Bunny Clark Fishing Update
Written & Edited by Tim Tower
February 8, 2010, 5:10 AM EST
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I worked on this web page for quite a while today. Most of it was getting the 2009 stuff put away and getting ready for the 2010 season. Although, I did take Dave Gray (VT) down off the cover page after over two months at the helm. I was sorry to see him go. And I changed images at the start of the Update section as well, taking down Dan Kelley (ME) and Buzz Leonard (ME). Also sorry to see them go. It's been two months since the last trip. Hard to believe.
I changed the oil in my oldest car. Brian Murphy knows the one. It took me two hours with the disposing of the old oil and the cleaning. Ian Keniston called me a couple of times. They are renovating the walls and rewiring the barn around the Bunny Clark, bringing it up to code. I had a meeting with Steve Eberle (Canvasworks - the best, really and truly) about mid afternoon. We talked about side curtains and protective coverings (against water damage) around the hatches in the engine room. The side curtains need to be repaired as a fairly large sea blew them out during our slowest (for catch rate) marathon trip of the fall. Don't look at me, Steaker Jim Strobridge picked the day. And you know how he is with the weather.
I worked on finalizing the work order for the Bunny Clark for the rest of the day.
I did manage to see most of the two Fenway games. I watched the UNH women come back from a two goal deficit to beat NU by a score of 5 to 3 with four unanswered goals in the third, beating NU for the twenty-sixth straight ice hockey game in a row. Ouch! Then I watched BU defeat their rivals down the street, BC, with a 3 to 2 win. BC didn't look as good as I thought they would. Never underestimate the hockey clubs of Jack Parker! Great games at Fenway. I've never been to Fenway but I've always loved it like I had.
I spent part of the morning finishing the work order for the Bunny Clark and printing copies for the upcoming meeting.
After noon, I headed to Holderness School where Micah was having his hockey game. It was a two hour drive to get there. The game was very fun, a huge departure from the last game I saw his team play. Very few penalties, no bad penalties and no fighting. Plus, they played like a team. And, I got to see my son play a good game. He had a couple of shots on goal and played very well in the last five minutes of the game. I got back home at about 6:30 PM.
I drove to Massachusetts (Belmont Wheel Works), my annual pilgrimage, to get all my tires and bike parts for the summer. Monday is a good day to do it as it tends to be the most hectic day of the week. Nice to be away.
The rest of the day was spend doing Bunny Clark stuff: following up on the many projects that are in the works, ordering and working on license renewals.
I had discussions with Bill Cairns (Commandant (CG-54132) USCG & Chairman of the IALA e-NAV Committee) last week and yesterday. United States Loran stations will be turned off on February 8, 2010. The Nantucket station may stay on for a while longer but not much longer. Also, the Canadian stations have not come up with a time line on termination. But it is suspected that they too will be off by June 2010. Mr. Cairns has allowed that if you have questions he can be reached at William.R.Cairns@uscg.mil.
I worked at the desk most of the morning. Before noon, I started on building the reservation book. At the same time, I started preparing for a hearing I have to go to in Augusta on Thursday. The hearing pertains to a bill that, if passed, will provide employees with mandatory paid sick leave with employers footing the bill. This coming on the heels of one of the worst economic times we've been through. And at the same time the state it trying to cut millions of dollars in funding for their Health & Human Services department. At any rate, I got rolling on the reservation book. By the time I got home for lunch at 2:00 PM, the "Guestletter" was ready to proof. That took the rest of the afternoon going back and forth with the printer. I signed off on the final proof and correction at 5:00 PM. I spent the rest of the time on the hearing document and emails until dinner. I would have much rather been fishing.
I worked on a little bit of everything today. All except building the reservation book. I worked on the hearing document for tomorrow, a definite time waster. This is going to set me back a couple of days for sure. Hopefully, something good will come of it.
Took a break in the later afternoon to watch my daughter, Halley's, hockey game at the Dover Ice Arena, Dover, New Hampshire. It was a fun game, a well played game, but another loss. The other team out played them offensively even though Halley's team did best in defense. Putting the puck in the net wins games.
My whole day was centered around the hearing in our state's capitol, Augusta. I spent from 5:00 AM to 10:00 AM writing my hearing document (I had written notes to myself on the topic for the last three days). At 10:15 AM, I headed to Augusta. Then from 12:00 noon until after 6:00 PM, I waited to present my document and speak to it in front of the Labor Committee. It wasn't until 6:15 PM that I was allowed to speak. This after eating a peanut butter and jelly sandwich at 11:00 AM that my wife gave to me as I walked out the door. I can't deny, I also had several sips of water from the fountain in the lobby! After I completed my stint, I bolted and drove straight home. I got there a little before 8:30 PM.
I was speaking against a bill that called for giving mandatory paid sick leave to employees. And, like all of these contentious bills, it's not that I am against paid sick leave. But I am against the government getting in the way of running my business. The more they get involved, the less competitive your business becomes. But there was a lot more wrong about the bill than I can get into here. And, in all, it wasn't a fun day. It was interesting and I think I learned quite a bit in a short period of time. But it wasn't fishing!
And I kept thinking to myself; I wonder how Dave MacDonald is doing with the Francis Fleet? Dave had wanted me to go fishing with him on this day. I would have loved to have gone.
At 5:00 AM EST, the air temperature was 30°F, the sky was clear, the wind was blowing out of the southwest at twenty knots (more or less) and the visibility was excellent. The sky was clear all day, the wind blew up to twenty knots out of the west (or some variation from the south of west) and the air temperature was mild, a great day to be ashore. The air temperature got up over the 40 degree mark. The visibility was very good in some haze. The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 44°F (with a low of 28°F) today. In Boston, Massachusetts the high was 46°F (with a low of 31°F) today. Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 41°F (with a low of 22°F) today.After yesterday's loss of time, today was spent running around getting things done before getting shut out on the weekend. Picking up supplies at Staples, a pow wow at the Bunny Clark with Dave Pease and the boys (Jared & Ian), dropping my rental car off and picking up my newly repaired truck, a trip to Canvasworks for details on the side curtains, a couple hours building the reservation book and picking up the finished Guestletters just before the Edison Press closed for the weekend. The Guestletters look good this year. I had lots of other little details going around town as well.
On Thursday, Dave MacDonald (MA) took a trip with the Francis Fleet and caught a few fish (nine legal including two cod and a pollock). It was a perfectly calm day with nice temperatures. He sent me a couple of pictures. One appears on the right showing him holding up one of his cod (left) and his pollock. Note the Bunny Clark hoodie. Good boy, that Dave! Don Johnson (MA) and Jim Feeney (MA) went on the Francis Fleet today and didn't do much at all. Also, it was a bit rough. Apparently, the Francis Fleet were between fish today. Will probably be better over the weekend. But, hey, that's fishing.
I spent most of the morning working on building the reservation book. This down at Barnacle Billy's, Etc. I have three months left to complete. After lunch, I completed twenty-one miles on the road via mountain bike, the first ride outside since December 16, 2009. Caught up on some desk work and then took my daughter, Halley, to a UNH/Dartmouth hockey game at the Verizon Wireless Arena in Manchester, New Hampshire. It was a great game if you like UNH, which we do. The tickets were a gift from Fred Kunz who is recovering from a serious ankle break while ice fishing. Thanks, Fred. Well worth the trip!
Dave MacDonald showed up at the house to drop a check off for services rendered. He had planned to visit Ian Keniston and Jared Keniston but showed up at Kittery Point Yacht Yard instead of the place where the boat really was. And I probably led him astray as I did tell him that the boat was the same place it was last year. I was forgetting, of course, that we were at KPYY last year. How soon we forget the nice things.
Deb worked on labeling the Guestletters. She was on them for at least four or five hours. They should be ready for mailing either Tuesday or Wednesday. Not sure which day I want them sent yet.
And to make my week, Tim Williams (CT) called to tell me that he caught a large mouth bass between 6 and 7 pounds while ice fishing. Nice.
After that, Captain Kenton Geer called me from his commercial fishing boat off the coast of Hawaii. He had a slow period so he thought he would call his aging captain. I appreciated that. He called to tell me that he had sent a check to my Pan-Mass. Challenge fund raiser in December with the difference to get my total to $24,000.00. However, he neglected to put the P. O. box on the envelope. And, even though everyone at USPS knows me like a brother (and had to stumble over my box to put the envelope in the return bin), they send the letter back with "insufficient address". You know, being from Kenton, if any female had noticed who it was from, the letter would have gone right in the box! It was great to hear from Kenton. He told me later that he only got a few tuna. I told him that I never even saw one today.
For the first time since December 13th, I rode with the Maine Coast Cycling Club, their Sunday morning ride. I felt good enough yesterday to decide to attempt a thirty miler with the group today. I was pleased. I was able to stay with everyone and even lead for a bit. I got home a little after noon. From there to Portsmouth for some errands. At 3:00 PM I started working on completing the Bunny Clark's reservation book. I finished it a little before 7:00 PM. Another project done.
Deb worked on finishing the labeling of the Guestletters. She started mid morning and was done before the end of the afternoon. Postage will go on them tomorrow. They should be in the mail Tuesday morning. In the meantime I will be getting the Guestletter ready for the Internet. It should be up at this site by Thursday.
At 5:00 AM EST, the air temperature was 26°F, the sky was overcast, it was snowing, there was four inches of light snow over the top of an inch of mashed potatoes (making it wet and heavy to plow), the wind was out of the north at twenty-five knots and the visibility was fair to poor in snow. Wind settled in at a direction out of the north northeast. Average wind speeds ranged from twenty-five to thirty knots with higher gusts. It snowed lightly most of the day, stopping in the early afternoon. The air temperature stayed around the freezing mark. The visibility was fair in snow, good otherwise. We ended up getting about six inches of snow along the coast of Ogunquit. Fifteen inches of snow was recorded only ten miles inland. The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 29°F (with a low of 23°F) today. In Boston, Massachusetts the high was 34°F (with a low of 31°F) today. Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 34°F (with a low of 26°F) today.I spent the day shoveling snow and working on the Internet version of the Guestletter. I got all the shoveling completed in two sessions. I got about a third of the way into the Guestletter.
I managed to get a picture of Tim Williams' 6 to 7 pound bass which he caught ice fishing the other day. The digital image appears on the right. Note, again, the good luck Bunny Clark hoodie.
As you know, our Federal government has set up many fishery regulations. Some of these are good but some are very arbitrary and hurtful to those who depend on the right regulations to make a living. By "right", I mean regulations that maintain a sustainable resource but also allow the fisherman to enjoy this resource. The wrong regulations happen because of limited information that regulators can work with. Most times this data is from landings alone. And, as most practical fishermen know, landings alone do not accurately convey the proper dynamics when it concerns species populations or availability. Case in point, the complete closure of the winter sea bass fishery to the south of us. Regulations that prevent fishing completely are regulations we certainly don't want to see in New England. They are a "cop out" fueled by a panic button mentality. No one wants to see the demise of any species. But an unwarranted closure is just wrong. It's a killer of many small businesses. The government in general is more concerned about consolidating the industry (i.e.: allowing only a handful of big boats to have access to the fishery as opposed to many small boats being involved). Granted it would be easier for the Federal government to control. However, I don't think this is right. There are a few small business industry leaders getting together to go to Washington to protest these closures and try to prevent consolidation. If you are interested in having your voice heard, you can go to www.ssfff.net and sign the petition that these concerned anglers are going to bring with them to Washington. (Yes, I know, another petition - but I wouldn't be mentioning it if I didn't think it was a good idea) If you go to this link I have posted and click on "Fix the Magnuson Act", you will bring up the petition. It's a good thing, it will help and it's a simple thing to do.
My loving parents, who would probably rather not see me riding a bicycle on the road, gave a generous contribution supporting my ride in the Pan-Mass Challenge. Billy & Bunny Tower certainly believe in the cause more than they want to stop me from doing what I think is right. And to prove it, they sponsored my ride with a donation of $1,000.00. Thank you both so very much. I appreciate the endless support!
I started the continuing work on the Internet version of the Guestletter early. I had a personal deadline I wanted to meet by 8:45 AM. This I met. At 9:00 AM, my father, one of our top managers and I had a meeting with one of the vendor's representatives who supplies all our printed paper (plastic, bio-plastic, etc.) materials. We needed to establish an order that would get us through the upcoming season. We also needed baby changing tables (I'm sure you're all interested in this topic). That accomplished, I went back to the Guestletter. I finally completed it at 6:30 PM. I put it on my site but I didn't link it. I had to make sure it was the way I wanted to present it.
I had a few conversations with Ian Keniston. He and Jared had been working on the boat since yesterday morning.
I linked the Internet version of my Guestletter to my index page early in the morning. The rest of the day was spent working around the house. I had a meeting with Jared Keniston, Ian Keniston and David Pease establishing priorities with the work order for the Bunny Clark. That lasted about an hour. I was also able to catch the second half of my daughter's hockey game afterward.
I was a nice day to do anything outside but, as it turned out, I was behind my desk almost the whole of it. I ended up starting at 3:30 AM for no other reason other than I was antsy lying in bed. I should have stayed there another two hours for the amount of work I got done in that time period. Motivation struck around 6:30 AM but I wasn't the driving force I wanted to be. Hard for me today for some reason. But, when 10:00 AM rolled around, I was surprised at how much work I did do. From that time until about 1:00 PM, though, I got stuck on installing a new piece of hardware. It became apparent that that wasn't going to happen. My old scanner died yesterday.
At 1:00 PM, I left the house to meet Ian and Jared Keniston to fine tune some of the items on the work order. We need to replace the windows on the old girl so I had to bring the templates I saved from the time we build the Bunny Clark in 1982/83. I wanted to make sure what windows exactly and how many. Some of the windows are the original ones we put in when the boat was launched. Since they are all safety glass, we are getting moisture between the layers.
The crew and I worked on the paint order, a better (quicker) storage mechanism for the spare anchor and some new electronics questions. I headed to Portsmouth after that to pick up a new flat bed scanner, get sandpaper and open a new account.
Well. After today, I'm a better organized guy.
I went down to the Cove to check on my skiff and lobster boat. While on the dock, my good friend, Mike Parenteau, was coming in from lobstering. He provided me with dinner and we talked at the bait wharf for a while (the only outside activity I did today).
I called Tim Williams to congratulate him on another "Fisherman of the Year" win.
Ultra Marathon invitations go out this weekend some time. Get ready.
I started the day by bringing materials to the Bunny Clark. Ian Keniston, Jared Keniston and I went over a few more details (with a few more orders) before I left. I spent a fair amount of time getting more supplies, bringing the glass templates over to have the new windows made, to Canvasworks for curtain hangers, etc., etc. I got home after lunch and started working on phone orders. The Mojo company is going out of business. So I worked on my last order with them for a while. I kept working until it was time to go to my daughter, Halley's, hockey game. Another loss but a great game.
This appeared in my email today. So I thought I would share it with you. Anyone up for a trip to Washington?
Dear NACO Member,
Your board voted at the annual meeting to fully support the march on Washington February 24, 2010. Below is information related to this march and a place to sign a petition supporting the flexibility. Please join with us to tell Congress they have to make changes NOW.
As we are sure you are well aware, the Magnuson Stevens Act and subsequent NMFS restrictions have had a crippling impact on both the recreational and commercial fishing industries and are in dire need of revision. On February 24, 2010, a united gathering of recreational and commercial fishermen and fishermen's associations-United We Fish- is scheduled on the steps of the Capitol building in Washington DC, to rally support for an amendment to the Magnuson/Stevens legislation through the Flexibility in Rebuilding American Fisheries Act of 2009.
We realize it's a long way to DC, but it is vital to America's fishing industry that this Act gets passed and that our legislators know how much support is behind it. Please consider helping to make this event more widely known by promoting it to your members and the wider public and help ensure the future of recreational fishing for current and future generations. For more information, please visit:
http://unitedwefish.blogspot.com/
Please consider writing and encouraging members to write to their Congressional representatives in support of the Flexibility in Rebuilding American Fisheries Act. It is in need of support in both the House and the Senate. They can also sign this petition that will be presented to Congressmen and women at the rally on Feb 24th : http://fs16.formsite.com/FixMagnusonNow/form793561462/
Please pass this information on to other people and groups who will be affected by this legislation.
Keeping You Informed
National Association of Charterboat Operators
At 5:00 AM EST, the air temperature was 17°F, the sky was clear, the wind was out of the northeast at fifteen knots or more and the visibility was excellent. That was the strongest the wind ever got. By daylight, the northeast wind had been replaced by a light wind out of the north. There was very little wind from mid morning until late afternoon. By then, the wind had hauled out of the southwest. But it was still very light. The wind remained light throughout the night. The air temperature moderated as the morning aged. By noon, it felt pretty mild to me with readings around the freezing mark. It was sunny all day. With these conditions, the day seemed perfect. The visibility was excellent. The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 32°F (with a low of 6°F) today. In Boston, Massachusetts the high was 33°F (with a low of 23°F) today. Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 36°F (with a low of 0°F) today.I worked at the desk for most of the morning. I also worked on terminal tackle orders. By 11:30 AM, we were headed up near Franklin, New Hampshire for my son, Micah's, hockey game. He came out of the game a plus 1 but the team lost by a point with two minutes left to play. I did see a great UNH/BU game on TV this night, though.
Also, check out this picture of Jay Kennedy (left) and his son, Collin, with this pike caught in the great state of Vermont on January 21st. I hate it when others have this kind of fun and I don't! It may look like I took this picture (I would have to like to take credit for it) but I only wished I was there.
I checked the Petrel (my lobster boat - that isn't doing too much lobstering this winter) and put storm lines out for the expected rain gale we are expecting to sweep up the coast tomorrow. This after my Sunday thirty mile bike ride with the Maine Coast Cycling Club in Kennebunk.
And my poor Bruins and Mark LaRocca's poor Jets. When the Jets were doing well in the first half, I texted Mark about the success of Sanchez. It was probably the team's undoing. Never underestimate the power of a jinx! It certainly wasn't on purpose.
I spent most of the day working on orders. Hooks, line, leader material, rubber baits (Mojos), boats building/repair materials, etc. & etc. I also hooked up my new scanner. The old one died. And it was probably a good thing. The new one scans photographs like they were high quality digital images.
For the fun of it, I took some pictures taken when I was tuna fishing (harpooning) with my old boat, the Mary E, and scanned them into digital images. Below are three of them. It shows me in the pulpit harpooning bluefin tuna in 1981 (I was 29 years old) when we were catching some really good sized ones. The largest we caught during this same week became the Maine state harpoon record at 1145 pounds (we didn't have a registered scale big enough so Dave Fyrburg weighted the fish piece by piece). The day these shots were taken, I harpooned five of the biggest fish (collectively) I had ever seen. I was running a fishing camp for kids at the time (as well as charter fishing on my own) and I had the kids take pictures as the helmsman and I worked the fish. We only landed four fish. But we should have had more.
In the shot above, there are eight bluefins lined up in a row. My technique was to take the fish on the end. This I did with positive results. If you look closely, you can see the brown bodies lined right up.
In this picture, there are four fish that can be seen. I have already let one hand go off the harpoon and the pole is headed for the fish. The fish is tilted nose below the horizontal and in a weird optical view, the tail looms large and brown and is very visible. This was also a positive strike, the round weight of this fish was probably 1000 pounds. It dressed out over 800 pounds.
This shot was taken later in the day. In this view, the pole has already left my hands and is headed for the fish. This was one of the biggest fish I had ever seen in the water. Well over a 1000 pounds, we fought this fish for an hour after letting it go on a flag buoy for almost two. We fought it from the stern. It pulled the boat so hard that water bailed over the stern and into the cockpit. We pulled (disengaged) the dart in the fight and never saw the fish again. To this day, I believe it is the biggest fish I ever saw.
I had the day all mapped out by 5:00 AM this morning. I was going to spend the day at the deck & computer. That was the plan until I got a call from Ian Keniston at the Bunny Clark. He had a few questions over at the boat that needed to be addressed. Plus he needed staging materials to work on the outside of the boat. So, instead, the morning was filled with gophering and problem solving. No big deal. I ended up shipping my broken helm unit out to be rebuilt, finding a welder we needed for some aluminum work and solving a minor window frame issue. Plus, painting materials arrived so I transported that to the boat as well. A busy morning.
By 12:30 PM, I was back at my desk. More ordering this afternoon. I wrote the new Ultra Marathon invitational letter. I got thirteen of the letters ready, addressed them and got them ready for mailing tomorrow. I also did a little work trying to find a part time deck hand for part of the summer.
I even got a short bike ride in during this warmer than normal weather.
I spent the morning running around (went for a swim early). I met with Jared Keniston at the Bunny Clark. I had more supplies in the truck. Also, we went over how we were going to work in another deck hand. That turned out to be very positive. Plus, there were some mechanical issues and cosmetic issues I had to go through with Jared. All good.
While at the barn, I ran into Satch McMahon from Gath III & India Marie fame (two charter fishing boats out of Wells Harbour). As most of you know, Satch is my age. He was my principle deck hand for ten years while I ran the boat. Except for two of those years, I ran the boat every day. Anyway, Satch and I had a good talk. In the meantime, I was brought up to speed with his life, kids and fishing. Again, all good. We also talked about driving down to Washington for the march on February 24th (http://unitedwefish.blogspot.com/). He is interested. We'll see.
For the last two hours I worked at the desk getting the Ultra invitations in the mail and cleaning up loose ends. At 12:15 PM, Deb and I headed off to Wolfboro, NH to see Micah's hockey game against Brewster Academy. I was done with work for the day after 12:15 PM.
We were woken up at 10:30 PM to learn that my niece, Abby Mitchell, was in the hospital expecting to have a baby within the next twenty-four hours?
At 7:31 AM, my father became, for the first time, a great grandfather (my mother a great grandmother) as Landon Lowell Mitchell was born weighing 6 lbs. 11 oz. And Abby Haseltine Mitchell became a mom, my niece (Bryant, a father). My sister, Meg, the newest grandmother (there was much debate as to what the new boy was going to call his grandmother - Gumby? Please!) My good friend, Hez, the newest grandfather. Looks like Ab won't be doing the Pan-Mass Challenge with us this year. As soon as I heard the news, I drove over to Portsmouth Hospital to see the baby. It was a small thing but I checked and at 24 inches it just made the legal limit. Would have been awful to have to put it back! But, I have to admit, it was a cute little thing. And it brought back fond memories. It was nice to see everyone gathered around at the hospital too.
The rest of the day I hung around the Cove. I had to work on the Petrel for a bit (I had been neglecting her) and put fifty gallons of fuel oil to top off her largest tank. The fire inspection for both restaurant buildings took place around 10:30 PM. That took about an hour. I ran home to get some lunch. At 1:00 PM through the rest of the afternoon, I got involved in a meeting that required looking over a new POS computer ordering system for the restaurants. One of the restaurants has one that is a couple years old but Barnacle Billy's, Etc. has a twelve year old NCR system that will need to be replaced within the next year. Since we have had a few one time capital expenditures this winter, the new system will probably not be part of this year's budget. But, on first inspection, it looks like the system we would like to have if we do replace it.
My brother, Court, and I had a meeting to go over management stuff. It looks like it's going to be a good year. Let's hope the luck is good and the economy is better. And let's hope President Obama doesn't get side tracked by some cute (I've used that word twice!) little intern along the way! We need him to do a good job. We really do.
I did some gophering today, worked on ordering, worked on getting ready for the first day of reservations commencing very early Monday morning and worked on updating my moon phases link. I also answered a lot of emails today.
And we lost a couple of special people and good anglers a couple of weeks ago. We have a group who charter the boat a couple of times a year, sometimes more. The Lighthouse Fishing Club. Catch wise, collectively, they are the best or second best charter we take during a season. And you couldn't get a better group of people. One of the special guys, Roger McKay, stopped going with us a couple of years ago. His doctor advised against it because of his health. And his problem finally got the best of him this January. One of the days I remember best was a very rough day out on Platts Bank, the wind blowing a sustained twenty-five knots out of the west (the exact direction home!) and steep little chops of six or seven feet. We anchored all day. And it wasn't a great biting day. Still, Roger hooked and boated a 50 pound cod, the largest fish of the trip. And, as you can imagine, it was a rough ride home. And a long ride home. Roger was an organizer and made sure I was well informed before the trip left the dock on the scheduled day. He will be missed.
The other special guy was Russ Gurney. Russ and Roger passed within a week (or close to it) of each other. Russ also had health problems, the kind of problems I ride my bike for during the first week of August. His last trip was the Club's last trip in 2009, in the fall. It was an excellent trip with good weather and quite a few big fish. Keith Hayden won the Club pool that day with a 45 pound Maine state trophy cod. And there were a lot of other big cod and big pollock. Russ had a problem with blue sharks enough so that he couldn't get to the big fish. He lost three jigs to them. But he did catch fish. And he won the hard luck award. On an earlier trip in May, he won the Club pool for the third largest fish with a 20.25 pound cod. And Russ has caught many big fish with me in the past. Many anglers came and went with this Club on my boat over the years. But Russ was always there. I don't know if he ever missed a trip. It was a real compliment to me that he was there. I will miss Russ very much.
My take on all of this is that life is short. It's best to take opportunities when they present themselves, particularly where it involves other individuals. If you wait, you may not get another chance.
I spent all day finishing the "Moon Phases" link. I wanted to get it up a couple of days before reservations. If you are only going to fish a couple times with me, it's always nice to know when parigee strikes or when the influences of full and new moon are the worst. The best time for me to work on the computer is during a weekend when I know most of the venders (except for Surfland) aren't open. Less distractions. Saturday is a good day for that.
At 3:00 PM, Micah and I headed to the Boston Garden to catch a Bruins game. They have lost the last six games in a row so I figured they might need some help tonight. Besides, I have never seen the LA Kings up close. And they do have one of the top teams in the League. It turned out to be an exciting game but Boston couldn't connect the dots. They had at least seven good opportunities to put the puck in the net, not including two pucks they rung off the post. And Tim Thomas has some hard luck on top of it all. One of the goals that LA got was the result of the puck going off Thomas' blocker that should have gone out but, instead, went in. That's like putting the puck in your own net - in goalie terms. I could go on but, I'm reminded, that this isn't a hockey site. Well, if you can't fish........
I spent the day cleaning up around the house since I got back from the ride. I was preparing for the first day of reservations (Bunny Clark Deep Sea Fishing) to start tomorrow morning at one minute past midnight. Deb, at the same time, spent time organizing the room we use to take reservations. She always insists that she take the first two hours ("You talk too much!") before I take over. Once finished, there was about an hour before dinner. I spent the rest of the night reading and relaxing.
The reservations came in at a steady rate, most of the calls coming in the first two hours (my wife's shift). When I took over at 2:30 AM, it was fairly quiet with a few calls. Overall, it was very much like last year. I am happy with that as it leaves some room on the Extreme Day and the Marathon trips. It used to be that all the marathons would book before 8:00 AM. Thankfully, that hasn't happened in two years. It's the trip I run, the trip I look most forward to taking and the trip I love to tell about saying that, sure, we have room, come on down! So, in all, I would say the morning of reservations was successful.
After I finished my desk work (7:00 AM), I took my father to York Hospital to check on what seemed like a worsening breathing problem. I spent the morning there. We left before noon with everything under control. I did some running around for the first two hours of the afternoon. All concerned getting the Bunny Clark ready for splash down. At some point, I got a call from Jim Feeney. Kil Song had invited us on his annual Captain Jimmy Walsh/American Classic recreational groundfishing charter. I was pumped.
The rest of the day I spent rebuilding the two reels I was going to bring, getting rods, making up jigs, getting leader material ready, all the stuff I needed packed, begging my wife to make me lunch (which she did - just another reason why I love her!) and getting the Garmin ready to lead me by the nose down to Lynn, Massachusetts. I started to watch the Bruins/Capitols game but my wife booted me out of the TV room and told me to get to bed. I couldn't sleep. Too excited. 12:30 AM didn't come soon enough.
At 1:00 AM EST, the air temperature was 22°F, the sky was overcast, the wind was light out of the northeast and the visibility was excellent. I left the house a little after 1:00 AM to head down to Lynn, Massachusetts to jump on Kil Song's annual deep sea fishing charter with Captain Jimmy Walsh on the American Classic. I had been invited to attend this trip again. Last year, you might remember, I was on this trip and caught the largest cod I had personally caught, a cod well over 70 pounds. The weather was just about perfect all day. The air temperature hovered around the freezing mark and was probably above on the fishing grounds. The ocean was calm for the ride out and for the first couple of hours of daylight. It snowed for the first half of the morning. The snow was so light that you would have hardly known it. By mid morning it had stopped snowing but the sky remained overcast for the rest of the trip. The wind picked up around noon but didn't blow much over ten knots at any time during the day. Seas were probably two feet at the most in chops. The wind was some variation from the north. Not having a compass, I couldn't be sure. The visibility was good. The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 31°F (with a low of 20°F) today. In Boston, Massachusetts the high was 33°F (with a low of 25°F) today. Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 32°F (with a low of 14°F) today.
The trip was an excellent one overall. There were more pollock landed than is usual for this time of year or from what I would expect to catch around there this time of year. And seeing the back side of Cape Cod from a distance was interesting as well. We did catch some cod. But we could have caught more fish overall had we not been fishing so deep for the pollock. It did take a while to get your fish up from the bottom.
Jim Feeney (MA), Bob Nixon (NH), John Baron (MA) and I fished together near the port corner of the stern all day. We all fished with jigs and jig sticks. Captain Jim drift fished every stop. Only near the end of the day did the drift pick up so that it was more difficult to fish. Most of the day it was a perfect drift. Jim and I went "buck-a-fish" from the start. I had a bit of bad luck. First, back lashing my reel on a cast took some time as I had to cut and tie (Rookie!). Then I got handle fly back on my favorite reel that I was using. I had to take the reel into the cabin, take it apart and fix the problem there. During this time, my fishing brothers were catching fish after fish. I could hear them outside which didn't make it any faster getting my reel fixed. The problem was a disintegrated seating bridge sleeve washer. A piece of this washer was preventing the dog from engaging the gear teeth on the bridge sleeve. A simple fix but one that cost me five fish - had I been fishing and keeping up with Jim. Jim finally beat me by six fish at the end of the day, one fish over the five where he took total advantage of me. Yes, I know, everyone had the advantage of getting their equipment up to snuff before competition began! And, actually, I rebuilt the two reels I brought with me the night before! I never did check that fiber washer. I don't think I've ever had one disintegrate in any reel I have ever used. Who knew?
All four of us caught plenty of fish (as did everyone else on the boat). Bob, Jim and I only used a single jig with no top hook. John used a double hook rig. And, he probably caught more than the three of us with his many double keeper catches. My largest fish was a 14.5 pound cod, the largest of the three fish I kept. Jim caught an 18 pound wolffish, the biggest fish of the four of us. Jim also caught a pollock that was probably 12 pounds. And he released a bigger cod than mine as well. But we didn't have time to weigh the one he let go.
The boat pool (and the largest fish of the day) was caught by Rob Foley (NY) on the very first stop of the day. I brought a registered scale with me even though I knew it would jinx my chances of getting a big fish this time! I had also planned to weigh any of the significant fish that were boated. Rob's fish weighed 29.25 pounds exactly. But I weighed this fish at the very end of the day. So this fish weighed a bit over 30 pounds when it was caught. I took a digital image of this fish shortly after I weighed it. This shot appears at the top left. Keep in mind that Rob is a big guy. A 70 pounder would have looked better with Rob holding it!
The second largest fish was a 26.5 pound cod caught by Mike Abovsky (MA). I weighed his fish a half hour or more after he caught it. Mike's was caught within an hour of heading back to Lynn harbor. Mike's picture appears on the right.
The trip overall was the best winter trip I've had on this boat in the four years I have fished on this February Kil Song special charter. No, I didn't get my biggest fish like last time. And that was a very special trip. But this one was one of the most relaxing fun trips I have been on. And there were plenty of fish to catch. There might have been seven casts all day where I didn't hook a fish as soon as the jig hit bottom. So there was plenty of action. The weather was great. The individuals who are chosen by Kil couldn't have been more friendlier or nice. And we only had twenty-two anglers in all. Plenty of room, good people, great captain, nice weather and lots of fish. How could it get any better? Thanks Kil. I appreciate your letting me go on yet another Super-Kil fishing trip.
Except for leaving the house to pick up the finished new windows for the Bunny Clark, I stayed at the desk all day. Most of what I did today centered around my web site (cleaning it up - deleting old files) and ordering. That took me all day. And I just made it to the glass place before it closed.
I was asked to do a four mile run with some friends down at Ogunquit Beach after 5:00 PM. Thankfully, they ran a slow pace. But afterward I thought; "Man, Greg is going to have his way with me in the spring." I did not feel good.
I spent the day driving around, picking up orders, dropping off materials at the Bunny Clark and working towards getting things done. The end of the day, before getting home, was spent at the Dover Ice Arena watching my daughter's ice hockey game. They lost badly but it wasn't because they didn't get their chances. Defensively, the team is really strong but not strong enough for the offense they faced today. Unfortunately, they are very weak on the front end. But they are doing a lot better.
I spent half the morning on the computer and the other half at the restaurant laminating liquor menu covers for next summer. After lunch I took the rest of the afternoon off, went for a bike ride and then did some strength training.
As I was getting dressed to ride, I had the Bruins game one. They were ahead 2-0 when I left, before the end of the first period. When I came back it was 2-2 in overtime. What do I have to do, watch them every minute? Can't they get it done on their own?
I rode my bike with the Maine Coast Cycling Club in the morning. This where I got my tail summarily kicked by everyone on road bikes. I brought a beat up mountain bike and almost got dropped twice. Part of the afternoon I spent watching the Capitals/Penguins hockey game. The rest of the afternoon until almost 6:00 PM, I spent working in the office at Barnacle Billy's restaurant. I tried to watch the Super Bowl after dinner but I just didn't have it in me. Plus, it's going to be a long day tomorrow. I watched until the Who showed up for half time. After being reminded of how old I was (after watching Peter Townsend), I went to bed.
And I heard (via email from Bob Nixon) that the Saints won. I was hoping they would. I love the commercials with Payton Manning but one Super Bowl for them is enough for me. Bring on the Pats!
