5/21 Pretty good all around

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.