Well yesterday was my favorite day of the year...the day when "Manolin" goes back into the water and the official start of the fishing season in Newburport, MA. This time of year is a great look into how nature works. Increasing light levels, changes in wind patterns, moon cycles, and the warming of the ocean water trigger mass migrations of fish up the coast into our home waters of Ipswich Bay, the Merrimack River, and Hampton Harbors. We have sand eels, rain bait, shad, winter flounder, herring, and striped bass coming up through the coast. Not to mention our incredible spring haddock fishery with the chance of catching a cold water porbeagle shark! Please enjoy the following post with all the new announcements for Manolin Charters in Newburyport this year!
The feedback of the herring runs has been outstanding so far this year with the alewives returning first, which were followed by the blue back herring. The stripers will not be far behind! Last year my first fish was on May 4th, but that was more the exception than the rule. Generally, we get into good number of schoolie stripers around the 10th - 15th and I plan my early trips accordingly. The last three season have given us super fast paced action where 100 - 200 fish days were not uncommon. With ocean temps creeping up on 50 degrees (the magic number), they should be here any day. This afternoon I will take my first stab at it for 2018.
Some updates to the boat this year will greatly increase your enjoyment while fishing on Manolin Charters. We paired up with Johnson Outdoors, who owns Minn Kota Motors and Humminbird electronics, and now have some new goodies to play with. I'm telling you guys, this Ulterra trolling motor will be a GAME CHANGER allowing us to fish away from the fleet in more secluded spots and to allow great bait presentations to put a fat striper on the end of your line! Paired up with the Humminbird Solix 12" screen and its amazing MEGA Side Imaging, the Merrimack Striped Bass will have no place to hide!
We are revamping our reel line up as well as we have partnered with Okuma Fishing Tackle to pair with our custom rods. For those in the know, Okuma's conventional reels are the best around with the greatest engineering minds, excellent machining, and use of top shelf materials. I'm very proud to outfit the boat with Okuma equipment. My returning customers are going to love the new reels when tussling with big stripers, angry sharks, and winching in haddock!
Now for our biggest announcement to date, we are expanding as a company! My very close friend and fishing partner, Capt. Mike Fallon is joining the team with his new 21 ft Parker Center Console. Mike has been a charter captain for over 10 years, but spent the last 5 fishing every morning recreationally for stripers in his 16 ft Alumacraft. This dude knows the river as well as anyone out there. He will specialize in light tackle and fly fishing, but is also a ninja live bait fisherman.
Mike will run some special trips for those guys who love getting out at first light. He will be running early morning trips from 5 AM - 8:30 AM during the weekdays and take some overflow for myself on the weekends! The price with be $350 for the early morning weekdays and the $450/$600 for a 4.5/6.5 hour trip on the weekends. Keep a look out on FB and Instagram for some possible shared early morning trips as well.
A few more important notes before I let you go. Due to the extra weight of the trolling motor and batteries, this year we are maxing out at 4 anglers (Other than the couple groups that already booked with 5) for our trips. Also, if you are interest I HIGHLY RECOMMEND that you book your trips for the summer within a week or two as we are running out of morning dates especially. Capt. Mike will be able to take on some weekend trips and will definitely specialize in the early morning weekday stuff, but please don't wait for reports. Last year I was too busy to post reports frequently, my last report for the season was June 8th. So give me text, email, or call to set up a date as soon as possible.
Thank you everyone and here is to a great start to the 2018 season!
Tight Lines,
Capt Chris