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