Steady Fishing Continues

By willy

Fishing’s been consistent, if not outstanding, for the past week and a half. Pollock are starting to make up on the hard spots where Capts. Kirk and Josh find them each fall, and cod and haddock fishing has been holding steady. Here’s a quick recap.

The 10/18 overnight trip on the Yankee Freedom was a good trip overall, Capt. Josh reports. Despite windy and rather sloppy conditions, the haddock were chewing pretty well and high hooks put together catches of close to twenty keepers by day’s end.

Last Wednesday’s all-day trip aboard the Yankee Clipper was characterized by difficult drifting conditions, but because the action was much better than on anchor, Capt. Josh elected to fish through some tangles and dogfish on the drift and put together a good catch rather than to sit idle on the hook. The afternoon proved the best, with a couple of productive drifts resulting in a good number of cod, haddock, and some cusk hitting the deck.

Thursday’s marathon on the Yankee Clipper started off slowly in the morning, with just a slow pick of keeper-sized codfish on the drift, mainly on jigs. After about an hour, they made a substantial steam to the east; there, they experienced a grinding pick on cod and haddock for three stops before making another shift and finding the best bite of the trip on a 1.5-hour anchor stop around the tide change for a mix of mostly haddock and some cod. A good trip overall.

After a couple of days of inclement weather kept the Yankee Clipper tied to the dock, Sunday’s trip on 10/24 offered calm seas, favorable drifting conditions, and a steady pick on a mixed bag of cod, haddock, and pollock for most of the day. They capped off the outing with a 1.5-hour long drift that produced good action on large haddock plus some quality codfish in the 20-25-pound range.

Monday’s day trip on the Yankee Clipper also offered favorable conditions; Josh did a mix of drifting and anchoring and both produced a steady pick on a mixed bag of cod, haddock, pollock, cusk, and white hake.

Tuesday’s limited-load trip saw steady action on the drift, again with a variety of species taken. After many years of fishing with the Yankee Fleet, Jimmy the Jockey finally won his first pool with a nice market cod.

Last day of cod season is October 31; after that, the gang will switch over to targeting pollock and haddock.

We will be fishing Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays through the month of November.  Reservations are strongly suggested!

From Thanksgiving through December we will be offering the Minuteman Club.  We will offer fishing trips on good weather days.  We will contact the Minutemen to let them know what days we will be sailing.  Notice will be given generally 2-3 days prior to that good weather day.

If you would like to join the Minuteman Club or have questions about winter fishing please contact us at 800-942-5464.

The past week…

By willy

…has been characterized by fair fishing overall, Capt. Josh reports. That being said, there have been a number of nice cod ranging from large markets to steakers in the low-30-pound range, and windy, challenging conditions have often hampered anglers’ efforts.

Roland Parsons with a nice market cod caught aboard the Yankee Clipper, 10/11/10.

The crew of hardy anglers on Saturday’s trip aboard the Yankee Clipper were greeted with sustained 30-knot northwest winds blowing directly into the tide, making it tough to tend bottom and fish effectively. Nevertheless, the bite wasn’t half-bad, and anglers picked away at a mix of cod and haddock for much of the day.

Sunday’s trip offered more of the same–the weather was actually somewhat better, but the bite was slower. Again, a mix of mostly cod and haddock.

On Monday, Capt. Josh switched gears and steered the Yankee Clipper to an entirely different area. Again, the action couldn’t be described as much better than fair, with a steady pick all day, but the quality was good, with a number of large market cod and steakers to 32 pounds crossing the rails.

Loretta Miner with the pool-winning 32-pound cod aboard the Yankee Clipper, 10/11/10.

Tuesday started off with a bang–fast action on nice white-bellied codfish for the first 45 minutes or so. That bite occurred during the tide change; once the tide started moving again, the bite slowed to a grinding pick until it picked up again during the afternoon tide change, when anglers enjoyed another solid flurry to cap of the day.

Wednesday’s anglers were greeted with beautiful fall conditions that permitted the Yankee Clipper to drift all day. The action wasn’t spectacular but everyone picked away for most of the day, with a somewhat better bite occurring during the afternoon. A 27-pound white hake won the pool.

Overall, steady action, but hopefully in the coming days we’ll see some old-school fall fishing. Time will tell!

Photos from Mondays’ trip, courtesy of Dave Parsons.