Bunny Clark Fishing Update
Written & Edited by Tim Tower
Tuesday, June 16, 2026, 3:00 AM EDT
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Note: Note: The new fishing regulations for cod and haddock in the Western Gulf of Maine for the 2026 appear below. These regulations were approved for the season starting on April 1, 2026 and will extend until May 1, 2027.
Gulf of Maine cod
Gulf of Maine haddock
The air temperature was slow to warm today with the wind off the water early, the wind slowly fading away as the morning progressed. The highest air temperature, in the shade, that I saw was 62°F. However, a 4:00 PM on the Bunny Clark, under the shade top with the sun beating down on the top of the canopy, it was 75°F. It was summer on the Bunny Clark. As predicted, the wind blew out of the northeast at about fifteen knots by daybreak and slowly started to drop in velocity. By 10:00 AM, the wind was more out of the north northeast, than northeast, at ten knots. By noon, it was east northeast and just showing a white cap or about eight knots. It had calmed down and was blowing lightly out of the south at 3:00 PM. The southerly wind was almost ten knots at 6:00 PM. The visibility over the ocean was excellent. The sky was mostly clear all day with zero threat of showers. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 58°F (with a low of 49°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 68°F (with a low of 43°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 62°F (with a low of 44°F).
I spent the day running around getting odd jobs done, getting the Bunny Clark ready to sail, working in the restaurants, sending off an engine oil sample, filling the Bunny Clark truck up with fuel, working with Rooterman David who was continuing working out our plumbing drainage problems at my parents house, working on a plan to re-route our sewer, water and gray water, answering emails and sending out donation checks for our various town services. It was a very busy day.
I met Danny DellaMonica down on the Bunny Clark in the afternoon. I was warming up the engine so it wouldn't take as long to bring her up to temperature before the trip tomorrow morning. Danny showed up just before I shut the engine down. He was there to get ice, fill some of the reels that needed line and putting on leaders. He worked for about an hour, I would say. Both of us are very excited about the trip tomorrow.
At one point today, I walked on to the patio at Barnacle Billy's (Original) only to find one of my best ever deck hands, Bryan Tufts, eating a cheeseburger. I spent at least fifteen minutes talking about the fishery, lobstering and old times on the Bunny Clark. It was great to see him..
When running around town in the truck, bringing the Bunny Clark truck to leave at the Cove and walking back down to the Cove at the end of the day to get the BC truck, I had Gill our border collie with me. He loves to do things. But, with his condition, had can't do nearly as much. So I help him enjoy his time with me. This includes lifting him in and out of the truck, bringing a pocket full of milk bones (sometimes I have to coax him to walk with me - he can't resist a milk bone) and encouraging him to walk with me or wait at the head of the ramp while I work on the boat. He still seems very happy and enjoys the ride.
At 2:45 AM EDT the air temperature was 49°F (47°F at the Bunny Clark), the sky was crystal with a waning gibbous moon well above the southwestern horizon, the wind was blowing lightly out of the west and the visibility over the ocean was excellent.
The surface water temperature was 50°F when we broached the gate headed to the fishing grounds.The water temperature dropped to 48°F by the five mile mark. We carried this surface water temperature to within five miles of our destination. The last water temperature I saw before we stopped was 49°F.The ocean was calm for most of the ride out. What wind we did have was from the south, maybe three knots at the twenty mile mark. Two miles before stopping we had eight knots of southerly wind with a chop almost a foot. There was a ground swell from the southeast that averaged six feet, according to the sounding machine. The visibility was excellent, the sky was cloudless and the air temperature was 56°F.
On the fishing grounds, the wind was out of the south to start but, more quickly than I expected, shifted out of the south southwest. The wind was out of the west southwest at noon. The velocity was ten knots or a little more. Seas were chops over a foot to two feet. We ended the fishing with southwest winds of twelve knots and two foot chops with the six foot, more or less, ground swells from the southeast. The air temperature reached a high of 59°F. The visibility ranged to thirty miles to start but dropped to twenty-five miles for the ride home. Clouds started invading the sky by 10:00 AM. The sky was nearly overcast by noon, was overcast by 2:00 PM. We carried overcast skies all the way home. The tide (current) was light. The surface water temperature reached a high of 51.1°F.
Ashore, these were the air temperatures in selected New England cities: In Portsmouth, New Hampshire, the high air temperature was 76°F. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 75°F (with a low of 49°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 77°F (with a low of 39°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 73°F (with a low of 41°F).
The fishing was good to very good. It could have been better had there not been so many tangles. We have certainly had worse tangles. The tangles were just more than what we have been seeing this season. The catching was very good but the bite was off. We lost a lot of good haddock on the surface that were barely hooked. Indeed, the haddock bite was tentative according to those trying to catch them. Landings were good to very good. Most legal fish landed were haddock, by far. We didn't reach the total boat bag limit but many individual anglers reached or surpassed the fifteen limit and there were a lot of good sized haddock that came aboard. Legal landings also included forty-nine cusk, sixteen pollock, nine redfish and forty-eight mackerel. Released fish included thirty-one small cod, eight cod over twenty-three inches, nine cusk, one wolffish, fifteen mackerel and two porbeagle sharks. We started by drifting but ended up doing our best on anchor. Bait worked best.
I couldn't tell you who was high hook.But, If I were to guess, I would say it was Nick Kirychuk (CT). This is purely subjective as we don't count fillets. He caught his bag limit of haddock but he also caught plenty of cusk. The only fish I weighed for him was a 5.5 pound haddock early in the trip. Matt Luce (ME) won the boat pool for the largest fish with the largest fish, a 14 pound wolffish. It was the last fish caught today on the last stop! This is the Bunny Clark's second largest wolffish of the fishing season so far. It's also the second time he has won the boat pool this year with a wolffish. That one weight 11.5 pounds, the third largest wolffish of the Bunny Clark fishing season so far! I didn't take a picture of the big one today as I was in the bow when the fish was boated. So I got a quick weight and tossed it over the side so as not to compromise it's ability to stay alive. Matt lost one of the three trophy haddock that were brought to the surface and lost there! Max Grimm (ME) won the boat pool for the second largest fish with the second largest fish, a 10.5 pound cod. This is the Bunny Clark's third largest cod of the fishing season to date. The third largest fish was an 8.25 pound pollock caught by Steve Smith (MA). He caught this as part of a double with another pollock of 6.25 pounds, both fish caught on the same line at the same time! The 8.25 pound pollock is tied for the second largest pollock to be caught on the Bunny Clark this season so far.
Other Angler Highlights: Karl Day (ME) repeated the feat he accomplished on May 29, 2025, catching three Maine state trophy haddock on one trip! There are only six other anglers who have ever caught three or more trophy haddock on the Bunny Clark on one trip and Karl is one of the six! The record number of trophy haddock caught on one trip by a single angler is five, accomplished first but Jim Koplar (CT) in May of 2024 and tied on May 21, 2026 by Jason Ridolfi (NY)! Those anglers who have caught the three trophy record include Gil Bonvie (MA) who achieved this feat on May 9, 2002, this was tied by Marc Holland (MA) on April 29, 2003, was tied by Jeff Frisby (NY) on April 23, 2010 and was tied by Karl Day last year! Karl's three trophy haddock today included a 7.5 pound haddock, a 7 pound haddock and an 8 pound haddock. I took a picture of Karl holding his 8 pound haddock. This digital image appears on the left. He also caught a 7 pound cusk and a 7.5 pound cusk, the biggest cusk and tied for the second biggest cusk of the trip.
Tom Zido (NY) caught the first fish I could weigh for the boat pool, a 5.25 pound cusk. His biggest fish was a 6.25 pound haddock. Darlene Chin (MA) landed a 6 pound cusk. Her best fish was a 6.75 pound haddock, a quarter of a pound shy of a Maine state trophy. She is no stranger to the trophy haddock, having caught five trophy haddock last year. Dick Grimm (ME) boated a 7.25 pound Maine state trophy haddock. He also caught a 7 pound cusk. Chris Tankred (OH) boated a 7 pound Maine state trophy haddock late in the day. This is the largest haddock that Chris has ever caught. Ben Sohm (NY) caught a 6.9 pound haddock, a 6.75 pound haddock and a 6 pound haddock, all three fish caught right in a row. Jim Jarvis, Jr. (MA) caught a 7.5 pound Maine state trophy haddock. I believe this is his biggest ever haddock. I took a picture of Jim with his big haddock. This digital image appears on the right. He also caught a 7.5 pound cod, the second largest cod of the trip. Zack Grimm (ME) boated a 6.25 pound haddock, his biggest fish. Jeff Tankred (PA) boated a 6 pound haddock.
I know that this recent trend of landing big haddock has got to end at some point. But, right now, I am really enjoying watching these fish being caught. Sometimes I have to pinch myself to make sure I'm not dreaming. I've also had to verify the scale I use to weigh these fish just to make sure I'm not in error. I have been wrong on a lot of things, particularly lately. Weighing fish is not one of them!
Nick Kirychuk did me another solid today as he has on two other occasions this season and donated $20.00 to sponsor me in this season's Pan-Mass Challenge, a ride across the state of Massachusetts to raise money for cancer research. If you have been atune to the news lately, the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, the research center I support, has just come out with a drug to slow down pancreatic cancer. This is a huge deal. Thank you, Nick! As you know, I appreciate this very much!
The sky cleared up until it was cloudless by late morning and early afternoon. The sky remained cloudless for the rest of the day until sunset. The visibility was excellent all day. The wind was light and the ocean along the shore remained calm. When a wind direction became established around mid morning, it was out of the south. We had southerly wind all day long. Mid afternoon saw wind speeds up to ten knots. The died to about five knots at sunset. It was, pretty much, five knots or less of wind most of the day. The air temperature reached a high of 79°F in Ogunquit, from what I observed. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 80°F (with a low of 60°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 85°F (with a low of 46°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 79°F (with a low of 49°F).
As is normal, I spent the most of the day at the restaurants or working on restaurant stuff. I did spend some time getting the Bunny Clark ready to sail tomorrow.
At 2:30 AM EDT the air temperature was 62°F, the sky was clear with a bright gibbous moon destined to sink in the west at 8:24 AM, the wind was blowing out of the west at eight knots or more and the visibility over the ocean was excellent.
The surface water temperature was 50°F, again, just outside the can buoys on the ride to the fishing grounds.The water temperature rose to 54.5°F from the five to fifteen mile mark. The surface water temperature stayed at 50°F for the rest of the ride to our destination. The sky was cloudless. The visibility was excellent. The air temperature hung just below 60°F the whole way. The wind was light out of the west, south southwest when we arrived. Seas were chops of one to two feet, at most.
On the fishing grounds, the wind was out of the southwest or south southwest for most of the day. Wind speeds were, at most, ten knots. With an hour of fishing to go, the wind dropped to nothing. We had one to two foot chops throughout the morning. There was barely any kind of sea at all by 1:00 PM. We never had much of a discernable ground swell. It never got flat calm. Just very close to it. By 2:00 PM, the wind had hauled out of the southwest. We had ten knots of southwest wind with a one foot chop an hour after we left the fishing grounds, more as we progressed. We carried a southwest wind direction all the way back home. The air temperature reached a high of 70°F. The tide (current) was moderate to strong. The visibility ranged to more than twenty-five miles. The sky went from cloudless for most of the trip to milky clear with high thin clouds. The surface water temperature had just reached exactly 52°F when we hauled the anchor to go home, the highest surface water temperature of the day while on the grounds.
Ashore, these were the air temperatures in selected New England cities: In Portsmouth, New Hampshire, the high air temperature was 86°F. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 89°F (with a low of 59°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 89°F (with a low of 49°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 82°F (with a low of 52°F).
The fishing was good, no better than that. The tide was too strong on anchor and promoted tangling. The tide was too strong to drift. Our best catching was completed on anchor. The catching was good on every stop except the last one. It was excellent on the last stop. Landings, overall, were very good. Most legal fish landed were an equal number of haddock and pollock. We could never have reached the bag limit for all the pollock we were catching. We did find a couple of spots where all we caught were cusk and, mostly, haddock. But after noon, it was mostly pollock. Legal landings also included thirty-six cusk and four redfish. Released fish included three cod of 6 pounds or so, twelve small cod, five or six cusk, three sub-legal haddock and fifty-two sub-legal pollock.We had the most success on anchor. Bait worked best for the haddock, Jigs and flies were best for the pollock.
I couldn't tell you who was high hook.Steve Laflam (NH) had the most fish but he was given a lot of cusk. His biggest fish was a 6.5 pound pollock. Steve is a fisherman's fisherman. I always expect him to perform as one of the best. He never disappoints me! Chuck Gramness (NJ) won the boat pool for the largest fish with the largest fish, a 14.75 pound pollock. This is the biggest pollock caught on the Bunny Clark this season so far. His largest haddock weighed 6 pounds. Chris Tankred (OH) won the boat pool for the second largest fish with the second largest fish, a 12.5 pound pollock. This is the Bunny Clark's second largest pollock of the season to date. I took a picture of Chris with his nice pollock. This digital image appears on the left. Chris also caught the largest haddock that he has ever caught, his second trophy in two trips. The fish today was a 7.75 pound Maine state trophy haddock. I took a picture of Chris holding his haddock with my iPhone. This digital image appears on the right. Mark Hayes (ME) landed the third largest fish, a 10 pound pollock. This is a tie for the Bunny Clark's fourth largest pollock of the 2026 fishing season so far. The biggest haddock of Mark's, that I weighed, was 5.5 pounds. He might have caught a bigger one that I didn't weigh.
Other Angler Highlights: On the first stop, Lee Atherton (ME) and Jim Feeney (MA) caught their biggest haddock, each, of the trip. They were two of the first three fish boated today. Jim's weighed 6 pounds. Lee's weighed 5.5 pounds. Tom Zido (NY) caught a lot of fish. But his biggest haddock was 5 pounds. Garry Golden (NY) boated a 6 pound haddock and a 6.5 pound haddock, his two biggest haddock. Aidan Maguire (MA) landed a 6.75 pound cusk, his biggest fish. Phil Ashe (NY) caught two haddock of 6 pounds each, his best fish. Dave Robitaille (NH) caught an 8 pound, his biggest fish and the largest cusk of the trip. It's also the second largest cusk of the Bunny Clark fishing season to date. Eric Blair (WI) caught the largest haddock of the trip and the largest haddock of his life, an 8.25 pound Maine state trophy! Not fifteen minutes later, he caught another trophy haddock of 7.5 pounds! Dana Ferrande (FL) also landed a Maine state trophy haddock. Dana's weighed exactly 7 pounds, a trophy by definition. He caught two other haddock of 6 pounds each. Dave Bagaley (NH) caught a 7.25 pound pollock, his biggest fish. Meredith Howard (NH) caught a 6 pound haddock, her largest fish.
I received several donations today sponsoring me in my cancer fundraising drive with the Pan-Mass Challenge. The anglers and their donations included Lee Atherton for $50.00, an anonymous generous $100.00 donation, Doc Murray (NH) for $40.00, a generous $100.00 gift from Dave Robitaille, Steve Laflam for $50.00 and Tom & Noreen Zido (NY) for $50.00. Thank you all so very very much for your support, generosity and for caring as much as you do. I am humbled by this and it's so very much appreciated!
It was a beautiful day ashore. The sky was clear all day, cloudless for some of it. There was no wind all day. I could see that the ocean was ruffled from time to time but I couldn't discern a wind direction. The ocean was essentially calm all day. The visibility was excellent. The air temperature reached a high of 84°F in Ogunquit, that I saw. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 88°F (with a low of 65°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 88°F (with a low of 52°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 82°F (with a low of 55°F).
It was my day to open the restaurants. I was down there at 4:30 AM. But it wasn't the busy morning that I expected. We had no lobster deliveries. Our biggest two deliveries came after I left the Cove at 9:15 AM. I did spend a lot of time on this fish report. I have to as processing pictures takes extra time. And there was a lot to write about.
Gill, our border collie, it still getting on. He now waits to be lifted in and out of the truck. And his bag legs scuff when he's walking. I try to keep him off the tar as much as I can. The grass is much better for his legs.
I got back to the restaurants at noon and worked until around 6:00 PM. Early in, early out. It was a good business day, unlike the other days this week. Lots of nice people.
By 7:00 AM, a thin layer of clouds had covered the sky. The sun was visibility as a hazy orb for a while and, then, just a light above the clouds. It kept looking like it was going to pop through. But it never really did. The day continued with varying amounts of clouds in the sky but it remained overcast. At 3:30 PM, we had a sprinkle of rain that didn't even wet the roads. That was all the rain we had for the day despite National Weather Service predictions. The wind was light out of the east or east northeast all morning and into the afternoon with wind speeds never getting stronger than eight knots. It piped up a bit at 3:00 PM. Wind speeds out of the east northeast at 4:00 PM were about twelve knots, more or less. The wind remained as such into the night. The visibility remained excellent. The air temperature reached a high of 70°F. This must have happened around noon. Air temperatures started to drop in the early afternoon. By 4:00 PM, the air temperature was 60°F.The air temperature was relegated to the high 50's for the rest of the afternoon and night. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 87°F (with a low of 62°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 83°F (with a low of 56°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 62°F (with a low of 55°F).
I spent the whole day on restaurant stuff. We lit the fires at Billy's at noon even though the air temperature was still 70°F. It didn't take long to realize that this was a good move. The deck was full all day was the building provided a good break from the wind coming across the parking lot. The surface water temperature is still about 51 to 54°F so just and onshore breeze can drop the air temperature quickly.
With a short break, I stayed until closing.
The clouds moved in as the morning progressed. It happened slowly so that, even by noon, there was hope the sky wouldn't become completely overcast. But overcast it did become. All afternoon. We did have some rain showers. These lasted long enough to move people off the deck at Barnacle Billy's and move people out of the garden patio at Barnacle Billly's, Etc. This was around 3:00 PM. We still had the occasional short rain periods around sunset and into the night. The wind blew out of the west or west northwest at about ten knots for the morning and into the afternoon. At the time of the first rain, the wind had shifted out of the north or north northeast. The wind velocity picked up around sunset. Wind speeds over twenty knots were seen (or felt) for a two hour period into the night. The wind was back out of the northwest before midnight. Wind speeds were light. The visibility was excellent. The highest air temperature that I saw was 78°F right around noon. The air temperature dropped after that. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 82°F (with a low of 59°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 79°F (with a low of 52°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 75°F (with a low of 54°F).
Another day at the restaurant. And another day working around the weather. It was a beautiful day in the morning and the first, almost three, hours of the afternoon. The garden patio was full. The deck at Original was full. Business overall was not as good as the same day last year.
I continue to take Gill, our border collie, to the Cove in the morning in the truck and walk back home after getting the truck parked. This morning, I had to get the boat ready as, tomorrow, I have too much going on with it being the first day of the work week and trying to get set up to have a few repairs (restaurant & my parent's house) done at some time this week. So Gill and I walked home together after putting stuff on the Bunny Clark. I walked down with Gill to get the truck after work. His back legs are giving him more troubles. I try to keep him in the grass as much as I can. He also seeks out the grass.
It was a beautiful spring day today. The sky was clear and sunny all day, cloudless in the morning. It was nearly cloudless all day. The visibility remained excellent. The wind, when there was wind, was very light all morning. The ocean along the shore was calm. A southerly breeze picked up in the afternoon. It was about eight knots, at most. The air temperature climbed over 70°F but didn't get much higher in Perkins Cove with the afternoon sea breeze blowing over the parking lot. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 74°F (with a low of 56°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 81°F (with a low of 45°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 76°F (with a low of 49°F).
It was a manic Monday for sure. I had a list of items I had to tick off before a conference call at the restaurant at 11:00 AM. And I was rushing around to do so. Then our waste management company didn't pick up the trash. So I had to go back and forth with that. I also had a lot of boat stuff to do between working at the restaurant and talking to patrons. It was a very busy day. I was hoping to go for a run at some point but never got the chance. And I had time with Gill dropping off the truck in the morning and walking him down to the truck in the afternoon.
At 2:45 AM EDT the air temperature was 62°F (59°F at the Bunny Clark), the sky was clear with a crescent moon hanging above the eastern horizon, the wind was blowing out of the southwest at ten knots and the visibility over it was excellent.
The crescent moon was over my right shoulder when we passed through the gate into the open ocean. The air temperature was 59°F and the surface water temperature was 54°F. In fact, we carried that same air temperature all the way to the fishing grounds. The surface water dropped a degree after a couple of miles. We carried that value all the way to the fishing grounds as well. The sky was clear with high thin whispy clouds in places. The visibility was excellent. The wind blew out of the south southwest almost the whole way to our destination. The wind was out of the southwest with just a couple miles to go.
On the fishing grounds, the wind blew out of the west to start. Wind speeds were about ten knots. The wind continued out of the west but it dropped to six or eight knots. Seas were chops of a foot or a bit more. The wind backed out of the southwest for a couple hours and, then, hauled out of the west when it was time to go home. Seas were not much more than a foot in chops the whole day. The high air temperature was 64°F.The visibility ranged to more than twenty-five miles. The tide (current) was moderate. The sky was cloudless all day except for the contrails. The surface water temperature reached a high of 54.2°F.
Ashore, these were the air temperatures in selected New England cities: In Portsmouth, New Hampshire, the high air temperature was 86°F. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 86°F (with a low of 59°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 88°F (with a low of 49°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 85°F (with a low of 52°F).
The fishing was excellent. You could drift or anchor, the weather was perfect, the air was warm, the sky was sunny and the tide was nearly perfect. The catching was good at best. Landings were fair. The first three or four stops were slow. The catching picked up after 11:00 AM but not to the level i had expected. Legal landings included forty-two haddock, twenty-four cusk, six pollock and four redfish. Released fish included no sub-legal haddock, one 5.5 pound cod, thirty-eight small cod, eleven or more cusk and seventeen or so sub-legal pollock. We drift fished and anchored. Drifting worked best today. Mostly jigs and flies were used with bait gommed on treble hooks and flies.
I couldn't tell you who was high hook. There were three anglers who were close. Nikki Szczepanski (DC) won the boat pool for the largest fish with the largest fish, a 10.5 pound cusk. This is the third time that she has won the boat pool in the last four trips. The cusk is the largest cusk of the Bunny Clark fishing season to date. I took a picture of Nikki with her pool winning fish. This digital image appears on the left. Her brother, Mike Szczepanski (NY), won the boat pool for the second largest fish with the second largest fish, a 7 pound cusk. He caught a 6.25 pound cusk earlier in the trip. The third largest fish was a 6.5 pound cusk caught by Kelsey Oakley (NY).
Other Angler Highlights: Craig Coleman (NY) might have caught the most haddock of the trip, at least ten. He didn't start catching them until he threw the banana overboard! His fish of note included the biggest cod at 5.5 pounds, a 5.5 pound haddock and a 5.75 pound haddock. Jason Szczepanski (NY) caught the largest haddock at 6 pounds.
I received several donations today sponsoring me in my cancer fundraising drive with the Pan-Mass Challenge. The different people and their donations included Nikki Szczepanski for a generous $150.00, Mike Szczepanski for a generous $130.00 donation, Richard Lyon (CT) for $20.00, Betsy McLaughlin (NY) for a very generous $500.00 and Mike Tirrito (VT) for $50.00. Thank you all so very very much for your support, generosity and thoughtfulness. It's a super amount of help to those who have the disease and those who are trying to solve the cancer riddle.
Today was a match of what we had yesterday except the wind was even lighter in the morning and the wind direction was southeast for south southeast. I don't believe we ever got as much as ten knots of wind. The morning saw less than five knots and a flat calm ocean in front of the Cove. The visibility was very good in some haze. The sky was nearly cloudless, much like yesterday. The air temperature soared to a high of at least 88°F. But it seemed more humid today. Most of the day I was not in Ogunquit. So this was adapted from comments of those I trust. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 90°F (with a low of 62°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 91°F (with a low of 56°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 86°F (with a low of 58°F).
After I finished my morning chores, sans a run on the beach or on the stat bike, I drove to Wakefield, Massachusetts for join a meeting held by the New England Fishery Management Council. It was a meeting of the Groundfish Committee, the Recreational Advisory Panel (RAP) and Groundfish Advisory Panel.
The meeting started off with showing improvements to the Recreational Demand Model Decision Support Tool. This is what we use as recreational managers to establish catch limits with a greater chance of staying within the boundaries of the recreational Sub-ACL (the quota established by the National Marine Fisheries Service). Going over the boundaries might cost us cod or haddock the following year. This is the beginning of the third year that we have been using the tool to establish the size limits, bag limits and season for cod and haddock, specifically. The first year I needed to be held by the hand to come up the limits I thought would be most viable for all. Last year, the tool was very much easier to use. This new version looks to be great.
The rest of the day was talking about Framework 74, the difficulties of getting raw data and accurate landings data (particularly from the private recreational angler), new tools for assimilating positive outcomes with less risk, what we are seeing out there as stakeholders and Amendment 23. Honestly, much was not anything of concern as it applies to recreational anglers. The overall handling of the fishery by the Council has always been a concern for me. And, those who know me (and who knew Ian Keniston) know what I mean. But the Council now is a fast moving train. I have felt for a few years now that I can really do nothing but let it roll on by. I do contribute as a RAP member but the fishery as a whole is sick. I'm just hoping it doesn't die.
The recreational aspect of the meeting was over at 2:00 PM.
At 2:15 AM EDT the air temperature was 67°F, the sky was overcast, it was pouring rain, you could hear thunder and lightning in the distance, the wind was blowing out of the south at ten knots and the visibility over the ocean appeared to be good, at least. Although, I know that these conditions can produce fog.
Today was the day we sailed with the purpose of burying Captain Ian Keniston, the best captain that ever stepped foot on the Bunny Clark. His wish was to be buried at sea. I had told all his family members that I would provide the Bunny Clark and complete the job in any way they wanted. I had been talking to his son, mostly, Ryan, during the winter. His family knew that Ian wanted to be buried at sea but they were at loggerheads as to how it was going to be completed. This had been a debate since he passed on December 15, 2024. Ian had told me that he wanted to be buried on the fishing grounds. The problem was that part of the family didn't want that as they don't fish and they felt they might be susceptible to the dreaded mal de mer. At some point this spring, I suggested to Ryan that maybe he could go on the marathon trip on June 11th, his father's birthday. [Ian would have been 56 today.] So, today, Ryan brought half of Ian's ashes and I brought Ian's old Bunny Clark hoodie and we traveled to a spot where he was very successful on the marathon trips that he took over from me in 2023 after I broke my back. Word got out and several of Ian's good friends also signed up for the trip. Before leaving Perkins Cove, I gave a short speech this morning. Ryan gave a short speech when we arrived at the spot. Ryan spread his ashes after his speech and I brought a rock for Ian's hoodie. "Goodbye, old friend."
It was a very emotional day for me today. It started by Steve LaPlante (CT) giving me a groundfish rod that Bryan Lewer had made for me, commemorating today's event and Ian's passing. A rod with the legend; "In Memory of Captain Ian Keniston". I thought that should be enough and I would be okay after that. But I couldn't hold it together in the speech before the prep speech I always give before every fishing trip. I reined my emotions in for the rest of the trip. By the way, the rod is beautiful. I fished with it but could only do so when the fishing was slow. I didn't experience a fish at the end of the line today.
And, even though it wasn't planned, some of Ian's best customers/friends were aboard today including Jonathan "Griff" Griffin (MA), Ray Westermann (MA), Bill & Marie Harding (ME), Dan Killay (VT), Jay O'Connor (ME), Jon Tesnakis (NY), Mark Girard (NH), Steve LaPlante, Steve Selmer (NH), Ian's brother and former Bunny Clark captain/deck hand, Jared Keniston and Ian's best deck hand (not including Jared) and very good friend, Anthony Palumbo (MA). We also had three anglers who had never sailed on the Bunny Clark before. But, I can tell you, all appreciated this whole new part of the Bunny Clark fishing experience and were touched by being included. Of course, that was the way Captain Ian treated everyone who sailed on the Bunny Clark anyway. So this was appropriate.
We had light southerly wind after leaving the can buoys astern. It looked to be about six knots or less. The channel leading to the gate was a bit foggy but not enough to need the radar or GPS. The rain seemed to calm everything down as it was windier as we were getting ready to leave the dock before and during the rain. The further we went out, the less wind we saw. A third of the way to our destination we had an air temperature of 67°F with a surface water temperature of 55°F. Seas were short swells that averaged about three feet. There was no wind. The sky was almost completely overcast except for a small patch where the sun was coming up to the east. The visibility ranged to fifteen miles at best.
On the fishing grounds, the wind was very light from the south. We lost the wind completely an hour later. The three foot short swell morphed into a deep swell that, at times, averaged about six feet. This swell diminished to about two feet before the end of the fishing. The surface water went glassy. In fact, we had zero wind and a glassy sea all the way back home. The air temperature reached a high of 67°F. The visibility started at about ten miles or a little more but went to three boat lengths in fog. We carried fog with about ten boat lengths of visibility almost the whole ride home. The tide (current) was strong to moderate to light and opposing the wind or two the south until before the last stop, where it nearly died. The sky was overcast until the last stop, when the sun broke out above the fog. The surface water temperature reached a high of 56°F.
Ashore, these were the air temperatures in selected New England cities: In Portsmouth, New Hampshire, the high air temperature was 88°F and humid. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 90°F (with a low of 68°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 91°F (with a low of 70°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 83°F (with a low of 63°F).
The fishing was good or maybe better than that. The weather conditions were fantastic. But the tide was just a little to strong to call it very good. The catching was very good, excellent if you included mackerel. Landings were good to very good for numbers, good for size. Most legal fish landed were haddock, by far. However, we never had to worry about the bag limit. Legal landings also included sixty-one pollock, twelve redfish, a white hake, our first of the season, eighty-seven mackerel (at least) and forty-three cusk. Released fish included one cod that weighed 11.75 pounds, eleven small cod, eleven cusk, four sub-legal haddock, twenty-seven sub-legal pollock and about seventeen mackerel. We were most successful on anchor. We did drift a couple of times. All terminal gear worked about the same but bait had the edge.
I couldn't tell you who was high hook. There were too many anglers, all having the same outcome. Ray Westermann (MA) won the boat pool for the largest fish with the largest fish, 14 pound wolffish. This ties with Matt Luce (ME) for the second largest wolffish of the Bunny Clark fishing season to date. I took a picture of Ray with his big cat. This digital image appears on the left. Ray always catches his share of haddock. Today was no exception, including losing what was probably a trophy, the first fish brought to the surface this morning. Dan Killay (VT) won the boat pool for the second largest fish with the second largest fish, an 11.75 pound cod, the largest cod of the Bunny Clark fishing season to date. His largest pollock weighed 9.5 pounds, the largest pollock of the trip. There was a tie for third place at 11.5 pounds. There were two, both cusk. Jonathan Griffin (MA) caught one. Rob Conkling (NH) caught the other.
Other Angler Highlights: Bill Harding caught the largest haddock at 6.5 pounds. He also caught the first white hake of the Bunny Clark season. I didn't weigh it but it looked to be about 7 pounds. He and Marie Harding caught quite a few haddock between them. Mark Girard caught a perfect looking 6 pound haddock. I took a picture of Mark holding this great fish and will use it later on. Steve Selmer boated an 8.25 pound cusk. This is the Bunny Clark's fifth largest cusk of the fishing season so far. Jason O'Connor caught a 6 pound haddock. Tom Lappala (CT) also caught a 6 pound haddock, his largest haddock. Tony Forstner (ME) landed an 8 pound pollock, his biggest fish. Dave & Angie Armer (MD) fished with us for the first time today. They caught the two biggest redfish of the Bunny Clark fishing season today (so far). Dave caught a 2.5 pound Maine state trophy. But Angie caught the largest redfish we have seen in years. It was a Maine state trophy of 3.25 pounds! Caliper fork length was 17.25" with a girth of 14.5"! The last time we caught a redfish that big was on June 4, 2019, when Steve LaPlante (who was aboard today) caught one that weighed 3.5 pounds. That's the largest redfish we have seen in twenty years, at least. That fish was 18" caliper fork length. We also caught another redfish that same year that weighed 3.25 pounds. I took a picture today of Angie's trophy red. This digital image appears on the right.
I received three donations today sponsoring me in the Pan-Mass Challenge, a cycling event fundraiser for cancer research that I have been involved in for, this, my twentieth year. Tom Lappala donated a generous $100.00 while Mitch Palmer (NC) donated $20.00 and Peter Voorheis (NY) donated a very generous $350.00. Thank you all so very much for your gift to so many. And many, including me, do very much appreciate this!
The sky stayed mostly clear all day, very similar to the sky yesterday afternoon. There was no wind in the morning until about noon when I detected a northeast light wind of about six knots or so. The wind was strong enough to keep the air temperature down. It was very warm inland but, in Perkins Cove, I never saw the air temperature go above 76°F. The visibility was very good. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 88°F (with a low of 69°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 93°F (with a low of 69°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 76°F (with a low of 57°F).
I had to much to do this morning to get any exercising in. I got up at 3:00 AM, as I normally do. But instead of doing my core workout, I started working on yesterday's fishing report. I had to open the restaurants at 4:30 AM. So I was down there for a while, turning thins on, talking to the bread man and making sure certain parts of the building were available for prep cooks and the like. I went down with the truck and Gill. So I walked the dog back and then took the scooter down. I was done down there at 9:15 AM. I came home from the Cove than, spending most of the rest of the morning working on this report.
I was back down to the Cove at noon. But I had desk work to do and calls to make as it is the last day of the work week. I had to leave for my annual visit to the cardiologist. I was back at the restaurant after that. I left early evening, 6:15 PM, as is my normal schedule. It was busy this evening, though. Later, I walked Gill down to get the truck. He had a shot at the vet's on Thursday so that his legs don't hurt as much when walking. His back legs seems to be about the same, which is okay. He loves sniffing his way down to the Cove.
The air temperature ramped up until it was 88°F sometime after noon. The wind blew out of the west or west northwest at about ten knots, more or less, for most of the day. It wasn't as humid but it wasn't like the wonderful air temperatures of yesterday when the wind was coming off the cooler ocean. What we had near the ocean today was like what they had inland yesterday. There was a little northeast wind to start. But that quickly died out and gave way to calm conditions. The wind was out of the south offshore. But we only saw westerly warm winds in Perkins Cove. The visibility was very good at least. The sky remained clear. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 90°F (with a low of 73°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 87°F (with a low of 61°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 86°F (with a low of 58°F).
I spent the day at the restaurant. It was a beautiful day to be there. It wasn't terribly busy for the first few hours. I believe that's always the case for us with it being such a perfect beach day with the tide falling all of the afternoon.
The sky stayed clear all morning and for some of the afternoon. The clouds rolled in around 1:00 or 1:30 PM. It looked like it was going to rain at 2:00 PM. That didn't happen. by 3:30 PM, the sky had cleared again. It was mostly sunny until sunset. The wind became established out of the south by around 8:00 AM and kept increasing in velocity. By noon, we had ten knots of southerly wind. By 2:30 PM, the wind was blowing a solid fifteen knots. It increased a bit more but stayed between fifteen and seventeen knots with higher gusts. Wind speeds dropped sometime before sunset. I never paid attention to this again. The visibility was very good all day. The highest air temperature that I saw was 83°F at noon. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 91°F (with a low of 69°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 90°F (with a low of 55°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 81°F (with a low of 60°F).
It was another exceptional day in almost every way. We did have the cloudiness in the afternoon but it kept things more comfortable, temperature wise.
No tuna boats left the Cove today. So far, it has been a slow start to the season. Only three bluefins have been landed so far. Normally, the bulk of the landings have already taken place. I'm talking about previous Junes. The ocean is certainly very different this year.
Our border collie, Gill, is doing slightly worse. He still loves to go with me any time I get up out of my desk chair. But it's getting slightly harder for him to get around.
It continued to rain until 6:00 AM. We had no rain after that. The sun was out shortly after and stayed out with a mostly clear sky for the rest of the day. There was ten to fifteen knots of southerly wind in the early part of the morning. When I looked at 9:00 AM, there was just about nothing for wind. By noon, there wasn't enough wind to blow a candle out; the ocean along the shore was glassy calm. We never did get any wind during the daylight hours. The visibility was very good. The air temperature rose to a value of 83°F, that I saw. It could have been higher. There was a bit of humidity in the morning but very little after noon. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 83°F (with a low of 67°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 79°F (with a low of 60°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 88°F (with a low of 60°F).
It was manic Monday again today. I had this update to post plus all the other things I do before I start working at 3:00 AM. I did work on this website in general as well. I took Gill down to the Cove with the Bunny Clark truck so I could get my parking spot and give Gill a good walk home. While there I realize the dumpsters had not been emptied. At 8:00 AM, I called our new trash collection service contact to find out if we were going to be serviced or not. They usually pick up at 4:30 AM. By about 6:30 AM, while I was trying to figure out something else, they serviced the dumpsters. But I still needed to call again to add another dumpster as we didn't have room enough over the weekend to store all the trash.
I had to schedule my manager son, Micah, to meet our Rotorooter guy at my parents house that we are renting out to some of our employees. The upstairs tubs aren't draining. This was preceeded by calls back and forth with the Rooterman. At the same time I wanted to thank our wonderful book keeper, Sarah, for the wonderful job she had done for us.
I was able to fit in a four mile run before I met with our excavating contractor, Tim Darling. We need to tear up the lawn to find the water line and to redirect our sump pump water and gray water from the washing machine, at the same time prep the driveway for tarring, a big project. We climbed all over the place. I had just enough time to take a shower and get back to the restaurants.
I spent the rest of the day as the restaurants and taking a peek, every now and then, at the World Cup. In the meantime, I was also getting the Bunny Clark ready to sail for tomorrow.
At 2:30 AM EDT the air temperature was 61°F, the sky was a mix of clouds and stars, the wind was blowing out of the west northwest at five knots and the visibility over the ocean was excellent. More later.
As the Iran war continues, so does the increase in fuel prices. So I'm afraid we will have to ask for a fuel surcharge. If we go offshore, the price will start at $20.00, for the offshore trips. If we end up fishing closer to shore, I will refund $10.00 of it. I'm sorry I have to do this. And I hope you understand. Hopefully, these fuel prices will decrease so we can go
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