Researchers prepare 



The tackle also has to be very heavy. 

 "You can't go bear hunting with a switch," 

 Bahen cautions. "Smaller tackle will kill 

 the fish. They'll fight longer, and by the 

 time you reel them in, they'll be so tired 

 that it takes longer to resuscitate them, and 

 some mortality can occur." For battling 

 giant tuna he recommends 130 Interna- 

 tional reels, or other big reels capable of 

 holding 150-pound-testline. 



The rods must also be mammoth: 

 unlimited class, the biggest rods that still 

 have line guides on them. Bent-butt rods 

 allow the end of the rod to lie closer to the 

 water, decreasing the effort required to 

 bring in the fish. When fishing for Atlantic 

 bluefin tuna, anglers are strapped to both 

 their rods and their chairs, so the giant fish 

 cannot pull them overboard. 



To pull in such a feisty fish, Bahen 

 uses a 700-yard main line of 130- to 150- 



pound nylon or 

 Dacron, which 

 has very little 

 stretch and lies 

 fiat on the reel. 

 Attached to the 

 main line is a 

 "top-shot" of 300 

 to 400-pound 

 monofilament, 

 followed by an 

 800-pound snap 

 swivel. Bahen has 

 also experimented 

 successfully with 

 the new fluorocar- 

 bon line as an 

 invisible leader. 

 Though expen- 

 sive, the fluoro- 

 carbon is popular 

 for making the 

 circle hook 

 and bait more 

 inconspicuous 

 to the fish. 



. ... This year, 



to tag a giant tuna. c , , ■ . 

 ° ° fishers have two 



chances to explore 



catch-and-release tuna fishing. Bahen, who 



serves on the steering committee of the first 



National Symposium on Catch and Release 



in Marine Recreational Fisheries, urges 



anglers to attend. "We really want to 



emphasize catch and release. It's easy to 



catch more than you need." 



The symposium, to be held Dec. 5-8 in 

 Virginia Beach, Va, will address hook and 

 release mortality, fisheries-management 

 issues, angler behavior and recreational 

 fishing ethics. In one session, presenters will 

 focus on fish catching, handling, tagging 

 and release practices that significantly affect 

 fish survival. 



North Carolina fishers may be 

 particularly interested in new research 

 findings on the use of circle hooks in tuna, 

 billfish, sharks, striped bass and summer 

 flounder. Other topics include fish landing 

 and handling stress, swim bladder expan- 



TH E 



CATCH 



sion problems, terminal tackle and other 

 gear options. 



Charter captains, fishing tournament 

 organizers and club leaders are encouraged 

 to attend. Because the symposium will 

 address fish-discard mortality with the use 

 of rod-and-reel gear, representatives of the 

 commercial hook-and-line fisheries may 

 be interested as well. 



For fishers who actually want to get 

 out on the water, this year also marks the 

 third annual Tag-A-Giant project, an effort 

 to coordinate anglers and scientists in the 

 study of bluefin tuna. In past years, after an 

 angler reeled in a tuna, surgeons implanted 

 an archival tag in its body cavity. The tag, 

 equipped with a microprocessor, gathered 

 information on the fish's activities until it 

 was captured again and the tag was 

 returned. 



This year, "We're moving to a new 

 style of pop-up tag," says Bill Hitchcock, 

 director of Tag-A-Giant. "A larger class of 

 fish will also be tagged this year." 



The pop-up satellite tags, which 

 detach from the fish after a specified length 

 of time, record information about the 

 tuna's depth, location in the ocean, and 

 internal and external temperatures. This 

 data will be important in future manage- 

 ment decisions. 



In past years, returned data from a 

 simpler generation of satellite tags 

 indicated that a large percentage of the tuna 

 captured off Hatteras and Morehead City 

 live to swim another day, happy news for 

 conservation anglers. □ 



For more information about the 

 National Symposium on Catch and 

 Release in Marine Recreational Fisheries, 

 call Jim Bahen at 910/256-2083 or Jon 

 Lucy, Virginia Institute of Marine Science, 

 at 804/684-7166. You can also email Lucy 

 at lucy@vims.edu or see the symposium 's 

 Web site at www.vims.edu/adv/catch. 



For more information on Tag-A- 

 Giant, see the program 's Web site at 

 www.tunaresearch.org/tagagiant.html or 

 contact Bill Hitchcock at 252/223-2066. 



COASTWATCH 27 



