Well, after a hot start to June, things have certainly cooled off. We had an early wave of bluefin come through, with a few of us getting lucky. But to our disappointment, they suddenly all seemed to have just disappeared after the full moon. The fish either went offshore to spawn or to Canada to munch on herring.
The stripers also made quite the splash in early June with some nice 40 and 50-inch fish being taken all over the North Shore; those seemed to have moved off as well, but the schoolie fishing in tight remains strong. The haddock fishing has tailed off substantially as the water temperature increased and they headed for deeper water. Not to mention the dogfish have moved in in-full. One interesting note is we are seeing a good number of big, healthy wolf fish come up during the charters. Even though you can’t keep them, it’s nice to see they are coming back. We also had a nice monkfish this month. The big mackerel have just recently showed up in shore again, and the flounder fishing inshore remains strong. There are some rumors of big bluefish on southern middle bank all the
way to P-Town.
It would be nice to see some gators prowling around this year. As I write this I’m sitting in an undisclosed location in Ipswich Bay where Charlie has recently made an appearance. Capt. Bob Cook of Fat Tuna Guides recently pulled out a nice 104-inch and a 90-inch, and one evening had a double hookup landing one of two. Paul Hebert, of Wicked Tuna fame, also had two fish with one of them fetching a fantastic price of over $47 a pound.
Prices have definitely been better this year with the exchange rate of the yen and dollar being better. So there you have it – things are bound to heat up just like the weather! Get out there and catch some fish and enjoy this short summer while it lasts!
FORECAST BY: Steve Zelck was born and raised in Gloucester. Steve’s love of the sea lured him back to pursue his fishing passion and not a day goes by without him checking the pulse of the harbor for action. If you don’t find Steve at Three Lantern Marine & Fishing, you can bet he’s out working on his lobster boat, F/V Erik and Devin, named after his kids. He also tuna fishes aboard the F/V Bounty Hunter with Captain Bill Monte from Wicked Tuna.