June Weekend Fishing Report Wrap-Up

June 27th, 28th & 29th
Friday, Saturday & Sunday
Weekend  Update

Two weekends in a row of outstanding weather. Gloucester was alive this weekend with the Fiesta. Fun and festivities rule the harbor.

The Lady Sea had 3 full boats on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. All three days were pretty much the same. A slow pick from stop to stop. The fish have spread out throughout the fishing grounds, we are not seeing the big balls of bait anymore as that has spread out as well. We stop, we pick, we move. That is how we are getting it done. We still fight through a number of short fish, roughly 5 short fish for every keeper. The dog fish have been very manageable and we continue to see some real nice cod and haddock. Pool winners continue to be 6-8 lb cod, haddock and cusk.

On Sunday, the crew hosted a full day corporate fishing charter for 50 people. More than we usually take fishing, but this group was full of energy, created some great fun for themselves and the crew. As happy as they were to be on the ocean, the crew was just as happy to have them. The fishing was ok, the cigars were outstanding, and thanks Jimmy for showing us how not to come down the back stairs. Looking forward to next year.

The ocean is alive, we had a friendly seal visit on Friday and Saturday, dolphins were around all three days, and some distant whale spouts were also seen. It won’t be long before the blue sharks arrive and give a new challenge.

This week we have space available for the All Day trip on Wednesday, a 3/4 day on the 4th of July from 8am-2pm for those who don’t want to get up too early and make it back early enough for an afternoon cookout.  Saturday and Sunday we have both the 3/4 day and half day trips available.  

From the Deck of the M/V Lady Sea
Captain Mike & Crew

Marathon Trip and Weekend Wrap-Up

June 20th, 21st & 22nd
Marathon Friday, Saturday & Sunday
Weekend  Wrap-up

With weather like this, what could possibly go wrong? For the customers, it was great weekend to be on the water, for the crew, a little pain and suffering, but we all survived.

Friday’s marathon, we had a light crowd, at the request of some of our ‘regular’ anglers, sometimes I like to call them irregular, but we headed to parts seldom traveled by the Lady Sea to southern Jeffries, pretty much as far north as we go. It was a slow start to the catching of legal size fish, plenty of small haddock, but that’s not what we want. We worked our way to the south, picking away at the fish. By the afternoon, we were on Tillies which is where we found the rest of the fishing armada, boats from Boston to New Hampshire in the area we typically fish on our day trips. The pick was a little better and we scraped together a decent day, depending on who you ask. The low point of the trip was when deckhand Mike decided to lodge a circle hook into his hand, that pretty much put him on ice for the majority of the day and a trip to the ER upon our return. Sorry Hammer, you don’t get that hook back!

Saturday we again had a light crowd for the ¾ day trip. Fishing was good, lots of activity, a mix bag of fish, some very nice cod and haddock have appeared on the ¾ grounds. We had a bachelor party among us, only appropriate that the groom to be catches a 6 lb cusk and wins the pool. While cutting fish, deckhand Joey decided to slip the filet knife over his middle finger knuckle, which required a call to the bullpen for another meat cutter. In the afternoon, we hosted a boy scout troop, an eager group of 40, many of whom have never been on the ocean. As luck would have it for them, one of our regular anglers is also a registered merit badge counselor for Fishing merit badge, so with a little prework by the scouts, we were able to complete the badge for 5 scouts and 3 are just about done. Great fun, great day, great group of people.

Sunday, we had a full boat for the ¾ day trip, the fishing was good, the dog fish took a nap today which made our overall keeper production higher. We had a nice mix of cod, haddock, red fish and cusk. Just as the captain called the trip a lucky angler landed an 8 lb cusk to take the pool. One person had 7 legal fish, pretty good for a ¾ day trip. The half day trip was a little on the slow side, the weather has lulled the fish to sleep, we caught a few nice haddock and cod, but not enough to send everyone home with fish.

 It was really a fun weekend to be aboard the Lady Sea. This week, Gloucester has ST Peter’s Fiesta, one of the summer highlights.

From the Deck of the M/V Lady Sea
Captain Mike & Crew

We have scheduled trips this week for Wednesday, the 25th and Friday the 27th for the All Day Trip

June 15 Weekend Fishing Report Warp-Up

Saturday, June 14th, and Sunday, June 15th
Fishing Report

Friday’s full day trip was cancelled due to strong SE winds, 5 to 8 foot seas and heavy rain, a day that certainly would have had a negative impact on the customer experience.

Saturday we were able to run the 3/4 day trip in the morning as we turned out of the harbor, we were greeted by a leftover swell from the SE and fog. A perfect recipe for some sea sickness for all. Even some of the seasoned anglers were felling a little off balance. The catching of fish was not very good. We tried as best we could, found some piles of fish, pick away at a few, but slower than we like it. The kicker was the starter piston in the port engine failed, which left us with out a winch to haul the anchor, so the captain and crew had to manually haul it from 240 feet. No need for Crossfit that night.
Sunday, a perfect weather day, winds out of the NW, felt like the end of September weather. Fishing was much better than it has been, and the dog fish have arrived. Of course, the dogs created some of our better tangles of the year, but this expected on a party boat and our experienced crew can get things straightened out quickly. We were able to pick through the dogs and put some really nice cod, haddock and cusk in the filet bags. The pool winner was a 12 lb cod.
This week, we have and all day trip on Wednesday, the Marathon on Friday, 3/4 Day on Saturday, and the 3/4 Day and Half Day on Sunday.  Call for reservations soon as trips fill up fast.

From the Deck of the M/V Lady Sea
Captain Mike & Crew

Weekend Fishing Report Wrap-Up

Friday, June 6th & Saturday, June 7th
Fishing Report

Friday, we took a repeat group of customers on their all day fishing charter. The fish were there, as they have been all year, but maybe there is to much bait on the fishing grounds right now, or maybe they are just not interested, but fresh clams were not what they were looking for. We tried many different depths and locations, all showing fish, but just couldn’t get a bite going. We ended up wit a couple dozen keepers, but certainly the numbers we expect this time of year.

On Saturday, we took another full day charter with some first time customers. A group of experienced anglers, again we had high hopes. We changed the location from Friday, only to have a repeat of Friday. We were among a couple other party boats, a few 6 packs, and many private boats. Everyone seemed to be doing the same thing, pick a few and move. Everyone was crisscrossing the bank looking for that hungry group of fish. We were able to drift fish for most of the day which gave us more mobility and we picked away throughout the day. The short to keeper ratio was about 5 shorts for every keeper. One angler with a jig caught the most fish, but most were foul hooked. An 8 lb cusk took pool honors.

The whale show from last week was not back this week, but we did see our first basking shark of the year. The water temperature is increasing which makes it more comfortable for everyone. The chili was sweet and spicy, and though the fishing was tough, good times were had by all.

MORE TO COME FOR SUNDAY AND MONDAY

From the Deck of the M/V Lady Sea
Captain Mike & Crew

Weekend Fishing Report Update

May 30th, 31st & June 1st
Weekend Report

Saturday and Sunday fishing certainly changed from Friday. The weather was good for ground fishing, but the catching was less than desired. some would say quality over quantity, and we did have some nice fish. Saturday’s pool winner was a 7 lb cod, on Sunday, 6’s were wild, 6 lb cusk, 6 lb cod, and a 6 pound haddock, but the 8 lb cod took pool honors. On Sunday some of the GF regular anglers were happy with 4 keepers and felt that was the best they could do. Again, bait beat jigs by a large margin. The old adage, ‘fishing, not catching’ seemed to be the rule.

The real show on Tillies is the whale show. On Saturday, we were on anchor and had a whale surface within 50 yards of the stern. On Sunday, we arrived at the fishing grounds, we had balls of bait being chased to the surface. The surface feeding whale show as truly unreal, all around the boat until about 1pm, then it was over. There had to have been 40 whales, Finback, Pilot and Humpbacks. It was crazy awesome.
The crew put together a delicious fresh fish chowder for patrons to enjoy. This week, we are booked solid, Friday, Saturday, and Monday with charters, on Sunday, we will be having our first open boat 3/4 day, 7am-1pm, and half day 1:30 to 6pm.
Pick up this month’s North Shore Magazine for summer activities in and around Cape Ann, including a nice article about the Gloucester Fleet.
 
From the Deck of the M/V Lady Sea
Captain Mike & Crew

Weekend Fishing Report

May 17th & 18th, 2014
Weekend Fishing Report

Finally, back at it, after a week of some boat maintenance, The Lady Sea is running as well as she has in 5 years. Time well spent in the engine room. On Saturday, we had 2 scheduled charters, the morning charter chose to reschedule due to rain and wind, but the afternoon ½ day charter wanted to go for it. The skies cleared, bright sunshine and a leftover Southeast 4 to 5 foot swell met us as we exited the breakwater.

This was our first trip to the ½ day grounds of the year and really had no idea what to expect. The fishing was slow, but interesting. If you wanted to meet some creatures from the deep, this trip was for you. We caught our usual mix of haddock and cod, but also saw some large red fish, a mud hake, a wolf fish, a couple sculpin, and an eel pout. Some of the ugliest fish you will see, yet an interesting experience for people who have never fished off Gloucester.

Sunday we had a full boat full day trip. Cloudy, chilly start to the morning on calm seas, the sun broke through around mid-morning. We sailed to Tillies, where we were greeted by other party boats and six pack charters. The morning bite was slow, we pecked away at some small haddock with a fairly strong tide making tangles a bit of a problem. When the sun came out, the bite seems to pick up, we started seeing more keepers in the mix, cod and haddock, a few dog fish have started to arrive as well. People that continually put the effort in to have fresh bait out fished those that didn’t and bait definitely has the advantage over jigs.  An 8 pound cod took big fish honors.

This weekend is our last full weekend of the spring special, $54.50 per person, this week’s schedule is Friday, Saturday and Sunday, All Day Trips from 7am – 4pm and of course Monday, Memorial Day.   And don’t forget, we have a Marathon 5am-5pm scheduled for Friday May 30th, $80 per person, with the 31st of May being the last day for our Spring Special.

From the Deck of the M/V Lady Sea