On the MEAT!

By willy

Sorry for the recent lag in reports, gang. Here’s an update:

4/19:
Capt. Josh had a 5-2 charter aboard the Yankee Clipper, reporting a fair to good day of fishing for the fairly inexperienced crew of anglers who worked hard throughout the day. They motor-fished in the morning, when they’d hook up to a bunch of nice fish immediately after dropping and then it would die off. They stuck with the motor-fishing until around noon, putting a number of keeper cod in the boat, before making a series of anchor stops in the afternoon that yielded a steady pick of cod and haddock.

Capt. Dave ran the open-boat trip aboard the Yankee Freedom and reports a rather tough day overall. They caught fish everywhere but never to the extent that they would have liked to see; the bite never got better than a pick. Due to the windy conditions, they motor-fished in the morning, with experienced jig anglers doing pretty well on cod and everyone picking away. The bite slowed after the tide changed and they haddock-fished during the middle of the day, experiencing a steady pick. They steamed back to the cod grounds for a few last drifts toward the end of the day, and put a few more fish in the boat. The pool fish was a 10-pound cod.

4/20:

Capt. Josh’s 5-2 charter on the Yankee Clipper saw very good fishing on cod, haddock and pollock today. They caught fish everywhere they went, with jiggers in the know experiencing fish-a-cast action just about all day! A surprising number of pollock were top on the bank in addition to the cod. During the middle of the day, Josh stopped on a few haddock spots to add some silver to the burlaps, with both bait and jig anglers catching some haddock. Everyone caught fish today.

4/21:
An absolute bailjob on Josh’s 5-2 charter on the Yankee Clipper! Anglers enjoyed non-stop action on cod, including a bunch of fish in the 15-20lb range, with a handful in the 20s including the 29.5 lb pool winner! Lots of medium pollock in the mix, too. Not much else to say–just great jig fishing all day long.

Over on the open boat, Capt. Kirk reports a fair to good day aboard the Yankee Patriot. They drifted all day, catching cod ranging from shorts to markets, with a 20lb fish taking the pool. Fish were stuffed to the gills with sand eels–so much so that they may have been full from the morning feed and not in a biting mood. Most of the day consisted of short drifts, on which some anglers would hook up immediately but the fish would then stop hitting. It was a lot of work to put fish in the boat today. A few guys did manage limits today but most anglers enjoyed less success. A pretty frustrating day, with tons of bait and a good sign on the machine but not a lot of hungry fishes.

4/22:
Josh had another charter on the Yankee Clipper, with the same results as yesterday: very good to excellent jig fishing on a mix of cod and pollock, with a 26-pound cod winning the pool!

Capt. Dave reports good fishing on the open-boat trip on the Yankee Freedom The day started off a bit slow, with only a few pollock coming up, but they found some hungry fish in the late morning and stayed with them for a few hours, repeatedly making short drifts in order to stay on ‘em. Dave kept the boat out an hour late to capitalize on the strong bite. A 14-pound cod took the pool.

The Stellwagen bite is officially on! Looks like there are some nicer-sized 20-30lb fish around in addition to the markets, plus a surprisingly large number of pollock. Plenty of bait to keep ‘em in the area, too.