Bunny Clark Fishing Update
Written & Edited by Tim Tower
Wednesday, September 27, 2023, 5:00 AM EDT
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Captain Ian Keniston and Danny DellaMonica ran the extreme day trip today.
At 3:45 AM EDT the air temperature was 56°F, the sky was perfectly clear, there was a full moon hanging high in the western sky, the wind was blowing out of the northwest at fifteen knots and the visibility over the ocean was excellent.
Ashore, it was a beautiful day, albeit, a bit cooler than a summer day. The sky was clear all day, indeed, nearly cloudless. The visibility remained excellent. The wind blew out of the north to ten knots in the morning, died out around noon and hauled out of the south. The southerly wind blew up to ten knots before sunset and then another five knots or so afterward. The highest air temperature that I saw was 74°F. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 70°F (with a low of 57°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 77°F (with a low of 43°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 74°F (with a low of 50°F).
On the fishing grounds, the wind blew out of the north at ten to five knots, died out and then blew out of the south at five knots or less. Seas were chops of a foot or two that dropped to calm after noon. The air temperature reached a high of 71°F under the shade top. The sky was clear and sunny. The visibility ranged to over twenty miles. The tide (current) was moderate. The surface water temperature reached a high of 65°F.
The fishing was good, marred by the large number of dogfish today. This was probably the biggest dogfish day we have seen this season. The catching was nearly excellent, certainly excellent if you included the dogfish. Landings were very good despite. Most legal fish landed were, far and away, pollock. Legal landings also included nineteen cod, twelve haddock, thirteen cusk and a mackerel. Released fish included well over two hundred dogfish, five cod of 5 pounds or more, fourteen small cod, fifteen sub-legal haddock, forty small pollock and a sculpin. Drifting was the method. Jigs and cod flies caught the most fish including dogfish.
David Guzman (MA) was high hook with the most legal fish. He didn't have a fish big enough to contend for the boat pool. Macie Brown (NY) won the boat pool for the largest fish with the largest fish, a 14 pound pollock. Macie also caught the third largest fish, a 12 pound cod. This was actually a tie for the third largest fish. Carlos Line (MA) also caught a 12 pound cod. The second largest fish was a 13 pound pollock caught by Art Rivers (NY).
Other Angler Highlights: Mark Lavalliere (NH) caught a 10 pound cod, his best fish. Tom Gowan (NY) caught a 10 pound pollock. Bill Fallon (MA) landed the hard luck award for being the only one who got a touch of the mal de mer and he was probably the most tangled as well. So he wasn't so sick that he couldn't fish.
I received a generous $100.00 donation from Lynn Burkitt Welsch (NM) sponsoring me in the Pan-Mass Challenge, a cycling event to raise money for cancer research with the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, Massachusetts. Lynn's donation was made in the form of an "eGift" through the PMC site. Thank you so much, Lynn, for your thoughtfulness, generosity and help. I do really appreciate it. I also appreciate some of the best cycling memories of the past with you.
It was also a very sad afternoon for me today as well. I learned from a good friend that Donald F. X. Angerman (MA) - Danny - passed away yesterday. Danny, along with Bob Withee (NH), changed my life for the better with the Bunny Clark. They introduced me to the best way to catch big groundfish, particularly cod. It was because of them that I incorporated jigs sticks on the Bunny Clark. Danny was responsible for the innovative jigs that we use on a regular basis today. He was also responsible for introducing the cod fly to me. His fly design is the same design we use today, made exactly as he used to make them for me. He had a t-shirt design that we still sell today. He worked with Captain Howard Cutler (ME) on my other boat, the Petrel, catching bluefin tuna. They were very successful. Danny and I lobstered together in the winter. And he's even the one who first used the term; "Best Fishes", with which I end every entry on this page. He helped me make the Bunny Clark a much better fishing platform than if I had to do it all myself. He and Bob opened up a whole new world of groundfishing for me. I was much better at my business on the water because of them.
I lost contact with Danny over the years. He started working for the phone company as a linesman when the groundfishing got worse and the government regulations changed the way we did our business. But some of my best times on the water were with Danny. He fished with me on the Bunny Clark over eighty times one year when it was legal to sell fillets from groundfish caught off a party boat. He was probably the best fisherman I ever had on the Bunny Clark. In my mind, he was the best. I am sad that I won't ever be able to see him again.
At 4:00 AM EDT the air temperature was 57°F, the sky was perfectly clear, again, there was a full moon hanging high in the western sky, the wind was blowing out of the west at fifteen knots and the visibility over the ocean was excellent.
Ashore, the wind blew out of the west southwest at five to ten knots most of the day with an increase in wind speed later in the afternoon into the night. The sky was clear all day, cloudless at one point. The visibility was excellent. There was no humidity. The air temperature reached a high of 78°F, that I saw. I think that there was enough west in the wind to keep the air temperature higher than expected. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 80°F (with a low of 58°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 82°F (with a low of 47°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 74°F (with a low of 50°F).
On the fishing ground, the wind blew out of the southwest at five to ten knots or a little more. Seas were chops of one to two feet. The air temperature reached a high of 67°F. The visibility ranged from ten to fifteen miles in some haze. The tide (current) was moderate. The sky was clear and sunny. The surface water temperature reached a high of 64°F.
The fishing was good. Again, the dogfish knocked this category down a couple of notches; when you are catching dogfish, you are not catching the desired species. The catching was good as were the landings. And I need to qualify this. There were a number of anglers who were sea sick. I assume this had something to do with the weather but also something to do with the festivities the night before. Now this is just an assumption based on what I would have done under the same circumstances the previous evening. Legal landings included one cod, seven haddock, twenty-one pollock, twelve cusk and two mackerel. Released fish included over a hundred dogfish, four small cod, twelve sub-legal haddock and forty small pollock. Drifting was the method. Only bait and cod flies were used. There were no jigs used today.
Eddie Parisi (MA) won the boat pool for the largest fish with the largest fish, an 11 pound pollock. He caught this as a double with another pollock of 7 pounds, both fish caught on the same line at the same time. There was a tie for second place, two fish, both weighing 10 pounds. One was a 10 pound cod caught by Kevin Morrissey (NY). The other was a 10 pound pollock caught by Dylan Lagiglia (NJ).
Other Angler Highlights: Jon Simonides (NY) caught an 8 pound pollock to start off the weighing. Young Sal Giliberto (NY) caught a 7 pound pollock right afterward. Anthony Fradella landed the hard luck award for being the bachelor!
At 3:30 AM EDT the air temperature was 64°F, the sky was overcast, it had been raining forty-five minutes earlier, the wind was blowing out of the southwest at ten knots and the visibility over the ocean was very good.
Ashore, it was another beautiful summer day. The sky was clear and sunny all day. The highest air temperature that I saw was 83°F. And that was later in the afternoon, around 3:00 PM. The wind blew a bit over ten knots out of the southwest but was on the decline, in wind strength, after 9:00 AM. After 10:00 PM, we never saw any wind over 5 knots. Indeed, before noon, through the afternoon and into the night, we have very little wind at all. The ocean along the shore was flat calm. We had a sea turn at 5:00 PM for about fifteen minutes where the wind blew out of the east and gave us a cool breeze for a bit. But that didn't last. The visibility was very good in some haze. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 86°F (with a low of 64°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 86°F (with a low of 58°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 80°F (with a low of 59°F).
On the fishing grounds, the weather was much the same. The wind blew out of the southwest to start, at ten knots or so to five knots or less. They started with a one to two foot chop but ended up with a calm ocean surface over a deep long ocean sea swell that measured two to three feet or more. The air temperature reached a high of 73°F. The visibility ranged from ten to fifteen miles in haze. The sky stayed sunny and clear all day. The tide (current) was moderate. The surface water temperature reached a high of 66°F.
The fishing was good or, maybe, better than that. I kept the fishing in the "good" category only because they still saw quite a few dogfish, despite almost everyone using jigs and cod flies. The catching was very good to excellent. Landings were the same despite the dogfish. It was a very very busy day. Almost every angler experienced a fish a cast all day long. Most legal fish landed were pollock, by far. Legal landings also included twenty-three cod (every angler's bag limit), twelve haddock, thirty-three cusk, a white hake, a whiting and four mackerel. Released fish included about eighty dogfish, fifteen cod of 5 pounds or more, fifteen small cod, fifteen sub-legal haddock, seventy-five small pollock, a mackerel and five blue sharks. Drifting was the method. Jigs and cod flies caught the most fish.
Ian couldn't tell me who was high hook. There was just too much going on and too many anglers doing equally well. We also had a lot of very good anglers aboard today, which made it that much harder to determine who caught the most legal fish. Matt Canavan (NY) won the boat pool for the largest fish with the largest fish, a 15 pound pollock. The second largest fish was a 13.5 pound cod that was caught and released by Bill Grenier (RI). Bill already had his cod for the trip so he had to release the big one. Justin Grenier (RI) caught the third largest fish, a 12 pound pollock. Justin already had caught an 8 pound cod earlier in the trip that he kept.
Other Angler Highlights: Dave Hill (RI) caught an 8 pound pollock, his biggest fish. Roger Hopkins (RI) caught an 11 pound cod that he released alive. That was his biggest fish and the fourth largest fish of the trip. Roger also caught a cod that he kept earlier in the trip. Roger's son, Justin Hopkins (RI), caught one of the bigger pollock at 8 pounds. Joe Bean (ME) caught a tagged haddock today. It was eighteen inches long so he kept the haddock and left the tag for me to chase down the information. I will look into this. Ryan Rediker (VT) landed the hard luck award for being the most sea sick. There were a couple.
Sean McIntyre (NH) did me a solid today by sponsoring me in the Pan-Mass Challenge with a donation of $80.00. It was unexpected and a nice surprise. Thanks so much, Sean. I do so appreciate your thoughtfulness and generosity!
At 3:00 AM EDT the air temperature was 64°F, the sky was cloudless, a three quarter moon was bright directly overhead adjacent to planet Jupiter, there wasn't enough wind to write about and the visibility over the ocean was excellent.
Ashore, it was a beautiful day. The wind was light and variable in direction. The ocean along the shore was flat calm. The visibility was very good, if not excellent. The sky was sunny all day with few clouds. The air temperature reached a high of 82°F. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 81°F (with a low of 67°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 89°F (with a low of 59°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 81°F (with a low of 61°F).
On the fishing grounds, there was no wind. The ocean was calm all day with no discernable swell. The air temperature reached a high of 84°F under the canopy top. It was hot on deck. The visibility ranged from ten to fifteen miles. The sky was clear and sunny all day. The tide (current) was light. The surface water temperature reached a high of 70°F, which is not surprising with all this calm weather we have been having.
The fishing was very good. There were few dogfish and the conditions were as good as it gets. Albeit, it was a bit too warm. The catching was very good. Landings were good. Most legal fish landed were pollock. Legal landings also included sixteen cod, seven haddock, five cusk, one whiting and twelve mackerel. Released fish included a barndoor skate, forty-nine dogfish, fifteen small cod, fourteen sub-legal haddock, forty-one small pollock and a few mackerel. Drifting was the method. Jigs and cod flies worked the best.
Ian couldn't tell me whom was high hook. Brian Donahue (VT) won the boat pool for the largest fish with the largest fish, a 21.5 pound barndoor skate. This is the largest barndoor skate we have caught this season so far. It's also only our second barndoor skate of the season. Ian took a picture of Brian holding his prize fish before he released it back to the ocean alive (Matt Luce (ME) can be seen in the background). This digital image appears on the left. The second largest fish was a 15 pound pollock caught by Justin Paulson (WI). Mark Simpson (NH) caught the third largest fish, a 14 pound pollock. He also lost a big fish near the bottom. He thought it might have been a cod of 20 pounds or more. But his description of hooking it and what followed reminded me more of a small halibut that could have been of legal size. We will never know for sure.
Other Angler Highlights: Steven Coffin (IA) caught an 11 pound cod, his biggest fish. Spencer Rieder (ME) caught a 9 pound cod. Matt Luce caught a 12 pound cod, the fourth largest fish of the trip. Robert Didonato (ME) landed the hard luck award t-shirt for losing a jig. There was really no bad luck today.
At 3:00 AM EDT the air temperature was 66°F, the sky was cloudless, an half a moon and Jupiter were directly overhead, there wasn't enough wind to write about and the visibility over the ocean was excellent.
It's still, technically, summer. Ashore, the highest air temperature was 82°F. But it was so humid that it seemed like our warmest summer day yet. It wasn't. We have had two days where the air temperature reached 85°F. We were told by the weather service that the air temperature was going to be that high. Alas, the services failed us again. It was just as well. Adding to the feeling of extra heat, there was a huge lack of wind. After noon, we enough westerly wind to move a flag. But this was just convection wind with no punch. The ocean along the shore was flat calm all day. Even some of the sailboats canceled trips today because it was so calm. It was almost eerie. The visibility was very good with obvious haze. The sky was mostly sunny with some clouds here and there. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 81°F (with a low of 67°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 84°F (with a low of 67°F). Today's high air temperature of 92°F in Concord breaks the previous record high of 91°F for this date first set in 1953 and duplicated in 1961 and 2018. The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 88°F (with a low of 65°F).
On the fishing grounds, the wind started out of the north to northeast at five knots or less and then went calm for the rest of the day. The ocean was a mirror for most of the trip. The air temperature reached a high of 83°F under the canopy top. It was hot on deck. The visibility ranged from ten to fifteen miles in haze. The tide (current) was light to moderate. The sky was clear and sunny for the trip. The surface water temperature reached a high of 70°F, one of the highest surface water temperatures we have seen this late in the summer. But I can't remember so much calm weather at this time of year either, which would be the biggest contributing factor.
The fishing was good, another of our biggest dogfish days of the season today. I'm not proud of this. It's just a fact. And there is nothing that can be done about it except to wait until they leave and move on. But when there are that many it does make for a very busy day. And it takes away from, what I call, an otherwise excellent day of fishing. Despite this the catching was very good to excellent. Landings were very good one of our biggest days for numbers of legal fish since the spring. Most legal fish landed, for a change, were cusk, far and away. Legal landings also included fifty-nine pollock, sixteen cod, twenty-five haddock, five redfish, three whiting and over forty mackerel. Released fish included six blue sharks, one small halibut, over two hundred dogfish (too many to count), ten cod of 5 pounds or more, twenty-one small cod, twenty-five sub-legal haddock, sixty small pollock and a few mackerel. Drifting was the method. All terminal gear worked well and all terminal caught dogfish equally.
Steve LaPlante (CT) was high hook with the most legal fish. There was a time when he caught a cusk a cast. The fish weren't exceptionally big today but he might have caught a cusk that was 10 pounds or less. Steve Selmer (NH) won the boat pool for the largest fish with the largest fish, an 18 pound halibut. This is the sixth largest halibut of the eight that have been caught on the Bunny Clark this season so far. Since it was only 33" long, it was sub-legal and had to be released alive. The second largest fish was an 11.5 pound pollock caught by Ed Roberts (ME). There was a tie for the third largest fish at 11 pounds. There were two. One was an 11 cod caught by Linda DeBois (ME). The other was a cusk caught by Randy Campbell (ME). The 11 pound cusk is tied with three others for the largest cusk of the Bunny Clark fishing season to date.
Other Angler Highlights: Karilyn Bonney (ME) caught a 10 pound cod. Jake Johnson (ME) caught more dogfish than Larry Reed (ME). That is very unusual as Larry has always been the dogfish king! Linda DuBois also landed the hard luck award for getting involved in the most tangles.
I received donations from four individuals today sponsoring me in the Pan-Mass Challenge. The donors and their donations were as follows: Larry Reed, Jake Johnson and Rand Richards (ME) collectively gave $80.00 while Karilyn Bonney gave $20.00. Thank you all very much for thinking of me and the cancer cause. You have all been so generous to me in the past. The fact that you keep it up means a great deal to me. I so appreciate having you on the Bunny Clark. To also be gifted these donations puts it over the top!
At 4:00 AM EDT the air temperature was 73°F, the sky was cloudless, a half moon was almost directly overhead with a bright Jupiter looking like it was on the same plane more to the south, there wasn't enough wind to write about and the visibility over the ocean was very good with evidence of haze. It seemed a bit humid this morning for the first time this season so early in the day.
It stayed humid all day ashore today. The ocean along the shore was calm with a sea that produced waves of three or four feet breaking on the beach. The visibility was good all day in a thick haze. It was humid. This highest air temperature that I saw was 86°F at 1:00 PM. This is the warmest air temperature that we have seen in Ogunquit this year so far. The sky was clear and sunny all day. The wind blew up to eight knots out of the south, at it's strongest today. Mostly it was less than that. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 87°F (with a low of 75°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 84°F (with a low of 67°F). Today's high air temperature of 92°F in Concord ties the previous record high of 92°F for this date set in 2018. The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 86°F (with a low of 68°F).
I, of course, spent the day at the restaurants. The business is slower now. But it's also very steady.
My neurosurgeon got back to me about my request to go on the boat. He said; "I would not suggest that you go on the boat at this time. However, if you do, please wear your brace.
I received two donations sponsoring me in this year's Pan-Mass Challenge. I didn't participate in the event this year because of a serious cycling accident that broke vertebrae, ribs, scapula, etc. I might never be able to ride a bike again. Still, this hasn't kept me from fund raising, the very most important part of this project. I do this for a cancer cure, regardless of whether I ride or not. The two donations I received today are as follows: One was from Howie & Barb Goldenfarb (ME) for a very generous $750.00. Howie & Barb have donated to my cancer project for many years. The other donation was a generous $250.00 from Andy & Sue Tapparo (MA). Their donation was made in the form of an "eGift" through the PMC site with the message: "Tim, thank you for all you do!" Andy & Sue, also, have supported me in this project for many years. Thank you all so very much for your help, generosity and thoughtfulness. I do very much appreciate it!
At 4:00 AM EDT the air temperature was 69°F, the sky was clear with less of a half moon overhead, there wasn't enough wind to write about and the visibility over the ocean was fair to poor in fog and haze. A check at 2:30 AM saw the air temperature at 71° with a good visibility and a moon almost directly overhead. Between 4 AM & 6 AM, we had a ground fog along the shore that, at water level, prevented you from seeing over the ocean very far. After sunrise, that ground fog disappeared.
Ashore, the wind was light all morning, the ocean along the shore calm with an underlying small swell that gave us perfect waves for first time surfers to learn how to use their boards. After noon, the wind came lightly out of the south. It was very humid ashore, enough so that it was uncomfortable. Oddly, our highest air temperature, 88°F, occurred around noon. Maybe that little bit of a sea breeze knocked it down a bit afterward. But the air temperature never got that high again, dropping to 87°F afterward and then lower by mid afternoon. The sky was sunny and clear all day with few clouds. The visibility was really no better than good because of the haze all day long. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 93°F (with a low of 75°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 93°F (with a low of 66°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 86°F (with a low of 57°F).
On the fishing grounds, the ocean was calm to start as there was no wind. The ocean surface was glassy with no discernable swell. After noon, the wind hauled out of the south. But this southerly wind was very light, no more than five knots that ruffled the ocean surface. The air temperature was hot, the comment I got from everyone getting off the boat this afternoon. Ian did not put a temperature value down on the sheet so I can't give you the highest air temperature for the day. The visibility was reduced from ten to fifteen miles because of the haze. The tide (current) was non-existent today - that always makes it tough for fishing as it only gives you the option to drift (no need to anchor if the boat is, basically, anchored anyway). The surface water reached a record high (for this time of year) of 73°F.
The fishing was very good. It could have been excellent with a few less dogfish, more of a drift and less heat. There were very few dogfish today but just enough to spoil the party. The catching was very good as were the landings. Most legal fish landed were pollock, far and away. However, most of the pollock were of the smaller sizes, 5 and 6 pounds. Legal landings also included thirteen cod, twelve haddock, five redfish, sixteen cusk and five white hake. Released fish included thirty-nine dogfish, eight cod of 5 pounds or more, eight small cod, ten sub-legal haddock, seventy-five small pollock, five sub-legal redfish and a blue shark. Drifting - of course - was the method. Cod flies caught the most fish with jigs right behind the flies.
Jim Jarvis, Sr. (MA) was high hook with the most legal fish. His largest fish was a 14 pound pollock, the second largest fish of the trip. His largest cod weighed 11 pounds. Matt Zieminski (MA) won the boat pool for the largest fish with the largest fish, a 19.5 pound cod. This is the Bunny Clark's third largest cod of the season to date. The third largest fish was a 13.5 pound pollock caught by Ny Nhath (VT). Ny also caught a 13 pound cod, the fourth largest fish of the trip, and a 10 pound white hake.
Other Angler Highlights: Mark Coleman (NY) caught the largest white hake at 12 pounds. His largest cod weighed 11 pounds. Cutter Maxam (NY) caught an 11 pound white hake. Tom Dion (MA) caught a 10.5 pound pollock. Tom also landed the hard luck award for getting the most tangled lines.
Mark Coleman did me a solid, as he does so often every season, with a donation sponsoring me in the Pan-Mass Challenge for cancer research, today. His donation was $50.00. But he had already given me another $50.00 for the cause in June! Thank you so much, Mark. You know that I appreciate the support. But it's more the thought that goes into it and the good faith that you show in me. And that goes a long way with me as it does for so many others.
Later, I found out that Bill Otto (PA) had mailed me a check for $50.00 to sponsor me in the Pan-Mass Challenge as well! Bill, too, supports me every season. He will be fishing with me later this fall. Thank you, Bill. A nice surprise from a wonderful person and angler. Much appreciated!
At 4:30 AM EDT the air temperature was 70°F, the sky was partly cloudy with a crescent moon showing through the clouds high in the eastern sky, there was no wind and the visibility over the ocean was very good.
Ashore, it was another warm beautiful day. Or, at least, that was how it started. There was very little wind all morning. The ocean along the shore was flat calm. After noon, we had a light wind from the south. Wind speeds might have increased to ten knots or more by 3:00 PM. The sky was mostly clear with high clouds here and there. By noon, the sky was a milky canopy with the sun shinning through. It actually became overcast that almost seemed like a thick haze. By 4:00 PM, with had a lightning, windy, rain storm that lasted just over an hour. The wind had to be blowing fifty knots through some of it. The wind took out the trellis/gateway into the garden between the two Barnacle Billy's restaurants. It also blew down quite a few trees in York County. But we didn't lose power. I don't know about the other parts of the county. The sky stayed overcast after the storm was over but we had minor thunder storms afterward starting at 8:30 PM. It rained on and off into the night. The visibility before the storm was good in a thick haze. The air temperature reached a high of 85°F in Ogunquit. At noon, the air temperature was already 81°F. It didn't seem as humid to me. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 88°F (with a low of 71°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 88°F (with a low of 66°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 83°F (with a low of 68°F).
On the fishing grounds, the wind blew out of the south southwest at five to eight knots. Seas were chops of a foot over a long two foot ocean swell. The air temperature reached a high of 75°F. The visibility ranged from an eighth of a mile to five miles in fog and haze. The tide (current) was moderate to light to moderate; it was a strange current day today. The sky was a mix of sun and clouds. The surface water temperature reached a high of 69°F.
The fishing was good overall. It seems that I can't give the fishing more than a good this summer, most of the time. Today it was the number of dogfish (which wasn't horrible) and the strange current that kept the fishing in the "good" category. The catching was very good indeed, excellent if you included the dogfish. Landings were good to very good. Most legal fish landed were pollock, mostly in the 5 to 6 pound size. But there were quite a few of them. Legal landings also included fourteen cod, eight haddock, two redfish, thirty-seven cusk, one whiting and four mackerel. Released fish included seventy, or so, dogfish, six cod of 5 pounds or more, fifteen small cod, five sub-legal haddock, fifty, or so, small pollock and a couple mackerel. I don't believe they hooked any blue sharks today. Drifting was the method. Every angler used jigs or jigs and flies.
Ian couldn't tell me who was high hook. There were many successful anglers, all of whom could have caught the most legal fish. This category isn't so important that we count fillets. Laura Parker (NH) won the boat pool for the largest fish with the largest fish, a 12.25 pound pollock. The second largest fish was a 12 pound pollock caught by Loretta Zimmerman (KY). John Kilmer (ME) caught the third largest fish, a 10 pound cusk, one of the top ten cusk of the season on the Bunny Clark this season for weight.
Other Angler Highlights: Arnie Ulrich (NJ) caught a 7 pound pollock in the morning when it didn't look like the fish were going to get any bigger. Titus Yoder (ME) caught the first fish to be weighed, an 8 pound pollock. He also landed the hard luck award for being involved in the most tangled lines.
I received a donation sponsoring me in the Pan-Mass Challenge from two individuals who were fishing on the bow together, Dave Haberl (VT) and Hannah Smith (NH). Their donation totaled $40.00. Dave has, traditionally given me a donation every year since I started this cancer project in 2007. Thank you both very much. I really do appreciate the support!
At 4:00 AM EDT the air temperature was 68°F, the sky was crystal clear with a crescent moon in the eastern sky directly across from the constellation Orion, the wind was very light out of the west and the visibility over the ocean was good.
Ashore, it was another calm, warm and sunny day. At times, it seemed overcast but it was more just a thick haze. The wind along the shore blew out of the south and sometimes west. The wind was fickle. But it never blew over five knots. The ocean along the shore was calm. The visibility was good or better than that for most of it. The highest air temperature that I saw was 85°F. It was humid but not that humid. And it was hot in the sun. At noon, the air temperature was 79°F. It wasn't until around 2:00 PM that the air temperature was the highest. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 85°F (with a low of 69°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 86°F (with a low of 64°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 84°F (with a low of 65°F).
On the fishing grounds, the wind blew out of the south at five knots or less. Seas were not chops but the ocean was ruffled enough to give them somewhat of a breeze. The visibility ranged from a half mile to five miles in fog and haze. The air temperature reached a high of 77°F. The tide (current) was moderate. The sky was overcast or hazed/fogged in all morning, sunny after noon. The surface water temperature reached a high of 68°F.
The fishing was good. Only the dogfish kept the fishing down in that category. If you like dogfish, the fishing was excellent; every other factor was the way you would want it to be to go fishing. The catching was nearly excellent. The landings were very good. Most legal fish landed were pollock, by far. Legal landings also included forty-one cusk, nine haddock, fourteen cod and four mackerel. Released fish included about a hundred and fifty dogfish, five cod of 5 pounds or more. thirty sub-legal cod, twenty-one sub-legal haddock, forty-eight small pollock and a mackerel. Drifting was the method. Flies worked best, jigs next and then bait.
Tim Rozan (ME) was high hook with the most legal fish, a count of thirty-eight fish. He caught the third largest fish of the trip, a 9 pound pollock, with which he won the boat pool His largest cod was 8 pounds. Jackie Roux (MA) caught the two largest fish of the trip but did not enter the boat pool. Both fish were 10 pounds. One was a 10 pound cod. The other was a 10 pound cusk.
Other Angler Highlights: Jerry Charron (ME) caught an 8 pound pollock, his biggest fish. Dave Carrier (NH) landed the hard luck award t-shirt for making high hurler status. There were a couple anglers who were sea sick today. Probably just too calm; a shock to the system.
I received a very generous $500.00 donation from Betsy McLaughlin (NY) sponsoring me in the Pan-Mass Challenge today. Betsy has been a long time supporter of my cancer research project. She has always been very generous. I saw Betsy at the restaurant today. And she was very happy that I wasn't in a wheelchair after my accident. Of course, so was I! And it was close. Thank you so very much for your thoughtfulness and generosity, Betsy. As you know, it does mean great deal to me and I do very much appreciate it!
Another supporter was in the restaurant today, Dave Burton (MA). He caught me by surprise and, for an instant, I thought it was Ken Russell (ME). Not! I knew my mistake instantly but not before he reminded me of who he really was. Embarressing! It was great to talk to Dave. Great guy and excellent fisherman.
At 4:30 AM EDT the air temperature was 67°F, the sky was overcast, the wind was blowing out of the northeast at eight knots or more and the visibility over the ocean was very good, at least.
The wind blew out of the northeast all morning and into the afternoon. Wind speeds were mostly over ten knots. The highest sustained wind speed that I noticed was twelve knots. This wind kept up after noon and to about 3:00 PM, or low water, when the wind died out. The wind was light out of the north northeast going into the evening. The sky was overcast all morning with bits of sun peeking through occasionally. By 4:00 PM, the sky was completely overcast and it was raining. It rained hard to start but then backed off. It rained on and off into the night. The visibility was good or better than that for all the daylight hours. The highest air temperature that I saw was 74°F. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 74°F (with a low of 68°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 71°F (with a low of 65°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 70°F (with a low of 63°F).
The wind blew out of the northeast at ten knots or so on the ride to the fishing grounds. Seas were a foot or more in chops. On the grounds, the wind died out to nothing. The ocean was calm. The air temperature reached a high of 80°F even though the sky was overcast all day. The visibility was poor with a range of a quarter of a mile to three miles in fog and haze. The tide (current) was moderate. The surface water temperature reached a high of 70°F.
The fishing was just good again with the number of dogfish changing an otherwise peaceful fishing seascape. The catching was nearly excellent, perfectly excellent if you included the dogs. Landings were very good. Most legal fish landed were pollock, by far. And thank God for them! Legal landings also included twenty-two cod, seven haddock, twenty-seven cusk, three whiting and fifteen mackerel. Released fish included over one hundred and fifty dogfish, ten cod of 5 pounds or more, fifteen sub-legal cod, fourteen sub-legal haddock, seventy-eight small pollock, a few blue sharks, two sculpins and a few mackerel. Needless to say, it was very busy on deck today. Drifting was the method. Jigs and cod flies caught the most fish.
Ian couldn't tell me who was high hook. Indeed, there was way too much going on. Amy Finn (MA) won the boat pool for the largest fish with the largest fish, a 17 pound cod. The second largest fish was a 12 pound pollock caught by Gabe Daigle (ME). There was a tie for the third largest fish at 11 pounds. There were two fish of that size. One was a pollock caught by Max Grimm (ME). The other was a cod caught by Dick Basile (ME).
Other Angler Highlights: Dick Grimm (ME) caught a 10 pound cod, his biggest fish. Zack Hall (ME) caught one of the bigger pollock at 10.5 pounds. Kaitlyn Bean (ME) landed the hardest luck of the day award by being the most touched by the dreaded mal de mer.
At 3:30 AM EDT the air temperature was 65°F, the sky was overcast, there was a light drizzle/rain, the roads were wet, the wind was blowing about eight knots out of the northeast and the visibility over the ocean was fair in fog and haze offshore. We had a steady rain for a half hour starting at 3:45 AM. Then it was just overcast until 6:30 AM, when we had another light sprinkle of rain for about a half hour.
Ashore, it rained for most of the morning. By noon, the rain was over. We even had sunny clear skies from 2:00 - 5:00 PM. After 5:00 PM, the clouds started looming in from the southwest. By 7:00 PM, it was raining again. It rained on into the night. We had light winds, variable in direction, all day. The ocean along the shore remained calm. The visibility was good to very good along the shore. The highest air temperature that I saw was 75°F around 3:00 PM. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 72°F (with a low of 68°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 76°F (with a low of 66°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 76°F (with a low of 64°F).
On the fishing grounds, the wind was nowhere to be found. The ocean was flat calm all day. The sky was overcast all day but that didn't stop the air temperature from soaring to a high of 82°F under the canopy top. It was hot on deck. The visibility ranged from a quarter of a mile to three miles in fog and haze. It never rained on the fishing grounds. The tide (current) was moderate. The surface water temperature reached a high of 71°F.
The fishing was no better than good, maybe even fair. After the first two stops, the dogfish were so ravenous, it was hard to get a legal fish. And it was actually a bit uncomfortable with the air temperature being so warm. The catching was good to very good, excellent if you included the dogs. Landings were fair to good. Legal landings included thirteen cod, four haddock, twenty-eight pollock, twenty-seven cusk, a monkfish and six mackerel. Released fish included well over two hundred dogfish (Maybe the most dogfish for a trip this season), twelve sub-legal cod, ten sub-legal haddock, thirty small pollock, a blue shark and a mackerel. Drifting was the method. All terminal gear worked about the same today.
Ian didn't know whom was high hook. Jason Morrison (NH) won the boat pool for the largest fish with the largest fish, a 10.25 pound cod. The second largest fish was a 10 pound pollock caught by Jack Gerald (ME). Todd Farnsworth (MD) caught the third largest fish, an 8 pound cod.
Other Angler Highlights: Kris Williams (MI) managed to get part of the treble hook of a jig hooked in his head behind the ear. The hook went so deep that they had to cut the hook at the turn and leave most of the hook in place to be extracted in a hospital. It was too close to the ear canal to fool around with it on the boat. Mike Pakulski (ME), who is an ER nurse, isolated the hook and contained the injury so he could keep fishing. But it was going to be a trip to the hospital when the got ashore. Needless to say, Kris got the hard luck award t-shirt!
At 5:00 AM EDT the air temperature was 67°F, the sky was overcast, there was a light drizzle/rain, the roads were wet, the wind was blowing out of the north at ten knots and the visibility over the ocean was fair in fog and haze offshore.
It rained all morning and into the afternoon, stopping around 2:00 PM. Later in the afternoon, we actually saw the sun for a bit. But the fog moved in and put the wood to that scene. It was foggy and damp on into the night. The fog hung around all morning, actually. You could see the fog in the trees along the shore. The fog would move in to the shore and then back off again. So the visibility was never good. The wind was out of the northeast or east but light all day. We never did see any wind as high as ten knots, six or seven knots, maybe. The ocean along the shore remained calm. The highest air temperature that I saw was 76°F, later in the afternoon around the time that the sun came out. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 77°F (with a low of 67°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 81°F (with a low of 66°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 68°F (with a low of 63°F).
My day was spent at the restaurants, mostly talking to patrons. I wanted to walk in the morning but it was raining so hard, I just didn't feel in the mood to do so. Instead, I jumped on the trainer for almost forty minutes and, dutifully, did my PT work. The rest of the day was spent at the restaurant. I limit myself to 7:00 PM there and then go home to dinner with Deb. I can't spend as much time on my feet as I would like. But I feel good. I'm just doing as the doctor orders until I see the neurosurgeon at the end of the month. I feel like I could be on the boat.
At 3:45 AM EDT the air temperature was 68°F, it was damp and humid, it was foggy, the sky was overcast, the wind was light out of the east and the visibility over the ocean was fair to poor in fog and haze offshore.
Ashore, we had fog for most of the morning. The wind was out of the northeast at five knots until about 6:00 AM when it died and then hauled out of the south. The wind blew lightly out of the south for the rest of the day. The fog hung around all morning and then backed off. We had light rain in the morning at times and then rain around noon and later in the afternoon. Around 3:00 PM, the rain stopped for the day and we even had sun and a nice sunset with beautiful orange sky. The visibility was poor all morning, very good after noon even in the rain. The highest air temperature that I saw was 77°F before noon. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 76°F (with a low of 67°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 73°F (with a low of 61°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 73°F (with a low of 64°F).
On the fishing grounds, unlike being ashore, the sky was mostly clear and sunny all day. The wind blew out of the south at five to ten knots. Seas were chops of a foot or less. The air temperature reached a high of 73°F. The tide (current) was moderate. The visibility ranged from five to ten miles in haze. They had fog on the way to the fishing grounds but not on the fishing grounds. The surface water temperature reached a high of 70°F.
The fishing was very good. The weather and sea conditions were excellent and there were only a few dogfish that bothered today. The catching was very good. Landings were good. Most legal fish landed were pollock, by far. Legal landings also included fifteen cod, a haddock, fourteen cusk, a monkfish and sixteen mackerel. Released fish included forty dogfish, two cod of 5 pounds or more, twelve sub-legal cod, six sub-legal haddock, thirty small pollock, a halibut, several blue sharks and a couple mackerel. Drifting was the method. No bait was used today, just jigs and cod flies.
Ian could not determine who was high hook today with the most legal fish. They pooled all their fillets today so there was never a hint as to who had the most bags of fillets. And most every anglers had similar fishing capabilities; most have been fishing with us many times in the past. Karl Ostergaard (NJ) won the boat pool for the largest fish with the largest fish, a 12.5 pound pollock. The second largest fish was a 9 pound pollock caught by Rich Mallott (NY). Will Wheeler (NY) caught the third largest fish, an 8 pound cod. Will also landed the hard luck award for losing three jigs.
Other Angler Highlights: Bob Tebo (NY) fought a large halibut for twenty-five minutes but broke the fish off on the fourth or fifth run to bottom. Bob was using a jig with a fly about eighteen inches above the jig. We suspect that the halibut was hooked in the mouth with the jig but, on the last run to bottom, the fly got hooked in the body of the fish somewhere, the flexing of the body creating too much pressure between the fly and the jig, breaking the line at the fly loop, the weakest knot in the line. They never got a chance to see the fish, unfortunately. But it was very exciting.
At 4:00 AM EDT the air temperature was 65°F, the sky was mostly cloudy with some stars, there wasn't enough wind to write about and the visibility over the ocean was excellent.
Ashore, the wind blew out of the northwest at five or six knots (at most), went calm before noon and then hauled out of the south or south southwest after noon blowing up to ten knots, at most. I did notice that the wind was out of the northwest again at 8:00 PM. At that time the wind velocity was ten knots. The sky was clear and sunny all day with some high clouds here and there. The visibility was excellent all day. The highest air temperature that I saw was 75°F. In the sun, it felt much warmer than that. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 78°F (with a low of 63°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 76°F (with a low of 55°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 76°F (with a low of 56°F).
On the fishing grounds, the wind blew out of the northwest at ten to five knots, went calm and then blew out of the south on the start to come back home. Seas were chops of a foot or two to begin but settled out calm by mid to late morning. The air temperature reached a high of 74°F. The visibility went from five to ten miles in the early part of the morning to over twenty miles sometime later. The tide (current) was moderate. The sky was overcast in the morning and sunny during the late morning and afternoon. The surface water temperature reached a high of 71°F. These are some of the warmest surface water temperatures we have seen for this time of year. I'm wondering how much of this can be attributed to the constant southerly wind flow we have been experiencing this summer. Both conditions are very rare.
The fishing was good, kept in this lower category because of the dogfish and some blue sharks. Everything else about the fishing today was excellent. If you love dogfish/blue sharks or treat them like catching any other fish, the fishing was excellent beyond repair. The catching was very good. Landings were good. Most legal fish landed were pollock, by far. No other species came close. Legal landings also included nine cod, four haddock, twenty-seven cusk, seven white hake and a monkfish. I'm sure that there were mackerel caught but Ian didn't write about them - and maybe there weren't mackerel caught. Released fish included several blue sharks, seventy dogfish, one cod of 5 pounds or more, eight sub-legal cod, four sub-legal haddock, thirty small pollock and a halibut. Drifting was the method. Jigs and cod flies caught the most fish.
Ian couldn't tell me who was high hook with the most legal fish. But there was a lot going on. Phil Milligan (ME) won the boat pool for the largest fish with the largest fish, a 32 pound Maine state trophy white hake. Captain Ian took a picture of Phil holding his trophy hake. This digital image appears on the left. Phil also caught the third largest fish, a 30 pound Maine state trophy white hake. Jonathan Griffin (MA) won the boat pool for the second largest fish with the second largest fish, a 30.5 pound Maine state trophy white hake. These three white hake are the three largest hake of the Bunny Clark fishing season to date.
Other Angler Highlights: Arshad Shah (QC) caught a 13 pound white hake, his largest fish. He also caught a 10 pound pollock and a 10.5 pound cod. Bill Harding (ME) caught an 18.5 pound white hake, his biggest fish. He also caught a 10 pound halibut, the Bunny Clark's ninth halibut of the fishing season so far. Bill or his wife, Marie, seem to catch a halibut every year on my boat. Jeff Irish (ME) caught a 16.5 pound white hake, his biggest fish. Roger Smith (NH) landed a 16 pound white hake and a 10 pound pollock, his two best fish. Ben Fiscus (NY) landed a 10.5 pound pollock, his biggest fish. Lucas Cauller (NH) caught a 10 pound monkfish. This ties for the Bunny Clark's third largest monkfish of the fishing season so far. Elizabeth Walter (ME) landed the hard luck award for being the only angler to catch the dreaded mal de mer.
At 4:30 AM EDT the air temperature was 56°F, the sky was mostly in a milky sky, the wind was blowing out of the north at eighteen to twenty knots and the visibility over the ocean was excellent.
The rest of the day ashore was very nice. The sun was shinning all day, albeit, through a thin layer of high clouds in the afternoon. The wind blew out of the northeast at fifteen to over twenty knots for most of the day. The wind died out a bit before sunset, to maybe ten knots, and the piped up again at 8:00 PM. Wind speeds at that time were as much as twenty-five knots. But, this time, the wind was out of the north. The visibility over the ocean was very good to excellent. The highest air temperature that I saw was just 70°F at 1:00 PM or around that time. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 70°F (with a low of 57°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 69°F (with a low of 47°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 68°F (with a low of 54°F).
I had the Bunny Clark fueled at 5:00 AM this morning. At 7:00 AM, Ian Keniston met me at the house. We gathered storm lines and met down at the Cove. There we put all the storm lines on the Bunny Clark and took the boat from the float at the Barnacle Billy's dock and moved it to a mooring. I didn't want the Bunny Clark at the float if we were going to get the high seas and ocean surge in Perkins Cove. It's much better on the mooring and certainly better protected against damage. It only took us about an hour to get the boat settled in.
We didn't run storm lines because I wasn't sure what boats were going to do what. And I didn't want to prevent boats from getting to the dock if they needed to. I'm still not supposed to lift too much because of my back injury. So Erin Gott, our Harbormaster, came to the rescue with Kurt Knight. The two of them with the "town launch" ran the storm lines for me. The Bunny Clark was properly secured by noon. In the meantime, my son, Micah, secured the Petrel and our skiff.
The rest of the day and part of the morning I spent at Barnacle Billy's restaurants. I left at 7:00 PM. There was a bit of surge in the Cove at low tide. But it wasn't horrible.
At 4:00 AM EDT the air temperature was 61°F, the sky was overcast, it had just started raining at 3:30 AM after a completely dry night and early morning and was raining lightly at this time, the wind was blowing out of the north at thirty knots (more or less) and the visibility over the ocean was very good.
The day worked out well for weather, certainly much better than I would have expected with all the Hurricane Lee hype. It turns out that the European model had it right all along. Eight days ago that model predicted that the hurricane would land near Yarmouth, Nova Scotia. And that's exactly where it ended up. Halifax got a lot of wind, rain and big seas and lost power. They are still out of power at the time of this writing. As for us, we were spared. The wind blew out of the north, north northwest and northwest at wind speeds, at most, of thirty-five knots, maybe. We did have big seas of twelve feet or so as measured by the closest weather buoy. I'm not sure how accurate those readings are but it, pretty much, matched what I saw. We had no power outages. It rained briefly with kind of a heavy drizzle before 7:00 AM. And then it was overcast for the morning and partly sunny in the afternoon. We had a beautiful sunset. At the time of high water, around 1:00 PM, we had minor splash-over in the valet parking lot at Barnacle Billy's restaurant. The visibility over the water was excellent all day. The highest air temperature that I saw was 69°F. But it felt like it was warmer than that. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 72°F (with a low of 59°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 71°F (with a low of 58°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 71°F (with a low of 59°F).
The night before the Town of Ogunquit closed Ogunquit Beach and the Marginal Way. And this was in force for most of the day today. That was a shame. I understand the liability that can result from being negligent. But denying walking on the beach or the Marginal Way with such spectacular ocean views I thought was pathetic. It's not as if an errant sea was going to wash pedestrians into the ocean. Nor was some big wave going to drag people to their deaths on the beach. So, instead, people hovered in our valet lot making it more difficult for the valets to do their job. It wasn't that busy that the valets couldn't do their job. I was more concerned that the people couldn't enjoy the view from the Marginal Way. There seems to be less and less common sense in the world.
Several businesses closed in Perkins Cove because of the big sea potential. I thought it unnecessary. I kept both Barnacle Billy's and Barnacle Billy's, Etc. open. Business wasn't huge. But it was worth being open. We never lost power. There were two main concerns; that we would lose power and that the Town of Ogunquit would close the road leading into Perkins Cove. Neither happened. Instead, I spent my usual time working in the restaurants with no problems.
We had a minor surge in Perkins Cove. The vessels there all had storm lines out. But this was almost unnecessary. But it was certainly much easier sleeping knowing that everything was buttoned up and safe.
At 4:00 AM EDT the air temperature was 59°F, the sky was crystal clear, the wind was blowing out of the west at eight knots and the visibility over the ocean was excellent.
Today was the best weather day of the season. There hasn't been a day as nice as this one all season. The sky was cloudless all morning and nearly cloudless all afternoon. The wind, after blowing out of the west at almost fifteen knots in the wee hours of the morning, went light 7:00 AM. There was no wind for periods of the day. Mostly, the wind was very light from some southerly direction. The ocean along the shore was flat calm all day. The visibility remained excellent. There was no humidity. The highest air temperature that I saw was 78°F but it felt cooler than that or, in my mind, perfect. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 78°F (with a low of 59°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 79°F (with a low of 49°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 78°F (with a low of 51°F).
When I went down to the Cove at 6:00 AM, there was no more surge. The seas from Hurricane Lee had passed. And it was time to take the storm lines off the boats in the Cove. Since I'm not supposed to lift much, Erin Gott, our harbormaster, took the lines off for me. Later, with the help of Jack Gordon of Silver Lining Sailing (he runs sailing trips out of Perkins Cove) fame, I took the Bunny Clark off the mooring and moved her back to her position, stern to the Barnacle Billy's float.
The rest of the day I spent working at the restaurants. It was slower than a beautiful summer day, business wise, but that just made the day more pleasant.
At 3:45 AM EDT the air temperature was 63°F, the sky was overcast, it was just starting to rain, the wind was light out of the west and the visibility over the ocean was excellent. The roads remained dry through the morning until about 6:00 AM, when the rain became light and steady. By 8:00 AM, the rain was light and fairly heavy. But it was periodic.
It rained ashore all day. The rain never stopped. Sometimes heavy, sometimes light, it continued on into the night and through it. The wind, light out of the west at first, backed out of the south and then southeast. Wind speeds were light out of the south until late morning. By 11:00 AM, we were seeing ten knots of southerly wind. By 1:00 PM, the wind was blowing out of the southeast at almost fifteen knots. The wind backed again, this time out of the east, later in the afternoon and blew up to twenty knots after sunset. The visibility remained good to very good even in the rain. The highest air temperature that I saw today was 65°F. Except for that time, the temperature seemed to hang around 64°F all day. We never saw the sun today. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 66°F (with a low of 63°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 63°F (with a low of 59°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 63°F (with a low of 57°F).
On the fishing grounds, they had light rain all day. The wind blew out of the south starting at five knots and they backed out of the southeast and blew up to fifteen knots. It was calm to start but then picked up to two foot seas in chops. There were bigger seas on the ride back to Perkins Cove. The visibility ranged from a mile in fog/haze/light rain to five miles. The air temperature reached a high of 64°Funder the canopy top. The tide (current) was moderate. The sky remained overcast. The surface water temperature reached a high of 65°F.
The fishing was good overall, no better, maybe a bit worse. There were dogfish but not nearly as many as other trips but it rained all day and the seas picked up to where it was a bit uncomfortable. The catching was very good. Landings were good. Most legal fish landed were pollock. Legal landings also included the boat bag limit for cod, fourteen fish, six haddock, sixteen cusk and four mackerel. Released fish included around forty dogfish, six cod of 5 pounds or more, eighteen sub-legal cod, six sub-legal haddock, forty or so small pollock, a couple sculpins, two blue sharks and a mackerel. Drifting was the method. Jigs and cod flies caught the most fish.
Dave Burton (MA) was the fisherman of the day. He was high hook with the most legal fish. And he won the boat pool for the largest fish with the largest fish, a 13 pound cod. The second largest fish was an 11.5 pound cod caught by Elaine VanderMey (MI). Jake VanderMey (PA) caught the third largest fish, a 9.5 pound pollock.
Other Angler Highlights: Rob VanderMey (MI) caught a 9 pound cod, the fourth largest fish of the trip. Will Buchanan (NH) landed the hard luck award for getting involved in the most tangles.
I received three donations today sponsoring me in this season's Pan-Mass Challenge. I wasn't able to take part in the event due to my cycling accident in early June. But the fundraising continues and cancer never sleeps. And the researchers I support with the donations I receive are doing great work, including one patient with advanced genetic melanoma where he could not be treated anywhere else in New England or New York. His melanoma is now in remission with a 35% chance of returning where, otherwise, it would have been a death sentence if not for Dana-Farber. Pretty wild and wonderful, I think. Anyway, the donors and their donations included Bill & Debbie Kelson (MA) for $50.00, Dave Burton for another $50.00 (Dave has donated a $50.00 bill every time he has fished with us this season - and he has fished with us many times!) and Cynthia Duncan (CT) for $50.00. Cynthia's donation was made in memory of Marlene Wolfinger (CT) who passed away early September and loved to eat at Barnacle Billy's. Thank you all for the wonderful support you give me (Bill & Debbie donate every year). I really appreciate it but these research scientists and patients appreciate it more.
I also discovered that I too received a very generous $250.00 donation from Joie Finley (VT) four days ago sponsoring me in the Pan-Mass Challenge. The donation was made in the form of an "eGift" through the PMC site with the message: "Best of luck, Tim! I read the report every day from landlocked Vermont. In memory of my dad, Ed, a really bad fisherman." I got a chuckle out of his note. Thanks very much, Joie. It was a pleasant surprise to see the donation and message in my email. Much appreciated!!
At 3:15 AM EDT the air temperature was 57°F, the sky was mostly clear (there had been a steady rain only two hours earlier), the roads were wet, the wind was blowing out of the north northwest at fifteen knots or more and the visibility over the ocean was excellent.
Ashore, the sky was only partly cloudy at most and mostly clear and sunny all day. There was an exception. At around 6:00 PM, we had a small low pressure cell and clouds come over Perkins Cove with rain and high winds (about 30 knots estimate?) for, maybe fifteen or twenty minutes. It didn't drop a lot of rain and, really, not enough to bother wiping a table dry. This was followed by a beautiful rainbow, clear skies and dry conditions into and through the night. The visibility was excellent. The wind blew out of the west and northwest at about fifteen knots, more or less. The highest air temperature that I saw was 73°F. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 73°F (with a low of 61°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 73°F (with a low of 58°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 72°F (with a low of 57°F).
On the fishing grounds, the wind blew out of the west at ten to twenty knots to start. Seas were two to four feet in chops. Later, the westerly wind backed off a bit to fifteen and ten knots. Seas dropped to two and three feet. The air temperature reached a high of 62°F under the canopy top. The visibility ranged to over twenty miles. The tide (current) was moderate. The sky was mostly clear and sunny all day. The surface water temperature reached a high of 63°F.
The fishing was good. The sea conditions made half of the anglers aboard today sea sick and there were a few dogfish today, although they were not bothersome. The catching was excellent for those who were fishing. Landings were very good. Most legal fish landed were pollock, by far. The pollock were not big today. The average size was probably 5 or 6 pounds. Legal landings also included fourteen cod, five haddock, two redfish, seven cusk and five mackerel. Released fish included fifty dogfish, seven sub-legal cod, three sub-legal haddock, forty-five small pollock, a mackerel and three blue sharks. They drift fished and anchored. Jigs and cod flies caught the most fish.
Peter Atwood (VT) was high hook with the most legal fish. His two largest fish were a 7 pound cod and a 7 pound pollock. With these two fish he won the boat pools for the largest and second largest fish. However, there were very few anglers who entered the pool today. Maybe twenty percent of the anglers? Maybe less? Kristine Beachy (ME) caught the largest fish of the trip, a 12 pound cod. The second largest fish was 10 pounds. There were two. Elvin Beachy (ME) caught one, a 10 pound cod. Orpha Geiser (MN) caught the other, another 10 pound cod. Elvin also caught one of the bigger pollock today at 9 pounds.
Other Angler Highlights: Nino Pierdipino (NY) caught a 9 pound pollock. Nate Beachy (ME) caught a 9.5 pound pollock, the largest pollock of the trip. Mom Beachy (ME) landed the hard luck award for the most tangled lines. There were so many anglers who were sea sick that it wouldn't have been fair to give the shirt out to any one of them, most of whom were at the same level of the condition.
At 4:00 AM EDT the air temperature was 58°F, the sky was clear and full of stars, the wind was blowing out of the west at ten knots and the visibility over the ocean was excellent.
Ashore, it was blowing out of the west in the morning. But it never really blew that much. By noon, there wasn't any wind at all. The ocean along the shore was calm. And, actually, the ocean along the shore was calm all morning. After noon, the wind backed out of the south. The wind blew out of the south for the rest of the day but hauled out of the northwest at sunset. We had light northwest wind into the night. The sky was mostly clear all day. The visibility was excellent. The highest air temperature that I saw was 74°F. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 74°F (with a low of 59°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 74°F (with a low of 48°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 73°F (with a low of 52°F).
On the fishing grounds, the wind blew out of the west at fifteen knots to start and then backed off to ten knots and less. Seas started as two foot chops, went to a one foot chop and then calm. The air temperature reached a high of 70°F in the shade. The visibility ranged to over twenty miles. The tide (current) was moderate. The sky was sunny all day. The surface water temperature reached a high of 63°F.
The fishing was good. Although the weather/sea conditions were very good there were a few more dogfish than yesterday. And we didn't even have enough anglers to warrant so many dogs. But it is what it is. The catching was very good. Landings were good. Legal landings included thirty-eight pollock, five haddock, six cusk, twelve cod and four mackerel. Released fish included eighty, or so, dogfish, five cod of 5 pounds or more, sixteen sub-legal cod, fourteen sub-legal haddock, two blue sharks, a couple sculpins and a mackerel. Drifting was the method. Jigs and cod flies worked the best.
Rich Morrell (ME) was high hook with the most legal fish. His largest was an 11.25 pound cod, the second largest fish of the trip. He also caught a 10.5 pound cod, a 9 pound pollock and a 9 pound cod. John Madore (NH) won the boat pool for the largest fish with the largest fish, a 13 pound cod. The third largest fish was an 11 pound cod caught by Gary Holt (VT), an angler who has been fishing with me for many years.
Other Angler Highlights: Phil Miligan (ME) caught the largest pollock of the trip at 10 pounds. His biggest cod weighed 9.25 pounds. Glenn Curtis (ME) caught a 10.5 pound cod, his biggest fish. Gil Rosebrook (ME) landed the hard luck award for getting into the most tangles.
I received three donations today sponsoring me in this year's Pan-Mass Challenge for cancer research. Those donors and their donations are as follows: Gary Holt & Gina Brooks (VT) for $20.00, Erik Grove (ME) for $50.00 and John Mazza (NY) for $35.00. Thank you all for your thoughtfulness and support. I appreciate it and it means a lot to me that you are helping me in something that I believe in and is working. Sometimes it seems that things don't happen soon enough. But I guess that's the nature of the beast. And a beast it is!
At 4:00 AM EDT the air temperature was 54°F, the sky was clear and full of stars, the wind was blowing out of the northwest at ten knots and the visibility over the ocean was excellent.
Ashore, it was another beautiful day with light wind, sunny skies and mild/warm air temperatures. The wind was light out of the northwest, the highest wind speed seen at 4:00 AM. Mostly, the wind was five or six knots after sunrise. By late morning, the wind had let go altogether. After noon, a southerly wind was established with wind speeds no more than five knots. The ocean along the shore was calm all day. The visibility remained excellent. The sky was mostly clear and sunny. The highest air temperature that I saw was 74°F. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 69°F (with a low of 57°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 74°F (with a low of 43°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 73°F (with a low of 50°F).
On the fishing grounds, the wind blew out of the north at ten to five knots, died out to nothing and then hauled out of the west at five knots. Seas went from a one foot chop to a flat surface. The air temperature reached a high of 70°F. The sky was clear and sunny. The visibility ranged to over twenty miles. The tide (current) was moderate yet again. The surface water temperature reached a high of 63°F.
Depite the excellent weather and calm seas, the fishing was just good. There were quite a few dogfish. The catching was very good to nearly excellent. Landings were very good. Most legal fish landed were pollock; there wasn't another species even close. Legal landings also included seven cod, eleven haddock, four redfish, eight cusk, ten white hake and a whiting. Released fish included over a hundred dogfish, six sub-legal cod, ten sub-legal haddock, forty-one small pollock and a thorny skate. Drifting was the method. All terminal gear worked well today. Bait caught the most haddock.
Ian couldn't tell me who was high hook. There were too many fish and way too much action. And there were really no standouts. Erik Grove (ME) won the boat pool for the largest fish with the largest fish, a 30 pound Maine state trophy white hake. This fish ties for the Bunny Clark's third largest hake this season to date. Erik also caught a 17 pound white hake and a 21 pound white hake. Mike Schetter (NY) won the boat pool for the second largest fish with the second largest fish, a 29 pound Maine state trophy white hake. This fish is the Bunny Clark's fifth largest hake of the season so far. The third largest fish was a 26 pound Maine state trophy white hake caught by Mike Hall (NY).
Other Angler Highlights: Jeff Corey (MA) started off the boat pool competition with an 11 pound pollock. He eclipsed this fish with a 20.5 pound white hake later in the day. Jeff also caught a 15 pound white hake. John Spignardo (NY) caught a 10 pound pollock, his best fish. Tim Ryder (NY) caught the largest pollock of the trip at 12 pounds. His biggest fish was a 16 pound white hake. Marie Harding (ME) landed a 10 pound pollock, her biggest pollock. She also caught a 22 pound white hake, her biggest fish today. Nino Pierdipino (NY) landed a 21 pound white hake, his best fish of the day. Tod Benjamin (VT) caught an 11 pound pollock, his biggest fish. He also landed the hard luck award t-shirt for losing three jigs.
I enjoyed seeing four donations come in from Bunny Clark anglers sponsoring me in this season's Pan-Mass Challenge today. Those donors and their donations included: Jeff Corey for a generous $100.00, Bob Bready (NY) for $30.00, Phil Wilson (TX) for $40.00 and Steve McGrath (NH) for $50.00. All these anglers donate to my cancer project on a regular basis. This certainly makes this more important to me. Thank you all for your support and thoughtfulness. I appreciate it very much.
I was involved in a joint meeting with the Recreational Advisory Panel (of which I hold a seat) and the Groundfish Advisory Panel (via Webinar) for most of the day today. Much was discussed with halibut, haddock and cod regulations. Other species were discussed as well but are not of a recreational concern. It seems we are headed on a very complicated path to manage the cod stocks. This since delineating four different cod stocks in New England/New York waters. To me, we have dwindled the cod populations down so low as to only reveal the resident cod. And, to me it seems, territorial cod will be genetically similar in similar areas. Why we need to manage these in such a (seemingly) complicated way is head scratching. We also talked about Fishery Management Council priorities and other aspects of management. I didn't get a lot out of this except that fishermen at these meetings always want more fish. And, of course, they are fishermen, mostly commercial fishermen. I just want the fishery to come back to the way it was forty years ago. Is this too much to ask? I think it is.
Today's New York contingent, eight of my regular anglers who were on the boat today, met for dinner at Barnacle Billy's, Etc. All wonderful people and anglers who I have entertained many times on the Bunny Clark, it was fun talking with them in the restaurant about old times and today's fishing. I call them Mike Schetter's crew because Mike is the original guy and has been with me the longest. Always great to have them here!
At 4:00 AM EDT the air temperature was 54°F, the sky was crystal clear, the wind was blowing out of the northeast at ten knots and the visibility over the ocean was excellent.
Ashore, the wind blew out of the northeast at about eight knots, more or less, all day. Actually, I don't think we ever did get as much as ten knots during the day. After noon, the wind was more east, and then, east southeast. Still the wind never broached the ten knot mark. The sky was sunny and clear all day. The visibility remained excellent. The highest air temperature that I saw today was 67°F. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 68°F (with a low of 57°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 72°F (with a low of 42°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 66°F (with a low of 49°F).
On the fishing grounds, the wind blew out of the east at five to ten knots. Seas were chops of a foot. The air temperature reached a high of 70°F under the shade top. The visibility ranged to over twenty miles. The tide (current) was moderate. The sky was clear and sunny. The surface water temperature reached a high of 61°F.
The fishing was good or maybe better than that. They did catch quite a few dogfish but only near the end of the trip. The catching was very good. Landings were good or better than that. Legal landings included seventeen cod, thirty-seven haddock, thirty-five pollock, one redfish, twenty-two cusk and two white hake. Released fish included twenty-six sub-legal haddock, seventy-five dogfish, six sub-legal cod, three cod of 5 pounds or more and about fifty small pollock. Drifting was the method. All terminal gear worked about the same. Bait caught the most haddock. And thirty-seven haddock is the most legal haddock the boat has landed during a trip in weeks.
Ian couldn't tell me who was high hook with the most legal fish. There was too much going on. Ben Mastro (NH) won the boat pool for the largest fish with the largest fish, an 11 pound cod. There was a tie for the second largest fish today at 10 pounds. Steve McGrath (NH) caught one, a cod. Tod Benjamin (VT) caught the other, a pollock, the largest pollock of the trip. Steve was actually right behind Tod with a 9 pound pollock.
Other Angler Highlights: Ray Washburn (VT) caught the best double of the day. His catch included a 7 pound pollock and an 8 pound pollock, both fish caught on the same line at the same time. Peter Brodeur (QC) landed the hard luck award today for catching nary a single legal fish and for being tangled in other fishing lines for most of the trip. Peter asked me to tell him where the best fishing spot on the boat might be. I told him what I considered the best spot. But, apparently, that wasn't the spot! I don't know what to say as I wasn't there. But I do know that Peter disappeared without giving me the opportunity to say goodbye!
Ray Washburn did me a huge favor today by donating $250.00 to my cancer research project with the Pan-Mass Challenge/Dana-Farber Cancer Institute (Jimmy Fund). Ray has always been very thoughtful and generous with his donations. And he has been an annual donor since I started in this project. Thank you so much, Ray. It was very nice to see you aboard and I very much appreciate your financial help with the project. Heel up!
And I heard some other sad news today. Bob Mayer (ME), long time Bunny Clark regular angler, passed away on September 15th from complications with cancer. He had been fighting it for over a year. Between the chemo and the radiation, he had nothing left to fight infections. And that's what got him in the end. Bob used to love to go on the marathon trips with me. And he was always very successful. Three years ago he caught two 32 pound halibut on two separate trips, one a half hour before sunrise, the only halibut ever caught on the Bunny Clark before daylight. He also lost one of the biggest halibut we have ever hooked. He was using 100 pound test with the sole purpose of catching a big one. However, without any drag on his reel, he broke the 100 pound test line he was using. The fish nearly dragged him overboard in the process. He was also very good at catching haddock. And he insisted on being "number four" for his fillet bag number. A great guy to have aboard, Bob will be missed. He always fished the number 20 spot on the Bunny Clark. At some point I will spread his ashes on the fishing ground he loved the most, as requested.
At 4:00 AM EDT the air temperature was 49°F, the sky was partly hazy cloudy with stars visible, the wind was light from the northeast and the visibility over the ocean was excellent.
Ashore, it was mostly clear in the morning. But clouds started to creep in by mid morning. By afternoon, the sky was overcast. We were expecting rain but we never got rain until 7:00 PM. It rained lightly for a couple hours after that but I don't think it continued. The visibility was very good to excellent in some haze. The wind blew out of the east at less than ten knots for most of the day. After 2:00 PM, the wind backed out of the northeast and blew over ten knots for a bit. When the rain started, the wind was less than ten knots. The highest air temperature that I saw was 60°F. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 61°F (with a low of 58°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 60°F (with a low of 42°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 60°F (with a low of 46°F).
On the fishing grounds, the wind blew out of the east southeast at five to ten knots. Seas were chops of a foot or less over a two th four foot long ocean swell. The air temperature reached a high of 60°F. The visibility ranged from fifteen to twenty miles in haze. The tide (current) was moderate. The sky was overcast for the whole time fishing. The surface water temperature reached a high of 62°F.
The fishing was good, no better than that. It was the day of the dogfish. It was one of the best days for catching dogfish of the season. Maybe one of the top three. The catching of regular groundfish species was good or better than that. Landings were fair to good. Legal landings included five cod, ten haddock, fifty-one pollock, six cusk and a mackerel. Released fish included a blue shark, well over two hundred dogfish, six sub-legal cod, two sub-legal haddock and thirty-nine small pollock. It just wasn't the best biting day, except for the dogfish. I'm hoping this is a sign that dogfish are getting ready to move out of our fishing grounds. But I'm sure I couldn't be that lucky. They drift fished for the day. All terminal gear worked about the same. Most haddock were caught on bait.
Charlie Matteson (ME) was the fisherman of the day. He was high hook with the most legal fish. And he won the boat pool for the largest fish with the largest fish, an 8.5 pound pollock. The second largest fish was a 6 pound pollock caught by James Bishop (VT). Nadine Terpstra (ME) caught the third largest fish, a 5.5 pound pollock. Actually, she caught two as a double, both 5.5 pounds and both caught on the same line at the same time!
Other Angler Highlights: Tom Bickford (NH) landed the hard luck award t-shirt for catching the most dogfish. His dogfish count was eighteen of the green eyed little monsters!
At 5:00 AM EDT the air temperature was 55°F, the sky was overcast, the wind was blowing out of the northeast at ten knots and the visibility over the ocean was excellent.
Ashore, the sky stayed overcast all day. The clouds were very light at times. And, a couple times, I looked up to see if the sun was shinning through the clouds. I think that if they had just been a little thinner we would have seen old Saul. But we never did. At times the clouds darkened to the point where it looked like it was going to rain. But it never did rain. The visibility was excellent all day. The wind blew out of the northeast all day. Wind speeds ranged from twelve to fifteen knots. At times it looked like the wind was going to pick up but it remained fairly constant all day. The highest air temperature that I saw was 62°F. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 63°F (with a low of 60°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 66°F (with a low of 53°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 63°F (with a low of 53°F).
On the fishing grounds, the wind blew out of the east northeast at ten to fifteen knots in the morning. Seas at that time were chops of about a foot over a three to four foot sea swell. Later, the east northeast wind picked up to over fifteen knots with a two foot chop over the same sized swell. The air temperature reached a high of 61°F. The visibility ranged to over twenty miles. The tide (current) was moderate. There was one point when they had hardly any drift at all. But I believe that the problem was more that the tide was running into the wind. The sky was overcast all day but devoid of rain. The surface water temperature reached a high of 61°F.
The fishing was good. It wasn't the best weather day as it was yesterday with stronger northeast wind than yesterday and bigger seas and chops. And, although they didn't have as many dogfish as yesterday's trip, there were quite a few dogfish caught, displacing the legal fish that they would have caught otherwise. So I had to keep the fishing "category" in the good column. The catching was nearly excellent. Landings were very good. Most legal fish landed were pollock, by far, and many more than the last seven trips taken previously. Legal landings also included sixteen cod, five haddock, a redfish, eighteen cusk, a whiting, two monkfish and ten mackerel. Released fish included over one hundred and fifty dogfish, eight sub-legal cod, five sub-legal haddock, fifty-five small pollock, a blue shark and a couple mackerel. Drifting was the method. Jigs and cod flies caught the most fish.
Dave Burton (MA) was high hook with the most legal fish today. He was giving most of his fish to other anglers on the boat. He also won the boat pool for the largest fish with the second largest fish, an 18 pound pollock. The angler with the largest fish today, Darlene Chin (VT), did not enter the boat pool. Her fish was a 23 pound pollock, the Bunny Clark's largest pollock of the fishing season so far. The second largest pollock was 20 pounds so Darlene's pollock was 3 pounds bigger. She also caught a 10 pound cod, her largest cod of the day, and another pollock that weighed 8 pounds. Dave also caught an 8 pound pollock. The third largest fish was a 14 pound pollock caught by Eddie Barter (MA). Eddie also caught an 8 pound pollock today.
Other Angler Highlights: Randy Clark (VT) caught a 13 pound pollock, the fourth largest fish of the trip. Lee Kosiba (NY) landed a 9 pound monkfish. This is the fifth largest monkfish that has been caught on the Bunny Clark this season to date. Michele Penney (ME) landed the hard luck award for reaching high hurler status. There were others who were sea sick as well. She was just the best of the collective worst!
I received three donations sponsoring me in this year's Pan-Mass Challenge. As I mentioned previously, I couldn't attend the event because I crashed my bike in early June and sustained six broken vertebrae as well as many other broken bones. As it is, I still haven't gotten the okay to get on the Bunny Clark again. I'm hoping to go on Friday for a trial run, maybe Saturday instead - but we shall see how I feel. At any rate, the fund raising is by far the most important part of the PMC and I plan to keep this going for as long as my life will take me. The donors and donations were as follows: Dave Burton for another $50.00 (So far, this season, he has donated a total of $750!!), Barry Ano (NY) for $40.00 (This could be Barry's fourth donation this season so far!) and Randy & Cherish Clark for another $100.00 in Memory of Alexis "Lexy" Giallella (They too donated $100.00 in May.). Thank you all so very much for your thoughtfulness, your generosity and your support. You humble me with your support and I deeply appreciate this!
At 4:00 AM EDT the air temperature was 57°F, the sky was overcast, the wind was blowing out of the northeast at twelve knots and the visibility over the ocean was excellent. By 5:00 AM, some of the clouds had cleared and I could see stars through the holes in the sky.
Ashore, the wind blew out of the northeast at ten to fifteen knots for most of the morning. After noon, though, it aired on big time and blew up over twenty-five knots. The wind had shifted at that time from more of an east northeast direction. After low water slack, around 3:30 PM, the wind backed off a bit and dropped to twenty knots. Still out of the east northeast, it blew fifteen to twenty knots into the night. The visibility over the ocean was very good from the shore. The sky was mostly overcast with blue sky showing periodically, only to be covered over a half hour later. The highest air temperature that I saw was 64°F. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 62°F (with a low of 59°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 67°F (with a low of 49°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 66°F (with a low of 50°F).
On the fishing grounds, the wind blew out of the east northeast at fifteen knots sustained with higher gusts. Seas were chops of two to four feet. After noon, the wind increased to twenty knots with higher gusts. Seas increased to three and five feet with a few queer ones mixed in. The air temperature was 61°F in the morning but dropped to 59°F when the wind struck in the afternoon. The tide (current) was moderate. The visibility ranged to over twenty miles. The sky remained overcast for the trip. The surface water temperature reached a high of 61°F.
The fishing was good again today, no better. There weren't nearly as many dogfish. But the wind created an almost untenable fishing situation for bait fishing. These conditions aren't really that good for jigging either - it takes the control away from someone who really knows how to swing a jig. And, near the end of the trip, they became inundated with blue sharks; they could not get a fish off the bottom without a blue shark taking the fish away. There were many jigs lost just in the last hour to blue sharks.
The catching was good to very good. Landings were good for the number of anglers fishing. Legal landings included nine cod, one haddock, forty-two pollock, one cusk, two monkfish and eight mackerel. Released fish included thirty dogfish, six sub-legal cod, one sub-legal haddock, thirty-five small pollock, quite a few blue sharks and a couple mackerel. They drift fished for most of the trip, anchoring once. Anchoring was not good. Jigs and flies caught the most fish.
Ian couldn't tell me who was high hook with the most legal fish. John Yashenko (CT) won the boat pool for the largest fish with the largest fish, a 14.5 pound pollock. The second largest fish was a 12 pound pollock caught by Mark Villane (CT). Bob Greenly (PA) caught the third largest fish, an 11 pound cod.
Other Angler Highlights: Lucas Fraher (CT) caught the first fish to be weighed for the boat pool, a 10 pound cod. This was Lucas' largest fish today. Steve Linn (PA) caught a 9.5 pound pollock early in the trip as well. Mark Fraher (CT) landed the hard luck award for losing two jigs to blue sharks. No one was seasick today.
I received two donations sponsoring me in this season's Pan-Mass Challenge today. Barry Ano (NY) gave another $40.00 donation again today. He already gave me $40.00 yesterday plus all the other times he has donated throughout the season. Mark Fraher also donated $40.00 to the cancer cause today. Thank you both so very much for supporting me in this project. I appreciate it very much!
At 5:00 AM EDT the air temperature was 54°F, the sky was partly cloudy with stars showing between the clouds, the wind was blowing out of the north northeast at twenty knots with higher gusts and the visibility over the ocean was excellent. The wind had blown out of the east northeast at twenty to twenty-five knots from midnight onward.
The wind continued to blow out of the northeast. Wind speeds were fifteen to twenty knots for the morning here in Perkins Cove. After noon, the wind started to drop. By 2:00 PM, we had barely ten knots. By 5:00 PM, there was barely any wind at all. By sunset, there was no wind, the ocean along the shore had been calm for almost two hours. The visibility was excellent all day. The sky was mostly cloudy in the morning to mostly clear, nearly cloudless, in the afternoon. The highest air temperature that I saw in Perkins Cove was 61°F. In Boston, Massachusetts (Logan International Airport) the high air temperature was 60°F (with a low of 50°F). The Concord, New Hampshire's high temperature was 68°F (with a low of 41°F). The high air temperature at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine was 64°F (with a low of 45°F).
Today was a normal day at the restaurant but not so normal to me because the Bunny Clark was at the dock. So I did my normal restaurant duties and went through the day. It turned out to be a beautiful afternoon. We had few people on the deck of Barnacle Billy's in the early part of the afternoon but filled the deck during the later part. The building blocks the northeast wind. With the sun out, it was warm and perfect there.
Later in the evening I ran into Don Hicks (NY). Don used to be a regular angler on the Bunny Clark. He came with a charter from upstate New York that was organized by Larry Lawrence (NY). I always loved seeing those guys. Don caught a huge cusk with me in the 26 pound range. He also caught many other big fish. But I remember the cusk because, for this species, was extraordinarily large. A guy like me would remember something like that.
I received three donations sponsoring me in the Pan-Mass Challenge today. These donors and their donations included Marc & Claire St. Onge (ME) for a generous $100.00 (Marc & Claire donate to the cause through me every year), Don Hicks for $50.00 and Sarah Cannon (ME) for $20.00. Sarah is one of the managers at Barnacle Billy's, Etc. Thank you all for your generosity and support. I really do appreciate the help!
At 4:30 AM EDT the air temperature was 46°F, the sky was clear with many stars, the wind was blowing out of the north at less than ten knots and the visibility over the ocean was excellent. More later.
We have room on some upcoming trips: The marathon trip of Thursday, September 28, has twelve fishing spots available (We are sailing tomorrow with six anglers and plenty of room for more if you are interested. I know I would be!), the extreme day trip of Monday, October 2, has thirteen fishing spots available, the marathon trip on Tuesday, October 3, has ten fishing spots available, the extreme day trip of Wednesday, October 4, has sixteen fishing spots available and the Thursday, October 5th marathon trip has eight fishing spots available. Landings have been good to very good or better than that with mix of mostly pollock, some haddock, quite a few cod that we can keep now, the occasional white hake and some whiting with the chance of getting a halibut at times - we caught the last one on September 14th and lost a big one on September 13th. August was the best August we have had for landings in four seasons. September is looking very good indeed. The dogfish are here and there, some trips with many, some with few. Most days have seen light wind with perfect air temperatures. Be there or be square!
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