Conference wahoo::fishing-v2

    What happened to the Deep Sea fishing reports?  Has anyone been
    recently?  I've heard the fishing is *very* slow???  Could someone
    please update, if they've been?
    
    Thanks in advance,
    
    Dave
    

    Any reports for COD?? I'm thinking of going tomorrow 9/11/91 and
    wondering if anybody went over the weekend and how  they did..
    
    Thanks

    The Fisherman #36 claims that the Yankee Fleet has been doing pretty
    well...
    
    

 I heard some reports of whale cod and markets caught during our tuna trip on 
sunday on the radio. Within squawking distance of the northwest corner of 
Stellwagen.

    	I was wondering if someone knows of a bait shop somewhere around
    	Danvers. Will be going saturday and need somewhere to find bait.
    	Thanks in advance,
    	Scott

    The fishermans outfitter is right bu popes landing
    Petes bait and tackle on 114 in salem
    J and M tackle in Beverly
    Old Timers in 1A in Salam
    
    Bruce

    Any news out there from the past weekend for Cod??
    I'm thinking of going sometime this week and wondering once again what
    the status is??

    Don't bother for another few weeks if your leaving from the NH/N.
    Mass area. It's very poor.
    
    Steve

    Uh, for what it's worth, the inshore area around Cape Ann was full of
    cod (and no cunners) last Friday night. Saw one that must have been
    four feet long. The majority of them were between 12 and 24 inches.
    
    No need to go by boat to find the cod. 
    
    John H-C

    John,
    We catch Cod throughout the summer close in. They seem to have more
    of a reddish coloration then the fish we catch out deep though.
    They tend to have more worms in the flesh too....I wonder If they
    are a different species ???
    
    Marty

    John HC thanks for the report. Tim you know where we are heading ;-)
    ;-)..... Last year the inshores spots really turned on in oct.
    
    Bruce

    re: .10
    
    Marty---
    As far as I know from my meagre resources, there is no differences
    between the red and the gray cod. The coloration seems to change
    according to their diet. (I looked this up last Friday night because I
    was confused by these fish that all looked the same except some were
    red, some were gray, and some seemed to be somewhere between the two
    colors. What's between red and gray? Well, muddy brown is the only way
    I can think to describe it.)
    
    John H-C

    Bruce,
    
    	What does you mean by inshore cod? R we talking a mile or two or am
    I way off base?
    
    	My offer is still there if there is ever a spot open on your boat
    and you want to put up with a rookie..
    
    JOhn

    The difference in codfish coloration is due to diet.  Some inshore fish
    Bruce & I caught last fall were reddish in color.  Cut open the bellies
    and 6-10" lobsters plopped out on the deck, in various phases of
    digestion.  Those "rock cod" have been eating "rock lobsters".  It does
    make the meat sweet!  When you get into 300+' of water, they get a bit
    washed-out looking.
    
    Tim
    

    I could be wrong, but I believe the color change occur from the
    the area the fish a living in. The rock cod change color to blend
    in with the kelp and sea weed. They spend most of their life in a
    very small area of hard bottom. White belly cod are found offshore.
    They tend to migrate over larger area of the bottom, mostly mud,
    then move up on to hard bottom when they decide to feed.

                       
    Steve

    I agree with Steve, also I read that cod do have two basic
    colorations red and green. If you look at white belley cod they
    are either mostly greenish or mostly redish but the belley is
    pure white. The inshore cod that we catch off manchester are rust
    colored to match the rocks they live in. Cod caught off wrecks
    are often "dirty" looking. The inshore cod tend to fight and bounce
    more than the ones taken in 200+ feet of water.
    
    They all taste good, but the lobster eating cod really taste and smell
    like lobster.
    
    Bruce

    Where and how can you find areas inshore for the rockcod, I love to eat
    cod and it sounds the like the lobster eating ones would realy taste
    good.
    
    I have fished for offshore cod and I enjoy it, if you all out there can
    put a note in here about the inshore and rockcod, or are they one and
    the same I would like to give it a try. I have all the equipment
    already I think...................
    
    
    Thanks
    Frank

    ok its the 23rd of October and I'm going out the 25th. Does anybody
    have any news about cod/haddock fishing??

    Tillies was slow on Monday, 17 cod + 3 cusk for myself & Bruce.  Almost
    all of the fish came on teasers and they were either 19.001" or
    18.999".  Very few (like 1 or 2) "solid" fish.
    
    Tim
    

    Tim, which type of teasers were you using, did you try bait at all I'm
    also going out on friday the 25 fishing minds wanto know............
    
    Frank

    	Went out with Eastman's yesterday. Most people, including the
    captain, were using bait. The pool winner was a 15 lb. cod caught using
    bait. I switched back and forth between bait and jigs but it didn't
    make any noticable difference.
    
    	There were no dog fish caught all day. It was real slow. I only
    wound up with about 1/2 dozen fish myself (cod, pollack, and a sea
    perch.)
    
    	We had a visit from a very friendly bird. It landed on a few people
    including me. It landed on the butt end of my pole and proceded to walk
    up my pole, up my hand, and stopped on my wrist. One of the mates
    came by and stuck his finger out and it jumped on his finger. I think
    the captain said it was a wobbler (sp?). It looked like a puffed up
    sparrow.
    
    	All in all not a bad day but I've seen better. Basically, the
    captain had a hard time finding fish but that happens sometimes.
    
    	RAYJ

    I've seen those birds land on fishing line while trolling, and on the
    outrigger lines as well.  They do not appear to be afraid of humans.
    
    re .20, Frank:
    
    I used my teasers, of course.  $2.50 per rig.  Get them from me, or
    from J&M tackle in Beverly.
    
    Tim
    

    	Went out of Gloucester with Capt Tom Luke on his boat the Nicole
    Rene' Oct 25. Fishing was very slow total of about 200 fish on the boat
    it was one of those days where the fish were there but just were not
    hitting anything jigs or bait. Pool winner was an 18lb pollock. Mostly
    cod and a few good size pollock caught. I came home with 1/2 a dozen fish
    myself and some others had up to a dozen or better. The full moon and the
    fog didn't help.
    
    	Other than that the wether was great the temp. was up in the
    senveties the water was as smooth as a baby's behind. Oh we fished
    about 30 to 40 miles out somewhere betweem Jefferies and Tillies.
    
    	The fisherman mag also has fishing reports that say it has been
    very slow for every one. I'm already thinking of next season and I dont
    know if I'll make it through the winter.
                                                 

    Well I'm going out for the last time tomorrow the 15th of November.
    Any news out there?? Going out of Glouster with the yankee fleet

re:                       <<< Note 18.24 by COBRA::HURLEY >>>

	All reports I've seen still say the same old thing: small to
	medium fish, nothing amazing.    However, the Fisherman rag
	didn't have much in the way of reports in last week's issue,	
	and nothing was reported out of Gloucester because of the	
	recent big storms.   I probably got this week's report today
	but it would be in the mailbox at home...

	Anyway, please report on how you do!   I'm itching to get out 
	once more myself, partially so I can freeze enough fish for 
	the winter and *then* I'll put away my gear.

	Ken

    
    	Well here is the report..
    \
    	This fishing was slowwwww once again. Hits here and there but
    nothing Great. 4 Keepers for the day. Pool fish was an 17 pound Cod.
    Fished Stellwagon (sp?)
    
    	I cleaned all my gear and toolbox and have put them away till the
    spring. Hopefully the spring will be better. Everyplace we went there
    were nets, nets and more nets? I guess there lucky I dont have a big
    enough boat cause I'd probably be cutting many a lines..
    
    	This unhappy fisherman will now try and sleep the witner off..

    Cutting a gill net line would only result in a ghost net. You got
    to haul them up and toss em in a dumpster :-) :-). The gill nets
    are but a small part of the problem. 
    
    Bruce

	I'd like to get some work done on my deep sea rod.

	I'd like to get the roller guides replaced with eye-guides	
	or whatever they are called.    Seems like the roller guides,
	(1 is at the tip and another at the base) get in the way of
	casting jigs.

	Someone in this file makes and/or works on cod rods - 
	Captain Codfish if I remember correctly.   Who are you again ?
	Still working on rods ?  Send mail...

	Ken

re:                       <<< Note 18.35 by SHUTKI::JOYCE >>>

>    I've been out twice in the last week. Not many cod around but a
>    lot of nice pollack in the high teens. For numbers, I caught 165lbs
>    one day and 202 lbs yesterday. I had two fish at noon, I found a
>    small piece of bottom  that a gilnetter missed when he set his net.
    
    Hmmm, I was not too optimistic after the previous report, but this
    one makes it sound like it may be worth getting out there once more.

    Are you fishing off your own boat or a party boat ?

    Thanks
    Ken

    WEll I guess your 165 pounds and 212 pounds beats the $@3@#$ out of my
    7 pounds of fillet last friday. Maybe I should take up another sport.
    

re. Note 18.35

I'd also like to know where you were when you caught all those beauties?

I'f I wasn't coming down with this cold I'd be out there today.
"There" being the Merrimack River and beyond.
I'd like to know how far "Beyond" should be to catch some fish?

I only have a 19' Sea Nymph Center Console with 70HP on it so don't see
me going out to the 250ft depth range?  Or can I????
This is a new boat my wife and I just bought.
My first time out of the Merrimack I took her 2 miles out to 100ft depth
and that was no problem but this 30-40 mile stuff is a bit much for this
time of year?  Or is it? 

I have fished off the North Jetty in a friends boat way back in the 70's
and caught some small cod and lot's of Pollock right near the beach.
Don;t they come in as the water get's colder?

Anyway weather permitting I'll most likely launch from Salisbury State Park
this Saturday.

-< TUNA Tail >- dick

PS: We named our boat "FishTeaser"

    re .38
    
    I got the fish 6-7 miles off the Merrimack river. I tried 7 different
    places before I found some fish. So you can see there isn't a big
    body of fish. I would use caution going out this time of year in
    any size boat. You really need to pick your day, the conditions
    can change very fast. I live on the beach so I get a feel for what
    I may expect in the way of weather. 
    
    Steve

    	
    	Steve,
    
    	Were your jiggin for the day or using bait?

    re: -1, Just a guess....pollock = jigs and especially bright colored teasers.
    
    
    Bruce

    I tried different size jigs and teaser combos, the best was just
    a plain 44B 10 oz chrome jig with a small squid teaser 2 feet above. 
    But I ended up using only the 10oz jig, I keep getting doubles that 
    would break off at the teaser knot. I guess I have to find some
    100lb test mono...
    
    Steve

    
    What sparked John's note in .30 in part was a discussion I had with 
    another angler the last time John and I went out on the Yankee Patriot.
    
    This person holds the world's record for halibut, caught 2 years ago on
    the same boat (the Patriot).  He describes how, when everyone let their 
    lines down, they were all "clicking" before him.  He knew he was in
    greater than 300' of water, but doesn't know exactly how deep.  
    A 225 lb. halibut hit his jig, and it took him 1� hours to bring the 
    fish up.  He had the fish sold to a Gloucester restaurant before they
    even reached shore.  Part of the deal was that he retain 25 lbs. of the 
    catch.    
    
    We talked about him wanting to fish that spot again, getting the
    numbers from Phil (the captain), etc.  I found his response
    interesting.  He said he felt the reason why he hooked in was not just
    because he "found a crevice", but because of the sheer depths he was
    fishing at.  He wanted to see a boat take a "depth cut", concentrating
    its focus and spending its gas and time getting to greater depths.
    The theory apparently is that these greater depths are visited less
    often by the draggers...
    
    Ed
    

    Good point Ed,
    
    Fishing at a greater depth might increse the catch not only in quantity
    but in size?
    
    Any other comments on this it makes sense to me!

    I've found that the depth isn't the only consideration when looking
    for groundfish, cod, pollack, etc. And its not how far from shore
    you are. Its knowing where the fish are at a certain time of
    year. Most cod move in and out of shallow water during the year.
    Our best steaker fishing comes in the spring to early summer all
    within 6-8 miles of the beach. A smart Captian will be fishing these
    inside spots, rather than taking that ride out to the big ledge.
    Two guys that have good luck are Randy Gauron on the Starfish and
    Tim on the Bunny Clark.
    
    A few years ago the rod and reel record for Cod in Mass was caught 
    on my boat by Bob Radzik. It was 92 lbs and caught 8 miles off the
    beach. 
           
    
    Steve

    
    	Any reports from last weekend? Called Yankee Fleet and OF COURSE
    the 1 weekend I dont go out they had a GREATTTTTT weekend.
    
    	Thinking of going out this Saturday the 30th..

re:                       <<< Note 18.39 by COBRA::HURLEY >>>

Last week's issue of The Fisherman (the one I got last wed 11/20) had
a fair sounding report out of Gloucester/Yankee Fleet: "lots of small to
medium sized cod".   I thought maybe this report included when you went
out when you said the action wasn't good, but then again I wonder how 
accurate these reports are.

If you know where you can get The Fisherman, the new issue should include
an updated report.   I'm not sure if this week's issue would include *last*
weekend's report.  It's a newpaper type mag, so I guess it's possible they
could put something together that fast. Anyone know ?

Good fishin' if ya go!

Ken

    Anything written in The Fisherman, North Shore section, by Ed Nowak
    is usually exagerated by a factor of 10.  That is, if one person got
    ten smelt and told a tackle store owner (like J&M, who reports for Ed),
    Ed would write it as "Ten People Got 100 Smelt each".  It's really
    frustrating, but I have YET to do as well as some of his "casual" folks
    and I must fish the Beverly/Salem area from boat & shore at least once
    if not 2 or 3 (sometimes every day) a week.  I was there today.  Got 3
    macks.  If I told Ed, 10 people got about 30 macks, there so thick you
    can walk from Beverly to Salem on their backs and never get your feet
    wet.
    
    Humph,
    Tim
    

Fished out of Salem friday, Fishing was OK. We caught about 20 Code all about
17/18 inches the biggest was about 28 inches, also caught about 20 macks. 

I don't know that area well so cann't tell you where we were fishing but it
was in close. We were in 60-90 feet just outside a couple of islands. That a
beautiful day.

Weatherman said seas 3-6 ft, they couldn't have been more wrong. It was
flat out there !

			Hope to get out one more time
					Jim

    re: .41
    
    I subscribe to the Fisherman.  I also find the reports somewhat
    exaggerated; however the tackle shops are giving the information and
    they are trying to sell tackle/bait.  I beleive that they are the one
    inflating the reports.  The reports are good to track fish movements up
    /down the coast.  You can follow the stripers/blues and other migratory
    fish.  It also makes you wish that you lived in Conn. (they are still
    catching blues/stripers now).
    
    All fishing reports that I have read no matter what the source are
    exaggerated -- they have to be taken with a grain of salt.
    
    Gordon
    

	Does anyone have experience Cod fishing on the south side of the
Cape ?  I'm looking for information on time, type of bottom, suggested spots,
etc.

	Thanks, Rick

    Rick,
    
    I recently received a charter brochure from a guy who sails from Mystic
    CT (Which is south of Cape Cod).  He said basically he doesn't bother
    anymore.  If he does, he goes late May & June.
    
    Tim
    

    The spot I've seen people on is cox's ledge.  I've heard of up to 20#
    cod coming up in june and july from there.  Its about 20nm se of point
    judith.

	Thanks for the quick responces.  As luck would have it, Cox Ledge
is exactly where I was looking after reading a blurb inthe cruising guide
written by Charlie Soars (sp?).  Cox Ledge is 33 nm for me, so I was looking
for experience to trade off the 50 + nm trip to Stellwagen (sp?), and thats
exactly what I got.  Thanks Joe.
	I do find June and July suprising.  I would have thought Cod would
have started to be wormy long before that.
	Sounds like the game plan for June is fill fuel tanks, try locally
for Blues, if no luck head out for Browns Ledge, if no luck, try Southwest
Shoal, if no luck rig for Cod and head for Cox.  Now, is there enough fuel
to make it out to the dump .... and back ?

	Thanks, Rick

    Hi Rick
    
    The dump has some great tuna fishing.  They usually show up 2nd or 3rd
    week of July.  About 7nm inside of the dump is a spot called the
    fingers.  Just as good as the dump.  Give me a call sometime of you
    want more info on the area, we fished those spots a few times.
    
    See ya
    Joe
    

    The Fisherman, Issue 5, 1992, has an article on a wreck called The Star
    of The Sea.  Is the same fingers?  They say it is at 40-57.4x70-55.5.
    
    Tim
    

Don't forget the East Ground, due east of Block Island. We've
occasionally done well there on cod. Some days they need a traffic cop,
though. There have been times when bouncing a jig on the bottom produced
cod, and when we lost bottom (from drifting) we'd crank like crazy and
bag a blue on the way up.

Art

    I'll try to look up the #'s tonight.  BTW, you back in zk?
    
    Joe
    

    re .49
    Tim, if you were asking me if the fingers were the same as in the
    article in the fisherman, I don't think so.  The numbers yuo had in
    weren't any I recognized.  The fingers I'm referring to are around
    43700-14350. 
    
    Joe

    Well, you're talking Loran #s, the Fisherman article was not (were they
    lat/long?)
    
    No, 'm not back at ZK...Soon.
    
    Tim
    

	Sory I've been out of touch ( been moving from MRO to LTN).
This notes file is realy great  ... someone cal tell you where, and someone
else can tell you how.  Now all I have to do is put it all together with
a little luck.
	The Fingers sounds interesting, I've trolled Manemsha with everything
from Hopkins to Green Machines trying to get a Bonito without any luck.
The only ones I've seen in the last two seasons have come from Veech's Canyon
and thats a way to far for me.  This year is going to be different, we are
going to use wire line and hope it improves the strike ratio for Bonito as
well.
	East Ground sounds interesting also, but after looking at the chart
I understand the comment about a traffic cop.  Its within the precautionary
enterence area for both Narragansett Bay and Buzzards Bay traffic lanes.

	Rick

I've caught several Bonito off Menemsha, but not with anything as big as 
you're talking about. We use small swimmers, like 5" or small leadheads/ 
bucktails, or flies. Bonito are very sensitive, and usually won't strike at 
anything if they can see the line. Light line and small hooks. Sometimes 
they go for metal, too. Best bet has been Swedish Pimples. Bait also works, 
if it's in good shape and matches what they're chasing.

Never saw anyone have luck trolling for them; most of the boats anchor and 
cast to them. They're generally top feeders, so if you do troll, keep it 
high. 

This is what has worked for me, your mileage may vary. Good luck

leo

    Has anybody been out yet this year? We are going out next friday the
    3rd of April with Yankee fleet and just wondering what to expect???

I was in the Yankee Tackle store last weekend.  They got blown out in the snow
squall one day, but did well the preceding day (A Friday).  Then again, they
probably wouldn't tell me they were doing poorly.

Tim

	Here's the Yankee Fleet report from The Fisherman:

	Gloucester:

	The Yankee Fleet started their season last friday when two
	boats got out. Bad weather kept them seeking inshore shelter
	and the codfishing wasn't that good.   Marty Connolly of Norwood
	took honors aboard the Yankee Patriot with his 11 pound cod.
	Three boats went out on saturday, they only fished a short while,
	catching a few cod before the wind blew and the blizzard blinded.
	Skippers, their craft loaded with anglers, decided to return to
	port rather than risk accidents. Passengers were given hlf price
	tickets for their next trip. Boats will go fri, sat, sun and mon
	weather permitting.

	--------

	11 lbs took the pool :-/

	Also in this issue is a picture from the Rainbow Chaser.  Isn't
	this Walt Gibson's boat ?  [The caption said photo courtest of
	Capt. Walt Glosen].

	/Ken

  Can somebody let me know the rates for Yankee this year ???

                                                 Bud

    Rates are the same as last year. $35 full day and I think the 1/2 day
    is $21. Half day does not start till end of Mayish..
    
    	This does not include tackle. 

Rainbow Chaser is Walt Gibson's boat.  Those bluefish were not caught in
"satern" sound either (they were caught in Jupiter bay).  How do I know?  I
was the mate on that trip.

Once again, take everything ED NOWAK says with a grain of salt.  The fishing
reports are only allowed by ADVERTISERS.  Enough said, I think.

Tim

	I'm opening up my Penn 113H reel to clean it up/overhaul it,
	and thought I'd ask if there's any gotcha's that I should be
	aware of.  Like when you take the faceplace near the handle off,
	beware of springs flying out, stuff like that.

	Any hints/comments on opening up a 113H ?

	Thanks	
	Ken

	One pitfall I bumbled into with Penn reels is the reinstallation of the
free spool lever. It can go on either way and if you happen to mount it with
the little handle out, as I once did, the reel acts kind of strange. When
properly installed the reel body stops the travel of the lever when the handle
hits it. With the handle out, the lever over-travels and causes missalignment 
of a few of the internals.


				      ===
			 --	     -- | <---lever correct orientation
			|  |--------|  ||
			|  |	    |  |
		 	|  |	    |  |
		 	|  |	    |  |
		        |  |--------|  |
			 --	     --



				        ===
			 --	     -- | <---lever incorrect orientation
			|  |--------|  ||
			|  |	    |  |
		 	|  |	    |  |
		 	|  |	    |  |
		        |  |--------|  |
			 --	     --

    The clutch dog and spring are the ones to look out for. when you pull
    off the business end side plate they will come out and there is
    no good picture in the penn book to tell you where they came
    from. Also the screws without the threads are the ones that go
    through the springs that engage and disengage the gears from
    free spool. There is a trick to put the dog and spring back, first
    coat the spring with blue grease (dog too) this will help hold them
    in place. Also HT100 washers should be dry not wet.
    
    Bruce

	Thanks for the info.  While it's probably a good idea
	to open it up and clean/lube it, I don't want to screw
	up a good reel!   

	BTW, do you 113H owners do this at least annually ?   What
	got me to do it was a Fisherman letter that described not
	doing it is analogous to keeping the outside of a car looking
	mint while neglecting the motor, which deteriorates.

	What's a clutch dog look like ?   

> 	Also HT100 washers should be dry not wet.
	
	This washer is the exterior washer, correct ?  

	Thanks!
	
	Ken

    The cluthc dog looks like a tooth, about 1/2 long with a whole
    on one end. The HT100 drag washers are the black composit washers
    in the drag system, they are sandwitched between stainless washers
    .
    If only use the reel 8-10 times a year you don't need to do this every
    year assuming you rinse in freshwater after use. 
    
    Bruce

 I read that the cod fishing on Jeffries and Old Scantum has been hot for
the last month, and the fishing is expected to remain so for the next month. 
Food for spring mariner's thought...

<	I'm opening up my Penn 113H reel to clean it up/overhaul it,
<	and thought I'd ask if there's any gotcha's that I should be
<	aware of.  Like when you take the faceplace near the handle off,
<	beware of springs flying out, stuff like that.
<
<	Any hints/comments on opening up a 113H ?

   I don't have the 113H, but an old Penn very similar in size. One without the
levelwind mechanism.  Got it at a yardsale for $10 with the pole.

   I made the BIG mistake of removing all the screws from the side-plate that
has the reel handle before getting a look at the insides.  

   Initially only remove  the outer screws that hold the side-plate to the
spool stand-offs. Don't take out the screws in close to the reel handle until
you have the side-plate off so you can get a peek at how all those dogs, gears,
and springs go together.  Otherwise you wind up with a nice puzzle to put back
together without the benefit of a picture to follow.  I'd also suggest that
before you take the inner screws out you move the freespool lever back and
forth a few times to see how the spool gets engaged/disengaged. It's not too 
bad though as there are only about 20-25 parts as I recall. It took me a couple
evenings of futzing with it, I'll never take all the screws out at once
again though!!

   Have fun..

Al

    Splash!!!!!!!!!!!!
    
    :-) :-)  :-)
    
    First hand cod reports any day now..........
    
    Capt. Bruce

	The 113H overhaul was a success!  It took me a couple of
	hours and I had to put it back together a few times before
	getting it right, but it works like a charm ;-)  Smooth as
	silk!

	Thanks for the pointers, especially Bruce regarding the
	2 springs and the "clutch dog".   The tiny spring that
	works the clutch dog caused some grief until I figured 
	out where it went.  The blue grease was the way to go to
	hold parts in place.   Not overlubricating is essential!

	There is a difference in how the reel works now however:
	when the drag is completely loosened, turning the handle
	does not turn the spool when it did before I opened it up.
	Tightening up the star drag a bit causes it to work as expected.

	According to Dick's Tackle in Worcester I don't have a problem
	but I wonder why it's behaving the way it is.

	Add one hint: when you take the handle-side plate off, as -2
	said don't remove the inner screw near the handle until you
	get a good idea of where you're at.   Lay the plate down,
	remove the screws, and *carefully* lift leaving the gears and
	springs in the positions they should be at.
	
	Ken

    
    
     I am wondering if someone may be able to provide me with some loran
    coordinates to some local wrecks that a 23 foot center console trojan
    would be able to get to. What I have in mind is to do some cod fishing 
    next week and I have a friend who has the boat but is not all that
    familiar with where to go cod fishing. We will be leaving out of the
    merrimac river or from hampton. If you know of a decent cod spot that 
    is not over a wreck and feel like SHARING those coordinates that would
    be appreciated as well. I am not looking for your secret spot, just 
    help in locating a decent spot or two.. 
    
    Thanks,
    Brian

    I have heard that they are getting cod out at the Isle of shoals about
    5mi from Rye harbor.  Also on the outgoing tide try drifting
    (conditions permitting) out of the mouth or the merrimack and jigging.
    I have picked up some cod in the past early in the season this way.
    
    I don't have any loran numbers but if you have a chart of the area
    #13278 Portsmouth to Cape Ann you can see numberous hills and valleys
    withing easy reach of your boat.  These are within 5-15 miles of the
    river.  If the conditions permit you could run to Jefferies Ledge 20-30
    miles.
    
    The cod are usually in fairly close this time of year.  Ask around in
    the bait shops in the area.  Hiltons always has good info.
    
    Good luck
    Gordon 

    I read in the fisherman this week in the Plum Island report by Surfland
    that the Commercial guys were catching cod using "electronic jigs"?
    Anyone know what this is?  Kay said in the report that they were new
    and they gave up gillnetting to used these because they outfished the
    nets.
    
    Gordon
    
    

    There are using electric deep water reels that do all the work.
    They are computer controled. The jig with a bunch of teasers is
    lowered, pulled up/down near the botton. When the reel senses a
    certain load, it pull the fish up.
    Also the commercial guys are using an electric reel attachment for
    the penn 113h or the diawa 6/0. They just save on your arm/hand when
    reeling up.  On a few good days they are catching 400 lbs or more
    per person. The average day is more like 200lbs.
    
    
    Steve
                 

    re: .-1
    
    Thanks for the reply,  I thought it was something like that.  Sound
    like it's a lot better for the environment not dragging the bottom
    structure flat and no curtains of death floating arround.
    
    Gordon

    
    r�: .74, electric deep water reels
    
         Could you describe in more detail how these are used ?  Simple
    "plug in" to a power source outlet ?  Just drop into the rod holder and
    "flick the switch" ?  What's the cost ?
    
    Thanks,
    
    Ed
    
    
         

    The big commercial unit runs off of a hydraulic pump or some 12-32
    volt power source. The cost is 3-5K.  The electric reel attachment
    can be had for under $200.00.
    
    
    Steve

    Ed,
    
    	Does this mean that you will have a hydro pump for your rod on
    May 1st?

    Well I'm not seeing to many notes out there for "spring fishing". 
    Is anybody getting out there? The news so far has been slow to slow..

Correction:  Slow to Slower, or maybe even Slow to Stop

    seems as tho  most of those who are usually in the water by noe
    are still getting ready.
    
    JIm
    

    Anybody have news of the fishing up in Maine. Were trying going out of 
    Maine with the Bunny Clark on the 1st of May and see what the
    differance is. As for fishing with bait its mostly shrimp upa thata
    way.
    
    

    A friend and I chartered with Bruce Sweet & Tim Lucia on the Sweet 
    Dream II last Saturday (May 2).  Great day!  We brought only our 
    lunches, returned with well over 20 lbs of fillets and memories.  
    (Factually, my friend brought a particularly unlucky rod, which Tim 
    talked him off after there were a dozen fish in the box and he was 
    still looking for his first).
    
    We got out just after 7:00, went only as far as the Dumping Grounds, 
    and returned by 3:00 with 33 cod to 6 lbs in the box, having released
    at least 50 shorts.  98% jigging with Tim's bucktail teasers above,
    other 2% were a few shorts on sea worms.
    
    I am a novice offshore - they made it fun & easy, so thanks to Bruce & 
    Tim!  We had a great day!
    
    Jack Hutchinson

    Was out yesterday 5-4-92 on the Nicole Rene' Gloucester Ma. called a
    marathon trip leaves at 4:AM and returns at 4:PM, first of all we did
    not get back till 6:PM Thank you Capt Tom for the extra time.
    
    Fishing started out slow but all in all we had a good trip, We had at
    least 500 keeper cod to 20 lb a few pollock and amazingly we had at least
    a dozen haddock to 15 lbs on the boat. We had at least 200 to 300 trough
    back also.
    
    It was sunny, windy and cold but everyone had a good time. It seems
    like the season is late this year, all in all the average angler on the
    boat had 8 to 13 fish each, and of course some of the less experienced
    anglers only had 3 or 4 fish.
    
    Hope this sparks some good news to come in the next couple of months of
    fishing for the spring to early summer session for cod fishing.
    
    Frank
                                    

    So what are folks catching these days?
    
    Are any species being caught in remarkable numbers? If yes, where are
    they being caught?
    
    I'm also interested in hearing what you all are hearing from the
    commercial fishermen you know. I've heard from my own commercial
    contacts that the lobster fishing is virutally nonexistent so far this
    year. Divers tell me the same thing.
    
    Anybody else notice a general shortfall in the marine populations?
    
    
    Thanks.
    
    John H-C

    John,
    
      The is a great reduction in Lobster gear this year. I think
    it cuts 2 ways, 1 is that alot of gear was lost last year and 2 
    the fishing has been poor because I have seen alot of pots
    stacked up on docks.
    
    Bass are around in  unprecidented numbers. Blues are getting thicker.
    Cod fishing this spring was the worst ever I suspect.
    
    Bruce

John,
	Agree with re: .86 except I have no input on Cod Fishing havn't done it.

	Have done well with Stripers in Merrimack River from boat and
	from shore down the Cape around Harwichport.

	Only one Blue caught so far down the cape but hear they are in
	are small and not many....but they say they will be coming soon
	and getting bigger.
	-< Tuna Tail >-

    There's plenty of dogs around. The commercial guys are even shipping
    them at a whopping 12 cents a pound.
    
    Steve

	Speaking of Dog's

	While at the Cape last weekend June 20/21
	I did some surf fishing for Stripers and noticed 3 or 4 dog's
	on the beach in Harwichport.
	I didn't know dog's came in this close to catch from the Surf?
	Apparently those that caught them left them ashore instead of
	returning them?

	Of course I was and am assuming shore fisherpersons caught them.

	Anybody catch them from the surf?

	-< Tuna Tail >-

I've caught them from the shore in Chatam, near Hardings beach a few 
years ago. They were small but still were woofers.

          Mike

    re:. 89
    
    	I've gotten them from shore at Cape Hatteras.
    
    		Robert.

	re. 90 & .91
	
	Thanks for reports on catching Dog's from the Surf.
	What did you do with them???

	-< Tuna Tail >-

 Lets just say I did not through them back in. meow

          Mike

    
    
    
         What's this about "HUNGRY CHOPPERS HIT PLUM IS"???  Fill me in
     on this.... Was the action hot and heavy up there?? blues??
    strippers?? Does anyone have the scoop????
    
    
    
     Bri

      Usually when folks refer to "choppers" they're talking about schools
    of small Bluefish... A school of blues' will literally drive small
    baitfish onto the beaches when they get into a feeding frenzy.. I've
    seen the surface of the water covered with alewife PIECES when the
    choppers get through with a school.. If the fishe they were feeding one
    were any good to eat, all you'd have to do to collect a meal is walk
    along the edge of the beach picking the ones up that have literaly
    JUMPED onto land...
    
      John Mc

Mike,
	As long as the Dog's went to a good cause. woof
-< Tuna Tail >-

    Not exactly deep sea but yesterday outside the #1 buoy in the merrimack
    we were catching many big flounder.  I heard from the bait shop
    (Hudson's) that someone has 80 pounds in the freezer already.  Easy to
    find the area, there were 50+ boats anchored there yesterday.
    
    Also, still lots of stripers in the river.  Heard rumors but haven't
    seen any blufish yet.
    
    Gordon

    
    No rumors here...got about 40 blues (4-12lbs) at the nw corner
    yesterday. They were deep. Saw fish finning on the surface but they
    were like scared kittens when you tossed a poper at them.
    
    Bruce
    

Well I got my first keeper of the year Firday night. I was 38 inches/18 pounds.
Caught on a eel at about 1 am in the mouth of the Merrimack. 

We were catching them two or three every drift. All of them were good size
28,29,30,31,32,33,34 inches and I couldn't even begin to guess how many smaller
ones. They were all over 20 plus inches.

Well only about a week before the Blues get here and have to start using 
a leader.

				What a great time.					
					Jim

re.97
>>Well I got my first keeper of the year Firday night. I was 38 inches/18 pounds.

	Jim,
		Nice fish and nice time at the mouth.
		Thanks for update
	-< Tuna Tail >-

    Anyone been out of Glousecter or Newburyport on any of the party
    boats. Is the cod fishing good or slow? Any dog fish yet? I was 
    thinking of trying a trip soon maybe Yankee fleet on the Spirit.
    Anybody interested let me know....Jerry

            RE:99   
          The cod fishing has been very s l o w......In fact, I
    heard it's the worst it's been in a long time.  The dog fish
    aren't even biting this year....   :^[     

	The cod fishing has been slow, but I had a good day a 
	couple of weeks ago out of Yankee Fleet on the Middlebank
	boat.  A friend put together a private charter: 12 people
	to the boat which was supposedly 65' but looked smaller.
	Tons of room!  For $50 it was worth it.

	We didn't catch a lot, but I pulled in a 19 and a 22 lb. cod
	along with a bunch of smaller ones.  My biggest ever (finally!)
	All on jigs.  A couple more 20 lbers with a 30 lber took the pool.
	They were all cod that were spawning, < 10 miles off shore.

	I've only been out a couple of times, but I did as good and better
	than last year, when everything was small.

	Ken

    
        Slow..??  I'm not sure what is concided a good day ...as far
      as weight and numbers when it comes to cod fishing. Sunday, I left
      Gloucester at 10:00pm aboard the Yankee Fleet heading to Georges
      Bank. After 7 hours we were at the bank and started fishing at
      5:00am. Cod were in the boat by 5:15am and a steady flow till 
      noon. I'm not sure of the total # of cod cought but it took the
      3 of the crew mates a little over 2 hours to fillet the cod. The
      biggest cod was 35lbs, I cought 9 and ended up with close to
      40lbs in fillets,,,, never thought i'd have a blast "HACK fishing"
      
                                    Two thumbs up for the Yankee Fleet
    
                                                               KIV

    You went to Georges and caught 9 cod???????????????? (and paid how
    much??).
    
    I consider anything under a couple of dozen a bad day on the
    inshore grounds let alone the world best fishing grounds.
    
    The cod will as scarce as haddock within 2 years at this rate.
    
    Bruce

    If you think that's bad, I went out of Newburyport on Sunday and there
    were less than 20 caught on the entire boat.
    
    Plenty of dogfish though!
    
    Paul

 Not to worry. The NMFS is studying the problem. They'll make recommendations
in a few years, which will be watered down by the commercials, then they'll
take their sweet time in implementing them. Then the last cod will be alive in
the New England Aquarium...

    
    
    Bruce,
    
         The guy had fun "hack fishing".  He did it on, in your words, 
    "the world's best fishing grounds".  The crew took two hours to fillet - 
    certainly a valid indicator that the boat caught fish.  So what's your 
    issue ?
    
         I'm given to understand the "Captain's Day Off" on the Sweet Dream
    II is $80 - your most economical package.  He paid 1.5x that for his 
    experience...certainly reasonable for a sleep-over to gain access to 
    grounds that inaccessible.  
    
         If cod *is* gradually becoming "as scarce as haddock", I'd say he
    had a good day !
    
         Any other criteria for comparison ("used to be we'd catch 30 per
    angler") sounds too much like "Could Ali beat Marciano" to me...
    
    Ed

    
     yup 9 !!  one other guy caught 11. The rest on the boat caught
     between 3 & 5 fish, that was about the average. There also were some
     people that got skunked. The word is that you have to be almost right
     on the bottom...if so, Is it posible that lots of people never kept
     in contact with the bottom..??  This was the first time I ever fished
     cod, how forgiving are these fish..? can you have you jig 20ft of 
     the bottom and still catch them..?? Or do you realy have to know
     what your doing??  One guy hooked a porpoise UNEXPECTEDLY sceard the
     poop out of him!!! one of the mates grabbed the rod and cut the line
     quickly!!! man what a sight!! thay can really jump!! I hope the 140z
     jig doesn't harm it!! It was hooked in the tail flipper, what a 
     beautiful mammal!!!  I couldn't help but feel bad for it, will there
     be any harm to it.???
    
                                                      thanks 
                                                        Kiv 

    
    
    
      It is NOT my intent to flame anyone here but in reading these notes
    about how poor the fishing has gotten in the last few years has led me
    to believe that the lack of fish is due to the party boats and comercial 
    fisherman takeing so many fish that it is finally catching up to everyone 
    now. the biggest problem being the comercial fisherman.
    
      I think the best thing that can be done is to put in place better
    requlations and ENFORCE THEM, limiting the amount allowed to keep, size
    restrictions, and seasons on the different species of fish. 
    
      the sad part of a deterioration of fishing/hunting grounds is
    ussually done by those who utilize the resource.
    
    
                                                         Lee
                      Who wish's there was a never ending supply of fish
    
    

    Ed,
    
       Not too sure what you are inflammed about. I only commented
    on how poor the catch was on Georges bank. I would expect to catch
    50-100 fish a person out there. My experience this year (which has
    been the worst in years) is that we are catching a couple of dozen
    fish a person instead of 40-60 a year ago. This based on my
    experience. I would not be a happy camper to pay $120 and catch
    5 cod. I would not be a happy captain to have someone pay $80 and
    only catch 5 cod.
    
    Kiv to answer your question...90% of time you jig cod within 2 feet
    of the bottom. I constantly bounce my jig right on the bottom.
    Sometimes the cod are stacked up or are chasing bait and then
    you will get them up higher. A look at the fish finder helps
    you know those situations. Pollock at typically 10-20 ft off the
    bottom.
    
    Lastly, ground fish management is needed yesterday. Size limits
    must be raised. Long lineing istead of dragging is also a good
    solution as it is more selective and less halmful to the
    genernal ocean environment.
    
    Bruce

    What size does a cod have to be before it can reproduce/spawn? For some
    reason 24" is sticking in my head. If it is approx 24" then why is the
    legal limit only 19"??
    
    	

    I "think" cod spawn at 3 years old and the 19" fish are around that
    age and in theory spawn once. Call in John HC.
    
    Bruce

I'd personally like to see the 19" minimum raise to  22 or 23".  That would 
give the fish an additional year or two to spawn.  I seem to remember reading
that 19" fish will get 2 chances to spawn.  Remember that the larger the fish,
the more eggs which are produced.

I agree with Bruce... This has been an all-time low for cod for me (only 4 
years experience).  If I paid $120, I'd expect at least 40 fish from Georges
in an 8 hour fishing day.  I'm pretty experienced at catching them too.

If the average catch was 3-5 (say 5) per person, then if there were 50 people
on the boat, that is 450 fish.  Three mates means 150 each for about 2 hours
seems about right.  I can cut (without skinning) probably 60 fish an hour
doing a pretty good job.  With skinning, more like 40/hour.  Since these guys
do it every day, they are probably quicker.  I've been out to the Isle of 
Shoals (Al Gauron's boats) and had 8 filleting-hours worth of work trip with
40 people.

In the past 4 years, I can think of several trips to Stellwagen bank that 
produced 50+ fish per person.  After the fish box got somewhat filled, we
would increase our minium size, or, keep only the biggest of 2 or 3 fish
when we got double/tripple headers. This is VERY sad.  Please write to your
appropriate senator/rep and to Gary Studds, who is the fisheries committee
person (something like this).

Much as I hate to say it, I think the govt. is going to have to pay the
fishermen/women not to fish the way they pay the farmers not to farm.  Maybe
allow them to long-line in the process, but gill-nets and dragging HAVE TO
STOP NOW!!!

p.s.  The porpoise will shake that 14oz jig in a few minutes, if not sooner.
It's no worse for the porpoise than for you getting a tack in you (or a hook).

Remember, a 20' humpback beats that porpoise hands down!

    
    	You guys ought to read the June 22nd issue of "US News".  Pretty
    good article on the dwindling numbers of ocean finfish stocks caused by 
    commercial overfishing and pollution.   Nothing seems to be being done
    to help the situation....

    
         Thanks guys! 
               
               This was my first time cod fishing, most importantly I had
          a great time, and learned a lot. Sure it would have been nice
          to boat over 30 fish, but when you've never experienced cod fishing
          at the level you talk about (# of fish) its something you can't
          miss or be disappointed in( How do you miss something you've
          never had). 
                                              Can't wait to go again!!
                                                           Kiv
          P.S. Bruce please send me some info
               on day trips. 
                                                 Thanks again guys!!!   
    
                   
               

    	Do cod/other_bottom_fish spawn at a particular time every year ? If
    so, perhaps an outright ban on bottom fishing needs to occur during the
    spawn. It would make sense to at least let the fish drop their eggs before 
    you take them.
    
    	RAYJ

    in regards to .113 is it true that cod only spawn once? If so why?

>    in regards to .113 is it true that cod only spawn once? If so why?

 Cuz then someone catches them.

 What Bruce meant was that at 19", they have spawned once. They will spawn
again and again given the chance.

    Is there a limit to the amount of gill nets that can be out there and
    draggers or is it pretty much "do what you want to do"??

    re: .121
    
    	Not in the Atlantic, according to the US News article..  IN the
    Pacific, off the coast of Alaska, they are trying to regulate things
    with some degree of success.  I understand that it's just a "free for 
    all" in the atlantic.

    
    r�: .111
    
    Bruce,
    
         Rest assured I'm not "inflammed".  When I turn up the heat, it
    will be using the standard notes protocol.  It's not usually my style
    to become inflamed in the first place.
    
         To paraphrase my earlier note:
    1.) as conditions change, so too should expectations
    2.) for many, the bottom line is fun.
    
    Ed

    The doc fixed my poor sentence structure...thanks Mark.
    
    I know of no requlations on number of nets or number of fishing
    vessels on the atlantic coast. There are no catch quota's for
    ground fish either.
    
    Bruce

    There are no limits on the number of nets a fisherman can put in the
    water except those imposed by hir boat and hir ability to haul in those
    nets. There is, however, a limit imposed by the DMF on what can be
    taken when and how. Such limits do not apply to cod, pollock, or
    haddock, as far as I know. For that we are all paying nature's price.
    
    There is a limit to the commercial licenses to take bluefin tuna, and
    they are grandfathered in. When a tuna boat or fisherman goes out of
    business, that is the end of that license, and there is one fewer tuna
    predator in the water. This limit doesn't make much difference,
    however, because the tuna boats fill their quota within five days. They
    fish for other (unlimited) things the rest of the year.
    
    re: a few back about cod spawning from Bruce Sweet
    
    Sorry, I'm more than 100 miles from my reference books. Maybe Herr
    Cronin has the answer?
    
    John H-C

    
    This past weekend i was told that Rhode Island modified the 
    law regarding stripe bass.
    
    28" and no limit...
    
    certainly seems to go against the idea of preservation.
    
    As for fluke, (summer flounder) they are on the decline
    big time, 4 guys went out for the day yesterday to return
    with 7 fish. All were around 17". Not what i would call
    worth the time.
    
    JIm.

    any reports of bottom fish (cod,cusk,wolf) from last weekend?

    Botton fishing last weekend on all day party boats out of NH/N. Mass was
    slow. They did find some fish yesterday, as for numbers??? But the
    bluefish left the ledge, the bait is back, so I'd expect better
    action for the next week or so.
    
    Steve

    Even though most of this is east coast, I thought I would enter how our
    beleaguered salmon fishing is going on the west coast.  IT's RED HOT!!!
    
    I went out last week with 2 fishing buddies, limited the boat and was
    back at my slip in two hours.  The fish are mostly 6-8 pound silvers,
    but there are tons of 'em.  They'll get larger as the summer
    progresses.
    
    Ken 
    
     

<                        -< west coast fishing report.. >-
<
<    Even though most of this is east coast, I thought I would enter how our
<    beleaguered salmon fishing is going on the west coast.  IT's RED HOT!!!
<    
<    I went out last week with 2 fishing buddies, limited the boat and was
<    back at my slip in two hours.  The fish are mostly 6-8 pound silvers,
<    but there are tons of 'em.  They'll get larger as the summer
<<    progresses.
    
Ken,

	The west coast is a big place, it runs from Puget Sound to San Diego +.
Could you be a little more specific as to where the salmon fishing was so hot???
  
Al

    Sorry about that...
    
    The Oregon coast from Port Orford north to the Columbia River.  Those
    rivers are having good runs.  I'm not sure how the Columbia run is
    doing.  Those fish go all the way to Canada and for years that run has been
    depleted by all the man-made obstacles. 
    
    Ken

    
    Slammed 8 - 10 lb. blues jigging for cod off Stellwagon this past Fri.
    Had to put wire leaders on the jigs.  Bizarre but fun.
    
    Ed
    

    Picked up 3 more salmon out of the Winchester Bay (Oregon coast). One
    short of our limit.  The ocean was rough and the wind was gusting to 30
    knots.  Salmon were spread out pretty much.
    
    I was having problems with the prop cavitating when I hit 3000 rpm, so
    I didn't want to press my luck and stay out too long.  The bar was
    getting nasty and the sea was beginning to run heavy.  Just got across
    the bar when the CG came out to close it down.  
    
    I pulled the boat out and brought it home to find out what was going
    on with the prop.  It seems the "clutch" in the prop is worn and is
    slipping.  I replaced it with my back-up prop so we'll see if that
    solves it.
    
    
    Ken

<    I was having problems with the prop cavitating when I hit 3000 rpm, so
<    I didn't want to press my luck and stay out too long.  The bar was
<    getting nasty and the sea was beginning to run heavy.  Just got across
<    the bar when the CG came out to close it down.  
<    
<    I pulled the boat out and brought it home to find out what was going
<    on with the prop.  It seems the "clutch" in the prop is worn and is
<    slipping.  I replaced it with my back-up prop so we'll see if that
<    solves it.

Ken,

	Nice fishing... I wish things were as good here in the Bay area.

Perhaps this is just semantics, but I thought "cavitation" happens when the prop
developes so much speed that it causes a low pressure area (vacuum) around the
prop blades and makes the water actually boil (vaporize), which in turn reduces
the resistance on the prop even more so it spins even faster ... 

I can see where a loose clutch might make your engine over-rev (similar to what
your engine does when your prop cavitates), but cavitation requires the prop 
itself to be spinning fast. 

Al

    re -1
    
    Yes, you're right.  That was the only way I could explain the way it
    felt.  I was so dumb I didn't realize that there was such a thing in
    the prop until I called a mechanic.
    
    
    Ken

    Is it worth fishing for cod this weekend or just pay my $ and fight
    with the blues??

    Does anyone out there know of charter captains that will take out 5-10
    people?  I'd like to go deep-sea, but I can't handle the 60 people
    boats; it's just tangled lines all day!  I would be interested in
    finding a place anywhere along the north shore of Mass or NH.  I thank
    you in advance for any info.
    
    -DAve

    RE: .137
    	Your best bet is probably one of the many boats with 6-Pack
    licenses.  These are usually boats in the mid 20ft. range that take
    out parties of 4.  I'll bet if you go back and read this note
    (including personal headers) you'll be able to find a few names...
    	Another way is to just rent a whole party boat for the day, limit
    the number of people to an amount that suits your needs and split the
    bill.
    	I'll bet Bruce Sweet could make suggestions to you...
    
    					B.C.

    RE: .138...
        I was looking to spend around $50 per person.  Bruce Sweet has
    already got back to me, thanks for the pointers.
    
    -DAve

    Try the Sea Witch out of Barnstable, MA. I've gone out twice on this
    boat and have been happy with it. The number is:
    
    			1-413-283-8375   PALMER, MA
    			1-508-362-5280   BARNSTABLE, MA
    			1-508-776-1336   PHONE ON THE BOAT	
    
    He charges (max = 6 persons):
    
    		4 hr = $250.00
    		6 hr = $300.00
    		8 hr = $400.00
    
    When I've gone out on his boat he charged $50.00 a person and we stayed
    out at least 7 hrs. He's been flexible with the prices. 
         
    Have a good trip...
    
    Steve 
    	
    			

	I had good luck with a charter organized by a friend of 
	my brothers out of Gloucester, Yankee Fleet, on the 
	boat Middlebank.  I forget how long it is, but I think
	it's about 60-65'.   Cost is only $600/day during the week.
	With 12 people it will cost $50 each and you'll have *tons*
	of room.  The captain + mate were great.
	
	In mid-June we did well with cod.  They did another charter
	a few weeks ago when I was vacationing, but the cod fishing
	was really slow.   When my brother jigged up a 10 lb blue, they
	decided to head to a part of Stellwagon to troll for blues,
	and caught one after the other.

	Ken

    I believe Digital gets a 20% discount with Yankee too. Check VTX
    Livewires discount directory.
    
    Steve

    Any news on bottem fish? Long weekend coming and may be out friday and 
    saturday and sure would enjoy getting some cod/wolf/cusk.. I just keep
    reading about tuna,blues and strippers.

    FYI - We caught a dozen nice cod sunday without too much effort. Like
    last fall it looks like bait is the key, not jigs. The blues are
    scarce even on the bank. This should be good news because maybe
    we will get a good inshore cod run this year (unlike last fall).
    
    Bruce

    re: .-1  What kind of bait were you using?
    

    sea clams of course.

    Well its good to hear that there are some cod out there still. did you
    drop a line just to check it out or were you out there all day?? 
    

    Sea clams?  a.k.a. softshell clams or steamers?
    

    RE: .148
    
    	I'd like to see you slurp one of these babys down!!!  GAAAKK!!!
    
    					B.C.

    Sea clams aka surf clams aka very large hard shell.
    Steamers or Qauhogs NOT.
    
    We went looking for cod but did not fish very long. It also took
    me a while to convert from Jig to bait, once we did the
    fish came a couple every drift over the piece of bottom.
    
    Bruce

 Quahogs are large, hard shell clams. Also called stone clams, surf clams,
sea clams.

 Steamers are softshell clams.

    I believe they are all one species, defined locally by size.  Here in
    the MA, NH, ME area, they're called:
    
    	Chowder clam	Largest (> 3.0-inches & too tough to chew raw, I guess)
    	Quahog		   |	 (2.5 to 3.0-inch shell)
    	Cherrystone	   |	 (2.0 to 2.5-inch shell)
    	Little Neck	   V	 (1.5 to 2.0-inch shell)
    	Steamer		Smallest (< 1.5-inch shell)
    
    Off Shore mag did a nice spread on clam digging an issue or so back if
    anyone cares to note the local naming variations (like NY & RI). 
    
    
    	-mike-
    			 .   .
    			(-----) Smiley clam
    
    

 Nope- steamers are a different species. Their shells are paper thin and are 
white. The others have thick gray shells. 

    Yes steamers are softshell that live about 6-10 inches below the
    water usually in saltwater marshes. Quahogs, Cherrystones and
    littlenecks are all the same mollusk at differing sizes. They
    are hardshell and live about 1 inch below the water and are usually
    found in areas that don't uncover at low tide. Surfclams are
    the largest and are not in the quahog family, the tend to be more
    oval shaped where quahogs are more round.
    
    Bruce (doing his John HC imitation)

    
    
    	So what is the name of a steamer before you steam 'em?
    
    /MArk
    

 A softshell clam.

    FYI - I fished a very short while off marblehead sunday moring and
    boated about 15 cod. If the nets stay away the fall looks real good
    inshore.
    
    Bruce

    	Not the most pleasant subject, but....  Is it true that Cod have
    more worms in the fall?  I'd love to fut a bunch of fillets in the
    freezer but I'm really not much interested in wormy fish.  So I'm picky,
    what can I say?
    					B.C.

    re: .157
    
    Bruce ---
    
    "Off Marblehead" is a pretty loose description. Can you be more
    specific?
    
    FWIW, some underwater hunters I know have been spearing fairly large
    cod less than .25 miles off the North Shore for the last month or so.
    
    Thanks.
    
    John H-C

    We had a good day at the 10 mile hump off the mouth of the
    Marrimuck on Sunday.  Five of us took about 50 cod, all on
    clams.  My job was skinning them after they were filleted.
    I only saw two worms!
    
    Gone fishin
    Gaff

re: -1

	Gaff,
	      I'll be trying some Cod fishing with the "FishTeaser" soon.
	      In the 70's we caught them right off the North Jetty but
	      doubt if they will be that close now.
	      I have taken the "FishTeaser" 19' SeaNymph 70hp Aluminum hull
	      to the Isle of Shoals from the Merrimack.

              I have a 24gal cap built in tank and carry a 5gal can aboard.

	      Do you think I could make it out/back 10 miles?
	      How deep were you?
	      Would you reveal your location to a novice like me???

	Appreciate your thoughts and help
	-< Tuna Tail >-

    RE: .-1
    
    It's 14 miles to the Isles of Shoals from the mouth of the merrimack,
    so if you made it there and back you will have no problems with going
    out ten miles.
    
    Gordon (rock'n n' reel'n)
    

    Sorry John, can't be more specific, takes too much work to find
    spots that have fish on them, but I will say we were less
    than 2 miles from marblehead light. This area was good in the spring
    and is good again now. 
    
     Not much in the way of worms but I'm sure it will vary spot to spot.
    
    Bruce

    No problem on the fuel consumption.  I can't give you any Loran
    numbers, but if you have a chart look for the area where it comes
    up from about 300' to 170'.  It's 10-12 miles from the mouth.
    We fished the top of the hump, making repeated drifts.  This area
    gets hit pretty hard during the summer and doesn't yeald too much
    at that time.  Now that it's cooling off out there, the cod must
    be working their way back in.  Just pick your days, we were in
    a 22' Starcraft which was barely enough boat on Sunday morning.
    By noon, the wind had dropped and it was a lot more comfertable
    out there.
    
    Gone fishin
    Gaff

re: -1
	thanks Gordon (rock'n n' reel'n)

	you give a new "twist" to term.

	-< Tuna Tail >- Oldie's but Goodie's forever

re: .164
	Gaff,
		Will give it a try next time weather allows it.
	        Appreciate your help

	-< Tuna Tail >- 

    Anybody have a relatively accurate (to nearest 1/4 mile) distance
    from the mouth of Portsmouth N.H. lighthouse to the Isles of Shoals?
    
    Tx.  Jeff

    6.2 nautical miles

    Your guesstimate is reliable if its not just a shot-in-the-dark and
    is based on experience, or data.  How did you come up with 6.2 nautical
    miles?
    
    Tx.
     
    Jeff

    re: .160
    
    I assume you we fishing a place called Halfway. It is early for
    cod in those numbers to be showing up there. I hope you don't mind
    me asking, but the were all over the min. size of 19"?
    
    The tuna gear comes off this week. Cod fishing until the 1st of
    Dec.
    
    Steve

    Thats correct, all fish were legal.  We fished hard all day to get
    that number, we threw back at least 50-75 shorts.  It was our best
    day of the year.  All keepers were about the same size, no real
    heavyweights.
    
    Gone fishin

    Does not sound like halfway to me, that is south of the mouth, I
    was thinking outside flag?
    
    Bruce

    re: .169
    
    The 6.2 nm figure came from the captain of the boat who last took me
    out there. We could see the NH/ME coast from the IofS, it was such a
    clear day, and I wonderingly asked how far out we were.
    
    He said, "6.2 miles...approximately" and grinned. He takes people out
    there every weekend in season, so my guess is that his estimate was
    pretty accurate.
    
    FWIW

    Got out yesterday afternoon for a couple of hours. Great weather for
    Oct and fishing was good off marblehead. 13 keepers and about 30
    throw backs all on bait.
    
    Bruce

    We were out at tillies yesterday and had some luck but most were not
    keepers. Beautiful day but somewhat slow for fishing..

    anybody out towards stellwagon or anywhere for cod this week? Going out
    friday and just wondering who's doing what where??
    

re:177
>>   anybody out towards stellwagon or anywhere for cod this week? Going out
>>   friday and just wondering who's doing what where??

	Is stellwagon off of Plum Island?
	I was contemplating going Saturday to fish the Merrimack R.
	How far is is from offshore?
	R U taking Friday off or going after work?
	If so maybe I can make it after work?
	Will ya go Saturday also?

	I'd like to venture a tad offshore but only have a 19ft SeaNymph
	Aluminum with 70hp.  I did go to the Isle of Shoals.
	Do you think I could make it?

	-< Tuna Tail >- aboard the "FishTeaer"

    Stellwagon is 20-30 miles from the mouth of the Merrimack.  Head
    towards Cape Ann and then SE from there.  It's 10+ miles from Twin
    Lights on Cape Ann.  Last summer when whale watching I pluged in the
    numbers fro the Mouth and I was 28 miles away.
    
    I have seen 19' boats out there; But I would choose the day carefully,
    especially this time of year.  The boat traffic is almost nil and the
    weather can change fast.
    
    If you're going for cod, try the speckled apron (about 5-6 miles east
    out of the mouth, or the hills in scantum basin (about 8 miles at 270
    from the mouth off halibut point.  I hear the cod are starting to move
    in close now.
    
    Gordon

    The northern tip of Stellwagen, where most of the fishing takes place
    and where almost all of the successful whale watch boats go, is 18
    miles south of Gloucester. The southern tip is 6 miles north of
    Provincetown. The middle of it is 30 miles east of Boston.
    
    

    TUNA TAIL,	
    
    	My deep sea fishing trips are on charter boats. I only have a 15'
    50 hp Mercury so I always stay in the Merrimack.
    
    	There were 5 of us taking the day off friday but now it looks like
    just 2 of us and now maybe just myself so I'm not sure what I'm going
    to do..
    
    	I just know the season is coming to and end soon and my freezer is
    pretty empty.

    Tuna tail,
    
       This is not the time of year to experiment going new places
    or offshore in your boat. Back when I had my 21 foot chris I decided to 
    go our to jefferies (the cove area) in mid september. The forcast
    was 10-15 knots sw which is in general a good wind, sea's 2-4ft.
    Well I head out of gloucester harbor around eastern pt and everything
    is beatiful. I get about 10 miles out and the sea's are about 2-4
    coming from behind me and I stop and say everything is cool and
    keep going. Another 8 miles out the sea's have continued to build
    and are now about 6-8ft and when I turn into them (like to go home)
    they seem even bigger. Now half scared to death I decide (and wonder)
    if I can make it home. I start heading in making about 6 knots
    taking green water over the bow as we head into the sea's. As we
    go over the tops the prop keeps kicking out of the water (don't
    you love that sound and feeling!). To sum it up it took 3.5 hours
    to make it back to eastern pt, a white knuckle ride all the way.
    
    btw...when I got back in the marine forcast remained the same.
    
    Save your trip to the bank till next june when you will have
    company and much more predictable weather.
    
    Bruce

    I AGREE 100% WITH BRUCE..
    
    	Bruce, u going out friday?

	Re: -1,-2,-2 etc etc

	Thanks for some great info all.
	I will not try it this year as that's a tad far for me

	Bruce, Glad you made it back ok.

	I had a bad expierence going to the Isle if Shoals in April
	getting my prop (one blade) bent in a squawl mid day with no
	sun to assure me I was heading towards land praying my compass
	was working ok while in choppy waters.  Made it back to Hampton
	only thing is I left from Salisbury...woops

	Will take your advice and wait for next year.
	Maybe when Spring fever hits us all we can have a rendevous
	of boats and team up for a Digital flotilla fishing hunt?

	Hope we all will make it through the winter?
	(if you know what I mean.) 

	-< Tuna Tail >-

    re: .182
    
    As someone thinking of making the same trip (but in a 25' boat), I'm
    curious as to why this time of year is worse than another for
    predictability of wx forecasts.  I don't know how long ago the trip
    you describe took place but I find the NOAA getting pretty conservative
    in its old age after that lawsuit a few years ago by some fishermen's
    family when they were lost at sea due to weather grossly worse than the
    forecast.  I find weather forecasting to be a lot more accurate as
    they can afford to throw more and more computer horsepower at their
    simulations.  Have you (I know you go offshore a lot) noticed
    discrepancies such as you describe (seas more than twice as high as
    predicted) within the last couple of years?
    
    

    Virtually all ocean waves are generated by storms at sea. The water is
    rougher this time of year because the seasonal change generates a lot
    more storms offshore. That's why I pay more attention to what kind of
    weather they had at sea five days ago than to what it looks like today
    when I plan a day on a boat in the ocean. So far, it has worked quite
    well.
    
    John H-C

    Part is also experience. The sea north of cape anne are
    different than south of it. I re-learn this everytime I turn the
    corner heading up that way for tuna in sept. Sometimes the
    forcast is off by 6-12 hours because the front, high or low
    came quicker or left sooner than expected. I have learned to
    read the weather maps and now can understand what days they
    can't be wrong and what days there is alot of risk. In the
    fall the weather moves quicker than the spring or summer.
    
    Bruce

    .187  On what reports 'can't they be wrong', or maybe the statement
    could read are less likely to be wrong.  Really, I want to know
    what 'kind' of weather predictions are more likely to be accurate.
    I know times such as now are likely to be less accurate because
    of the changing season.
    
    Well offshore in mid fall in an 18 footer.  Good luck, I hope you
    know your weather.
    
    How are the seas different North of Cape Anne?  What patterns do you
    see that are different?

    RE: .-1
    
    I'll take a stab at the seas north of cape ann.  When the wind is
    blowing from one of the eastern quadrants there is nothing
    (Islands,cape cod, etc) to stopthe seas from building.  South of cape
    ann there are many islands and the cape provides some protection.  When
    the wind picks up the seas build very rapidly, even in the summer
    months.
    
    I have left the Isles of shoals in 2' seas with a good wind from the
    East and by the time I got to the mouth of the merrimack was in 4'-5'
    seas.  It just seems to get nasty fast.  I have never done much boating
    in other areas so I cannot make any comparisons ( I suspect that every
    area has its problems)
    
    Gordon

    Howdy,
    
    Took a trip out of Gloucester this past Saturday on the Yankee Fleet
    for cod etc.  The winds were from the east making it a pretty rough
    ride.  Sea averaged 3-5 feet with some bigger sets coming in
    occasionally.  The boat, the "Yankee Patriot" a 70 footer, had about
    35 people on it or so.  There were probably 20-25 people who got 
    seasick,  so there was quite a bit of room on board for those of us
    lucky enough not to be sick.
    
    This was my first time out this year, I thought the fishing was pretty
    good.  LOTS of throw back cod (I probably had 25+ shorts) and a few
    keepers thrown in.  The pool winner was a 20+ lb pollack who commited
    suicide on MY HOOK !!!  It was worth $54.00 plus a free all day trip
    next year !!  1 of the filets will be trans formed into a LARGE pot of
    chowder this evening.  I had baked cod last night !
    
    The Yankee fleet will continue to run weekends as demand requires,
    they suggest calling ahead to insure a boat will be going.  This is
    the first time I gone on the Yankee fleet in several years, and the 
    crew and boat etc. were great.
    
    Gus
    

    I read that the Yankee fleet will continue to go out Fri, Sat, & Sun
    until Dec 6 when they head for Key West.
    
    Gordon

    Regarding weather: The jet stream is critical in determining
    weather paterns. Weather system track along the jet stream.
    When the stream is flat and over new england smaller fast moving
    systems come through. These are more unpredictable because 6
    hours can make a big difference in the seas. When the jet stream
    has big dips in it you tend to see the weather move slower
    which is good or bad depending on whether you are north or
    south of the jet stream. When the jet stream is to our north
    (like in ontario) we get warm weather and often get a nice 
    high camped out over the north east, this mean good weather
    for a number of days with the wind moving for northwest to
    southwest as the high passes by. When we are north of the
    jet stream we are in the cold air and typically get clippers
    moving through from the great lakes (this happened alot this
    summer, it is normally a winter patern). Lows circulate counter
    clock wise so  when the get out of the water the wind blows
    north east (cold and wet). Another bad pattern for us
    in a big high to the north and a low to the south, this causes
    a big time cool easterly flow. Once you start to understand this
    stuff you can look a weather map and form your own opinion
    on what to expect on the water.
    
    Also as cold fronts approach violent weather often occures (ie.
    thunderstorms, gusty wind) as a warm front approaches the
    weather changes very gradually starting with clouds then light
    rain.                                  
    
    Bruce
    
    BTW...this is the type of stuff you MUST know to get your Capt.
    license.

    Probably my last report for '92. Tim and I braved a raw north wind
    and snow flurries yesterday to come home with 9 keeper cod and
    we threw back about 20. The boat comes out of the water friday
    till late march and we start over again.
                  
    Bruce

re:.193

	Bruce,
		thanks for the update.
		I've still procrastinating (sp?) on winterizing the boat.
		I hoping for a very late Indian Summer for a few hours anyway.

		I may sneak away for a nice day if it ever comes and venture
		out....not too far from the Merrimack or down the Cape
		near Harwichport.

	Keep Warm
	-< Tuna Tail >-
	

    Anybody gone out yet this season?? 21 days and counting..

    Yankee fleet went out saturday and sunday. Our friday trip was
    cancelled. Did anybody go out with Yankee this past weekend and if so
    how was the fishing?

    Well last friday was the 1st time out this year and it was the slowest
    day i've been on in many years. We went out to tillies and there were
    54 people on board and only about 100 keepers. Pool fish was an 8 #
    wolf fish. I'm going to wait a few weeks before I even think of going
    out again.

    re. -1
    That sounds like a kill. Another partyboat, that shall remain nameless,
    had a total catch of 4 fish, 2 cod, 2 redfish last Friday. 
    
    
    Steve

    Where did the "other" partyboat fish? I still say the length of bottem
    fish should be bumped from 19 to 24 inches..
    
    	I also HATE seeing 17" fish being kept..
    
    argggggggggggggg..

    I too would like to see the limit increased, but only if the
    cursed draggers played by the same rules.
    
    Gone fishin
    Gaff

    The "boat" was fishing the Jeffries area. They did better Saturday,
    around 50 fish. Sunday they caught 5 cod. Face it, the cod are gone.
    Last year was the worst year I've seen in the last 10 years. I live
    on the coast and spend many days on the water each year. Some of
    the commercial trip boats are in on Stellwagen Bank. They is nothing
    off shore.
    
    Steve 

    FWIW, folks, the young pollack and cod populations were phenomenal last
    summer near shore. Didn't see any big ones at all. At any rate, if the
    seas remain healthy and the number of successful fishermen (commercial and
    recreational) diminishes, then the cod might be back in record numbers
    in a couple years.
    
    Didn't see a single fish in the ocean last Sunday, and I was underwater
    for over an hour in 70 - 100 feet of water just off Cape Ann.
    
    John H-C

    I'll have first hand accounts in a couple of weeks but if last
    year was an indicator Steve is right on the money, I'll be
    Stripper fishing early this season :-(
    
    Bruce

    Well 6 boats that drop there catch of at the fish pier in Boston
    yesterday had a total weight of 61,000 pounds of fish. 26,000 pounds
    of that was Cod so maybe there are a few left.
    
    	Can anyone go down to the fish pier and buy the fish from the boats
    before they sell it all to the fish pier? The price per # they paid the
    boats was 71 cents a pound for cod. 

    Lets see, 26,000 lbs of cod for 6 boats returning from 5-10 day
    trips. At best thats less that 1000 lbs a day. That is very poor
    for this time of year. 
    I believe anyone can by from the auction. I'm not sure how you would
    go about doing it. I know the fish from the Co-op I belong to, go
    directly to Northcoast in Boston. We then get paid close to the
    Boston price minus shipping and handling.                     
    
    Steve

    Gee, I say this so often when addressing groups of people that I
    thought I'd said it here, too:
    
    If lots of fish are being taken out of the water, it means that a lot
    of fish were once *in* the water. It does not mean that there are a lot
    of fish still there to be caught.
    
    John H-C

    RE.206
    
    Bingo!

I realize that there are less cod/bottom fish than in previous years; but
could the fish be in closer to shore due to colder than normal water temps this
year.  Or maybe the wild winter storms had everything so stired up that the
fish are confused.

I read some reports in the fisherman last night and the boats out of the south
shore seem to be doing well.  200-300 lbs of cod jigging.  I think they maybe
small comercial fisherman.

We'll know more when more boats start getting out there.


Gordon

    Acutally, fish that like warmer water tend to head deeper rather than
    shallower. That's where the warmer water is.
    
    I have seen *no* fish all winter near shore (< 1 mile). I saw what I
    took to be an elver last weekend, but that doesn't count,  you know?
    
    The water hasn't been more than a couple degrees colder this year than
    last year, in my experience, anyway.
    
    John H-C

    Went out with the "Yankee Fleet" (Patriot) on Saturday 4/10. Well it was 
  a Roll and Puke for alot of them. 34 people on the boat fishing ran slow
  to stopped. Jigs seemed to outfish bait. The bait being used were the standard
  Clams  & Squid. I'd say less than 40 fish taken, some looked alittle short
  to me. Are you ready, ??????????  a SEVEN lbs Cod took the pool.

                                                   Bud

   P.S. I hope it gets better.

    
    Bud,
    
         I was on the Pride at the same time.  Y/F must have been rolling 
    (un)lucky sevens, cause our 56 anglers pulled in 7 FISH total !
    
         It should be noted that these are not 56 "weekend warriors"; most
    of those fishing are very experienced.  How depressing.
    
         Of course, we were avging 240' to bottom; hopefully, when shoals 
    fishing begins in a few weeks the take will increase.
    
    Ed
    

I heard that they were getting lots of market cod on "halfway hump" between
the mouth of the merrimack and halibut point.   Also heard something about 
the draggers were not allow too close inshore in ipswich bay.  Anyone else 
heard this?  If the draggers have to stay out offshore then maybe the good
fishing will be inshore this year.

Gordon

    There is a seasonal exclusion of draggers within 2 or 3 miles of shore.
    Most of the draggers ignore it when they can, as nearly as I can tell.
    On a dive two weeks ago, the air was so foggy the captain got us to the
    site by radar alone. Visibility was about a quarter of a mile. We were
    within half a mile of shore the whole time. 
    
    I saw three working draggers in that time.
    
    Nothing but a gun will stop these people, and nobody's going to point
    the weapon at them.
    
    John H-C

    I've witnessed the fishing boats coming into Newburyport MA. with their
    catch.  Few cod if any.  Mostly Cusk (sp?) and flounder.  Those guys
    play tag with the 3 mile limit from shore.  At the docks they speak of
    the Environmental Police perched off the Merrimack just waiting to
    pounce on the fishermen who drag to close.  $500.00 for the first
    offense.  My hopes of catching much Cod grow less and less every year.
    And I'm tired of loosing Norweign jigs on what I believe is an abandon
    gill net on the bottom of the area described in a previous note,
    hallway hill ~9 miles off the face of Plum Island (Parker River).
    I'm all set to fight them Stripers though.
    
    /MArk

    re: .last
    
    	Flounder? I thought the season was closed? Does anyone know the
    	regs for commercial fishing of flounder?
    
    	By the way, I don't think a 500.00 fine is going to stop these
    	guys.
    
    			Robert.

    The fishery is closed till may 1st for recreational. I thought
    commercial also.
    
    

I agree with the comment about paying them to stay home.  It's the only the
stocks will ever recover.

Tim

	I went cod fishing on the Lady Frances out of Pt Judith RI
	yesterday.  Helluva nice boat - long at 110 feet or so and
	fast!  But the fishing was _horrible_, definitely the worst
	I've ever experienced.  Pool winner was about 5 lbs tops.
	Most people caught nothing.   I managed a couple of shorts
	and one small keeper, plus a couple of annoying perch.  

	I hope the fishing improves.   Supposedly they've been doing
	ok with cod, as opposed to the north shore, but it was just
	a bad day for fishing yesterday.

	Ken

    Here is the first report of the year and I can say it looks to
    be as bad as I've heard. We only fished the inshore ledges because
    of the wind (which was not as bad as forcasted) and 3 anglers 
    ended up with 3 keeper cod, 4-5 throw backs each and 4 conger eels
    for chowder. There were gill nets everywhere and very little bait.
    
    Hopefully we can make it offshore next trip.
    
    Bruce

    Bruce ---
    
    Where were you?
    
    When you say "inshore ledges," I don't have a reference point. I'm
    particularly interested in areas with a lot of gill nets. We want to
    examine a few of them.
    
    Thanks.
    
    John H-C

    John,
    
      There are loads of gill nets around tinkers ledge in marblehead.
    They are outside of bakers island on cole ridge, the outside
    of newcombs ledge. Not as many as you head out to Satnight ledge
    (which is where we caught most of the cod). The nets where in
    water from 80-130ft for the most part. Would you please elaborate on
    "examine".
    
    Bruce

    Elaborating on "examine":
    
    Drop down in pairs. Start filming at the top of the net and slowly
    descending to the bottom with one diver watching over the
    cameraman/buddy to make sure nothing and nobody gets tangled.
    
    Thanks for letting me know what you mean by "inner ledges." Those are
    what I would call them, too. We usually pass by those areas on our way
    out, but we don't usually see more than one or two gill nets in the
    water, and we're usually to close to the deco limits to get back in to
    look them over.
    
    John H-C

    Last Monday my fishing buddy and I completed our annual spring ritual.
    We went cod fishing on the Captain's Fishing Parties, 90 foot Captain's
    Lady II out of Plum Island.
    
    There were only 14 people fishing and the cod fishing was GREAT with
    only two caveats. First, the largest cod was only 8 lbs. Second, almost
    all of the cod had worms.
    
    I took home 19 cod and my buddy took home 31 fish! I'd say the average
    take was about 25 fish per person last Monday. The only fish caught
    were cod. Overall a good way to start the season!

    
    	Hello all....
    
        I'm thinking of heading out for some ground fishing next weekend
    	(cod, cusk, wolffish...etc.).  Does anyone know how the fishing
    	has been so far this year??? And would it be better to go out 
    	of Newburyport and fish Jeffrey's ledge OR go out of Plymouth 
    	and fish Stellwagan bank?? I'd appreciate any comments on either
    	place, baits, riggs...etc.  Thanks in advance!
    
    
    	-Rob
    	

    3 friends of mine fished stellwagan this past Saturday, 64 keepers
    6-30lbs, a lot of throw backs, all on clams.
    

    Just got off the phone with my friend who fished Tillies last saturday.
    There were 5 of them in the boat and they ended up with 100 keepers
    365 #'s of cod.
    
    This note seems quiet for this time of year.. Did everybody give up?

    Played hooky yesterday and had a slow morning but a hot afternoon.
    Tim and I ended with 40 keeper cod, twice that in throw backs
    and a nice wolffish and cusk and couple of redfish to round
    out the day (also a handful of macks). Had we found this bottom
    sooner or fished later we could have filled the boat. 
    
    Bruce

    Has anyone been out on a Party boat lately...I'm going out Fri on the
    Yankee Fleet and was wondering how it's been going.

    I went out last Thursady on a charter. It was the Sea Witch out of
    Barnstable Harbor. It was cold and rainy, but we had a good day. We
    pulled up plenty of Tataug and flounder, with a final keeper total of 19
    tataoug and 5 flounder. 
    
   
    
    Steve

    I took my 6 year son out yesterday mackerel fishing....the macks were
    spotty so we cod fished. Between Tim and me helping my son, we ended
    with 17 keeper cod in less than 2 hours fishing and a dozen macks
    to boot. This was within 2 miles of shore. 
    
    Bruce

    Thanks for the input...will give it a try Friday. Heard the "Dogs" are
    in so I guess  it's "Jigging Time".
    
                                       Thanks
                                          Bud

    Bud,
    
    	What boat are you going on friday out of Yankee? Last 2 weeks have
    been very good fishing. I missed last friday but my "friends" had a
    great day.

    We're on the Patriot leaving at 6:AM. Went out two weeks ago, we caught
    19 keepers, all cod. If you can make it we'll be on the starboard bow.
    
                                                   Bud

    Do you guys knwo where the Yamkee fleet has been fihsing, tillies
    or stellwagon. I haven't crossed there path lately.
    
    Bruce

    Mostly tillies..

    The last time I was out with Yankee (two weeks ago) we fished the
    southern end of tillies. About 230 ft of water on drifting on an edge.
    
                                            Hope this helps
                                                   Bud

    We played hooky yesterday and went to tillies. We came back with 28
    keepers (cod) with 3 people fishing. Macks have thinned out and the dogs are
    in in big numbers.
    
    Bruce
    

    Well the boston Globe weekend report says "cod fishing has been
    excellant" this week. Anybody been out this week?

Tony Chamberland says what people tell him to say.  It's all promotional.  There 
are cod fish around.  We got some offshore on Friday and inshore yesterday. 
The blues on the bank are still spotty for lack of any real bait concentrations.

Tim

    Looking for Cod reports.
    
    	Heading out the 2nd of August and wondering whats happening??

    We went out to Tillies on the Yankee Pride and the fishing was slow. 
    Pickins here and there. The cod that were caught were mostly in the
    4-8 pound range. Pool fish was a 26 # cod. Most cod were caught on
    bait. Pool fish was caught on Jig. 
    
    Thats all for now..

    Has anyone out there used a sea anchor to help slow down the drift
    when bottom fishing.  I'm wondering what size would be appropriate
    for a 22' boat.  Anyone got a used one they want to get rid of?
    
    Gone fishin
    Gaff

    How about *not* dropping an anchor? You do as much or more damage than
    a commercial dragger dredging the bottom with a heavy sea anchor.
    
    It destroys the creatures the bottom feeders you're looking for live
    on.
    
    John H-C

    re .-1
    
    he didn't say anything about dredging the bottom.  where do you get 
    your facts that using a sea anchor does as much damage or more than 
    a commercial dragger?  it doesn't even get near the bottom.  the
    sea-anchors i've seen are nothing more than a parachute attached to
    100' or so of line to keep your bow into the seas.
    
    re .-2
    
    i've never used one but thought the same thing.  especially on those
    days when you've got a fast drift due to a stiff breeze.  something
    i learned from some of the better cod fisherman is to power drift.  its
    tougher on your engine, but you can hold the boat and control the drift
    without having extra line out.
    
    

    
    Take one of those 5 gallon plastic pickle barrels cut two holes
    near the top, on opposite sides, feed a rope thru the holes and 
    tie it off. Then tie the other end to your boat and toss
    it overboard. very cheap and easy to make.
    
    Walt

    We've used five gallon pales to slow our trolling speed down which is
    the same as a plastic pickle barrel. If your wondering about the real 
    thing....Cabela's catalog has two different ones for your size boat.
    
    One is the Drift Sock which goes for $37.95 and is compatible for a
    22 to 30' boat. The other is called the Drift King and for your size
    boat is a 40" diameter chute for $59.95 (ouch!!!)
    
    FWIW 
    Bob M�
    
    
    

    re: .244
    
    The image evoked by the words "sea anchor" differs considerably from
    what is actually meant by most boaters, I've been told by a fellow
    diver who sails and reads this conference.
    
    I'd delete reply .243, except then .244 wouldn't make any sense. <g>
    
    I apologize for the misunderstanding.
    
    John H-C

    What does <g> mean???????
    
    While I'm here, why does everybody want to jump on your case so
    quickly? 
    
    Of course I'm referring to John HC......
    
    I must admit it makes for great entertainment :*0
    
    Bob M�  who is quickly becoming known for stupid questions and/or
    comments..........

    Thanks for the replys.  I'll try out the 5 gal. bucket idea 1st, sounds
    like a good idea.  I remember seeing a friend dragging a bucket behind
    his 150 hp. bass boat so that he could slow it down enough to troll for
    salmon.  Hope to get out this weekend.  If we do, I'll let you know
    how it worked out.
    
    Gone fishin
    Gaff

    
    Two 5 gall buckets made no difference on my 25' GW. I motor
    drift when I need to. Turn your stern into the wind and put
    her in reverse at idle. Be prepared to get wet.
    
    Bruce

    We tried one 5 gal. bucket yesterday, didn't make any differance that
    I could tell.  We've had better luck throwing the anchor and about 100'
    of line over.  Fishing was good yesterday.  Went to Jeffreys, some nice
    cod came up.  Had to fish deep though, all the good fish came from 250'
    and deeper.
    
    Gone fishin
    Gaff

    Where is everybody?? out fishing! Thinking of going saturday and
    looking for any news. 

 Blues have started to cooperate with the local party boaters. One of the
boats was "killing 'em" at the outer bell outside of Hampton yesterday.

 Plenty of large sea mammals on Jeffries yesterday. The whale watches have
been really good the last couple of weeks. I guess tuesday was the best day
this summer; they had full breaching, slapping the water with pectoral fins,
etc. And an incredibly rare blue whale was spotted this week as well. Only
the 7th confirmed blue whale sighting in NE waters since they started keeping 
track.

 Tons of bait on Jeffries, yesterday. Some bait showers (mackerel), and huge
clouds of bait around 150 feet down (herring, probably.)

 Tuna fishing is slow. The quota is only 30% gone. Good chance for some
decent fall fishing for a change.

      Has anyone been out recently on the Gloucester Party boats. I'm going
      out this Saturday (9/11) and could use a report.
    
                                                   Bud

    The real truth...
    
    I happened to trip over a conversion on the VHF between Capt. Phil on
    the Yankee Patriot and Capt. Tom Tower on the Bunny Clark late
    Sunday afternoon. They were having an open and friendly conversation
    on how fishing had been. A quick summary is as follows:
    
    Capt. Phil: Spotty at best lately. Sunday they had a big crowd and
    only half a box of fish. A good day is 5-6 fish/person and that comes
    when there are about 20 persons on the boat. More haddock than any
    previous years, best day 30 haddock, more like 5-6 per trip. Mostly
    bait fishing lately. Few big fish. Maybe 1 fish in the 30's per week.
    
    Capt Tim: Way off from last year. Big fish for the year around 60, next
    is two at 44 and then mess in the 30's. Last year there were many more
    big fish. Very few haddock, his best day would be about 5-6. Slow
    cod lately best days a 1 1/2 boxes.
    
    Bruce
    
    Bruce

    Bruce,
    
     Thanks for the reply.....I probably expected about the same. Oh well
     I'll still take a day on the water..
    
                                           Thanks
                                               Bud
         

    What boat are you going out on saturday bud?

     My usual the "Patriot"
                                              Bud

    A friend of mine went out last friday (Yankee fleet) and the fishing
    was slow. Capt was going to head out to Tillies but seas/wind kept them
    in shore. Sounds like the Dogs are still out there big time.
    
    Just a f.y.i.
    
    

    The cod are back around the inshore ledges of the northshore. 
    If the weather cooperates october should be productive.
    
    Bruce

    Hi All,
    
    Any recent reports on the party boat trips??
    
    I have a free trip certificate from the Yankee Fleet that has to
    be used by the end of the month, and I was wondering if it's 
    worth the day off to head out.
    
    Any info would be appreciated.
    
    Gus
    

    
    
    
    	A bad day fishing is still better than a good day
    	at work.
    
    			george

    George, you certainly have a point there.
    
    And furthermore, a FREE days fishing to boot !
    
    
    Gus
    

    Went out this past weekend on the "Capts" Got alot of shorts but enough
    keepers to keep you interested. Pools fish was a 15+lb Wolf. A couple
    of cod in the 8 to 10lb range were boated,one haddock about 8 lbs.
    Jig fishing proved less productive than bait. The good news was "NO
    DOGS". I'm going again the 30th on the "PRIDE". The Patriot is in
    drydock.
    
                                               Bud

    Well, weather looks good for Saturday, so I booked a trip
    on the "Pride".
    
    FWIW, the woman said that both boats were approaching full for
    Saturday.  Will report back on Monday.
    
    W.
    

    Howdy,
    
    Well, the fishing was good on Saturday.  The weather was cloudy and
    foggy, but no rain.   Temperatures were in the high 50's, low 60's
    with very flat seas.
    
    The boat was pretty full, so I expected lots of tangles, but all in 
    all, not an unbearable amount.  Lots of cod in the  4 to 8 lb range,
    many pollack as well.   Surprisingly, there were quite a few haddock
    thrown in, with a couple of them close to 10 pounds (I think that was
    the most haddock I've seen taken on a charter).  Unfortunately, none
    of the haddock were found at the end of my line :^(   Also some good
    size Wolffish and Cusk thrown in as well.  We did get into some
    sand sharks occasionally, but not too many.
    
    The pool winner was a 22 pound Wolffish (man are those things ugly)
    and I had the second biggest fish, a 15-16 pound cod.  Between the
    two of us, we ended up with 10 cod, 3 decent pollack, and a decent
    wolffish.  Missed a lot of fish as well.
    
    Gus-man
    
    

    My son heard that there was a whale spotted in the NE Atlantic
    that is a Pacific species.  They are trying to confirm this sighting
    but speculate it may have gotten miss-oriented under the ice pack
    and took a wrong turn ;^)
    
    Anyone else hear this?
    -< Tuna Tail >- 

    Anybody been out cod fishing lately? Thinking of making 1 last trip out
    next saturday or sunday..

    I was out last Friday on the Yankee Fleet. Aside from awful weather in
    the morning (hit a squall with 30+ winds), 6 foot seas and a packed
    boat, it was a pretty typical day. The weather prevented us from
    getting out to Jeffrey's or Tillie's.
    
    We caught lots of (very) small codfish. I had six keepers for the day.
    My buddy had 4. The pool winner was a 7 lb cod with 2 6-lbr's as runner
    ups. Sad that this is typical.
    
    If you are thinking of going on the Yankee Fleet, I would check with
    them. They made an announcement on the boat that last weekend was their
    finale. They had expected to fish until December, but the weather has
    been so awful that they decided to call it quits last Sunday.
    
    Hope you do get out and that it's better than what we had.
    
    Art
    

    Thanks for the info Art. I called the Yankee fleet and they are CLOSED 
    for fishing until next March. They said the main reason they closed
    shop early this year was because of the bridge work thats being
    performed. There main access route to the open Sea requires this bridge
    to be opened and I was told that they would be forced to go up river to
    some other outlet..
    
    	Hmmmm??? Maybe i'm done for the season? :-(

 You could look south. Maybe there are still people heading out of Pt Judith?

    	I -think- boats go out of Pt. Judith all winter.  I recall reading
    something about it being the northernmost point that had fishing boats
    going out all year...  East coast that is.
    	Should be easy enough to find out... Take a flip through SW
    Sportsman magazine.  If you don't have it let me know and I'll check
    and post it here.
    						B.C.

	I'm also pretty sure that the Frances fleet goes out for cod
	all winter too, weather permitting.  The Fisherman mag would 
	have this info too.  I went out with them once for cod, but it
	was more like a redfish/scup trip...

	Ken

  From: [email protected] (UPI)
  Newsgroups: clari.tw.environment,clari.news.canada
  Subject: Canadian advisory group recommends shutdown of East Coast fishery
  Date: Tue, 30 Nov 93 12:27:28 PST
 
	HALIFAX, Nova Scotia - A powerful Canadian government advisory group
is recommending the ailing east coast cod fishery be virtually shut down
next year because of dwindling offshore stocks.
	The Fisheries Resource Conservation Council said it does not if and
when fish stocks will revive and bring hope to tens of thousands of
unemployed fishery workers.
	``The (groundfish) stocks are in the worst shape ever recorded,''
said Council head Herbert Clarke.
	The Council is appointed by the Canadian government, and is made up
of representatives of the fishery industry and the scientific community.
	Fisheries Minister Brian Tobin is likely to follow the panel's
recommendations, which include cutting cod and haddock quotas for 1994
by 60 percent from 1993 levels.
	Such a cut would mean the quotas would be five percent of what they
were in 1988. Only fishermen in southwestern Nova Scotia and the Bay of
Fundy would be allowed to catch cod.
	The Council also recommended closing other areas, and drastically
cutting quotas for refish and Greenland halibut.
	Almost 50,000 fishery workers are already out of work because of
quota cuts, and they are being supported by government unemployment
insurance benefits, or by special programs costing about $800 million
over a two-year-period.
	Clarke said it is not known if declining fish stocks are a result of
overfishing or natural causes. Clarke said northern cod are still in
decline despite a two-year ban on fishing for them.
	Clarke said the stocks could recover by the end of the decade, but
confessed: ``In the worst case scenario, we just don't know''.

    .274 more from the fisherman in Novi!
    
     What a boat could catch in a 5 day trip now takes 10 days..and the 
     catch is limited by that quota mentioned by JohnHC. When the Captain/
     Owners have to run a double span profit obviously goes to hell.
    
     Two items of note here...
    
       o Russian 'factory' ships anchored a mile or so offshore from
         Yarmouth, NS buy fish at international price...saves the Captain
         from docking/icing the hold and labor (Russian crew unloads the
         fishing boat while Canadian crew looks at the merchandise the
         off-duty russian crew is selling from inside the factory boat).
         Problem is that this puts the fishing nets back out quicker to
         catch more of whats not there anymore.
       o When the draggers were numbered in the 10-20 boats might of been OK
         now the draggers can be anything from a 25 footer with a light
         drag to the 100' dragging for miles of bottom and there are now
         hundreds.
    Something else I've not seen mentioned is that the offshore Scallopers
    have had this poundage imposed quota for several years.
    The further effect of this overfishing is that mackeral runs into the
    southern Novi island areas use to be very heavy...now (past July) runs
    were spotty and light...bad for sport fisherman - terrible for the 
    Lobsterman as this use to be his next lobster season bait.
    One of the traditional jobs we all use to work at is "cutting roe" that
    because of the overfishing has also gone away except for a few locals.
    
    FWIW
    
    BBrown

    Anybody thinking of going out soon? Yankee starts up the 25th of this
    month..

 I am going out the 26th of March, on the Patriot..

                                     Bud

    Anyone having any luck deepsea fishing, I'm going out on Sat.
    out of Perkings Cove in Maine not sure of the name of the
    Boat. My friend made the reservations I'll let you know whats
    biteing.
    
    come on fishy fishy
    Mike G
    
    
    

    
    O.K. I'll bite......what did you catch ?
    
    
    Steve

    
    
    The Name of the Boat Bunny Lee
    
    I caught 7 fish 3 short cod 2 wolf fish one 8pd one
    6 pd the other 2 I'm sure of the name but they were 
    but the went over board with the cod. So 2keepers
    
    My friend caught 5pd cod and a redfish kinder slow day
    water temps 38 still pretty cold for the fish.
    
    The pool winner for the day was a 18 pd wolf fish nasty
    bugger but good eaten.
    
    Highlight of the day we seen 2 large whales jump almost
    completey  out the for about 5 mins. within 100 yds of the
    boat. 
    
    We are having fresh fish for supper.
    
    See ya  
    Mike G> 

    8 Days and counting. Anybody going out this weekend??

    splash....reports on monday if the wind stops blowing.
    
    Bruce

the forecast i heard this morning said there were no major fronts around.

Soooooooooooo, if this is the case, there shouldnt be any major wind.

This past week-end it sure blew like hell.

Of course anytime your on the boat........

JIm

    
    
    	My boat went in for the season yesterday, but I will not be doing
    any fishing this weekend.  I will be out for a break in ride and will
    let you know  the boating activity and if I see anything.
    
    		George
    

The report:

6 keeper cod, 19-25", ~12 throw backs, ~5 hours fishing time,
Saturday, April 23, 1994 from about 7am to 12:30pm.  The water
was 41.5-42.5 degrees.  High tide was at 9:30ish.

Tim

    Went out Saturday out of Scituate Harbor. 
    
    Caught 50 or so mackeral inside of 1-2 hours.
    Also caught several (small) cod while mackeral fishing.
    
    Spent the next 5 hours codfishing and caught 20 cod, 3 keepers. Many
    throwbacks in the 17-18" range. Keepers were two 20" and one 9 lber.
    All on jigs. My partner caught 10 or so cod on bait, one keeper.
    
    Spent Monday in Ogunquit and talked to a few guys who had just fished
    two days on the Bunny Clark. They caught a lot of shorts and averaged
    about 5-6 keepers per person. Largest fish was a 22lb wolffish. Largest
    cod was 12 lbs.
    
    Looks like it's going to be a tough season for cod. Hope the blues and
    stripers cooperate.
    
    Art
    

Art,

The stripers look like they will cooperate.  I am holding my breath for
the bluefish.  They are on the decline ;-(

Tim

    Thanks for prognostication. It does look good for stripers. I liked
    your report.
    
    By the way, I used your cod teasers on Saturday and they work GREAT!!!
    
    I was fishing with 30 lb Iron Thread (braided thin stuff), your cod
    teasers and a 4 oz cod jig in water anywhere from 80-120 ft. No problem
    holding with 4 oz!!! I could feel every little bump. I think I dropped
    only 2 fish all day. I'm convinced that line is the way to go.
    
    Art
    

Bruce & I are a bit tired of having our fingers cut into by the
Stren Kevlar 70#.  Are you having a similar experience with the
Iron Thread?  I think the Kevlar breaks at far less than 70#,
especially the knot.  That lock-tite stuff is useless as it locks
the cap on.  I got some on my fingers and almost glued them
together.  It is sensitive and less water-resistant than dacron,
but I'm not sure if I'd buy any more.

Tim

    The 30# Iron Thread is real thin and, yes, it cuts, so you have to be
    real careful. I think the knot strength is ok, but I've been using a
    uni-knot with lok-knot. I don't use the same technique you guys do,
    holding the line over thumb and forefinger while jigging. I could see
    where that would hurt.
    
    I've been using a Penn 320 GTI reel and a 7 ft Daiwa graphite-composite
    rod. Very light outfit. And I can feel every bump, so I don't feel the
    need for fingering the line.
    
    On Saturday, I got hung up on the bottom several times and never had a
    break off. In fact, at one point, I snagged on a lobster trawl line and
    pulled up the whole line without a break off.
    
    I'll have to double check, but I think I doubled the line before I tied
    on my snap swivel. Maybe that would help.
    
    

I put a bimini twist & offshore swivel knot in 70# kevlar.  I've
had fewer break-offs than Bruce, but I've not hooked bottom as hard
either.  Fingering the line is helpful with the slightly heavier 
tackle we use and it especially useful when the jig is falling.
I've tried to train myself to only finger it on the drop, but old
habits die hard.  I've not had any trouble detecting bites.  In fact,
I've felt a few codfish in the 6-7" range this year.  Pretty scary, 
catching a fish only slightly bigger than the jig.  Tell's me there
ain't nothing else down there.

Tim

                            COD FISHING CHARTER
                            -------------------



 Date : Monday September 26,1994

Where : Gloucester, Mass .

 Boat : Nicole Rene'

 
 *******************************************************************************
 *******************************************************************************

     

       I have made a reservation to Charter the Nicole Rene' for an Allday 
     Codfish trip.  I'm trying to keep the number of available spots to 
     30. The boat can accommodate 54 ,but with a limited amount of people 
     we should be able to Drift and Jig or use bait with no tangles .

       We will be leaving the dock at 4:00 am or 5:00 am depending
     on the tides . This will be a marathon trip and we will be out for
     12 hours.
        
       The price will be $50.00 per person . This will include the ticket 
     for the Boat,complementary coffee and pastry,Tip for the mate ,pool entry
     and Ice for the fish. Depending on the amount of people the trip will run 
     from $50.00 - $55.00. It will not be more that $55.00. I'm sending this 
     out to see what the interest level is . I need to hear from you ASAP , I 
     would like to collect a $30.00 deposit from everybody and send it to Tom 
     as a down payment . I hope to hear from you soon .Spots on the boat can be 
     reserved if you pay in full .


                                            
                                       Thanks

                                           Mo Quinlan



********************************************************************************
********************************************************************************

    
    Howdy,
    
    Has anyone been out for cod lately??  
    
    I'm thinking about taking my annual all day fishing trip. 
    I usually head out on the Yankee Fleet sometime in late
    September or early October.  Any reports ??
    
    Gus-man
    

    gee oct 12th and no reports of fall cod fishing? Is everybody that busy
    that nobody is fishing??

 re: > Is everybody that busy that nobody is fishing??

I wish it was the case that I was too busy fishing to enter a reply,
but as you can see... I entered a reply!

-Joe-

    Here are a couple of first-hand reports.
    
    I went out on the marathon trip on the Nicole Rene out of Gloucester
    that Mo Quinlan set up back on September 26. It turned out to be a very
    good trip. I think we fished Jeffrey's Ledge in about 240 feet of
    water. 24 fishermen.
    
    First stop yielded a nice load of haddock. Overall 20 haddock for the
    day, the biggest was about 10 lbs. Most were much smaller, but still
    haddock and keepers. The rest of the day was cod and pollack. Everyone
    did pretty well. I had 11 keepers: 6 cod, 4 pollack and a cusk. There
    were a couple of wolffish taken, one about 12 lbs and one about 6 or 7.
    The pool winner was a 15lb cod. Some decent pollack were taken
    including a 12 pounder. I had a couple in the 5-7 lb range. Overall a
    very good day. Bait seemed to work better than the jig. The ratio of
    keepers to throwbacks was about 1:5 or so.
    
    I was out again, this time fishing some of the small bumps outside of
    Scituate, last Saturday. 3 of us caught about 140 fish, 14 keepers.
    Terrible ratio. Most of the keepers were just barely legal. Biggest
    fish was around 6 lbs. Again bait worked better than the jig. The
    interesting thing here was that these fish, even though very small,
    were really slamming the bait. Not the typical codfish tap-tap, but a
    real hit. Too bad they were so small.
    
    The trip on the Nicole Rene was very impressive. The captain really
    worked hard to get us fish, including giving us a couple of extra
    hours. The only drawback to his boat is that it's really slow. But I'd
    choose these guys again--probably in another two weeks.
    
    One last comment -- I fished on the Nicole Rene with two rigs, one with
    30# Iron Thread line and the other with 50# Spectron, both super
    braids. They were excellent for this. I could feel every bump and even
    the softest of hits. Plus I was able to hold bottom most of the time
    with 10 and 12 oz rather that 16 or 20. This line definitely makes me a
    better fisherman.

Howdy,
    
Headed out of Gloucester this past weekend on the Yankee fleet
for a little cod fishing, and I thought I'd give a little report.

We had intended to go out Saturday with Eastman's, but they 
cancelled, so we decided it would be Sunday on Yankee instead.

The weather was not very cooperative.  We were aboard the Yankee
Capts boat, a 100 footer.  There were approximately 60 people 
on board, of which I think 20+ people got so seasick that they
never put a rod in the water.  Another 10 or 15 were sick but
managed to fish part time.  For the rest of us, there certainly 
was PLENTY of fishing room.  I was on the bow, and there were
only two of us sharing the entire bow!

We didn't make it out to Tilly's as they had originally planned.
The first spot had tons of cod on it, unfortunately, 95% of them
were throwbacks.  I managed a single keeper.  We fought our way
out another 5 miles or so, and got into some decent keeper cod.

No big fish on the boat ( a 7 or 8 lb cod won the pool) and very
few other species of fish.  A couple of cusk, and one hake and the
rest were cod.  I ended with 8 keepers, and my friend ended up 
with 9.  All and all, it was worth the trip, and the baked stuffed
cod fillets for dinner were excellent!!!

    
    
Cheers

Gusman

P.S.  I too went out on the marathon trip that Mo had set up.  The
      crew on the Nicole Rene was excellent.  The Yankee mates were
      not all that attentative, and you kind had to track them down
      when you had problems.  This was really the only negative 
      comment I have about Yankee.  
    
     
    

    

    Went out on the Nicole Rene out of Gloucester this past Wednesday.
    Pretty small crowd on board. Weather was decent, but a very cool breeze
    out of the north.
    
    We steamed 2+ hours north and east to Jeffrey's (?). Fished in over
    200' and picked up a few keepers on the first drift. Fish were not
    plentiful since some of the draggers had worked the area the day and
    night before. What we did catch were just barely keepers and some
    throwbacks. 
    
    Went back west to a shallower area and just picked away. Again not many
    fish and keepers were 19"-22". 
    
    There were a few good fish taken. A 13 lb cod won the pool. The same
    guy had an 11 lb silver hake. One other guy had a 9 or 10 lb cod. But
    for the most part the fish were just barely legal. There were a few
    cusk taken, lots of small mackeral and some hake, but no wolffish and
    no haddock.
    
    The guy who caught the big cod and hake was using shrimp for bait. The
    rest of us used clams. A few guys had herring. We also caught a few
    mackeral and tried using them for bait, but overall the clams worked
    the best and the shrimp caught the big fish.
    
    I had nine keepers. My friend Pete had seven. Bait worked much better
    than the jig. I only tried jigging for a short while and managed one
    keeper on it, but overall jigging was a waste of time.
    
    Then there was the bozo fishing next to me who, near the end of the
    day, kept everything he caught unless it was obviously a baby. I'm sure
    some of his "keepers" missed being legal by a couple of inches. The sad
    part about this was that he's a crewman on another party boat on his
    day off, stealing from his own future and ours too.
    
    Hope this weather holds for bit longer. Even though the fishing is
    marginal, it's still a great day out.
    
    Art
    

    Went out on the Yankee patriot out of Gloucester last friday the 4th
    of November. Weather was the best November day i've been fishing. Sunny
    and the temp reached around 65. Went out toward Stellwagon. 22 people
    on board. I ended up with 7 keeper cod, about 20 throwbacks (cod) and 
    about 20 throwbacks of DOGSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS. I thought for sure the DOGS
    would be gone by now but no such luck. Pool fish was a 18 # pollack.
    
    	Most everything was caught on Bait. Not much luck with jigs.

Bruce & I went out on the Zephyr, 85' from Lynn, run by Jim Walsh.  Seaport
landing was ice in, so we left from behind the GE plant.  The ice breaker had
been by earlier in the week, but we were the first boat to leave since then, or
so it looked.  It was weird driving through the ice and you could feel the boat
being sluggish.

The weather was nice and by mid-trip, the wind & seas laid down and we were
drifting and tending bottom with 9-12oz jigs quite well, 3 miles E of
Stellwagen.  Who would have thunk the weather would let us be drifting that far
out in February?

There were about 18 guys, and maybe 40 fish, although a fair number were
undersized (this burns my butt).  The pool was split four ways, 3 cod & a cusk
(my cusk).  3.5 pounds (no balance, unfortunately, I think the cusk was the
heaviest).  Pretty sad when a 3.5 pound fish wins the pool, eh?

Bait got 2/3 of the fish.

Tim

    Most in around 150' give or take 20'

    
    Witch party boat is going out first this year??
      Any one going out soon?? getting my pole ready.

	  South side of Cape Cod, R.I., and Conn. have been fishing all
	winter...
					B.C.

    Yankee fleet starts the 24th of March

Jim Walsh has been fishing all of February out of Lynn..
No rush. Fishing sucks.

    JIM
    
     ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT LYNN MASS? I AM IN N.H. BUT WILL TO TRAVEL
    TO THE BOAT, BUT WOULD LIKE TO SEE THE FISHING BETTER.
     
    Do you know where yankee fleet goes out from? some said it start 
  in  MARCH.  

    
    B.C.
    
      I live in N.H. about 20 mim from mass, I would think conn is not to 
    far. Did you go out this year, is the fishing any good, or is it just
    a cold boat ride. 
    
    

	RE: .310

	   A couple boats are working out of Bridgeport, CT and have been
	putting people on Stripers all winter.  Mostly small fish, but I've
	read about a few keepers mixed in too.  I think the Billfish that
	is usually out of Watch Hill, RI is one of them.

	   As far as Cod goes, Tim already said it.

	   No, I haven't been out this winter, my next fishing target is
	my annual Florida trip for Snook, Reds, etc. in April.

						B.C.

    First cod trip of the season. I went out last Saturday, 4/22, on the
    new Andy Lynn out of Plymouth. It was charter put together by a
    boater's association on the South shore. I think the boat was the Andy
    Lynn V, a brand-new boat which they just brought down from Maine the
    night before. It's a 65 footer and it really flies.
    
    We fished from Middle Bank on Stellwagon to just east of the bank in
    about 150-240 feet of water.
    
    Fishing was picky. Most everyone used bait. I think only 3 or 4 of the
    27 people on board even picked up a jig. I'd have to say it was a
    pretty typical day. Lots of small fish. No really big ones. Overall,
    for the boat we wound up with 1 1/2 boxes of fish. Typical catch was
    maybe 2 keepers per angler. I got 6 keepers, 5 cod and a wolffish.
    I caught 3 cod on bait, 2 on the jig and a wolffish on the jig. The
    pool winner was a 30" cod which looked like it weighed about 6 lbs
    (pretty skinny).
    
    What was interesting was the number of wolffish. Much higher percentage
    of wolf's than I've ever seen. They ranged in size from about 12 lbs
    down to only 1 or 2 lbs.
    
    Once again I noticed how much better the spectra line outfishes mono.
    You can feel every bump and nibble. In general the fish were not
    hitting hard, so the added sensitivity of the spectra line got me a few
    more fish.
    
    All-in-all, a pretty typical party-boat codfishing day. Not great by
    any stretch, but a nice day on the water and a chance to get some of
    the cobwebs off my gear.
    
    Art
    

re:                    <<< Note 18.312 by NEMAIL::GREENBERG >>>

>    Once again I noticed how much better the spectra line outfishes mono.
>    You can feel every bump and nibble. 

I checked out some of this stuff ice fishing, and have wondered about using
it for deep sea.  The only holdback for me is how the guides on my cod rod
will hold up.   It's a good quality Daiwa graphite beef stick with decent
guides: 2 rollers that look like gray plastic (ceramic?) with the same 
grey plastic (ceramic?) rings in the regular guides.  

Anyone know if these types of guides will hold up to the Spectra ?

/Ken

    This is my third season using the 30# Fenwick Iron Thread on my Daiwa seven
    footer. It's a nice rod, but nothing special. The guides are fairly
    heavy duty stainless steel and I see absolutely no wear whatever on
    them.
    
    I have a heavy custom eight foot jigging rod and a Newell reel spooled
    with 50 lb Spectron also. I haven't used it too much, but I'm not worried at
    all about guide wear. I suppose if I picked up a 150# halibut and it
    took me for a ride, I might see some scoring, but I'd be happy to
    replace those guides.
    
    I'm thinking about building a new cod rod this year and if I do, I
    would use Fuji Hardloy guides (probably about $30 for a set) or Mildrum
    Carboloy hardened stainless.
    
    I would guess that whatever wear the spectra line produces would be
    even less on a roller guide.
    
    Hope that info helps.
    
    Art
    

	That helps, but I'm still not convinced mainly because I'm
	not sure what kind of guides I have on there.  I think they're
	Fuji but I'm not sure which type, but definitely not stainless.

	/Ken

    Ceramic guides are supposedly harder than stainless (at least that's
    what I've heard) so you shouldn't have to worry.

>    Ceramic guides are supposedly harder than stainless (at least that's
>    what I've heard) so you shouldn't have to worry.

I just don't know for sure if they're ceramic or not.

    Any reports from last weekend?? I'm thinking of heading out for the 1st
    time this year on friday.

    
    
    	I went out on Sunday 4/30 and fished a few ledges around the
    	Merimack River.  I fished Hampton Shoals, Speckled Apron, and a
    	few other rock piles for cod.  The only thing that I found was
    	that there are plenty of gill nets on every rock I found.  The
    	fishing was poor not even a bite.  Last year at this time I was 
    	picking up Cod on these rock piles.
    
    	I have a few more area's that I am going to try this weekend if
    	it gets a little warmer and I will give you a report next week.
    
    		George (JOY III)
    

On the spectra/kevlar lines and roller tips -- be aware that some of the lower
pound tests are so thin, that they get caught between the roller and the roller
cage.  Annoying, but turning the rod over and jerking will pop it out.  A word
of warning...

Tim

    
         I'm surprised at the silence within this particular note.  
    My understanding is that this has been one of the best springs 
    of ground fishing in years.  Last Friday, I had the 2nd best fishing
    experience ever ( I've averaged 10+ party boat trips per year for the last
    eight years).
    
         26 anglers, 300+ keepers, strong haddock presence.  Overwhelming
    percentage of fish well above 19".  Pool fish was small (8 lbs), but no
    one was complaining... 
    
         I can only guess all the ground fish anglers have been
    right-sized.
    
    Ed
    

    Sounds great....can you share some details? What boat? Where did you
    fish?
    
    Thanks.
    
    Art
    

    
    Art,
    
         We fished Jeffries.  7 - 8 stops.  Drifted at the first 3 before
    the wind picked up.  Calm, rolling seas.  No one over the rail that I saw.  
    
         Fish were hitting anything, jigs, teaser, bait...a good sign.  
    In fact, we ran out of bait.  Interestingly, though, port couldn't BUY a 
    hit with the jig and starbird didn't stay long on bait.
    John H-C, do we attribute this to tide ?     
    
         The fish were overwhelmingly in the 3 - 7 lb. range.  Starbird & bow 
    killed 'em.  3 anglers with over 20 keepers apiece, 1 from the stern.
    Average was 7-9 keepers per angler.
    
         No cats, no dogs. Couple of junior redfish and 3 smaller
    mackerel, another good sign.  Baby pollack hitting high teasers
    regardless of color.  I took my lead teaser off and did just fine 
    thereafter.  No keeper pollack.  No cusk, hake, or any other.
    
           Every 3rd cod on avg had a worm.
    
           I think I covered everything (except boat name).  Writing this 
    makes me feel there should be some sort of standardized template noters 
    could complete.
    
    - Ed -
                                                                           

    Ed, thanks for the report.
    
    Interesting about the differences between port and starboard jigging
    and baitfishing.
    
    I would guess (and this is only a guess) that if you are drifting
    reasonably quickly and your jig is going away from the boat, you won't
    do very well. The jig has to travel in a fairly vertical path to be
    effective. So if the drift is quick, by the time it gets to the bottom,
    it's out at a pretty good angle and doesn't look natural. That's why
    you find a lot of good jiggers casting INTO the drift (i.e., into the
    direction of the drift), so that by the time their jig hits the bottom,
    the boat is over it and it's traveling vertically. Depending on the 
    speed of the drift, you get to jig for some period of time and then you
    have to reset. If the drift's too quick, forget it. You won't be able
    to get more than one or two lifts and then you have to reset.
    
    As I say, just a theory, but it seems to work fairly consistently.
    
    Art
    

    We fished southern Jeffries on friday and it was a very good trip.
    Anchored the first 2-3 hours and then rest of the day we were able to drift.
    
    Seas were 1-3 in the morning and FLAT in the afternoon. There were 22
    people on board. Fish were hitting bait the most but jigs and teasers
    were doing ok. My guess would be 70% of fish caught were on bait rest
    on jigs and teasers. 
    
    	The #'s were over 450+ keepers with over 200+ haddock and the rest
    mostly cod. Pool fish was a 18 pound cod. Action was non-stop all day
    long. I've never seen so many haddock caught in 1 trip. 
    
    	Most fish were between 20-23". I"ve been waiting for 1 of these
    trips for a long time. My #'s were 12 cod, 10 haddock. I brought 35
    pounds of fillet home. :-)

    
    
    200 haddock????
    
    The last time I caught a haddock was last fall (I got 
    two) and there were about a dozen caught for the 
    boat.  At the time, a dozen haddock was consider was
    considered very good (even excellent!).
    
    Sounds like a fantastic trip.
    
    Gusman
    
    
    
    

    re: .327
    
    I'll wait to see how long it lasts and whether I see any fish in the
    ocean this year. The affects of overfishing are long-term in nature,
    and occasional blips of apparent abundance should not be taken as
    anything more than blips, IMHO.
    
    If it keeps up, with everybody catching lots of fish and putting most
    of them back in a survivable condition, then we may really be seeing
    something of a turnaround. 
    
    I wouldn't expect to see the rewards of closing down potentially
    fertile areas of the ocean to commercial fishing for at least another
    five years.
    
    
    FWIW
    
    John H-C

        What was the charter service you guys used.
    
    Paul

    I'd keep quiet about the 200 haddock. At 5 lbs a fish the boat was way
    over the 500lb/trip federal limit. All fishing run in cycles but it's 
    great to hear about some great fishing. 
    
    Steve, who hope to have a running boat this weekend, after a month of
    problems.
     

    The charter we have been using is out of Plum Island. Captains fishing.
    
    	-1. I did not know of the 500lb/trip federal limit on haddock. I'm
    surprised the captain/mates did not say anything then. 
    
    	Went out again last friday with much differant results. The DOGS
    are in. :-(
    
    	We went out to Northern Jeffries hoping the dogs were not up north
    but they were. They showed up at Southern Jeffries last tuesday.
    
    	Charter boat this week had about 55 on board. Average keepers this
    week was between 6-8?? Pool fish was a 9 # cod. I'd say 70% of fish
    again caught on Bait. I jigged most of the day looking for the pool
    fish with no luck. Only ended up with 3 cod. All about 6 #'ers.
    
    	There were about 10 haddock caught on this trip..
    
    

    
    Howdy,
    
    Took Friday off for an all day trip on the Yankee Patriot.
    
    I was going to try out Captains (based on some of the replies
    here) but chose Yankee because I called and found out that
    they only had 15 people signed up on Thursday evening.  Well,
    either Yankee was full of crap, or they had a huge number of
    walk-ons because the boat was full.   Fifty two people on
    a boat that holds fifty four.  Not pretty.   The captain
    intended to head out to Tillies, but decided to head toward
    Jeffery's because of the large number of people (why that
    makes a difference, is beyond me).
    
    Anyhow, the fishing was pretty decent, with quite a few keepers.
    My friend and I seemed to have *great* success compared to many
    others.  We had about 10 keepers in the first couple of hours,
    where others had only one or two.  The rest of the day was a 
    bit slower for us, as we ended up with about 16 keepers, and
    a half dozen Macks.  I think the average number of keepers
    per person was around 3-4.
    
    The number of tangles was surprisingly low, considering the
    number of people.  I was only involved in one major tangle,
    but not much else.
    
    The good thing about having that number of people on board, was
    that the pool was worth $96.00, which happened to end up in 
    my pocket!  I caught an 11 pound wolf to win it!  
    
    Also, it was my first day using my new rod/reel combo.  I bought
    a 8' heavy action Penn Power Stick, with a 113H Senator reel. 
    I really like the set up, especially compared to the rentals.
    
    All and all, a very enjoyable day off.
    
    Gus
     

    anybody been out lately? Been about 2 months for me since I was last
    out and getting the urg to go again soon and look for a cow cod.
    
    Any news??

    My older son went out Sunday AM on a Yankee Fleet boat, only 6 keeper
    cod between ~35 rods, and not many more shorts...

    The most dire sign I've ever seen in the ocean, more marked and more
    worrisome than any other: the cunners aren't here this year. Their
    absence has been noted at several North Shore dive sites by several
    divers. It makes shore diving an eerie experience.
    
    I've begun to suspect that things are worse than I had thought before.
    
    
    John H-C

    -1. What are cunners?

	A couple of friends have been going out of RI and they've seen
	lots of big cod coming up in the 20 lb range.  A 35 lber got
	the pool on monday I think it was, and there were a lot of other
	large fish caught.
	
	/Ken

	RE: a couple back...

		Cunners are a very close relative of the Tautog, or 
	Blackfish, depending where you fish.  Cape Cod is where the
	two species kind of overlap their ranges, with the Cunners being
	the more northerly of the two.  They look quite similar, in fact
	a lot of people think that the Cunners are immature Tautog in the
	areas where they overlap.  I put a full description of the two in
	the file some time ago, but I couldn't tell you just where to find
	it.  By the way, they may be smaller, but they taste just as good
	as Tautog!
					B.C.

    re: cunners
    
    	There seems to be no shortage of cunners in the canal - Perhaps
    	what 18.335 is seeing is only a local population change?
    
    		I hope.
    
    				Robert.

That might explain the codfish decline... Quite often we catch cod which have
been feeding on cunners.  They seem to like to eat them just fine.

Tim

	   I agree with Robert about the Cunners in the Canal, they're
	still -everywhere- in there!

	   Stripers love to eat em too, maybe some areas are feeling the
	pressure from all these Stripers! 8^]
						B.C.

    
    
    Anyone been out lately for cod?
    
    I have a free trip ticket for the Yankee Fleet that
    I'm probably going to use this weekend, and was wondering
    how the cod fishing has been.
    
    I'd call and ask Yankee, but you *know* what they'll
    say!
    
    Gusman
    
    

    The "fish Guide" in today's Worcester Telegram indicated that Cod/
    Haddock fishing has been holding up well ,but that stripers & blues
    seem to havve headed south. Good luck !
    
    

Went out deep sea fishing on friday and had a helluva time. Private charter on
the Capt Lew (~65' boat).  We were 40 miles offshore, that far out to avoid the
blue sharks, parked the boat, and caught fish after fish straight for about
4 hours, then the long ride back.  Never been on a head boat before that just
needed 1 stop!

I picked up *2* haddock, the first within 15 mins (I was satisfied at that
point ;-), the next on my "light" striper outfit on a double hookup.  Nice
5 lber.  Must have caught about 40 fish that day, and could have caught much
more.  About 75% pollock, 15% cod, 8% mud hake (junk).   Also got into a couple
big blue sharks that attacked my catch as I was reeling in...  Had one on for
about 30 seconds on my 30 lb medium action setup, but it got 1 of the fish;
I reeled in the other.  Several other people ran into the same thing.  Lots
of fish coming up with teeth marks.   Got mostly doubles all day.

Sure was good to get out...

/Ken

    
    Wow, Ken sounds like a great trip.  Where does the
    Captain Lew head out from?  Does he also do public
    charters?
    
    I had the exact opposite luck on the Yankee Fleet this
    past weekend.  Terrible trip.  The Captain couldn't
    seem to find any concentrations of fish, and moved 
    often.  Even the throwbacks were few and far between.
    
    The only consolation is that when we found a few fish,
    they were about 50% (small) haddock.  I ended up with
    only 4 keepers, 2 cod and 2 haddock.  By *far* my worst
    trip in a long time.   The pool was won with a hake that
    probably did not even weigh 6lbs.
    
    Gusman
    

    any reports for cod out there? Thinking of taking a charter out this
    sunday..

I saw the last one heading south for vacation on Saturday...

    You let the last one get by you?? :-) 
    
    well if I go I'll post a note.

It was only 13"...

    re:last
    
    	Bwaaahhhaaahhaaaahaaaaa ;-) Yeah, it's slow in here lately.
    
    	Ray

    Here's an article that appears in this month's Salt Water Sportsman
    Mag regarding new bag and size limits on cod, haddock and yellowtail
    flounder.
    
    New Plan to Rebuild Groundfish
    
    Commercial fishermen in New England will soon be faced with far fewer
    days per year in which to fish, increased area closures, and strict
    trip limits for many vessels once the latest amendment to the federal
    Groundfish Plan goes into effect. The measures are designed to restore
    stocks of severely depleted groundfish -- particularly cod, haddock,
    and yellowtail flounder -- off the Northeast coast. Thye are contained
    in Amendment 7 (to the Groundfish Plan) which was approved by the New
    England Fishery Management Council on January 25, 1996, after nearly 17
    months of deliberation.
    
    Recreational fishermen will also be required to contribute to
    conservation under the plan. The minimum size for both cod and haddock
    will be increased from the current 19" to 21", phased in over two
    years. Private recreational anglers will have 10-fish bag limit of any
    comination of cod and haddock (no limit for party boat fishermen) and
    no recreationally-caught groundfish may be sold.
    
    Amendment 7 aims to reduce groundfish catches by 80 percent within two
    years. From that time, according to biologists, it may take five to ten
    years for stocks to recover. The amendment now goes to the Secretary of
    Commerce for approval and , if approved, will likely be implemented in
    early summer.
    
    Meanwhile, there is progress with the ongoing federal vessel-buyout
    program. The purpose of the program is to ease the economic dislocation
    within the commercial fishing industry brought about by the collapse of
    groundfish and the stringent measures needed to rebuild them. With
    sufficient funding, the reduction in the number of boats would also
    help alleviate fishing pressure on fish stocks.

    Tim Tower (Captain of the Bunny clark) has a nice home page with lots
    of info about the changes and etc. Check it out..
    
    	http://www.bunnyclark.com/index.html
    
    Hurls.
    
    p.s. Deep Sea fishing season is almost here... :-)

    The Bunny Clark Home page does indeed have some good detail on the new
    regs. Here is what Tim Tower has to say:
    
    
    On January 25 and 26, 1996, the New England Fishery Management Council
    (NEFMC) met for the last time to edit and
    complete Amendment 7 to the Fishery Management Plan. Amendment 7 was
    sent to the National Marine Fisheries
    Service (NMFS) regional office on January 29. By February 26, NMFS had
    sent the draft Amendment 7 to the Secretary
    of Commerce with 3 recommended changes to this new plan. The Secretary
    of Commerce will now decide whether to
    accept the plan as is or accept the plan with the recommended changes.
    This should take at least two months. Implementation
    of Ammendment 7 will not take place until at least June 1 or later.
    
    As I mentioned in the Guestletter, the party boat position in this plan
    was accepted in December by the Council and remains
    unchanged in the preliminary Amendment 7 plan. Under these new
    regulations, party boats will have a minimum size increase
    to 20 inches on cod and haddock in the first year of the plan and 21
    inches during the second year. Pollock will remain at 19
    inches, redfish will remain at 9 inches and winter flounder will remain
    at 12 inches. There will be no size limits on the hakes,
    cusk, wolffish, mackerel or bait fish. Along with the increased minimum
    size, there will be a prohibition on the selling of party
    boat caught fish and a two hook per line limit (a treble hook is
    considered one hook) while engaged in fishing.
    
    The best news is that on January 26, 1996, the Council voted almost
    unanimously (Barbara Stevenson, from Maine, was the
    only Council member who voted against this) to exempt party boats from
    the closed commercial fishing areas. However,
    closed areas 1 and 2 on Georges Bank will still be closed to all
    vessels, including party boats, that target groundfish. These
    areas were closed over a year ago in an emergency action along with the
    Nantucket Lightship area. Shortly after the emergency
    action, party boats were allowed back into the Nantucket Lightship area
    to fish the wrecks in that location and this will remain
    so indefinitly. 
    
    For those of you who may not understand what Amendment 7 is about, let
    me give you a brief synopsis. Amendment 7 is a
    federal ( U. S. Coast Guard enforced) groundfish (cod, haddock etc.)
    plan with new fisherys regulations designed to decrease
    the fishing effort by 80% over the next few years. Without going too
    deep into this, commercial groundfish boats (gillnetters and
    draggers) will have to declare into a days at sea program where they
    will be able to target groundfish for 120 days the first year
    and 88 days the second year. There will be net mesh size minimums and
    other physical gear restrictions. Also, there will be
    closed areas that are time sensitive. This means, for instance,
    Jeffery's Ledge will be closed to commercial activity with respect
    to groundfish at certain times of the year. This will be true for other
    areas as well.
    
    With respect to recreational fishermen that have their own boats, they
    will have a 10 fish bag limit with the same minimum fish
    size as the party boats. This means that every angler fishing on a
    private vessel can only keep 10 total of any cod or haddock
    landed. They can keep as many wolffish, pollock, cusk, redfish and
    others that they want. In addition, there will be "open
    access" permits of two types available if you don't want to be included
    under the new recreational fishing rules. You can get a
    party/charter open access permit and come under the same rules as the
    party boats. However, you have to have all the licenses,
    vessel equipment and proof of paying passengers. You can also get a rod
    & reel/handline open access permit and take up to
    250 pounds of "regulated" groundfish species. However, you will have to
    have all the safety equipment (life rafts, EPIRBs etc.)
    that is required for commercial vessels.
    
    For permit information/applications you can write or call:
    
                                      National Marine Fisheries Service
                                               Permit Office
                                            One Blackburn Dr.
                                         Gloucester, MA 01930-2298
                                          Telephone: 508-281-9370
    
    For specific questions on other fishery related issues, the following
    phone numbers were provided by Dr. Andrew A.
    Rosenberg, the Regional Director of NMFS:
    
    American Lobster Fishery: 508/281-9273
    Atlantic Tunas Regulations: 508/281-9260
    Enforcement Hotline: 800/780-7742
    Exemption Programs or Experimental Fisheries: 508/281-9288
    NE Multispecies Fishery (groundfish): 508/281-9288 or 508/281-9244
    Rules and Regulations: 508/281-9315
    Sea Scallop Fishery: 508/281-9273
    Squid, Mackerel, or Butterfish Fishery: 508/281/9104
    Summer Flounder (Fluke) Fishery: 508/281/9221
    Surf Clams or Ocean Quahog Fishery: 508/281/9104
    Vessel Transfers and Replacements: 508/281-9244
    Vessel Logbook Reporting: 508/281-9246 or 508/281-9145
    
    As I mentioned above, these new regulations won't go into effect until
    at least June 1. Also, this Amendment 7 is not complete
    until the Secretary of Commerce has accepted it in a particular form so
    that National Marine Fisheries Service may not
    have all the information yet and you may have to call later. I think I
    speak for everyone when I say that I am glad the NEMFC
    has taken this positive step forward in fisherys management regulations
    and I am looking forward to increased groundfish stocks
    in the future. I will write more as new changes take place in areas
    that I believe are of interest to you and the manner in which
    you fish for New England groundfish.
    
    Best Fishes,
    
    Tim Tower :-)
    
    

       	Maybe I'm missing something, but I always thought that a commercial
    license was required to sell fish. The way the previous two replies
    read, it sounded like private vessels could sell their catch without a
    commercial license prior to this act.

    	As a side note, it will be interesting to see if they enforce any
    of the new rules on the party boats. I've seen enough obvious cases 
    where under-sized fish were taken and kept. They'd have to keep the
    fish whole in order to get an accurate measurement. That will be a
    PITA.

    	I've also heard of individuals that go on party boats to catch fish 
    with the intent of selling them. These are usually retired people looking 
    to make a little extra pocket money on the side. Not sure if they have
    a commercial license or not, but in either case they'll be out of
    business or breaking the law. Pretty hard to catch though, I'd imagine.
    Especially if they're doing private (non-restaurant type) sales.

    	Ray

    Ray,
    
    Given the poor fishing over the past few years, I fail to see how older
    folks could make any money selling the fish they catch after paying the
    $35-$50 price tag to fish.  They'd need at least 10-15 lbs of fillets
    just to cover their cost of getting on board!  
    
    BTW...I visited the Bunny Clark homepage on the Web.  It's a neat Web
    site, but I was appalled to find out that the full-day fee is now up to 
    $50!!  Ouch!!  I was thinking of heading out with Tom, but it's getting
    hard to justify the price tag.
    
    Joe

    	Joe,
    
    	I've actually seen one of these semi-professional old folks. He
    had his own outfit, brought his own lunch, cleaned his own fish, and from 
    what I've heard, many times winds up the pool winner, which usually more 
    than covers the cost of the trip. This guy could fish.
    
    	On the day that I went, fishing was actually decent. This guy had
    nearly twice the amount of fish as anyone else on the boat. Again, this
    was more for pocket change. Plus, he was doing something that he 
    apparently enjoyed. He certainly wasn't getting rich off of it though.
    
    	Ray
    
    	Ray

<    what I've heard, many times winds up the pool winner, which usually more 
<    than covers the cost of the trip. This guy could fish.
    
   If you get to know a particular boat you learn how the captian positions
the boat, where he likes to fish etc.  Knowing that you'll know what place on
the railing is the best spot.  You aren't catching fish if your line is
tangled all day.  Does this skipper drift, does he anchor, does he try to hold
a position without anchoring etc.  When you add the "choice" spot with increased
skill, these guys are bound to do better overall...

    Being right-handed I always liked the starboard-aft corner.  If the skipper
anchors, then my line is going to drift away from the other lines AND I have a
90 deg arc which is MY water.  Those hanging over any straight rail can only go
straight out or vertical and pray that the current doesn't drift their line in
to the others OR the other's lines into his...  In any event I'm no worse off
than any other angler and 8 out of 10 times I have some advantage... 


Al

It's worth getting to the boat an hour or so early just to get MY spot...

    	This guy was in the spot mentioned. Since he's such a regular, I
    believe they accomodate him (i.e. tie his pole to the railing to
    reserve his spot). On this trip, my father and I were the first to show
    up and this guys pole was already there. He went so often, I think he
    just left his pole at the office.
    
    	Ray

I know of a guy who fishes a few times a week and sells his catch too,
usually lots of pollock, to a local restaurant.  The guy formerly owned
a business that did well, and he was able to sell it and retire at a fairly 
young age.  What else to do but fish ;-)  He has at least 1 record (not
sure what level) for *large* pollock, somewhere in the 40+ lb range.

Like the other description he has his corner of the port side aft, and
always cleans up.  Part of the trick to a good spot on the boat is being
able to retrieve a jig so that it looks natural, swimming with or against
the current.  He's meat fishing, using double hooks for each teaser
to lose less fish.  Also cleans his own.  

It doesn't cost him as much as others because you can pay for a season of
fishing up front at a discount on some party boats.

/Ken

    Here is the first report from an all day boat out of Hampton, Wed Apr
    3rd, 4-6 cod for the whole boat. The wind was blowing 20-40 out of the
    NW. Not a very nice day. 
    
    Here are a few rules from the proposed regs.
    
    No sale of any fish caught on a party or pleasure boat.
    
    No bag limit on a party boat.
    10 fish bag limit on pleasure boats
    
    Only 2 hooks per line, treble hooks count as 1.
    
    Later
    Steve

    Anyone been out lately? Planning on heading out next saturday or
    sunday.  Reports out of Plumb Island is lots of cod and haddock last
    2 weeks and Tim Tower's home page has a fishing update every day and 
    with many fisherman coming back with keeper counts between 10-30..
    
    Just wondering..

    Went out on the Capt George out of Plum Island on Friday. With the
    miserable weather, we expected a small turnout on the boat, but it was
    pretty well packed ... at least for a while until half the passengers
    turned green and headed into the cabin. The rest of us then had plenty of
    space to fish.
    
    But it didn't make a big difference. We made 3 stops all day and picked
    up a few cod. In fact there weren't any other species caught except a
    few mackeral. No wolffish, cusk or haddock. We fished in 230-300'. I
    think we were on Jeffrey's.
    
    Typical fish was barely a keeper. I kept 4. My friend Peter kept 5. If 
    the 20" limit were in effect I would have had one fish. Bait seemed 
    to outfish the jigs. Got lots of bites, but judging from the fact that 
    there were few hookups, I can only guess that they were real small 
    fish. The pool winner was a nice fish... about 12-15 lbs. Nothing 
    else came close.
    
    Overall, the trip was pretty much what I expected, but hoped wasn't
    true. It's going to be a picky season.
    
    Art

    My cousin is visiting from Colorado and has been WANTING to go deep-sea
    fishing.
    
    I've lived in New England for ~7 years and never been!  I picked up a
    couple of brochures (Plymouth & Gloucester).....from the local Cafe...
    
    Does anyone have any suggestions on where to go (please include phone,
    contact, directions, etc.).
    
    We are planning on this weekend (June 7 - 9th).
    
    Thanks in advance.
    
    /thanh

It's been too long since I last went, but if at all possible, DO NOT go on
the weekend ... it gets too crowded.  Weekdays are a better choice.

Good luck!

    Has anyone been out mackerel fishing?? They should be hitting them
    pretty good right about now. I was thinking of taking my seven year old 
    son fishing on a party boat for a half day. Does anybody have any first
    hand experience with taking their child Mackerel fishing? Any input
    would be greatly appreciated.

    Thanks,

           Gus

re:                     <<< Note 18.365 by STRATA::RINELLA >>>

    Go for it... he's plenty old enough to go out on a 1/2 day boat,
    and will probably have a blast.  I took my 5 year old out on a 1/2
    day boat down the cape last year, and he absolutely *loved* it even
    though there were no fish to be found in the bay.  He didn't care,
    but Dad was a little annoyed ;-)

    I really enjoyed mackerel fishing for striper bait when I was a kid...  

    Bring some Christmas Tree rigs for the macks, and be prepared to catch
    some blue fish too.

    /Ken

    
    Thanks for the reply Ken. I wasn't sure if he would be able to reel em
    in fast enough;') It certainly will be a sight to see him catch his
    first mackerel and hopefully we'll bring home enough to last the
    summer for striper and blue fishing.
    
    Gus
    
    P.S. We will be going out of Hampton with Al Gauron this Saturday if 
    anyone else might be interested. 

    		Good choice!  On my charter last Friday, they were catching
    them as fast as they could get their line in the water.  Your sone
    should have a great time.  If you go out on Thumper with Capt. John,
    tell him Bob from Digital says hello......
    
    			Bob  

    US curbs Atlantic fishing for sharks: Says some species are in jeopardy
    
    By H. Josef Hebert Associated Press, 04/03/97 
    
    WASHINGTON - The federal government put tight restrictions on shark
    fishing yesterday, saying overfishing is jeopardizing the survival of
    some species. 
    
    ``Atlantic shark populations are at a precarious state and fishing
    pressure needs to be reduced,'' said Rebecca Lent, a senior official of
    the National Marine Fisheries Service, which imposed the new quotas. 
    
    The restrictions go into effect immediately from the North Atlantic to
    the Gulf of Mexico. Most shark are caught in southern waters from the
    Carolinas to Florida as well as in parts of the Gulf. 
    
    The agency, in a move that had been expected among fishermen and
    environmentalists, directed commercial fishermen to halve their annual
    catch of large coastal shark to no more than 1,275 metric tons. 
    
    It also placed tighter limits on how many shark recreational fishermen
    can catch, imposed new limits on fishing for small coastal sharks and
    banned all fishing for five species of shark considered particularly
    vulnerable, including the white shark made famous in movies. 
    
    The move was applauded by conservation groups, although
    environmentalists said a long-range shark management plan will be
    needed if they are to be protected. 
    
    ``Unfortunately the serious depletion of these magnificent but
    vulnerable fish will take decades to repair,'' said Sonja Fordham, a
    shark specialist at the private Center for Marine Conservation. She
    said the new restrictions are long overdue. 
    
    All variety of shark - there are some 400 species - have been a hot
    commodity for both commercial and recreational fishermen since the
    1980s with millions of pounds hauled in annually for restaurants as
    well as trophy cases. Their carcasses are prized for their meat, fins,
    teeth and various parts that are used as a lubricant or in cosmetics
    and vitamins. 
    
    The large coastal sharks have been such a popular target of commercial
    fishermen that some species have declined by as much as 80 percent,
    according to conservationists, although a good count of the shark
    population has been hard to come by. 
    
    New restrictions include the following: 
    
    Commercial fishermen are limited to 1,285 metric tons per year. Because
    the quota for half the year already has been exceeded, no fishing will
    be allowed after April 7 until July 1, the start of the year's second
    season. 
    
    Recreational fishermen, effective immediately, are limited to two
    sharks per vessel per trip with the exception of the small coastal
    sharpnose shark, of which each fisherman can catch two. 
    
    Annual commercial limits of 1,760 tons are set for small coastal sharks
    such as blacknose and bonnethead, so they do not become substitutes for
    the larger shark. 
    
    Direct fishing is banned for five species - whale, basking, sand tiger,
    bigeye sand tiger, and white shark - which are considered extremely
    vulnerable. 
    
    Conservationists say the government contributed to the problem by
    promoting shark as a tuna and swordfish alternative. 

>Conservationists say the government contributed to the problem by
>promoting shark as a tuna and swordfish alternative. 

Further proof that a directed commerical fishery can SERIOUSLY damage a target
population in a few years.  They've actually done a number on the dogfish
recently, which may actually put things back in balance.

    Speaking of Dogfish, What good are they?? What do they eat?? Would we
    be better off not having them?? 
    
    	Tim, Good to see ya typing again. We still have to get together
    sometime at plumb Island.

Hey Hurls!

Yeah, I've been kind of read-only lately.  Fishing has taken a less
all-encompassing position in my life as of late ;-)

Tim

    I think Tim just got confused and thought this was the 'bicycle'
    file...
    
    -donmac (just back from santee-cooper and ready for warmer temps...) 

Ha ha.  I probably was moving too fast to be identified... ;-)

    Gee here it is the 21st of May and no reports yet to Deep Sea Fishing?
    WEll a clump of us are going out friday so I'll drop a note next
    tuesday.

    I've been hoping for a report also. I wonder how the mackerel fishing
    is. I took my 8 year old out a little too late last year and missed out
    on the fun.. Any reports?
    
    Gus

I've heard the mackeral run is in process on the south shore. My 
info comes out of Scituate from a trusted source.

I'm hoping to get down there in the next 2 weeks to check it out 
myself.

Glad to see this note waking up.

Art

    Thanks for the info. I hate calling up the charters cause they always
    tell ya the fishing is good;') I took my eight year old son out last
    year for the first time but we hit it too late in the season. Maybe
    will give it a try this weekend.

    Gus

    
    Be careful Gus! I hear that out on the Merrimack mackeral have
    been known to come out of no where and smack people upside the
    head ;')
    
    
    Walt

    
    Ya know, I've seen that happen before...
    
    Gus

    I would suggest that anyone that would like to catch a haddock,
    remember them, get out fishing this coming weekend. Thats for the
    people that fish out of N Mass/NH with trips to Jefferies. The reports
    have been good with 50-200 haddock a trip. As of June 1 the commercial
    netters and draggers will be allowed to start fishing Jefferies again.
    The ledge has been closed the month of May. I would expect the fishing
    to decline some as they dump miles of nets on the ledge.
    
    Steve

    	Went out on the Clipper Fleet marathon yesterday. Had a great day
    weather-wise, and a decent day fishing. Picked up 3 keeper haddock, a
    few keeper cod, a pollack, and a congo eel. Pool fish was a 22lb. wolf.
    
    	Ray

    Went  out friday with Capt Lady II out of Plumb Island. Fished northern
    jeffries. Fishing was slow most of the day. A few picks here and there.
    I ended up with 4 keeper cod and 1 keeper cusk with about 10
    throwbacks. Cod were decent size between 23 and 27 inches and 5 to 8
    pounds each.
    
    	Pool fish was a 13 pound wolf.
    
    	Last cast of the day for myself resulted in a "hit" of my life only
    to have my 50# line break after 5 minutes of bringing the fish up.  :-(
    (I'll get him next time)