Overall? Good! Recently? Outstanding!

By willy

Matt Klayman with a pair of nice haddock jigged up aboard the Yankee Patriot on Monday, May 17.

Okay! Exams are over and the reports will start flowing with some more regularity. Fishing has generally been good with a couple of slower days and recently some truly excellent outings, with haddock and cod dominating the catch but with a fair amount of pollock and cusk in the mix too.

Monday, 5/10:

Capt. Josh reports a tough day all around aboard the Yankee Clipper. Sailing with a light load of twenty or so fares, they covered a ton of ground, and found a lot of whale activity, but most stops produced only a slow pick of haddock with a few cod mixed in. Capt. Josh’s strong streak of good fishing, which had lasted a month, was finally broken!

Tuesday, 5/11:

Capt. Josh reports just a fair day on the limited-load trip aboard the Yankee Clipper. Nothing too impressive for most off the day, just a slow pick of haddock and cod on the anchor, until the last anchor stop of the day, which was a good one that produced a number of better-sized codfish including the 15-pound pool winner.

Wednesday, 5/12:

Capt. Kirk reports a fair to good day on the all-day trip on the Yankee Patriot. They tried motor-drifting in the morning, picking some scrod and small-market-sized cod, but the wind honked a bit too hard out of the southwest so they anchored for the remainder of the day. The first anchor stop produced a steady pick of haddock for an hour and a half, nothing crazy but a few coming up at all times. They rest of the day produced more of the same, with some cod, cusk, and redfish mixed in. High hook had nine fish, and the pool winner was a 10-pound cod.

Capt. Josh had a charter on the Yankee Clipper, also reporting a fair to good day. They began with a few anchor stops that produced a steady pick of haddock, then enjoyed a series of productive drifts on cod in the 5-12-pound range.

Thursday 5/13:

Capt. Kirk reports that anglers aboard the Yankee Clipper for the Super Thursday marathon enjoyed a good day of fishing, with haddock and cod coming over the rails on both bait and jigs for the entire day. Mostly a steady to good pick with some solid flurries mixed in as well. A 14-pound cod took the pool.

Friday, 5/14:

An enthusiastic Capt. Kirk reports a very good to excellent day aboard the Yankee Clipper. Anglers loaded up on haddock and cod including some better-sized fish in the 18-20-pound range.

Saturday, 5/15:

Capt. Josh reports a good day on the 6-3 day trip aboard the Yankee Clipper. They anchor fished for the whole day, enjoying a steady pick of mostly haddock with some cod mixed in. Bait and jigs both produced, with the high hook for the day taking 12 fish on the jig. The pool winner was a 19.5-pound codfish.

Capt. Kirk reports a similar day on the Yankee Patriot for the 7-4 all-day trip. It wasn’t as good as Friday, but they steadily picked away at mostly haddock, with a 12-pound codfish winning the pool.

Sunday, 5/16: All trips were canceled due to weather.

Monday, 5/17:

With exams over, I took a few of my roommates out for a day trip aboard the Yankee Patriot with Capt. Kirk. After a bit of teaching and some time at the rail (not a lot of cod fishing in Philadelphia or Jerusalem, where my roommates are from!), the boys were doing quite well, casting the jigs and hooking up with relative consistency. We ground away at mostly haddock all day with some cod and cusk mixed in, plus the odd pollock or two. I’d call it a fair to good day overall; the three of us put 16 fish in the boat, mostly haddock, although I spent much of the day without a rod in my hand making sure the guys had the hang of it. Dave Parsons won the pool with a beautiful 22-pound codfish right at the end of the trip—at the same time that a monster 25-28-pound wolfish was caught and released!

Dave Parsons won the pool with this 22-pound cod aboard the Yankee Patriot on May 17.

Capt. Josh tried a different area and reports a slammer of a day aboard the Yankee Clipper for the charter he had on board. Non-stop action on mostly haddock with a good number of cod mixed in, including a handful of steakers and a 32-pound pool fish.

Tuesday, 5/18:

Capt. Josh reports an even better day than Monday aboard the Yankee Clipper on the limited-load trip! A 50/50 mix of cod/haddock on both bait and jigs, with a good amount of large markets in the 14-20-pound range and a 26-pound pool winner. They actually left the grounds a bit early today because everyone had enough!

Wednesday, 5/19: All trips were canceled due to weather.

Thursday, 5/20:

The 5-5 marathon aboard the Yankee Clipper was simply outstanding, Capt. Josh reports. Not much else to say. Fast action from start to finish.

Friday, 5/21:

I was aboard the Yankee Clipper with Capt. Kirk for the all-day trip today along with my friend Abby who wanted to go on a fishing trip before graduating from Harvard next week. It was one of those days when we ground away at fish all day, and the action never really got good, but by the end of the day there were a lot more fish on board than it seemed there were. I’d call it a fair to good day overall. After working out the kinks in her technique, Abby jigged up a nice haddock in the morning, which I promptly lost on the surface while trying to gaff it. Strong work, Willy G. Undaunted, she stayed in the game and, using both bait and jigs, caught a number of short cod plus a few keepers over the course of the day.

Abby Phillip with a keeper codfish aboard the Yankee Clipper on May 21.

I scraped up fourteen legals on the jig: 5 cod, 2 haddock, an 8-pound pollock and six cusk. Bait definitely had the edge on the haddock today; there were a few dogs around but certainly a manageable number. All in all, a fun day on the water, with decent fishing, great weather, and great people!

Capt. Josh reports a somewhat slower adventure on his charter aboard the Yankee Freedom. Just a slow grinding bite on haddock, cusk, and a handful of keeper-sized codfish. He was due for a slow one!

All three boats out today–more later.