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Rich Antonino (Capt_rich)
New member
Username: Capt_rich
Post Number: 2
Registered: 4-2007
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, December 15, 2007 - 3:28 pm: | |
What a season we had on the Black Rose! (for hundreds of photos of 2007, check out my website) I would like to thank everyone who made this year such a blast. I don’t think that I have to tell you how much I love what I do. In addition to having a good contingent of repeat customers, we also met some great new friends this year who fished with us and really kept us on our toes. We laughed and the fun never stopped. Please keep in touch over the winter and keep checking out the website for updates, reports, and specials.
The season ended with a bang for us. The tuna fishing in September and October was truly amazing. Ok, not just “a bang”, but lots of bangs. And a final, season-ending crunch as two of my disks became herniated this week, causing my season to end (though the season is pretty much over now regardless). When I say amazing tuna fishing, in our last 10 tuna trips of the year, we hooked almost 40 tuna!!! Most of these fish were hooked and landed on spinning gear!!! It was the biggest rush and it’s a reason that I can’t wait until next year. We’ll start tuna fishing in mid-June next year!! Get ready for this. We’ll be ready to troll for them as well as run-and-gun for them using spinning rods and high-speed jigging rods.
As exciting as running-and-gunning is, trolling for tuna is that relaxing. I love the peacefulness of it. This year we made our first trip to fish for tuna on June 30th and got three fish to 52”. (we saw our first tuna on JUNE 7th!!!) We had some great days trolling this year and have made many adaptations to our spreads that will make next year even better. The trolling spread that we have put together on our boat is excellent and the boat trolls peacefully and VERY QUIETLY. Every customer comments on the quietness when we’re trolling. I love it. It’s a great way for the non-fisherman to enjoy fishing for tuna as well. It’s a great way to spend time with your customers or employees! The boat does the work and you get to relax and enjoy each other’s company. And then when something happens….it’s mayhem and controlled chaos. I love it. There’s also the great anticipation factor—you never know when something is going to happen! We saw whales on almost every one of our tuna trips this year and in many instances the whales came within yards of the boat!! It’s very humbling.
April and May
Going back to the beginning of the season in this “season ending recap”, we started on April 1 fishing for cod and haddock. In the spring, the cod and haddock move onto Stellwagen Bank to feed and man-o-man do they feed! It’s amazing. It’s probably the best action you’ll have all year. I had one customer talk with me and fish with me all throughout the year, all the while muttering about how he must have caught 70-80 fish HIMSELF in shallow water with me on one trip early in the season. He was beside himself!! I’m not saying that all of those fish were keepers, but he did fantastic and it’s great to be catching haddock in shallow water. I love it.
By shallow water, I mean we’re catching cod and haddock in 80-120’ of water. Because of the shallow water, I decided this past spring to bring along very light tackle with me in addition to my “normal” cod gear. By light tackle, we were using rods and reels that are normally associated with fluke, sea bass, or walleye!! Instead of using 16oz Norwegian jigs with big treble hooks, we were comfortably using 6 oz. Tormenter Jigsthat we rigged with single hooks.
We caught great cod AND haddock in this method and no one got tired of jigging because our gear was so light and the rods were so forgiving. I love fishing like this! In fact this is the best way to take kids on their first cod trip—it’s much easier on them and they can handle the whole affair! You will never go back to “regular cod gear” again. We had people fish with us later in the summer in deep water, still asking to use the light tackle!! We even fished in 300’ of water with that light gear!
I have spoken with the product people at Okuma Fishing Tackle about my thoughts for a reel and rod combo for this fishing and they have come up with their brand-new RED ISIS to which I’ll use their lightest Cedros Speed Jigging Rod. For size comparison, the Penn 113 HLW that I typically use for codfishing weighs 32 ounces. The Red Isis weighs 13 ounces!!! That’s an amazing difference. If I get my wishes, they’ll make this reel without the levelwind option as well. Special thanks to Joel St. Germain, professional bass fisherman who has been a great customer, friend, and mentor to my business. It’s fun watching a professional bass fisherman fish for cod!! What a hookset!
As usual, I’ll be using braided line with this combo—30# or perhaps 40#. With the lighter braided line, we’re able to hold bottom very well using light jigs. This makes it so much easier on your arms, back and spirit! Plus, it is so much fun to hook a nice fish on a light rig. The line of choice for us has always been PowerPro Line. I like the fact that they now have 4 different colors to choose from—I can fish different colored line on each rod. Spring cod—light tackle and kids…………………….but still the fish can be great!
This year we didn't really do a lot of Buzzards Bay fishing, and this was a bummer. The fish were there; we got some great fish and the fishing there can be truly amazing---it's only 15-45 feet deep!! We landed some great sea bass, fluke, and scup. With the choice between shallow water action for cod/haddock or shallower water action for seabass, fluke, and scup, you can't go wrong. The fishing grounds in Buzzards Bay are only 10 minutes from the pier....
June
We had a very varied June—we fished shallow water for cod, deep water for cod, flats fishing for stripers, Race Point for stripers, Buzzards Bay for sea bass and fluke, Buzzards Bay for scup(porgy), Buzzards Bay for stripers and blues on light tackle, and Chatham for tuna. It was a month of transition for us and our customers. The good thing is that there are options in June.
It’s a great thing. We found schools of scup (porgy) that covered the fishfinder and we aptly filled the boat. That’s a lot of fun for the right customers. We also explored some early-season tuna waters off of Chatham that just screamed for more. Yes, we’ll be back there in mid-June next year. The tuna were also in Mass Bay and Cape Cod Bay as well. On June 7 we saw a school of hundreds of giant tuna cruising inside of Mass Bay while we were returning from cod fishing. It was amazing! We’ll be ready next year!
July
By July we had tuna-fever. It was excellent and we had some of the best blitzes we can remember. The fish cooperated, mostly, and so did the sharks. If, on July 1 cooperates means we caught 21 sharks, then, yes, they did cooperate!!! I love fishing for sharks!
We made our first shark trip on July 1 and landed a 7+ foot mako. Great fish to go along with 20 more blue sharks that day(several 200+ pounds)! We had three hours during the day in which we had a fish on the line the whole time. It can be that amazing. Going forward in July and August, striper fishing off of Race Point, though good, should be planned as a weekday event—on the weekends the great fishing there brings far too many boats in far too small of an area. It is too chaotic with that much traffic---plan your trips there for the weekdays and we’ll have fun. What a day—ending with a 250# mako amongst friends!!!
August
August brought a lot of mixed charters---tuna in the morning and something else after that. Why not? The weather in August is the most amazing of the year and get your time in. We found the cod and haddock in amazing numbers once again and in predictable areas. The early morning bite for tuna was also very predictable—I love August—we can leave at 4:00 in the morning, fish for tuna, fish for cod, and get back in to port at a respectable time!! I love that.
Because of the number of tuna trips that I was running, I upgraded all of my tuna gear to have it all match. I purchased 5 matching Okuma Titus Gold TG 50 Two Speed reels with matching Okuma Catalina Tuna Rods. I have been very, very happy with the performance—we’ve tested them hard this summer with tons of use and loads of big fish. Our biggest fish this summer was a 400+ pound blue shark that was a beast. It is the largest blue shark that I have ever seen. I told my customers that it’s a blue shark and we release them—that we wouldn’t kill it just to get their name in a record book. Too bad it wasn’t an edible shark!!!! It was enormous! I’ll have the video on the website this winter. The rod and reel performed better than expected! That fish took some of the best runs I’ve ever imagined. The sharks started moving in nicely this year with more makos in the area than in years past.
September
With the sharks moving in and right up my alley (yes, I LOVE FISHING FOR SHARKS), we did some great cod/shark trips this year east of Stellwagen. But the real news in September was TUNA FISHING!!!
We landed another nice 300 pound mako east of Stellwagen this September and it was just amazing to see that fish jump. It took 6’ of air within 20 feet of the boat!! The Mass. record porbeagle shark of 455 pounds was caught in the same area where I do my cod fishing (and shark fishing). You never know what you’ll catch out there! Another fisherman that I know landed a mako of almost 600 pounds out there and another fish on a separate day spooled him completely! Yes, this is where I fish and where we can fish for both cod and sharks at the same time. Talk about double dipping!! There was a time frame of a couple of weeks where I would have almost guaranteed a shark—while cod fishing! It was that good out there. One day while shark fishing, we saw no fewer than 8 sharks circling the boat at one time!!! Great shark fishing and slamming cod and haddock fishing. I love haddock. They’re back in great numbers once again.
And, in recapping this September, we had a crew of people from Angler's ProShop in Brooklyn or their fishing forum Spinning-for-HUGE-FISH FORUM (click on East Coast Forum) start fishing with me from September on into October. I can’t say enough about their fishing style—they fished for tuna using spinning gear and swimbaits, mostly. It’s specialized fishing and specialized gear. Seeing a tuna strike a popper, however, within 10’ of the boat is a strike you’ll never forget! Randy and Sami own the shop there and have an online store and are very helpful. Many of the tuna they caught (and they caught a pile of them) were landed within 5 minutes! I love the method, I love the excitement of chasing down a school of breaking fish and making that perfect cast to fish that you see breaking, but…but I can’t think of a good enough “but” to mention negatively. I can’t wait until next year to do it again. It’s not peaceful fishing. It’s tough work for everyone on the boat, from me to my mate to everyone fishing. But it’s successful and it gives purpose to the day more than any other type of fishing. Recalling the schools of tuna that I saw blitzing from June on, I can’t imagine what it would have been like if we had a casting crew on board for some of those blitzes. That thought will help me get through my winter.
October
I didn’t even mention cod/haddock in October—it’s still excellent and the fish are typically the largest of the year with some great pollack starting to move in. Our biggest cod of the year came in this year at 60 inches long and bottomed out my 50# scale!! And we caught it on a shrimp!!!!
We didn't do much fishing for cod nad haddock this October, not because they weren't there, but rather because we chose to fish for the tuna instead! It was an incredible fall. The options were endless. Reports from Buzzards Bay this fall were amazing--tons of stripers, big blues, and loads of false albacore and bonito.
On the blues and stripers front, I heard on the radio this summer (Greg Sears on Fortuna) say something funny...once you get the tuna bug, blues and stripers are just bait!!! It's prophetic. We'll be using blues next year as bait for giant tuna!!! I can't wait. I'm rigged and ready to go.
I hope you enjoyed my rambling…I could go on for days with the memories I burned in my brain this year. It was THAT good. I’ll be putting a lot more on my website very soon. We’ll see what the neuro-surgeon says about my back and what I have to do next. Regardless, I’ll have plenty of time to give you all plenty of reading and daydreaming for the winter! I’m looking forward to being Mr. Mom for the next few months. I can’t thank you all enough for making this a great year. Thank you my customers and to the people who just read my site. Hearing you tell me at the boat ramp that you read my site to see “where,how, what, and why” is a great feeling. I hope to see all of my customers again next year in good health and spirits and wish you all a great winter. Please drop me a line from time to time to check in.
In addition to my customers, I would like thank all of the
SPONSORS OF THE BLACK ROSE
Okuma Fishing Tackle They are redefining themselves with new lines of top quality gear. I've done very well with it this year and look forward to next year's models.
Tormenter Tackle Their butterfly jigs amounted for a ton, literally, of cod and haddock this year. I use their tuna squids and I think they're amazing.
PowerPro Line What can I say about braids nowadays? They call them superbraids for a reason.
Angler's Pro Shop Yes, I'm a believer in their fishing techniques and tackle. Check out their specialty online store for yourselves.
The Huntin' Lodge This is an online resource that will be growing by huge leaps very soon. Check them out for membership discounts!
For those of you who have fished with me, you know Matt. I can’t say enough about Captain Matt Merrick who has mated or captained almost every one of the trips on the Black Rose since its inception three years ago. He’ll be a tough person to replace when the time comes for him to “get a real job and career”. He’ll do great at whatever he chooses. I hope that another year on the Black Rose is in his cards for next year. Matt with Buzzards Bay and Pocasset in the background. Lastly, but not leastly, is a great thank you to my wife, Stacey, and our kids Alexandra and Richie. They’re been great and very supportive with my efforts here. If you know me, you know how I feel about this—I’m a lucky man. Have a fun, safe, healthy winter and please keep in touch.
Sincerely, Capt. Rich Antonino
captain@blackrosefishing.com
www.blackrosefishing.com
508-269-1882 |
CaptainIDS (Captainids)
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Username: Captainids
Post Number: 60
Registered: 9-2007
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, September 05, 2007 - 10:25 am: | |
Are you a Licensed Coast Guard Captain?
This is for you
http://www.captainids.com/ |
Mike Bartlett (Bfast)
New member
Username: Bfast
Post Number: 12
Registered: 9-2003
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, July 15, 2007 - 8:32 am: | |
BOSTON HARBOR & SOUTH SHORE-Stripers 7/9/2007
More and more keeper bass are working their way into skinny-water of the inner-harbor bays and coves producing good top-water action. Very-little blitzing or bird activity was evident over the weekend. However, bass could be seen swirling “fins & tails” on the surface over structure at first-light and at high-slack tide presenting casting targets for anglers. Reports from Stellwagen are that the bass are still there in good numbers as they are hitting the spreader-bars trolled for school tuna.
Saturday’s trip was spearheaded by Ken Kakol of Plainfield, NJ who I met at the Sportsmen’s show in Edison, N J. Ken opted to book the trip for brother-in-law Mark, nephew Adam and niece, Madison of Winchester, MA. These athletic young anglers proved to be more that up to the task of casting to stripers swirling on the surface. Young Adam struck first doing battle with a 33”, 14# keeper that was kept for the grill. Not to be out-done, Dad hooked the best bass of the day; a 37”, 20# keeper. The anglers rose a number of other bass, however the stripers were very fussy, and we hooked only few school bass. Moving to the upper-reaches of Quincy to end the day on the ebbing tide, Young Adam hooked two small blues in short order, once again on soft-plastics fished on the surface. It appears that Adam is “hooked on fishing” since Mark just booked a return trip in August.
Dean Scontras and his Dad of Boston were greeted to flat-calm seas on Sunday morning. These experienced striper fisherman spend much of their time on the water off Portland, Maine. They, too, have found that the stripers are arriving late up north, so they opted to try their luck in their back-yard, Boston harbor. Bunches of school bass were showing on the slick-surface at first light. Surface presentations produced the best action and good numbers of school bass to 24” at the height of the tide and the first two hours of the ebb. Dean rose and hooked a 32”, 12# keeper bass that was revived and released. The pocket-water of rocks off Minot’s ledge produced a number of school bass for the anglers on return to Cohasset.
Capt. Mike Bartlett
B-Fast Charters
www.bfastcharters.com |
Mike Bartlett (Bfast)
New member
Username: Bfast
Post Number: 11
Registered: 9-2003
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, July 04, 2007 - 6:16 am: | |
BOSTON HARBOR & SOUTH SHORE-Stripers 7/4/2007
Big Bass moved into the inner-harbor this past week producing our largest bass of the season caught on surface presentations. Saturday morning’s charter started in at first-light in Quincy bay. Dana Wilson of Landmark Impressions of Woburn, MA made a big “impression” by hooking our season’s best fish to date; a 39”, 22# striper on a surface-rigged soft-plastic. After a brief Kodak moment, the keeper was revived employing the Boga grip and released. A mix of small blues and school bass from the upper-reaches of the inner harbor added to the day’s catch. Winslow’s afternoon delight in white and chartreuse Gartside’s gurglers also fished well on the long rod using floating Wonderline.
One the way back to Cohasset harbor, the anglers fished the pocket-water on the rocky ledges and promontories of Minot’s, and hooked and release numbers of school bass to 24”.
On the Eve of the Fourth, Chris Straub and his good friend and colleague, Tim Roland, of Ultimate Valet Service in Boston, also fished the upper-reaches of the inner-harbor bays in the afternoon. The bass are still feeding on silversides, and although there was no surface activity evident, once again appropriate presentations fished on structure produced great results. With the wind a steady 20 knots, fly fishing was difficult. While the fishing was slow to start producing only a few small schoolies on light-tackle, by the middle of the ebb that surface action picked up. Chris struck pay-dirt first announcing he was “On” from the front casting platform. With the wind pushing the boat in one direction and the bass moving the other, we decided to give chase. The fish pulled the Boga to 18# and measured 34 inches. Not to be out-done, after a relocating over structure, Tim teased his keeper to the surface from the 9 ft. depths. After a brief chase, we netted a fat, 33”, 18# twin, completing a double!
This charter was a gift to Chris from his new wife, Tatum; she is a “keeper” in my book, and I, for one, will be stopping by and seeing her at “Mistrals” on Columbus Avenue real soon.
Capt. Mike Bartlett
B-Fast Charters
www.bfastcharters.com |
Rich Antonino (Capt_rich)
New member
Username: Capt_rich
Post Number: 1
Registered: 4-2007
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, May 06, 2007 - 3:50 pm: | |
Summary: Perfect day on the water! We had professional Okuma Bass Fisherman, Joel St. Germain fishing with our shared charter. He was trying out his Okuma Nitrox 400 spinning reel in these shallow-water cod grounds. He had a blast and everyone landed a pile of fish today. Nothing too big, but the great news was the number of nice haddock in shallow water again. This is much like two years ago, when there was a great run of spring haddock in 140' of water. I like seeing it and will be on the water all week, trying for more easy fishing.
We bounced around more much of the day, hitting fish here and there until the fish moved on. The bait is thick on Stellwagen Bank and we were happy to leave from Green Harbor again. Plymouth has been good, but I do like Marshfield a lot. For a while, we were fishing in 80' of water and landing lots of cod, many of which were small, though.
8 year-old Michael Cahill did great today, landing 5 double headers, 4 of them in a row! He rubbed it in with a good smile. All of the luck his Dad had went to him, but big Mike did ok as well. Jimmy White, from Tenn., landed a pile of good fish, accentuated by a nice keeper-double header on a fluke rod and an Okuma T-10. In my opinion, jigging with the light tackle and this reel is awesome--6 oz jigs on 30# test. It's not tiring and fun for all.
The sea bass will be coming into Buzzards Bay this week with the warming weather, so give us a call. We do have Mother's Day available. She'll understand! Keep having fun out there. Capt. Rich Antonino, Black Rose Fishing Charters, 508-269-1882 http://www.blackrosefishing.com |
Mike Bartlett (Bfast)
New member
Username: Bfast
Post Number: 10
Registered: 9-2003
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, April 22, 2007 - 8:27 am: | |
STELLWAGEN BANK, MA- Cod & Haddock Fishing 4/22/07
Although our cod season on Stellwagen started the first of April, the wind and weather patterns have made the fishing very difficult, similar to early April of last year. However, one difference has been the preponderance of bait-fish—sand eels and herring--that were in evidence on the bank through the winter months, and are up and down the shoal-water on the bank right now. Prior to the atypical Nor’easter that ripped through New England this pasted week, sand eels and whales were stacked-up on top of the bank with hordes of medium cod coursing the bait shoals. Spring finally decide to arrive this weekend bringing with it light winds, calm seas and cod fishing like the “Good Ol’ Days”.
Long time client Pete Dunn of Seaford , NY and his fishing pals from the “Island”, headed North with a favorable forecast and high expectations. Although the shoal-water was all churned up and the bait concentrations were dispersed, Capt. Scott on B-Fast’s DECISIVE put the group over a productive patch of bottom on the eastern edge which kept their rods bent most of the day. Pete always brings fresh-shucked “Jersey clams”, and they were the ticket for the numbers of medium cod between 10 and 15 pounds that came over the rails to fill the fish boxes. Even though the cod-fish were spitting up sand eels and herring, Dunn’s group stuck with the clam-bait and limited out on cod by mid-day. Six cod over 20 pounds, 10 haddock and the pool-winning 26 pound steaker rounded out the catch. Pete reported that there were only 10 throw-backs, and that the Decisive wasn’t alone for long. By mid-morning a number of other charter boats including a boat from Montauk were practically shaking hands with Pete as they repeatedly made the drift.
Not far the North on the shoals, B-Fast SASHAMY was into cod using exclusively jigs. Capt. Doug’s group jigged numbers of scrod and medium cod including a few haddock, and, although he had fresh clams on board, his group pulled their limit of cod over the rails by mid-day. Doug reported that he had numerous throw-back and smaller fish than DECISIVE, however his angler’s were hooking fish on long drifts all day.
As I write, the boats are on the bank again, and it looks like we will be getting out most of this upcoming week. It appears that the table is set, do to the bait concentrations, for an excellent cod spring run, and anglers can go either way using either jigs or bait. The haddock fishing will do nothing but improve by month’s end right through the summer months.
Capt, Mike Bartlett
B-Fast Charters
www.bfastcharters.com
781-293-6402 |
Mike Bartlett (Bfast)
New member
Username: Bfast
Post Number: 9
Registered: 9-2003
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, May 07, 2006 - 3:25 pm: | |
STELLWAGEN BANK, MA- Cod & Haddock Fishing 5/7/2006
The month of April was a literal blow-out to say the least. Strong northeast winds for weeks on end, very rough sea conditions and sub-par cod fishing for what is usually one of our best months of fishing on the bank, was the rule. At one point toward the end of the month, the cod boats were at the dock for almost two weeks straight, fostering repeated cancellation. On the few days when the wind let go we found the fish were scattered, very little bait was in evidence and the cod were small. Many clients were asking why we were not posting reports, now you know why; nothing good to report.
The continual northeast winds, while they killed our business, did bring one benefit: the winds blew in the bait-- sand eels and herring-- onto the shoal-water. Presently, we have the best concentration of sand eels and herring that we have seen in two years. Whales, gannets and cod fish are taking full advantage of the bonanza. With cod chasing bait-fish, jig fishing has once again become effective.
Finally, with the wind shift to the southwest on Friday, Capt. Bob on B-Fast’s JANET B, logged our best trip of the season with the Shervah Tyson charter from Long Island City, NY. Even with the newly imposed size limit of 24 inches for cod starting May 1, Shervah’s group bailed market cod between 8 and 15 pounds in the morning blitz with sand eels on the surface all around the boat.. Both skimmer clams and jigs worked equally well. Shervah’s group wanted haddock, so Capt. Bob complied moving to the deeper water and got the New Yorker’s into 70 keeper haddock and one wolfish—this is our best catch for haddock to date.
On Saturday, five of B-Fast boats, JANET B, DECISIVE, SASHAMY, KAAMA and EXCALIBER fished flat calm seas and witnessed an awesome show with whales and birds feeding on the bait concentrations while market cod gulped clams and hit jigs and teasers below. While the catches weren’t as good as the day before, the action was steady. Many fish in the 21-23” size class were released unharmed. The largest cod of the day—20 pounds, was taken by an inexperienced lad on the John Downs Charter from Stoney Point, NY after a little coaching from the skipper. Long-time client and good friend, Bob Steinmann from Lindenhurst, NY fished two days on the DECISIVE. Neeraj Ray and his group from MIT opted to leave later in the morning—7 am-- on the EXCALIBER and returned early—arm weary—catching all the cod they wanted just after noon.
JANET B, DECISIVE and SASHAMY did get out on Sunday—three days in a row---, although NOAA weather completely blew the forecast making for very rough seas in the morning and difficult fishing conditions. Hopefully, the gods will smile on us an bring more days with fair winds and seas. The table is set due to the bait concentration on the bank for the best cod fishing of the season. Haddock is just getting started and will continue right through the summer months east of the bank.
Capt, Mike Bartlett
B-Fast Charters, www.bfastcharters.com |
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