I wish I could say we slammed them again this weekend but that did not happen.  My reports will always reflect an honest evaluation of what I observe during our charters and try to give you a synopsis of how the day went. 

On Friday afternoon I fueled up the Lady Diane at Cape Ann Marina for the coming weekend and as I was securing the boat for the evening , Saturday's charter guests Robert Ploski, his dad John and friend Tim arrived at the docks.  The guys took advantage of staying at the Cape Ann Marina Resort which allowed them a discount on their room (since they were fishing with me) and a short walk across the parking lot in the morning to board the boat.

Robert had purchased some Jerry Brown hollow core line for a couple of his rods and needed a quick tutorial on splicing in leaders.  We set up shop in the parking lot and I showed the guys how easy it was to splice in leaders using the hollow core braid.  A short while later we had all the rods rigged and made plans to leave the dock around 0530 the next morning.

On Saturday, we ran past Eastern Point in Gloucester Harbor around 0545 and found calm seas with a 3' southerly swell running beneath our hull as we set course for the grounds.  When we arrived on the bank we immediately found the cod were on a good bite but unfortunately the shorts outnumbered the keepers 10 to 1 and this is the way the day went .  We moved throughout the day, covering nearly 75 nautical miles in total,  looking for that mother load of keepers but we never really hit them.  This is not too say we didnt catch fish as John shows there were some nice cod to be had but you had to have patience to sort through the hundreds of shorts.

During the morning the guys where treated to a spectacular show given  by the resident whale population.  Humpbacks breeched, fed, tail slapped and flipper waved all around the Lady Diane.  Seeing these whales up close is always an amazing experience no matter how many times you witness it.

 As you can see we spent most ofthe day in thick fog and again I was so glad to have state of the art electronics on the Lady Diane.  After covering nearly two thirds of the ledge we headed for the barn around 1430 and arrived on shore at 1600.  The guys loaded 65lbs of cod and 15lbs of haddock fillet into their coolers and headed west to their homes in NY.  It was not the slam we had hoped for but a respectable catch for the day.  I will always try to take you were the fish are but I cant make them bite and it appeared the cod fish had fed heavily during the previous night which gave us the slow pick all day.

Sunday's report will be almost as brief as the trip. 

I took a couple friends for a ride to the inshore areas off New Hampshire.  My buddy, Adrian,  limited out there on Saturday so I wanted to see if we could get a couple fish for our own freezers.

As I arrived there was only one boat on my radar and he was offshore from where I planned to fish.    We nailed a half dozen nice fish on the first couple of drifts before a good squall blew through. The wind put up a frothy chop on top of a 3' southerly swell in a matter of minutes. The tide and wind combined for a real fast drift so after a half hour we decided to call it a short day.  I dont take customers fishing in tough conditions as I dont like fishing in those conditions either.  There are always better days when the fishing will be just as good and you don't have to suffer.  By the time we left, every headboat and 6 pak from Newburyport to Portsmouth converged on the spot we had setup up on. Guess I chose the right spot.

And thats the way it was as I cannot tell a lie ...but I know we will just slam  them next time!

Capt. George