I set out to try and externally attach our new acoustic transmitters (the accelerometers) on Saturday. I fished alone for the day, but had help from several other volunteer boats (thanks to J Carroll, Russell Spanton, Ross Nicholls, Dale MacNair, Julie Cashaback).

The weather was very fishy - cloudy, calm winds, threatening rain, warm air. I was confident the fish would be cooperative and that between four boats we would boat multiple fish. However, the fishing was not so good. Over 5-6 hours I personally did not catch any nor have any follows. The same held true for most of the other boats, too.

Julie Cashaback, on the other hand, fared much better. Shortly after lunch, I received a phone call from Julie and Dale telling me to "Get on my high-horse because they had a fish for me to tag!" (OK, that's not at all what Julie said, but that's what I was telling myself when she and Dale called and told me they caught one). So what did I do? I got on my high-horse and booked it to their boat, about a 5 minute drive up-river.

It's been roughly a year since I've taken blood from a fish and you could most certainly tell I was rusty! Unfortunately, I did not get the blood I needed, but then again it was not my top priority. First and foremost was tagging the fish, and after a couple snafoos the fish was tagged and released next to a receiver to obtain fine-scale post-release behavioral data.

Back at 'em tomorrow!