Lower Ipswich Bay 180-line TUNA Report

[DaleH]

First started out trolling Crane Beach and the PI beachfront for stripers. All I saw were seals, seals, and more seals. Any place I appeared to be marking bait - and sure enough, a seal would soon raise its head ...

Ran out to Sergeant's Rock area, then patrolled and trolled the 180-line loop around from somewhat south of the Humps area over and around to outside the Dry Salvages outside Glostah and Cape Ann.

Lots of miles trolling, NO TUNA sighted or marked ... but my average fuel burn for the afternoon/evening was well over 4mpg. That includes the fast cruising on plane too and opening her up on the way in.

And THAT performance was the only bright moment, less the beautiful evening sky ...

 

[dave-j]

Went 32 miles out to Tillies at the 50 fathom line for sharks, keeping an eye out for ANY sign of tuna love. Nothin' No whales, no birds, no jumpers, nothing! Plenty of sharks for the boys to play with, though!

I then heard the First Light Anglers guys were canceling tuna charters because of no tuna. All are way SE of Chatham. That's not practical from the North Shore of BOS.

 

[Sully]

GREAT SHOT OF MISS TEAK!!

 

[Dylan'ssou'wester]

Better luck next time Dale. Giant Tuna should be coming through Gulf of Maine.

 

[DaleH]

Halfway Hump, Scantum Basin FRI 19Sep13 Report

Couldn't make the morning tide change, but filled up the livewell and headed to 1/2-Way Hump to be setup well before the 12:30 swing of the tide. Four other boats there, 2 on the ball. All seemed to be fishing livies, but I also jigged RonZ and Sluggos. Whale watch boats were out to east & west, with a dragger working E-W also.

Nada so far ... then minke whales showed up 1pm or so and lo and behold behind them came Capt "mackerel up the tailpipe" Dave of fv-toona.com, from the Wicked Tuna TV show. WHAT AN ABSOLUTE & COMPLETE DICKHEAD!

He tried anchoring next to others, only to hear the radio crackle w/ comments like "Really, you're NOT going to try to squeeze in between ARE YOU?" ... among other choice comments. Then he tried to squeeze in on me, but I wouldn't budge either ... even yelled at him to "give me airspace" and called him a 'googan' .. haha!

Trolled the 240' line back around to Dry Salvages and then for the barn, so nothing to report for toona. But heard First Light Angers opine "they're working their way back south", in reference to BFT.

 

[dave-j]

That's funny about Tuna.com. He goes NUTS when anybody gets near him. A couple of years ago he was on the ball in Ipswich Bay and we were trolling. We got probably 50 yards away and he goes off on us. Was hilarious.

Speaking of Wicked Tuna, I don't know how they are going to film this season with so few tuna being caught. One episode last featured a big tuna tourney in Gloucester that the guys participated in. That same tournament this year produced zero keeper sized tuna!