I fished on the Yankee Freedom this past Saturday. Got to the boat at 5 am to make sure that I had my spot on the pulpit. Thank god... there was 65 people on the boat but only four of us on the pulpit. The weather was gorgeous, big blue skies, sunny, and light wind. It took around an hour and a half to get to the fishing grounds. All of the stops we were at anchor until we drifted for the last one. Fishing was ok. Lots of throwbacks...all of the fish were 21 and 22 in. Disapointing. I was not satisfied with our situation. The captain was reluctant to drift all day. Finally, when we did drift we caught the same amounts of fish but it was constant. There were no lulls. Also, it to the mates forever to set and pull in the anchor. 4 out of the 6 stops the anchor bounced. Wow....Overall it was a nice day on the water and a good way to cure cabin fever. Totals for the day were 17 fish...8 haddock 9 cod...only two keepers though. A 25 in cod and a 5 lb haddock. All of the fish were caught on bait. Only one jig fish taken on the whole boat. I was wondering how much better I would have done with some fresh bait...who knows. The fish weren't schooled up yet. There was minimal bait around. I talked to the mates and they said that there is nothing to school the fish up. The fish I caught only had small worms and sand dollars in its stomach. Well this saturday, I will be working a cod charter on the boat. So hopefully the fish will be schooled up. Until next time.

Happy to hear that you had caught some fish. :happy: Clams are the main stay of bait on the Yankee fleet. Try a teaser rig,with a couple of hooks w/red or pink rubber shrimp and a 16oz jig. You can also buy seaworms at there bait and tackle shop. Good luck if you go next week:cool: :cool: :cool:

I know. Jigged my ba**s off. I am mainly a jig fisherman but the jig wasnt working. I just wished we drifted the whole trip. I am going to try to make my first trip of the year to georges in 2 wks. Been cancelled 5 times already. I have to work a charter this weekend so hopefully we will check in.

If you are going to try and target haddock you may want to use fresh mackeral. Couple of my friends that longline say that's the best bait for haddock. I don't see why herring wouldn't work as good. It's only a suggestion. Whatta I know:cool:

Thanks for the tip. I am always trying to learn new things to better my chance of hooking up.