2010 Fishing Reports

Friday August 13th

Night Blue Fishing 7:30-12:00pm

Well, if you're looking for some overly exciting fishing for a Friday evening, blue fishing is where its at.  We had another banner trip aboard the Lady Sea catching fast and fat bluefish. 

Again, we started out at the groaner with a bucket of finely cut chum and some fresh herring cut up for chunk bait.  Our first drift lasted approximately two hours, with what I have figured out to be a one fish every seven minute average.  Which considering our crew of eight kids under the age of sixteen, and the rest adults, is unbelievable. 

This has been by far the best blue fishing that we have seen off of Gloucester in years, and as of right now it seems to show no signs of slowing down.  But be warned: this could change at the drop of a dime.  Considering that Bluefish travel very fast, and are capable of going very far in short spans of time, you should be booking on these trips asap. 

Give us a call and book a trip, we limit these trips to twenty five anglers in order to keep the rail space manageable and comfortable.  Right now we are averaging about three to five feet of space per angler, and that's the way we shall keep it.  There won't be many more of the trips, a number that is obviously directly related to the presence of fish.  The bluefish will hopefully be around right through September, but there is just no way to predict what will happen,

Get on board for a trip.  Get a rod.  Get some bait.  And get hooked up.

Fair winds and fine sailing,

Captain Michael Mann, and the crew of the Lady Sea

Saturday August 7th

Night Blue Fishing 7:30-12:00

The first night blue trip of the year was an astounding success.  We ended the night with 20 blue fish, and 1 monster stripped bass.  The Blue's ranged from 8 to 13 pounds, and the Stripper was a cool 30 pounds.   

With 25 anglers on board (our maximum amount of passengers allowed for these specialty trips) the fishing was comfortable and effective.  Even with everyone on one side of the boat, there was plenty of room at the rail.  We used herring for both our chum brine, and our chunk bait.  We scouted the harbor itself, but ended up making our first couple of drifts out at the groaner buoy approximately 1/2 mile outside of the Dog Bar Breakwater, weaving our way in and out of the multitude of lobster pots located in that area.  Using 8 inch steel leaders with 7/0 barbed hooks and 4/0 swivels, provide just enough sink to get the baits a couple of feet down into the water column, placing them right in front of the fish's faces. 

Keep an eye on the specials page that is located on a link off of our home page for updates on our next blue trips to come.  We are running one on Friday night of this week, August 13th, from 7:30-12:00pm, so keep your eyes open for any changes, or call us to make a reservation.  Make sure that if you are planning on attending, you make a reservation, because we are only booking up to 25 passengers, so space is very limited, and going fast. 

Best Wishes and Happy Angling,

Captain Mike Mann, and the crew of the M/V Lady Sea

Fri June 26th

3/4 day

We had a good day on the Lady Sea today, with fifteen people on the boat, and fifty fish caught.  Codfish was the word of the day, with the better part of 15 coming over the rail that weighed more than 10 pounds.  Although, we had some really nice haddock as well.  Cusk and dogfish made up the rest of the catch, with dogfish leading the pack throughout the day.  Advice to the wise: we use sea clams for a reason, that reason is that they have no blood to act as an extra attractant for the dogfish.  If you are thinking about  bringing your own bait on board, don't.  Herring and Mackeral have a nasty tendency to bring the dogfish in faster, and keep them around longer.

Hope your trips are going as well as ours,

Capt. Michael Mann, and the family and crew

June 13, 2010

All Day 7-4

Another wonderful day aboard the Lady Sea.  We had a charter today, with John Catania and the boys from Billerica, and what a day it turned out to be.  We were a little late getting off the dock, so we didn't start fishing until 930, but once we did start the fishing was unbeatable.  Our first stop lasted 2 and a half hours.  In that two and a half hours we put approximately one hundred fish on the boat.  It was one fish after another, with roughly five guys hooked up at any given time.  Haddock was the word of the day again, with that beautiful fish accounting for more than 70 percent of the fish we caught.  Cod and cusck were mixed in, with some really nice market size cod between 8 and 15 pounds.  Some of the guys were using jigs, and in doing so locked up the cod count for the day.  On the jigs, a lot of small cod were caught, and also a couple of large pollock as well. 

The weather was actually not that bad, with the day being overcast and a little drizzly.  But it made for perfect fishing conditions, even though we had to anchor up all day.  Today was a little bit better than the average lately, however fishing on the whole has been very good as of late.  So, if your looking for pretty reliable fishing, a comfortable boat, and an experienced captain and crew, give us a call and well hook you up.

Looking forward to hearing from you guys,

Captain Michael Mann, and the Crew of the Lady Sea

May 31, 2010

All Day 7-4

The Holiday was a great day for fishing.  We had excellent conditions for drifting, and we only had 15 people fishing at the rail.  We fished on top of Tillies ledge, drifting at about 6 tenths of a knot all day long.  We had some really well versed fishierman on board, who payed attention to what Archie and myselfe told them to do.  We started our drift in 250 ft of water, and continued it all the way to 350ft, cathcing a mix of cod and haddock the whole way.  We actually had 7 doublr header haddock/cod catches come over the rail, and a couple of twenty pounders aswell.  But Haddock was the main catch of the day.  As far as bait or jig was concerned, both types of gear produced fish throughout the entire day.  We ended up with 140 fish for 15 people, not too shabby. 

Happy hunting,

Capt. Michael Mann

May 10th, 2010 All Day 7-4

40 Degrees, Northwest Winds 10-15 Knots

Catfish Count:1

   ONE WORD: COLD!!!! Man, October aparently came early this year! Oh wait, its just freezing in May. When you come down the boat in May and there's frost on the deck, those are the days i wish i still worked in Key West this time of year.
   Anyway, onto the fishing report that you've all come to expect. I think. The fishing today was great. Capt Marco, a full time Tug Boat captain and part time Lady Sea skipper, came out of retirement for the day and Capt Mike came down to the deck to help me out. It was like a "Yankee Capts" reunion and it was a blast. I had a great group of anglers, great galley girl and an All-Star crew. Add a few fish to the mix and some nice weather and it was laughs and bent rods all day.
    We fished between 220 ft and 240 ft all day and stayed on the anchor. The wind was blowing pretty good and it made the water a little sloppy. The first 3 stops we stayed on each an average of an hour if not more. There was just no reason to move the boat as you never leave fish to find fish. The afternoon proved to be a little more trying but Capt Marco put us on the meat all day. Most people had 4 or 5 fish to take home and the pool winner was a 12 lb Cod. The Haddock havent really been around too much compared to a few months ago when we were commercial fishing and we couldnt get away from them! The weather for Tuesday is shaping up to be decent and it'll be a couple days off after that. All in all, the fishing has been great when the weather has cooperated. Call 978.559.1978 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting              978.559.1978      end_of_the_skype_highlighting for info and tix!!!

More when i can and thanks for looking.
                                                                                    Archie
                                                                deckhand/engineer M/V "Lady Sea"

MAY 8th, 2010    All Day 7-4

60 Degrees, Northwest winds 10-20

Catfish Count:1

Greetings from the Lady Sea Command Post. We steamed back from todays trip a little early due to the weather. With this broadband card that the company purchased, i can write these on the boat rather than in my kitchen from now on.

The day started out with the wind kickin and a rough sea to go with it. We managed to anchor the boat with little effort and we got on the fish quick. The bite was touchy at first but progressed as the time went on. The jigs were the way to go and everyone, bait or jig, managed some nice market cod and some BEAUTIFUL haddock. The pool winner today was a 25 LB codfish and that was nice to see.

As the day went on, the weather started to die down a little bit and the bite increased but by 1:00pm the customers we're seasick enough that we decided to head in a little early. The weather report was looking like the wind was gonna come on again too so it was in the best interest of everyone to get back to the dock. Everyone had enough fish and it was a good call. We have tomorrow (sunday) off and we're gonna be back at it Monday and Tuesday.

More when i can, thanks for looking.
                                                                                               Arch
                                                                           Deckhand - M/V "Lady Sea"

May 3rd, 2010

66 Degrees - SouthWest Winds 10-15, Gusts to 20 KNOTS

Catfish Count: 1

     So after a few days of good fishing and better weather it was once again time for Mother Nature to ruin a day of fishing for us. We started out down the Bank and just couldnt get a bite going. The worst part of today was that we had a good group of guys that are very good fisherman and Fisherwomen (Sharon) and a few Charter fisherman from Rhode Island and even they couldnt manage to catch more than a couple all day. Hey, you can put the boat over fish all day, have a crew of seasoned fisherman onboard and if the fish dont want to bite, they wont. What can you do? You move the boat every 20-30 minutes, try diffferent areas, move miles at a time if you have too, thats what we did and it didnt make a difference.
   All day, it was a little overcast and the wind was there. We had to anchor all day and we couldnt figure out what the problem was.  Bait wasnt working and neither were the jigs. Definetly not the fishing youd expect for May. We moved all over the place, miles at time, talked to different boats in the area and they werent fairing any better, trust me. A close friend of ours who shall remain nameless was ready to hang it up after the day he had today. No bite, lots of tangles, lots of spider wire not making the tangles any easier (for the record, spider wire is terrible on party boats. Ya, i said it.) and the day just wasnt getting any better. 100 ft, 200 ft, 250 ft, 280, etc and nothing coming over the railing, It gets frustrating.
    Then came the wind. About 1:30pm, we were making one of our many moves and a front that looked about 30 miles long and was all black behind it came through. It started screaming 35-40 Knots out of the West for about 15 minutes and man did it make some crazy noises in the rigging and over the mast. The fishing was spotty enough and after that it was time to throw in the towel. The fishing generally goes to hell after a storm like that moves through and after the morning we had, thatd didnt leave us much hope. We stuck it out and made our way home with some fish but not enough brag about. Thats why they call it fishing not catching. Everyone took it in stride and that was nice, let me tell ya. Pool winner was a 11 Lb Codfish and today ended our busy week. We have a few days off and Capt Mike and I have some work to do this week with the tackle and in the engine room. Feel free to bring us coffee if youre driving around Gloucester.

Thanks for looking. More when i can.    

                                                                                              ------ Arch
                                                                                     Deckhand/Grease Monkey
                                                                                           M/V "Lady Sea"

May 1st, 2010

55 Degrees - 6-5 Marathon

Catfish Count: 1

     MARATHON TIME! As one of the guys on deck, i have a well documented love / hate relationship with the infamous "Marathon".  Lets be honest, for us its a very long day of running around, untangling lines, gaffing fish and for you its more time reeling up over and over again.... Its great isnt it?? :)  Whats better than more fishing time, a limited load crowd (we only carry 38 ppl MAX on ALL fishing trips), hitting fishing spots that you cant reach on a normal 7-4, spending more time with your buddies at the rail havin a few beers. Life is good right??       
    Anyway, the day was great. It started off nice and warm, kept right up in the afternoon and kept going. The morning started off fair, picking a few off each stop. The wind had completely died down and we were able to drift all day. Around 10ish, we made about 4 drifts in a row and hammered the Cod. As soon as the Jigs hit the bottom (we had rigged almost everyone up with a jig) they were hooking up. It was nice to look down the side of the boat and see the rods bent over and people having a blast.
    The problem with Spring fishing is that we are NOT the only boat who knows that Stellwagen Bank is a "Hot Spot" in April and May. I counted 139 boats of all diffeent sizes around us at one point. Imagine the nightmare of trying to operate a 75 ft Party Boat around 20 ft skiffs, other big party boats and lobster boats and trying to drift over the numbers you had gone down the previous drift. It was a challenge, but Capt Mike pulled it off. Steady numbers came over the railing all day with limited tangles and barely any Dogs. The afternoon was more of the same with nice Cod and Pollock along with some Haddock mixed in as well. After a long day, the pool winner was a 14 LB Codfish and it was a CLOSE call... A lot of fish were caught around the same weight that day, so i put the balance beam to good use and managed to show off my skill for guessing fish weights. Lucky me huh?? The fish are here, the trips are booking up, call us @ 978.559.1978 for Info, Tickets or Specials on our All Day, Marathons, Charters and Half Day trips that start in June.

More when i can. Thanks for looking.

                                                                                             Regards,
                                                                                              Archie
                                                                                     deckhand/engineer
                                                                                       M/V "Lady Sea"

April 30th, 2010

70 Degrees - Westerly 20-25 KNOTS / 7-4 All Day Trip

Catfish Count: 1

      SO! We didnt get blown out today but the wind was definetly still honkin this morning and the reminence of the previous 2 days were felt by all onboard. Wed. & Thurs were cancelled due to screamin Nor'westerly winds and that seemed to kick off a bite but you had to work at it. The people that kept the Jigs moving through the rough seas in the mornign were rewarded with some nice market Cod and some  Pollock. The bait was getting a few but all in all it was a jig day.
    The afternoon saw the winds die down significantly and the fishing stayed the same. Not fast and furious but a steady pick for all. Nice numbers of Markets were coming over the railing and noone could complain. Even the passengers affected by the rough weather in the morning managed to make it to the rail by noon time and get a line wet.
    The pool winner was a 12 LB Cod. and we'll be back out tomorrow for the seasons first Marathon. BTW, had a great group of guys on the boat today. Its days like today that make working on a Party Fishing Boat worth it. It can be trying at times but its all worth it when you walk off the boat at the end of the day.

More when in can...

                                                                                        Arch
                                                                              "M/V Lady Sea"