The way we as Americans interact with the great outdoors differs vastly from the way many folks do in other nations. During the pandemic, for example, our forests and waters were many things to us, not the least of which were a source of physical and psychological escape, safety and great joy.
In Massachusetts, those who birded found daily excitement. Those who fished found sustenance. Those who hunted actually set deer harvest records while filling their freezers.
On the other hand, in England today, there is a massive problem in its mostly privately owned and regulated outdoors. During the pandemic, hunting and culling of deer came to a stop there. Restaurants, which form a vitally important market for culled, estate deer, were closed. When I hunted muntjac and water deer on the Duke of Bedford’s estate in past years, all the meat, which is non-exportable, was butchered and sold to meat markets and restaurants.
As a result of a lack of hunting last year, this month, the English deer population is exploding dangerously. Roe deer, muntjac, fallow, and Chinese water deer are being born in unsustainable numbers that will decimate existing plant-life from heathland to saltmarsh. That plant decline will impact insect and song bird life. The country’s population of over 2 million deer will cause nearly 100,000 collisions. England’s recent plantings of tens of thousands of trees to sequester carbon will be impacted, too, as the deer resort to browsing freshly planted little saplings.
While average Americans can revel in being a deer hunter if we chose, the sport is limited to those with private land connections in England. We need to be thankful that we have public land and a tradition of easily entering the outdoors to harvest its treasures, whether spiritually or nutritionally. And we need to expand those lands in the face of voracious current development to insure our outdoor traditions continue.
Whales still being hunted
While we enjoy and respect our marine mammals as whale watching boats daily sail out of Gloucester, Plymouth, Boston, Hyannis, and Provincetown, the Faroe Islands just finished killing 175 pilot whales for meat.
The 18 islands halfway between Norway and Iceland are a self-governing part of Denmark — and disregard the world’s contempt for their barbarous tradition. Norway, Japan and Iceland — in that order — annually kill even more for whale meat. You’ll consequently never see this writer spend a single tourist dollar in any of those environmentally unethical countries.
Capt. Paul Frontiero of Seven Seas Whale Watch in Gloucester (978-283-1776) — the state’s oldest and longest running whale watching company — chimed in, sharing how this year’s whale watching season has gone so far.
“April is always the best month for spectacular numbers with newly arriving, heavy-feeding whales. We had an amazing 40 feeding humpbacks then between Gloucester and Stellwagen Bank along with hundreds more Atlantic white-sided dolphins, finbacks, minkes, and even an occasional, rare right whale,” Frontiero said. “The only problem with April is that you have to dress for the North Pole because water temperatures are still in the 40s and you’ve got below freezing wind-chill to contend with. You have to know how to dress. It’s unbelievably rewarding for those who dress right, but really raw then.
“By June, things slow down and the whales are spread out. Lately, we’ve had two mother-calf pairs and a few other single humpbacks that have been reliable along with a handful of minkes and finbacks. Trips to Jeffreys Ledge have been even more productive.
“September is probably the second-best month. You’ve got the addition of migrating whales moving down from the north feeding here, adding to the spectacle — and the weather is some of the best of the year with the warm seas.
“In October, with tourist action slowing down and winds increasing, we shut down operations. With climate change, feeding patterns aren’t as predictable anymore.”
In any case, the whales are putting on a show every day from spring through fall, and we should support all our whale watching companies to show that these magnificent creatures are more valuable alive than on a sashimi plate in a Japanese restaurant.
Lobster prices crazy
Local lobster prices continued to be ridiculously high. Usually for Fourth of July we see the lowest prices of the year. One-pound chicks, the most numerous and least costly of all lobsters, didn’t get below $8.99.
Considering these lobsters are all soft-shelled now and filled with water and tiny claw muscles, the actual price per pound of meat when all is picked over surges to over $60.
If you don’t catch your own lobsters, there are far better gourmet buys — such as dry scallops, Arctic char, Chilean sea bass, and fresh king salmon — in our best seafood markets.
Frog legs, anyone?
On July 16, frog hunters will be able to add bullfrogs and green frogs to their menu. If you know how to cook them right — sautéing them lightly in butter and panko — they taste nothing like chicken.
Considering their moist sweetness and tender texture, the French had good reason to elevate them to haute cuisine.
And speaking of July 16, don’t forget to apply for a Massachusetts antlerless deer permit before then at mass.gov/how-to/apply-for-an-antlerless-deer-permit. While antlers look impressive on our walls, the tender meat of a doe is far more delicious than the tough meat of an old, big-rack buck.
Stripers swimming offshore
Back out on the saltwater, with waters warming, the biggest stripers are tending to be offshore in deeper water, concentrated especially around rips and drop offs, primarily early morning and later in the day. Monomoy off Harwich has been hot under those conditions.
Boston also has had its share of 40-pounders this week, most being taken on live mackerel, live eels, or tube-and-worm rigs. Last week, a 53-pounder was reported landed and released in the Cape Cod Canal, but the holiday weekend was slow.
A few keepers along with a 44-incher were taken at pole 70 and the herring run. A big school of bluefish brought chaos and cut lines, raiding the baitfish at the Canal’s East End on Tuesday. But first-time Cape Cod Canal fisherman, Joshua Thao from Wausau, Wisconsin, had the fishing day of his life.
The vacationing tourist with great advice purchased his rod, reel, and Al Gag 4-ounce blue soft plastic jigs from nearby Red Top Sporting Goods on Main Street in Buzzards Bay, and proceeded to land four stripers over 30 inches near the railroad bridge. Yet another Canal addict was born.
The key to great fishing in the Canal has been the regular influx of enormous schools of menhaden, which the voracious bass have been viciously chasing out of the water onto the rocks.
These so-called “bunker” deserve our respect and protection from commercial interests that can scoop up enormous numbers of them for chicken feed and other oily products. Additionally, surging schools of mackerel deserve our thanks and good stewardship having also been bringing big bass out of Cape Cod Bay into the east end of the Canal.
Elsewhere, boats out of nearby Plymouth, Duxbury, and Scituate have been successful catching live mackerel to pursue stripers. The waters off Race Point reportedly have some big schools of keeper stripers also being taken on live mackerel fished under schools of menhaden.
Much of Cape Cod Bay has been quiet, but the south side of Billingsgate Shoal has been productive for deep tube-and-worm trollers. Meanwhile, surf fishermen hitting the night tides at Newcomb Hollow Beach have been having good action on plentiful shorts and occasional keepers.
If you want to just catch and release a lot of small stripers till your wrists complain, it’s hard to beat the South Shore’s North River now. And if you want bluefish, Cape Cod’s south-facing beaches are the hottest place to troll. Martha’s Vineyard has been having very consistent fishing for small bluefish with a good number of 12-pounders reported off Chappaquiddick.
Smart move for sea bass
Capt. Jason Colby moved his charter boat from Quincy to Westport for good reason. He’s been limiting out on black sea bass there, mixing in some fluke and a few keeper stripers.
So far, the biggest commercial tuna brought in has been a 400-pounder. Many recreational tuna fishermen are now headed to the Claw and Coxes ledges to catch small bluefins by trolling squid bars.
Nantucket Shoals is giving up good numbers of big fluke — at least one over 14 pounds; and boats capable of going far offshore towards the canyons are now seeking big eye and yellowfin tuna there.
Rhode Island is now benefiting from big schools of sand eels and menhaden. Point Judith, Block Island, and Watch Hill are all producing big bass, many on eels or chunked menhaden. Meanwhile, fluke fishing is improving especially around Montauk.
There’s still some good fly fishing for trout down in Connecticut. Before the rains, the Farmington River was very low with tough fishing. Tan and green caddis, though, have been dependably emerging in the morning.
Blue-winged olives are reliably hatching, too, along with sulphurs and terrestrials. The warming Housatonic, though, is basically finished as a trout fishery until fall. Catching trout in warm water stresses them out — often lethally. At least smallmouth bass have been hitting well there.
Contact Mark Blazis at markblazissafaris@gmail.com
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