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August 09, 2005
Gone Fishin'.. with Satellites
In the summer, Six of the worlds 13 Tuna Species chill out just off the jersey and long island shores. Weather plays a very important role in the migration of Tuna. Tuna are pelagic; which means they live up in the water column as opposed to the ocean floor. They are also migratory fish. Tunas frequent temperate and tropical oceans, where the surface water temperature exceeds 64 degrees. This year with above normal ocean temperatures, we could be looking at a prolonged tuna season well into late fall.
You don't just have to be a good captain to find tuna -- you have to really have to look at data. By looking at real time satellite reports you can actually guess where the fish are-- and be right, without being there. Thermal satellite charts can help you find major temperature breaks and eddies; finding the breaks in temperatures will usually find where the tunas are feeding. Warm-water eddies are circulating masses that have broken away from the main current of the Gulf Stream. Eddies spin in a clockwise direction as they continue flowing to the north.
According to Dr. Mitch Roffer of Roffer's Ocean Fishing Forecasting Service in Miami, a company that provides analyses of ocean temperature images, "A large eddy can easily be 120 miles in diameter, with a typical depth of 3,000 feet. They're somewhat circular in shape and contain Gulf Stream water and the fish associated with it."
Check out last summers tuna fishing trip to the Toms canyon, just about 85 miles out on the canyon ledge. It was a great trip with a mix of Yellowfins, Swordfish and Longfin Tunas. This years trip should be in September when the Bluefins arrive again. This was Brian and I last year with our first longfin, and this was a picture of Mike and I with a long fin as well
Past Deep Sea shots. Sharks, Tuna, Swordfish
Posted by Jeff at August 9, 2005 06:29 AM
Comments
Wow Jeff, I had no idea you were so into fishing. right on
Posted by: Ted at August 9, 2005 08:41 AM
Jeff that is just hot!
Posted by: Betsi Rogers at August 9, 2005 09:54 AM
This is the best blog EVER! Sure beats Oliver's (although, he was smart enough to link to you).
Posted by: ken at August 9, 2005 01:45 PM