By Tom O
Sunday’s report on the Yankee Freedom: Get anything half-resembling a jig within 80 feet of the bottom, and congratulations: you’ve caught yourself a pollock. Absolute silliness on Sunday, with 7-15-pounders committing suicide until anglers had had enough and Capt. Josh moved off ‘em. Want to fill your and your neighbors’ freezers? Now’s the time…
Next trip is scheduled to be Thanksgiving Day, weather permitting. Trips are scheduled to sail on Friday, Saturday and Sunday as well.
Willy G.
By Tom O
Just talked to Capt. Josh, who ran today’s (11/21) trip aboard the Yankee Freedom. The first anchor stop produced a true pollock slam for almost two hours–fish-a-cast doubles on jigs and teasers before hitting bottom…although many anglers who used leader material of less than 80lb test broke off a number of jigs on the brutes. And they were brutes–although fish averaged 10-15 pounds, there were at least a few dozen over 20 pounds and three confirmed 30-plus-pound beasts. Those are big pollock! I’d recommend using at least 80 lb monofilament leader for a jig/teaser rig; 100lb isn’t a bad idea.
By the time the fish finally started to become a bit finicky, still eating but only attacking jigs casted far away from the boat, most anglers had had enough of them, both in terms of meat in the box and PAIN in their shoulders, arms, and backs. Josh moved off in search of haddock, first anchoring for 45 minutes and then setting up a drift. Both stops offered a steady pick of haddock with some cusk and pollock mixed in, although the action never really got hot and heavy. Still, those who stuck with it managed to top off their coolers of pollock with a few tasty haddock. It was a very good day overall, with wide-open, excellent pollock fishing in the morning and fair to good fishing on a variety of groundfish in the afternoon.
Next trip leaves tomorrow at 7AM–now’s the time if you want to tangle with some bruiser pollock!
Willy
By Tom O
I had the opportunity to jump aboard the Yankee Freedom yesterday to 
help film a fishing show for On The Water Television. A full load of eager anglers joined Kevin (editor/host), Matt (cameraman) and I as Capt. Tom took us out in search of pollock 
and maybe some haddock as well. It was an absolutely perfect day out there—sunny, warm and calm, with just enough of a breeze to stay cool wearing just a long-sleeved T-shirt!
The morning started off with a bang—not quite “old-tyme-pollock slam”-level action but generally fish-a-cast activity for those slinging jigs with a generous amount of double-headers thrown in as well. Fish were of mixed sizes—one cast would result in a 20-incher; the next, a 20-pounder. I saw at least half a dozen fish pushing 20 pounds come over the rails, with one toad that probably went 25 taking the pool. I managed to hit three or four nice-sized (8-14-pound) fish on a light-tackle rod with a 6-ounce diamond jig as well, making for some fierce battles and great TV footage!
We shifted around a bit in the morning, and generally found fish eager to bite everywhere we went, but once the tide went slack in the late morning the pollock spread out and ceased to “make up” on the pieces of bottom where one would expect to find them. Nevertheless, anglers persisted throughout the late morning and into the afternoon, still enjoying a pick on pollock, cusk, hake, and a few haddock and short cod that were released.
Right at the end of the day the pollock seemed to turn back on again, and we enjoyed 
a fierce blast of action at the last stop before Tom pushed up the throttles and we headed back to G-town.
Overall, it was a tremendously enjoyable day on the water, with very good fishing on the pollock in the morning followed by a fair grinding pick for the rest of the day, followed by a good surge of activity right at the end. Thanks to Kevin, Matt, and of course the whole YF crew for another fun trip!
Willy
By Tom O
With the closing of cod season, the Yankee Fleet has switched gears, targeting primarily pollock and haddock. Capt. Josh has typically begun the day in search of pollock, and depending on the action, sometimes switches over to haddock toward the end of the day. But the latter might become more unpredictable as we move deeper into November, so bring those jigs and plan for pollock! From here on out, all trips will be run on the 100-foot Yankee Freedom.
10/30: Capt. Kirk reports good fishing on Friday’s trip aboard the Yankee Clipper. They drifted all day in spite of a hard-running tide and it paid off; they managed to evade the dogs for the 
most part while doing well on the groundfish. They made four long drifts, catching about a 60/40 split of haddock and codfish, the latter ranging from barely-keepers to 10-pounders. A strong pick with some solid flurries characterized each of the drifts. Jigs seemed to do better on both species and also avoided the dogs. Pete Jones took the pool with a plump 32-pound cod at the very end of the day.
10/29-10/30 overnighter: Capts. Tom and Dave report that the overnight trip on the Yankee Freedom started out with a good surge of medium pollock at sunrise, followed by a stop that produced a steady pick of haddock. Later in the morning, however, the dogfish became unbearable and they elected to make a substantial shift in search of codfish. They succeeded, drifting over obliging mixed-size schools of cod, ranging from shorts to the 19-pound pool winner. Sounds like it was a good trip overall, with some really bright moments but a few periods of slower fishing as well.
10/31: On the last day of cod season, Capt. Josh targeted codfish on the Yankee Clipper, and was rewarded with some solid action on the drift in the morning, despite breezy conditions that made tending bottom difficult. It was fish-a-cast action for jiggers, although the short:keeper ratio was in the neighborhood of 3:1. The wind eventually became too much to continue drifting, and they anchored up in the afternoon, experiencing slower action but still picking away at a mix of cod and haddock. The pool was a 19-pound cod. Josh called the trip fair to good overall, with good drift fishing in the morning and fair action on the anchor later on. So ended the 2009 cod season in the Gulf of Maine!
11/5: After a spate of bad weather, Capt. Josh ran the all-day trip on the Yankee Freedom, reporting a fair day as a whole. He found the pollock, but they didn’t bite as savagely as everyone hoped they would. Casting a jig far away from the boat was the only way to consistently hook up with the boat-shy fish. Nevertheless, they were able to put a good number of them in the boat, the largest of which weighed 18 pounds and took the pool. Also in the mix were a good number of haddock and a handful of white hake from 5-10 pounds.
11/7: Aboard the Yankee Freedom, Capt. Josh reports another fair day overall. The morning began with a good drift on the pollock, during which they put a pile of the larger models in the boat, including the pool-winning 20-pounder. After that, however, they experienced just a grinding pick on a mix of pollock and haddock with some white hake mixed in. Jig fishermen did substantially better on average than the bait dunkers.
11/8: Sunday’s day trip aboard the Yankee Freedom, Capt. Josh reports, began with an anchor stop that first offered only a slow pick, but then turned into a 45-minute pollock slam for the jig fishermen. At the same time, those fishing the clams caught a mix of haddock and small hake as well. Eventually the pollock pandemonium petered out and Josh made a shift in search of haddock. He found them; anglers enjoyed a strong pick on the silver fellows with a few coming up at all times over the course of an hour and a half. At the end of the day, they made another stop on the pollock, which once again obliged, and they put a few dozen more on the boat. A good to very good day overall, Josh said; both target species were located and were willing to bite! A pollock in the 18-pound range took pool honors.
There is an all-day trip tomorrow (Veterans Day) aboard the Yankee Freedom, departing at 7 AM and returning at 4 PM. The trip has an extremely light load of anglers and Josh has high hopes. Join us!
Yankee Fleet