Hi Folks !
I just wanted to take a few moments to reflect upon my last year and to thank all of you that helped make this past year a successful one for Capeshores Charters and I. As you may recall in the early spring of ‘06’, I asked many of you on this mailing list to share your opinions on whether or not to upgrade to the new bigger boat. I was cautious of the big investment, and not sure of what you folks wanted out of the Chatham fishing experience, be it more room and comfort, or a smaller more intimate charter. The feedback I received from you all helped immensely and as you now know, I did purchase the 34’ Ernest Libby lobster boat from Newburyport MA and named her “Marilyn S” after my Mom. It has turned out to be the best decision I could have made. I have more comfort, efficiency and range, increasing my business capabilities by allowing a longer distance bluefin tuna charter as well as the light tackle striped bass trips that are my mainstay. The open design of the boat deck allows the same style of stand-up light tackle action we had on the Miss Jillian, with more room ! The enclosed cabin and below for castle, have a roomy “head” to increase the comfort factor and increases the chances that your families will be coming along as well.
I was able to increase the number of charters that I did last year to an amazing 132 trips, because of the increase in tuna trips at the latter end of the summer. Hooking into these amazing bluefin tuna is something worth experiencing. The first time out this year, my girlfriend Kathy and I caught sixteen of these 40 to 100 pound, butt-kicking speedsters by 10 AM ! Although it is not always like that, I do intend to do a lot more of these really fun trips in the future. If you are getting a little bored with the bass routine, perhaps scheduling a school bluefin tuna charter next summer will be the cure. On the giant tuna trips, I never booked a giant charter last season as the big fish didn’t show till after the 10 th of October, about 3 to 4 weeks later than usual. I did go after them once with my brother Bion and we hooked into one that had to be 800 pounds plus and he broke off within the first several minutes of the first run. There were a few fish caught this year but until the mid water herring boats stop pounding the area in the summer and early fall it will never be what it once was.
The bass this last year also were a bit offshore from their usual locations. I attribute this to the lack of sand eels, that for whatever reason never came onshore in enough of a concentration to bring the bass on the beaches in a consistent season long quantity. It seems that there were plenty of them offshore though, deeper than 100 feet. The cod, tuna and whale watch boats found them many times in great quantities. Hopefully this upcoming year we will have them back in huge schools just outside of Chatham, where we can look down under the boat and see the sparkling and flickering balls of sand eels parted by the darker muted forms of cruising 20 pound stripers!
Thank you for all of the photos you have forwarded to me this year. Those along with the photographic family Christmas cards I receive show me that there are children growing up fishing on my boats, and the annual family outings and vacations that you spend with me are as much fun for me as I hope they are for you too. I am very lucky to be able to do fishing charters for a living in the summer, and I appreciate every trip you have or will be taking with me. The only down side is that the summers are so short and all of this fishing fun and action is crammed into 3 or 4 short months. I just wish we could do it year round.
Thanks again for a great fun season and I hope to see you all again !
Capt Bruce Peters and the “Marilyn S”
