A 100 Fish day!

Yesterday a group of us went out to Black's Harbour to see if we could catch a few mackerel.   They have been running in the past few weeks, and uncertain of how much longer they may be around, we were hoping to run into a few schools.

Two weeks prior I was out with my friends Craig and John and we had a great time catching somewhere north of 100 fish between us, several times hooking 5 at a time.    So what would today have in store?

Turns out the fishing was even better!   Between 6 people in kayak, three of us caught 100 or more fish, while the others all caught a decent number of mackerel as well.   Unlike a few weeks back when our fishing was based on following the numerous boils all throughout the harbour, yesterday the fish were in deeper water and we had to look around before we struck upon them.   But when we did find them, the action was fantastic.

14 inch mackerel, my biggest to date

The minimum retention size for Mackerel in our waters is I believe is a touch over 10 inches, but I am not 100% certain, it may be 11 inches.    Finding a clear and concise set of salt water fishing regulations is next to impossible in these parts.   (Edit:  A friend pointed me to this link:   http://www.inter.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/Maritimes/Recreational-Fisheries/Groundfish)

Most of the fish we were catching were in the 9 inch range, so most went back in the water.   I did manage to catch about 15 - 18 definate keeper sized mackerel though, some as large as 14 inches!   Those I didn't share with a few of the other kayakers, I'll be serving for dinner tonight for the family.

In addition to the 90 or so mackerel that I caught, I landed and released 6 small cod fish.   The biggest one was 14 inches long, definitely a different species of tommy cod fish than we catch up in sturgeon alley which may only ever get to 7 or 8 inches.    I also caught 5 smelt, 3 pollock, 1 small sculpin and 1 herring.   Put them all together and I am over the century mark for fish landed in the kayak in one trip for the first time!

Seagull making off with one of my smelt!

This was likely my last trip out into the Bay of Fundy this year, as I still haven't been able to find time to fish reversing falls for stripers this year.   That is my plan for next weekend.   Then in just a couple of weeks, I'll be taking people out for guided sturgeon fishing trips which will last right up till the rivers freeze over in December.