7/20-24 Reports

By Tom O

The fishing continues to be good overall, with some days better than others. The catch has mainly been haddock but there has recently been a good showing of scrod to small-market-sized cod as well as some medium pollock. The dogs have been positively vicious, proving a nuisance even to the jig fishermen! Here’s a brief recap of the past few days:

7/20: Capt. Kirk took a light load of anglers on the Yankee Patriot in positively gorgeous weather on Monday. He was able to drift all day, which kept the dogs somewhat at bay, although they were present everywhere he went. The fishing was fair to good overall, a steady pick on haddock with some keeper cod mixed in and a few flurries of faster action over the course of the day. A ten-pound cod took pool honors.

7/21: Capt. Josh ran Tuesday’s limited-load trip aboard the Yankee Clipper and reports a fair to good day of angling. Conditions were tough at best, breezy with a ripping tide that caused the boat to wag bag and forth on the anchor, resulting in many tangles. Because they had to anchor, the dogs were positively vicious, which combined with the tangles made it hard to fish at “maximum efficiency” for much of the day. Nevertheless, those who stuck with it, fishing through the tangles and dogs, managed to put as many as ten legal fish in the bag by day’s end. Mostly haddock, although they did have a few slugs of 5-8-pound codfish as well as some small to medium pollock.

7/22: Capt. Kirk reports another fair to good day on the Yankee Patriot on Wednesday. The fishing was good in the morning, when they were able to drift over productive patches of bottom and put a good number of cod and haddock in the boat while evading the dogfish. The tide began to smoke in the afternoon, however, and they were forced to anchor, a combination which resulted in slower fishing, tangles, and a dogfish assault.

7/23:
I was aboard the Yankee Clipper with Capt. Josh today for the Super Thursday trip. I fished in the pulpit with none other than the now-infamous decimator of groundfish and pool maven, David Sullivan. In a fit of ego-stroking boldness I decided to challenge Mr. Sullivan to a “buck a fish” competition for the day. It took a bit of cajoling but I finally got him to agree to said challenge.

The day began in somewhat shallower water than Josh has been fishing recently, in search of some codfish. On his first cast, Dave came tight to a double-header of fat 7-pound resident codfish, while I hooked a good fish, promptly dropped it, and then flipped my jig. Not a good omen. We made three short drifts in the shallow stuff, which offered fish-a-cast action for the jig guys, but mostly on short fish, with a few haddock, smallish pollock (“smollock”) and small market cod (“smarkets”) mixed in. I did drop one fish that felt substantially larger but which relieved itself of my jig about 20 feet from the bottom during a spate of head-shaking nastiness. The bait guys had a few keepers as well, although they were also troubled by some beastly (6 pounds plus) female dogfish. Most of the cod were residents, however, and Josh wasn’t satisfied, so we headed out into the deeper water. The tally at that time: 3 cod and a haddock for Dave, 1 pollock for me…

We made a few quick drifts in the deeper area to start, but they only offered a slow pick of short cod and a few haddock, as well as the ever-present squalids. It became evident that if we were going to have success, anchoring would be a must. The first anchor stop confirmed that suspicion while at the same further deflating my ego. We enjoyed fish-a-cast action on cod ranging from shorts to 10 pounds, haddock, the occasional pollock, and…dogfish. Dave quickly put a few small markets in the boat while I bailed the shorts and then lost my first keeper cod of the day trying to swing it over the rail. I dropped my next keeper cod 10 feet from the surface. Dave caught three haddock on his teaser on as many casts; I caught a double-header consisting of a foul-hooked short cod on the teaser and a dogfish right in the mouth on the jig. As I was unhooking them and retying my chafed-up leader, a first-time gentleman who had been taking a “power nap” walked out of the cabin, flopped his 17.5 oz stainless Norwegian jig to the bottom, and caught a double header of eight-pound fish.

The current was rather strong, but manageable—those who could cast a jig could hold with 10 or 12 ounces. Tangles were frequent because the lines were scoping toward the stern. Dogs were unbelievable—Capt. Kirk, who was working deck, said they were the worst he’d ever seen. He, Josh, and mate Greg were running around like madmen untangling lines and unhooking dogfish from start to finish. I caught 11 dogfish on the jig, a new personal record. Dave caught 1.

We made four or five anchor stops over the course of the day, all of which offered fish-a-cast action for the jiggers on various species. There were a surprisingly large number of short codfish—I must have caught 40 of them by day’s end. Although haddock were the majority of the legal fish, jigs were far more efficient at catching them due to the brutality of the dogs, and many anglers had switched to jigs by the late morning.

Back to the important stuff: Dave was simply “on” today, catching the quality and dropping very few fish, whilst I was plagued by small fish and dogs, and typically rolled three or four fish before I could stick one on the jig.

The last anchor stop proved my saving grace—I caught two keeper cod and three haddock in as many casts while Dave for once was kept busy by the tiny set. Meanwhile, regular angler Pat, who had been quietly minding his own business behind us whilst we engaged in piscatorial warfare, snuck in a fat 22-pound steaker on his final cast of the day to take pool honors. Nothing was even close—the second-largest fish was probably ten or 12 pounds.

The time came to do “the count,” and my fears were affirmed: Mr. Sullivan captured 17 legal fish—9 cod and 8 haddock—while I obtained 15—8 cod, 6 haddock, and a smollock. And yes, I paid the man—by check, with $0.07 interest for his troubles in depositing said banknote. A humbling day, for sure. Masochist that I am, I suspect I’ll challenge him to a similar endeavor next time we meet.

Overall, it was a very fun, action-packed trip. Josh deemed the day “good” overall, but had certain things gone our way I think it could have been an even better trip. There were a LOT of fish down there, as evidenced by the numbers that we hooked and dropped jigging on the pulpit. The fierce combo of tides and dogfish put a dent in our total landings, but everyone went home happy with a pile of fillets to last them ‘til next time. And for summer fishing, I’ll take fifteen quality keepers any day! Hopefully this solid bite on haddock and keeper codfish will continue—you might have to work through the doggies, but there are plenty of the “right kind” to be found down there as well.

7/24: Friday’s trip was cancelled due to the nor’easter.