The incredible beauty of Isla Clarion, no matter what the fishing opportunities we encounter, is never lost on anglers who visit; at least those who take the time to really look. That said there was plenty to see today as we were in search mode seeking both the bigger fish on the outside as well as Wahoo and a few school size yellowfin tuna on the inside to outfit with archival tags. We succeeded in every department in varying degrees with the trophy yellowfin pursuit leaving the most to be desired as all the dolphins we found outside the island were scattered for miles and carrying little fish. We did manage a two hundred twelve pounder for tagging voyage veteran Len Cunningham - that was definitely the highlight of the day, but one other event in the late afternoon ran a close second.

Dr. Dave Hall, a.k.a. Mr. Three Hundred Pounder on Royal Star with two under his belt already in 2008, had an approximately one hundred ten pound yellowfin tuna, combined with a perfectly timed swell, take him and his rod and reel for a refreshing dip in the beautiful open waters of Isla Clarion. The fact that the gate was opened in preparation for Dave's tuna to be lifted aboard probably added to his temporary misfortune, but the good news is that Dave did not lose his composure, held on to his equipment, was assisted with the climb back on board, and resumed the battle to ultimately triumph over the near heroic beast. Although potentially serious, the entire event was over in less than thirty seconds as three crewmen were literally at his side ready to scoop his fish. In fact, the large scoop, or brail, was used to recover both Dave and his rod and reel with great success. Ultimately the entire event brought some much appreciated levity to the late afternoon as the unsuccessful search for big tuna on the outside was beginning to drag on a bit.

Thanks to Dr. Dave for being a good sport about the whole affair as we all shared a hearty laugh at his expense. Of course Dave, being the stellar man he is, had a good laugh along with us. Otherwise the Wahoo action had its moments on the inside with one stop in particular producing a spectacular surface show and instant bite style fishing on everything that hit the water. Overall however, the absolutely ferocious sharks of every variety in the shallows made successful Wahoo tagging a significant challenge. In these cases, we simply move on preferring to target the tuna on the outside rather than sacrifice an unacceptable number of Wahoo to the sharks in the interest of deploying a few tags.

With the incredible big fish potential at Isla Socorro still a viable option, we plan to give the outside at least one more full day as weather conditions were less than ideal for looking and we spent a good deal of time in the morning on the anchor and tending to logistics.

As the saying goes "tomorrow will tell", and so will we.