bass101

Hi guys - I only joined 3 weeks ago as I was visiting MA fro a week from South Africa - tried to connect but no responses. Anyway I headed to Plymouth this weekend and had the experience of a lifetime with Capt John who sails out of Plymouth harbour.
Sat 20th started off around 6am for Stellawagen Bank in freezing cold and rain - it warmed up later in the afternoon. There were about 25 of us (reserved seats) with many folk driving in from as far as NJ and Maine. We made 4 stops (anchored): the first 3 stops produced moderate action but all hell broke loose on the last stop (we were pulling in fish every 2-3 minutes), mostly pollack with the odd cod/red. I won the pool with a my last fish, a 20-pound pollack hauled from 427 feet down, with my Penn Battle 8000 spinner loaded with 80-pound Suffix 832. I was a real 15-minute battle but and most of the other fishermen could not believe i had done it with a spinner (the Penn performed flawlessly). 86 fish were caught altogether (i got 7 pollack - see picture)
I went out again next day for a shorter trip (7am-3pm) and it followed the same pattern - last stop of 4 landed 90% of the fish, mostly cod (I think Capt John deliberately keeps the best spots for last). Weather was better (sunny and clear), crowd was bigger with a few kids (open seats), but we still had tonnes of fun. I did not get the final count but I reckon over 100 fish were caught - I got six cod (plus 6 dogfish).
I would highly recommend Captain John Boats especially the reserved seat outing. But bring your own lunch if burgers/hotdogs are not your kind of thing. I am in NY now and heading back to South Africa on Thursday with fond memories of Plymouth (I was in Boston during the week but it was not that great with all the troubles there)