10/30-11/8 reports: Pollock Time!

By tomconley

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!