5/8-5/9 Reports

By Tom O

/8: Capt. Ray ran the open boat aboard the Yankee Patriot today. Capt. Kirk worked deck and classified the day as slow to fair. Everywhere they went they marked fish, and nearly everywhere they went those fish refused to bite! Augmenting the enigma is that they headed right back to the same area that had produced so well in the previous days! The fish just didn’t want to eat, and Ray had to make a lot of moves over the course of the day to scratch a day together. A strong tidal current due to the full moon didn’t help matters, either. The catch was roughly a 50/50 mix of cod and haddock. Kevin Gaulin won the pool with a 15-pound cod.

5/9: Capt. Josh reports a similarly slow to fair day aboard the Yankee Clipper today, where nearly everyone fished with bait and the result was a slow to steady pick on haddock with a handful of cod mixed in. He made a series of anchor stops where there would always be a fish or two coming up but the bite never really progressed from there. Still, by day’s end everyone seemed to have some fish to take home for dinner. A 12-pound codfish caught by Jake Rokovic of Albany, NY took pool honors.

Capt. Dave had a charter aboard the Yankee Freedom, and had similar results to Josh with the exception of a pretty good pair of anchor stops late in the afternoon, which offered a good pick of cod and haddock before it was time to head for the barn. Haddock dominated landings but there were a couple of cod mixed in as well, including the 12-pound pool winner.

On the Yankee Patriot, Capt. Ray once again was in the wheelhouse while Capt. Kirk was on deck. Like Dave and Josh, Kirk reports a mediocre biting day out on the grounds. Once again, they marked fish for much of the day but couldn’t get the fish to open their mouths! It was a slow pick for the duration, with haddock constituting the majority of keepers landed.

Tomorrow’s trip is canceled due to weather. Maybe the day off from angling pressure combined with the rough seas will shake things up a bit offshore. Also, we’ll see if the fish that were biting mid-week will turn back on as we come off the full moon. As Kirk noticed, the bite took a similar nosedive during the new moon a few weeks ago. Only one way to find out!

On an unrelated note, check out this week’s issue of The Fisherman Magazine (NE edition), in which there is a story on haddock fishing featuring the YF’s own Capt. Josh Kardos!

Willy G.

Report 5/2

By Tom O

The open boat trip on Friday, May 1 was canceled due to weather. Here are the reports from today (May 2):

Capt. Josh had a charter aboard the Yankee Clipper, and reports a slow to fair day of fishing. The drift fishing for cod was good for the first few hours in the morning, but settled into a slow and steady pick for the rest of the day. The tide was really screaming and made tending bottom difficult. Mostly cod came up with a fair amount of haddock as well. A 16-pound market cod took the pool.

On the Yankee Freedom, Capt. Dave elected to do some scouting to the north of where the boats have generally been fishing. The bite on the haddock was pretty good in the morning but dropped off to a steady grind when the tide changed. Mostly haddock today, with just a handful of keeper cod on board. He termed it a fair day overall.

Aboard the Yankee Patriot, Capt. Kirk reports a slow pick for the whole day. There were always a few fish coming up, but the bite never really got going to the level he would have liked to see. Landings were a 60/40 mix of cod and haddock.

Tomorrow’s a new day–let’s see if things shake up a bit and the bite turns on!

Willy G.