Great few days fishing out on the bank. On Friday we landed a nice 53″ tuna. Yes being excited about catching a smaller fish sounds silly. Although it is great to see a smaller class of tuna show up on the bank, for many reasons. The life continues to show on the bank more and more everyday. We have had some great Tuna/Cod combo trips on the bank this last week. High hopes for the month of September. Good luck to all! Thanks

Capt Collin

Tuna trips have been going great. A very interesting season so far. There have been Tuna all over many great bites happening in different places.

There is a large abundance of bait this season. Small juvenile herring are all over the place. We sure have seen some amazing surface feeds this season. It’s very exciting to see the fish finder lit up with bait for over 5 continuous miles. It seems the mid water herring boat restriction is showing a very positive impact.

Stellwagen continues to hold up to it’s reputation as the life on the bank is amazing. As it should only continue to…(continue reading)

I did an overnight recon trip to Southern Jefferies Tuesday night and Wednesday.

The good news is we got a 92″ 550# Giant and we saw some 60-90# BFT just 4-5 NM’s from Twin Lights. The fish gave us a really hard fight for an hour and a half as it’s stomach was completely empty and we ended up 1 1/2 miles from where we hooked it.

The bad news is the fish are really spread out, so unless you have very specific and current information Southern Jefferies does not offer the same kind of concentrate of bait and fish that the Bank does. The Whales and the bait seem to be quite spread out this year. Captain Collin is out in the Karen Lynn today looking for more Giants so hopefully he will do post an update, tonight or tomorrow. For now we are going to stick to the Bank and maybe to the east for Tuna Charters.

Captain Jim
Karen Lynn Charters
www.karenlynncharters.com

Headed out to the Bank, with hopes of more tuna showing up north after the moon. Arrive to the corner with lots of life showing. The usual whales,birds,tons of bait with many bass still in the mix. No tuna on the screen cruised around for a bit and sure enough a few broke the surface. Worked the area for a while and sure enough we were on. About 15 to 20 min later we boated a nice 68″ fish. This class of fish will give you a good battle make sure your gear is heavy and in tip top shape. As soon as it began it shut off. Weather was no good of course and visibility was tough. Stuck it out and kept working, a while later we were on again. A fish of the same size was boat side for a nice tag and release. A great day overall our clients were very excited to say the least. Fishing should continue to…(continue reading)

How to cut Bluefin Tuna- Karen Lynn Charters Gloucester, MA

Quite a few people have asked for a “how to” showing cutting up and steaking a Blue Fin Tuna. As promised, we will shoot a video of cutting up a Bluefin Tuna aboard Karen Lynn Charters this summer. In the mean time I have put together a description and some pictures of how we do it on the Karen Lynn. All the pictures are of Blue Fin, but some are southern Bluefin Tuna and tuna from the Mediterranean. Some might look a little different to those of you who notice details like that.

I am sure that people on the forum who have experience cutting up Bluefin Tuna will have some other ways of doing it and I would welcome you to post your tips and idea’s. Like most things that require some practice and skill, there is probably no one “right way” to do it. There are however, easier ways to do it and I have tried below to show you one way we have found that is relatively easy. Like most things, the more you do…(continue reading)

We had an Awesome day on Stellwagon Sunday with three hookups with the largest and first fish, a fat 64″ Blue Fin Tuna. We tagged and released two others in the 55″-62″ size range. It looks like the same group of fish that were 57″+/- last year are back and significantly bigger and stronger. We are really so fortunate to have this kind of fishery so close to home and need to really try to make it sustainable. We are talking about leaving the light gear at home this season so when we release these fish, they have a reasonable shot at survival. What a great way to start the season and it is amazing that we have so many fish early and such an abundance of bait. will post some . We are going to go up North for a few…(continue reading)

Mackerel are here !!!

May 19, 2009

 

Water temp is warming up quick and lots of life is starting to show. The Mackerel have arrived in big numbers. Showing up both inshore and offshore. We made a mackerel trip the other day. Brining and vacuum bagging a fair share of them. Always nice to have those mackerel on stand by. The Bass are making a strong appearance as well. We were feeding about a dozen underneath the underwater light back at the slip. They are always very aggresive this time of year. Nothing better than live lining macks for big Striped Bass. The new livewell is sweet to say the least. I would say it is my favorite time of the year for big bass. Last year was a great year for monster bass. Landed my largest ever weighing in at 55lbs. All of the signs are here and it is looking good. Very excited for sure! We have many great dates still available. Feel free to contact us…(continue reading)

Cod and Haddock Fishing Charters Gloucester, MA

April 21, 2009

A great time had by all aboard the Karen Lynn this past Friday and weekend. The Bank is full of life already many whales, birds, and a decent amount of bait. We fished the broken grounds just before the bank. Lots of action always a bent rod lots of shorts to deal with but the keepers do come. As well as a pretty good haddock bite in the deeper water. The fish were hitting jigs at times as well as the bait. If you found the whales feeding the cod were under them eating the scraps. Many cod coming up with small sand eels hanging out of there mouths. The fish and eels are still scattered, I hope soon enough the eels will congregate up to the shoal water and the cod will be right behind them. Sure feels great to be…(continue reading)

Almost Ready to Splash the Karen Lynn!

April 4, 2009

We are wrapping up our Winter Projects and Maintenance of the Karen Lynn. We will be splashing the boat and bringing it to Gloucester from Perkins Marina in Essex in a week.

We made a lot of progress this week and we Collin and I saw some crucial pieces of the winter projects come together really well.

First with the help of Paul “Woggy” Champagne, who is a great Glass and Gel Repair, fisherman and boat builder from Maine, we complete the Tuna door which came out really well. We ended up with a good and steep ramp that will help with the Karen Lynn’s deck being higher off the water than most boats.

Shot of Closed Door from Outside
Collin through the Open Door.
Additionally, we got the new Livewell/ Ice Storage Box finished and hoisted up on deck thanks to Ed Perkins and his crane, then fastened down and I am finishing up the plumbing and electrical to it this weekend. Also we…(continue reading)

Update on Winter Projects on Karen Lynn

March 30, 2009

Collin and I have been hard at work getting the Karen Lynn ready to go back in the water the week of April 13th. We have made a lot of progress the last few weeks. The new Furuno FCV-1150 sounder and two transducers are installed and the picture and controls are unbelievable. We made a custom swivel mount and it will rotate so we can see the screen from the helm, out back on the deck, or from the hauler. Check out the mounting and the screen shot below. Also we have made a lot of progress on the Karen Lynn’s new tuna door. Because the deck is quite high off the water compared to most downeast boats, we were concerned about being able to make a door that worked.Fortunately we were able to make a good ramp and set the door down 8″ below the deck. We are also rigging a snatch block on the winter back so we…(continue reading)