I was pleased to welcome aboard Dan and Donna Young along with their friend Tom for a day of ground fishing on the Gulf of Maine.  We departed the harbor at 0500 and I laid in a course for the area I had fished the previous trip.  These folks all hail from Maine and were hoping to put some fish in the freezer so I hoped the fish were in a biting mood again today. 

The seas were calm except for a long easterly swell that undulated beneath the hull.  Unfortunately this type of water can really bother some folks and Donna developed a good case of Mal De Mere on the way to the grounds. When we arrived.  I put my E-Sea Rider seat bag in the bow and Donna took over the command position there for the day.

Tom and Dan dropped their jigs and immediately started hitting great market cod and pollack so fast that I by the time the first "tourist boat" arrived on scene,around 0800,  we had the box nearly full of dressed fish.  With so many fish on board I immediately manned the fillet board as Dan and Tom handled the catching duties. 

All of the cod fish today were in the same 12-15lb class and were the perfect size for eating. 

Around 1430 we headed for shore and as I continued to fillet fish the guys took a break and rested after a long day of catching.  The western horizon started to appear pretty ominous and the weather alerts of severe weather hastened my cutting speed.  With the fish finally cut I moved everyone to rear of the boat, and put the hammers down.  The storm held off until the lines wrapped around the dock's cleat and even then the worst of it passed just to the north of us.

Donna did indeed survive the trip and I give her a lot of credit for hanging in there. Anyone who says they have never been sea sick probably has never been on the ocean.  On any given day it is something that anyone can experience and it takes a real trooper to hang in there like Donna did.  The guys loaded over 130 lbs of fillet into their coolers and we said our good byes.  Another great day on the water with some real nice people and great fisherman came to an end!

Capt. George