SEPTEMBER FISHING REPORT 2023
I thought August was a great month…..But September was better!
Our old friend Jon, from Tyler Texas, came back to fish on Dogbar and he was one lucky Texan….again! It was special trip because Jon’s dad was along and he made sure all of us were fishing at the highest levels!
It was very rough on the first day, and we had some seasickness to deal with, but still managed a good day! Jon pulled the hook early on a hard hitting slob. Somewhat defeated, back to the ball we went. Redemption came later in the day as we hooked a small fish, which we landed and kept so Jon could take sushi grade Bluefin back to Texas. It was a 55” butterball! I put it in my chest freezer, delivered it to a fish packer on Friday, and Jon took it home as checked luggage on Saturday. Well played! Thursday was calmer and Jon got another chance to fight a GBFT unfortunately the Tuna Gods denied him getting it to the boat with another pulled hook. Pulled hooks are never great but with the commercial season closed Jon got the fun of fighting a big one for a while! And he is eating very well still!
Some pics from the Charter.
Our last Charter of the month is also worth mentioning. Marc is from NYC, wearing a Yankees hat, in BOSTON, and was scheduled to fish on Wednesday. Weather and wind didn’t cooperate so we pushed the date to Friday. It was a good move!
The wind was going to lay down during the day so we started late with a 0530 pick up and were on middle bank around 0700. Some would say too late, but maybe not! Marc and his friend Rich had their first fish along side of Dogbar by 0830. It was a good sized Bluefin, estimated 85”, we released unharmed. He swam off with plenty of energy and a bit of a swagger to live and fight another day! When he gets to 100” watch out! Back to the anchor ball we went!
Right away the down bait got slammed and the fish took us way into the backing! Marc and Rich got practice on the rod fighting the first fish, so they handled this one like seasoned tuna fishermen. By 10:30 we had a second very big Bluefin, estimate around 108”-110”, along side for pics. We swam him for a couple of minutes and off he went happily to fight another day!
A couple of pics…
Rich’s camo Cabela’s hat made up for the black Yankees hat for sure!
Its October and we are back at it! Another report at the end of the month!
Tight Lines!
Jim
Capt. FV DOGBAR
JULY AND AUGUST 2023 FISHING REPORT
The fishing has been FANTASTIC!
Sorry to be slow on July but the bite was on and I was on the water. Over the last 60 days we have had a couple commercial fish and several unbelievable charters to include a 104” 520 lb dresser that was a great fighter and a real fatty. To make it better the crew was all rookies, with a couple senior citizens, that caught their first GBFT.
But it gets better! NMFS closed the fishery because the June – August quota limit had been reached. That means we catch and release fish for our charters. The closure did not cause two different groups from Connecticut to reschedule because they were in it for the sport. That proved to be a good decision!
The first group hooked up on a screamer mid-morning and we fought the fish in very rough seas for about 30 minutes as thunderstorms started to rip across the bay. Unfortunately the fish was “gut hooked” and chaffed of just as the walll of T-storms went over the top of us. Dogbar was in 4-6 footers with an occasional BIG ONE rolling through which made it impossible to get back on the anchor. I pointed Dogabar into the wind and we took the storm easily until we could get back to our spot and reset. It didn’t take long for the rod to go off again but this time it was a big Thresher shark that ran like a bluefin. We didn’t know it when he hit but he had a special treat in store for us! After we got him up to the boat and he decided to fight with that 10 foot tail by swinging it up over the washrails of the boat. He didn’t hit anyone, but it was a great show for the Charter! How many people can say they had a Thresher shark try to slap them with his tail?
The second group had the GBFT day of a lifetime! There was only 1 other boat on Stellwagon that day and it was the big dog in town, Tuna.com. The pressure was on! Dogbar went off first and we were almost spooled by an absolute monster. I have seen runs like this lots of times and the thought of breaking the boat record of 112” with a charter was unbelievable. We went after him hard backing down with water coming over the stern soaking everyone. No one cared! After 45 minutes the line went slack and there was an audible sigh across all of the NWC. The Tuna Gods were not going to let Dogbar set a new boat record that day. When we reeled the line back in we discovered that the hook had literally broken. See the pic below! We ran back to the anchor and set out our baits again.
Just to add insult to injury along came a very aggressive shark. After he took our second bait we were able to get him to the boat and I must say he was a very well dressed Bluedog. He had collected several pieces of jewelry hanging from his jaw, including a big shiny longline hook. The 2 Trokar #7 hooks also on his jaw didn’t make me happy but I was glad to know he had been dining on others peoples bait as well! He left and DOGBAR went back to Tuna fishing.
The big fun was about to begin! While we were fighting the shark .com had gone off, fought his first fish of the day and was back on his ball. Score tied 1 all! The second bite went off soon after we had cleaned up the shark mess and the fish went right for the anchor! The Connecticut crew did a great job clearing lines and Steve flexed as he held the rod under the anchor line as the line screamed off. Everyone learned the “dance” on the first fish and Spence, Steve and Brian looked like salty deck hands as they worked this slob to the boat. It took a couple hours to get leader on the reel but we released what was easily a 100”+ fish so he could fight another day. He swam off a very luck Tuna!
When we got back to the ball we saw that .com had also gone off again and the game was tied 2 apiece! It was mid afternoon and the unwritten rule on catch and release days is after two fish, the boat goes home with happy sports. Tuna.com hauled their anchor and headed back to Gloucester. Not to be tied we set our baits out again and started marking fish immediately! The final fish of the day, A HAT TRICK FOR THE DOGBAR, took a little over an hour to bring along side the boat. After a couple of pics we cut him off and headed home a very happy and tired crew. Dogbar 3— .com 2!
JUNE 2023 FISHING REPORT
HAPPY 4TH OF JULY!
June is over and we are settling into the summer routine of Restricted Fishing Days and only 1 fish per day. Its all good for the Tuna!
We had a really good June! We caught our first fish, 81”, on June 13th and had 3 more before the end of the month. Number 4 was a great example of a “footbal” and we released him quickly without any photography! We are batting about 600 right now. There has been lots of action for our charters!
The second fish was with Mike A, his wife and youngest daughter. Mike is a retired Sergeant Major in the Special Forces(Green Beret) and it was an honor to have this great American on the boat! We met Mike through the Dream Foundations Veterans Program. Mike’s Dream was to land a Bluefin Tuna and we were ecstatic to help him fulfill that Dream. They will be eating tuna for weeks!
The early fish have been in the 80″-90″ class but were hard fighters. Given what we have seen I am sure we will get a shot at 100”+++ any day. There are already a few dinosaurs around and the biggest I have heard about is 111”. The DOGBAR boat record is 112” and after loosing the biggest fish I have ever seen at the Bluefin Blowout last year we are itching for a shot at another “Grander”.(1000lbs)
I included a pic of our new Tern friends and good luck charms. It amazes me what we see out on the ocean and these two terns hung out and snacked on sand eels for more than an hour. The behavior was fascinating to watch but the cleanup was messy!
The 4th is an important holiday and Steve and I are spending it with friends and family but we start again on July 5th. I’m expecting Fireworks!
We have some charter availability so give me a call and I’ll get scheduled.
Tight lines, Jim
