By tomconley
Weekend Report
5/30:
I had the pleasure of fishing aboard the Yankee Clipper for what will likely be my last cod trip for quite some time, since I’m heading to Woods Hole for the summer tomorrow. It was a good day for the boat as a whole, but very good for the proficient jig fishermen who knew how to cast and work a jig. For most of the trip, there was not a breath of wind but due to the strong tide Josh was compelled to motor-fish in order to slow our drift speed through the zone. The day began with fish-a-cast, near-“fish-a-jig stroke” action, with a fair amount of shorts but lots of smaller keepers in the 24-26-inch range too. I’d say the short: keeper ratio was about 4:1, although we did drift over some patches of bottom that held almost all keeper fish. High hook Tim Caswell and myself, jigging in the pulpit, had easily caught our limits within two hours of our first casts.
The cod were actively feeding throughout the day, except for a brief lapse in action around slack tide, and jigs ruled once again. There were also some nice haddock caught, including my biggest of the year at around 6 pounds. But the vast majority of legal fish caught were codfish. I caught a good number of fish squidding a 6-ounce diamond jig with a white tube and a Cocahoe Minnow on a dropper loop. Lots of double-headers throughout the day—many of them were doubles of shorts but I had at least two double-keeper catches that I recall. The bright stuff seemed to do the trick today: pink, white, and chartreuse. The cod seemed to be following the boat as it drifted—lots of fish were caught on the down-drift side of the boat. Certainly a good day to “fish out” your casts!
In the afternoon, Josh made a shift into some shallower water where a multitude of humpback and minke whales were assaulting massive schools of sand eels on the surface. Not far below them, cod ranging from shorts to nice markets were getting in on the action too—I hooked some keeper cod in the 8-12-pound range squidding the diamond jig as far as 40 feet off the bottom! Most of the better-quality fish for the day were caught in this shallower water, including the pool-winning 20-pounder. Strangely, the fish that came up seemed to be either shorts or markets over 8 pounds; there were very few scrod-sized keepers in the mix like those we had seen during the morning.
Overall, it was another fun trip and a great way to cap off what has been an action-packed season of spring fishing on Stellwagen! Can’t wait to get back out with the YF soon.
Over on the Yankee Patriot, Capt. Ray ran the boat; Kirk, who worked deck, reports that the fishing was on the fair side. Unlike the Clipper, which had to motor-fish for much of the day, the Patriot’s low profile and heavy build allowed it to dead-drift all day. Capt. Ray worked hard, repeatedly positioning the boat over packs of hungry codfish. However, within a few minutes they’d move off of the fish and Ray would have to shift back on top of ‘em. As with the Clipper, most fish caught were on the jig, although some impressive haddock, including one that tipped the scales at 10 pounds, fell for a piece of skimmer clam. One highlight of the day was when a 200-pound porbeagle swallowed a mackerel that an angler had hooked. The fight lasted for 3-4 minutes before the feisty lamnid’s sharp teeth and rough skin earned it its freedom. The pool fish for the day was a 10.5-pound codfish.
5/31:
The Yankee Clipper was chartered by the crew at BTU International of Billerica, MA. Capt. Josh headed to the same area that we fished yesterday, but all except a few anglers were fishing with bait, and the cod weren’t too interested in chowing down the clams. As a result, only the couple of guys who were jigging put fish in the boat. Josh decided to make a move to a location that had produced a good bite on haddock a few days before. The first two anchor stops here resulted in only a slow to steady pick, with a few fish coming up at all times. The last stop, however, made the trip—an hour and fifteen minute-long anchor stop that produced a good pick with some solid flurries on mostly haddock with some codfish mixed in. Overall, it was a fair day, with a slow to fair morning and a good final stop.
Willy G.
By tomconley
It looks like Wednesday was an anomaly, since yesterday and today the bite was on once again with mostly cod and some haddock mixed in as well. It’s mostly been a jig bite but some nice fish have succumbed to the clam too. Here’s what the guys have to report:
5/28:
Capt. Kirk took a light load of hardy anglers on the Super Thursday 5-5 trip on the Yankee Patriot today. They encountered strong northeast winds and a hefty 4-6-foot chop, conditions which necessitated anchoring for the entire day. They began fishing at 6:30 and found the codfish on the chew, actively chowing down sand eels and herring. Their first anchor stop lasted for two hours and offered fast action for the duration, with at least a handful of keeper fish coming up at all times. The bite gradually slowed down over the course of the day—it really seems to have been a morning bite as of late. The jiggers caught many quality codfish while those fishing bait had some nice haddock, although there were some dogfish mixed in as well. When all was said and done, Kirk deemed the day good as a whole, with very good fishing in the morning but just fair action in the afternoon. Dave Sullivan was once again the fisherman of the day; he was high hook with sixteen legal fish and won the pool with a 20-pound codfish! The man is a menace! I’ll be joining him on the Yankee Clipper tomorrow in what will surely be a fruitless attempt to keep pace with the Yankee Fleet’s newest superstar. 
Capt. Josh had the Jack Marcus charter on the Yankee Clipper. The trend throughout the day was similar to what Kirk experienced: good action in the morning tapering down to a pick later in the day. The fish were actively feeding in the morning and pounding the jigs, but as the day progressed more and more cod and haddock succumbed to clams fished on the bottom, including the largest cod of the day at 22 pounds.
5/29:
Capt. Kirk had the open boat on the Yankee Patriot, and reports that the fishing was better today than yesterday; more fish were caught by fewer people. The morning bite was hot and heavy, fish-a-cast action on quality, “gaffable” cod from 8-14 pounds. The bite slowed down for the last hour of the trip, but by that time everyone had plenty of fish in the boat. The pool fish was a cod of around 20 pounds. One interesting note: Kirk was mackerel fishing for a good portion of the trip and not only was he able to fill a five gallon bucket with the speedy scombrids, he also hooked a handful of scrod-sized codfish on his mackerel rig between 40 and 80 feet off the bottom! If that doesn’t show that these fish are aggressively feeding, I don’t know what does! Surely, a diamond jig squidded through that part of the water column would have culled out some larger specimens.
Josh had a charter on the Yankee Clipper today, and also reports a good to very good day. It was a bit tricky because the charter wanted to fish bait despite the fact that it’s primarily been a jig bite recently, but they still managed to put a good number of fish in the boat including a number of haddock and nice market cod in the 14-18-pound range. Josh anchored, motor-fished, and drifted today, finding the best action to be on the drift.
I’ll be out on the Yankee Clipper tomorrow–look for a report in the evening.
Willy G.
By tomconley
Sorry for the recent delay in reporting—too much fishing! Here’s what’s been happening over the past three days.
5/24: There were two open boats out today: the Yankee Clipper with Capt. Smitty at the wheel, and the Yankee Patriot driven by Capt. Ray. Both captains report a fair day of fishing overall, with periods of good cod fishing but mostly just a pick for the day, with jigs out-producing bait. There were a lot of short fish, but enough keepers around to keep things interesting. High hooks limited out on cod but some anglers had only a few fish to show for their efforts by day’s end. Gina Hart of Gloucester won the Patriot’s pool with a 23-pound codfish, while Joey Paige of Hampton, NH took the Clipper’s pool with a 12-pounder.
5/25: I jumped aboard the Yankee Clipper with Capt. Josh, with my mom coming along for her first cod trip in about ten years! In the morning, seas were flat calm but a strong current made anchoring imperative. We made a few anchor stops in a hard-bottom area and had a steady pick on mostly short cod but with enough keepers to 10 pounds around to keep things interesting. I spent most of these stops teaching Mom how to jig, and she caught a bunch of short fish and reeled in a few nice keepers as well.
After about an hour and a half, Josh wasn’t quite satisfied with the action or the short: keeper ratio, and made a move of a few miles. The tide had eased up enough to make drifting possible, and drift we did. In this location, those who knew how to cast and work a jig were able to capture some quality codfish; most were in the 6-14-pound range but a handful of larger markets between 17 and 21 pounds came to gaff as well. I managed to land my largest cod of the year thus far, a fat 21-pounder, in this location. Mom snared a few nice markets here too. Fat, frisky fish loaded with sand eels. Lots and lots of mackerel around too—at times it was near-impossible to fish a teaser because you’d catch ‘em on the way down!
After a few drifts in this zone, the action dried up. In order to try to “spread the wealth” around the boat, given that only the more skilled jig fishermen were consistently catching, Josh moved to a haddock spot over some softer bottom. There, we found a few haddock, but mostly more codfish! Again, mostly jig fish. However, it was just a pick here, and after a few slow drifts, Josh decided to call it a day, since we had already stayed out later than scheduled. Keith Miner of Virgins, VT won the pool with a 20-pound cod that snuck past a couple of close contenders.
Overall, Josh called it a fair trip, in terms of action and numbers of keepers given the number of people on board. However, I’d say it was good to very good for those who knew how to jig fish, such as Glenn Misco and Lisa Burke fishing in the pulpit. I had a limit of cod and my mom had four or five as well. A very fun day!
5/26: Once again, I decided to hop on the Yankee Clipper for the limited-load day trip with Capt. Josh. The morning started off a bit snappy, with a solid 15-knot northeast breeze obliging us to anchor to start things off. The first few stops had fast, fish-a-cast action for jig fishermen—however, anglers in the pulpit were catching mostly shorts while those in the stern were catching nice keepers in the 6-10-pound range! The next stop was the polar opposite—I put 5 market cod in the boat in my first four casts, fishing off the pulpit! No complaints there! We made one more anchor stop and also tried a drift in this area, enjoying a steady pick on short and keeper cod with some haddock mixed in as well.
Once the wind died down and we were presented with drifting conditions, Josh made the shift over to the area that had produced the better quality fish for us yesterday. There, we enjoyed the best action of the day, making a handful of drifts during which nearly everyone, including many anglers with rental jigs who had never jigged before, caught cod ranging from shorts to the pool-winning 24-pounder. There were lots of quality fish in the 7-10-pound range, which were fat, frisky, and positively loaded with sand eels. Lots of mackerel again too, just like yesterday.
Josh called the trip good overall, but for those who were effectively jigging all day I’d say it was very good or even excellent. I had an easy limit of cod as well as three or four haddock, and the cod were almost all quality fish over 7 pounds—“small markets,” if you will. There seem to be small, localized patches of active fish right now, but with the dynamic nature of the spring thus far we might see these fish spread out over the open bottom and provide more “equal-opportunity” fishing to anglers on board. We’ll see how it goes—lots of bait and life out there, for sure. Bring your jigs!
By tomconley
Friday, 5/22:
Only one boat was out Friday, the open-boat all-day trip aboard the Yankee Patriot, with Capt. Ray at the wheel. Mate Ross reports a slow to fair day as a whole. They anchored all day, and as soon as they began fishing at a new spot they’d experience good action on mostly haddock with some short and keeper cod mixed in. Within a few minutes, however, the action would settle down to a slow pick. In addition to the haddock there was a gaggle of keeper cod aboard, with some 12-15-pound markets including 15-pound pool winner. Three wolffish and a smallish monkfish (@10 pounds) came up as well.
Saturday, 5/23:
Capt. Ray once again ran the Yankee Patriot all day trip. Unfortunately, mate Ross reports, the fishing was quite slow today. Just a slow pick on mostly haddock, with a handful of keeper cod mixed in. Not a lot of short fish today either–the bite just seemed to be off. A 15-pound wolffish won the pool.
On the Yankee Clipper, Capt. Smitty also ran an all-day trip, and had a slightly more productive day than the Patriot, calling it a fair trip. The first anchor stop in the morning produced a solid pick of both cod and haddock, mostly on bait. They stayed there for about an hour and a half. After that, however, the rest of the stops they made offered only a pick on haddock, with some cusk and a pile of redfish thrown in as well. A 12-pound codfish took pool honors.
Sounds like a pretty slow day all around–we’ll see what tomorrow brings!
Willy G.
By tomconley
Capt. Kirk had the Yankee Patriot for the Super Thursday 5-5 trip today. They started off looking for some haddock, but pretty much everybody was jigging and the haddock didn’t seem to want to chew, so Kirk steamed back to the hard bottom that had produced well in the previous days. The bite there wasn’t quite as good as it was yesterday, but they enjoyed a steady pick all day, with a few fish coming up at all times. Once again, the fish seemed to be stacked up on select pieces–as soon as they’d begin a drift, everyone would hook up, but the action would then taper off. Mostly cod today, with a pile of markets in the 8-12-pound range as well as the 15-pound pool winner. A couple dozen nice haddock mixed in, too. Dave Sullivan was once again high hook with about 18 legal fish. Kirk called it a good day as a whole, with some periods of excellent fishing and others when it was just a pick.
Capt. Josh had the Stan Pettibone charter aboard the Yankee Clipper. Anglers wanted to bait fish so Josh steamed off in search of haddock. The first few quick stops in the morning found a fair pick of haddock with 10-15 fish coming aboard at each spot. Not quite satisfied, Josh pulled the anchor and experimented with an area that he hadn’t tried yet this year. There, he found a nice sign of haddock that were willing to bite, and anglers enjoyed good success on the silvery ones during the afternoon. A handful of keeper cod were mixed in as well. Also of note was a 42-inch striper that inhaled a hunk of clam on the bottom and was promptly released–the New York-based anglers remarked that it was bigger than any of the bass they’d seen in the Hudson River so far this year! There was a lot of life out there, with whales, gannets, and three species of bait: sand eels, herring, and mackerel. Sounds like the mackerel are starting to get really thick–that certainly can’t hurt things! Josh called the day good overall, with a fair morning and a very good bite in the afternoon.
Capt. Dave had the Dennis Foley charter aboard the Yankee Freedom today, and reports a day similar to that which Josh experienced. A steady pick on haddock for the guys on bait, with the two guys who swung jigs doing quite well on a scrod-to-market-sized codfish. He called it fair to good.
So, not a banner day out there today, but nothing to sneeze at either! The copious amount of bait should keep the fish around and hopefully draw some more into the area in the coming days.
Willy G.
By tomconley
5/19: Capt. Josh had the limited trip on the Yankee Clipper and reports a good to very good day on mostly cod, ranging from scrod to nice markets. The fish were concentrated on small pieces of bottom, and they got ‘em by repeatedly making short drifts over those spots. Jig guys who knew how to cast and keep contact with the bottom did quite well today, catching lots of keeper cod including many markets in the 8-14-pound range. A few dozen haddock were mixed in too. Keith Kranick of Buffalo, NY won the pool with a 15-pound cod.
5/20: Capt. Kirk took the Yankee Patriot today and also reports a very good day. The morning found lots of action on barely-short cod in the 22-23.5-inch range. Frustrated, Kirk elected to make a shift to a deeper area of hard bottom, where he found good action on better quality fish, including a number of large markets from 16 to 20 pounds. Lots of fish in the 10-12-pound range too, as well as some haddock. Mostly drifting today with some motor fishing mixed in. Like yesterday, jigs had the edge on these actively feeding fish. Dave Sullivan, animal that he is, once again took the pool with a 24-pound wolffish that smacked his jig. Strong work!
Capt. Kirk has the Super Thursday trip today–look for a report in the evening.
Willy
By tomconley
Sorry for the recent lag in reports–exams and papers have got me down!
No time for a very detailed report, but here’s the gist of what’s been going on–I’ll fill in some more details when I get a chance:
5/16: Sounds like it was a fair to good day overall. All three boats were out, and had a pick of mostly haddock for the day with a couple of fast-paced flurries. Jigs outproduced bait today, even with the haddock.
5/17: Today was slow to fair, for both the Patriot and the Clipper, the latter having a charter. Everyone was moving around a lot today looking for the action, but the bite proved elusive for all. A slow pick, with mostly haddock again, was the order of the day.
5/18: Fishing today was much better! Capts. Josh and Kirk on the Clipper and Patriot respectively both report good to very good days of fishing, with some excellent flurries mixed in. About 2/3 of the keepers caught today on both boats were haddock. High hooks had 15-17 fish. The average size of the keeper cod was quite good today, in the 7-10-pound range. Maybe it has something to do with the arrival of the mackerel? We’ll see!
Pool fish have been cod in the 12-15-pound range, with lots of small market cod in the 8-10-pound range coming aboard.
I’ll give some more details later, but sounds like the fishing is picking back up again! We’ll see what tomorrow brings.
Willy G.
This post edited by Codfisha15 10:30 PM 05/18/2009
By tomconley
5/14: Captains Josh and Kirk both report very good to excellent days yesterday! Josh had the Carl Scuderi charter aboard the Yankee Clipper, while Kirk had the Super Thursday 5-5 trip aboard the Yankee Patriot. They went to the same area where Kirk had been successful on Wednesday, and found the same life and actively feeding fish. Rough seas and strong winds made anchoring imperative, although Kirk did do a bit of motor drifting on the morning. But the bite was very good on the anchor, so neither Josh nor Kirk had to make more than a handful of stops over the course of the day. In fact, Capt. Josh managed to fish one spot for three hours, catching fish the whole time! Both captains marked and caught fish everywhere they went. Catch was again about 70% haddock, which were eating sand eels and responded to jigs well. Lots of mackerel and herring out there too. John Kelley of Plymouth, MA won the pool on the Patriot with a 12-pound cod.
5/15: Unfortunately, according to Capt. Kirk, who worked deck while Capt. Ray was in the wheelhouse on the Yankee Patriot, the bite in the same area as yesterday was off today. The bait was still around, but was all up on the surface, and they weren’t marking the amount of life on the bottom that they had been. Due to the calm seas, they were able to drift all day and covered a lot of ground, but the bite just never materialized. The fish they did catch were mostly haddock, with some scrod-sized cod mixed in. Most fish were stuffed with sand eels, suggesting that it may have been an early-morning bite today. The pool fish was a 10-pound cod, and Kirk deemed it a fair day overall. You definitely had to work for ‘em out there today!
By tomconley
An enthusiastic Capt. Kirk just called in to inform me about the very good to excellent trip that anglers enjoyed aboard the Yankee Patriot today! Former longtime captain of the Patriot, Phil Hoysradt, made a guest appearance to fish with his nephew Capt. Kirk at the wheel. The first two quick drifts of the day were pretty much dead, with only a few sculpins and ocean pout coming aboard. It was quickly apparent that nothing was going on there, and Kirk bumped up the throttles and moved a few miles to a new area, where whales and gannets could be observed feeding on the surface.
As soon as Kirk set up a drift, anglers started bailing fish, mostly cod to start but changing to haddock as they drifted into somewhat shallower water. It was fish-a-cast action, with roughly a 3:1 short:keeper ratio for the codfish and numerous double headers mixed in. Lots of the keeper cod were small markets in the 8-10-pound range, spunky fat fish that were full of bait. That drift lasted from 9:20-11:30! At that time, the wind puffed up a bit and Kirk motor-fished for a few hours, allowing anglers to enjoy the same fast action on actively-feeding fish over the open bottom. Kirk said that they covered almost two miles while motor-fishing, and that he marked bait and groundfish the whole time! An encouraging sign for sure! Keeper landings were about 70% haddock and 30% cod. Yankee Fleet all-star Dave Sullivan once again nabbed the pool with a 12-pound market cod–it must be the new line!
There are two trips sailing tomorrow: the 5-5 “Super Thursday” marathon on the Yankee Patriot and the 7-4 All Day trip on the Yankee Clipper. The time to get out there is now–what are you waiting for?!
Willy G.
By tomconley
Things took a turn for the better today on both the open boat and the charter. Capts. Kirk and Dave did a bit of scouting and were rewarded with better action than they’d been experiencing toward the end of last week.
Capt. Kirk had the open boat aboard the Yankee Patriot, and called the day fair to good overall. He started the morning off in the area that had been producing last week, but after a couple of rather unproductive stops he made a shift of a few miles to the east. There, they experienced good action on two long drifts of about an hour each, catching a mix of cod and haddock. A lot of short cod were around today, which provided fast action but also a degree of frustration for anglers who had to pick through numerous shorts before catching a keeper. David Bayly won the pool with a 12-pound cod.
On the Yankee Clipper, Capt. Dave had a charter and also elected to do some searching. Fishing mostly on the anchor, he located some good schools of haddock in somewhat deeper water than that which he’d been fishing. The action was a steady pick punctuated with action-packed flurries that would last for 15-20 minutes, during which a few dozen haddock and a couple of keeper codfish would come over the rails. If you put the effort in, Dave said, you were rewarded with a nice bag of fish by day’s end. A handful of good-sized cusk in the 10-12lb range came aboard as well. The area that he was fishing was full of life, with whales and gannets feeding on a mix of sand eels, herring, and mackerel. One angler even snagged a sand eel, herring, and mackerel at the same time–the sand eel on the teaser, and the herring and mackerel on two points of the treble hook of his jig!
Capt. Josh has the Tuesday Limited Capacity trip on the Yankee Clipper tomorrow–look for a report in the afternoon!
Willy G.
Yankee Fleet