Tuesday, November 13, 2018

August 15, 2018 Species Hunting Adventures - Part 3: Party Time!



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. 


Red Hake
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

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. 

Sunset At Megansett Harbor



List Of Species Caught On 8/15/18

  1. Red Hake
  2. Whiting
  3. Haddock
  4. Atlantic Cod
  5. Mackerel
  6. Cunner
  7. Bluegill Sunfish
  8. Smallmouth Bass
  9. Pumpkinseed Sunfish
  10. Yellow Perch
  11. Scup   
  12. Black Sea Bass  
  13. Northern Kingfish

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