Fishing Gloucester and the Coast of Maine

A DISASTER....Missed communication and the charter came in from NJ when I knew a NE storm was going to make it tough. Arrived at the dock at 0400 and saw the flags straight out from the NE. George Joe, and son Zach decided to give it a try for tuna instead of staying inshore and bass fishing. We plowed our way to the bank and found only 4 or 5 large sportfishers in the area. Zach hit a large blue within the first hour and then George and Joe fought with cow bass...not what we wanted. Worked south and east for 3 hours until I found great water filled with bait, whales, and promising marks. Unfortuantely Zach succumbed to the dreaded Mal de Mer so we abandoned the hunt and headed for the barn around 1300....I was very disappointed that I couldnt get these guys a hookup so it was a long slow bumpy ride home. Back in the harbor Zach was feeling better so we pulled a couple traps and got a keeper lobster for him to take home. No picts with this story as no fish were boated...first skunk of the season. I hate NE WIND!!

Day 4 June 29

After yesterdays trip I called off todays charter as the party included 2 children and with a questionable forecast I didnt want to smell the skunk 2 day in a row. Took the time to retrive a lost trap and brough home 4 keepers for the neighbors to enjoy. I am looking forwar to doing the CapeAnnKids trips soon as I think it will be a great 2 hours for families to spend together on the water. Sorry no photos as the bugs have been eatin!

Day 5 June 30

Another day off as the charter opted to rescheduled as the weather forecast (sorry for the language) SUCKS. I cant remember a June with so much wind and rain. The good news is that with the day off I am going to sea trial a new boat and I hope the wind blows like h#ll. The Lady Diane is my love but I would like to offer my customers a little more protection and have the ability to take special charters to offshore ledges that only the large overnight boats fish. For that I need a stong, fast and seaworthy boat that is ecomonical to run . I think I am going to fall in love again tomorrow...stayed tuned!

Sea Trial Results

Jay Perrotta. President of Rock Salt Boats (www.rocksaltboats.com), invited myself and a couple other former customers to take a ride on his newest design the Rock Salt 34. This boat is made of welded 1/4" Plate Alloy (1/2" on the transom), 34 feet long, 10 ft beam, weighs 11,500 lbs wet with 450 gal fuel and rigged with twin 350 Yamaha four stroke engines (she is capable of also being rigged with triples).

The boat looks and is huge. The freeboard is so high that the gunwals tops reached the upper part of my thighs when standing on deck and I am 6' tall. The fly by wire controls give instant response to any change in throttle or steering...something I had to get used to after driving my boat which does not have this. This boat is hull No.1 and was rigged for the Miami Boat Show and featured coffin box, 2 bait wells, tackle lockers, below deck fish boxes and numerous other amenities. The thing I liked most was a customer can designed what he wants in the boat. Being an offshore fisherman I am already compiling a list of what I would want. People interested in cruising can do the same. These are not cookie cutter boats...they are designed for the customer.

The boat runs even more impressively than she looks. WOT gives you 55MPH, burning 65 GPH with a range of 425 miles ( Jay believes with a little tweaking in the hull design he will have Hull #2 over 60 MPH!!!. Back it down to cruise and your are running 38 MPH with a very modest 24.5 GPH which will give you a range of nearly 700 miles (How do charters to Fipps, Cashes Georges or Hudson Canyon sound!). At WOT Jay put her through hard right/left rudder turns and she tracked as though her stern was glued to the water...no slippage what so ever. We could only find a small 2-3 chop on the open water and that was no test for this hull as she cut through it as though it was a flat calm inland lake. Not a single drop of water spray entered the cockpit. My next ride will be in a NE blow with at least a 5 ft 4 second chop and I bet she will cut it like a cake. On the drift I found her to be very stable which surprised me because of her 24 degree deadrise,

After driving her for about an hour I became very comfortable with the controls and I found her easier to run than my own 23' Pacific. At the end of the day, using just the left/right throttles I was able to slide her between two other boats and just kiss the dock...everyone including Jay (who has witnessed my notorious docking abilities) was impressed.

With this boat you get safety (nothing short of a mine is going to damage this hull), speed, comfort, lifetime warranty, and a deck layout that you design. I have now been spoiled as there is no other hull that I know of that interests me any longer. I have found a new love but please don't tell the Lady D.

Day 6

Another cloudy, raining and FOGGY day in Gloucester greeted my guest Efran and his buddys from NY. This was the first time these gentlemen had fished my boat and I could see by the tackle they brought on board I had a crew that knew what they were doing. We left the harbor at 0500 and found visibilty dropping to less than a 1/4 mile as we rounded eastern point. During the course of the day the best we ever saw was maybe a mile of visibilty. My radar worked overtime helping me dodge targets from other recreational and commercial fishing boats as we worked Stellwagen Bank in search of tuna.

The best news of the day was that I finally saw huge bait balls in the the area I was fishing..this is the first time this year. Hopes were high for finding Charlie the ghost fish. But the stripers were so thick that nothing we used could get through them without hooking up. Trolled lures, jigs, poppers...it didnt matter the stripers attacked them relentlessly. These fish averaged 25 lbs and some pushed 35 but since we are in federal waters all must be released. People on shore cant imagine why I curse catching these fish as any one of them would be considered a trophy in inshore waters.

Around 0900 we decided to give some ground fishing a try so I made another 12 mile run to the south to the area than had been so good this past Sunday. The sounder showed the fish were still in the area and on one of the first drops the guys put a nice 12 lb cod in the box. But that was it...after 2 more hours of searching and fishing only a half dozen haddock and a squirrel cusk joined the cod....I was totally depressed. The fish were stacked on the bottom but refused to eat. When I ripped the few we took I found their stomachs full of old digested bait...these fish were off the bite and until this low pressure system moves on they will not feed.

With the writing on the wall we decided to run north and give charile one more try but the stripers were still in force so we headed for the barn at 1400. Heavy boat traffic, pea soup fog added to the stress of a tough day on the water but the Lady Diane brought us to port safely again (eventhough that RockSalt has caught my eye , I still love my old girl as she has been very good to me and my customers).

At the dock Efran his crew were very understanding ,gracious and expressed interest in coming out again in the future. I appreciated having customers like Efran because no matter how good you are, some days the fish will not bite. Customers who dont fish much just dont understand that no Captain cant make them bite. Efran and the guys, being experienced competent anglers, understand this and just get ready for the next trip when I know they will CRUSH THEM!

Day 7

No trip today as NE winds, heavy rain, fog and TStorms were predicted. The weatherman got it right on the money...it would have been a terrible day to be on the water. I did go out and check my traps and didnt have to worry about washing down the Lady D as Mother Nature took care of that task. I did catch my first 2lb bugs today so it was worth the trip.

The marathon is done...great trips...slow trips...it's what the game is all about. The forecast predicts a break in this miserable weather by Sunday and I hope so as I have planned family fishing time for the majority of next week ( I do have a charter on Monday). I believe that when this low pressure trough finally breaks up we should be in for some great fishing and I plan to be on the grounds when they start to bite.

Tight Lines,

Capt George

Reserve your charter date NOW!

"I will take you to where the fish are...not where I wish they were" Capt. George, Full Strike Anglers

Captain George Lemieux

USCG Master 50 Ton License

Registered Maine Tidewater Guide

978-590-2131

E-Mail Capt. George