Locust trees seem to take over our Cape Cod woodlots, volunteering their presence and encroaching upon our landscapes more than we wish. Stiff and scraggly, they defy the grace of a maple or fir and with amazing speed of growth stubbornly spring up through the cracks in a sidewalk or driveway. Tall and shallow rooted, with heavy dense wood throughout, it takes but a mild hurricane or nor’easter to send them crashing to the ground. My neighbor had six of them fall onto his house, garage and barn during the last hurricane after giving me a hard time about taking out the 3 large locusts that I had within falling distance of my house. He said to me “I thought you said you liked the birds?” When I assured him I still did like them and fed them regularly, he asked “Then why cut down the trees?” Considering what happened to his buildings, I think he knows why now !......These big locusts I cut down were way too big for this seafarer to deal with. Before I started I realized that I needed some expert help on this project. The thought of one of these 3 ton trunks crashing through my roof, from my misguided cuts or planning didn’t appeal to me one bit. My brother, Jeff Peters, has done tree work for years and he was the guy I called. Knowing each tree was in the $200 to $300 price range, I offered to barter a tuna fishing trip for him and his pals in return for the work. We struck a deal and he took down the huge threatening locust trees.
Two or three months later, we scheduled a September tuna trip, planning it for when there was an abundance of 100 pound school bluefin in the area, and to coincide with Cousin Glenn’s visit from up north. The day before our planned trip the winds kicked up and were blowing from the northeast at 25 to 30 knots, so the planned tuna fishing expedition was going to have to be cancelled. Well, the winds blew for another two days, and we never got Cousin Glenn and the gang out that weekend. I can’t remember why but it was at least another couple of weeks before we got to reschedule that fishing trip, and by then it was well into October, the magic time when the Giants move into the area. Since cousin Glenn was no longer with us, it was now just my two brothers, Jeff & Bion, and myself. We decided to forgo the smaller tuna even though there were more of them around, and hoped to get lucky and catch a fat giant bluefin instead. By early October, the larger 300 to 900 pound bluefin are moving into the Chatham area to feed on herring and bluefish. As the waters cool with the lengthening days, bluefish are moving out of Cape waters and head south. As they slowly filter out, the herring are moving in, rising off the bottom at night to feed and as daylight comes, then drift back down to settle on the bottom. The giants rely on these important food sources for increasing the fat reserves needed to migrate across the Atlantic to their spawning grounds. The minute herring is a staple of these huge fish at this time of the year. Recent progresses in mid water herring trawler management are having positive impacts on the amounts of bluefin returning to these traditional waters.
We agreed to meet at the pier by 4 am, and in the predawn darkness, we exchanged gruff early morning greetings, amongst the lobster guys loading their boats with fish totes of ripe smelling bait. While I rowed the dingy to the skiff and the skiff to get the big boat off the mooring, Jeff and Bion unloaded our stuff and grabbed a cooler full of ice. The usual stuff, oilskins, an extra jacket, a bag of sandwich materials and snacks, etc. I believe Jeff might have brought a carafe of coffee from home and some donuts or coffee rolls or something. At those beginning moments of a trip my mind is racing with both the worry and the hope of what the day will bring. It is a stressful time for the skipper as he heads out the harbor. I’m sure whatever it was that Jeff brought aboard for breakfast snacks was wolfed down unappreciated on the way out of the harbor. As if there isn’t enough to worry about just as I untied the boat from the dock and put her in gear, my friend Doug pulls alongside in Jimmy’s skiff “Pogy Town” and asks if he could follow me out across the bar, as his radar was acting up. Once through the Chatham bar, we turned north towards Pochet to where the last reported schools of bluefish were hopefully still there. The plan was to get there at first light, mark some schools of bluefish on the video sounder and get a half dozen or so in the livewell quickly, to use for tuna bait. The sooner you can get on the grounds with enough baits to last the day, the better. Although I have no heavy tackle onboard during my charter season, I use a couple of wire lines on electric reels and umbrella rigs to get to the blues. The idea is to get the bait quick...........................
