Weekend of 8/15-16 with the Yankee Fleet

By tomconley

Saturday on the Yankee Patriot revealed a very slow pick with bait. The fish were not interested in the jig that day but I managed to persuade a few into the cooler nonetheless. Captain Bill did a great job filling in for Captain Kirk but despite drifting, anchoring and moving to multiple new spots, the fish didn’t want to cooperate and the overall fish count was low. Regardless, it was a beautiful day and everybody had a great time. A legal sized cod won the pool.
I don’t know if it was the different area Captain Smitty chose for the Yankee Clipper on Saturday but it sounds as though the Clipper was the boat to be on that day. Yes, GloucesterToo, Willy’s Saturday with his Dad sounded fabulous. Willy’s usual enthusiastic report is as follows:
“My father and I experienced absolute carnage on Saturday–one 4 hour and fifteen minute long drift was the day! After I gave him a refresher course on how to jig, it was on! Between the two of us, we tallied 26 haddock, 13 keeper cod, 13 cusk and one white hake–gave most away and threw back a handful of keeper cod. I had two nice markets of 18 pounds apiece, and the old man won the pool with a 12 pounder! Not bad!”
Willy has a way with words. My reports sound boring in comparison.
As for Sunday, My husband and I boarded the Yankee Clipper with Captain Ray. We drifted and ended up moving 3 times. Each time we had a slow but steady pick that would die off too quickly. Majority of fish were caught on bait. Mates Dave, Dave Jr, and Anthony tallied 124 haddock at the end of the day. A few keeper cod and multiple cusk were also taken. I even managed to jig up a small wolf, cutter and a flounder. Only one baby pollock on the entire boat. Talk about different species! A legal sized cod took the pool.
As for the Sunday Yankee Patriot with Captain Smitty, Mates George, Greg and Gina stated about 60 fish were taken by about 40 anglers. Again, a keeper cod won pool honors.
Back to work for me until my next fishing trip 2 weeks from now. I’m sure Willy will be back to his descriptive fish reports next week.
See ya out on the water!