I welcome Dave and Walt who hail from Cape Cod aboard the Lady Diane this morning for a day of ground fishing on the Gulf of Maine.  We departed the harbor at 0500 and as we cleared the jetty we found calm seas and light winds all the way to the grounds.

We had about 5 miles to go when we spotted splashes on the horizon.  With schools of tuna in the area we changed course and readied the spin rods for what we hoped would be a bonus to the day.  Unfortunately as we approached the are we found a large herd of white sided dolphins feeding along the surface.  Very soon we were surrounded by hundreds of "friendly smiles" as the dolphins dove in and around the boat.  We enjoyed their company for a few minutes and then resumed our heading to the grounds.

We started fishing an area that the day before another friend who runs a large party boat had fished and had done very well.  Market cod started hitting the deck but a lot of them were just short of the minimum and were released.  Eventhough we were not using bait, each fish that came to the surface was also escorted by a half dozen dogfish. 

As the day progressed we moved from spot to spot taking some keeper cod and haddock and as the day wore on the box was filling up.  Later in the day we found a school of pollack and we topped of the box with some nice fish such as these.

We arrived back at the dock around 1500 hours and the guys put 50 lbs of fillet in their coolers to take home to beautiful Cape Cod.  Although we didnt slam them today, I have to say it is always a great day on the water when you get a chance to meet and fish with gentlemen like Dave and Walt.  I am looking forward to fishing with them again in the near future.

Capt. George