On our first two stops we found piles of fish but none that were interested in taking our offerings so I decided to head east to areas I had fished earlier this week. The next stop started producing market cod and haddock on a fairly steady pick. The weather meanwhile started turning sour and by 0900 the ocean was full of “diamonds in the ruff” as whitecaps were covering the now 3-5’ foot seas pushed along by 20 knot east winds. Fortunately, Robert and his guys, having fished on charter and party boats from Massachusetts to Maine are very experienced fisherman so as I stemmed the drift with the engine the guys tossed their jigs up wind and continued to fill the box with nice market cod and haddock. Dave managed to keep me busy at the fillet table by sticking numerous markets during the day .

By noon time we had fished our way south and I could see a large fleet of boats on the horizon. I just do not like fishing around other boats but very soon a charter captain I knew steamed over to me and told me to make an exception today and go join the fleet. He was so adamant in his direction that my curiosity was tweaked so we took the ride.

As I eased my way into the area I could see the rods on every boat bent and everyone bailing nice fish onto their decks. I throttled back, gave the word and the guys immediately hooked up. Market cod started filling the box and the keeper to short ratio was an excellent 4 to 1. Within an hour the guys reached their limit and it was time to head for the barn. 

Back at the dock the guys loaded their coolers with 130lbs of cod and 15lbs of haddock fillet. Despite the weatherman’s misguided forecast we had a great day on the water and I look forward to fishing with these gentlemen again.

 Day 2

Usually in the morning I have two or three ideas on where to start fishing on a given charter but on today there was only one place I planned on going and you can probably guess where that was. Tim Pratt, who hails from way up in down east Maine, and his buddy Kevin met me at the dock around 0515. The weatherman was still being a pain as thunderstorms began rumbling through the area around 0300 and were predicted to occur throughout the day. As we headed out of the harbor light rain showers fell and the radar was lit up with rain all the way to the bank. While occaisionally we saw a flash of lightning in the east,  it appeared the worst of the storms had past by. The seas had flattened after the previous day’s easterly so I put the hammer down and headed for what I hoped would be the same hot bite we left on Saturday’s charter.

I eased back on the throttles after a 45 minute run and eased my way into the fleet. We dropped the first jigs at 0620 and the bite was in full force. As fast as the guys could drop, stick and then reel cod fish came over the rails. For the first time this year I never touched a rod as I had all I could do to gaff and unhook fish. Tim and Kevin are super fisherman and their goal was to limit out on cod and fill their freezers. At 0730 cod number 30 hit the deck and the boat limit had been reached. These fish were 8-12 lb markets…perfect fish for the table. I managed to snap a quick photo of the happy anglers with their catch.

With 8 hours left in the charter we decided to head east to deeper water in search of bug eyes. I decided to go to an area where I fish in the summer to see if the haddock had moved in there this soon. It was another 10 mile run offshore but the guys were game so we took a ride. Once on the grounds we stopped at three different spots but my machine told me that I should have waited until mid June as the haddock were not to be found except for one nice 4lber. The guys did jig up a half dozen nice keeper cod who were released to fight another day as we had reached our daily limit.

I headed to the northwest with the intention of fishing the haddock grounds I have been fishing the previous few weeks. The tide was now ebbing and I thought it would be a perfect setup. Once on my spots the fish finder  it up but it was a mark I did not want to see. The guys dropped their jigs and immediately hooked a couple green eye monsters. The hounds were coming in force and we had found the mother-load. While we had taken one or two during the past weeks, probably scouts, this time the invasion was on and when you take dogfish on bare jigs you know they mean business. This first big push always disrupts the fishing as the bait and ground fish are overwhelmed and move off the grounds. I hope that with a few tides the dogs will move inshore and spread out. Haddock can often be found running with the dogs, unlike cod, so I believe the haddock fishing will rebound in the next few days.

For the rest of the trip we fought dogs (8 in all) and caught and released keeper cod. Around 1430 the skies in the west grew threatening  and I soon heard thunder in the distance. The radar showed a large cell to the west about 24 miles away and headed for us…it was definitely time to head for safe harbor. I put the Lady Diane on autopilot, Tim and Kevin served as lookouts as I cut the last couple cod. With the cod filleted and iced I returned to the helm and throttled up to 28 knots to try and out run the storm. We missed the biggest cell but a couple miles from the harbor we ran head on into a good rain squall but it contained no lightening. As we entered Gloucester Harbor brilliant sunshine broke through the clouds and we approached the dock with nearly cloudless skies. Tim and Kevin loaded 110 lbs of cod fillet into their coolers and headed north for their long drive home. I really appreciate having customers who will travel so far to fish with me…I am a very fortunate captain.   This past weekend’s charters were indeed “The Best of Times”