04-24-2001, 03:28 AM
STELLWAGEN BANK , MA- Cod Fishing 4/22<br><br>Favorable wind and sea allowed the B-Fast Fleet to fish the Bank Thursday 4/19 through Sunday. I appears the a SW wind pattern will dominate this coming week, allowing the charters to get out at least through this coming Friday. Craig Phillips group of Windsor, CT started out their trip on Thursday jigging in the shaol-water. The bite was fast and furious for the first couple of hours of the morning. Scrod and medium cod were feeding on schools of mature sand eels and herring. As the tide let go, the fishing slowed. I headed the JANET B to the east to a couple of spots in 150 and 190 feet. As the tide flooded in, Craig’s group was treated to doubles of market-size cod and 3 steakers between 18 and 20 pounds. 6 pollock to 15 pounds with 2 wolfish to round out the catch.<br><br>On Friday, 4/20, Walter Hawley’s (Blanford, MA) annual two-boat trip on the JANET B and DECISIVE started of with a bang on the way to the deep-water to the east and produced some of the most exciting fishing of the season for size, numbers and variety of ground fish. Capt. Scott found blow-ups of bait on top of the bank in 120 ft of water. Walter’s group was into the fish, bailing doubles of medium cod as we arrived. After filling few boxes, the bait scattered so we moved to the deep-water, finding stacks of sand eels 20 ft. above the bottom and aggressive cod underneath. The anglers went to work filling all the boxes with medium cod and a few in the 20# class. On the JANET B, the angler’s we treated to 4 wolfish to 20# and the second haddock of the season. Rick Petschauer’s group from Belmar, NJ fishing with Capt. Bob on the HACKER, spent most of the off by themselves about ¾ of a mile away. They racked up the best catch of the B-Fast fleet for the day as well as the best mixed bag. 5 cod over 20#, 7 wolfish and six haddock –no turtle doves--went into the mix of medium codfish which filled all the boxes. Jeremiah Lilly’s (Tyngsborough,MA) group on MY OTHER HONEY and Richare Cure’s (Coxsackie,NY) group both found the fish early in the shoals and finished up in the shaol-water after the tide change in the afternoon. B-Fast’s SASHAMY with Capt. Doug at the helm, landed two 30 pound steakers in the afternoon shoal-water bite.<br><br>Saturday, 4/21, six of B-Fast’s charter boats were able to get out—JANET B, DECISIVE, HACKER, DRIFTER, ALLIA and MY OTHER HONEY. The deep-water to the east, with the concentrations of sand eels and herring, produced banner catches once again. Capt. Tucker’s DRIFTER, with Tom Irvolino from Hawthorne, NJ and Roger Hill’s group from E. Brunswick, NJ aboard the DECISIVE had impressive catches allowing both groups to head south the Garden State with coolers of fillets from the deep-water bonanza. The day’s New York contingent included Bob Trombley’s (West Babylon) annual two-boat safari fishing the JANET B and ALLIA. Charlie Stottlar’s group from Carmel, NY and Tony Goetke of Clifton Park, NY fished MY OTHER HONEY and HACKER, respectively. Full coolers were again the rule with a mix of scrod and medium cod, wolfish, pollock and a few haddock. Jigs and teasers matched the bait fish best and have continually out-produced the anglers using clam bait. On Saturday, cod in the 20# class, were the pool winners. <br><br>Sunday’s strong SW winds made fishing difficult. The split-charter with Dave Schaefer’s group from Concord, MA and Brian Yuska’s group from Great Neck, NY had to limp back to Green Harbor early due to Mal De Mer and a blown fuel pump on one engine. Steve O’ Connor’s group from Forked River, NJ fishing with Capt. Al on the JANET B, found the fish early in the deep-water but finished up the day on the shoals as did the rest of the B-Fast fleet. Bill Pisarra’s (Belle Mead, NJ) split-charter shared with Dave Johnson’s group from Eastport, NY had another great day on the HACKER. Capt. Mike reported that the afternoon bite on the shoals saved the day. Jack Eng and friends made his second pilgrimage to Stellwagen fishing Capt. Scott’s DECISIVE. Scrod and medium cod were the mainstay, however Jack group filled the boxes with 10 cod between 18and 20 pounds with a few pollock mixed in. The concentrations of bait fish we were fishing in the deep-water appeared to have scattered with the passage of this weekend’s weather system. As a result, we didn’t catch the variety of ground fish that was the rule on Friday and Saturday.<br><br>Capt. Mike Bartlett<br>B-Fast Charters<br>www.bfastcharters.com<br><br><br><br><br>Capt. Mike Bartlett<br>B-Fast Charters<br>www.bfastcharters.com