Main page | April 16, 2008 »

Cod bite is on

Capt. Frank Blount, skipper of the Frances Fleet reports that cod are biting:

"Yesterday's local cod trip continued to show strong signs of improvement with more than double the catch of Saturday's trip, including a very strong bite at the last hour of the day. Nothing big but all fat, healthy green fish with sizes to just over 10 pounds.

"We got out on our scheduled offshore trips this weekend and sailed locally for cod four times this past week. Locally the fishing showed some much anticipated improvement over the previous weekend.

"Both weekday of fishing locally, anglers picked away at some good green cod which were all loaded with herring. Not a fast pick but codfish were caught both days throughout the day. Fresh clams fished on a high hook were the ticket. Nothing big but the largest both days were in the 10- to 12-pound range. A fair number of shorts as well. Some good size ocean perch and a few jumbo ocean pout plus one enormous 19.5-inch snowshoe flounder and an occasional ling to top off the catch. We marked piles and piles of bait on the recorder all day both days and we saw whales both days over the weekend. All very good signs.

"The first blackfish of the season were caught and promptly released last weekend, so the water temperature is starting to go up.

"Wednesday's and Fridays trips were slower on the cod but anglers had some decent catches of ling both days including some real brutes in the 4- yo 6-pound range!

"We are now cod fishing at 7 a.m., sailing Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and the weekend."

Posted by Tom Meade  at 9:31 AM | Permalink