We went remora fishing yesterday. We were east of the Cigar in about 500 fathoms. I have no idea what the Virginia Institute of Marine Science is doing with remoras, some DNA research thing, but we got some remoras. We also had some white marlin by-catch.
We had VIMS graduate student Lela Schlenker with us. She is bringing white marlin into the boat, collecting blood and tissue samples, placing pop-up satellite tags, and releasing the fish. She has her portable centrifuge with her along with a big canister of liquid nitrogen turning the Healthy Grin into a laboratory at sea.
It was gorgeous out there all day. We saw a large variety of marine mammals including mother and calf sperm whales. We ended up catching 2 of 3 white marlin. I had a pair come in on my long rigger baits. I had a rod in each hand dropping back and figured out that I did not have a third hand to put the reels in gear. I shoved a rod under my arm so I was holding both rods with one arm and tried both fish. I got one of them. The water was calm and very clear. We saw a white swimming under the surface, pulled the baits in front of it and got that one. Did the same thing with a nice blue marlin but it was not interested in what we were pulling. It did take a look at the boat.
In addition to the remoras and marlin, we caught a few nice dolphin. This science stuff is fun!
These ae great pictures! I would love to go on one of those Science Expidetions with you! I know Science is fun!!