My Hungry Tag-Along

This late in the commercial bay scallop season, the seagulls are desperate and hungry. They will land on my boat and wait for me to hand them a free meal. And if you turn your back on them they will swoop down and steal a scallop right out of your wire basket on the culling board. The other morning while scalloping I had a hungry tag-along. He begged me for food. I hand fed him some scallops. A good way to pass the time during a long tow.



Click on the pictures below for videos-

BUCK OF THE WEEK:

I set up one of my white flash trail cameras in a thick cedar forest recently and got some interesting pictures including these of a buck and a cat. The cat won the standoff.

Quiet

It's been very very slow down around the waterfront lately. And this winter continues to be the hottest winter in recorded history. Most days it's in the 50's and 60's. We had a few days where it was in the 40's and one day when it was in the 20's. The old timers keep telling me that we are going to pay for this warm weather soon. Well, it's getting too late in the winter. The days are getting longer. Spring is right around the corner. I noticed the grass is still green! In January! I have lived here on Nantucket for over 46 years and I have never experienced a winter this warm in my lifetime.

I haven't taken any pictures down at the waterfront for a while. But I have 9 of my trail cams out around the island taking pictures 24/7 for me. It's a hobby of mine in which I find fascinating. The variety of critters out there is amazing. Here is a nice buck I got on one of my cams the other night-

CLICK ON PIC TO ENLARGE

Had some great action on one of my cams last night! A sparring match between two bucks and one buck who had just shed his antlers.

Inspiration

During the recent blow, several draggers and one sea scalloper came in and tied up at the end of Straight Wharf. The sea scalloper was the Inspiration. I have never seen her here before. She's a big steel highline boat. These guys don't mess around. Everything is shipshape and in it's place. Looks like she tows two 16' wide dredges. I also noted that she has a bulbous bow. Look at where her winches are. Up high above the deck. And the captain has his own house in which he can control the winches while setting out and hauling back the dredges. All her windows are tinted.

BUCK OF THE WEEK:

I caught this buck napping recently on one of my trail cams.

My Morning Commute

I grabbed a short video using my iPhone of part of my morning commute to the scallop grounds today. Most days I am the first to leave the dock and head out. A lot of Nantucket is still asleep when I'm headed out and never get to see the sunrise that I see every day.

Here's a shot I took of the sunrise on Tuesday, December 6. Sorry about the poor quality. It was taken with my iPhone. Hopefully you'll "get the picture."

BUCK OF THE WEEK:

I set up one of my trail cameras in a new (to me) area of the island and was rewarded with a nice 10-point buck. This is the biggest buck I have recorded on any of my trail cams. I'm hoping he survives shotgun season as I want to look for his sheds later in the winter.

Freddy Holdgate

I caught up with Freddy Holdgate while I was out scalloping today. Freddy and I were in the same grade in high school. We talked a bit about scalloping and how the season was progressing. He was on a good tow so I motored off and left him to it. I don't like to come down on guys and fish in their spots. A lot of guys in the fleet think nothing of doing that. It's not my style. Anyway, Freddy fishes out of an old Pogo boat. They were pretty popular here years ago and there were several around. My brother Richard fished out of a Pogo for years. They are good boats but they have round bottoms making them roll terribly. Here are a few shots I grabbed of Freddy today out scalloping-

BUCK OF THE WEEK:

I set up one of my cams recently in a thick cedar forest and had a lot of action every night there including this nice 8-point.

High And Dry

A New Bedford based sea scalloper got into an awful mess last night attempting to dock at the Town Pier. She ended up running aground to the south of the pier. Unable to get herself free, she has to lay there and wait for a tug to arrive from America to pull her off. An expensive mistake for the captain of the scalloper for sure! Here are a few shots I took this morning of her hard aground-

BUCK(S) OF THE WEEK:

Recently, I set up one of my trail cameras on a travel corridor between a bedding area and a food source. A lot of deer use this corridor on a nightly basis. I have always had very good luck setting up a cam in this particular spot. I caught these two young bucks locking antlers one night-

Commercial Scallop Season 2011. Week 2

We are well into the second week of the commercial bay scallop season. There still seems to be a fair amount of scallops around but the fleet is starting to jump around. Hopefully we will get another couple of weeks out of it. The price per pound paid to the scallopers was $11 per pound on opening day. Now it is $9 per pound. Still a good days pay for an hour or two of work each morning. Here are a few scenes I grabbed while I was out scalloping-

My boat just before sunrise.
Cold and grey harbor.
Richard Mack.
Richard Mack.
Getting ready to head out fishing. Straight Wharf.
Straight Wharf in the pre dawn.
Headed out to the scalloping grounds in my boat.
Bernie.
Ken Kelley.
Ken Kelley & Bernie.
Andy Roberts.
Part of the fleet fishing in the early morning fog.
Doug Lindley and Sergeant Ellis.
Bernie.
Bernie.
Smitty and his mate.
Bernie.
Frank Ballester & Bill Medeiros.

BUCK OF THE WEEK:

I set up one of my trail cams on video mode recently. This buck walked by the cam and at the last min, noticed it. He stopped short and sniffed it knocking it with his antler in the process. Never a dull moment out there! Take notice of how he is limping and the protrusion on his right side. Most likely he was in a fight with another buck as the rut is in full swing now.