Deep Sea Fishing Charters from New Hampshire

2/3/12: Sometimes I even surprise myself. It came to me this morning while I was half asleep. This is my most productive time of the day to solve problems. Here it is: NMFS tells us how many fish we can catch during the season and in fact they put a limit on the number of cod and haddock we were allowed to catch. This is what they refer to as a Total Allowable Catch or TAC. The commercial fishermen have had TACs for ever and we use to share that with them. Not that anyone ever knew how many fish we harvested. During 2011 season we the charter and recreational sector had our own quota or TAC for cod and haddock. We never reached that goal and still NMFS tells us we are overfishing and need to cut back the number of fish we harvested. This is a yearly occurrence and has gone on for the last 14 years. This is impossible. The goal post is constantly moving. How can we be expected to hit the goal if it moves all the time? It is a simple question that needs an answer!

My challenge to all of you and our state reps and congress men and woman is to call for an independent audit of the NMFS, their data, their data collection and the computer models that predict how many fish are in the ocean. Estimating how many fish are swimming in the ocean and break them down into different spices must be an amazing and UNBELIEVABLE program. The entire NMFS could be on one side of the issue. What better way to help the public see what is going on at NMFS. Let’s make it a lot more transparent than it is. We the public have lost our trust in this agency and want to examine what is going on inside.

If we don’t stop them now the environmentalist will have take over the way the ocean is managed and then we are all finished..

MEETING DAY: The meeting just ended and of course there are no conclusions as to what we can catch for cod as of yet. The meeting was long and I could not deliver my entire presentation all at once due to the councils time restrants. I did get it in and what I missed the other participants covered for me. I feel the meeting is all pre-determined and the NOAA head has already concluded what she wants to do with the fishery. You have to keep in mind this a appointed position by Barack Obama and the enviromentialist support his campaign in a big way. All the presenters today told how the data they are using is flawed. You might think they would try to revise their stats. Not going to happen. I will inform you as soon as I know what the limits are and if we can even fish this year.

12/1/12: There is a lot going on with the cod and haddock fishing for the 2012 season. New rules are coming that will affect all of us. I am making a presentation to the NMFS in Portsmouth, NH today. I am going to try and up load it to this site for all of you to read. We should have the results by mid Feb. Here it is.

I am Bill Wagner and have been a charter boat captain for 35 years currently operating out of Portsmouth NH. I am here to speak on behalf of the charter fleet from Portsmouth, Rye, Hampton and Newburyport.

14 years ago the commercial fisheries got slammed pretty hard with new restrictions on how many fish they could catch. Each year thereafter they have had more restrictions placed on them. Different programs aimed at cutting the number of fish to be harvested. Days at sea, rolling closures, mesh sizes and number of permits are just a few of the many restrictions that have been placed on the commercial sector by the NMFS. They were being impacted economically so the Government established buy out programs. From 1996 to 1998 a federal buyout program was enacted for the commercial sector. This program was for $25 million dollars and removed 79 vessels from the ground fishery. Then it was determined the permits that were still left would outpace the rebuilding of the fish stocks and another $10 million dollars was appropriated to buy these permits. Then on May 23, 2008 $12.7 million was approved by NOAA to aid the Massachusetts Ground fishermen. During 2010 there was a program designed to aid the commercial fishermen to upgrade their engines. I am not sure if there were any other buyouts during this time period but I believe there were. This was all in an effort to slow the pace the ground fish being harvested.

At the same time the Charter and recreational sector were being handed new rules to fish by. Size increases for cod and haddock with smaller bag limits. Year after year new restrictions and new closures were added. At one time the charter and recreational sector had 10 cod at 19 inches, and then it went to 22 inches, then 24 inches. During this time period we had haddock at 18 inches, then 19 inches. Then we had a combination of 10 cod/haddock with a 23 inch size limit on both species. From there, we had 10 cod at 24 inches and 10 haddock at 22 inches. About 5 years ago NMFS decided to make haddock unlimited. Yes, unlimited for both the commercial sector and the charter and recreational sector. The haddock stocks were just beginning to rebound significantly from where they were a few years back. I asked a question at a NMFS meeting a few years ago “Do you realize that an unlimited catch of haddock will allow greed to take over from both the Charter and the Recreational sector and the commercial sector? Are you aware how many fish that will be on most of the head boats? It will be 30 to 40 haddock pp. This is greed and we should leave the 10 fish pp on the books”. That was rejected and we were allowed to catch as many haddock as we wanted. I have to ask myself if the science and data of the NMFS that gave us a 10 cod and 10 haddock pp limit, is the same science and data collection that allowed us to have all the haddock we wanted and now this same science is telling us that only 9 haddock pp at 19 inches or closing down the GOM to protect the cod is the correct answer.

Fishing reports and data collection has always been a problem for NMFS. Data is collected and summarized by the statisticians, placed on charts and graphs. This data is tabulated then etched in concrete never to be changed. Disputed, but always will remain the data. Right or wrong, still a graph and a chart that remains etched in concrete. One cannot make decisions with bad data. The commercial catch is reported in pounds. All your data is calculated in pounds, not in numbers of fish. Our fish reports are in quantity caught, not pounds, and you never asked to have them reported in pounds. I remember proposing at a NMFS meeting several years back “that the Charter sector’s daily fish reports be changed to show pounds and not quantity”. I was told that NMFS does not use the vessel trip reports (vtrs) to accumulate data about the charter boat sector. That was hard to believe. We have been filling out VTRs for 14 years and no one uses this data. What reason would anyone at NMFS have to not use pertinent data direct from the charter boat sector? Our VTR’S were not being used for anything more than to show we went fishing. Keep in mind, these reports must be sent into NMFS each week or lose your right to fish in the GOM. The report has a lot of information on it that is very useful for data collection and calculating the fish being caught by the Charter Sector. The date and time we left the port, the number of anglers, how many hooks used, the amount of time spent fishing, the number of fish caught and discarded by species, time we came back to port, what port we docked at, then signed and dated. This report has 6 copies to it. NMFS and the statisticians have developed a way to either work around our reports or extrapolate our #s to pounds. Whether it is right or wrong it ends up on charts and graphs. Trawl surveys, dock surveys and telephone calls add up to what? Data! Yes data! Right or wrong data is put together placed on charts and graphs then etched in concrete never to be changed but always challenged. Science that allows us to have cod at 19 inches, then 22 inches, then 24 inches, 10 cod then 5 or maybe 3 or maybe close it down. Haddock at 18 inches, then unlimited, then 9 at 19 inches. This has gone on for 14 years and the fish stocks, according to NMFS, keep getting worse. What could be going wrong? Closure after closure, restriction after restriction and NMFS and NOAA are still trying to do something else to sustain the fishery in the GOM. How good can the science be?

The next big problem we all face, whether we fish the Gulf of Maine or not, are the increasing dogfish stocks. Several years back the commercial sector had no limit on the amount of spiny dogfish they could land. It was a wide open fishery. This is when the fleet was at 100 %. Then data collection and science determined that the spiny dogfish were endangered and being over fished. The fleet has been down sized to around 30 to 40% of what it was. Along came limits on the spiny dogs of 1000 lbs per day, per boat. This went on for about 2 years. This past season it was a 3000 lb per day per boat. Both years had TACs attached to them. NMFS has always said Spiny dogs only come to the Jefferies to breed . This is totally false. They are all the way down in NJ, Conn, RI, Mass, here in NH and Maine and up in Nova Scotia all at the same time. Science that says dog fish are slow to grow and do not have a lot of young. Many of the larger females, 3 ½ to 4 footers have 8 to 12 pups ready to go as soon as they are born. This past year the charter fleet caught more dogfish then they have ever seen. From the beginning of the season to the end there were days when it was impossible to get away from the dogs. That equals one very large school of ravenous eating killing machines. What a bio mass we have allowed to populate in the GOM. With the commercial fleet down sized to 30% of what it used to be, they can never catch enough dogs to bring the population down to a manageable level. Whether it is a Pollock, Cod or Haddock, it is going to be eaten. Our common sense tells us that this has an effect on the cod and haddock stocks. Are there any models that account for the ravenous appetite of the spiny dogfish? Can anyone predict the amount of cod or haddock these fish can consume in a year? Do they eat just the small fry or the adults or both? How large of a stock will they become? Is this the same science that says the dogfish are endangered? Is this the same science that does not realize the spiny dog fish may take over the grounds and become the dominant spices in the GOM? It is time to step out of your offices and get out on the ocean and see what we see each and every day.

The next area of concern as we see it is the mid-water trawlers. By the end of May the draggers are positioned on the Jefferies ledge ready to scoop up herring, which is so important to the rebuilding of the fish stocks. After the draggers are done cleaning the Jefferies Ledge from the tip of Cape Ann to the northern end of the Jefferies, we the charter boat sector, cannot find any cod or haddock to catch for at least 3 weeks. The ledge has been shocked by the relentless pounding night and day by the draggers. We cannot locate any bait balls, krill or schools of cod or haddock that were there just a few weeks before. It is a travesty to see the amount of devastation exerted on the Jefferies Ledge in that short period of time. You cannot increase the fish stocks without having an ample supply of food to sustain these stocks. This would be an eye opening experience for anyone on the council to see. This would be first hand information that would allow you to see what we experience.

A few years ago there were observers placed on the mid-water trawlers. During that time these boats never went on the Jefferies Ledge to trawl for herring. The conclusion of the observers was the herring fleet only has one half of one percent of by catch. The next year, no observers on their vessel… they were back to their old ways dragging the ledge. Our common sense says this has to have an impact on the fish stocks. What we see after these trawlers are done is despicable. Are there any models that factor in these mid-water trawlers? Is it just a mere coincident that we cannot locate the cod, haddock and pollock after they are finished cleaning the ledge? We truly feel this is a serious factor to the rebuilding of the cod and haddock stocks. NMFS and NOAA need to take a harder look at what is occurring on the ledge by the mid-water trawlers based on our experience.

We have listened for 14 years and have done all that was asked in hopes that it would get better. The only change we see is more restrictions or should we use the term “business as usual by the NMFS and NOAA”? The proposal of 5 cod or 3 cod pp will bring the charter fleet to a sudden stop with the public. The proposal to close down the GOM will devastate the entire Northern charter boat fleet. Close down the GOM for a year or 2 or 3 and that will put the Northeast charter fleet out of business, much like the original rules placed on the commercial fisherman. Some of us were looking forward to retiring in the next 5 years and our boat(s) and our fishing business have always been our IRA. This is where our retirement fund was to come from. Now we may be faced with a pending disaster of not having any income along with no retirement to plan on. We will be impacted economically. If we lose our right to make a living then the NMFS and NOAA need to have in place a buyout program for the charter fleet here in the northeast.

Now is the time to use common sense to solve this problem. We need to start looking to those directly involved with this fishery and collect real data that we can make real solid decisions with. Let’s stop trying to make numbers into graphs and charts that all look cute. This is not a story book we are putting together for the elementary schools but data that will affect our lives and greatly impact our future. This is real life and it needs real data to make accurate decisions so we can formulate real solutions to solve this problem. Working hand and hand with the charter fleet and the commercial fleet to collect fishing data on a daily basis. Using our VTRs for accumulating data will show all involved what is actually being caught.

We all are aware of the trawl surveys that were conducted to make an assessment of the Cod stocks and we all know the boat was not set up properly and did an ineffective job of trawling for these cod. Instead of the government making experimental tows to check for cod stocks they should use the people in the know. The ones that have a lifetime of fishing experience to perform these trawl assessments. These are the guys who know how it has to be done and where to go. Why haven’t we used these experts in the past? It is only prudent to listen to those on the front line and re-do the assessment of the cod stocks with people that know what they are doing. NMFS and NOAA need to hire the most experienced fishermen that are available and do it right.

We do not see a collapsing cod stock as being portrayed by NMFS and NOAA. We challenge your data and the way it was collected. We feel we are being set up to be put out of business by the environmentalist and Jane (lube chenko) Lubchenco, ecologist (aka environmentalist), appointed by Brach Obama to be the head of NOAA. With that kind of information in our hands how can we think anything else?

1/9/12: Congratulations to Todd he is now a new captain. He will be working as a mate and as a captain throughout the season. He will make a fine captain. I look forward to letting him take the wheel and Matt to be the mate as I sit back and fish.

Lots going on with the Lady Patricia. Both turbos back from the rebuild shop, they look brand new, the after cooler is almost cleaned out (presently at the radiator shop) and the fuel injectors are rebuilt. New oil pan gasket going on, valves to be adjusted and I am presently working on the shaft system trying to get it perfect. All the bildge pumps are out and I am working on making them go through the entire season with out failling. Not an easy task. I should have it all back together before we sail in April. That's why I start working on all the projects now and not in the spring.

1/4/12: The calender is now up and running. When you look at the calender you will see dates that have "open boat" on different days. These are the dates that are set aside for walk on trips. You must make resevations prior to the day. These work like a head boat. We take only 12 people on these trips. Any day on the calander that is not marked is available for private charter. There are new rule changes for fishing this year 2012. Right now there is a proposal for a limit on haddock of 9 pp. Not sure what they plan to do with the cod fish. I will update as soon as I find out.

12/17/11: The customer comment section is up and running. Send your comments to my e-mail at the bottom of my web site and they will be posted.

12/15/11: THE OPEN BOAT SCHEDULE IS NOW POSTED ON THE 2012 CALANDER!!! We will be running till October 28, 2012. Any date on the calander that is not filled in is available for your private charter. You may start booking when ever you are ready. Prices will be the same as last year. No changes! Deposits are still $500 on private charters and the open boat seats are $130 each. Remember you can do a roll over deposit on the open boats. If you are not familiar with the roll over just ask. Mailer will be out by mid January 2012.

12/8/11: Not a lot of fishing to talk about, but hunting was excellent. I bagged a very nice 10 pointer in Canada.

Lots going on with the boat and the most important change is our location. This year we will be operating from Rye Harbor, Rye , NH. The good news is we will be 2 minutes to the open ocean which means more fishing time for you. Parking will be collected by the state and it will be only $5 per car instead of $10. Our prices will remain as they were last year, $130 for the 10 hr open boat, $1500 for the 10 hr private for up to 12 people and $1700 for the 12 hr marathon for up to 12 people. I will have more soon.

10/13/11: I have to eat my words about the next five days. I have cancelled the next 3 days due to excessive high winds on the ocean. More later

10/9/11: WOW!!!! We killed them all day long. Everywhere we went we killed them. They ranged from 2 pounds to the extra large variety of 12 pounds. All you could catch, some two at a time. What a day it was. I would say this was the worst day I have had all year. DOGS, DOGS and more DOGS!!!! I traveled over 10 miles from where I started to try and get out of them. I went deep to 450 ft on the west side of the ledge, up in the middle at 200 feet and to the east side of the ledge. It did not make a difference. I sure hope they are gone before Wednesday.

10/8/11: Great day on the ocean. Weather was unbelievable for the second week in October. Fishing was spot on all day. First drift was almost 2 hrs long and we caught haddock (these were the large variety), cod a few pollock and cusk. Repeated the same drift three more times, not as long however. Then it started to slow down and we were looking for something to bite. I went out to deep water (389ft to 420ft) just on a hunch and bamm!! There were the pollock. Hard to see on the fish finder but they were hungry. We pounded on them for over 2 hours. All running from 12 to 17 pounds. No blue sharks were found. Yesterday right in this same spot you could not even bring a fish up with out a blue dog snagging it. Every day is a different challenge. Six more trips before the end of the season. Thursday October 13, has 5 seats left. That is all that is available. More later!!

10/7/11: Back at it today. Fishing started out very good in the first couple of stops. Then they were real picky until the last part of the day. Blue sharks killed us on our first stop. They were eating all our pollock on the way up. As many as 4 people hoooked up at a time on blue dogs. The dog fish were every where we went. By the end of the day we ended up OK for the trip. Excellent weather and almost flat calm seas. More later!

9/30/11: Check out the schedule. Only a few seats left 10/5 has 5 seats, 10/12 has 5 seats, 10/13 has 9 seats, 10/14 has 5 seats, and 10/15 has 2 seats. That is it. Grab them before the season ends.

9/28/11: A great day fishing and catching today. I started out with the intention to clobber the pollock and all I found was dogs. I mean lots of them. So we moved a few miles and let the lines fly. Well it ended up being a very good day catching nice market cod to 15 lbs and a lot of haddock with a few cusk mixed in. We caught a bunch of dog fish around 100 or more. We just fished through them all day. Made 4 drifts for the entire trip. Not one blue shark was sighted. Seems like when the blue dogs are patroling the ledge the dogs leave. The blue dogs do dine on those tasty dog fish. At least something does. Most every one had 15 fish or more except one guy, ( Jay O), had four. He has the largest cod for the year at 43 lbs but yesterday was not his day. Next time use haddock bait and not dog fish bait. Off for a few then back at it Sat and Sun.

9/26/11: It was a very nice day on the Jefferies Ledge with flat calm seas, bright sun shine and no drift. We picked all day long. There was never a time that it was a fast paced pick. One here, one there. We moved about 10 times searching and could only find a few every where we went. Some had ten or more and others had 4 or 5. Mostly haddock with a 14lb cod winning the pool. Blue sharks grabbed about 15 fish on the way up. Not to may dogs, about 30 or so. Water temp is still 64 deg. It is fishing like August not the end of September.

9/25/11: Pollock slam!!! We hit the pollock hard today. These fish were freight trains. Most running 15 to 16 pounds and some in the 20 pound class. We had a few haddock and about 20 market cod along with a hand full of cusk. Before I moved to the sceret spot for pollock we tried a few stops along the way. On the second stop Paul hooks into a tuna about 30 feet down. It nailed his jig and away it went. I had everyone reel up so we could chase it down. Well to make a long story short his line cut deep into the spool after a short battle and the line could no longer go out. That ended that. Not to long after that on spot 3 he hooks up again. He was out gunned with this one. That big tuna was not going to slow down with that little peen 113H. The reel was heating up fast. Bye, Bye tuna!!! He lives for another day. A great day on the ocean and a great group of guys. Thanks!

9/24/11: Not a bad day on the fishing grounds. Everyone caught haddock, cod, pollock and cusk. Haddock again out numbered all the other fish. We fought 2 blue sharks, one was 11 feet 10 inches and the other was 10 feet 11 inches. The 11 footer was 54 inches in girth. The weight on this shark had to be 400lbs or more. This was one of the larger blue sharks I have ever seen. A real monster. No Les there was no jig in his mouth. A great day for everyone aboard.

9/23/11: Slow picking all day long. Blue sharks every where!!! Not a lot of dogs. The weather was foggy, no wind, flat calm sea conditions and no rain. It was hard to get moving accross the ledge. Tony was high hook with 14 fish (haddock, a cod and a few cusk). The haddock we did catch were of the large size but the bite never took off. Whitey was the pool winner with his 14 lb cod. He pulled that one out of his hat for sure. More later

9/22/11: Weather was much better than expected when we arrived on the fishing grounds. Light winds and very little rain all day. Fishing on our first stop was excellent for haddock, about an hour drift, but that did not last long. The fish just shut off. I think it was a tide swing between high and low tide. Fishing got better as the afternoon approached and I must say at the end it was very good. Everyone had lots of haddock, some nice cod, a few pollock and a couple of cusk. Most of the haddock were of the large to extra large size. There were some dog fish around but nothing we could not deal with. The blue sharks were hungry and had a few nice haddock for lunch. More later!

9/21/11: Great morning bite on the haddock. Everything shut off around noon time. The first 4 hours was excellent for haddock. The wind died out, the sun was bright and the seas were flat. Yes one heck of a nice day on the ledge. More later.

9/19/11: Haddock again. Tough morning due to the tides. Drifting was almost impossible and power drifting against a N/E wind was just not going to happen. I did try but just could not get it together. I moved up toward the north about 6 miles and every thing changed for the better. We pounded on large haddock for the rest of the day. I was fishing for a while and ended up with 4 double haddock hook ups. I am just a professional trained killer. A few dogs in the deeper water and some blue dog action to keep the day interesting. Not sure how long this will keep up but I am not complaining. Only a few more trips left for the season. October 16 is our last trip for the 2011 season. More later.

9/18/11: Haddock, haddock and haddock. Excellent day catching haddock. Lots of 8 and 9 pounders brought over the rails. There were a few cod and cusk, but way behind the haddock count. A few dog fish and some blue shark action. Nothing that stopped us from fishing. Drift was tough at midday so power drifting was the ticket. Great trip Rob!! Glad we could be part of your day.

9/16 & 9/17/11: Fishing has been very good the last 2 trips with haddock being the king for the day. Friday's weather was a little bumpy with winds blowing out of the N/W at 20 to 25 knots and seas at 6ft. Fishing was very good until the tide changed in the late afternoon when we had a difficult time getting our lines to the bottom. Those that could, did very well. Saturday was as good as Friday until midday when again the tide gave us a run for our money. We ended the day strong. Medium to large haddock ruled the trip. More later.

9/15/11: Fishing on Thursday was very good. We started out catching pollock on the northern end of the Jefferies and had made 2 drifts when in the distance I see a BIG BAD HEAD BOAT coming my way. "Hey are you on the chute?" asked the captain on the big boat. "Why yes I am Capt. We are just fininshing up our 2nd drift." I then pulled the chute back in to reset. "Oh look the BIG BAD HEAD BOAT is dropping his big bad anchor" I said to the customers. "Throw the chute out Todd" I shouted. We are now drifting and catching pollock and the other dummy is still falling back on his anchor. Next thing you know captain dummy's boat is swinging over toward our chute. BAMM! The dummy's boat is now causing my chute to go under his boat. I did end up with a few jigs once we pulled our chute back in. I dumped around 40 pollock racks in just before we left the hot spot to allow the blue sharks to finish the job. The outcome was the BIG BAD BLUE SHARKS WON THE BATTLE with the big bad head boat! We did end the day very good. I traveled north to catch more pollock which we did very well with, then settled in for an excellent haddock bite. The high hook for the day was Candy. She out fished everyone, even Todd and I. She used bait all day and did very well with the haddock and pollock. She also out fished her side-kick Rick, 2 to 1. Nice job Candy.

9/13/11: The weather was exellent, the drift was the best it gets but the fishing was slow. We had 60 fish for 10 people. Only one pollock in the box for the entire trip. Haddock ruled the day with cusk and cod in second place. We battled a pretty big fish for 30 minutes and lost it right at about 30 feet from the top. Les Paul had this fish on from the bottom on a jig. I marked the fish 3 times on the machine and it was not a shark nor was it a tuna. This fish never ran anywhere. It only wanted to go back down to the bottom. I had seen it at the top just before we broke off and it was flat and brown. It could have been nothing else but a very nice halibut. This would have been our 4th for this year but it was not going to happen. I guess that is what keeps us coming back for more. Nice job Les. We will get it next time. Linda Paul also had a battle for just a short while with a small fish that she caught from the bottom and then it just took off like a rocket. No idea what it was but it had some steam to it. The Blue sharks are real hungry. They love jigs and lead weights. We lost several fish to the Blue Dogs. The dog fish were not bad but still present. More later.

9/11/11: Friday was good. Most everyone had a fair amount of haddock and cod for the day. Some did poor. Jay I will not mention your name. Saturday's weather was a bit on the rough side in the morning but ended up being nice at days end. Haddock were the main course for everybody. You boys ended up with some nice bags of fish for the day. Sunday was a bit tougher. The seas were flat, it was bright sun shine all day and the dog fish were a pain. Lots of dogs in the deep water and lots of blue sharks in the shallows. We ended the day with around 80 fish for 12 guys.

9/8/11: Fishing remains good. Sunday was better than good with lots of big haddock. Most everyone had 15 to 20 haddock by days end. Tuesday was a good day with a mix of cod and haddock but not as good as Sunday. Wed was very good for most everyone. Les caught a halibut, but it was just a little short to keep. Lots of pollock then cod and a splash of haddock. The Blue Sharks were relentless!!! Thurs was excellent with over 1100 lbs of pollock for 10 guys with some haddock and a few cod mixed in. The weather has been better than expected. If you have a scheduled trip and the weather looks questionable out your window trust that if I feel your day poses a safety hazard I will make a call to cancel the trip, otherwise we will be sailing out to the fishing grounds.

8/31/11: We are back fishing after a nice vacation. Tuesday was good day for haddock and cod with a few dogs mixed in. Wednesday was slowwwww! Tough day on the water for us. We did manage to catch a 41 pound cod but they were few and far between. Some haddock some pollock and yes cusk. Then there were the dogs. Never a slow bite for the dogs. They bite all day and never seem to get thinned out. Out again on Sunday then it gets busy again. More later. A picture of Duc holding his 41 pound cod. Nice fish Duc.

8/13 & 14: Both days were good to very good. Nice cod, pollock and haddock. There were a few dogs on Saturday but none on Sunday. Good weather and good seas. On Sunday we had the opportunity to see two Right whales breeding. What a sight. All the years that I have been on the water I have never had the pleasure to see this. We watched them for about 20 minutes. Great trip. No reports for a week. Will be on vacation for 9 days. See ya later.

8/11/11: NO DOGS? That's right we had no dogs today. Not sure how that happened but it did. Fishing was tough due to the tides in the AM, but settled down mid morning and the fishing was good for the rest of the day. Not bad for the middle of August. We caught 68 fish for the day with 12 anglers. Nice cod, pollock and haddock.

8/8/11: Tough fishing today. Lots of dogs. I went 10 miles north from where I started to get out of the hounds. Still found a few but not as bad. Fishing was pollock, cod and haddock but not in any great numbers.

8/6/11: The week ended up OK. The hardest part of the day is trying to get the lines down to the bottom. The tides are running hard. The dog fish are still a big part of our day. Trying to run from them makes it difficult. Cod, haddock and pollock with some cusk mixed in makes it a day of catching. Out 5 days next week. More later.

7/31/11: The fishing was not to bad for Saturday and Sunday. We ended up OK for both days. Keeping in mind that we are in August and the ocean is flat calm with bright sun shine and water temps up to 69 deg. That does not make for great fishing. The tides have been just crazy the entire week. I have had to motor drift every day in order to catch fish. Haddock, cod and pollock have been on the catch list along with the dog fish. We did fish around the dogs and held our own to make it two good days. They were not excellent but good.

7/29/11: Fishing on the open boat trip 7/27/11 was a bit tough. The tide was strong making it hard to set up the drift and the dogs were everywhere. I moved almost 10 miles south of where I started just to get out of them. Everybody caught fish to take home. Some had 4 and others had 7. It was hard fishing. Yesterday I took a chance and moved north on the ledge and it turned out excellent. Still had some dogs and the drift was hard all day long, but we ended the day strong. Some cod and haddock and a few hake. Pollock ruled the day. At times it was a fish a drop. All bait,no jigs. Great day for Seppala Construction crew. Thanks guys.

7/26/11: We have fished for the last 5 days and it has been good to very good each day. There were no dogs until today. At the end of the day the dogs got to be a pain. We were catching haddock in between the dogs. Not sure how, but we did. Nice market cod up to 17 pounds and some haddock tipping the scales at 10 pounds. Will be out fishing for the next 5 days as well, so... More later.

My web site will be going through some changes in the next couple of weeks. One thing I am excited about is the Customer Comment page. You will be able to tell everyone about your day with Captain Bill aboard the Lady Patricia. As you know, when we make fish reports, they really are just what you did for the day. There are no bull reports.

7/19/11: Cashes Ledge trip was as good as it can get. We arrived on the fishing grounds ay 5:30 AM and started to fish right away. A few were caught but not enough to keep my interest. We moved toward Amen rock and began fishing in 120 ft of water. We never fished deeper than that all day. We fished in 80 feet also. It was a fish a cast and some times 3 depending on how many hooks you had. I took off the flies and went with just a jig. It was flat calm seas on the way out and flat calm on the way in. We did not catch any fish over 20 pounds, but we did catch a lot of fish. There were 7 of us fishing we filled nine 150 quart coolers with fish. A good mix of cod and pollock with only a few haddock. By the end of the trip we had 900 pounds of filets. What a heck of a trip. All were burnt out by days end. Thanks.

7/16/11: Fishing has changed since summer arrived and the water has warmed to 62 deg. The dogs have moved out to parts unknow and we are not sad about their leaving. Still catching a mixed bag of cod, haddock and pollock. Spotted our first blue shark of the season the other day. During July and August we are not out every day. I will do weekly reports until the fall.

7/10/11: Todds trip was a slam dunk. We reached the cod limit and had pollock and haddock mixed in. I started on the Ledge first but found to many dogs so we packed it up and went another 18 miles. It was well worth the ride. The last 2 days on the ledge have been tough. We set up catch a few fish then the dogs move in. Does not matter if you are deep or shallow, jigs or bait. The dogs are crazy. By the end of the day we end up ok, but a lot of work trying to avoid the dogs. BYE BYE DOGS!!!!

7/6/11; The fishing has been slow for the last couple of trips and the dogs are running strong. Great weather and nice sea conditions. We are going to Platts on friday for Todd's birthday trip. More later.

7/2/11: Not to bad of a day. We end up OK by days end. Mostly market cod a good number of haddock and a few pollock. No one wanted to catch pollock, just cod and haddock. That is a tall order after what we did the day before. Well we avoided any of the pollock spots and headed out to the cod and haddock grounds. I think they are the same places. Well the pool winner was a 20 pound POLLOCK. Sorry guys for the mix up. Yes, we had to deal with the dogs also.

7/1/11: A pollock slam like the fall. You should have been there. What a day you had. Flat calm seas, warm weather and blue skies. Some cod and no haddock. Just a few dogs. They jigged all day. It was a fish a cast. Drop down and hook up. Wow! Hope all the fish is now frozen. Thanks for a great day.

6/29/11: The fishing was again good to very good. For the jig fisherman it was very good. Mostly market cod all 12 to 15 pounds, with pollock following close behind. Some of the larger pollock we have seen in a while. We caught 22 haddock for the day. The pool winner was a 16 pound pollock and second place was a 15 pound cod. Nice job Les you beat Linda again. Enjoy your blizzard.The dog fish were there and we caught about 35 or so. Not as bad as I thought it was going to be. Foggy all day and calm seas.

6/28/11: The past couple of days have been good fishing for most everyone on the boat and for a few they have been excellent. On Mondays open boat, John won the pool with an 18 pound cod and had high hook with 30 keepers. It was a tough day to fish. John was in the groove and was swinging a jig all day. He worked extremely hard to get his catch. Yesterday the Workmens Club from Manchester had an excellent day. Everyone had 7 or more keepers with the high hook, ROBO at 30 keepers. Yes that is correct 30 keepers. He wanted to beat John from yesterday. They are good friends and Robo is my brother-in-law. He did not win the boat pool, Patty did with a 14 pound cod. There were a lot of 12 and 13 pounders but none over 14. Thanks for a great day ladies and you guys too. The dog fish are out in numbers and we have to work hard to stay out of them. We caught over 50 each day. What a pain they are.

6/26/11: Excellent morning and a fair afternoon. Mostly cod with pollock and haddock mixed in. All nice market cod up to 24lbs. Here are a few of the pictures of my fish finder. This is from a few weeks ago. I just now managed to get them down loaded. I added in the little bird friend from a week ago and a recent HALIBUT picsture. Nice job Craig. You were a master at fighting that monster.

6/25/11: Fishing still remains good to very good. Lots of market cod, pollock and some hadock. The dogs have backed off.

6/21/11: Fishing has remained good to very good. Nice market cod have been fairly steady with some nice haddock and pollock mixed in. The dog fish have arrived and some days they are a bit of a problem. We work hard to stay away from these ticks of the ocean. More later.

6/14/11: Fishing was great. Everyone had a blast (except for 2). Caught fish all day long and did only 3 drifts for the day. Lots of nice cod 7 to 15 pounds and plenty of haddock a few pollock and cusk. Only 8 dogs for the day. Rough weather and cold but very good fishing.

6/11/11: Great day fishing. They caught fish all day long. There were 2 times during the day that I would call excellent. Once in the morning when the haddock bite was as good as it gets for almost 2 hours. Then once in the afternoon for 1 1/2 hours the cod were coming up faster then we could get them off the hook and in the cooler. Thanks Dave for a great day. Cancelled today due to weather and off tomorrow.

6/10/11: Overcast skies, light wind and a cool breeze all made for a good day fishing. The drift in the morning was tough, but once I got it figured out all went well. Most fish caught were cod followed by haddock then pollock. Everyone had a very good day catching fish. Some depths down to 400 ft. Great day for all. Thanks.

6/8/11: Great day fishing. We caught fish all day long. Lots of cod , haddock and pollock. All nice market cod a lot in the 10 to 12 pound range. The pollock were big and hungry. Weather was a killer. Hot, flat and sunny. I never thought it would fish that good.

6/6/11: The weather was the best it gets. Flat calm seas, bright sun shine and warm. A day that is tough for fishing. Well, that was not the case. Everyone on the open boat charter caught fish. The bite in the morning was good with cod and haddock coming in on a one two pic. That added up after a few hours. Then we made a move to deeper water and landed on a bait ball of hering that was 200 feet thick. If I get a chance I will take a picture of the fish finder when I see this again. Everyone dropped down and we were into nice market cod up to 15 pounds. After that we did 2 drifts for the rest of the day and ended up with a very good fishing day.

6/5/11: The last 3 days have been good to very good. On Friday it was very good in the morning till about 11.00 am then it came back for the afternoon with lots of cod and haddock with some pollock and cusk mixed in. Saturday was tough in the AM but we recovered nicely by the afternoon. Nice market cod and very nice haddock. Sunday was a pick through out the day until the afternoon and then it was slow. The tide still playing a part in the fishing. It is moving fairly fast at times and makes it difficult to drift and hold the bottom.

6/2/11 Fishing was good to very good. Lots of fish being caught by everyone. High hook with 27 keepers also won the boat pool. Nice job Bruce! Weather and tide are still a pain. The tide is running hard and has made it difficult to drift with the shute. Then the wind came on a little strong. We motor drifited all day long and it worked just fine. On the way home the wind was cranking at 30+ knots from the west north west all the way to port. When we hit the dock we really could feel the BREEZE!

6/1/11: Ouch! The weather turned nasty by mid morning making it difficult to move around. The lighting show was spectacular and the wind houled at 30+ knots by mid morning. The fishing was crappy. I would have thouht that it was going to be great, given the S/W winds and over cast skies, but that was not the case. The fish were not on the feed. The crew fished all day dispite the rough conditions. You guys are a solid group. Thanks for the effort. PS: Everyone on that trip gets a $50 credit toward another trip during this season.

5/31/11: The fishing was good for the entire day. The first stop was very good and started us off with a bang. Nice cod and pollock. The last stop of the day was very good with a complete mix of cod, haddock and pollock. Great weather all day with flat seas. Bait and jigs all did well.

5/29/11: Same as yesterday. For about 2 hours it was excellent. Lots of fish being caught with a lot to short to keep.

5/28/11: Haddock were the catch of the day. Not a slam just a pic for the entire day. Tough drifiting and foggy. All bait no jigs and shallow water 180 to 200 ft.

5/27/11: Today was our best big fish keep day of the season. Lots of nice cod and big pollock. The pictures should finish the story. All jigs no bait and deep water over 375 ft.

5/26/11: Fishing was good. Cod haddock and pollock in that order. Ended the day with a strong bite. Wind increased and the fog came back in and it was COLD!

5/23/11: Fishing was EXCELLENT!!! Pollock, cod and haddock in that order. High hook Shawn had over 30 keepers with Les right behind him. Les's haddock was 32'' long. WOW! Enjoy the pics

5/22/11: Good day on haddock, cod and pollock in that order. Some nice 2 to 3 lb reds also. One seat has opened up on this Wednesday. Get it now.

5/21/11: Excellent pollock fishing and a good haddock bite later in the day with some nice cod mixed in. Seas were flat calm with fog all day. Fred had a great day winning the pool with a nice 34 pound cod. The other picture is of the Tracy Ann and Tontine. You can see Captain Pat looking for fish from the bow of his boat.

5/20/11: Fishing was good to fair. Calm seas with fog all day. We just could not get a slam going. Everyone caught fish but nothing like yesterday.

5/18/11: The fishing was again very good. Lots of haddock a good amount of cod and pollock a few cusk and some reds mixed in. The pool winner was a 16 lb cod caught by Ching. He was high hook with 26 keepers mostly haddock. I will post the picture as soon as I remember to bring the camera home. Weather going out was bumpy but not as bad as yesterday. Seas on the ground were 4 to 5 foot bumps every where with pea soup fog. No rain all day and only one person down. Out today more rainnnnnn and fogggggg.

5/17/11: Finished up the Coast Guard inspection Tuesday with no problems. Went out fishing yesterday. The weather was just miserable. We had it all rain, wind (n/e) at 20 to 25 knots and very cold. Tried to drift but it was just to much angle on the lines. I motor drifted for the entire trip. Fishing was very good for one group of 8 hardy fisherman. They did excellent on haddock about 30 cod 3 pollock and 6 reds. Two were down for the count and one other angler did OK with eight fish. Out again today. Forecast is rainnnnnnnn and more wind. Later!

5/15/11: It was a slow Saturday. We went up to the North and found nothing. Made a big loop back to the south and found a nest of hungry cod and a few haddock. It was a lot of moving for what we got out of it. Sunday was very good fishing and the weather stayed OK. No rain until the end of the day. Excellent haddock fishing with lots of 4 to 9 lb haddock.

5/13/11: Thursday was good fishing with lots of nice haddock and cod for the coolers. Friday was OK. A slow pick on haddock and cod. A seat has opened up for Tuesday 5/17/11. First to, mcall gets it.

5/11/11: Back out tomorrow. It might still might be a bumpy ride, but out we go. More later.

5/9/11: Cancelled Monday today due to high N/E winds. Looking out side it sure looks great. Saturday's fishing was very good. We ended up with a haddock slam and most of them were 5 to 6 lbs. We had 33 cod some pollock and reds. Great day Toby glad we could do it. Sunday was slower for sure. Weather was sloppy with winds out of the N/E. Haddock was the catch of the day, just under 40 for the day, 15 cod a red and some cusk. More later.

5/6/11: I changed the dates to read correctly. Thanks Mr. Quimby! Excellent day today! Great weather and lots of cod all morning till about 12:30, then the switch went off. Nice cod some pollock, haddock red fish and cusk. Pool winner 34 lb cod 42" long by Ron Robbins and Gary Quimby came in second with a 27 lb cod and 42" long. Lots of 14 and 16 pounders. Not the boat limit but close. Fishing at 400ft deep (wow). Tomorrow is another day and a marathon. I will post the pictures if I remember my camera tomorrow. Both fish were 42 inches long.

5/5/11: Cold and a little windy but good haddock fishing with some cod mixed in. Very good day fishing and keeping.

5/4/11: Foggy and seas up to 8ft most of the day. Fishing was excellent right up to 12:30. We were 4 fish short of our limit on cod. It was all cod, except for 1 pollock and 1 red fish. Pool fish was 16lbs. Three anglers down due to sea sickness.

5/3/11: I have added May 18 as an open day. All of May is booked up except for a few days that have one seat available. May 31 has 10 seats available. June is filling fast also. The fishing is starting to get hot. It will not be long for that cod slam we had last year. Out all week starting today. Reports will happen when I can do them. As of now we do have a $10 fuel surcharge on each person and $100 for all private trips.

5/2/11:Weather was fantastic and the fishing was steady. We caught fish all day from cod to reds and then back to cod. We had to pick through the cod but by days end they had a nice bunch of fish. Only 2 haddock for the day. Not sure where all the haddock are hiding but we will find them. If Obama can find Bin Laden we can find the haddock. Obama=One Big Ass Mistake America.

5/1/11: Saturday was a slow day. About 30 cod and 8 haddock with some cusk and reds mixed in. Sunday was a very good day for cod. Only 2 haddock and a bunch of reds. Pool fish was 15 lb cod, most were running 5 to 8 lbs. Some guys approached their limit of. Great day. More later.

4/29/11: Fridays fishing was good overall. A few of the boys managed to hook some BIG ONES. Jay did it again winning the pool with a 43 lb 52 inch cod followed by Paul with 2 nice cod weighing in at 33 lbs 42 inches and a 23 lb cod 32 inches long. Nice job guys. I also included the haddock pictures from a few days ago. Back at it today. Weather is looking great.

4/28/11: Tuesday was slower than Monday's trip. I had the same group on for both days. It was a tough 2 days. Then comes Wednesday. Fishing was as good as it gets. 10 anglers all had 10 cod each, that is the Federal limit, and at least 2 to 5 haddock a piece. Add in a bunch of red fish and some nice cusk and you have a perfect day. The fish were bitting all day. At one point in the day it was 2 cod at a time for all the anglers and some were double keepers. Pool fish was 18lbs. Not out today due to weather. Out the next 5 days. Lets see what happens.

4/26/11: We ended last week OK. The weather has been just horrible. This week is starting out slow. Monday's trip did not catch a lot of fish. We had 28 fish not including reds. I went everywhere and they just did not want to bite. It is tough when you see them on the fish finder and you just can not catch them. Well, on to Tuesday and the rest of the week. It will get better!

4/19/11: UPDATE: I am not going to post reports every day after each trip, rather give an overview of the week. Today, however, I am making an exception. Today was excellent fishing and excellent catching. We had 10 fisherman and high hook was 17, low hook 9. I would say 80% were cod all 6 to 9 lbs. The pool was 9lbs and we had a lot at that weight. One haddock weighed 8lbs. I will have a picture later. We also had 67 red fish to add to the catch. More later!!!!

4/18/11: UPDATE!!!! The word for the day is WEATHER! Looking at the weather reports Tuesday might be the only day we get out this week. Cancelled Today. OK back to sleep!

4/16/11: Our first official trip of the season. I went south for the first part of the day and what a good choice it was. Dave Hudson landed a very nice sea clam. What a catch! I traveled 7 miles back up the ledge, trying different spots all the way back. A few short cod and that was it. I was thinking I might have to raffle off the pool like Ricky ( Yellow Bird) said on his boat a few days back. I knew one boat was catching some cod in the morning and he was drifting like we do with the shoot. Well... I went right next to Nate (Annie B) and started to catch haddock. Nate was catching cod only. Go figure. We ended up the day just fine with 23 haddock and 34 cod. Thanks Nate. That was it for the day. The bite ended around 12:30. Seas were kick'n pretty good by the end of the trip. Sunday was cancelled due to roughhhh seas.

Here we go again with the weather. Saturday looks OK, SUNDAY LOOKS OUCH> Will make a call to all on the Sunday trip by 6 or 7 PM today Sat. Monday is iffy. Tues OK, Wed not so sure Thurs & Fri OK. Right out of the box. More Later!!!

4/4/11: Some pictures of "The Proud Lady Patricia" reporting for duty. She is now ready for the sea!!!!

UPDATE 3/28/11: We are getting close to launch date of 4/6/11. Safety inspection next! Then we are ready. New paint, new rear deck, new fish finder and a lot of other stuff. Looking foward to another season. Bookings are excellent thus far. As of today a fuel surcharge of $10 pp will be added. Sorry!! I did not start another war in the Middle East. Your President did. Will have a few picture of the polished Lady Patricia on launch day.

CALANDER IS NOW UPDATED WITH THE 2011 OPEN BOAT DATES. Reservation desk opens January 2, 2011. There are no price changes for the 2011 season. There may be a fuel surcharge added at some point during the season. Will have to see what the fuel prices do.

December19, 2010: I am now updating the web site and putting on the calander all the open dates I have scheduled for the 2011 season. Please check those dates out and schedule as many trips as you like. One deposit covers all the days you select. So go ahead and book several throughout the season. Last years fishing was excellent and I see this year to be as good. We will start sailing in April some time but no later than April 15. Cod can be retained April 16. Just like last year.

Lady Patricia has been completly painted and the rear deck replaced. She looks like new. Can't wait to get back fishing and see what is out there.