On Saturday morning I welcomed aboard Bob Taylor and his dad "Big Al" for a deep sea ground fishing on the Gulf of Maine. Bob currently hails from Casper Wyoming and had come east to take his father, who lives in Maine, fishing. After meeting these folks at the dock I just knew it was going to be a special trip.
We cleared the jetty at 0615 and headed east into a slight 2 foot chop. Since Bob had traveled so far I wanted to take to where I thought he and his dad had the best chance to catch some quality ground fish. The big DF250 roared to life and we headed to our destination which layed 35 miles to the east.
After a 90 minute ride I throttled back on the western edge of the grounds and turned on the sounder. The machine lit up with schools of bait and fish beneath. I proceeded to give Bob and Al a quick how to lesson on cod jigging. As soon as the jig hit the bottom it was slammed. I handed the rod to Big Al and the game was one. A short time later a nice market cod hit the deck and in its mouth was a live herring...the cod were on an active bite. We stayed on that spot for about an hour landing nice market cod and an occaisional haddock.
The bite slowed so I decided to move east to an area that a couple weeks before had produced a few fish. Again as soon as the jigs hit bottom they were taken by eager codfish and haddock. We stayed in that area for most of the morning making slight shifts to cover different structure.
After noon I decided to head even further east to a spot I wanted to try for the first time this year. As I got to the numbers the sounder lit up with fish 20 ft off the bottom...visions of slammer pollack. I ordered the jigs to be dropped without even turning the boat. 30 ft off the bottom both rods doubled over and the fight was on. Bob's fish pulled after a short battle but Big Al hung on tight. 5 minutes later a fat 10 lb pollack hit the decks.
Unfortunately these fish were on the fly and the school was not huge by any means (probably a scout team) so we didnt hook up again. However, with all the bait on the grounds you can bet these fish will be coming on in the next few weeks in big numbers.Time was getting short so I made one more shift to see if we could finish the limit and as luck would have the codfish cooperated. A quick flurry put 4 more in the box and we were limited out...time to head for the barn.
Son and Dad are all smiles with a great day of fishing on the Gulf of Maine
On the way in we were delayed by a spectacular whale show. Huge humpbacks whales full breeching and tail slapping made for a perfect end to the day. I hope to learn how to post video on this site so that you can get a sense of how amazing these creatures are.
We arrived back at the dock around 16:30 and Bob and Al loaded 70 lbs of fillet into their coolers. Everyone would eat well tonight.
We made plans to do it again later in the season as I can honestly say these were two of the finest gentleman I have ever had the privilege to welcome aboard the Lady Diane.
