Back to Being a Schlubby Librarian

I have not posted here in a week. Not sure why really. There has been plenty of good fishing to talk about. Skipped going out in hurricane Danny yesterday which was good. But, I have been quite busy to. I am back to being a school teacher tomorrow. I took one day last week and spent some time in school trying to prepare. I am not really as ready for students as I would like. Fortunately, my new assistant, Lauren Harkins, has also been in to school to help us get set up.

My last two trips have been with Captain Ben Polk pictured above. Ben captains a 56' boat down in South Carolina. He is getting married here in Boothbay tomorrow. I really enjoyed my time with Captain Ben and his crew. I would love to have a chance to fish with him down in South Carolina someday. He and his new in-laws went fishing on Friday and did real well. Today, his father and two best friends, also went out with me and did great. We caught double figures in fish both days and that is always good. You can see a picture of a double hook up we had below. Of course, the shot is from my cell phone and I had to get my finger in the picture too.

Waves

I pulled the boat out of the water on Friday after my trip for peace of mind. Hurricane Bill was coming and I had to take a few days off for a bachelor party and leave town. I have done a bit of work to it and hopefully Gayle and I will get it back in the water this afternoon. My next scheduled trip is Wednesday but because the weather looks so good tomorrow, I may try to convince long time client Chuck Stees to go.


Here is a link to some video of the waves made by the Hurricane. The video is shot out at Ocean Point by my friend Jonne Trees of our local public access station. The Hurricane hit Nova Scotia so points facing North East got hit the worst. Check this article from the New York Times about a death caused by a rogue wave up at Acadia National Park. The picture above was taken by the NYT in Cape Elizabeth Maine.

Now, I am on my way to the shower. Going in to school right now for the first time of the summer. Big Time Ouch. Just what I wanted to do with my day off.

Fish lessons

Every once in a while I get the chance to take someone who has never even touched a fishing rod. Yesterday, was just such an experience. Rita and her 70 year old mother, both originally from India, caught fish for the first time in their lives. These ladies had to be taught everything and in a four hour trip they learned how to catch Mackeral and Stripers. I chose a spot for Striper fishing that would make it as easy as possible. We fished in the Kennebec in just 2' of water. Rita and Tara used cut Mackerel to get their bites. Tara, the grandma, tangled with a Striper until she gave up and let her rod tip down. Too bad she could not keep her line tight because it would have been cool to see her land it. Rita caught hers at the end of our trip. When the fish was finally brought in, Rita was spent but extremely happy.

Today I had Dell Ludeman aboard. He also caught his first several fish in just 2' of water. The beauty pictured below was caught in 30' of water. This underlines how different and diverse Striper fishing can be.

Fishing Stuff

Saturday (8/15) was a great day. You can see just a few of the fish caught in the pictures above. I went out twice.

In the morning, I went out with a repeat client and his father-in-law. We had success fishing deep in the Kennebec. We worked it hard. The bait was difficult and we hit many spots but these guys really perservered and it more than paid off in the end.

In the afternoon, I went out with the mellow uncle and his niece and niece's boyfriend. We also had success fishing in just 2' of water. For everybody aboard it was their first time catching a Striper and was also their personal biggest fish caught.Water temps were 68/69 degrees which is hot for Stripers. Generally, I would rule out catching bigger Stripers in water that hot but in the picture below you can see a fish caught in the exact same spot with that hot water. Who knows? The more time I spend doing this, the less I think I know. One thing I know is that you can't beat catching these fish in shallow water with light gear.

At the end of our second trip, I spotted the Ella and Sadie cruising back into the Townsend Gut. Colin Yentsch and his two daughters had spent the day on Powderhorn Island in the Sheepscot River. Powderhorn is the perfect place to escape the heat because of its beach, beauty, and location on the coldest river around. Anyway, Colin had promised me some Tuna so we pulled up to the Ella and Sadie. Colin, went into his hold where he had some Tuna iced up in his fish box. He hooked my clients and myself up with Tuna steaks. Good times. Below you can see Ella and Sadie next to a Tuna which Colin was able to sell on his boat named after the girls.

Yesterday, I took a much needed day off. The weather was hot and we spent a bunch of time on the water.

Today, Mike pictured below came with a long time repeat customer, Bob. Bob from Houston has been taking me out 2 or 3 times a year since my first year. For Mike, a freshwater fisherman, this was his biggest fish of his life and his first Striper. Mike caught his fish in deep water. Over the next few days with this hot weather I expect to spend more time at the beach and fishing deep, looking for that cooler water.

Reports

Striper fishing has been up and down like a yo yo. Very hard to predict too. I have had terrific and slow trips on the same day and on consecutive days going to the same places. I have heard the same reports from other captains from Bath to Boothbay. Two more trips today and tomorrow I will take a day off so my wife can get some help with our kids and I can have a break from the water.

Tuna fishing is happening but the schoolies, footballs, little ones, etc, don't seem to be around yet. One Tuna Fisherman/Lobsterman I know reported Tuna up in close chasing something that looked like a Bally Hoo(how do you spell that?) right out of the water. He just watched the 400lb tunas helplessly as his bait was well below the surface.

In the picture above you can see one of Colin's Tuna's that was loaded into this truck immediately after returning to shore.

30" fish caught by my uncle Bill yesterday. Good times.

So beat

I am so beat. Getting up at 4am day after day and doing 2 trips a day has really worn me out. Friday and Saturday will be two more days spending all day out there doing double headers.

This week I have spent a lot of time with Tom Coyne and his family. In one of the pics here you can see Tom's brother Joe, his nephew Michael, and his son Thomas. Thomas is the blond bombshell(self-proclaimed) you can see in the back. I wanted to include this picture because these guys helped us get on the Macs quickly. According to Thomas, they caught 200 Macs in that row boat. I asked him if he was counting and he said he started counting at 150. I also thought this was one of the funnier looking Mackerel slaying operations I have ever seen. Funny, smunny, they were killing them.

You can also see John in this picture below sleeping on the ride back. John is definite charter boat or guide material. He's capable, affable, intense, and likes to learn about a variety of things. What a joy he was to have aboard. He was patient when the fishing was slow and quick to help out when help was needed. When he had a fish on, he clearly showed he knew how to bring in a fish.

The fishing today was slower than yesterday but still good. The weather has been beautiful and in the afternoon we were able to fish the beach with some success.

Colin Yentsch just got in from a 2 day Tuna jaunt which landed several fish but none big enough to sell. Still they had action and caught Bluefin Tuna which is no small feat.

Another Day another postponement

Had a great morning with the guys pictured here. Most of them were inexperienced fishermen but we caught our limit and then some.

The afternoon trip was called because of a line of thunderstorms coming through. At least we were able to postpone till tomorrow.

Several real busy days coming up which is good. The fishing seems to be improving across the region in that fish are starting to show in more places from the reports I have heard.

For you basketball fans out there. Here is a link to a Youtube Vid in which my cousin, Matt Henry speaks about a basketball camp he has just taken part in over in Montenegro. Matt is the director of basketball operations for the Georgetown Hoyas.

Isabella's First Fish and Some Fish Stuff

Yesterday, I had long time client Bob Gourley aboard and his friend Dick. We probably caught close to or more than 20 Stripers, all in the slot range except one that was too big. It was a blast. The weather was great as was the fishing.

My afternoon client today, Tom Coyne, told me that his party caught 14 Stripers aboard the Redhook yesterday down at Popham Beach. This is by far the best report I have heard out of there. I know the Redhook took two big fish there last week but I know the beach has been disappointing for most of this year and all of last.

I have not heard of the "local" schoolie or giant Bluefin Tuna action but the bite is on if you are willing to travel southwest.

The video below shows a family trip with my in-laws, wife and two kids. Iz catches her frist striper. Mimi did all the shooting, thanks Mimi. Anyway, I thought you would enjoy a video more than some pics.

Interesting Day

My day began today with my GPS firing up like it's supposed to. Hooray, I turned it off just to check it and it would not turn on. After fiddlemucking around for a bit we got back on. Adam, Gayle, Evan, Ruby, and I headed to Robinsons's Wharf to get bait for our traps. Adam and I saw Colin and that is when I took the picture in the previous Voicethread. Hugh Thompson, one of the coolest dudes around, directed us to the wharf barrel and we loaded up on herring. It took Adam and I 25 minutes to haul our ten traps. Adam is really freaking good. He does the whole show except run the boat and he is fast. Pretty strong guy, too. Occasionally, instead of my having to maneuver the boat, Adam will just chuck the trap like a shot put. Anyway, I have decided that I love lobstering again and I think having Adam enthusiastically carrying a big load of the work is a big part of it.

At the end of lobstering at approximately 8:30am I checked the on-board Doppler and there was a tiny bit of precip way up in NH/VT. It was a beautiful day and the Doppler supported that.


A few hours later at about 10, my mom took over to take care of our sleeping one year old. Gayle headed with me to my favorite herring spot to catch bait for my trip. We spent 90 minutes and caught 1 herring. Talk about frustration. The good news was my electronics were still working.

Dropped Gayle off and headed back out to scout out some Mackerel for my afternoon trip. I was fishing off Spruce Point when I noticed the clouds to my northwest. I checked my Doppler and I could see a line of storms either headed at us or just north of us. I began to head in to Kaler's to pick up the Calvo's, a family of 4 at 12:30. I noticed many of the other charter boats both sail and fishing headed out.

I met the Calvo's at 12:50. They were dressed for the beautiful sunny day that it was - shorts, t-shirts, flip-flops, etc. I showed them the Garmin (Still Working!) and explained to them my concerns. We agreed to go out to catch bait and stay close. We went back to Spruce Point and began to Mackerel fish. I got to know them and was having a pleasant time. But, the screen told me to head in and before we even caught a mackerel I was running full steam back into Boothbay Harbor. By the time we got to Harbor Island, you could feel the barometer drop and the wind change direction as the sky quickly blackened. We got into Kaler's, tied up, and got off the boat. The rain quickly started and lighting could be seen all around us including Spruce Point. Fishing with me is definitely not Deadliest Catch but sometimes it can be deadly enough. The Calvo's and I were giddy we got off the water when we did and I once gain want to thank my stepfather for buying me that Satellite weather receiver which worked all day.

By the way, the images above are of Boothbay but I did not take them today. Unfortunately, I was ill-prepared for documenting today's events.

The Ella and Sadie

A day of work with no clients

Today I spent the day cleaning the boat and trying to fix my Garmin. Dragged my pressure washer down to the dock and my wife and I worked hard at it. Later, Adam and I replaced all the fuses used by my Garmin 5212. I am still only receiving intermittent power. As luck would have it, my marine electronics guy, Howie, is on vacation this week. My worst fear is that the whole unit will have to be sent back and then a new one will have to be shipped. TO be continued.

Spoke with Colin today. He is back from spending a couple more days offshore. He got two more Giants out there. He is a fishy bastard. He reports that there are tons of sharks, tuna and whales from Platts to 3 Dorys. There is also a ton of ground fish.

Anyway, I got to go so I hope my grammar and spelling are not too bad.

Late one

I am beat. Having difficulties with my Garmin and they kept me on the boat until 9:30 tonight.
I am planning on working these electrical issues out tomorrow.

We managed a trip today and had a great time. Hannah and Keenan had a double hook up. Biggest fish either of them had ever caught. I hope they come back some day as they were such a pleasure to have aboard.

Tuna bite

Sunday

Another unwanted but much appreciated day off today. Yesterday, I had Ingrid and Nelson aboard from Philly. We had a great time and this was Ingrid's first time fishing.


Word is the ground fishing and tuna fishing is hot and heavy offshore. Many boats out there after them too. If anyone is interested in this experience give me call.

Got to go. Off to dinner across the island.