Fan Pier Fishing

Hello again fellow adventurers!

This past Thursday was perhaps the highlight of my amazing summer with Save the Harbor, the Fan Pier Fishing Tournament!

After a brief introduction and some friendly bantering from the fishing teams, we all shoved off and sped (hopefully) toward the stripers. We saw some beautiful sights along the way, like the massive Deer Island treatment facility from what Save the Harbor has made the tip of the spear of our harbor cleanup. We decided to make a pitstop to fish quickly next to Deer Island when we spotted a school of stripers jumping out of the water at a bait trail behind a barge. We found success quickly, landing a 25 inch striper which was unfortunately too small to keep, but it kept us in high spirits and hopefully would lead to a successful fishing trip. After the trail went dry we decided to track on down the harbor.

Our journey led us to the calm waters off the shore of Hull High School. We took in the surrounding sights of Peddocks island, the giant wind turbine that shadows the high school, and took some fishing tips from some of the locals fishing off the pier. Then we were back on our hunt for the stripers. After a few hours of only landing one more striper that was too small to keep, we returned to the dock. We may not have won any awards, we still held our heads high because catching any fish is better than not catching any at all!



When we returned to the dock, we were treated to a feast fit for a king... or at least a bunch of hungry fisherman. With boxes on top of boxes of delicious pizza, I was overwhelmed with such a beautiful sight. I only averted my eyes from such an amazing sight because I had noticed that former Bruin Shawn Thornton and Kiss 108's Billy Costa were now on the scene.

Day officially made 

After getting an autograph and of course a photo of me "punching" him in the face, my day and possibly my summer had been made. Although he's not the biggest celebrity in the world he certainly has become a household name in Boston, and he hasn't let the fame go to his head. He was extremely down to earth and could not have been more approachable, for being one of the most intimidating people I have ever seen play a sport. 

Billy attempting to give the fish a smooch 

The day was capped off with Billy,  Shawn, and Mike Fallon taking a group picture with the prize winning fish, caught by our very own Danny O'Hara. After working tirelessly through the first three quarters of the summer, it was an amazing relief to spend a day relaxing on a boat and fishing. There aren't too many things better than that.

Until next time, keep on exploring!

-Luke

Can't hold us...from fishing!

Last Thursday the Save the Harbor/Save the Bay summer staff participated in the 3^rd Annual Fan Pier Fishing Invitational despite the cold, rainy weather!  Everyone arrived to Fan Pier by 7:30am, where they ate donuts, loaded up on hot coffee and headed to the pier to choose their boat for the morning!

Ready....set...fish-on!

This year the fishing invitational was extra special because each Junior Program Assistant was allowed to bring a guest; a parent or guardian, friend or family member.  Unfortunately, many guests were not able to come due to work obligations but of the ones that fished, we knew they had a blast!  Will Conroy brought along his little brother, Jack, who was a fish-catching machine.  Monique invited her friend Dali, while Will Clark's girlfriend hoped to catch more fish than him!  I was lucky to have Karrisha and Anicia's Mom, Marlene, in my boat, while Ahmed and Andy filled their boat with friends and Andy's brother.  Vinh rounded out the guest list with a fellow O'Bryant graduate, Jean.

Even Bruce and the Senior Marine Educators joined in on the fun!

Tom? Is that you? How's the fishing?

Thumbs up to a great day of fishing in the harbor!

As the fishing boats headed back to Fan Pier, everyone was excited to see who caught the biggest fish.  Although some groups had a tough day resulting in zero fish, Vinh caught a 22 inch striped bass and Will Conroy a 15 inch flounder.  Many JPA's on The Belle caught black sea bass but they had to be thrown back just like Vinh's striper because they were not regulation size.  However when it came time to award the fishing prizes, Vinh, Will Conroy's brother, Jennifer and Hung walked away from the invitational with brand new fishing rods from Fishing Fanatics! 

The winner! Wait, where did those stripers come from?

Everyone had a wonderful time fishing in the harbor but this day would not have been possible with out the help of many.  We would like to thank Joe Fallon and Fan Pier for hosting the event and Circle Furniture, Russo Marine and 3A Marine for sponsoring the invitational.  No one would have been able to even get out on the harbor without the different boats and captains that volunteered their Thursday morning to hang out with us - especially Rick and Steve of The Reel Pursuit which I had the privilege to fish on.

But wait, where did those stripers come from?  Sometimes when the biggest fish you catch is a 15 inch flounder, you need to improvise for a group photo.  Thank you Mike Fallon for the stripers! As soon as the photos were taken Tom went to work on fileting the fish.  Who doesn't love fresh fish for dinner?!

Big plans are already in the works for next year.  I will win the invitational.  Mark my word!

Keep on fishing,

Bridget

The Biggest Fish I Ever Seen

I just want to start my blog off with a big thank you to the captian of the boat that i was on Mike Fallon and to Joe cirame who got us the biggest fish i ever seen and first place in the fishing tournament. I have to addmit it was one of the funnest days of my summer so far, the boat ride was great we all worked as a team but Joe made the big catch of the day. When we finally got it up out the water i was just in shock never have i seen anything like this 40 pound fish but im pretty sure Bruce was proud of my team for going out there and getting a great catch and having lots of fun

Me, Manny,Bruce and Joe with the catch of the day

Mark Rose

A Day of Fishing and Friendly Competition on Fan Pier

Manny Dejesus, Mark Rose, and Joe Cirame pose with their first-place winning catch on Fan Pier after a day of fishing out on the Harbor.

Nine-year-old Joe Cirame of Saugus took first place in the 2^nd Annual Save the Harbor / Save the Bay Youth Fishing Tournament at Fan Pier on Boston’s waterfront with a 46-inch striped bass weighing close to 42 pounds. The young angler made the impressive catch while fishing with Captain Mike Fallon on his 34-foot Regulator "Marinaro" with a team of young anglers that included Save the Harbor / Save the Bay youth program summer staffers Manny Dejesus of Fenway, Tom Kenary of Wellesley Hills, and Mark Rose of Dorchester.

Taking second place was 11 year-old Brady Marshall, of Mattapan, one of 22 kids from Camp Harbor View who fished aboard the head boat "Belle" with Captain Charlie Gibbons of Boston Fun Cruises, his mate Darryl, and an experienced crew including Save the Harbor / Save the Bay’s own Bay Watcher Bruce Berman as well as tournament sponsors Harold and Richard Tubman of Circle Furniture. Marshall’s winning catch was a 36-inch striped bass, weighing in at 21 lbs.

Tournament sponsor Joe Fallon of The Fallon Company set the tone for the day with a pep talk on the dock at Fan Pier Marina. “Don’t just go fishing, go catching,” he said as he wished all participants the best of luck.

After distributing bait, tackle, rods, and other equipment provided by tournament sponsor Peter Santini of Fishin’ Finatics, 18 junior program assistants from Save the Harbor / Save the Bay boarded a fleet of donated boats and set out onto the harbor looking for big fish. The fleet was soon joined by 22 teens from Camp Harbor View, who joined the competition from their base on Long Island.

The young anglers used a number of techniques throughout the day, including “chumming and chunking", jigs and worms, and trolling with deep diving lures, "9er" umbrella rigs, and of course the deadly Santini tube. The largest fish was caught trolling off Boston Light, while the 2^nd largest grabbed a jig and worm between Spectacle Island and Camp Harbor View.

After a couple of hours of fishing in the clear, clean waters of Boston Harbor, the young anglers returned to Fan Pier Marina for a weigh in ceremony and photos before enjoying sandwiches provided by Top Secret Sandwiches on the Boston Fish Pier and ice cream sundaes donated by Emack and Bolio’s Aquarium Store. After lunch, the captains and crew filleted the winning fish and distributed fillets to all the campers to bring home for dinner.

Save the Harbor / Save the Bay's Bruce Berman and Patty Foley, along with Circle Furniture's Harold Tubman, pose with tournament participants and the day's winning catches.

 “There really is no better way to spend the day than out on Boston Harbor with great kids like these" said Harold Tubman of Circle Furniture. "I think my brother and I had more fun than they did!"

Each summer Save the Harbor/Save the Bay leads two free Youth Environmental Education programs that combine experiential learning with hands-on education that brings the harbor to life for young people. Since 2003 their "All Access Boston Harbor" and "Boston Harbor Explorers" have connected more than 60,000 youth and teens from the region's youth sailing centers, community organizations and youth groups to Boston Harbor and the Boston Harbor Islands.

These free summer youth programs are made possible with Leadership Grants from Distrigas of Massachusetts/GDF SUEZ, P. I. Garden Fund, Bay State Cruise Company, Forest Berkley & Marcie Tyre Berkley, The Coca-Cola Foundation, The Ludcke Foundation, Yawkey Foundation II, The Fallon Company, Massachusetts Port Authority, P&G Gillette and Schrafft Charitable Trust.

Save the Harbor also appreciates funding support from Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts, The Dolphin Trust, Alice W. Dorr Foundation, Massachusetts Bay Lines, National Grid Foundation, John Hancock Financial Services, Lawrence J & Ann Rubenstein Charitable Trust, Arbella Insurance Group Charitable Foundation, Boston Bruins Foundation, Clipper Ship Foundation, Jay Cashman, Inc., Mass Humanities, Bank of America Pavilion, Circle Furniture, Fuller Foundation, Thomas & Lucinda Foley, Lovett-Woodsum Family Charitable Foundation Inc., South Boston Community Development Corporation, Andus Baker & Rowan Murphy Family Foundation, Boston Centers for Youth and Families, Department of Conservation and Recreation, Martha Mazzone Charitable Gift Fund, Matthew J. & Gilda Strazzula Foundation,  Community Suffolk, Inc., DeMarco Produce and hundreds of individual small donors.

WATER WATER AND MORE WATER

This week at work has been like none other. I did a lot of new things that I wanted to do for a long time. The fishing derby was the climax of my week, I enjoyed it so much. It didn't put a burden on my day that I didn't catch fish because I really enjoyed myself. The boat went really fast and waves were fun to hit. The captain taught me all about the boat just like all the parts of a fishing rod. He showed me the cabin which had a portable bathroom and the accelerator, the motor which was a Yamaha 220 four stroke. We went deep into the harbor and even did a little island trivia which I had a lot of answers for. The fishing derby was a fun and interesting trip.

Earlier in the week I set out on a adventure on the Provincetown 2. We went to George's island an island I never been to with Save the Harbor. All the children spoke about how eager they were to battle the dark tunnels. After a small tour of the island we went into the fort and tried to explain what specific rooms were such as the kitchen. The children didn't find that interesting at all so we made way to the dark tunnels. Since I'm the tallest and Leon was guiding them into the tunnel, the children grabbed onto me and walked with me down the tunnel. The kids were really happy when they got out and wanted to go back in but there were other visitors ruining the experience for the children. We asked them to turn off the flashlights and cellphones so the tunnel could be really really dark. The kids loved it and David made it even better being the one that mysteriously took my hat in the tunnel. This week has really made my experience at Save the Harbor amazing.

-Ahmed Hassan

Not the biggest but the tastiest!!!.

Hey everybody,
last week on Thursday I participated on the celebrity fishing tournament, which occurred at the Fan Pier dock .Captain Jason and his crew help us. Before embarking our little journey to fish ,we each went along with a captain. I got to go with David and also two of our staff members which were Mekhi and Timmy. Our first spot to fish was by long island ,we had set up the bate and was ready for a bite ,but unfortunately no one was home.So we decided to relocate to somewhere that had group of birds.Which did not brings us any luck.While we were struggling on finding fish, Diana and Kristina had gotten there first Bass. Diana's was 30 feet long and Kristina's was 35 feet long. That was pretty impressive. But then as it was time head back to the docks, I reeled in my rod and got my first Sea Bass which was very cool then Timmy and Mekhi got some skates .I learned that Skates looked like Sting Rays and they protected themselves with a bunch of pointy thorns. I wasn't the winner, but Bruce mentioned that my fish wasn't the biggest but the tastiest."oh by the way how was my fish Bruce" lol. So far so good. See you next time.

Hugues M.B.