STELLWAGEN BANK,MA- Cod Fishing 5/5/02

[bfast]

STELLWAGEN BANK, MA- Cod Fishing 5/5/02<br><br>This week’s windy weather allowed our charters to get to the Bank only during the middle of the week and the weekend. Two groups of New Yorkers had good fishing on Tuesday. Dr. Paul Shaefer’s group from So. Huntington and Pete Getz group from New Hyde Park had good jigging action on Stellwagen’s shoal water catching mostly medium cod to 15 pounds. Sand eels and herring are the bait of choice. <br><br>The new recreational ground-fishing regulations went into effect on Wednesday May 1.<br>A limit of ten cod/haddock per person for all recreational fishing vessels is now the rule.<br>For charter vessels this mandates a maximum possession limit of 80 cod and haddock combined per day. A new size limit is imposed at 23 inches for cod and haddock. There is not a bag limit for pollock, wolfish, cusk, etc. John Down’s and friends from Stony Point, NY found good numbers of keeper cod in the shoal water between 80-120 ft on Wednesday. Many live-released throw-backs in the 21”-22” size range and smaller occur as a result of the new Regs. However, limits of the larger keepers are the rule. John’s group was able to catch market cod to 15 pounds before the high winds forced the charter to head for the barn.<br><br>The hard Northwest blow on Friday of 30-40 knots really busted up the bait and scattered schools of foraging ground fish. The weekend trips found the fishing very picky. Boats stayed out longer and had to work hard for a decent catch. <br><br>On a different note, Striped Bass in good numbers are in the inner harbors and bays chasing herring. Good light-tackle and fly-fishing in Boston Harbor was had on both Saturday and Sunday on both the incoming and outgoing tides. B-Fast fly and light-tackle fishing gets started this week in Boston Harbor departing from three venues—Boston’s Rowe’s Wharf, Back River in Weymouth and Cohasset Harbor on the South Shore.<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