By Steve Zelck, Three Lantern Marine & Fishing
To the avid fisherman in the Boston area, if you don’t have your boat ready or just haven’t made time to go fishing – then you better get your stuff together and get out there because the game is on full swing! The mackerel are here. The flounder are here. The haddock are everywhere, the stripers are here and yes, Charlie is here! It’s as good as it gets and they’re all biting. Here’s a look at all the critters that came over the rail of the Bounty Hunter in the last week.
On Saturday, we ventured out with a crew of five in search of haddock and to hang a line or two in case Charlie shows up. We got our limit of haddock in no time and even released a small halibut. Late in the day, the tip of the 130 started to bend, but there was no screaming run, just a slow steady run which turned out to be a real nice 7-foot mako. He made for some excitement and some delicious steaks.
On Monday, we went into Boston for the annual BOMA Striped Bass & Bluefish Tournament. We held our own with three really nice stripers: a 36-inch, 35-inch and a 30-inch, respectively. On Monday night, a hot tip came in about Charlie’s location, so we headed out early Tuesday morning.
We picked up some macks Tuesday morning – they were everywhere! We were a little late to the party as three boats were already there. We anchored up and began to mark almost immediately, yet no bites. Around 10:30am, Captain Bill decided to nap on the floor, near the stern. Just about the time he started to snore, the water exploded with tuna in hot pursuit of our mackerel. Cam Newth and myself stepped on and over Billy to get to the rod, as he was clearly in the way, and made a nice doormat. We cleared the other rods and had a textbook fight. In just over an hour, making quick work of him, we dragged the beast through the door. He measured 92-inches and weighed just over 400-pounds!! It was just awesome to have the first one of the season on the deck!
Wednesday came and we had a joint charter with Gary Cannel and his boat, Tuna Hunter, for a bachelor party. Tuna Hunter got on the board first, but had to release a small schoolie. We decided to troll live macks and hit some of our hot spots. The afternoon dragged on and it was looking pretty grim for our crew until the line started smoking off the rod and losing piles of line. We finally got the fish turned and it took two different guys to bring in a beautiful 44-inch striper, who barely fit in the net.
It’s now Thursday and a strong cold front has come through, so the wind is keeping us off the water, but we are chomping at the bit to get out there, as should you! Like I said at the beginning, the fish are everywhere and hungry, put in your time and you’ll have success. You aren’t going to catch anything on your couch. It’s setting up to be a great season!
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.