Bunny Clark Fishing Update
Written & Edited by Tim Tower
Sunday, June 8, 2025, 5:45 AM EDT
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Proposed cod & haddock regulations for the 2025 fishing season (May 1, 2025 thru April 30, 2026):
Gulf of Maine cod
Gulf of Maine haddock
At 5:00 AM EDT the air temperature was 56°F, the sky seemed overcast, it was misting, the roads were damp, there wasn't enough wind to write about and the visibility over the ocean was fair to poor in fog. The fog stayed with us for most of the morning, clearing before noon. It became a beautiful sunny day in the afternoon. There was no wind in the morning or the early afternoon. By mid afternoon, the wind blew out of the south at ten knots, at the most. This died out in the evening. The visibility was very good in the afternoon. The sky was mostly sunny with clouds here and there. The highest air temperature that I saw in Perkins Cove was 75°F, around 1:00 PM. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 79°F (with a low of 63°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 84°F (with a low of 64°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 68°F (with a low of 53°F).
I spent the morning catching up. The rest of the day was spent working at the restaurant along with changing the oil in the Bunny Clark's engine room. That was my day in a nut shell.
I received two donations sponsoring me in this season's Pan-Mass Challenge today. One was an anonymous donation of $20.00. The other was a generous $100.00 donation from Frank & Carol Zito (ME). Thank you all so very much for your thoughtfulness and support. I really do appreciate it.
At 5:00 AM EDT the air temperature was 55°F, the sky seemed overcast, it was misting, the roads were dry (although the oil gear I left in the back of the truck was wet), there wasn't enough wind to write about and the visibility over the ocean was fair to poor in dense fog.
Today was one of the rare days in southern Maine where it stayed foggy all day and all night. Partly, the wind was responsible as there was none. A stagnant weather system was also to blame. And, of course, the dew point with respect to the water temperature and air temperature. I looked at some of the weather buoy reports and was dumb founded that some places, like the old Portland Lightship area, had wind gusts out of the southeast to fifteen knots. Granted, that's not much wind. But it was certainly more wind than we had in Ogunquit all day. We had no wind. The highest air temperature that I saw was 57°F. It was damp and drizzly all morning but foggy and fairly dry in the afternoon. The sky appeared to be overcast all day but who could know with how thick that the fog was? And, of course, the visibility today was shit. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 76°F (with a low of 61°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 71°F (with a low of 59°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 55°F (with a low of 51°F).
After the working on this fishing update, I worked on the Bunny Clark's engine changing a few fuel filters and checking the oil after the change yesterday. I only had a hundred and twenty hours on the oil but the change before was done just before we hauled out in November last year. So the oil, although unused, stayed in the engine all winter. It was also the easiest oil change I had ever completed. I pumped the oil out yesterday early morning and changed out the three oil filters and added oil in the afternoon, after the engine had cooled down. Changing the oil filters after the engine had been running all day is a bit more challenging than when the engine has cooled to the air temperature. Hot oil filters are not fun to handle.
My day today was centered around the restaurants. The bad weekend weather report and the weather conspired to make it a slower than normal business day today. Because it wasn't raining, we did have some patrons on the deck in the early afternoon. But, because the air temperature never warmed, people lost interest in sitting on the deck in favor of sitting inside near the fire places, which were kept blazing all day. But we never filled the dining area. We saw a few more Canadians, which was encouraging. But how many Canadians would have dined with us had the weather report and weather been nice? Hard to judge.
I took time off from work today between 11:30 AM and 2:00 PM to watch the English Football Association's, FA Cup final with Manchester City against south London's Crystal Palace at Wembley Stadium in London. Wembley has a capacity over 90,000, making it the largest stadium in England and one of the largest in Europe. And it was packed. Man City was favored to win. I love Pep Guardiola, the manager/coach of Man City. But Man City has had an off year this year. And they showed it today. Palace turned out to be a defensive challenge for Pep's team and won the cup today. It was the first time in 164 years that Crystal Palace had won a major trophy. It was a great game with controversy, a saved penalty shot and lots of scoring chances. I watched it at my good friend's house, which made it a relaxing event for two hours of my life. I have really grown to love English football. I enjoy it so much it gets me wondering if I ever loved hockey as much. I'm sure I did, particularly when growing up with Bobby Orr playing. But football has certainly taken over my sporting interests. Of course, I still love the major cycling tours as well. And I do like hockey, just not as much as I love English football.
I made a $10.00 bet with one of my favorite fishing patrons, Fred Kunz, that the Celtics would win game six last night and be playing in Boston for the last game. That, of course, did not happen. When I texted him to ask how he wanted to receive the money, he told me to put it towards the Pan-Mass Challenge. So here's another; "Thank you very much, Fred." Fred always knows how to make a good thing out of a not so good thing. I appreciate the thought behind the new donation. And, yes, thank you Fred!
We had excellent visibility over the ocean all day. The sky was clear with few clouds in the morning. The wind ashore blew out of the northwest at ten to fifteen knots. The sky was clear with few clouds until around 2:30 PM. From then on we had dark cumulonimbus clouds. One brought heavy rain that didn't last but ten to fifteen minutes. Others brought just light rain that didn't even get the roads wet. We missed all the best showers. They went to the towns south and north of us, following down the rivers. The highest air temperature that I saw was 70°F in the shade at our house. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 70°F (with a low of 59°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 68°F (with a low of 52°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 70°F (with a low of 53°F).
I worked in the restaurant all day. Along with that, I did some provisioning on the Bunny Clark. I saw Darlene Chin later in the day. She is going tomorrow. I didn't talk to her but I assumed that she was signing up for a fishing spot on the boat for tomorrow.
Business wasn't as good in the restaurants as it would have been had the weather report for today been accurate. As usual, it was not. For those that made the trip to dine with us, it was excellent. The deck was the most populated part of the restaurant. And there was plenty of room to relax and be entertained by yours truly. Well, maybe they weren't as entertained as I thought they were! I try.
At 5:00 AM EDT the air temperature was 50°F (at home and in the Cove), the sky was overhead with clouds to the east, the wind was blowing out of the northwest at fifteen knots and the visibility over the ocean was excellent.
The ride to the fishing grounds was uneventful. We had northwest winds to start that changed to west northwest once we got a couple of miles offshore. Wind speeds were about fifteen knots, more at the dock. The further we got out, the less wind we saw. The air temperature rose from 50°F to 56°F before we got to the grounds. The sky was mostly clear. The visibility was excellent. Seas were about two feet in chops to about three feet in a chop/swell.
On the grounds, we had no wind at all. The wind did not reach off. And I suspected that this was going to happen. Northwest wind rarely reaches off when the surface water temperature is as cold as it is now in the spring. We did have a short swell of two to three feet from the wind blowing inside of us. Some were bigger and most were on the beam as we drift fished almost all day. The sky was mostly sunny to start but became overcast after 11:00 AM. It remained overcast for the rest of the trip, only starting to rain the minute we arrived back in Perkins Cove. The air temperature reached a high of 59°F. The visibility ranged to over twenty-five miles. The tide (current) was a little bit stronger than moderate from the north, and later, northeast (a southwest current). The surface water temperature reached a high of 49.7°F.
Ashore, these were the air temperatures in selected New England cities: In Perkins Cove, Ogunquit, Maine the high air temperature was 62°F. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 64°F (with a low of 50°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 58°F (with a low of 46°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 60°F (with a low of 48°F).
The fishing was very good. The catching was very good. Landings were good. We caught haddock from the moment we started fishing until the end. I concentrated on them. And we did well. The average size was smaller than we have been seeing further offshore. Most legal fish landed were haddock, by far. It was certainly my fish of choice today. We didn't reach the collective bag limit but over half the boat did, some with their personal best. Legal landings also included twenty-five cusk and fourteen big redfish. Released fish included three small cod, one hundred and seventy-three sub-legal haddock, two sub-legal cod, two small redfish and thirteen long horn sculpins. We anchored once but drifted the whole rest of the trip. The drift was perfect. Bait worked best.
Mark Girard (NH) was high hook with the most legal fish. I never did weigh a fish for him. But he had a couple that would have weighed 4 pounds. Jeff Fielding (VT) won the boat pool for the largest fish with the largest fish, a 6.1 pound haddock. The second largest fish was a 5.5 pound cusk caught by Dan Contois (ME), the first fish in the boat today. His largest haddock weighed 4.5 pounds. Chelsea Barrows (PA) and Cindy Pydor (NY) tied for the third largest fish, both with a 5 pound haddock. Chelsea also caught a 4 pound haddock that I weighed while Cindy caught another haddock that weighed 4.75 pounds.
Other Angler Hightlights: Jason Ridolfi (NY) was probably second hook.
At 3:00 AM EDT the air temperature was 46°F, the sky was, essentially, overcast, the wind was blowing out of the north northwest at fifteen knots and the visibility over the ocean was excellent.
After leaving the gate to Perkins Cove behind, I was surprised to see that we had so little wind from the north. I had expected more. Wind speeds might have been ten knots or, maybe, more. But seas were a foot for the first couple of miles but not much more than two feet the rest of the way. The air temperature was not warm, only rising to 48°F before we got to the fishing grounds. The visibility was very good. We had clear patches in the sky and did see a sunrise.
On the fishing grounds, the wind was right out of the north at ten knots to start. We had some sun in a mostly cloudy sky. And I did contemplate sun glasses and sun screen. However, I forgot about this with the immediate action and, then, I didn't need to think about it anymore as the sky became overcast. The sky remained overcast for the rest of the trip. The wind kept rotating clockwise to north northeast and, finally, northeast. The northeast wind was the strongest with a velocity of twenty knots at one point. By 2:00 PM, it was misting enough to make one put on an oil top. Seas ramped up to three feet with the occasional queer one. The air temperature got up as high as 52°F but dropped to 49°F with the increased northeast wind. The tide was moderate and mostly into the wind. The visibility remained excellent until the time that I called the day. We had at most a visibility of five miles in the mist. The surface water temperature reached a high of 47.3°F, probably the coldest surface water temperature I can remember for this time of year.
The ride home was a bit unusual, I would say. We started out with twenty knots of northeast misting wind of twenty knots and three to four foot seas. This lasted for about five miles. Then the wind started to back off. The seas dropped. The mist left us. And, with fifteen miles left to go, we had a visibility range of twenty-five miles, two foot seas, ten knots of northeast wind, a slate gray sky and a very stable platform. We never did see any rain, although it could have been raining the on the area where we were fishing after we left. It certainly felt like that was going to happen.
Ashore, these were the air temperatures in selected New England cities: In Perkins Cove, Ogunquit, Maine the high air temperature was 57°F. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 57°F (with a low of 49°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 61°F (with a low of 45°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 54°F (with a low of 46°F).
The fishing was very good. Despite the less than ideal weather conditions, the tide didn't create any tangles and I could, easily, control the boat and do whatever I wanted. The catching was excellent, a fish a cast. Landings were very good. Most legal fish landed were haddock. This is what I wanted to key on today. I was easily able to complete my objective. The haddock were mostly good sized fish. We would have filled the bag limit for every person had we not lost fifteen good sized haddock on the surface. Legal landings also included seventeen pollock, thirteen redfish and twenty-three cusk. The pollock were a new feature of our recent fishing activities. We also caught a lot of sub-legal pollock, about sixty-three, as near as I could figure. There could have been more. The legal pollock were no more than 2 or 3 pounds each. The other new feature of the day was the large number of dogfish. I figured that we released fifty-one dogfish. But there could have been more. I couldn't really keep as good a track as I thought I might. Released fish numbers also included five small cod, five small cusk, a sea raven, twenty-nine sub-legal haddock and five small redfish. We anchored for most stopped but we did have a long, nearly perfect, drift. Bait worked best.but cod flies were a close second.
The story of the day concerned both anglers, Fred Kunz (NH) and Jeff Pianka (CT), who were fishing on the stern while anchored. I was up close to the helm when I heard; "Gaff! Gaff! Get the gaff!" Jeff had been reeling in a big haddock but I had no idea as he never said anything to me. When he got it to the surface, Jeff tried to pull it out of the water but if fell off the hook. Fred happened to have his line out of the water waiting to make another cast after previously boating a haddock. When he saw the fish start to float off and turn its head to the bottom, Fred calmly took a short cast and hooked the fish with a fly, pulling it into the boat. It was a 7.1 pound Maine state trophy! But, most important, it was the largest fish of the trip! Since Jeff didn't bring the fish to gaff, Fred won the boat pool for the largest fish with the largest of the trip. That fish would have swum off otherwise. Since Jeff initially hooked the fish and brought it to the surface, I gave him the credit for the trophy award from the state! Fred's largest fish to that point was a haddock that weighed 5.5 pounds. He also caught quite a few haddock that were in the 4 to 5 pound range. The fish itself was twenty-nine inches caliper fork length, our longest haddock of the season, a spawned out female. Had the frame of the fish been filled out, it could have weighed as much as 10 pounds.
Years ago, with Fred on the boat as an angler, fishing inside of Cashes Ledge, another angler on the boat that day broke off a fish as we were drifting over a piece of bottom. I thought at the time that he might have broken off after getting hooked on bottom. After resetting and drifting over that same piece again, Fred hooked the other angler's broken line and reeled in the fish responsible for breaking the line in the first place, a 59 pound cod! The cod was caught on a yellow fly and a cusk was on the bottom hook. Fred won the boat pool that day as well, with another angler's fish! Both anglers shared the fillets!
It was not over for Jeff today either. Jeff won the boat pool for the second largest fish with the second largest fish, a 6.99 pound haddock. It was so close to being 7 pounds, a state trophy size, but was just under the mark by just a skosch! Jeff also tied with Andrew Marks (VT) for the third largest fish with a 6.5 pound haddock and shared the boat pool with Andrew. Andrew's 6.5 pound fish was also a haddock. I also weighed another haddock of 6 pounds for Jeff. Jeff also caught a lot of fish. But I think high hook (the angler with the most legal fish) went to either Fred Kunz or Guy Hesketh (CT). Guy's largest fish was a 6 pound haddock.
Other Angler Highlights: Nick Kirychuk (NY) had to be the most vocal when losing good sized haddock on the surface. I thought he might have broken a tooth or something, he was howling so bad. To his credit, he did lose about five awesome fish, probably because of the seas. He did boat a lot of the biggest fish, though, too. The first of his that I weighed was a 5.75 pound haddock. But I also weighed a 5 pound haddock of his. And there were others just as big that I didn't weigh. Joe Marks (VT) caught a 5 pound haddock, probably his biggest fish. Dave Burton (MA) caught a 5.5 pound haddock. John Russell (ME) caught a 5.5 pound haddock and a 5 pound haddock that I weighed for him. George Pavlov (VT) caught a 5.25 pound haddock that I weighed. But he lost a huge fish after fighting it all the way to where we could see the leader knot but not the fish. It didn't float up so it probably wasn't a big pollock. But it definitely had the potential of being the pool fish even if it had been hooked sideways. Grant Mitchell (VT) caught a 6 pound haddock, his biggest fish.
I received several donations today sponsoring me in my cancer fundraising project with the Pan-Mass Challenge. Those anglers and their donations were as follows: Mark Bramson (CA) for a generous $200.00, Dave Burton for another generous $50.00 donation, Nick Kirychuk for $10.00, Jeff Pianka for $70.00, Guy Hesketh for $20.00, Jason Ridolfi (NY) for $30.00, Andrew Marks for $50.00 and Scott Profit (ME) for $50.00. Thank you so much for you all being so thoughtful and generous. It was a great surprise today. And this is very much appreciated by so many!
At 5:00 AM EDT the air temperature was 46°F yet again (the coldest spring since 2013?), the sky was overcast, the wind was blowing out of the northeast at ten knots or more and the visibility over the ocean was excellent.
The sky stayed overcast all day. There were times when I thought the sky had lightened up enough for the sun to break through. Or it seemed the sun was making an attempt. The sun never did make an appearance. We had light rain at times. This was not continuous. The air temperature stayed raw all day. I thought I saw 51°F around noon. But every time I looked in the afternoon, the air temperature was 46°F or 47°F. The wind picked up around noon and started to blow harder out of the northeast. We had a few gusts to twenty knots but, mostly, the wind velocity was in the high teens. As is typical of northeast wind, it started to back off in the late afternoon. When I looked at sunset, we had about ten knots of northeast wind coming across the parking lot in Perkins Cove. The visibility remained excellent except during the light rain. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 50°F (with a low of 47°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 53°F (with a low of 46°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 52°F (with a low of 45°F).
I spent most of the early part of the morning working at the desk here at home. I wanted to update the index page and catch up on stuff I couldn't do when the boat was sailing.
I canceled tomorrow's trip before we got too far into the day, to catch most of those who booked reservations before they started to make the trip to Ogunquit. Although I'm not a great believer in the predictions of the National Weather Service, an on-shore northeast wind blowing days before a predicted northeast gale does not bode well for safety at sea. In the old days, I wouldn't have hesitated to try it; my rule was to cancel a day before a storm warning and always try it up to and including gale warnings otherwise. Most of the time it was fine, sort of. Many times I would tell my passengers in the morning that I was going fishing. "It's not going to be dangerously rough. But it's going to be rough enough to make some of you think so. If you would like to cancel right now with a full refund, I'm giving you the option to do that. Otherwise, we will be back at the dock at the normal time." Many commented to me after the trip saying that they wished they had taken my offer. And, of course, there are some who have questioned my decisions. But I know my boat. I designed and built my boat to do this. And, for some, it's an experience they will never forget. At other times, had I not gone, we would have missed the opportunity to land a world record fish. We captured the International Game Fish Association's all tackle pollock world record in October 1990 on a day that was blowing thirty-five knots out of the northeast and so rough that when I got to the 10 mile mark, I anchored until it was light enough to continue as I thought I might blow a window out traveling into the large chops before sunrise. I knew the wind was going to die in the afternoon. I also knew the wind would start to die on the tide. And with the moon status that day I also knew that there was a huge potential of getting a world record fish at that moment. We actually had three pollock over 40 pounds that all could have become world record fish fifteen minutes after the tide. The fish that did make it, a 51.25 pounder, stayed the all tackle world record for eight years. Linda Paul (ME), a regular patron of the Bunny Clark, caught it. It still remains the women's IGFA 50 pound test line class world record. That will be a hard one to beat. This wouldn't have happened had I stayed ashore. Also, these opportunities don't exist now like they did then.
I got some much needed aerobic exercise during the later part of the morning, showered and went to work at the restaurants. It wasn't very busy but it was busier than it was yesterday, when we were fishing.
At 5:00 AM EDT the air temperature was 46°F, the sky was overcast overhead, the wind was blowing out of the northeast at twenty plus knots and the visibility over the ocean was excellent.
The wind continued to increase as the day progressed. But it really came on hard at sunset. The wind direction was northeast with an easterly lilt until sunset, when it was directly out of the northeast. Wind speeds started to increase around the middle of the afternoon. This is also when we started to see some rain. The rain increased as well as the wind. By 5:00 PM, we had gusts over thirty knots. But, at 7:00 PM, we had gusts that had to be over forty knots with sustained winds well over thirty knots. There wasn't a lot of rain; there wasn't a river of water coming down the street into the Cove. But it was continuous and lasted for the rest of the day and all night. I was not comfortable leaving the Cove and going home for the night. The air temperature off the water was cool all day. Again, I never really saw the air temperature waver above 47°F. If we did have a warmer air temperature, it was in the morning, when I wasn't looking at a thermometer. With the increasing wind, it just kept feeling colder. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 48°F (with a low of 46°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 47°F (with a low of 42°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 49°F (with a low of 44°F).
I worked at the restaurants all day. But there wasn't a lot of business. The weather was miserable. We had many patrons sitting next to the roaring fireplaces at Barnacle Billy's. At Barnacle Billy's, Etc., we had the heat turned up and a fire roaring in the lounge area.
I spent some time putting out storm lines from the Bunny Clark to the pilings ashore. As it turns out, we could have used more lines. Had the gale continued for another day or two, we would have required a bit more.
Through the early morning, the wind blew out of the northeast with speeds up to forty knots. Seas at the closest weather buoy were up to fourteen feet and stayed that high through 8:00 AM, before starting to diminish. The rain had, pretty much, stopped by 4:00 AM. Although, the gale didn't bring much rain to our area. I was told that there was a tremendous surge in the Cove at low tide early in the morning. The wind started to blow out of the north at 5:30 AM. Northerly wind speeds ran from twenty-five to over thirty knots. Just after 8:00 AM, the wind came more north northwest and the wind dropped to twenty knots, more or less. This wasn't enough wind to drop the seas as they were still over ten feet and looked huge while gazing over the ocean from Oarweed Cove. They didn't start to drop below ten feet until 5:00 PM. Meanwhile, a little after noon, the sky cleared a bit and let the sun come in. We had sun, on and off, for the rest of the afternoon. At times a rain cloud came through and delivered light rain. It was mostly cloudy going into the night. The wind dropped out of the day by 3:00 PM. There was no wind for the rest of the day. The visibility remained good, or better than that, for the rest of the day. The air temperature reached a high of 55°F by mid afternoon. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 58°F (with a low of 44°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 53°F (with a low of 43°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 51°F (with a low of 42°F).
Grant Hubbard, from Finestkind Scenic Tours, and I worked on setting storm lines the day before. He also volunteered to come down at 1:00 AM this morning to survey the scene and check the boats and storm lines. He ended up adding lines and tightening others. He also found that the Barnacle Billy's sign was only being held on the yard arm by one eye bolt (normally, there are two). The nut holding the bolt on the building side had come off. The sign was banging against the gutter and the building. Grant tied it off to a tree so it wouldn't do that. At 4:00 AM, he showed me the sign after I got a text from him earlier. It's my morning to open the two restaurants. I started that at 5:00 AM. I ended up finding the nut and washers that had fallen to the ground. I saved them for Matt Pedersen who comes in at 9:00 AM to take my place. He and a couple of the workers put the sign back up.
In the meantime, I went between staying with the restaurant and working with Cody from Power Products. I needed him down there to put a new oil line in. He found this oil line to be leaking and a future problem but didn't have the part with him the last time he was on the boat. It needed to be replaced. Which he did. I also wanted the temperature sensor to be replaced. And I needed the boot that attaches the air filter to the turbo to be replaced as well. But I'm also having a starting issue with the engine. We suspect that it's a minor air leak. But I needed his expertise and the computer so he could determine exactly what was causing it. I have a brand new starter that I put in a few weeks ago along with two brand new starting batteries (at 120 pounds a piece) so I'm not worried about starting the engine. Nor do I have a problem at full cruise. But it is annoying. If it keeps up, the starter will not last as long as I want it to. I change out starters every five years. At any rate, we were done by noon. Cody left me with some ideas to work on. And that's what I will be doing when I have a regular working day, probably on Wednesday.
The rest of the day was spent working in the restaurant, walking the floor and working with my employees. It wasn't the busiest day. But I didn't expect it to be either. There were a lot of nice people there today. One couple noted; "You came around to our table last year." Yup, that's what I do.
I also had the great pleasure of seeing David MacDonald, long time Bunny Clark angler, great guy, great angler and good friend. It was nice as I wasn't too busy to spend some time talking to him. David and his family have fished with me for many years. It was great to catch up.
The fog didn't last long. It was gone by 8:00 AM. The visibility went from good to very good to excellent. The wind was light in velocity and variable in direction. The ocean surface was calm with an underlying swell of about three feet, judging from the view from the Marginal Way. This swell dropped as the day progressed. The sky was mostly cloudy with some clear breaks, some sun and periodic rain, depending on the cloud. The rain was always expected until late in the afternoon where it seemed that it was gone for the day. And, indeed, I never did see any rain after that. But the clouds still remained. The air temperature was cool all day. The highest air temperature that I saw was 60°F in the middle of the afternoon. But it was still in the 50s when I went home a little after 8:00 PM. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 62°F (with a low of 49°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 60°F (with a low of 47°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 57°F (with a low of 45°F).
Except for working here at home on this website, I spent my day working at the restaurant. It wasn't a typical busy Memorial Day weekend. But it was busy enough. And, like a lot of Memorial Day weekend Saturdays, it was much like "old home week". I knew very many of the patrons there today. So it was really fun talking to them all.
I did walk a mile, unleashed, with Gill, our border collie, before going to work. There was no traffic where I took the dog. So no cars to bother us. But it was the most subdued walk that we have had together. Maybe because it was so wet on the leaves and ground, but the Gill didn't do the amount of sniffing that he normally does on the walk with me. But, also, he walked on leash with Deb an hour earlier. So, maybe, he was all sniffed out! I got the feeling that he liked the walk and was certainly exited to go.
Today was another day that was mostly cloudy. There was a clear patch of sky that hung forever tormenting us to the southeast over the ocean. It never really came our way. Although, we did see some sun around 5:00 PM. We had one light rain shower between 3 and 4:00 PM. The visibility was excellent all day. There was very little wind over the ocean, the surface remaining flat all day. At the restaurants we had a seven knot northwest wind that never reached off over the ocean. The highest air temperature that I saw was 61°F near the end of the afternoon. It wasn't the warmest day. But it seemed warmer than yesterday. The deck at Barnacle Billy's was full for most of the day. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 61°F (with a low of 51°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 61°F (with a low of 45°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 63°F (with a low of 44°F).
There were, again, many patrons who I talked to today who I know from previous visits. But there weren't as many people I knew as there was yesterday. Still, having loyal patrons there makes me feel like we are doing the right thing. And it makes my life so much more enjoyable.
We were busy at the restaurants today but not as busy as I expected it to be. And I probably shouldn't have expected as much, as the weather was not the greatest. Although it felt warmer today than yesterday, it certainly wasn't t-shirt weather by any stretch.
It was a beautiful sunny day today. By 9:00 AM, the sky was nearly cloudless. It stayed that way for the rest of the day. We had a seven or eight knot southwest breeze along the coast after the morning. But offshore a half mile it was calm. Winds out there were light and variable in direction. The visibility was excellent. The highest air temperature that I saw was 65°F. But it felt much warmer in the sun. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 63°F (with a low of 51°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 74°F (with a low of 38°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 67°F (with a low of 49°F).
I spent the morning doing household chores, jumping on the fluid trainer and putting a bed together for our two and a half year old grandson, Ben. He is sleeping in a bed now and my daughter's family will be here in two weeks. Deb asked me to do it. So I figured I would do it today so if I needed a part I would have plenty of time to get it before they get here.
The rest of the day I spent in the restaurant. It was very busy for lunch and through the afternoon. It dropped off precipitously after 5:00 PM. I left the restaurants a little after that time to get the boat ready to sail tomorrow.
I'm excited to be on the boat tomorrow. I'm planning to venture to new places. It's time.
Dana & Laurie Decormier (NH) came to eat at Barnacle Billy's, Etc. today. It was nice to see them. Just before they left they gave me $40.00 towards my cancer fundraising ride with the Pan-Mass Challenge. The Decormiers are part of the Bunny Clark fishing family. Dana and his son, Jack, have fished with me, it seems, forever. I often relive the good times with them when lying in bed at night or when I have an idle moment. Dana & Laurie's family always did an annual half day trip with Captain Ian. Sadly that won't happen this year. But all good things do come to an end eventually. Dana & family have a history of supporting me in my cancer research project, since I started getting involved in 2007. Thank you both so very much for your kindness, generosity and thoughtfulness. It means a lot to me but your friendship and patronage mean more. Great seeing you both today.
At 3:00 AM EDT the air temperature was 52°F (50°F in the Cove), the sky was clear, there wasn't enough wind to write about and the visibility over the ocean was excellent.
It was a perfect ride to the fishing grounds. The wind was light out of the west or west northwest. We might have had a chop of a foot for some of it but I never noticed. Mostly it was less than a foot. We carried an air temperature of 52°F to 54°F all the way to the fishing grounds. The visibility was excellent. The sky was cloudless. The surface water temperature was never more than 47°F.
On the fishing grounds, the ocean was calm all day. We had wind but it was very light. The wind started out of the west and then worked to about eight knots out of the west southwest. The eight knot wind was the highest wind velocity we saw all day. And that came on as we were getting the boat ready to head back. The sky was hazy clear with clouds only around the horizon. The air temperature reached a high of 59°F. The tide (current) was light. The visibility ranged to twenty-five miles. The surface water temperature reached a high of 49.2°F.
Ashore, these were the air temperatures in selected New England cities: In Perkins Cove, Ogunquit, Maine the high air temperature reached 78°F. It was 73°F at 7:00 PM at the house. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 74°F (with a low of 51°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 81°F (with a low of 41°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 78°F (with a low of 46°F).
The fishing was excellent, the catching was excellent and landings were very good for poundage and excellent for numbers of fish. Most legal fish landed were haddock with the biggest average size haddock that we have seen all season so far. We had a couple of earlier trips where they were also very big. And it's hard to qualify that statement. But it seemed that I was weighing haddock all day long. We nearly attained the boat's bag limit on the last drift.I pulled everyone off the fish while biting in order to get ready to go home. Otherwise we would have. Legal landings also included one hundred and fourteen cusk and twenty-six redfish. Released fish included thirty-one cusk, seventeen small cod and twenty-two sub-legal haddock. We didn't see a single pollock, a sub-legal redfish or a dogfish today. Drifting was the method. Bait worked best.
I couldn't tell you who was high hook. It could have been just about anyone. Luc Girard (QC) won the boat pool for the largest fish with the largest fish, an 18 pound wolffish. This is the largest wolffish of the Bunny Clark fishing season to date. I took a picture of Luc's cat with Silas Amlaw (NY) holding it for him. This digital image appears on the left. Luc is the guy in camo behind Silas. I also weighed a 6.5 pound haddock and a 6 pound haddock for Luc. David Daigle (MA) won the boat pool for the second largest fish with the second largest fish, an 8.5 pound Maine state trophy haddock. This fish ties our second largest haddock of the fishing season so far. I also took a picture of David with his big fish. This digital image appears on the right. The only other fish I weighed for him was a 6 pound haddock. There was a tie for the third largest fish at 8.25 pounds. Alain Stanislas (MA) caught one, a Maine state trophy haddock and Tom Zido (NY) caught the other, a cusk. Alain's haddock is the Bunny Clark's fourth largest haddock of the fishing season so far. I didn't weigh any other fish for Alain but he caught a lot of haddock. Tom caught a double that included a 4 pound haddock and a 5 pound haddock when we first started to fish, both fish on the same line at the same time. We had lots of doubles today.
Other Angler Highlights: Max Grimm (ME) caught the first fish I weighed, a 5.5 pound haddock. Darryl Johannes (MA) could have very well been high hook with the most legal fish. I just can't qualify this. Some of the haddock of his that I weighed included a 5.5 pounder, a 6.25 pounder and a 6.5 pounder. Jim Jarvis, Sr. (MA) caught a 6.5 pound haddock, his best fish. Zack Grimm (ME) caught a 6.75 pound cusk, his biggest fish. Darlene Chin (ME/FL) had another excellent day today, one of the best haddock days of her life. She had a double that included two 5 pound haddock. Her largest haddock weighed 6.75 pounds, a quarter of a pound from a Maine state trophy. But that's okay; she caught a Maine state trophy haddock on her first trip with me this season!
Ny Nhath (VT) caught a 7 pound cusk, his biggest fish. Jim Jarvis, Jr. (MA) landed a 6.5 pound haddock, his biggest fish. Dave Burton (MA) caught a 6 pound cusk, a 6 pound haddock and a 6.25 pound haddock, the biggest fish of his that I weighed. He also caught something bigger. Himself! At one point in the trip I had to take some time out to push a hook through Dave's hand and cut the barb off so he could back the turn and shank of the hook out. Of course, Dave went right back to fishing. Scott Onorato (VT) boated a 5.5 pound haddock and a 6.25 pound haddock, his two biggest haddock. Gilles Dupont (QC) caught the third largest haddock at 6.9 pounds. I just couldn't make it hit the 7 pound mark. He also caught a 6.5 pound haddock. Silas Amlaw caught two haddock of 6.25 pounds each. Eric Pysar (NY) caught the most cusk in the shortest amount of time. I didn't weigh any of his fish.
I received three donations today sponsoring me in my cancer fundraising drive with the Pan-Mass Challenge. Dave Burton, one of the most generous men alive, donated $40.00, adding to his pile of donations this year already. Tom & Noreen Zido donated $50.00 "in memory of Ian Keniston". David Daigle donated $40.00 to the cause. Thank you all so much for your support and generosity. This is something that is close to my heart that's really working. I have seen, first hand, the advances the researchers I support have made over the last few years. And this keeps me involved. I so appreciate your help!
It was a beautiful summer day today. The wind was light out of the south from dawn until dusk. Wind speeds never got over five knots to my knowledge. The ocean along the shore was calm all day. The visibility was very good in some haze. The sky was clear with few clouds. The highest air temperature was 81°F. It was just beautiful. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 77°F (with a low of 58°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 82°F (with a low of 46°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 78°F (with a low of 51°F).
After posting yesterday's report, I spent most of my time working in the office at the restaurant. I got a chance to run three miles on Ogunquit Beach. And I had time get almost everything ready for tomorrow's offshore trip. I'm excited, as usual. Having few pollock around gives you the opportunity to catch other species, like the wolffish and the species that begins with the letter "h". And I don't mean haddock. The apple blossoms are out. And that always means that the big flat ones are around.
From noon until 5:00 PM, I worked at the restaurant. It was a great day to be on the deck.
I received two donations today sponsoring me in my cancer fundraising with the Pan-Mass Challenge. One that I was just infomred about came ten days ago from Steve Guilmet (MA) for $50.00. Steve has been helping my cause since I started. He made the donation "In Memory of Ian." Barry Ano (NY) gave $50.00 today. Barry has been supporting me since I started as well. Thank you both so very much for your thoughtfulness and generosity. This is very personal to me. And it's so very much appreciated, you just can't know how much!
At 3:00 AM EDT the air temperature was 59°F, the sky was overcast, the wind was out of the southwest at ten knots and the visibility over the ocean was excellent.
We had another easy ride to the fishing grounds. The wind blew out of the west southwest at about eight knots or less the whole way to our destination. Seas were about a foot at most. I saw 59°F at we were passing through the gate and to the fifteen mile mark. After that, the air temperature stayed at 59°F until we arrived on the fishing grounds. The sky was overcast with, it looked like, a clear area way to the east. The visibility was excellent. The surface water temperature hung between 48 and 47°F for the whole ride.
On the fishing grounds, the ocean was fairly calm all day. Seas were a foot or less. The wind blew from the southwest. At one point, the wind kicked up to ten knots. This was after noon. But we lost the wind altogether after twenty minutes. The drift died for a bit as well. But only a bit. Most of the day the tide (current) was on the strong side of moderate. The wind backed out of the south for the last hour of the day. We had light southerly winds for the ride home. The air temperature reached a high of 60°F. The sky was overcast to begin with. By noon, the sky was mostly clear. It was clear and sunny for the rest of the day. We had no rain today. The visibility ranged to twenty-five miles. The surface water temperature reached a high of 49.2°F.
Ashore, these were the air temperatures in selected New England cities: In Perkins Cove, Ogunquit, Maine the high air temperature was 69°F. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 64°F (with a low of 57°F). The 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 69°F (with a low of 53°F).
The fishing was very good. It would have been excellent except for the stronger than normal tide. This created a few more tangles than we have been having. Anchoring didn't solve the issue as it was just as strong on anchor. The catching was excellent. Landings were very good for numbers, good to very good for poundage. Most legal fish landed were haddock, by far. The average size wasn't as big as they were the trip before. There was more of a mix but very few sub-legal haddock. Legal landings also included thirty-two cusk, six pollock and nine redfish. Released fish included eighteen dogfish, twenty-three small cod, one 6.5 pound cod, eleven cusk, twenty-four haddock, forty-eight sub-legal pollock, a couple of long horn sculpins and two sub-legal redfish. We also had our first porbeagle shark sighting. It followed a hooked haddock up to the surface and was just about to take the fish when the haddock was pulled out of the water. We anchored a couple of times, drifted mostly. Bait worked best.
Derrick Laflamme (ME) was far and away high hook with the most legal fish. There may have been some who were close. But no angler caught more. His largest fish was a 6 pound haddock. Karl Day (ME) won the boat pool for the largest fish with the largest fish, a 9 pound Maine state trophy haddock. It was the first fish in the boat today. This is the largest haddock that Karl has ever caught and it's the Bunny Clark's largest haddock of the fishing season so far. When he caught it I thought; "Here we go!" But we didn't catch any more trophy haddock on that spot. The second largest fish was an 8.5 pound pollock. By deduction, it was Barry Ano's (NY) fish. But it came off the hook under the boat and floated up close enough to gaff. Barry was tangled with, I believe, Charles Suelke (PA). But there was no fish on Charles' line. The fly was missing from Barry's line but it wasn't in the pollock's mouth. At any rate, no one could claim the boat pool because it was free gaffed. I took a picture of Barry with his pollock, this digital image appears on the left. Tom Zido (NY) won the boat pool for the second largest fish with the third largest fish, an 8 pound cusk. I also weighed a 5 pound haddock and a 6 pound haddock for Tom.
There was a tie for the fourth largest fish at 7.5 pounds. Karl Day had one, a 7.5 pound Maine state trophy haddock. Dave Clancy (NH) had the other, a 7.5 pound cusk. Neither angler was in the boat pool for the third largest fish! Karl also caught a 6.25 pound haddock and another Maine state trophy haddock weighing 7 pounds! During the fifty years that I have taken anglers deep sea fishing, his is one of only six or seven anglers who have landed three or more trophy haddock on a single trip! Troy Boyd (ME) won the boat pool for the third largest fish with the sixth largest fish, a 7.25 pound Maine state trophy haddock. I had weighed a 5.5 pound haddock and a 6 pound haddock for him before he caught his trophy. The 7.25 pound haddock and the 6 pound haddock were caught back to back. I took a picture of Troy with his two big haddock. This digital image appears on the right. Troy is holding the trophy haddock in his right hand.
Other Angler Highlights: Rick Schwartz (NH) had his best fishing trip of the year, of the three trips that he has taken. He caught a lot of haddock. I weighed a 5 pound haddock early in the trip for him. His largest was a 6.5 pound haddock. Bobby Sanford (CT) caught the largest cod at 6.5 pounds. I also weighed a 5.5 pound haddock for him. Timmy Collins (ME) caught a 6 pound haddock, his largest fish. Sean Tankred (OH) caught our second largest pollock of the day. It weighed 5 pounds.
I received several donations today sponsoring me in my cancer fundraising drive with the Pan-Mass Challenge. The anglers and their donations included Barry Ano for yet another $50.00 donation, Rick Schwartz for a generous $100.00, Charlie Tankred (OH) for a generous $100.00 and Troy Boyd for $20.00. Thank you all so very much for the support you give me and for your generosity and thoughtfulness. I do really appreciate it and, of course, all of you!
At 5:00 AM EDT the air temperature was 57°F, the sky was mostly clear, the wind was light out of the west and the visibility over the ocean was excellent.
Everyone aboard the Bunny Clark was very comfortable as we broached the gate leading to the open ocean from Perkins Cove. And the ride out did not disappoint. We had light westerly wind for the ride out. Seas were a foot at most. The sky was mostly clear. We carried 58°F for the whole ride. The visibility was very good to excellent.
On the fishing grounds, the wind became more of a factor. It was west southwest when we first arrived but kept backing. By noon, the wind was out of the southwest. Later, and for the ride home, the wind blew out of the south southwest. Wind speeds went from five knots to fifteen knots at noon with some gusts to almost twenty knots. Seas were about three feet or less in chops. The air temperature reached a high 62°F. The visibility ranged to about fifteen or twenty miles in haze. The sky was sunny to start but clouds started to move in as soon as we arrived. By 10:00 AM, the sky was overcast with some peeks at the sun. It looked like rain to the south and west. But we never saw any. I figured that it was be raining at some point on the ride in or in Perkins Cove. That didn't happen. The tide (current) was in to the wind all day. It was a moderate tide. But the direction slowed us down on catching fish. We saw the highest surface water temperature of the season on the fishing grounds today with a reading of 53.2°F, the first time I have seen the surface water temperature over 50°F this season. Normally, the surface water temperature is closer to 58°F or higher during calmer Mays.
Ashore, these were the air temperatures in selected New England cities: In Perkins Cove, Ogunquit, Maine the high air temperature was 74°F. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 77°F (with a low of 60°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 77°F (with a low of 55°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 73°F (with a low of 53°F).
The fishing was very good. It could have been excellent without the tide. The catching was good. Landings were fair. Most legal fish landed were haddock but the average size was small. Except for one bigger haddock, we may not have had but two fish that weighed 4 pounds. Legal landings included seventy haddock, twenty-three cusk, thirty-two mackerel and one redfish. Released fish included one 5 pound cod, eight small cod, four cusk, sixty-one sub-legal haddock, ten dogfish and a 7 pound wolffish. We anchored mostly. Although the drift was tenable, the catch rate was much higher on anchor. We tried drifting several times with the same result. Bait worked best.
John Lambert, Jr. (NY) was high hook with the most legal fish. He had fourteen keeper haddock, probably the most sub-legal haddock, the only redfish and a few cusk. His largest fish was a 6.5 pound cusk, the second largest fish of the trip. Dominic Caputo (NY) won the boat pool for the largest fish with the largest fish, a 7 pound wolffish. The third largest fish was a 6 pound cusk caught by Chris Tankred (OH). He also caught a 5.5 pound cusk before that.
Other Angler Highlights: Keith Koziarz (NY) caught the largest haddock of the trip at 5.5 pounds. Barry Ano (NY) caught a 5.5 pound cusk. Tim Hopsicker (NY) caught a cusk that weighed 5.75 pounds. Dave Saliba (MA) boated a 5.5 pound cusk.
I received three donations sponsoring me in this season's Pan-Mass Challenge today. Ricky Hagadorn (NY) gave $40.00, John Lambert, Jr. donated another $50.00 and Barry Ano donated another generous $100.00. Thank you all so very much for your support and thoughtfulness. I appreciate your help so much. But bringing in the most money gets you the best researchers. I'm all for that!
At 5:00 AM EDT the air temperature was 56°F, the sky was overcast, it was raining lightly, the wind was very light from the southeast and the visibility over the ocean was fair in coastal fog. At 5:37 AM, it started to pour with rain. For the rest of the morning it alternated between pouring rain and light rain. Mostly it was light rain or steady rain. This kept up until around noon. We saw no rain in the afternoon until around 7:00 PM, when a light spitting rain was seen. It stopped and didn't really start again until before 8:00 PM, when it became more prevalent. The wind blew out of the south or south southeast to fifteen knots in the morning and south in the afternoon over twenty knots. The wind dropped again around 6:00 PM and then started to blow out of the west. Westerly winds blew as hard as thirty knots by 8:00 PM.. The sky was overcast all morning with the rain. The sky cleared after 1:00 PM and it got sunny. The clouds started to roll in again after 5:00 PM. The visibility was poor in fog all morning and into the afternoon but cleared suddenly with the wind shift after 1:00 PM. The highest air temperature that I saw in Perkins Cove was 65°F in the late afternoon. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 70°F (with a low of 52°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 69°F (with a low of 51°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 60°F (with a low of 51°F).
I spent the day at the restaurants, catching up in the office, working with the management and talking to patrons. I was tired from the two days of fishing. I never would have thought I would be. But it's probably the age thing along with abusing my body physically in bike crashes and the like.
I was interviewed by a reporter from the Daily Telegraph out of London, England about the potential lack of Canadian participation in the economy this summer. The article came out yesterday but I saw the article today. I would say that it captured about seventy-five percent of what I felt. But it was such a quick interview. And I didn't have much time to think it over as it was sprung on me just as I got off the boat from fishing. Plus, it showed two digital images of me as I came off the boat but never mentioned the Bunny Clark.
The sky was mostly clear by 9:00 AM. There were clouds. And they looked like rain clouds earlier in the morning. In fact, at 7:30 AM, it started to rain just as I was starting a run. But it was only light sprinkles and lasted all of five minutes. By 10:30 AM, the sky was filled with cumulus clouds and the wind was blowing with speeds of twenty-five knots and gusts to thirty knots out of the northwest. Offshore, it was westerly but, in Perkins Cove, the flags were straight out from the northwest. Wind speeds kept up during the daylight hours. Even at 6:00 PM, wind speeds were still about twenty knots. The visibility was excellent. The air temperature in Perkins Cove rose to a value of 65°F. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 65°F (with a low of 52°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 64°F (with a low of 42°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 65°F (with a low of 50°F).
I spent another day at both Barnacle Billy's restaurants. The weather prediction killed us again today. We do well if the weather prediction is good, regardless of how the weather really turns out. We never do well with a bad weather forecast. Historically, this weekend isn't the greatest anyway. But it would have been much better if the National Weather Service had predicted what we actually got for weather today.
At 4:30 AM EDT the air temperature was 47°F at the house and 44°F at the boat, the sky was cloudless, the wind was light out of the southwest and the visibility over the ocean was excellent.
The wind was light out of the west when we poked our nose out through the gate. We carried westerly wind of about eight knots all the way to the fishing grounds. The sky was cloudless. the visibility was excellent and the air temperature rose to 54°F before we reached our destination.
On the fishing grounds, the wind stayed out of the west for about an hour or more. The wind stayed about eight knots but slowly died out. We had no wind for about an hour. When the wind came back, it was southwest about five knots. Then the wind backed out of the south and blew up to ten knots, more on the way home. The air temperature reached a high of 58°F. The tide was moderate to light. Chops were, at most, a foot while fishing. We had two foot chops on the ride home. The sky went from cloudless to hazy clear with some clouds. The visibility ranged to thirty miles. The surface water temperature reached a high of 52°F..
Ashore, these were the air temperatures in selected New England cities: In Perkins Cove, Ogunquit, Maine the high air temperature was 71°F. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 72°F (with a low of 51°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 72°F (with a low of 37°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 66°F (with a low of 46°F).
The fishing was excellent. All the variables were covered. However, for some reason, we had more tangles than I would have expected. The catching was nearly excellent. Landings were good. Most legal fish landed were, far and away, haddock, a much more productive trip than last Friday. Plus, we had more legal fish than sub-legal haddock. Legal landings also included a cusk, three whiting, thirteen pollock, five redfish and over ninety-eight mackerel. Released fish included four small cod, a couple porbeagle sharks, an 11 pound cod, a wolffish, an 11.25 pound cod, one-hundred and eight sub-legal haddock, sixty-two or more sub-legal pollock, two sub-legal redfish, two sculpins and a handful of mackerel. We anchored a couple of times but drifting was the most successful method of catching fish. Cod flies and bait caught the most fish.
Either Hal Flanagan (MA) or Amy Finocchiaro (MA) was high hook with the most fish. It is a typical thing to see this with them. They have two secrets. One, they are excellent fishermen. Two, it's unusual to see them tangled. I just can't tell you who, of the two, got more fish. Amy's largest fish was a 6 pound haddock, tying for the largest haddock of the trip. Hal caught the second largest fish of the trip, an 11 pound cod. This is the Bunny Clark's second largest cod of the fishing season so far.. He also caught a 10.5 pound wolffish, the third largest fish of the trip and our sixth largest wolffish of the season to date. His largest haddock weighed 5.25 pounds. Will Buesser (NH) won the boat pool for the largest fish with the largest fish, an 11.25 pound cod. This cod is the Bunny Clark's largest cod of the fishing season to date.
Other Angler Highlights: John Hijeck (CT) caught the first fish I could weigh, a 4 pound haddock. Jack Decormier (NH) caught a 5.75 pound haddock, his best fish. Mark McNally (ME) landed a 4.5 pound haddock. Jim Nagle (NY) tied for the biggest haddock of the day at 6 pounds. Dana Decormier (NH) caught a 5 pound haddock, his biggest fish. He also caught three haddock over 4 pounds. I believe that he caught the most good sized haddock. It would be hard for me to single out our best tangler today. I might tell you that it was Dana. However, Joe Petruska (ME) might have been better at this. The difference was that Joe had Amanda Beaule (ME) - who, herself, was very successful today - to help him with the tangles. Dana had to call me, thus, calling attention to himself!. I do believe that Dana, however, was the healthiest angler aboard today! Certainly a plus!
I received a very much needed donation from Ron Covey (VT) of $50.00 today sponsoring me in my cancer fundraising drive with the Pan-Mass Challenge. Thank you so very much, Ron. I really appreciate the support and for thinking of me and those in need. It's a great research crew I support. And they too appreciate it very much. See you tomorrow!
At 3:00 AM EDT the air temperature was 50°F at the boat, the sky was hazy clear, there wasn't enough wind to write about and the visibility over the ocean was excellent.
If there was any wind on the ride to the fishing grounds, it wasn't much. I never even checked the wind direction as most of the ocean was calm. The visibility was nearly excellent, the sky was hazy clear and it was, probably, the most comfortable ride that you can have on a boat. The air temperature rose from 50°F to 56°F before reaching our destination. The surface water temperature ranged from 46°F to almost 50°F.
On the fishing grounds, the ocean was calm all day. At one point, around 10:00 AM, we had a three knot north northeast wind. Aside from that, the ocean stayed glassy all day long, the longest period of extended calm that I have seen this year so far. The sky remained hazy clear all day with whisps of cirrus clouds like contrails in the sky. The air temperature reached a high of 73°F with the lack of wind and sunny conditions. The visibility ranged to twenty-five or more miles in some haze. The tide (current) was moderate. The surface water temperature reached a high of 50.1°F from 46°F when we first started fishing.
The ocean was flat ass glassy calm almost the whole ride back to Perkins Cove. About fifteen miles away, we picked up a light southeast wind. This died out about eight miles later. Enroute, I saw a surface water temperature of 56.6°F in the deep water, the highest surface water temperature I have seen this season so far.
Ashore, these were the air temperatures in selected New England cities: In Perkins Cove, Ogunquit, Maine the high air temperature was 73°F. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 72°F (with a low of 55°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 80°F (with a low of 41°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 73°F (with a low of 45°F).
The fishing was excellent, the catching was excellent and landings were excellent. The landings were suspect as I was doing some experimenting in new places. After riding and fishing for about two hours and just a handful of legal fish, I decided to bail and head to more productive areas, but also an area I hadn't fished this season yet. It turned out to be the bonanza grounds with a fish a cast for the rest of the fishing. Most legal fish landed were good sized haddock. Most of these haddock were 5 pounds, more or less. We would surely have reached the boat's bag limit had we not played around for two hours first. As it was we almost caught the angler limit anyway. Legal landings also included forty-one cusk, five pollock and a redfish. Released fish included a cod of 19.5 pounds, a 6.5 pound cod, seven small cod, seven cusk, thirty-two small pollock, forty-six dogfish and three wolffish. We drift fished and anchored. Anchoring was much more productive. Bait worked best but all terminal gear worked well.
I really couldn't tell you who was high hook with the most legal sized fish. Fred Kunz (NH) was his usual humble self, quiet, staying out of the tangles and catching fish after fish. His largest fish was a 6.5 pound haddock but he caught several haddock of 6 pounds each. He could have been high hook but I could not qualify that. Matt Luce (ME) won the boat pool for largest fish with the largest fish, a 19.5 pound cod. This is the Bunny Clark's largest cod of the fishing season to date. I took a picture of Matt holding our biggest cod before releasing it back alive. This digital image appears on the left with Jared Lavers (ME) holding one of his cusk on the right in the shot. Matt also caught a 9.75 pound pollock, the Bunny Clark's largest pollock of the season so far, and a 6 pound haddock. The second largest fish was a 16.5 pound wolffish caught by Bryan Dillon (NH). He caught this as a double with a cusk that weighed 10.5 pounds. The wolffish is the second largest wolffish of the Bunny Clark season so far. The cusk is tied for our third largest of the season to this point and was the fourth largest fish of the trip.. The double is our largest Bunny Clark double of the fishing season at the time of this writing. Bryan also caught a 6.5 pound cusk. His biggest haddock weighed 6 pounds. He did not enter the boat pool for the second largest fish.
Dave Robitaille (NH) won the boat pool for the second largest fish with the third largest fish, a 12 pound wolffish. This is the Bunny Clark's fourth largest wolffish of the season so far. I believe that Dave's largest haddock was the 6.1 pound haddock I weighed before the wolffish. Ron Covey (VT) won the boat pool for the third largest fish with the fifth largest fish, a 10.25 pound wolffish, the ninth largest Bunny Clark wolffish this season to date..
Other Angler Highlights: Darlene Chin (ME/FL) might have had the best haddock day of her life. I will find out later, I guess. She caught a haddock double that included two haddock of trophy size. Unfortunately, I brought one gaff when I really needed two, losing the bigger haddock over the side because of a flumux on my part! The haddock that I did save weighed 7.25 pounds. At the time, it was the largest haddock of her life. However, later in the day, she topped that with an 8 pound Maine state trophy haddock! That makes three trophy haddock for her that Darlene has landed so far this year and two trophy haddock that she lost over the side! I took a picture of Darlene with her big haddock, this digital image appears on the right. Her 8 pound haddock is tied for the Bunny Clark's sixth largest haddock of the fishing season to date.She also caught the second largest cod at 6.5 pounds and a 6.5 pound cusk. Bob Kent was fishing with Darlene up in the bow. Some of the fish of his that I weighed included a 7.25 pound cusk, a 9 pound cusk, a 6.9 pound haddock and a 7 pound Maine state trophy haddock.
Jared Lavers caught a 9 pound cusk, a 10 pound cusk, a 6.5 pound haddock and a 6.9 pound haddock. The 10 pound cusk is the sixth largest cusk that has been caught on the Bunny Clark this season so far. Jasper Downs (ME) caught a 6.9 pound haddock, his best fish. I weighed a 5.5 pound haddock for Larry Drew (NH) early in the game. Near the end of the trip, he caught a haddock that was just shy of a Maine state trophy at 6.8 pounds. Mark Round (MA) caught a 6.5 pound haddock, his largest haddock of the trip. "Juicy" Bruce Fortier (NH) caught a 7 pound cusk, his biggest fish. Jeff Pereira (RI) landed a 9 pound pollock, his best fish, and our second largest pollock of the season. John Pereira (MA) fought a porbeagle shark for about fifteen minutes before breaking it off. But Jonah Rogers (ME) took the cake in the shark department today. He almost boated a 200 pound porbeagle shark until it realized it was fighting for it's life. The shark broke the jig off eventually. He had a second hookup that went forward and took his line over the anchor line and broke off, his second jig of the day. Yet another porbeagle of about 100 pounds charged after a haddock that was on Jonah's line. This time the shark got half of the haddock without getting hooked!
I received several donations today sponsoring me in my cancer fundraising drive with the Pan-Mass Challenge. The anglers and their donations included Jared Lavers for $20.00, an anonymous donation of $5.00, a $30.00 donation from Steve Urbanowicz (NY). Thank you all so very much for your help and support. I really do appreciate this!
At 5:00 AM EDT the air temperature was 51°F, the sky was mostly clear with high cirrus clouds, the wind was light out of the southwest and the visibility over the ocean seemed excellent.
Today was an absolutely gorgeous day. The air temperature reached a high of 81°F in Perkins Cove. The air temperature would have been higher but there was an eight to ten knot southerly breeze blowing off the water to keep it perfectly warm without being too warm. The sky was hazy clear all day, the haze created by Canadian wild fires, I was told. The sky also had high thin clouds like we had yesterday. The visibility also suffered a bit from this. It seemed excellent with a bit of haze. So, maybe, it was very good but it seemed excellent to me. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 85°F (with a low of 60°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 88°F (with a low of 49°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 75°F (with a low of 49°F).
I spent most of the morning on Barnacle Billy's stuff with quite a few managers meetings, mostly one on one meetings. This is the time of year I like to do this. I want to make sure everyone is happy and enjoying working at the restaurant.
I got home before noon so I could take a shower and come back to the restaurant, talk to patrons and work in the office.
At 4:15 PM, I went home to change out of my cloths and work on the Bunny Clark. I had a few small projects and I needed to stock the boat for tomorrow. These are things that we were running out of like paper towels and bum wad.
We are sailing on a charter tomorrow with a group I have so enjoyed over the years. It's a trip I'm very much looking forward to but anxious that I won't find enough fish. You wish special catches for anglers like this. I'll let you know how it went after tomorrow.
At 3:00 AM EDT the air temperature was 62°F (the air temperature was 65°F only two hours earlier), the sky was hazy clear, the wind was light out of the southwest and the visibility over the ocean was excellent.
A westerly wind greeted me when I arrived at the float at 2:00 AM. This wind lifted a flag or two, almost making me think that the weather report was going to be wrong - again! It wasn't. When we left the gate to Perkins Cove behind us, the wind was blowing about eight knots out of the southwest. Seas were chops of a foot. This wind chased us all the way to the fishing grounds, dying out just as we got to our destination. The visibility was excellent. The sky was hazy clear. The highest air temperature on the ride was 57°F. The surface water temperature ranged from 46°F to 48°F..
On the fishing grounds, the ocean was glassy calm all day. There was no wind. The highest air temperature that I saw was 70°F. The viability ranged to twenty-five miles in some haze. The tide (current) was light to moderate. It was too light to anchor in the morning. The sky was hazy but cloudless all day. The surface water temperature reached a high of 55.3°F.
Ashore, these were the air temperatures in selected New England cities: In Perkins Cove, Ogunquit, Maine the high air temperature was 89°F, the highest air temperature of the year to date. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 87°F (with a low of 62°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 93°F (with a low of 56°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 86°F (with a low of 55°F).
The fishing was excellent, the catching was excellent and landings were excellent. With the weather, the sea conditions and a fish a cast, it couldn't have been a better day - unless we also caught a halibut; which we didn't. To qualify that statement, it can always be better. Most legal fish landed were haddock, by far. We ended up releasing any haddock under 4 pounds. Had we kept everything legal we would have had the bag limit by noon. As it was, we reached the boat's bag limit a half hour before we called it a day. A lot of big stuff. Legal landings also included one hundred and twenty-four pollock. We saw our first larger pollock of the season today. Also included were thirty-eight cusk and four redfish. Released fish included two porbeagle sharks, two wolffish, thirteen cusk, four good sized cod, sixteen small cod, eighty-nine small pollock, forty-nine legal haddock and seven sub-legal haddock. We drift fished all morning but did, far and away, our best on anchor at the end of the day. All terminal gear worked well today.
There was no way to tell who was high hook with the most legal fish. Everyone was pooling their fish together, everyone seemed to do equally well and there were a significant number of legal haddock and cusk released. Shane Anderson (MA) caught the largest fish, a 15 pound wolffish. This is the Bunny Clark's third largest wolffish of the fishing season so far. There only one pool today. It was for the biggest legal fish. So wolffish and cod were not included. I did take a great picture of Shane holding his big cat. This digital image appears on the left. Some of Shane's other good fish included a 9 pound cod, a 7 pound cod, a 7.75 pound cod, a 7.5 pound pollock, a 13.5 pound pollock (the Bunny Clark's third largest pollock of the year to date) and a 6.9 pound haddock. Shane's father, Ron Anderson (MA), won the boat pool for the largest fish with the second largest fish, a 14.5 pound pollock. This is the Bunny Clark's largest pollock of the fishing season so far. I took a picture of Ron with his pollock. This digital image appears on the right. Ron also caught a 5.75 pound haddock the first thing this morning, an 8 pound pollock, a 10.75 pound cod, the Bunny Clark's fourth largest cod this year to date, and a 6 pound haddock, right at the end on the last stop. The third largest fish was a 14 pound pollock caught by Dave Miller (MA). This is the Bunny Clark's second largest pollock of the fishing season so far. Dave also caught two haddock of 6 pounds and an 8 pound Maine state trophy haddock, the largest haddock that he has ever caught. This comes in as a tie for the Bunny Clark's sixth largest haddock of the fishing season to date. He would have had the boat pool had he not broken off a porbeagle shark that looked to be 300 pounds! We had porbeagle sharks of various sizes swimming around the boat today while fishing.
Other Angler Highlights: Dennis Pietro (NH) boated a 5.5 pound haddock about the same time as Ron caught his 5.75 pounder. But it wasn't too long after that that Dennis caught our first Maine state trophy haddock of the trip. That fish weighed 7.25 pounds. Anthony Maki (MA), on his maiden voyage aboard the Bunny Clark, caught a 6.5 pound haddock and many other legal fish. Austin Kravitz (MA), also aboard the Bunny Clark for the first time, caught a 9.5 pound pollock, his biggest fish. He also caught a 6.5 pound haddock and an 8 pound Maine state trophy haddock. Like Dave, this haddock ties for our sixth largest fish this year. And, also like Dave, this is the largest haddock that Austin has ever caught. Doug Maki (MA), Anthony's father, landed a 12 pound pollock, his largest fish today. Some of his other fish that I weighed included an 11 pound pollock, a 7 pound pollock, a 6.25 pound haddock and a 7.1 pound Maine state trophy haddock. This might be Doug's biggest haddock ever. He's certainly never caught as big a haddock with me before.
I received two donations today sponsoring me in my cancer fundraising drive with the Pan-Mass Challenge. Dennis Pietro donated a very generous $500.00 "in memory of Captain Ian Keniston" and Dave Miller donated the traditional $30.00 with a promise of more to come in the future. How am I so lucky to be surrounded by so many wonderful individuals? Thank you both so very much for your thoughtfulness and generosity. It really is so very much appreciated! Do I sound like a broken record? Does anyone know what that expression means anymore?
We went through the whole day without rain. After 6:00 PM, we saw sprinkles here and there, hardly getting the ground wet. After 7:00 PM, we had light rain periodically. Around 8:00 PM, we had thunder storms with hard rain. That lasted an hour. After 9:00 PM, we had light rain on into the night. The sky was, pretty much, overcast all day. The air temperature was mild to warm, reaching a high in Perkins Cove of 77°F. The wind was light and variable in direction. The ocean along the shore was calm all day. The visibility was very good to excellent. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 79°F (with a low of 61°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 80°F (with a low of 66°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 75°F (with a low of 62°F).
Catching up on the restaurant was the focus of the day today. That, and in the morning, cleaning up from yesterday's fishing. By cleaning up, I mean completing all the data bases, spread sheets, postings, PMC stuff and recognizing angler efforts.
I was about to go to bed when the thunderstorms struck. Our border collie, Gill, doesn't like them. So I stayed up and watched a movie while also consoling the dog. There isn't much I can do when the dog is upset; panting, drooling, pacing around, coming in the TV room to look at me and going back into the living room. Luckily, the living room has an open wood floor that is easy to clean when the dog makes a mistake. There were a few mistakes. And the movie was only there to give me something to do between episodes of patting the dog and getting the paper towels and cleaning agent out. By 9:00 PM, he was calmed down enough for me to retire for the evening.
Much of the morning remained in fog. We had very little wind all day. The ocean along the shore was calm. What wind we did have was out of the southeast during the afternoon and northeast into the night. The flags were limp all day. The visibility got better in the afternoon. The sky was overcast all day. We had sprinkles of rain in the morning along with the fog. But the rain stopped before 10:00 AM, leaving us with dry roads until 2:00 PM, when it started to rain again. We had periodic light rain for the rest of the day on into the night. The air temperature reached a high of 68°F after noon and then dropped as the day headed toward night. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 67°F (with a low of 61°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 69°F (with a low of 58°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 65°F (with a low of 59°F).
After posting this report, I worked in the restaurant all day, getting out at 7:00 PM, an hour before closing. This was the thirteenth Saturday in a row where it rained. So it has rained every Saturday that we have been open. The business showed it.
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