Bluefin Tuna Tagging with Shore Catch's Capt. Tom O'Loughlin

Big treat on Friday 8/5/11, as myself, Sean Furman from Highlands New Jersey and Capt. Tom O'Loughlin from Shore Catch Guide Serviceslid out to the bluefin grounds on Tom's new 39' Yellowfin named SaltyDogs. What a boat. The ride out was a bit bumpy, as oily calm water was punctuated with a constant swell. We took it slow in the dark. Then at first light Capt. Tom punched it and we were at the Atlantic Princess in no time. Triple 350 Yamahas, tons of storgage, Simrad integrated electronics package and bean bags make this boat the queen of our fleet in many respects. Just a all around pleasure to fish on. Once out on the grounds we put the Avet Raptors, JX and MX's paired with Spinal 350gram jig rods to work. My favorite rig was the Avet JX 6.0.1, paired with Spinal 350gr, dunking a 150 blue and white Shimano butterfly jig. Sean stayed true by dunking a Stingo PBJ (200 silver) in and out of the sand and Capt. Tom kept the Jersey Jay Tonno Jigs and Shimano jigs in pink through rotation. I came tight first on a beautiful 44" bluefin tuna. This is an estimated 50lb fish at three years old, so a 2008 year class fish. He came to the boat quickly and we had one shot with the AFTCO Tailer to get him tagged, but he discovered our intentions and blasted off like a rocket just under the surface and stripped 75 yards out at will. I brought him back in and we quickly tailed him, deployed the dart, taped his length and released him. This tuna was bleeding a bit more than I would like to see, so if this tag ever comes back it will be helpful in the constant debate over release mortality. Second to come tight was Sean, on the silver Stingo. Sean had his hands full with this tuna, as you can see in the video and pictures. He did a good job moving the tuna around the boat. This bluefin tuna taped out at 46", so roughly a 60lb tuna, that is nearly four years old, so 2007 year class likely. One thing I did notice on this tuna, was the bright blue vertical lines on his hind quarter when we tailed him. This bluefin had much more brilliant colors than our usual bluefin that tend to have more greenish hues. Makes me think Sean's bluefin was maybe from a different stock, perhaps from the Eastern Atlantic. Capt. Tom likes to use the AFTCO Tailer head first. This was the first time I saw this technique used. He slides the Tailer over the head of the tuna, then instructs the angler to give slack so the tailer slides down the body of the tuna uninterrupted by the line and as the Tailer closes down the body of the fish, catches at the tail and boom, the tuna is secure. It worked pretty well so looking forward to trying this again. Third to come tight was Capt. Tom himself. He had the fish up quickly but somehow had Sean's line tangled up. With the tangle up close, Sean saved the day, swooped in, made a swift cut with the pliers and set Capt. Tom's line free from the mess. It was a scene right out of Lethal Weapon when Riggs cut the wires while his buddy was on the toilet. Tom's bluefin taped at 37", estimated 25 pounds and two years old, so from the 2009 year class. We had to work for these fish but if you stayed true and jigged your face off, you had your shots. We saw hookups on other network boats in the fleet, like Manhattan Fly and Hooligan. We were all a bit surprised to be picking at the bluefin because the water at the Atlantic Princess was really quite green. Despite the green, pilot and fin back whales were still in the area, we marked some nice bait and of course with these conditions came bluefish, and some big gators at that. Manhattan Fly had a hammerhead take a jig I believe which sounds fun. Some boats did good on bait as well, fresh sardines both on the bottom and fly lined. One of the best parts of fishing with Capt. Tom is the arsenal of tackle and bait. As much as he loves tackle, Tom is a self professed bait hound. We had 21 flavors that basically took up our starboard fish box, and on the 39' Yellowfin, the box is big enough to be a bunk. We wrapped up at 1:30PM and did 50mph on the way in. I took a short nap on the bean bag and we were a mile from the Shark River Inlet when I awoke. That's bluefin tuna fishing in style. We had a great day together. Three tag cards already mailed back to NOAA from three bluefin tuna of three different year classes (2007, 2008, 2009). Sean tagged his first tuna and I believe will be tagging more. For his efforts, he was rewarded with the Atlantic Tuna Project "Tagging Member" care package which includes a Guy Harvey shirt and AFTCO hat. If you want to fish with a great Captain, on an amazing boat then I highly recommend a trip with Capt. Tom. He does both charters and open boat trips for bluefin, canyon and inshore.