All Quiet on the Western Front

Upon the fourth straight day of rare perfect weather, we anticipated great things. We were off to a slow start marking tuna here and there but never reeling any in.

In the afternoon, the water turned perfectly still, creating a mirror image of the sky. Large schools of mackerel, visible by the nervous water vibrating above them, surrounded the boat. While waiting for tuna to bust through,  we were visited by a seal bobbing its head up and down like a buoy, and a  curious little mola swam  around one of our floats. Then boom! Giant tuna began shattering through the glassy water in the distance as we reeled in our lines and went after them. It seemed as though they were toying with us for as soon as we arrived on top of them, they would bust again behind us.

Even with no tuna, the sheer calmness and beauty of the day brought amazement to us all.

-Danny Coffey

Director's Cut

Danny Coffey, Robbie Schallert and George Shillinger

TAG-A-Giant Canada welcomed Dr. George Shillinger, the new director of the TAG-A-Giant Foundation, as well as Daniel Coffey, the new Tuna Research and Conservation Center technician, to the water for the first time. And they chose a good day because the bluefin were snapping...we tagged 4 fish on 7 bites...and had tuna busting all around the boat. All three boats, the F/V Bay Queen IV, F/V Nicole Brandy and F/V Pete's Pair-A-Dice caught at least one fish. 

Pete's Pair-A-Dice hooked up before a transfer

We placed two acoustic tags on two fish made by local Nova Scotian company Vemco. And the other two fish received pop-up satellite archival tags manufactured by Wildlife Computers.

-Robbie Schallert

Bluefin tuna with a Vemco acoustic tag

The Icehouse - Port Hood, Nova Scotia, Canada

Tag-A-Giant Canada, Round Two kicked off on October 15, with the departure of TAG Director, Dr. George Shillinger, and TRCC Technician, Danny Coffey to Port Hood, Nova Scotia.

TAG Canada Headquarters – The Lighthouse Cottages, 

Port Hood, Nova Scotia

(photo by Dr. George Shillinger)

High winds and choppy seas kept the tagging team off the water the following morning, but the commercial fishermen assisting the TAG effort braved the weather to pursue the giants. TAG veteran, Robbie Schallert accompanied Captain Dennis Cameron and his crew on the Bay Queen IV in the hopes of securing samples from any commercial captures. 

The Bay Queen IV returning to the docks at Port Hood
(photo by Dr. George Shillinger)

George and Danny were joined by producer, D’Arcy Marsh of Otter Films, who drove up to Port Hood from Boston, to capture the tagging efforts on film.

The inclement weather provided the TAG team with an opportunity to spend some time in the Icehouse (photo of  Icehouse), where lead fish dresser Duncan Sutherland, practiced his trade in front of the TAG team, demonstrating how commercially captured fish are weighed and dressed for shipment to international buyers.  

The Icehouse in Port Hood, Nova Scotia, Canada.

(photo by Dr. George Shillinger)

The fish dressing process involves a series of steps, beginning with the point of capture, when fish are initially towed behind the boat, and then bled by a quick knife slice behind the pectoral fin.  Upon arrival at the docks, the fish are hoisted from the boat, carried into the Icehouse and placed upon the scales.  

Bluefin tuna captured by commercial fishermen near Port Hood, Nova Scotia.

(photo by Dr. George Shillinger)

Following weigh-in, the fish are dressed; a process involving removal of the pectoral and dorsal fins (to enable the fish to fit in the shipping crate), extraction of the viscera, removal of the caudal fin (tail) below the third finlet, and decapitation. 

Bluefin tuna weigh-in at the Icehouse.

(photo by Dr. George Shillinger)

The dressed fish are re-weighed, given a final rinse, and dumped into an icebath, where they await a trip (usually within 6-12 hours) to foreign and domestic markets, and their final destination on a sushi platter.

-Dr. George Shillinger

Duncan Sutherland rinses a dressed bluefin tuna at the Icehouse.
(photo by Dr. George Shillinger)

Duncan Sutherland places a dressed bluefin tuna in ice at the Icehouse.

(photo by Dr. George Shillinger)

Both Bitter and Sweet

The TAG team headed out last Thursday, October 13^th, and Friday, October 14^th, scoring marks and tagging giants.  Thursday started out ‘inside’, near shore off the Mabou Highlands, a spot noted the previous day for 3 late afternoon hook-ups by commercial fishers.  The team wasn’t disappointed.  Capt’n Ross Kues’ ‘Neptuna’ hooked up early in the morning with a nice medium-sized Bluefin to start the day off right.  Adorned with its new wave sound tag, the fish swam away none the worse for wear.  The day dragged on between bites, but before the boats pulled their hooks in, two more tuna landed on the board, tallying 3 for the day.  The second was a beautiful big butterball, easily topping the scale at over 850 lbs while the last of the day stretched the tape to 260 cm curved length. 

Waiting For A Bite – Off MacDonald’s Glen, Mabou Highlands, Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia, Canada, October 14^th, 2011.

Friday was forecasting a strong blow to pick up after noon, but with a flat morning and a location in the lee of the Mabou Highlands, three Nova Scotian TAG vessels headed out.  The ‘Bay Queen IV’ waited for a bite all morning.  It never came.  With eyes lured offshore to a lone commercial vessel midway to the horizon, Capt’n Dennis Cameron decided to move.  No sooner was the bow pointed away from shore than Aaron Spares spotted a lone Bluefin a mile or more ‘outside’ jumping vertically clear of the water and nose diving back in.  Interest aroused, but no one counting their tuna just yet, the ‘Bay Queen IV’ cruised steadily to the spot to find a fresh oil slick.  Hooks baited and back in, the team once again waited.  A down-bait reeled off soon after.  A fight ensued.  The giant ran twice, and then settled into a tug-of-war at 100-140 feet under the boat.  Robbie Shallert, Craig Cameron and Sheldon Gillis all took turns on the reel, but for every foot gained, the giant took one back.

Risin' Up - Off MacDonald's Glen, Mabou Highlands, Northumberland Strait, Canada

With a hour fight time approaching on the clock, Sheldon Gillis remarked, “It’s time for me to go put the boots to’em!”

The fish must’ve heard him, and took his comment as a challenge, for no sooner had the words left his mouth, then the giant changed tactics and made a heavy haul away from the stern.  The line whirled off the reel, the tip rose, and slack was taken.  A sudden tip down ended with the rod springing straight up.  Online tension ceased.  Colourful comments were exchanged to the sea.  And perhaps the giant of the season swam away.

                
With a defeat lingering on deck, the wind started to blow.  Waves began to build.  The boat began to rock and roll, but marks on the sounder suggested there may be redemption for those who wait.  At about 2 pm, with white capped water all around, a rod on the ‘Bay Queen IV’ screamed.  The fight was personal this time, but the victory was bittersweet.  A 190 cm tuna came aboard to receive its jewellery and was sent kicking back into the turbulent water.  With Taggers and crew trying to maintain balance on deck, the word to call it a day was given.  The TAG boats broke through crests and troughs, slamming home the message that some of the more memorable days are a bit of both extremes, both bitter and sweet. 


-text and photos by Aaron Spares

A Fleeting Moment - Northumberland Strait tuna fishery off Mabou Highlands

Tuna 1 - TAG 1

We left the wharf knowing that the wind would pick up later that afternoon...we just weren't sure when. The boys from mainland Nova Scotia (Steve McInnis and Bernie Chisolm) met us off Mabou early in the morning. It was flat calm, and after jigging up some mackerel we drifted close to shore hopping to get bit. There was no wind and the tide was running against the drift, so after doing a 360 around our baits we decided to head off shore. Local scientist, Aaron Spares, spotted some fish jumping from the top of the cab, so we set up.

Craigor Cameron battles a bluefin

With the camera rolling, three or four fish splashed 500 yards off the stern and looked like they were headed towards our Huey bait (named after a local fisherman that flat lines a mackerel with a balloon). The boat waited with anticipation, but the fish didn't look like they were going to bite...then...WHAM...the line went tight, the rubber band shattered, and the reel zinged as the Bay Queen IV scrambled into position. We fought the fish for a good 45 minutes and we could tell it was a big fish by the way it behaved and marked on the sounder. We would reel it up to 50 feet and it would dive back to 120. This cat and mouse game ended when the mono chaffed and the line broke. Tuna 1...TAG team 0.

This bluefin is being tagged with an acoustic tag

Dejected but optimistic, the team regrouped and got the lines back in the water. The clouds over Cape Breton gathered and the wind began to puff. Capt. Dennis put his favorite pink balloon on the down bait for good luck...and just as we were thinking it might be time to head home...Zing...we were tight again. This time the tuna couldn't out smart us, and after a short fight the 250 lb bluefin was on board and back in the ocean with a new acoustic tag that will last for 1300 days.

By the time we were done tagging, the sea had turned into a frothy mess and we were all happy to head to shore.

-Robbie Schallert

Let's Go Fly a Kite!

The Celtic Colors are in full swing here in Cape Breton, along with a cool autumn breeze. The Bay Queen IV headed north up the coast line to the Mabou Coal Mines to meet up with the PEI tag boats. After a quick stop for mackerel, we started to set-up our gear a quarter mile from shore...but before we could get our last bait in the water, the Neptuna crackled over the radio that he had a fish on. After a short, 20 minute fight, Ross Keus and TAG Team 2 were on the board with an acoustically tagged 400 lber.

The SE wind picked up in the morning allowing the boats to fly their kites. The kite allows the boats to fish on the downwind side of the boat, and it keeps the mackerel right on the surface so the tuna can't see the line. I have been staring at the "kite bait" for five years now...and at high noon I was rewarded. The crew was forward in the cab eating lunch and I was about to join them...when SMASH...out of the water...20 feet from the boat...an 850 pound bluefin ripped through the surface under the kite. I have pictured this moment in my head a thousand times, especially how I would react when this actually happened...of course, I froze with excitement. Capt. Dennis tried to yell but he was muffled by the hamburger in his mouth...Craig knocked his bag of mini licorice in the air that rained down like confetti...and after what seemed like minutes I finally reached the rod to crank in the slack. The line went tight...and with a triumphant roar...I had finally seen and hooked a Giant off the kite! Sheldon Gillis took over from there and the TAG team readied the equipment. Everyone's adrenaline was soaring...if you haven't seen a kite strike...get up to Port Hood...it is spectacular!!! After a 31 minute battle, the 800 lb bluefin came aboard and was fitted with a satellite tag along his right dorsal.

We tagged one more fish and saw and two leatherback turtles swimming off the stern. All in all it was a great Cape Breton tuna fishing day!

-Robbie Schallert

Highs and Lows

Well, as the ol’sayin’ goes, when it rains, it pours...especially in Nova Scotia.  The past 10 days have set records for Nova Scotia and the Tag-A-Giant team fishin’ for Giant Atlantic Bluefin off Port Hood on the Island of Cape Breton.  Intense high and low pressure systems have brought unseasonal weather.  Water temperatures have remained warm, and this past Canada Thanksgiving Weekend set record air temperatures.  Twenty-three ^oC is very nice for October.  It also blew a gale last Wednesday, gusts up to 118 km/h.

Gannet aboard

The TAG Team tied the record number of tuna tagged in one day in Canada, 9 fish on Monday, October 3^rd.  The bite didn’t begin until noon.  But when it started, it didn’t stop.  Tuna after tuna came to the tagging vessel, Bay Queen IV.  According to the fishers, the hooked-up tuna ranged from ‘scrawny little rats’ to ones ‘hard to see swim away’.  A true Nova Scotian, scientist, Aaron Spares, put on the kilt to tag the first fish, and kept it on until setting foot back on the dock at Murphy’s Pond.  The four vessel fleet kept Dr. Steve Wilson, Capt’n Dennis Cameron, Canada’s top wireman Sheldon Gillis and mate Craig Cameron busy as can be.

Pete’s Pair-Of-Dice had a very hockey-like hat-trick, 3 fish in the tagging arena.   The other 3 vessels, Capt’n Steve’s Carrie Anne, Bernie’s Nicole Brandy and the tagging boat, Bay Queen IV topped their hats to two each, which totaled the previous record set here last year.  The low came the next day, Tuesday, October 4^th, a shut-out for the tuna.  The fishers never got one on the board.

On alert - Sheldon, Craig and Aaron (kilted)

The winds blew until today, Wednesday, October 12^th.  Low temperatures last night had frozen a few puddles by 5 am this morning, but high sun warmed it up enough for a T-shirt and loafers day on the deck.  Tuna streaked the surface, marked the depth sounder, and graced 1 or 2 commercial fishers, but none took the bait for the TAG team consisting of PEI’s ‘North Lake Breeze’, ‘Neptuna’ and the ‘Bay Queen IV’.  Tanned and tuned out, the team trudged up the gangway slightly dejected, but still smiling at the thought of the next day’s potential to break the record.

Depth sounder marking giants

-Aaron Spares

Ophelia? Nine Fish Tagged!

The impending arrival of Hurricane Ophelia in the Canadian maritimes had prevented team member Robbie Schallert from getting back from his brothers wedding in Texas, so longtime reserve liphooker Aaron Spares was called into action on Monday morning. The day started quietly and few fish were marked on the 4 boat fleets’ echo sounders. As noon approached, Captain Dennis Cameron and I discussed the possibility of sending the boats back to port due to a lack of bluefin and marginal weather. A commercial fisherman a few miles inshore of the fleet then radioed Pete Sutherland aboard Pete’s Pair A’Dice to request help. He had lost his steering while fighting a hooked fish. Peter pulled his gear and moved to lend assistance. That turned out to be a turning point for our tagging efforts today. After helping his colleague, Pete noticed a large area of bird activity and busting bluefin. He summoned the fleet and hooked up within seconds of dropping his line in the water. An epic afternoon ensued. We tagged nine fish ranging from 203 to 276 cm in length, a mixture of pre-spawners and true giants. The tagging boat was fighting fish after fish until well after the sun set. Aaron performed flawlessly on the liphook, despite frigid winds nipping at nether regions beneath his kilt. Pete hooked three while the Carrie Anne, Nicole Brandy and Bay Queen each hooked two. Nine fish tagged matches the record number of fish tagged by our team in Canadian waters last year with a fleet twice as large.

-Steve Wilson

Fall in Nova Scotia

There was a brisk autumn bite to the air as the team headed to the boats. We decided to stop and get some mackerel for a change…and caught a good number of tinkers. Dennis’s brother started pulling his net, so the fleet moved over to see if any of our tuna friends were waiting for the herring again. At first we thought maybe our luck around Carl had run out, but soon enough he had a good size school underneath. We tossed a herring into the boil and we were hooked up. It was a fairly quick fight, and at first we thought the fish was small…we were mistaken…fish was 266 cm and fat as can be. Once on deck, the tag team sprang into action putting in a pop-up satellite tag and sending the fish on his way. Pete Sutherland snagged one off the net too, but it pulled the hook…and so the Carl herring net trick was over for the day.

We drifted for awhile but came up empty, and then tied off to our own herring net. A bald eagle paid us a visit…he circled for a bit and he swooped down with talons out to pluck a herring right out of the water. After about an hour, we were visited by a lone bluefin…he looked at our mackerel for a good 45 minutes…streaking up and down as we moved the bait through the water column. Finally, Dennis “Magic Hands” Cameron switched the mackerel to a herring and within seconds we were tight for the second time in the day. It took a little over an hour to get the 700 lber to the boat, but once on deck the well oiled TAG team fitted our new friend with the second pop-up tag of the day!!

-Robbie Schallert

Back in the Hood

TAG-A-Giant Canada returned to Port Hood, Cape Breton, Nova Scotia for another year of tagging Atlantic bluefin. We were welcomed by unseasonably warm weather and a flat calm day. In order to knock off the rust, we decided to start the season off with three boats...two PEI boats (North Lake Breeze and Neptuna) came across the straight to join the TAG boat (Bay Queen IV). It was a fairly quiet day...marked a lot of fish...hooked three and tagged a beautiful 247 cm bluefin tuna. It is great to be back on the water...especially with the weather and the number of fish around.

-Robbie Schallert

110 Bluefin Tagged!

Another report from the F/V Shogun...

The tagging effort aboard Shogun continued as TAG team returned to the region of Tuesday's hot bite, less than a 14h run from San Diego. We picked up right where we left off. At dawn after drifting for 3 hours we were just about to pick up and leave to start searching for fish in less than ideal conditions, when our TAG summer intern, James Stiltner hooked up on a bluefin tuna. This morning the team of interns, graduate students, post-docs and techs had set up for tagging and loading fish into the wells. The Shogun crew led by Captains Norm and Bruce, with Randy, Tommy, Scott, Chachi - snapped into action and had bluefin lined up for the swimstep team who were often waste deep in water as the rough conditions made things sporty. Sure enough before 8am we had put out the remaining 7 archival tags –for a grand total of 110 tagged bluefin in two stops! Bluefin of a perfect size and yellowfin were loaded onto the ship at sunrise. The bite was wide open, and it's hard to imagine the quality of fishing we observed. More samples were taken to observe diet and isotopic signature which enables the team led by Dan Madigan to discern where these two year old tunas have come from. All and all it was a wonderful day- despite some challenging seas.

Tuna Road Trip

A report from the Shogun crew...

Today we unloaded the 26 bluefin and one yellowfin tuna to the truck and pool located at the pier at Scripps Marfac dock. Half the fish were loaded into the “tunabago,” the transport tank that gives the bluefin a free ride up the California highways to the Tuna Research and Conservation Center (TRCC) at Stanford’s Hopkins Marine Station, in Pacific Grove. Thirteen bluefin tuna, all about 15 lbs at most, were loaded into the holding tank on the truck and another group swims currently in the pool at Marfac. Every fish was handled in a sling of water beginning in the wells aboard the Shogun where Alex Norton (our tuna whisperer) gently cradled each fish. They receive an Avid ID tag, get a length measurement and then are sent in the sling through a series of gentle hand lifts or carries that takes the fish to the truck or pool. It’s a well choreographed ballet where the team, tuna, water and strength all combine to move tunas from the ship to the transport truck. We all admired the great color of the bluefin, their stripes all lit up as they entered the cool waters in the truck. They will get the ride of their life to their new home. We were thrilled at the great condition of the fish and after loading with new bait headed back out to the fishing grounds.

One for the Record Books

As scientists, anglers and passionate fans of Pacific bluefin tuna we live for day like we have had here on Shogun in the past 24 h. Our mission- to collect tunas for studies back at our home laboratory- the Tuna Research and Conservation Center (TRCC). We arrived in the area where fishing reports had been excellent and proceeded from dawn to dusk to have a wide open bluefin bite. And this time, for the first time in years, we were more than prepared. The Stanford University team had programmed over 100 tags prior to coming out on the trip and anticipation was high.

This year we had some older TAG team members from our lab, including Tag-A-Giant and TRCC technicians Robbie Schallert and Alex Norton, Stanford technician for our Gulf oil spill team Ben Machado. Also on board were Stanford graduate students Dane Klinger and Dan Madigan, and undergraduates who had interned with the TRCC this summer including undergraduates Natalie, Ethan, Sarah, Andrew and James.

Captain and Professor Norm put us in a great spot to drift and before sun up Dan Madigan hooked up. This year to prepare with our younger team, we had held a “tagging class," and went over the cradling of fish on the swim step. Sure enough chaos occurred during the first fast bite when the team barely had their feet wet. We put the fish that first appeared as yellowfin into the side wells and quickly filled to capacity.

We then heard the first call from the crew of,  "Bluefin!"  The tagging team (Barb, Robbie, Dr. Joe Bonaventura) went into the action- tagging 7 yellowfin. The bite slowed down and we moved on. Within an hour, Norm glanced and viewed a sonar hit that was extremely interesting- the fish were down on the thermocline- in the “feed layer” or deep scattering layer the area I call the "peanut butter of the ocean," filled with small crustaceans and squid. From the moment we stopped on the sonar school until 6 PM we had steady bluefin action that led to what I think may be the highest single electronic tagging stop for bluefin tuna-96 archival tagged bluefin (all with one tagging station!). In addition, we filled up the slammer with bluefin. Scientific samples were taken by Dan and Ben from a handful of bluefin to discern isotopic signatures (think "You are what you eat!") and to also determine from where the fish had come (signatures from the open sea are lower in numerical value than in the productive California Current).

I was a bit surprised to see Captain Bruce, Randy and Tommy admiring an albacore as if they had not seen one in a while. This was the first albacore of the season – remarkable given it happened the third week in August. I thought the albacore were quite skinny - suggesting they had come from offshore. History was made here today aboard the Shogun-by the end of the day, we had collected all the bluefin required for the TRCC this year, tagged 103 tunas and released another 50 more. All in all, we could have tagged 200 bluefin today! Too bad we did not have more conventional and electronic tags! The fish were very young, potentially new arriving fish on the west coast. From prior tagging we know that this year class will be retentive to the California current and provide super fishing on a 30lb 3rd year fish next season so let’s hope their survival will lead to more knowledge and great fishing!

-Dr. Barbara Block

Landmark study published on Pacific bluefin tuna

The Tag-A-Giant team is pleased to report that some of our Pacific bluefin tuna tagging research was published today in one of the world's preeminent scientific journals, Nature. Data from over 300 recaptured archival-tagged bluefin were included in a landmark study, the Census of Marine Life Tagging of Pacific Predators (TOPP) project. TOPP was a whirlwind 10-year research initiative in which 75 scientists from 5 countries deployed 4,306 tags on 23 species in the North Pacific, resulting in a tracking dataset of unprecedented scale and species diversity. Over 1,500 of the tags were deployed on tunas - 655 bluefin, 582 yellowfin and 296 albacore tuna. TAG's Scientific Advisor, Dr. Barbara Block, professor at Stanford University, was co-founder of TOPP and is the paper's lead author.

Figure 1. Positions of all TOPP animals, color-coded based on species group: blue - tunas (yellowfin, bluefin and albacore), orange - pinnipeds (northern elephant seals, California sea lions and northern fur seals), red - sharks (salmon, white, blue, common thresher and mako), purple - seabirds (Laysan and black-footed albatrosses and sooty shearwaters), green - sea turtles (leatherback and loggerhead) and black - cetaceans (blue, fin, sperm and humpback whales).

To date, recapture rates of over 50% on the archival-tagged Pacific bluefin have yielded the world's largest electronic tag dataset - over 66,000 days in the life of Pacific bluefin tuna. Major results presented in today's paper include a description of how some young bluefin tuna migrate from their birthplace near Japan to the waters off the West Coast where they display residency within California Current for a number of years. They then migrate back to their birthplace along the trans-oceanic migration highway called the North Pacific Transition Zone.

“How or why a young bluefin tuna less than two years of age wakes up in the light of the Japan sea and decides to swim to Baja remains completely unknown,” says Dr. Block. “Once they get here, tagging data indicate they reside for years, taking advantage of the rich forage off North American coastlines. These tunas become vulnerable to oceanic fisheries across the Pacific during both this highly migratory period and this retentive period lunching on our coast.”

A more concerning result of the study relates to the high rates of tag return - this is great for the science but also unfortunately indicates high fisheries mortality. TAG scientists are now using the tagging data to develop a stock assessment model for Pacific bluefin tuna to determine the status of the species and assess whether the current fishing effort is sustainable.

For more information on TOPP and the Nature paper, click here.

Bluefin Tuna Fingerlings @ Clean Seas, Australia

Tuna and dolphins and sharks, oh my...

It was another fine day on the water aboard the Sensation. Today the TAG team was joined by Michael Tickle in the angler’s seat. Captain Dale, Alan, and CP rounded out the tagging crew with Robbie and Andre. We started the day with a double header of bluefin, one of which made it to the boat for a tag. As we were fighting those two fish, CP drifted a bait back and we had another hit on the drifting ballyhoo. Michael’s expert angling made quick work of that 72 inch fish and it was soon on its way out the door with a brand new tag of its own. The bite slowed down throughout the fleet late in the morning, and we didn’t get any more tags out for the rest of the day, despite seeing bluefin swimming in the waves. We did manage a double header of yellowfin, which added to the excitement as the bluefin bite dropped off. We were also rewarded with some delightful nature viewing, with common and Risso’s dolphin pods swimming with the tunas and the ever present hammerhead sharks. We had Wednesday off due to weather, but will give it another go on Thursday. Wish us luck!

Tuna Sensation

We jumped on the Sensation early in the morning (5:00am) to get a head start on the tuna bite...and Capt. Dale Britt did not disappoint. We started the day off with a nice bigeye tuna and then tagged three bluefin. The first one tipped the scales at 416 lbs, and while it was getting its new jewelry, another fish bit a bait that Big Country had drifted back. Angler John Hadley jumped back in chair for his second fish in a row...this one measured 76 inches! The All Stars took over for the third fish with Capt. Alan Scibal in the chair and IGFA Hall of Fame wireman Charles "CP" Perry taking over at the rail! Again the Gulf Stream had lots of life with schooling tuna and hammerheads dotting the surface. We even had a humpback wave to us in a pod of dolphins! Looks like we will be sitting on shore for a couple days because of weather, but hopefully we will get out again on Tuesday.

Closer to the action

TAG team has moved up the beach to Oregon Inlet...weather was a little more sporty than we hoped, but with local Capt. Charles Perry running the boat we had no problem getting out to the fish. The Gulf Stream was full of life again...mantas, sharks, turtles, and tuna! We fought one fish to the wire but pulled the hook. Heading out tomorrow bright and early to try again.