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| Sunrise At Plymouth Harbor |
East Of Stellwagen Bank With Captain John Boats
Party boat fishing is great way to go far from shore and catch species that are usually out of reach to a shore or kayak fisherman. It’s also fun, affordable, and hassle free. I usually try to bring along other family members or friends and meet other passengers to converse with. It’s a very sociable mode of fishing. As for cost I only pay $44 with the senior discount for a six hour trip with Captain John Boats in Plymouth. Even if you add a tip for the mate it’s still pretty inexpensive.
On this day I went alone on a six hour trip arriving at the harbor just in time watch an awesome sunrise. The main targets would be Haddock and Hake. It was a one and a half hour trip out to the fishing grounds which left about three hours of actual fishing time. The boat provided clams for bait. I brought along my own mackerel strips.
I started with a rig that was purchased on a recent trip to Ireland, my “Irish Jigs”. It has three hooks dressed with orange and pink attractors plus a few glow beads. Using mackerel strips for bait I caught some Whiting, a small Cod, quite a few Red Hake and a couple Mackerel. I kept using the same rig for about an hour then switched to a hi-lo rig with 4/0 hooks and green glow beads baited with clams. This method seemed to work best for Haddock. Caught two keeper Haddock (over 17 inches) and a few shorts.
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| Red Hake |
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| Whiting |
The boat returned to Plymouth Harbor at 1 pm. I had caught five species so far. At this point I decided to make another attempt at breaking last year’s personal record of 14 species caught in a single day. One advantage was the fact that four of the five were species that I wouldn’t likely encounter fishing from from shore or in a kayak. The disadvantage was that it took half the day to get only five species.
My first stop was the nearby Cape Cod Canal. I used a sabiki rig baited with small bits of clam to catch a couple of Cunner. There was only a slight chance of catching other species at this time of day so I switched gears and went freshwater fishing.
The Ponds In Sandwich
Made a stop at Hoxie Pond hoping for a big pickerel. Nothing was biting the live bait that I was throwing out so I didn’t stay long. Next stop was Spectacle Pond. Using very a small hook with a piece of earthworm I caught two juvenile Smallmouth Bass and a Bluegill Sunfish. The “gill” was a real surprise. Pumkinseed Sunfish are quite common here and this was the first Bluegill I ever caught at this location. Next was Pimlico Pond. This is a reliable spot for Yellow Perch year round and Pumkinseed Sunfish during the warmer months. I managed to quickly add these two species to the list which by now was up to ten.
I had to decide on a strategy. I had two choices. One was to continue fishing in freshwater until sunset where I had a shot at catching maybe five species at probably two different locations. Another choice would be to take the kayak out on Megansett Harbor with a reasonable shot at seven species. I decided on the saltwater option.
Megansett Harbor In North Falmouth
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| Northern Kingfish |
I launched my kayak at 5pm with hopes of quickly racking up some species. Ideally I might even have time to hit another pond afterwards. The Scup were plentiful. In fact they were too plentiful, grabbing both jigs and bait before anything else had a chance to bite. I started out with a hi-lo rig but soon switched to a baited bucktail jig and a chartreuse Berkley Gulp Mullet as a teaser. With this rig I would be targeting Sea Bass, Fluke, Sea Robin, and maybe Bluefish or Striped Bass. The Scup continued to be a nuisance by stealing bait. After over two hours I had caught over 20 Scup, 2 Black Sea Bass, and 1 Northern Kingfish. With the sun low on the horizon I paddled back towards the beach and started casting small metal lures for Stripers and Blues. Watching a glorious sunset ay Megansett Harbor was compensation enough for once again coming up two species short of breaking my record.
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| Sunset At Megansett Harbor |
List Of Species Caught On 8/15/18
- Red Hake
- Whiting
- Haddock
- Atlantic Cod
- Mackerel
- Cunner
- Bluegill Sunfish
- Smallmouth Bass
- Pumpkinseed Sunfish
- Yellow Perch
- Scup
- Black Sea Bass
- Northern Kingfish
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