7/19: Getting better!

By tomconley

7/19: Getting better!

It looks like the fishing has picked up over the past few days, a trend capped by the great day that I enjoyed aboard the Yankee Clipper with Capt. Smitty today. Here’s a brief recap:

7/15: Capt. Josh reports another fair day aboard the Yankee Clipper last Wednesday. They enjoyed a quality bite of haddock during which they put perhaps three dozen fish in the boat during the first twenty minutes of an anchor stop. Other than that, it was a steady grind of haddock with 10-12 fish coming up at each stop, as well as cusk and some more jig-friendly keeper codfish than they’ve been seeing. A severe tide made anchoring imperative for the duration.

7/16: This week’s Super Thursday trip on the Yankee Clipper, says Capt. Josh, was quite a good one, with the 32 anglers on board doing a number on a mix of cod, haddock, and pollock. The day began with a good shot of pollock on the jigs before settling into a steady pick of haddock with a few good flurries of market cod to 18 pounds as well. High hooks had numbers in the low 20s, mostly haddock and pollock, and the pool fish was a 21-pound wolfish.

On a personal note, on both Wednesday and Thursday I was aboard the Yankee Patriot with the campers of Go Fish!, a fishing camp of 10-12-year-olds that I help run out of Brookline, MA. Capts. Tom and Kirk as well as mates Ross and Greg were fantastic with the kids, and we enjoyed good action on both days, catching a mix of small cod, redfish, sculpins, whiting, and even a few keeper cod and haddock during our two 3.5-hour outings. The kids all had a great time and can’t wait to get back out there. Thanks guys!

7/17: Capt. Ray reports a fair to good day on the Yankee Patriot on Friday, with haddock constituting the majority of keepers but with some quality market cod and pollock coming up as well. A handful of nice cod in the high teens came to gaff as did the 22-pound pool-winning pollock.

Capt. Dave had a charter aboard the Yankee Freedom on Friday, and also reports fair to good fishing. He had a number of haddock on board as well as a large pile of redfish and some market cod to 14 pounds. Dogs were a nuisance for the bait anglers and forced them to move on a number of occasions.

7/18: Capt. Smitty reports fair fishing on Saturday’s day trip on the Yankee Clipper. The haddock were there but so were the dogs, which were absolutely brutal at times. A dozen keeper cod and a pile of cusk spiced the catch as did the 20-pound pool-winning wolfish.

7/19:
I made the last-minute decision to jump aboard the Yankee Clipper with Capt. Smitty today, and I’m glad I did! Weather was spectacular, with light winds and a mild current enabling us to drift all day. Four long drifts constituted our outing. The first drift offered absolutely insane fishing on haddock—we got them following the clam slick behind the boat and the action was hot and heavy. The dogs, unfortunately, were out in force too and put the only blemish on what would otherwise have been an absolutely perfect day on the water. Bait guys had to pick through them all day, which actually may have made jigging more efficient in terms of targeting the haddock. Speaking of which, they were pounding the jigs like none other—it was like pollock fishing for haddock! On the first drift, which lasted an hour and fifteen minutes, I put eight haddock in the boat including my first ever jig/teaser double-header, 2 keeper codfish, and a cusk, plus numerous short cod. And yes, I did catch a handful of doggies on the jig over the course of the day as well! Drifts 2 and 3 didn’t quite offer the same action with quality fish, but it was still for the most part fish-a-cast action—in fact, I only had 4 fishless casts all day! Good stuff. The last drift offered more of the same except most casts resulted in yet more haddock rather than short cod as had the second and third drifts. A stray pollock and a few wolfs came up over the course of the day as well. The pool fish was an 11-pound cod that snuck past a similar-sized wolf. I ended the day with 14 haddock, 3 cod, and four decent-sized cusk. A very good day, overall, I’d say. Doesn’t get much better than that for a mid-summer day trip!

Willy G.

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