"Almost" a Year in Provence: What a difference a day makes...

Fishing is a favorite summer pastime in Duxbury. Most anglers go out on the Duxbury and Plymouth Bays for striped bass and bluefish. Our good friend, Matt, an avid fisherman, took Lindsey and I out on his boat recently to go fishing for striped bass, or striper as they are more commonly called. We left the dock around 5 am on a beautiful, calm morning. First, we had to catch around 12-15 'pogies' to use as live bait for the stripers. Matt is a pro at this. He finds a school of pogies, casts his line into them and drags it through. He nearly always snags a fish. Lindsey is getting better at this skill and I was completely hopeless but enjoyed being there and watching the action.

Lindsey has a pogie on her line...

and Matt helps her bring it in...

We got plenty of live bait but unfortunately all our efforts at catching striper were in vain and we went home empty handed.

The following day, Matt and two fishing buddies set off in his boat on a tuna fishing expedition. They did the same routine catching the pogies in the bay and then went about 15 miles offshore toward Provincetown to a popular feeding ground for larger fish and mamals. They saw whales, shark and tuna. Not long after they arrived, Matt got a tuna on his line and about 1 hour later he landed the 180 pound, 66 inch long fish! This is the biggest fish caught by anyone in Duxbury so far this summer. We went down to the harbor to meet them and see the catch of the day!

Taking the fish off the boat...