Stellar Haddock Fishing to Kick off 2022
A common sight from our trip os Sunday April 4th, 2022!
We are officially on the books for the 2022 New England saltwater fishing season! On Sunday, April 3rd, the MOM crew ventured offshore on a beautiful day to go pound on some bottom fish. As the five of us were planning out our trip, it felt like the most anticipated kick-off to a season that I can remember. The 2021 season was excellent for us on the north shore. No matter what you were fishing for, everyone seemed to find success. Last season was also unique in that we learned some new fishing techniques that we want to hone in on and improve in 2022. We even have some new tricks up our sleeves to try this year. As we continue to develop and perfect some of the things we are doing, we will share with our members throughout the season!
The first trip of the year is always brimming with wonder and excitement:
You want to ensure the boat is running tip-top and all your systems are in order.
You see your weather window a few days out and cross your fingers, pray to the heavens, burn sage, or sacrifice your firstborn, hoping the weather will hold.
You hope the fish are where you think and start your season with a bang.
We accomplished everything on Sunday's trip and only had to sacrifice one child to the weather gods.
Capt. John's 25 ft Steigercraft was the chosen battleship for the day. We met at Cashman's ramp to go fishing in Newburyport, MA, at 7:45 AM. We quickly loaded up the boat and were off with high hopes on the horizon. The ocean was smooth, and the pilothouse made for a dry, comfy ride out, while keeping us warm.
I tell you what, the best part of fishing with friends as opposed to running a Newburyport charter is the division of labor leading up to, during, and after the trip. With the five of us pitching in, it felt like a vacation for John, Mike, and myself! We each took care of something beforehand. John had the boat fueled up and ready to go. Mike and Justin picked up the ice. Dan brought snacks for everyone, and I brought an extra cutting board. I genuinely cherish the few times any of us get to fish together, not only because we are all close friends but because we are on the same page. Everyone knows what they are doing and when to do it. We don't even verbally communicate; things just get done as needed. When there are no wasted movements on a boat, it maximizes your time with lines in the water, which, in turn, gives you more opportunity to put fish on the deck.
The Crew ready for the first trip of the year!
We each brought our own haddock rods, which was quite the variety! Running against the grain, Mike and Justin chose to use some extremely light tackle for bottom fishing. Seeing how much fun they were having has me thinking of scaling down my haddock tackle, which is already considered light. Here are the setups we used for the day.
Chris - Torium 16PG on an Okuma Azores AZ-C-661 MH 50-100# Jigging Rod (Okuma discontinued this Azores rod, but you can still find some old stock online)
Dan - Seigler LG on a custom-built Mud Hole blank
John - Torium PG on a Jigging World Black Hawk 6'10 MH
Justin - Maxel Hybrid Star Drag on a Tsunami Slow Pitch 7'0 MH
Mike - Torium 14HG on a custom 7'0 Black Hole Challenger Medium
All of us spooled up with 50# braid, besides Justin, who opted to go 30# braid in the hopes of fishing lighter sinkers with his light tackle. We each started with a slightly different rig, either different colors/types of teasers or no teasers at all. We tried to present different offerings to see what works best, and it was valuable data about 1/3 of the way through the trip. We will get to that later.
John was the real hero of the trip as he drove down to Gloucester to corral some "purple clams." Typically, we would buy them at Crossroads Bait and Tackle or Straightline Bait and Tackle in Salisbury, but they didn't have any in stock last week. As of this blog (April 7th), both shops said they would have them by next week. (Availability from the supplier is also inconsistent).
To those in the know, the purple clams are some of the best for haddock fishing. They come packaged in five-pound vacuum-sealed bags for easy freezer storage. One bag is usually enough for 3 to 4 guys bottom fishing all day (On the party boats, our rule was a gallon per 10 people when cutting bait before the trip). Purple clams stay on the hook better than surf clams and don't wash out as fast, allowing you to use less during the day. The other benefit is that the haddock love them! I don't intend to sound as if there is anything wrong with surf clams, as they have been the predominant bait forever and work just fine. Still, if purple clams and surf clams are side by side at the shop, I grab purple every time.
Goofing around with the guys, I don't even remember the ride out other than it was gorgeous. We started on some numbers inside of Jeffries. It was a ride so quick it felt like we teleported there. We set up a drift at Halfway Hump to see if anyone was home. After 15 minutes, it was decidedly not happening, so we continued our journey to Jeffrey's Ledge proper. The seas were around 2 ft with a light chop on top due to the easterly wind, but the boat sliced right through as we comfortably cruised around 35 mph toward the ledge to our original plan.
We set up our drift on New Scantum, and the rods started bending instantaneously! We had landed on the motherload of colossal redfish. I think I saw the biggest redfish of my life at least 5 times this trip. I don't think I ever had redfish stacked up like this before. We kept 60 large redfish and threw just as many keepers back by the end of the day. We slowly picked away at keeper haddock and the junk fish roulette species like short cod, cunners, and sculpins as the drift continued.
Dan’s MASSIVE Acadian Redfish!
Capt. John Parkhurst with a nice redfish!
As we came off the high ground into deeper water, the bite slowed for a few minutes. We had to decide if we wanted a repeat drift or try somewhere else. Well, we counted haddock, and we surprisingly already had 15. It didn't seem like that much because we were dealing with so many redfish, so we decided to drift again and target the areas where we had our best haddock numbers. We originally started our first drift at 185 ft and drifted up to 150 ft and back down to 185 ft. All our haddock were caught between 155 - 170 ft on the first drift, so we shortened our drift to hit the productive water.
When we reset, the current started to pick up, and the bite turned on for the haddock. It was heating up, and rods started bending a lot deeper than our last drift in the redfish. Our lines were fish elevators for the next 2 hours as we got our five-man limit of haddock (75) and cod (5), 60 redfish, and 4 cusks that we kept. Surprisingly, we did not catch a single pollock, whiting, mackerel, or wolffish.
Over the rail and in the pail!
Bigger haddock develop this ridge on the top of their head!
John kept us in the same general area the whole day. After the long first drift, we repeated shorter drifts in the sweet spots between 155 - 170 ft. With about 20 more haddock to reach our limit, Mike and Justin started whacking away at the filet table while Dan, John, and I did the rest of the work to hit the haddock limit.
Can I hire you guys once charter season starts?
Once we hit the 75th haddock, John pointed to bow back home, signaling the end of our adventure. The goal of any offshore trip is to have everything done by the time you hit the dock. Dan and I organized all the rods, tackle, and trash, then started scrubbing. At the same time, Mike and Justin hacked away at the tables for an additional 30 minutes on the ride back to the dock. Mike and Justin stood at the cutting board for close to 90 minutes, whackin' and stackin' fillets for days. Here are a few things that can help you filet fish faster:
Use a quality, sharp knife. Mike, Justin, Dan, and I have always been fans of the Dexter Russell wooden and white handle knives. Last year, a client gave me a Kerber Filet Knife, and I loved it. I did not bring it on this trip, unfortunately. John is a big Bubba Blade guy. Check out the video below the bulletpoint of Mike going SLOW to record how to fillet a haddock.
Make sure the haddock are ICE cold. Nothing worse than trying to filet a mushy fish that has been sitting in the sun all day. The colder the fish, the easier it is to slide your knife down the backbone.
WEAR A DAMN FILET GLOVE ON YOUR OFF-HAND! I can't stress this enough, not just for protection from an errant blade swipe, but to grip the fish better as you hold it down, move it around, and rip meat off the bones. I won't cut any fish without a filet glove these days.
Use an old carpet sample, or a thick rag, on top of the cutting board to prevent the fish from sliding around. Haddock are very slimy fish and make a mess on the board. Having a little grip goes a long way to ensure safety and speed.
Sorry about the wind!
A few other fishing points of note from our trip:
Bare hooks without teasers definitely outfished teasers on this day. Once we removed our teasers from our hooks, our numbers on haddock went up, which is entirely different from last year's first trip.
We started the day with 10 oz sinkers to hold bottom. As the current and wind picked up, it forced us to fish with 16 oz. However, Justin stuck with a 10 oz since he used 30# braid to fish lighter weight. It worked out well.
My new SIMMS Neoprene Jacket was bone dry all day, warm, and very comfortable. It was a solid addition to the foul weather gear, and I'm looking forward to seeing how it performs the rest of the year.
Some of the redfish were absolute dinosaurs. I don't think I have seen that many big redfish in one day.
The bite started off slow as the tide was still slack, but the bite was fire once we started drifting faster.
We had four other buddy boats out there fishing vastly different areas and the reports were similar. The haddock were anywhere you went on the ledge. The Prong, Cove, Southern Jeffrey’s, and the Curl were all productive for our friends out there as well.
John’s daughter Julia approves of her fresh caught haddock!
Now that haddock season has officially started, the opportunity to head out in the early spring can lead to some banner days of groundfishing. With haddock limits shifting from 15 per person to 20 per person starting on May 1st, the chance of you going home with a ton of fish is more probable than not. If you have 40 filets, you don't want to have the same dish repeatedly. The guys at MOM collaborated and came up with their best haddock recipes to share.
Capt. Mike's Blackened Haddock on Blackstone or Skillet
Preheat your grill or fry pan and make sure it is well-buttered to keep it from sticking when you flip your filet.
Rinse haddock in cold water, shake/pat dry and coat with your favorite blackening rub.
Cook for 3 minutes on one side, then flip to the other for 3 minutes.
Dan's Air Fried Haddock
4min each side at 390deg
Rinse haddock in cold water, shake dry, and roll in bread crumbs.
I like to add black pepper, cayenne, and garlic powder to my bread crumbs to spice it up.
Arrange in a single layer in an air fryer and spray with oil. Cook for 4 minutes, then carefully flip and repeat.
Capt. John's Julia Approved Haddock
Egg wash
Italian bread crumbs
Fry in vegetable oil until golden brown
Lemon, if you so desire
To sum it up, you couldn’t ask for a better opening day. We had beautiful weather, no hiccups, absurd fishing, and a ton of laughs. Days like today are why we wanted to start Mouths of the Merrimack so we can hear about your adventures as well! If you haven’t already, please set up up an account in the forum and take advantage of your membership! Let us know about your trips and comment on anything you’d like to see content wise from us! Let’s build this thing!
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Tight Lines Guys!
Capt. Chris Valaskatgis