8/8-8/12: The First Signs of Fall!

By tomconley

Over the past few days, more and more hard-pulling pollock have been coming over the rails of the Yankee Clipper and Yankee Patriot, most of which are in the 8-15-pound range. White hake have made a showing on some trips as well, with some weighing more than 25 pounds. Fall can’t be far away! The haddock bite continues to be good overall, with some days better than others, with plenty of cusk and cod mixed in too.

8/8:
I boarded the Yankee Clipper with Capt. Josh on Saturday morning for my buck-a-fish rubber match with Dave Sullivan. Tied at one victory apiece, we agreed that after this final day of friendly competition we’d call a ceasefire. Egos must be preserved somehow!

The fishing was good overall, with a mixed bag of cod, pollock, haddock and a few cusk spread around the boat. We began with two productive anchor stops that yielded a good number of haddock for the bait anglers and a mix of good-sized pollock, cod to 14 pounds, and haddock for the jig fishermen. In the late morning, conditions were such that we were able to drift, which further boosted the take. Dogs were all but absent, and there weren’t many short fish either, meaning that most fish hooked went into the bags. Pollock were present at every stop but weren’t really chewing—I hooked most of the ones I caught doing the “haddock wobble” rather than squidding or jigging as I normally would for pollock. It must have been pretty funny to watch me twitch the rod tip looking for a haddock bump and then get slammed by a pollock!

Fittingly, Dave and I tied in our final day of competition, each tallying eleven legal fish. Both of us had five or six 8-14-pound pollock, plus three or four haddock and two or three codfish. The pollock were spitting up peanut bunker, and I caught a couple of squid jigging as well; the bait’s there! A 17-pound pollock took pool honors.

Over on the Yankee Patriot, Capt. Kirk reports a fair day of angling overall. Dogs weren’t an issue; they just couldn’t get a good bite going for much of the day. A mix of cusk and haddock on the drift made up the catch, with a handful of codfish including the 10-pound pool winner.

8/9: I once again was aboard the Yankee Clipper with Capt. Josh, and enjoyed another good day of fishing. The bite was definitely better today than yesterday, but difficult drifting conditions made tending bottom tough for less-experienced anglers. The day consisted of two long drifts and one anchor stop to close out the day. The second drift was the best stop of the day—2 hours long with a good pick on a mixed bag of cod, pollock, haddock and big cusk in the 6-10-pound range. More short cod today than yesterday made for fish-a-cast action for most of the day for those jigging. At times, it was all big haddock; at others, a pile of 6-10-pound codfish would come to the surface. Bait and jigs both took fish; bait may have taken more haddock, but jigs took the better-quality cod and pollock. Dogs were once again not an issue, although a medium-sized blue shark did harass anglers bringing fish to the surface for part of the day, although I never saw the beast actually get a hold of anything.

Unlike yesterday, when the catch was more-or-less spread around the boat, today, some anglers did far better than others. Some had only a few fish by day’s end, while some had very good or even excellent days. Jigging an eight-ounce Angerman jig in the pulpit, I had one of my best day trips of the summer, tallying 8 haddock, 7 cod from 24 inches to 8 pounds, 4 nice pollock, and three 6-10-pound cusk. Once again, I caught two squid on the jig, which were promptly converted into a gaggle of keeper cod and haddock by the bait anglers . A 20-pound jig-caught wolfish won the pool.

8/10:
Capt. Josh reports a fair to good day on Monday’s day trip on the Yankee Clipper. The drift, like yesterday, was difficult at times but was the best option given the area they were fishing, and those who put in the time and effort walked off the boat with a hefty bag of fillets. Capable jig fishermen did best, each putting upwards of a dozen fish—a mix of big pollock, haddock, and cusk—in the boat. Josh remarked that while it was a fair to good day overall, for those jiggers who could cast and tend bottom the action was very good. In addition to pollock, haddock, and cusk, a handful of good-sized white hake came aboard as well, including the 26-pound pool-winner that gobbled a wad of clam.

8/11: There were two limited-load trips today. On the Yankee Patriot, Capt. Kirk reports a fair day, a steady grinding pick mostly of haddock and cusk, with a few cod mixed in too. Dogs weren’t an issue, but the groundfish weren’t really biting either. A 12-pound cusk won the pool.

On the Yankee Clipper, Capt. Josh offered a similar report, a slow-to-fair day with a mix of cod, pollock, haddock, cusk, and white hake constituting the catch. The anglers on board were generally inexperienced but listened intently to the advice of Josh and mates Dave and Ross, and their effort helped to make the best of a day on which the bite wasn’t really happening. Nobody jigged today, and I wonder how a jigger might have fared given the fair number of pollock and cod to 15-pounds that succumbed to the clams. Like the past few days, the number of fish on board wasn’t notable but the quality was good, with lots of five-pound-plus haddock, cod and pollock from 8-15-pounds, and white hake to 28 pounds (the pool winner).

8/12: Capt Kirk ran Wednesday’s day trip on the Yankee Patriot, and reports another fair day. They had a decent pick on the anchor in the early going, but then the tide began to churn and anglers had a tough time staying on the bottom, which in turn called in the dogfish. It was the worst showing of dogs Kirk had seen in the past week, and hopefully it’s a passing phenomenon! A 10-pound cod won the pool.

8/13: Capt. Josh sounded pretty enthusiastic today as he reported a good to very good day on the Super Thursday trip aboard the Yankee Clipper. A light load of anglers, using a mix of jigs and bait, put a mixed bag of cod, pollock and haddock in the boat; no cusk or hake today. Dogfish were nonexistent—Josh gave a count of three! Lots of quality cod and pollock from 10-15 pounds as well.

—–   Willy