Gunster's Winter Fantasies

Tuesday, May 22, 2007
The call came late as I was delivering a shipment of clams to Wareham – Don Gunster was in Mackerel mode and he needed a partner. I was under some time pressure to do some work on the skiff and prepare for Thursday morning’s charter. But the draw was too strong, and after a decent morning of digging and feeling that I had accomplished something significant for the day, I felt a reward was in order. The plan was to jig up a few macs and then liveline them at a spot we both knew would produce.

There was some wind, a stiff SW breeze. When we arrived outside along the mackerel drifts we positioned the boat along a line formed by at least 15 others. Within a few minutes we hit into them. The hookups were impressive – many times we had 4 or 5 fish on at once. The thing about jigging for macs is that it is so simple, but dangerous at the same time. These little Sabiki jigs have little sharp hooks that always seem to find fingers, pants, and boat furnishings. This time we were lucky – no blood. But the image is silly: two grown men, nervously smiling as they dance to avoid hooks while collecting spasmodic fish off the deck to deliver to the livewell. We did this for a half hour and then sped into bay.

We anchored and dropped a mac and then threw some plugs and swimmers around. We hooked several small bass on lures. Then Don’s liveline began to scream and, of course, he was on. The first fish was about 29”, Don’s first keeper of the season. We then put out two macs – mine kept dying on the vine, which is why the next two keepers came off of Don’s rig. These both measured 30 and 31” and weighed in around 8 to 10 lbs.

We quit before the sunset and motored in. The fridge is full of fish.