While the weather has been cool, the fishing is heating up in the Gulf of Maine. Reports of catches include a spectrum of species such as halibut, porbeagles, pollock, wolfish, cod and haddock.

Last year it was slim pickings for recreational anglers in the Gulf of Maine; anglers were limited to three haddock and no cod. This year things are looking up. Federal groundfish stock assessments show an increase in haddock and cod, so possession limits for recreational anglers were increased starting May 1. Anglers can now keep up to 15 haddock over 17 inches, and if you are fishing in August and September, you can even keep one cod over 24 inches.

With the stricter regulations last year, charter boat business and fishing effort was off considerably. Some boats attracted customers who wanted to go offshore for the chance at a few haddock and some pollock, but many stayed away. Will the new regulations help these businesses?

“Yes and no,” said Barry Gibson of East Boothbay, who chairs the New England Fisheries Management Council’s recreational advisory panel. “The 15 haddock is good – it’s certainly better than three and they kept the length at 17, but one cod in August and September works better in the Gloucester and Boston area than it does in Maine.”

The peak time for groundfishing off the Maine coast is July and August, and while the panel recommended keeping a cod in July and August, the New England Fisheries Management Council opted for August and September.

“For the partyboats and charter guys, cod still drives the bus,” said Gibson. “The fishermen that charter boats want cod. If they catch haddock, that’s fine, but haddock doesn’t attract customers like cod. ”

There are several reasons for that, including not only the value of the fillets but the chance to catch something special.

“Guys look at the limits and calculate whether a trip is worthwhile based on the size and bag limit of cod. Is it worth paying $250 to charter a boat when you can only come back with 20 pounds of haddock?” said Gibson.

“With cod, there’s also always the hope of hooking into a big 40- or 50-pound codfish, but there really are no trophy haddock. A big haddock may only be eight pounds.”

Still there’s a lot of good news with the bag limits and positive signs we may finally be headed in the right direction. Early reports are there are plenty of haddock and even cod in the gulf for the taking.

“Boats that are out there now are catching a lot of cod and haddock. Some boats have even had to move to get away from the cod in order to catch haddock,” said Gibson.

A population benchmark assessment last summer saw growth in the Gulf of Maine cod population, which led to allowing the one-cod bag limit for July and August this year.

“We are seeing plenty of cod in the recreational and commercial fisheries, which is different than what they are seeing on the management side. It seems the codfish population will likely continue to go up,” said Gibson, noting that what fishermen are experiencing isn’t always the same as what federal marine scientists are seeing.

“We are probably looking at incremental increases over the next few years. I would love to see a big year class. If we get that and can keep the catch quotas low and off the cod, we have a good shot at codfish coming back,” said Gibson.

That, coupled with the resurgence of haddock, could mean good news for years to come.

“If we are able to shepherd the good year classes of haddock that we have had so they can grow larger, the fishing will be as good as we have seen in decades,” said Gibson.

Mark Latti is a Registered Maine Guide and the outreach coordinator for the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife.

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