May Captain’s Halfday

Captain’s started halfday mackerel trips in the middle of May. As I checked the weather forecast, wind would calm down on Memorial day Monday. I made a reservation for the morning trip. I thought it was in the peak season and expected 50 fish. The only concern was the lower temperature during the last two days. I prepared the 6’8’’ Shimano Sellus and a small Daiwa reel as usual. A bobber stopper was tied on 15 LB PowerPro.

It had been a while since I went to Captain’s for a half day mack trip before. I got some cube ice on the way at Shaws. The boat was Captain George as usual. About a dozen of people were on board. The captain said the last trip was the last weekend and it was pretty good. Although wind blew at the dock, the sea was calm and flat once we sailed out of Merrimeck river. The captain said we would get to the spot in 30 minutes.

I brought several sabiki rigs. At the beginning, I picked up a 2-hook rig of mirror film. The hooks are Chinta, super sharp one. When I started fishing, I found the current was very strong. I had a hard time keeping the right depth range using a 1/2 oz mackerel jig. I switched the jig with a 2 oz sinker soon. It enabled me to have an idea of the depth I was fishing. As I dropped the rig to the bottom, I got herring. In the meantime, people began to catch mack. I got a double of nice size mack in relatively deeper water. Although I thought they were regular size of the day, fish became smaller. Flurries lasted for 30 minutes and I kept catching doubles. After 1 hour from start, the catch became slower and the captain decided to reset. At that time, I kept 18 mack including several 12’’ class.

I thought a jig would work better than a sinker. I switched the sinker with a 2 oz Crippled Herring. It was affected more by the current. As I dropped it to the bottom, a sculpin bit immediately. I released it. I tried 15 feet range but it didn’t work. Others didn’t catch either. This spot was no good and the captain sought for the school again. At 10:30, there were 20 fish in the cooler box. I wanted a little more.

As the current was still strong, I got back to a sinker and switched the rig to a 4-hook mirror sabiki. I tried to make the most of flurries. The new spot was good and we had steady catch. I got full hooks of fish 3 times or so. The captain said fish were in deeper water. However, I got fish at both regular 15 feet range and deeper range around 30 feet. It was a little tricky. Finally the captain reset again and drifted for the last 15 minutes. As the wind became stronger, it was difficult to fish without heavy sinker or jig. I managed to catch one and the time was up at 11:50.

I kept 34 mack and 2 herring. There were only 7 good size mack and the rest were tinkers. They were still good for eating. We had missed super fresh fish for a while. Although there was slower time, I enjoyed the first mack trip of the season.

It was the first time I used the mirror film sabiki. The mirror film was sturdier than the iridescent cero film I used in the season before and I found no tear of the mirror film. Nylon hair was still disturbed after catching some but it became stable overall. I caught full hooks of fish when schools came and lost few. I was happy with the performance. I also found that the Sellus could make a difference. Light weight, superfast taper and perfect power for mack fishing. It was really a good deal!