12/26/11 2011 Wrap Up
The boats are put away, I am working hard at servicing reels and catching up on some web site maintinance. I hope everyone had a great Christmas. I know Santa left some new gold bling (tuna reels) under the tree for team SWEET DREAM III. 2011 started cold and blustery on the heels of a nasty winter but in June the pattern changed and we were graced by good weather, warm right into November, for the balance of the season. Spring groundfishing started off in early April with some excellent haddock trips and when cod season opened on April 16th there were plenty of cod, haddock and pollock to caught on Stellwagen Bank, just as it should be. Solid groundfishing continued right through June. The tuna were a bit late to show this year as the water remained cold until mid June but they flooded into the south end of the bank in late June with many fish running in the 70-75" range.  July saw a mix of everything including groundfish, tuna and sharks offshore and striped bass inshore. One thing different this year was we had mackerel around from mid May until we pulled the boat in November, the bluefish stayed to the south and left the mackerel alone and we were happy to turn them into tuna baits. In August some very large tuna (true giants pushing 1000lbs) arrived and were present in better numbers than we had seen in years for the balance of the year. We got to wrestle a few of these and more often than not,  the tuna won as is often the case with these class of fish. In addition, smaller fish arrived further south around Chatham and then found there way onto middlebank in the fall. These were perfect table size fish running in the 45"-59" range and 70-120 pounds.  We fished until mid November when the tuna finally vacated for points south. Below are few pictures from the fall. It's time to book those spring groundfish trips so give me a call to book your preferred date.

 

6/6/11 Groundfishing remains solid, tuna moving in
We had a outstanding groundfish trip with the Ted Smith party yesterday finding a 70 cod limit of large markets close to home plus a dozen nice Haddock and a handful of pollock on a picture perfect weather day. We have done some tuna exploration and had a few good shots at fish on Saturday but could not close the deal. Last week we had a two boat trip and Capt. Bill on the Bounty Hunter broke the ice with a 71" tuna released. More fish are showing up daily and there are some good concentrations of bait in different areas so good things should happen soon.

5/14/11 Cod Limits plus haddock and pollock
Cod fishing on Stellwagen bank has been excellent. Limits are common plus a mix of pollock and haddock to go with them. This past week we had to endure a large ocean storm but we got back on them today on the south end of the bank with a 60 cod limit and plenty of polllock to go with them. Also recently, Capt Jeff Smith fished with us and wrote this great article for boatinglocal.com.

4/22/11 Cod fishing is hot on Stellwagen Bank
The cod season is now open and the cod have returned to the shallow waters of Stellwagen Bank. When the weather lets us fish we expect to limit out as the Mark Beal party did today with 60 cod plus pollock for their 4 man team.



4/08/2011 Season Opener - We are Fishing!
5/14/11 Cod Limits plus haddock and pollockWe have kicked off 2011 and it was a great start! I took a combination of 3 of my mates and friends with me for a shakedown cruise and haddock exploration and we once we got it going it was non stop catching. We hit a favorite area on Tillies Bank and found plenty of cod willing to bite (but you can't keep them until next week) and then zeroed in on the haddock. It started as bailing 5 cod to find 1 haddock and then the haddock musseled their way in and it was more haddock than cod. We ended up leaving the fish biting with 40 haddock for the 4 us and releasing dozens of keeper sized cod and also releasing the tooth critter below (wolffish). Well the fish are here, we are ready to fish, April is pretty full but their are weekend dates in May to get in on the groundfish action.

1/7/2011 Happy New Year - 2010 Season in review

Happy New Year to all my customers and friends! My most heartfelt thanks for your business in 2010. It's mid winter and I am getting caught up on web site updates. I notice I was a bit too busy during the fall run to post here.  Too be honest, it was very easy to update our Facebook page so I was doing that.  Please "Like" our Facebook page and you will be kept up to date in near real time. I have added a lot of new pictures from 2010 and done some site restructuring to add more information. Also we have added several new videos with more on the way. New for 2011 by popular demand, we have printed SWEET DREAM III SportFishing long and short sleeve Tee shirts and those are available on our Apparel page and on the boat. We are booking for 2011 and those choice April and May groundfish weekend dates are filling up fast so please reserve soon to get the dates you want. 

2010 was highlighted by consistently good Cod and Haddock fishing from March right to the end of October. July and August were surprisingly good East of Stellwagen and around Tillies bank in both numbers and size of fish. Also the shark fishing was awesome from Mid July through September and we were able to combine the sharks with Cod, Haddock and Pollock to both fill the coolers and put anglers to the test on the stand up gear. Tuna fishing was excellent in June and early July with a good run of commercial size fish right off the bat. We saw a slower bite in Mid August when the bait disapeared and then it got very good in Mid September and October. The Tuna averaged 70-80 inches (200-300lbs) with some much larger fish in the mix. For those that can handle the October weather, we have not had a tuna skunk in October in the past 5 years. We caught tuna using every method available to us this year: Trolling, live baits, kite fishing, popping with spinning rods and jigging. It's all good! I expect 2011 to be more of the same but even better. The fisheries management continues to pay off each year.  We are seeing the groundfishing like the "old days" and the tuna are getting bigger and more plentiful. 

8/8/2010 Some unders showing up and the tackle busters are still around
There are new fish moving in and they include younger fish which fall below the 59" slot, meaning you can keep them. Here's Charlie with 52 inches of fresh sashimi! Of course there are still are the north of 200lb brutes out there that either bust up the tacke or the angler. 2 hours of hell before this 3X strong hook on a RONZ let go. The best season is upon us, give me call!


7/20/2010 Solid fishing continues
7/20/2010 Solid fishing continuesI 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.