I took my first shake down trip on Summer Job yesterday on the Parker River. I relearned that if you tighten the fuel filter, the boat runs a lot better! Fortunately I was still tied to the dock!

 I'd heard of a few small schoolies being caught and my friend Charlie Crue was fishing off the dock, so we went out exploring. I'm sure there were a few fish around but they eluded us. There are plenty of herring and have been for a couple of weeks. We fished up river from the docks as well as down river to Stackyard Road. All we found was a cold east wind. But I had to try.

 Today I went to the Merrimack and headed up river. The water temps are right, 54-57 degrees and I fished from the route 95 bridge to Carr Island without so much as a follow. I had every intention of going to Joppa Flats but the forecasted wind did kick and I folded.

 So were do we stand? Last year it was a very warm winter & spring. I caught my first fish on May 7th. Going back thru my records the first fish (all caught up river on the Merrimack) was caught on 5-12-11, 5-17-10 and 5-19-09. We have more small bass now than we did in 2009 so I think we will have plenty of fish before the 19th. My best guess is we will have fish next week by the 14th. There are a few fish but the river will see many more very soon!

Good fishing!

Capt. Scott