SWEET DREAM III Sportfishing
Captain Bruce Sweet
email Capt. Bruce
or Call 617-803 1197
7/20/2010 Solid fishing continues
I have been a bit busy so I have not posted recently but in short, the fishing is getting red hot! There are a lot of tuna around and they are tough customers with bad attitudes. This past weekend, on Ron T's trip, Kevin went toe to fin with a 68" tuna for an hour and half on a 50 with the drag cranked to full. It was an all out slug fest which Kevin eventually won. In addition to tuna, the cod fishing on Tillies has been silly good. We have been drifting live baits for tuna and jigging 5-15lb white belly cod as we drift with handful of hadock and pollock mixed in. Fishing is very good now and it should only get better as the tuna settle in and really start to feed, give me a call and we will do our best to get you hooked up to a fish of a lifetime!
6/26/2010 Great White Shark - tagged and released!
Today the crew of the SWEET DREAM III tagged and released a 7' Great White Shark on Stellwagen bank. We were tuna fishing with live mackerel when the shark came along to check out our baits. It was in no hurry to eat but after 10 minutes of terrorzing the pair of mackerel it finally could not resist and ate one and Jon Land fought it standup style on a PENN 70. Once we had it boat side we were pretty sure what we had and decided to put one of our tuna tags in it so it could be tracked in the future. We got some great video is now posted here. The shark was really a beautiful creature and we are fortunate to have seen one up close and personal. The identity of the shark was confirm by Dr. Greg Skomal.
6/23/2010 Honey Moon Delight
Exellent fishing continues for both Tuna and groundfish. Recently we had honey-mooners from Wyoming and they had a trip of lifetime which included tagging and releasing a 70" 180lb tuna, a limit of cod and a bonus 20lb striper caught inshore while making bait. Give me a call to get in on the action!
6/910 A GIANT TUNA DOUBLE!!
Tuna fishing has started out about as good as it possibly could be this year. Yesterday I took a couple of friends and we targeted big fish and it was a trip that will be remembered for a long time. It was the second tuna trip of the year and by noon time we had done the following:
1. Caught and tagged and released a 63" tuna.
2. Caught and harvested a 77" (~240lbs) commercial tuna.
3. Caught and harvested a 82" (~270lbs) commercial tuna.
The pictures speak for themselves! All fish were taken on the troll. Our 35' Henriques is just an awesome fish raiser, she is one of the best around bar none! The is nothing like seeing a giant tuna crash a surface bait, the release of the outrigger and the sweet song the reel makes as line melts off it. Come give it a try you will be hooked!
5/16/10
We have been continuing to have an excellent spring groundfishing season. Cod have been cooperting in great numbers on Stellwagen with limits being the rule and Tillies continues to yield haddock in addition to cod. There is a lot of life on the banks with great whale and dolpin shows spicing up the fishing. Mackerel are around and plenty of sand eels and herring are present on the banks, it is only a matter of days before the tuna show up with water temps just cresting 50 degrees. Here is Tim L with a 25lb cod taken on Tillies, a sunrise that was just too good not to capture on the way to Stellwagen and a full fish box at days end. Also I am pleased to announce that I have been added to Cortland's Pro-Staff and the Cortland C16 and Masterbraid will be the official braided lines on the SWEET DREAM III. Cortland makes nothing but premium products and their C16 is the most splicable braid I have encounters.
4/25/10
Just a fantastic day of fishing on Stellwagen today. Many quality sized cod to 25lbs were taken in some hot fishing. The pollock were unbelievable, there were large schools pushing the bait to the surface and they were busting underneth with hundred of birds working over head. I have never seen this before in over 35 years of fishing the bank. My crew today spanned in age from 11 to 80 and everyone caught fish till the box overloaded and they more than had their fill.
4/12/10 Haddock Slamfest
Wow! The haddock fishing has been fantastic. Because cod is closed until the 16th, we have had to target Haddock and what fun it has been. We have been finding loads of them in the deep water of south eastern Tillies. The fish are the largest I seen with an average of 6-8lbs. We are also catching and releasing plenty of legal cod and a few 10lb cusk for good measure. Check out this fat boy and couple of pleased anglers!
4/3/10 The season has begun! First Haddock Trip
We launched the boat Thursday and made our first run today. Since cod is closed until April 16th, we were looking for haddock and we found them on the east side of Tillies in deep water. We had a solid bite from late morning into the afternoon and ended up with a couple of boxes of haddock and threw back many cod including a dozen keepers. All in all a great start to the season. We shot some fun video, check that out here. I have some weekend openings in April and May, the best groundfishing of the year is now, give me call.
3/21/10 Spring is here and we are almost ready to launch
Finally a break in the weather and we have made great progress getting the SWEET DREAM III ready to go fishing. We expect to launch the first week of April and run a few haddock trips out to Tillies bank before cod season opens. Recreational Cod season opens on April 16th. Reports from the commercial boats is there are loads of bait and cod on Stellwagen bank already, so we expect to have excellent fishing right off the bat. We shot a quick video of the boat as we were getting her ready this week so check that out here! Give me a call to book your groundfishing trips now, especially for May when no gillnets are allowed on Stellwagen resulting in most exellent cod fishing.
4/25/101/17/10 Web site updates
Welcome to 2010 from the crew of SWEET DREAM III Sportfishing. We are very excited about the coming year based on the great fishing in 2009. Even though it is cold and snowy outside we are already preparing for the 2010 season which will start with Cod and Haddock in April. It is not too early to start reserving the dates you want as the prime weekends go quick. I plan to keep my prices the same for 2010 and will always honor the rate you booked at even if the fuel prices go crazy again. In addition, to make it easy on your cash flow we will only require a $100 booking deposit up through May to hold your date (the balance of the deposit will be due then).
For 2010 I expect great groundfishing as soon as we can get out in April. In 2009 the keeper to short ratio was much improved and I expect Cod over the 24" minimum to be easy to find this year. The conservation efforts are clearly paying off for us! As for Tuna, hold on tight and start working out now! Those mid to high 60" fish will come back well over 70'" and pushing over 250lbs. More good news is in October, we saw (and caught) a large number of a new younger class of 50" (80-90lbs) fish. We are adding some new very high end Tuna spinning gear (Shimano Stella's) to our arsenal this year for these fish. We are truly very lucky to be experiencing a world class Tuna fishery less than a hour from our dock and are thrilled to share it with you!
We are in the process of bringing the web site up to date adding new pictures and most exciting, adding video to the site. Now that we have the tools (brand new iMAC and camera) we plan to shoot plenty of video on your trips to help add to your memories and experience. We hope to see you staring in your own toe to fin battle with a hot Bluefin tuna this year!
12/23/09 Happy Holidays
It has been pretty hectic leading up to the holidays with fishing into November, getting two boats put away and starting in on the gear, not to mention a few snow storms and cold weather. Our last trip was November 8th and we took a nice 62" tuna to close the season. I just wanted to take a moment to wish everyone a merry Christmas and happy holidays and a peaceful and happy New Year. Thank you for your business this year and I look forward to fishing with you in 2010.
10/15/09 October at its best and worst!
The weather has been terrible to say the least. One storm and windy day after another. As I sit here, 2 nor'easters are on our doorstep to wipe out the weekend. When we do get a short window the fishing has been excellent. There are more tuna around now than a good part of the summer and they are feeding on abundant bait! Ground fishing is also very good and we can combine tuna and groundfish on most trips. We will be fishing into November so give me call for some late season action (and yes the boat does have heat).
9/13/09 Fall Bite is On!
The fall bite is happening! In the past couple of weeks we have caught tuna from 48" to 67" and lost some bigger. Too much NE wind and tropical storms have caused us to lose too many days but when we do get out the fish are making up for it. We will be running into November and the fish will be here. Groundfish are back on the bank also.
8/7/09 Tuna, Tuna, Tuna (and bass)
More tuna have moved on the grounds, mostly on the middle and south end of the bank. These fish are brutes and when we can find live baits these larger fish will fall for them. We also had another awesome 3 fish day on the Reel Sweet off of Chatham last week. The best tuna fishing is still ahead off us, remember these fish hang around until November! A few of the larger stripers have moved in shore and can be caught on live Mackerel also and chunk baits when the dogfish let us.
7/13/09 Tuna Fishing getting hot - awesome week of fishing on the Reel Sweet
Took a break from fishing on the SWEET DREAM III to do some fun fishing on the Reel Sweet off the back side of the cape. We got into some awesome tuna fishing on the 3 days the weather let us fish. Best day was the 11th when we got 3 fish and tagged 2 all 62-68". Just awesome fishing on a 20' boat. On the 7th we got into a great surface feed and we got one on a popper on a spinning rod, just an unbelievable take on a top water plug! Tuna fishing is going into it's prime now, give me a call to book on either boat.
6/08/09 First Tuna! The Bite is On!!
The year keeps getting better and better. We did our first tuna trip Sunday and caught, tagged and released an awesome 68" fish that I estimate topped 170lbs. This is the class of fish we are going to be catching this year. This summer will be one of your best chances ever to catch a fish of this size and strength. Stop reading and call me and let me get you hooked up! The fish are here and ready to go! BTW the bass fishing is also excellent and groundfish are still strong after the best May in years. 2009 is living up to the predications that I made in early spring. Come fishing and join the fun. It is a great time of year for combo trips.
5/3/09 Groundfishing is great!
The fish were more spread out than in weeks past but they may run but can't hide. Very light wind allowed us to set up on fish a number of times. We found mostly cod occasional haddock mixed in just off the NWC in the morning and when that died out we made a move east and found a nice pile of fish off the north edge in 180-200 feet of water that wanted to play. This was more haddock than cod but with a higher keeper to short ratio. By 1:30 the transom box was full and we left them biting so my crew could make their evening flight. Lots of sand eels and herring still around.
3/11/09 Cod and Haddock bite is on
Good Friday was actually great! We ran the first trip of 2009 yesterday and found a good cod and haddock bite around the north end of Stellwagen bank. There was loads of bait and fish were feeding actively just after both the low and high tides with a consistent pick in between. No monster fish but the numbers were there with about 6 shorts for every keeper. We still have some weekend dates for the balance of April and May so give me a call and we can get your coolers filled.
3/22/09 Season to begin soon!
The weather has been giving us some breaks and the SWEET DREAM III is nearly ready for splash down. We expect to finish cleaning and preparing her in the next few weeks and will be fishing in mid April for groundfish. We still have some early season weekend dates open so call now to book your groundfish trips. We gave a 2 hour tuna talk at Monahans Marine a couple of weeks ago that was well attended and created some new tuna fisherman for sure, the group was stoked walking out the door! The REEL SWEET has received her spring service is ready to roll weather permitting. We have also upgraded our tuna tackle over the winter. We have added some brand new PENN Internationals to our our spread including another PENN 70VS and 3 more PENN 50VSW's. Nothing but the best for our charter customers. We are loading line and rigging baits and will be ready for the tuna when they arrive in June. Tight lines and hope to see you soon! Capt. Bruce.
11/16/2008 2008 Season in Review!
2008 turned out to be an excellent fishing season overall with tuna and groundfish leading the way. We got an early start in mid April despite a cold and snowy winter and spring. Water temps recovered quickly into the mid 40’s and with that cod and haddock moved onto the shoal water of Stellwagen bank in numbers not seen in past years. The good news is the Gulf of Maine closures and increased size limits seem to be working. Most trips had anglers bailing cod when the bite was on. The only issue was finding keeper sized 24” fish among the shorts. Often times the ratio was on the order of 1 keeper for every 8-10 shorts so that meant hundreds of fish coming over the rails. Many trips saw limits so at day’s end we had plenty of fillets and many tired crews. There were good numbers of haddock mixed in and more often than not they were hitting jigs with authority. Another big deal this year was the presence of bait on the bank from day one. Sand eels were always present in good numbers which attracted game fish and whales alike. We also saw more herring than recent years and even some pogies on the bank. We think that keeping the mid water pair trawlers out of the near shore waters is helping these fish to return that are so key to sustaining our fisheries. Late May saw the arrival of Striped Bass, first down in Cape Cod Bay and then up in Mass Bay and around Cape Ann. Stripers were solid in June but in July they just disappeared and were few and far between even in traditional areas like race point and monomoy. No one is quite sure what happened, some think they went far offshore and others are concerned they have been overfished (in many cases as incidental dead by catch by commercial boats in federal waters where they are not allowed to be possessed). But where the bass left off, the Bluefish filled the void. Bluefish numbers and sizes where up this year. Pound for pound these tackle busters will shred your gear and there is no better gamefish on light tackle. Worth mentioning was the numbers of Mackerel we had around Cape Ann this year. They showed up in May and stayed around until the bluefish really showed up inshore in July. This meant we were able to catch them for live baits for the stripers and as tuna baits. We saw the Mackerel return in October both on the bank and in the harbors.
And the tuna, the Bluefin tuna this year were just awesome. While numbers were down a bit from last year the size and quality of the fish were way up (remember all that bait!). Our season started off fantastic on June 11th. We headed out to Stellwagen bank, saw good signs of life, set our spread and in 25 minutes we had the first tuna of the year just crush a bar and we were on. This first fish was no school fish, after a 30 minute battle on a 130, we boated a 75” giant that later dressed out at 156 pounds. And the day did not end there, we hooked second giant and fought it too the boat only to have it chaff of on the rudder in the end game, heart breaking for sure but what a way to start the season. The predominant sized of the tuna this year started off at 55” (about 100lbs) and by October they had grown to 60” (130lbs). These fish were bigger, stronger and smarter, now behaving like small giants. This meant they fed less frequently and were harder to fool and fight times increased to 30-40 minutes on Penn internal 50’s. on average bites would last from a half hour to 2 hours on or two times a day, this meant you had to be on the fish, recognize the signs, adjust your game plan and have your gear in top shape to maximize your shots. And we did that all season long, we got bites on most trips from mid June to the last fish on November 9th. We fought and dropped two more giants in the course of the season. One monster fish, easily 600lbs, was fought by a number of anglers on a charter for over 5 hours before eventually chafing off, one hell of a fish story. We pulled the hook on a second big one in September after 40 minutes on a 70 with nearly 30 lbs of drag and never saw the fish, I would like that one back! In October, the fishing was red hot, the crowds were down and the Tuna were still here and the Cod, Haddock and Pollock returned to the bank. We did several combo trips, catching a tuna in the morning and then loading up on groundfish when the bite turned off. When the weather allows, late September and October is just so good and it keeps going into November but eventually you have to succumb and call it a season.
What does 2009 hold? I think it’s going to be awesome. I fully expect the Cod to continue to recover, it should be easier to find keepers and numbers will continue to rebound. I can’t wait for April. Beyond the groundfish, I am already dreaming of what tuna fishing should be like. These fish will be back and they will be 64-68” and weigh from 140-180lbs. They are going to put a hurting on anglers and push 50 pound stand up tackle to the limits, in fact I already bought another Penn International 70. There will be another early run of giants and those 70-72” fish that pushed through are going to come back at 80 pushing 300lbs”, you can bet we will be fishing the 130’s in June when they come through. So what does that mean for you? Book your trips early to get your preferred dates and best tides and moon phases. If you can avoid weekends, do so, it is so much better to fish without the crowds and the lack of etiquette they bring.