Our first drop of rain turned into a steady rain by noon with the southerly wind picking up speed. By 1:00 PM, we had sustained winds of fifteen knots out of the south. The rain was intermittent so that you didn't go outside without expecting it. And I took an oil top everywhere I went - which was mostly just between restaurants in Perkins Cove. By sunset, southerly winds were blowing over twenty knots sustained with some gusts to thirty knots. By the time I went to bed at 9:00 PM, the wind was already out of the southwest, blowing twenty knots sustained and working around the compass toward the west. We had variable visibility from fair to good most of the day. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high was 70°F - at 10:30 PM - with a low of 45°F). Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 61°F (with a low of 30°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 63°F - at 10:57 PM - (with a low of 33°F).
I spent most of the morning at the restaurants, taking a break to jump on the bike for nineteen miles and experiencing fifteen minutes of rain before making it back home. The rest of the day was spent at the restaurant. I was expecting to have extra time to work on the Barnacle Billy's web site today but the restaurants tend to throw work at you when you least expect it. And today was one of those days. I worked from noon until 6:30 PM, spending most of my time in the office at Barnacle Billy's, Etc. In the meantime, Matt Pedersen, the number one guy at Barnacle Billy's (original) was resurrecting my home computer that died a couple of weeks ago. I use this computer for everything Bunny Clark, including updating the Bunny Clark web site. I have two backup laptop computers in case that home PC goes down. I had been updating the site with the laptops. So I was taking Matt's place at certain times and getting the normal and extra-normal items completed as well. It seemed like a long day despite the expected lack of business on a rainy Monday.
At 5:00 AM EDT the air temperature was 47°F, the sky was clear, the wind was blowing out of the west at thirty knots sustained and the visibility over the ocean was excellent. After 5:00 AM, the wind backed off a bit. Wind speeds out of the west were about twenty-five knots (more or less) for the next three hours, twenty knots until noon and fifteen to twenty knots after that. The wind was still blowing off shore by sunset and into the night. But, ashore, it was a quiet evening for wind. The sky was clear all day, cloudless in fact. The visibility was excellent. I saw a high of 56°F in Perkins Cove at 2:00 PM. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high was 60°F with a low of 47°F). Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 56°F (with a low of 33°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 57°F (with a low of 42°F).
It was another day at Barnacle Billy's. I have never spent so much time ashore in October. In some ways it has been good. I have been able to easily move through the transition of daily activities and year end solutions as it applies to the book keeping and employee earnings. I've been easy to reach by business people who are normally frustrated because they called on a Tuesday or Thursday when I was out fishing. And it's certainly easier to manage a couple restaurants when you are there all the time.
Today was much like yesterday. I worked straight through until 7:00 PM and then met Deb at home for dinner.
At 5:00 AM EDT the air temperature was 43°F, the sky was overcast, the wind was blowing out of the west southwest at ten knots and the visibility over the ocean was excellent. At sunrise, the sky was mostly clear with a beautiful show of color. Those were the clearest skies of the day. By 8:00 AM, the sky was overcast again and remained overcast until around 11:00 AM, when the sun was seen again. We had a mix of sun and clouds until overcast skies took over around 2:00 PM. Rain showers showed took over after that. We had intermittent rain for the rest of the afternoon and during the early evening after sunset. The air temperature rose to a value of 60°F, the highest air temperature that I saw (around 2:00 PM). The wind blew out of the west, west northwest and southwest at different times during the day, westerly by the end. Wind speeds were fifteen knots, more or less. I didn't look to see what the wind speeds would have been offshore where we fish. The visibility was excellent except during the rain. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high was 63°F with a low of 44°F). Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 59°F (with a low of 31°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 58°F (with a low of 39°F).
Another day at Barnacle Billy's restaurant. At this time of year the restaurant is not as busy. The patrons who do visit us are regular patrons, most of whom pick this time of year because there are less people around and they can enjoy the town much more because of it. The Marginal Way can be crowded during the summer. But, at this time of year, it's a fun relaxed walk. The beach, too, isn't as crowded as the summer and a nice walk on it in the morning is something many individuals look forward to. For me, it's easier to get my desk work done, visit different tables and relax a bit in doing so. This fall is much more low key than it was last fall. The weather was much better last year during October.
So I worked straight through until 7:00 PM and then went home, ate dinner and was in bed before 9:00 PM.
Two of my previously mentioned patrons donated $5.00 each to my cancer fund raising charge with the Pan-Mass Challenge today. One was Jean Young who used to own the Ugly Anne, a party fishing boat out of Perkins Cove. The other was from loyal patron, Kathy Brickey. Both from Ogunquit, they visit Barnacle Billy's enough that it makes it more fun for me when walking through the dinning room. It's always good to see them there. Thank you very much, Kathy and Jean. Very much appreciated!
At 5:00 AM EDT the air temperature was 36°F, the sky was crystal clear, the wind was blowing out of the west at twenty knots and the visibility over the ocean was excellent. The weather day turned out as predicted. The wind blew out of the northwest at twenty-five knots ashore, more or less. The sky was mostly clear. It was chilly all day with the highest air temperature that I saw being 46°F. It was probably a degree higher at some point. The visibility was excellent. There was no swell along the shore; nothing for surfers to cheer about! In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high was 49°F with a low of 39°F). Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 44°F (with a low of 24°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 46°F (with a low of 30°F).
So much for the chance to do some maintenance on the B.C. today. I came down at 6:00 AM to find that the furnace at Barnacle Billy's, Etc. wasn't putting out. I had desk work to do anyway, so I waited to make the call. Shortly afterward, I went down to the Bunny Clark to warm up the engine only to get a "blown Extra Supply Fuse" warning on the panel. I got only a click when I tried to turn the engine over. I have two dedicated twelve volt batteries hooked up in series to make twenty-four volts to start the engine. I was showing only 23.9 volts which, in these colder conditions, wasn't enough to start the engine. So I called Bruce Woodfin at the Massachusetts office of Power Products and Skip Dunning, my favorite road tech from Portland (Power Products), to scope out the problem with me. Or, better, tell me what to do! Skip ended up coming down with his computer to hook it up to the engine to see the whole scoop as to what exactly was wrong. That's the thing about these new electronic engines; it's a pain in the ass when you don't have access to one to diagnose a problem but when you do have one, it makes it so much simpler to solve an engine problem. Essentially, my batteries needed to be replaced! It had been eight or ten years since I had installed them, a little too long for battery life.
The rest of the day was spent hauling the batteries out of the boat at 140 pounds each. It requires two other individuals to do it. I had several employees from Barnacle Billy's who helped. Once out of the boat, I drove them to Ed's Batteries in Westbrook, Maine where they had two new fully charged batteries waiting for me. I had called ahead. I have bought every boat battery that I have ever had from them since 1972. They were just as helpful today as they were when I first met them. Wonderful. And so easy! I brought the new batteries back to Perkins Cove where I met my son, Micah. He and I and Stu Dunn, a manager from Barnacle Billy's, helped put the batteries back in the engine room of the Bunny Clark. I was another two hours on the boat working on the engine maintenance items I had originally planned, getting the battery situation finalized, calling those who helped diagnose the problem and cleaning up. I was done by 6:00 PM.
In the meantime I checked on the restaurants. I was back home by 7:00 PM.
At 5:00 AM EDT the air temperature was 31°F, the sky was clear, the wind was blowing out of the west at ten knots and the visibility over the ocean was excellent. Ashore, the sky was clear all day without a single drop of rain. The sun seemed bright. But the sun is lower on the horizon now so it spent more time in my eyes than at the beginning of the summer. The wind was strong again today but backed off from being as strong as it had been all this last week. The wind was out of the west at fifteen to twenty knots. The air temperature got up as high as 59°F in Perkins Cove. The visibility remained excellent. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high was 63°F with a low of 37°F). Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 62°F (with a low of 23°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 57°F (with a low of 33°F).
On the fishing grounds, the wind blew out of the southwest at ten to fifteen knots with seas in chops of two to three feet. Later in the morning, the wind increased out of the southwest to fifteen and twenty knots with seas of two to four feet or more in chops. The sky was clear and sunny all day. The visibility ranged to over twenty miles. The tide (current) was moderate. The air temperature reached a high of 50°F. The surface water temperature reached a high of 53.6°F. With all this west and northwest wind the last week the surface water temperatures have dropped as expected.
The fishing conditions were good. The conditions could have been better had the chops been a bit smaller. The catching was excellent. Landings were very good. Most legal fish landed were pollock, by far. There was a great pollock bite all day. Legal landings also included two redfish, two mackerel and a hake. Released fish included fifty-six haddock, thirty cod over 5 pounds, fourteen dogfish and a handful of small cod. Drifting was the fishing method. Everyone used the jig/fly combination. No bait.
Mark Simpson (NH) was far and away the high hook of the day with the most legal fish. His largest fish was a 10 pound cod. John Russell (ME) won the boat pool for the largest fish with the largest fish, a 14.5 pound cod. John also caught the second largest fish, a 14 pound cod. He also caught a cod of 10 pounds. The third largest fish was a 13 pound cod caught by Kyle Hunter (PA). Kyle also caught a 10 pound pollock and another cod of 10 pounds.
Other Angler Highlights: Andrew Gaudio (MD) caught a 10 pound pollock, his largest fish. Al Kendall (NY) landed a pollock at bit larger at 10.5 pounds. Charles Wallace (NY) boated a 10 pound pollock, his biggest fish. Mark Feldman (MA) landed the hard luck award by losing two flies. Not such hard luck, I would say! Everyone had plenty of fish when they left the Bunny Clark. I can tell you that it was good just to have a trip today!
At 5:00 AM EDT the air temperature was 55°F, the sky was overcast, the wind was blowing out of the southwest at twenty-two knots with gusts over twenty-seven knots and the visibility over the ocean was excellent. The wind blew out of the southwest at almost thirty knots in gusts for the better part of the morning and, then, started to back off around noon. Winds kept diminishing until there was very little wind at all around sunset. The wind had hauled more westerly at that point as well. The sky was clear and sunny all day. The highest air temperature that I saw in Ogunquit was 64°F. The visibility was excellent. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high was 66°F with a low of 49°F). Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 64°F (with a low of 34°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 64°F (with a low of 38°F).
When it became light enough to see, large chops could be seen from the shore cementing the fact that it was another hard wind day.
My day was spent at Barnacle Billy's restaurants. Tomorrow will be the last day of the season that our original restaurant, Barnacle Billy's, will be open. So there were many regulars who I had the pleasure to talk to all day long. This weekend is Ogunquitfest weekend. So there are many people in town and there will be many in the Cove tomorrow to watch the "High Heel Race". So it should be very busy tomorrow. I ended up getting home at 9:30 PM.
At 5:00 AM EDT the air temperature was 45°F, the sky was overcast, the wind was blowing out of the north northeast at ten knots here at the house (more than that off shore) and the visibility over the ocean was excellent. The sky at 7:00 AM was overcast and looking like rain. It kept looking like rain for most of the morning. It did rain in Ogunquit for a few minutes, a light rain, just enough to get the road wet. And that was all the rain we had today. By noon, the overcast skies had left us and were replaced by mostly sunny skies and a lot of wind. The wind blew out of the north northwest at twenty-five to thirty knots by 2:00 PM and kept up throughout the daylight hours. The air temperature didn't get much over 46°F. Or, at least, I didn't see it any higher. The visibility was excellent. The visibility was excellent. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high was 53°F with a low of 37°F). Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 44°F (with a low of 34°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 47°F (with a low of 31°F).
I spent the day at Barnacle Billy's restaurants. It was closing day at our original restaurant. And it was very busy, made more so by the fact that it wasn't warm enough to sit on the deck. Plus, it was too breezy to enjoy it anyway. So everyone was in the dining room. That is everyone was in the dining room after the "high heel race" was over at 4:00 PM. I worked straight through from noon until 9:15 PM. We closed Original at 8:00 PM as we had no one ordering much after 7:00 PM. There were still many patrons inside. But they were "camped out" with the, mostly, regular patrons who send us into the winter every last day. It was really a lot of fun because most everyone there I have seen many times before. And everyone was very happy to be there. Well another part of the season is over. Our other restaurant, Barnacle Billy's, Etc., will remain open daily until November 4th.
I received a generous $100.00 donation from Mike McKay (ME) sponsoring me in the Pan-Mass Challenge today, a ride dedicated to raising money through the Jimmy Fund for cancer research and care. Thanks so much, Mike. Very thoughtful of you to think of me and very generous. Very much appreciated!
At 5:00 AM EDT the air temperature was 31°F, the sky was cloudless, the wind was blowing out of the west at fifteen knots and the visibility over the ocean was excellent. The visibility remained excellent for the whole day. After sunrise, the wind hauled out of the west northwest and blew up to twenty-five knots or more at times. As the day progressed, the wind dropped off. There was very little wind as the sun set and the nearly full moon rose in the eastern horizon over a clear sky. The sky remained clear, cloudless all morning, for most of the day. The highest air temperature that I saw was 50°F in Perkins Cove. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high was 54°F with a low of 34°F). Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 50°F (with a low of 23°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 49°F (with a low of 29°F).
I spent the day working at Barnacle Billy's, Etc., getting caught up with the Bunny Clark desk work and getting the Bunny Clark ready to sail tomorrow. I was heady with anticipation. I haven't been out for two weeks, something that has never happened to me during the season with the Bunny Clark. It's been a hell of a fall. And I don't mean that in a good way. The fishing has been great but the weather has not. Even on some of the passable days we haven't had the patrons. I am looking forward to tomorrow.
Yesterday afternoon when I was going around the dining room at Barnacle Billy's, greeting patrons, wishing customers wonderful winters and making sure everything was running smoothly, I spied Joe Grady sitting at one of the tables beckoning me to come over. Captain Joe Grady used to own and run the deep sea party boat, the Challenger, out of the Merrimack River. Joe was noted for his expertise in catching haddock (in my opinion, the best boat to go on if you wanted haddock) but also being one of the best party boat captains I have ever met. When the haddock regulations changed for the worse and we couldn't keep cod during the season, he gave up and sold his business after decades of taking anglers fishing. I went over to his table where I found he and his wife, Karen, just finishing up with lunch. He had come down to eat at Barnacle Billy's on the day of the season but also to give me a scale that he used to weigh fish aboard the Challenger. It's exactly the same scale that I use when weighing fish. I have always believed that it's the best scale you can buy for weighing fish on the high seas. I was touched. I miss seeing his boat out there. And I miss not having him at the Council meetings we used to attend together. Great guy, Joe. And completely in character by giving me that scale. Such a nice gesture and very much appreciated, particularly for the good luck that I am sure it will bring!
Captain Ian Keniston and I ran the marathon trip today. At 3:00 AM EDT the air temperature was 41°F, the sky was overcast, the wind was blowing lightly out of the west and the visibility over the ocean was excellent.
At 2:00 AM, the air temperature was 44°F. By 4:30 AM, the air temperature had dropped four degrees. The wind was still light out of the west when we left the dock. A couple of miles out, though, the wind was southwest at ten knots or so. Seas were really only a foot in chops. But there was an underlying left over short swell/chop that was rolling the boat around as well. The sky was a mix of clouds and stars on the ride out. We had plenty of visibility and air temperatures were in the 50s.
On the fishing grounds, the wind was blowing lightly from the southwest when we first arrived. There was a left over one foot chop, maybe. It wasn't much. As the day progressed, the wind hauled out of the south and then remained out of the south for the rest of the day. The wind increased steadily. By late afternoon, wind speeds were fifteen to twenty knots with a three foot (more or less) chop. The high air temperature for the day was 54°F. The tide (current) was light to moderate and, mostly, into the wind. The sky was overcast, mostly, with some blue sky and sun. The visibility ranged to about twenty miles. The surface water temperature reached a high of 53°F. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high was 56°F with a low of 41°F). Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 50°F (with a low of 34°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 52°F (with a low of 37°F).
The fishing conditions were very good. Even when it got windy in the afternoon, the tide into the wind made the drifting perfect. The catching and landings were very good overall. There were some excellent spots and some very slow spots. Most legal fish landed were pollock, by far. Legal landings also included sixteen white hake, two redfish, a whiting, a squirrel hake and six mackerel. Released fish included three haddock, five cod over 5 pounds, two small cod and one sub-legal pollock. We anchored on one spot only. The rest of the day was spent drifting. Jigs and cod flies were used exclusively.
I couldn't tell you who was high hook. Shawn Rosenberger (PA) won the boat pool for the largest fish with the largest fish, a 27 pound Maine state trophy white hake. It took a picture of Shawn with his fish. This digital image appears on the left in this entry. Some of his other good fish included a 16.5 pound white hake, a double that included a 17 pound white hake and a 25.25 pound Maine state trophy white, a 15.5 pound pollock and a couple pollock of 10 pounds each. Shawn's double is, presently, the second largest double of the Bunny Clark fishing season so far. His second biggest hake was the third largest fish of the trip. Jeff Gellatly (ME) won the boat pool for the second largest fish with the second largest fish, a 26 pound Maine state trophy white hake. I also took a picture of Jeff with his big hake with my iPhone. This digital image appears on the right in this entry. Some of Jeff's other good fish included a 23 pound white hake, a 10 pound pollock and a 15 pound pollock.
Other Angler Highlights: Paul Pearson (NH) caught a 21.5 pound white hake, his largest fish. Some of his other good fish included a 12 pound pollock, a 23 pound white hake and an 11.5 pound pollock. John Ford (PA) caught a 24 pound white hake, his biggest fish. He also caught an 11 pound pollock and a 15.5 pound white hake. Dana Decormier (NH) caught a 22 pound white hake, his biggest fish. He caught the largest cod of the day at 13 pounds. His largest pollock weighed 10 pounds. His son, Jack Decormier (NH), landed the largest pollock of the day at 17 pounds. He also caught a 15.5 pound white hake. Bill Wallace (ME) landed a 23.75 pound white hake, his biggest fish. When Ian filleted Bill's hake, he found that the hake had eaten a 4 pound haddock! Bill's largest pollock weighed 10.5 pounds. He also landed the hard luck award t-shirt. This, mainly, because he wanted it! There was really no hard luck today with the anglers aboard.
Bill Wallace did me a solid today by sponsoring me with a $25.00 donation toward my cancer fund raising drive with the Pan-Mass Challenge today. Bill is a long time supporter me in this cycling event. Thank you so much, Bill. I certainly appreciate the donation and, of course, your presence on the Bunny Clark!
At 5:00 AM EDT the air temperature was 40°F, the sky was partly cloudy with a full moon disappearing behind the trees to the west, the wind was blowing out of the north at fifteen knots and the visibility over the ocean was excellent. The sky was overcast at dawn and remained so for most of the morning. It started to rain at 8:00 AM. Rain was intermittent throughout the day. Just when you thought the rain was over, it started again. The rain finally stopped for good at 4:00 PM. We never got a drop of rain after that. The sky was overcast to that point. From that time on, the clouds were leaving and, by 6:00 PM, the sky was clear. It had been overcast all day. The air temperature was cool with the highest air temperature, that I saw, of 48°F. The visibility, when it wasn't raining, was excellent. The wind blew out of the north northwest. Wind speeds of twenty knots sustained was the rule. There were some gusts up over thirty knots but those were offshore (on the fishing grounds) and not so much in Ogunquit. After sunset, the wind hauled out of the northwest. Seas, offshore, dropped. It was a great day to stay ashore. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high was 49°F with a low of 41°F). Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 49°F (with a low of 36°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 46°F (with a low of 39°F).
I spent the day trying to get caught up with the Bunny Clark office stuff and with Barnacle Billy's office stuff as well. The bad part about the Bunny Clark not fishing enough is that I don't get to go fishing. The good part is that I have been able to finish most of the year ending things I normally put off until I get time. Other years I have just started working on those year end things at about this time. This fall, most are already completed. I still have a lot further to go. But that's business. There is always something more to do.
Except for two hours of office work at Barnacle Billy's early this morning, I spent the whole morning at the desk at home. I went back to the restaurant at 12:15 PM and worked until 5:30 PM. I spent the time until 7:00 PM prepping the Bunny Clark for the trip tomorrow.
At 3:00 AM EDT the air temperature was 34°F, the sky was crystal clear with a fading full moon in position at the high western sky, there was a light frost on docks and ramps in Perkins Cove, the wind was blowing out of the northwest at six knots and the visibility over the ocean was excellent.
Steering down the channel this morning was like steering out in daylight, the moon was so bright and the sky so clear. My first thought was that the fish would have been feeding all night and won't have much use for us and our terminal gear today. And, as it turns out, something kept the bite lower than normal. The moon? The wind? At any rate, it was an easy ride to the fishing grounds. The air temperature rose the further out we got as did the seas. Wind speeds were fifteen knots or more out of the west northwest.
On the fishing grounds, the wind blew out of the west northwest to start but hauled directly northwest sometime before noon. Wind speeds for most of the day hung around twenty knots, more or less. Seas were steep chops of about four feet all morning. This was very manageable but prevented the mobility I truly enjoy on these longer trips. Our range was cut way down from what we experience on a calmer day. After 1:00 PM, the wind increased to about thirty knots, more or less. Seas increased as well to an average of six feet, more or less, in steep chops. And this made the trip home slow and time consuming. The air temperature got up as high as 48°F. The visibility remained excellent for the day. The tide (current) was into the wind most of the day which made drifting fairly easy but wet. The tide was moderate. The sky was crystal clear in the morning but became dotted with clouds by late morning. The surface water temperature reached a high of 52.7°F.
As I said, the ride home was right into the wind/seas. For the first six or eight miles we could only make six or seven knots. From then on we made about eight knots of speed until we got to an area six miles from Perkins Cove, where I ramped the boat up to cruising speed. We were in about two hours later than I wanted to be. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high was 51°F with a low of 37°F). Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 43°F (with a low of 32°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 47°F (with a low of 28°F).
The conditions, the catching and landings were just fair today. I found enough fish but the bite was way off. And the mobility was way down so the thought of moving far away was out of the question. Most legal fish landed were pollock. We had a count of twenty-nine. Legal landings also included a cusk and thirty-one mackerel. Released fish included fifteen haddock and thirteen cod over 5 pounds. We drift fished and anchored. Drifting yielded the best landings. Only jigs and flies were used.
One of the best stories of the trip involved Tom Daigle (NH). He was far and away high hook with the most legal fish. If everyone had caught as many fish as Tom caught today, landings would have been good. But he had some problems. He felt queazy at times during the day but he didn't let it go until the ride home. And it wasn't like he was deathly ill either. He never lost his color and, to my knowledge, only hurled that one time. On one stop he lost a halibut of very good size very near to where we caught one that was 102 pounds in the summer. During the fight, he asked me to take his right glove off for him. This was his reeling hand. Like a fool I accommodated him and he lost his fish. On the sounding machine it looked just like the big one we caught during the summer. And it seemed to be about the same size according to the fight and the image on the screen. Tom led the boat pool for most of the day. In fact he led both boat pools for most of the day. His two biggest were a 15 pound cod and a 14.5 pound pollock. He caught the 15 pound cod as a double with a pollock that weighed 11 pounds. The cod is the biggest he has ever caught and the fifth largest fish of the trip. He also caught a 13.5 pound cod and a 12 pound pollock. He also lost two other big fish but not nearly as big as the "glove fish". On the last drift of the day, having the fifth largest fish, he hooked into what would have been the largest fish of the trip. On the way to the boat, a porbeagle shark grabbed the fish by the tail. The shark never good hooked. The fish was too big. Had he had the shark and fish on for another minute, we might have landed both. But that didn't happen. What did happen was the shark got at least a third of the weight of the fish that he landed. The part of the fish that was left weighed 13 pounds. I took a picture of Tom holding what might have been a trophy pollock with my iPhone. This digital image appears on the left. With some Tim Tower extrapolation going back to similar situations, I figured the fish probably weighed 23 pounds, a pollock. Or it could have weighed anywhere from 21 to 25 pounds. So he had at least three chances to land the largest fish of the day but just couldn't pull it off. For this and the bit of sea sickness (he was the only one out of the four anglers who we had on the boat today), I gave Tom the hard luck t-shirt!
I caught the largest fish of the trip, a 20.25 pound pollock. This was the only legal fish that I did catch today. I was trying an experimental jig that casted wonderfully and further than most. But I continually flipped the jig, leaving me only to reel up and try again. In frustration, I took the jig off and put on a Lavjig. The second drop I caught that pollock, on the fly above it. It's the largest pollock I have caught this season. But I don't really fish that often. And I didn't spend much time fishing today.
Shawn Rosenberger (PA) won the boat pool for the largest fish with the second largest fish, a 17 pound pollock. He also caught the second largest double of the day (Tom had the biggest double). His double included a 15.5 pollock and an 8 pound pollock. Jonathan "Griff" Griffin (MA) won the boat pool for the second largest fish with the third largest fish, a 16 pound pollock. Griff also caught a pollock that weighed 12.5 pounds. But he lost a monster of a fish or two big fish. We never found out what they were or what it was. He was using 80 Jinaki monofilament leader with a fly and jig combination. He came back with just a broken fly loop. Griff fishes so often that he knows the species of fish and where it is hooked every time he commits to knowing. He could not tell me what he had this time. It took a lot of line and was not a shark or a tuna. I would have loved to have known. Just to see it would have been special.
Other Angler Highlights: John Ford (PA) caught a 10 pound pollock, the only fish that I weighed for him. He was the king of the haddock today.
We didn't catching a lot of fish but it was the most exciting trip of the year, in all aspects (weather, fish and angler talent).
Several individuals helped me with this years cancer fund raising with the Pan-Mass Challenge, a cycling event designed to raise money to fight cancer. Those individuals and their donations included Jonathan Griffin for a generous $100.00, Shawn Rosenberger for $25.00, John Ford for $30.00 and Tom Daigle for $25.00. Thank you all so very much for your support and kindness. This is so very much appreciated by me but, more importantly, by those who suffer and those who will. The hope is that they will be suffering less in the future.
At 5:00 AM EDT the air temperature was 31°F, the sky was crystal clear again with well lit mostly full moon in a position high above the western sky, there was the same light frost on docks and ramps in Perkins Cove that we experienced yesterday morning, the wind was blowing out of the northwest at ten knots and the visibility over the ocean was excellent. Ashore, there wasn't much wind. And there wasn't any wind compared to yesterday. At most, the wind might have blown up to fifteen knots. But I didn't see it. After noon, there was no wind at all. The wind direction was west northwest and then west by late afternoon. The sky was mostly clear all day with no clouds to start and only a few after that. The air temperature, although chilly in the morning, was nice in the sun and out of what little wind we did have. I saw a reading of 48°F at the highest in Perkins Cove. But it stayed at that temperature for longer than I expected. The visibility remained excellent. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high was 48°F with a low of 34°F). Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 46°F (with a low of 30°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 46°F (with a low of 25°F).
On the fishing grounds, the wind blew out of the northwest at fifteen knots, dropping off to five knots later in the trip. Seas started off at two to three feet and dropped to a foot or less in the late afternoon. It was a pleasant ride back to Perkins Cove. The air temperature reached a high of 48°F. The visibility was over twenty miles. The tide (current) was moderate. The sky was sunny. The surface water temperature reached a high of 52°F.
The fishing conditions, the catching and landings were very good overall. Most legal fish landed were pollock, by far. Legal landings also included seven cusk, two white hake, two whiting, a redfish and two monkfish. Released fish included sixteen cod over 5 pounds, eighty-three haddock, forty-one dogfish and a couple small cod. They anchored and drift fished. Everyone used jigs and cod flies.
It was impossible to tell who was high hook. I ventured a guess to Ian that it could have been Shawn Rosenberger (PA). But Ian said that wasn't the case. That it was too close to call without counting. And we don't count angler's fish. Shawn did win the boat pool again, thought. The third pool in as many trips! His fish, this time, was the largest fish of the trip, a 17 pound pollock. I gypped him out of the largest fish of the trip sticker yesterday. And Tom Daigle (NH) should have beaten us all yesterday had the shark not taken a third of his fish! Shawn still had a great day a lot of fish and another pollock that weighed 13 pounds, a tie for the fourth largest fish of the trip.
Dan Killay (VT) caught the second largest fish, a 16.5 pound monkfish. This is the third monkfish he has ever caught. But it's also the largest of the three. It's also the Bunny Clark's second largest monkfish of the fishing season to date. Captain Ian took a picture of Dan and monk with his iPhone - Yes, Ian no longer has a flip phone. This digital image appears on the right. Dan also caught another monkfish that weighed 6 pounds. This monkfish is the Bunny Clark's eighth largest monk of the fishing season so far. His largest pollock weighed 12 pounds. The third largest fish was a 14 pound pollock caught by Mark Girard (CA) who I didn't realize was on the boat today. I wasn't looking for him because I never look at the crew manifest or the reservation list. So, to my dismay, I never got to shake his hand! And that was a little disappointing as I write this a day later! Mark has played a bigger than life role in my time on earth and has helped out in many ways in some of my projects and other projects close to the heart.
Other Angler Highlights: Dave Haberl (VT) landed fifteen legal fish, mostly pollock. None over 10 pounds. John Russell (ME) caught a 10 pound pollock, a 10 pound cod and a whiting that weighed 2.75 pounds! His cod was the largest cod of the trip. Jeannette Harr (OH) landed a 13 pound pollock, her largest fish. Mike Harr (OH) caught a pollock slightly smaller at 12 pounds. Marty Buskey (NY) boated a 10 pound pollock, his largest fish. He also caught a lot of fish. Chris Opila (NH) also caught a 10 pound pollock as his largest fish. Jerry Pindall (VT) landed the hard luck award for getting involved in the most tangled lines! At least he wasn't sea sick!
I received two donations sponsoring me in my ride with the Pan-Mass Challenge, a cycling event to raise money to fight cancer. The ride is over but the fund raising never stops as cancer never takes time off! So a donation at any time of year is very important and very much appreciated. Those individuals included Marty & Elise Buskey for $25.00 and Dave Haberl for a generous $50.00. By the way, Marty & Elise have donated $25.00 at least three times this season. Thank you all so very much!
At 5:00 AM EDT the air temperature was 38°F, the sky was overcast, the wind was blowing out of the southeast at fifteen knots and the visibility over the ocean was excellent. By 6:00 AM, the air temperature had already warmed to 45°F. The wind stayed out of the southeast for part of the morning and then hauled east southeast for the rest of it. Wind speeds averaged over twenty knots. Seas were four to six feet before noon. After noon, the wind hauled out of the east and picked up in velocity. The strongest wind came up between 5:00 PM and 7:00 PM. Easterly winds blew a sustained forty knots with gusts over forty-five knots at the house. We lost power in Ogunquit at 5:45 PM and never regained it until around 10:30 PM. The wind had backed off substantially by 7:30 PM. We still had the occasional gust over thirty knots. But at least you could open your car door without the fear of it slamming into your leg as you were getting out. It started to rain around 10:00 AM. It continued raining for the rest of the morning, all afternoon and into the night. The air temperature another couple of degrees to 47°F and then started to decline. At 7:00 PM, the air temperature had dropped to 41°F. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high was 52°F with a low of 43°F). Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 38°F (with a low of 32°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 42°F (with a low of 35°F).
I had a lot of running around to do today. The early morning was spent at the restaurant working on orders and at home updating this site. After noon, I spent my time at Barnacle Billy's restaurant. During that time I spent an hour updating the "Journal" on the Billy's site only to delete it by mistake. I haven't done that in years! And that just started the bad luck. I went home to eat dinner only to have the power go out after a fork-full of my first piece of pollock in two weeks. Down to the Cove I went to find that we had no power. Luckily we were able to get everyone served who was already seated except for one table of two. I had to laugh, though. One of our potential customers was leaving, after we had to tell patrons we weren't serving dinner anymore. She turned around and told us that she had just got a message from Central Maine Power that the power would be restored at 7:15 PM. Obviously, she didn't know anything about CMP. I didn't say anything but that we were sorry about the inconvenience. And, I thought, she will probably find out in the morning.
So the rest of the night was spent running around with flashlights, keeping refrigerator doors closed, getting food on ice and protecting the food we had. I called Matt Pedersen, my number one guy at Barnacle Billy's. Together we put his new generator in my truck and brought it to the Cove so we could get the lobster circulating tank running. The lobsters will die more quickly in stagnant water than they will cool and out of the water. So we had the choice of the generator or taking all the lobsters, putting them in crates and bringing them to one of my lobsterman friend's cooler for the night. Restoring the water circulation seemed the best move. And it turned out that it was with the power only out for five hours.
In the meantime, the surge had picked up in the Cove. Boats were swinging on their moorings and rushing fore and aft. The float where the Bunny Clark and the Finestkind Scenic Tour boats reside was yanking back and forth. We had tied numerous storm lines but one ended up snapping on the starboard corner of the stern of the Bunny Clark. Luckily, I had told Anthony to double up on the float lines. One was still holding when it was discovered.
I went to bed for a short nap and came back down at 1:00 AM, an hour before the high tide to make sure things weren't washing away with the higher than normal tides. Except for some splash-over on the other side of the parking lot, all was okay. I spent an hour checking things out and went to bed. It seemed like a long night.
At 5:00 AM EDT the air temperature was 39°F, the sky was overcast, it was raining lightly, the wind was blowing out of the north northeast at a value over twenty knots and the visibility over the ocean seemed good enough. It rained for some of the early part of the morning and then stopped for the day. The sky stayed overcast for most of the rest of the morning. After noon, the sun broke out. The sky was mostly clear and sunny for the rest of the day. The wind blew out of the north northeast up to twenty knots with higher gusts until about 8:00 AM, when it started to back off. For the next two hours the wind blew out of the north at fifteen knots or less. There was no wind for the next two hours. The wind hauled out of the southwest at 2:00 PM. Southwest winds blew on into the night up over ten knots. The visibility ranged from good in the morning to very good in the afternoon. The highest air temperature that I saw was 47°F in Perkins Cove. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high was 54°F with a low of 43°F). Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 46°F (with a low of 37°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 45°F (with a low of 37°F).
Except for getting sixteen miles on the bike with wet roads and temperatures hovering around 42°F, I spent the morning working on orders at the restaurant and, at home, working on Bunny Clark items. I was back at Barnacle Billy's restaurant at noon. I spent the day there going through my normal Sunday routine. I left the restaurant at 5:30 PM and got ready to head to Plymouth, Massachusetts to attend a Recreational Advisory Panel meeting. I was able to get on the road at 6:30 PM. I had a room booked in the Hilton there.
I hate to drive. Particularly through Boston. But I had no deadline so I took my time. Traffic was light. I got to Plymouth by 8:30 PM. I had been listening to the Red Sox game on the radio until I arrived. After checking in at the front desk, I went right to my room and spent the whole night camped out watching the World Series come to an end with the Red Sox on top. My Grandfather, a die hard Red Sox fan, never did see them win a world series. To think that they have won four in fifteen years is something else.
Since I wasn't in Ogunquit, I don't know what the morning's air temperature or weather was. In Plymouth, it was raining before and at dawn. I heard that the day in Ogunquit showed mild air temperatures and periodic rain. Mostly rain in the morning with dry period for part of the afternoon and rain later in the afternoon. When I arrived back in Ogunquit at 5:00 PM, the roads were wet but the sky was partly clear. It didn't rain a drop from Plymouth to Ogunquit. The wind was out of the south at ten knots or so all morning in the Ogunquit area, westerly at ten or fifteen knots after noon. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high was 60°F with a low of 44°F). Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 50°F (with a low of 35°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 51°F (with a low of 38°F).
On the fishing grounds, the wind blew out of the south at five to ten knots. Seas were chops of a foot or more over a long rolling sea swell. After noon, the wind hauled out of the southeast and remained at ten knots. The air temperature reached a high of 54°F. The visibility ranged from poor in fog, haze and rain to fifteen miles. It rained periodically. The sky was overcast all day. The tide (current) was strong. The surface water temperature reached a high of 52°F.
The fishing conditions were okay. There were no dogfish, the sea state was okay but the current was very strong. Catching was good. Landings were fair. Most legal fish landed were pollock. But they were smaller than they have been. Legal landings also included two redfish, four whiting, a monkfish and nine mackerel. Released fish included one dogfish, four cod over 5 pounds and sixty-one haddock. They anchored and drift fished trying to cope with the strong current. Only jigs and cod flies were used.
Henry Martin (KY) was high hook with the most legal fish. His largest fish was a 10 pound pollock, the third largest fish of the trip. Buzz Leonard (ME) was second hook. He also won the boat pool for the largest fish with the largest fish, an 11 pound monkfish. This is a tie for the Bunny Clark's sixth largest monkfish of the season to date. [Incidentally, Captain Ian "Monk Man" Keniston has skippered the Bunny Clark for all but one monkfish landing. He's also top on the list, between he and I, for almost every barndoor skate.] Buzz also caught the second largest fish of the trip, a 10.5 pound pollock.
Other Angler Highlights: Rhoda Zimmerman (KY) caught a 9 pound pollock, her largest fish. John Kilmer (ME) caught an 8 pound pollock, his best. Lavern Zimmerman (KY) landed the hard luck award for getting a touch of the mal de mer. Since I was gone all day I didn't press Ian for the details.
The Recreational Advisory Panel (RAP) meeting started at 10:00 AM. The meeting was a preliminary meeting to look at the catch statistics from this year's compiled data, comparisons to last years fishing season, draw up a priorities list to give to the New England Fishery Management Council, listen to a brief discussion on the potential of new tools to reduce recreational discards, listen to a presentation of recreational workshops planned in the future (along with our input on such) and, the most important, review data that shows that the recreational quota should be re-allocated up as compared to the commercial quota. Re-allocation was the number one priority that was moved on to the Council today. We also talked about a limited entry plan in the party/charter fleet, specifically a control date limiting permits to those who had them before that particular date. We didn't get into details. We just moved the discussion forward. Those representatives of the private sector at the meeting were concerned about not being able to get a party/charter permit if this idea was acted upon. But the discussion went no further than this.
There was talk around the cod data. The cod situation looks worse than thought previously. The haddock, and it's relationship to catching cod, looked better. In fact, the data seemed to show that the party/charter fleet has been able to stay away from cod while fishing for haddock. Of course, we knew this all along. This not so much with the private boats. But this is the first time the data has leaned this way, in our favor. Also, I think there is a good chance that we will be able to keep haddock throughout our season next year. This may or may not happen. But the thrust of my being there was to give us, the recreational angler, more opportunities to keep haddock while also being conservative, or conservationist, in the process.
So, in short, the meeting was held to get us ready for regulatory decisions that we will be asking for in the January meeting. We shall see. As usual, I am optimistic.
At 5:00 AM EDT the air temperature was 40°F, the sky was overcast, the wind was blowing out of the west at ten knots and the visibility over the ocean was very good. The wind hauled out of the west northwest and northwest as the morning got brighter with the sunrise. Wind speeds ashore were as high as twenty knots. But these wind speeds tapered off to fifteen knots during the day. The wind never really tapered off after sunset either. The air temperature seemed slow to rise. But it did get to 50°F, which surprised me. The sky was overcast for most of the day with the only sun being seen in the morning and after 5:00 PM. We had a clear starry night. The visibility was excellent. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high was 50°F with a low of 39°F). Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 44°F (with a low of 26°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 49°F (with a low of 35°F).
I spent the day at the restaurant, catching up after yesterday's commitment in Plymouth, Massachusetts. Not a very exciting day for me, the best part being a twenty mile bike ride I gifted myself from 10:00 AM to 11:30 AM.
At 5:00 AM EDT the air temperature was 30°F, the sky was clear, the wind was light out of the northwest and the visibility over the ocean was excellent. Ashore, the air temperature dropped to 29°F by 6:30 AM before rising slowly. At 10:00 AM, the air temperature had risen to 35°F. The highest air temperature that I saw was 48°F at 2:00 PM. The wind was light out of the northwest until about 10:00 AM. After that the wind hauled out of the south. The southerly wind stayed less than ten knots for almost the whole day until a little before 4:00 PM, when we started to see gusts of twelve knots or so. By 6:00 PM, those gusts were up to fifteen knots. The sky was mostly clear all morning, partial cloud cover in the afternoon. There was always some blue sky somewhere to be seen but most of it was not over head in the afternoon. The visibility was excellent. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high was 56°F with a low of 37°F). Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 50°F (with a low of 23°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 47°F (with a low of 29°F).
On the fishing grounds, the wind blew out of the southwest at five knots or less to start. The ocean was calm. The southwest wind increased later in the morning. After noon, southwest wind speed were ten to fifteen knots with seas in chops of two feet. The air temperature reached a high of 48°F. The visibility was over twenty miles. The tide (current) was moderate. The sky was sunny in the morning and overcast in the afternoon. The surface water temperature reached a high of 51°F, very normal for this time of year.
The fishing, catching and landings were very good today overall, excellent on one stop. Most legal fish landed were pollock, by far. Legal landings also included two redfish, two cusk, one white hake, twenty-five mackerel and a whiting. Released fish included thirty-three cod over 5 pounds, fifty-four haddock, eighteen dogfish, a few sub-legal pollock and a handful of small cod. Drifting was the method. Jigs and flies were the only terminal gear used.
Dan Vitalis (ME) was high hook with the most legal fish. His largest fish was a 17 pound pollock. His largest cod weighed 11 pounds. Dave Larson (NH) won the boat pool for the largest fish with the largest fish, a 20 pound pollock. The second largest fish was an 18.5 pound pollock caught by Dylan Mitchell (ME). Dylan also landed a 17 pound pollock and a 12.5 pound pollock. Roger Aldridge (NY) caught the third largest fish, an 18 pound pollock.
Other Angler Highlights: Don Robichaud (NH) caught the eleventh largest double of the Bunny Clark fishing season with a 17.5 pound pollock and a 12.5 pound pollock, both fish caught on the same line at the same time. His largest cod weighed 12.5 pounds. And he caught a 16 pound pollock. John McKechnie (ME) caught a 16 pound pollock, his best fish. Alycia Vitko (NH) landed a 15 pound pollock and a 13 pound pollock. Greeney (NH) landed the hard luck award for having the most tangled lines.
At 3:00 AM EDT the air temperature was 46°F, the sky was ninety percent overcast, there was no wind ashore (light northwest offshore) and the visibility over the ocean was excellent.
There was no wind on the ride to the fishing grounds. There was some left over chop/swell from the south that kept the boat rolling from side to side. But there was no spray to speak of and I was able to run at full cruising speed from Perkins Cove to our first fishing spot. The sky was mostly cloudy with some clear spots showing stars. The air temperature, an hour before we arrived on the grounds, was 53°F. That turned out to be the highest air temperature of the trip.
On the fishing grounds, the wind was very light from the south when we first arrived. Within a half hour that wind was gone, leaving us with a calm ocean surface. A short while later, the wind blew lightly out of the north. Those first two hours showed us a sky that was thinly covered with clouds leaving many clear blue patches. As the day progressed, the sky became more cloud covered. By 10:00 AM, the sky was overcast. By 11:00 AM, it had started to rain. It rained lightly for the rest of the day. At about that time, the wind started to blow more than the one or two knots we had been experiencing until that point. But the wind never blew more than five knots until 2:00 PM. The wind direction had been established from the north northeast at 11:00 AM. Half way home, the wind finally hauled out of the northeast. We never had any wind of ten knots or greater. The high air temperature on the fishing grounds was 51°F. The tide (current) was light to moderate. The visibility ranged from seven to fifteen miles. The surface water temperature reached a high of 51.4°F. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high was 64°F with a low of 53°F). Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 48°F (with a low of 37°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 50°F (with a low of 42°F).
The fishing conditions were excellent. There were no dogfish, the ocean was flat calm, the current was almost nothing and the air temperature was mild. The catching was good. Landings were fair until the last spot, giving us a category of good for the day. Most legal fish landed were pollock, by far. Legal landings also included three haddock, one redfish, one cunner, one whiting, six cusk and fifteen hake. Released fish included a 9 pound cod, two sub-legal cod, one sub-legal pollock, a sub redfish, six small haddock and a dogfish. We drift fished most of the day. I anchored three times. Jigs and cod flies were used. We brought bait clams but no one used them.
Either Jonathan "Griff" Griffin (MA) or Ray Westermann (MA) was high hook with the most legal fish. They keep their fish together so it was impossible to tell anyway. Ray won the boat pool for the largest fish with the largest fish, a 29.25 pound Maine state trophy white hake. I took a picture of Ray with his big hake. This digital image appears on the left. He also won the boat pool for the second largest fish with the fourth largest fish of the trip, a 21.5 pound white hake. Some of Ray's other fish included the largest pollock at 15.5 pounds, two hake of 12 pounds each, a 12 pound pollock and an 11 pound pollock.
The second largest fish was a 25 pound Maine state trophy white hake caught by Ally Fuehrer (ME). Ally did not get in the boat pool. She declined my offer. I did take a picture of her holding her big hake. This digital image appears on the right. She caught the first fish of the trip, an 8.5 pound pollock. She also caught several pollock, a two pound cunner and a 15 pound white hake.
The third largest fish was a 24 pound white hake caught by Chris Bergier (MA). He was not in the boat pool for the second largest fish. Chris landed two of the three legal haddock caught today. And he caught quite a few double pollock catches. His three largest pollock weighed 10 pounds each.
Other Angler Highlights: Griff caught the fifth largest hake at 19 pounds. His second largest fish was a hake that weighed 14 pounds. Erik Grove (ME) caught a 15.5 pound white hake, his biggest fish. He also caught the 9 pound cod. Shuai Duo (MA) on his first deep sea fishing trip, caught a 12 pound white hake, a 10 pound pollock and an 11 pound pollock. I gave Chris Bergier the hard luck award t-shirt for getting a tad sea sick, the sole hurler of the day. He didn't let "this slight malady" keep him from fishing!
Erik Grove donated $25.00 to help with my cancer fund raising with the Pan-Mass Challenge today. Thanks, Erik. I very much appreciate the support and I'm so glad you could make it out fishing with us before the end. All the best this winter!
At 5:00 AM EDT the air temperature was 51°F, the sky was overcast, it was raining, the wind was blowing out of the east at ten knots and the visibility over the ocean was fair to poor in haze, fog and precipitation. It rained all morning and most of the afternoon, stopping late in the afternoon only to start again around sunset and, periodically, through the night. The wind was light all day, never getting to ten knots at any time that I saw during the day. The ocean was fairly calm every time I looked. The air temperature rose to a high value of 52°F. The visibility after 8:00 AM was fair to good in precipitation, mostly good, on average, all day. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high was 70°F with a low of 53°F). Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 52°F (with a low of 46°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 50°F (with a low of 48°F).
Other than the regular routine at the restaurant (Barnacle Billy's), I got caught up on a lot of things I had been trying to do but had no extra time to complete. And it looks like tomorrow will be much the same, as they are calling for two inches of rain. So nothing special to report today.
Today's trip was canceled due to a storm warning alert yesterday for the fishing grounds off Maine and New Hampshire. After noon to 7:00 PM, there is the potential for wind speeds to approach fifty knots. Not a pleasant prospect for anglers trying to enjoy a day at sea. The Bunny Clark will be sailing tomorrow.At 5:00 AM EDT the air temperature was 49°F, the sky was overcast, it was raining (hard at times), the wind was blowing out of the north at fifteen knots and the visibility over the ocean was fair in precipitation. The wind blew out of the northeast, east and southeast but not very hard along the shore. It was blowing at fifteen knots or better offshore. At the same time in Perkins Cove there was hardly any wind at all. It rained all morning. By noon, the rain had stopped, essentially, for the day. It rained after midnight and through the morning until this time. After noon, the air got still and the fog rolled in. By 1:30 PM, it was black thick making it hard to see the bridge from Barnacle Billy's, Etc. At 2:30 PM, the westerly wind arrived. The wind went from still to thirty and forty knots. The sky had been overcast until this time. We had gusts up to fifty knots at 3:45 PM. Patches of blue sky showed up with the wind. By 5:00 PM, the sky was cloudless, the wind had backed off to about thirty and thirty-five knots out of the west. The visibility was excellent and the air temperature had dropped to 51°F. The air temperature had been as high as 58°F during the early afternoon. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high was 68°F with a low of 47°F). Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 56°F (with a low of 42°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 58°F (with a low of 45°F).
I spent the morning working on Bunny Clark stuff, Barnacle Billy's office stuff and getting the boats ready for fifty knots of wind that might come out of the southwest. That meant storm lines. I went into Barnacle Billy's to work at opening, around noon. There were a few regulars at that time but it wasn't too busy. A bad weather forecast hurts us more than bad weather.
Later in the morning I took a break to go for a 2.5 mile run on the beach with our border collie, Gill. The beach is certainly for the dogs. He loves it down there. And it was a good thing that I get back to some slow running. If I don't run with the dog, I run too hard and always end up injuring myself. Hell getting old!
I'm anticipating a good day of fishing tomorrow on the Bunny Clark. The wind will be strongest in the morning, a good ride home in the afternoon.
At 5:00 AM EST the air temperature was 40°F, the sky was crystal clear, the wind was blowing out of the west at ten knots and the visibility over the ocean was excellent. Ashore, the wind blew out of the west at twenty knots or better to start and then started dropping, hauling out of the northwest for the later part of the morning. Northwest wind speeds were about fifteen knots. After noon, the northwest wind, speed, dropped to about five knots or so. The sky was clear all day with very few clouds. The visibility was excellent. The air temperature reached a high of 53°F. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high was 56°F with a low of 42°F). Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 49°F (with a low of 28°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 51°F (with a low of 33°F).
On the fishing grounds, the wind blew out of the west at fifteen knots to start. Seas were chops of three to five feet at the time. Wind and seas started diminishing as soon as they started fishing. By noon, the wind had hauled out of the northwest. Seas were one to two feet in chops. The northwest wind dropped to about five knots with a one foot chop before heading home. The air temperature reached a high of 54°F in the shade. The visibility ranged to over twenty miles. The tide (current) was moderate to strong. The sky was mostly sunny. The surface water temperature reached a high of 51°F.
The fishing conditions were tough with the chop initially but started to get better immediately. Overall, the conditions were good. The catching and landings were very good today. Most legal fish landed were pollock, by far. Legal landings also included thirty-three haddock, a redfish, two cusk, a white hake, a monkfish and nine whiting. Released fish included twenty-five cod over 5 pounds, eighteen short haddock, fourteen dogfish and a few short cod and pollock. They drift fished and anchored. Jigs and flies caught the most fish.
Joe Columbus (MA) was high hook with the most legal fish. Aaron LaFlower (NH) won the boat pool for the largest fish with the largest fish, a 17 pound cod. The second largest fish was a 16.5 pound monkfish caught by Willy Vollmerding (NH). Willy caught his monk as part of a double that also included a 10 pound pollock, both fish caught on the same line at the same time! I think this is the strangest double of the Bunny Clark season and will probably remain so. Bill Socha (NH) caught the third largest fish, a 15 pound pollock.
Other Angler Highlights: Ryan Kelly (ME) caught an 11.5 pound pollock, his largest fish. Buzz Leonard (ME) landed the hard luck award for losing a single jig. There wasn't much hard luck today. Nor did anyone get sea sick!
I received several donations sponsoring me in this years ride with the Pan-Mass Challenge, a cycling event to raise money for cancer care and research. Those donors and their donations included Michael & Kerry Mithen (MA) in loving memory of their dog, Zoie, who passed away August 29, 2018 of Cancer (they added: "Thanks for all your hard work!") for a very generous $100.00, Thomas & Deborah McDonnell (MA) for a generous $50.00, Willy Vollmerding for a generous $50.00 and Joe Columbus for a generous $50.00. Actually, Joe had donated much more than that over the year! Thank you all so very much for your thoughtfulness, kindness and generosity. I very much appreciate all your help and support!
Captain Ian Keniston and Anthony Palumbo ran the extreme day trip today. At 5:00 AM EST the air temperature was 36°F, the sky was mostly overcast, the wind was blowing out of the east at ten knots and the visibility over the ocean was excellent. The sky was overcast all day. The wind was light from the east all day. The ocean along the shore was calm. The sky stayed overcast all day. At 2:30 it started to rain. It was light rain but it kept up almost until dark, stopped for a bit and then started again, light. The visibility was very good all day. The air temperature reached a high of 50°F in Perkins Cove. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high was 52°F with a low of 46°F). Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 41°F (with a low of 27°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 42°F (with a low of 31°F).
On the fishing grounds, the wind blew out of the southeast at five knots, increasing to fifteen knots near the end. Seas increased from one to two feet in chops to two to three feet. The air temperature reached a high of 48°F. The visibility was over twenty miles. The tide was moderate to strong. The sky was overcast, as it was ashore. The surface water temperature reached a high of 51°F.
The fishing conditions were good, catching was excellent and landings were very good. Most legal fish landed were pollock but there were almost as many haddock today, the best haddock day in the last two months. Legal landings also included one redfish, one cusk, a white hake, a monkfish and two whiting. Released fish included sixty-two cod over 5 pounds, fifty-two short haddock, a couple small cod and no dogfish. They drift fished all day. All terminal gear worked well.
Ron Hamel (ME) was high hook with the most legal fish. David Smith (ME) won the boat pool for the largest fish with the largest fish, a 23.5 pound Maine state trophy monkfish. This is the Bunny Clark's largest monkfish of the season to date. And it's doubtful we will be catching any larger than this during this season with one day to go. Ian took a picture of David holding his great catch. This digital image appears on the left. The second largest fish was a 17 pound cod caught by Tara Greenberg (ME). Peter Grant (ME) caught the third largest fish, a 16 pound cod. Peter's biggest pollock weighed 11 pounds.
Other Angler Highlights: Andy Watson (ME) caught a 10.5 pound pollock, his largest fish. Chris Roman (ME) landed a 10 pound pollock. Bill Littell (ME) caught an 11.5 pound cod, his biggest fish. Paul Waring (ME) landed the hard luck award for having a fairly serious equilibrium problem. And I don't mean that he was falling down all the time, either!
At 3:00 AM EST the air temperature was 43°F, the sky was overcast, it was raining lightly, the wind was blowing out of the north northeast at five knots and the visibility over the ocean was fair to good in precipitation.
The wind might have been as much as fifteen knots out of the northeast on the ride to the fishing grounds. There was about a two foot wind chop over a sea from the east that was at least six feet. So it was slow going. I kept the cruising speed at ten knots so everyone would be more comfortable on the way to the fishing grounds. It was certainly more comfortable but that didn't mean it was easy to sleep. It was comfortable enough at the helm. The air temperature was mild. The visibility was fair to good in haze, fog and some rain.
On the fishing grounds, the wind was out of the northeast at ten knots when we first arrived. That wind dropped by half an hour later, leaving us with light northeast wind, a one foot chop and seas from the east that actually increased to almost eight or nine feet at times during the trip. These seas lasted all day but were so far apart as to be no problem. The wind died out almost completely by mid morning. We carried light winds until the last hour of the fishing when the wind hauled out of the southeast at ten knots giving us a one foot chop to ride home on. Half way back to Perkins Cove, the wind hauled out of the northwest and picked up to fifteen knots with a one to two foot chop.
The sky was overcast all day. We had rain on the way out, rain off and on during the early part of the morning, no rain for the later part of the morning and early afternoon and rain for the last two hours of the day. The air temperature was surprisingly mild for a northeast wind. We had 53°F from the five mile mark to the fishing grounds and 52°F for all but the last hour of the day when the air temperature dropped by a degree. The visibility was good until the first hour of fishing was over. From then until the last hour of the day we had fog that gave us, at most, fifteen boat lengths of visibility. The visibility opened up to eight to ten miles by 2:00 PM. We had good visibility for the ride home. It rained for most of the ride back to the dock. The tide (current) was very light for most of the day giving us the ability to either anchor or drift as I saw fit. The surface water temperature struggled to stay just a hair above 51°F. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high was 76°F with a low of 57°F). Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 48°F (with a low of 40°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 60°F (with a low of 48°F).
The fishing conditions were excellent, the catching was excellent (if you also include dogfish) and landings were very good. Most legal fish landed were haddock, the most haddock that have been caught on the Bunny Clark since the day before the Federal government shut the haddock keeping down on September 16, 2018. And we were just a few haddock shy of that trip. The haddock cull was almost two to one, legal to sub-legal fish. Legal landings also included one redfish, seven cusk, forty-eight mackerel and seven whiting. Released fish included twenty-six cod over 5 pounds, nine cod under 5 pounds, over a hundred dogfish and quite few small pollock. We did anchor a few times. But most of the day was spent drifting. All terminal gear worked well, bait or jigs.
There was a battle for high hook (the most legal fish). Tom Miller (NH) led the charge for most of the morning but Jim Feeney (MA) eventually caught up and passed Tom in the end. Everybody landed a lot of fish but Jim came out on top. Jim's best fish was a 3 pound Maine state trophy whiting, the eighth largest whiting caught on the Bunny Clark this season. His largest fish was a 12 pound cod. His largest pollock weighed 11.5 pounds. Tom won the boat pool for the third largest fish with the third largest fish, a 17 pound pollock. Tom also caught a 13 pound pollock. Don Johnson (MA) won the boat pool for the largest fish with the largest fish, a 24 pound cod. This ties for the Bunny Clark's fifth largest cod of the season. I took a picture of Don with his big cod, before releasing it, with my iPhone. This digital image appears on the right. Three other fish of Don's that I weighed included a 9.5 pound pollock, a 10 pound pollock and a 3.5 pound Maine state trophy whiting. The whiting is tied for the sixth largest whiting of the 2018 Bunny Clark fishing season. Jim and Don caught their whiting within a few minutes of each other. Bruno Rodzen (NJ) won the boat pool for the second largest fish with the second largest fish, an 18 pound pollock. Bruno also caught an 11 pound pollock.
Other Angler Highlights: Micah Tower (ME) caught a 10 pound pollock, his largest fish. He also lost a trophy (3 pound) whiting on the surface. Ally Fuehrer (ME) lost the largest whiting of the day, estimated at, at least, 4 pounds. She was lifting it to the rail when it fell off the hook, hit the water's surface and swam back to bottom. Her largest fish was a 12 pound pollock. Andriy Andruntsiv (NJ) caught a 14 pound cod, his largest fish. His largest pollock weighed 10 pounds. Andriy caught quite a few pollock doubles today. Marcin Korszen (NH) boated our third largest whiting of the day at 2.25 pounds. Marcin's largest fish was a 14 pound pollock but he also caught pollock of 12 pounds and 12.5 pounds. Marcin had a very productive day today. There was really no hard luck on this trip but I ended up giving all the rest of the hard luck t-shirts away anyway.
I received two donations sponsoring me in the cycling event that is closest to my heart, the Pan-Mass Challenge. This event, that I have been riding in since 2007, raises money to fight cancer with the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, Massachusetts. Cancer never sleeps and the fund raising never ends. The fund raising for this year will end on December 31, 2018. I will be doing the event again in 2019 am looking forward to getting to the half million dollar mark in the near future. The donors today included Jim Feeney for a generous $100.00 and Don Johnson for $30.00. Don and his wife, Lisa, had already donated a generous sum ten minutes after I finished this year's ride in Provincetown, Massachusetts on August 5th. Thank you both so very much for supporting me in this effort. I think it's very important and might save the life of someone close. Very much appreciated!
At 5:00 AM EST the air temperature was 51°F, the sky was clear, the wind was blowing out of the west southwest at twelve knots and the visibility over the ocean seemed very good. The wind picked up out of the west southwest in the morning and then died out to ten knots or so in the afternoon. The day was wonderful, it was warm all day. I saw a high reading of 62°F in Perkins Cove but it could have been warmer than that. The sky was clear all day. The visibility was very good, at least. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high was 64°F with a low of 53°F). Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 60°F (with a low of 32°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 61°F (with a low of 43°F).
I spent the day running around, working at the boat, at the restaurants and working off a list of things to do.
Skip Dunning from Power Products in Portland, Maine showed up to adjust the valves on the Bunny Clark's engine, review the engine via laptop, clear the warnings and panel messages during the year and give an overall look at things. This is the year end protocol I complete after every season. This was the first time I have ever done this the day after the last day of the season. And this worked out well as the engine was still moderately warm after yesterday's trip and the day was perfect to work out in the open. I took a picture of Skip doing his job. This digital image appears below.
Today was doctors day, with most of the day getting to scheduled appointments on time. Eye doctor, my GP and the dentist. Between times I worked at the restaurant (desk work stuff) and checked on the Bunny Clark. Captain Ian Keniston and, my son, Micah, were cleaning the boat today. Everything gets cleaned and put away for the winter.
At my GP's office in Portsmouth, I had a flu shot and a pneumonia shot (my right arm). By 4:00 PM, I could hardly lift my right arm, it hurt so much. By 6:00 PM, I changed to my left hand to eat dinner. At 7:00 PM, I was not feeling great. I started to get chills at before 8:00 PM, so I went to bed. I woke up with a fever at 10:30 PM, wide awake. I took some Tylenol and was back in bed by 11:00 PM.
I got out of bed this morning at 5:30 AM, later than normal. But I felt great. My arm was mildly sore, I didn't feel nauseous and I had no fever. Seems like too much of a coincidence that I got those shots and got sick. But it didn't last. So I am grateful for that. On to another day!
At 10:00 AM, my wife, Deb, and I headed to New Jersey to visit our daughter and her fiancé. Deb drove her car the whole way. We didn't see any rain until about an our from our destination. It rained for the rest of the day on into the night.
In Ogunquit, the wind increased out of the northeast and blew hard all night. I don't know exactly how hard. It started raining late as well, raining through the night. Air temperatures were in the 40°s. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high was 50°F with a low of 38°F). Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 45°F (with a low of 23°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 47°F (with a low of 27°F).
In Ogunquit at dawn, it was still blowing out of the northeast at high wind speeds. It was raining as well. Eventually, it stopped raining and the sun came out. That probably didn't happen until after noon. This was followed by strong winds from the northwest. The northwest winds blew hard all night. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high was 50°F with a low of 37°F). Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 47°F (with a low of 33°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 46°F (with a low of 36°F).
We drove back from New Jersey starting around 10:00 AM. We got back at 3:30 PM.
I spent an hour unpacking. Afterward, I headed down to the Cove to put the dock leaves back in place, run the fresh water in the Original Barnacle Billy's (we are on summer water there and I didn't want lines to freeze), ran the dock water and checked both restaurants. The guys charged for parking while I was gone so I had to sort out the money bag. I was done by 6:00 PM.
I am presently looking for a deck hand for the 2019 fishing season. If anyone is interested in the position, you can give us a call at 207-646-2214.
Click the icon to view a complimentary copy of the 2018 Guestletter.
