We set out on a hot July day to explore the tuna canyons south of Freeport, Bahamas and to also explore the Northern section of the Berry Islands around Great Harbour Cay. With a crew of Carson, Brandon, Billy, Steve and myself, we made the run to Lucaya in flat seas and fished the tuna canyon that afternoon with live bait (greenies and sardines caught off Juno Pier). We caught 5 nice yellowfins with the largest around 60 lbs. The next day we explored the flats on the North Side of Grand Bahama Island and finally ran into a large school of bonefish, numbering about 500 fish. They spooked after we hooked one and we looked for them for an hour in 90+ degree heat and a blazing sun. We bugged out back to the Makara looking for shade and headed out to spearfish 40 miles East of Lucaya that afternoon.

Billy and Carson speared some nice hogfish and a grouper. Unfortunately the blood trail attracted a 8 ft reef shark that, after circling them in the water, came at them. Billy poped the shark in the head with his pole spear and Capt Steve backed the Makara down. We got the divers out of the water safely and called it a day.

We ran down to the Northern Berry Islands to check out Ambergris Cay, which is a massive bonefish flat located 20 miles North of our favorite spot, Chub Cay. Unfortunately the water must have been in the mid 90s and we didn't see any bones. Caught some cudas in the slot and spent the night on the anchor in some beautiful grass flats. We caught some nice mutton snappers then headed back to Lucaya to end the trip.

The yellowfin tuna fishing has been awesome South of Lucaya this year. The upwelling in the Tuna Canyon just attracts large schools of bait. The fish are bigger and you can always find them after 5 or 6 pm when they start to feed on the surface. We did not see or hear about any dolphin being caught. The water at 88 degrees is just too hot for the green monsters.

We will probably wait until the weather cools off before our next trip. Will let you know when we head out again. I will post some pictures from our whale shark trip to Isla Holbox, Mexico soon.

We received a report from Don Hammond that a 25 inch dolphin we tagged (tag #X04107) on April 9, 2007 near Chub Cay, Bahamas was recaptured by a commercial fishermen off Brunswick, GA on May 30, 2007. We estimate the fish traveled 560 miles over a 51 day period. The report included that the fish was 33 inches in length when recaptured, equating to an 8 inch length increase over the 51 days. According to Don Hammond, dolphin are reported to grow 2 inches per week in tropical waters.

We have tagged over 300 dolphin so far in 2007. This is our second recapture with the first one being reported back on May 1, 2007 having traveled only 30 miles from the same tag site as X04107. We will be back on the water tagging during the last week of July. Before that we head back to the Yucatan to Isla Holbox to dive with whale sharks with Dr. Rachel Graham as part of a long term study that includes tracking these magnificent fish off Belize, Mexico and Madagascar. I will report back with pictures and hopefully video clips from this next expedition. In the meantime write me at tom@mvftag.com with questions or comments.