Ballast Point Fishing Team
Meet the Anglers
We're serious about fish in case you couldn't tell. So we have the Ballast Point fishing team with members Matt Moyer, Mike "Reebs" Ryba and honorary members Paul Elder, Yuseff Cherney and Kurt Schaefer to help fuel our passion.
Tuna Tagging Trips
In this collection of photos below we see tuna biologist catching and tagging various species for migratory and sustainability projects. Ballast Point Brewing sponsors these tagging trips and provides some nice beer for the scientist/anglers aboard these special trips to the remote islands off Baja. Please read their story and some of the letters that went along with the trip photos.
Kurt Schaefer and Dan Fuller were aboard the San Diego based 92-foot US-flag long-range sport fishing vessel Royal Star on a fishing trip, February 7 to 21, 2010, to the Revillagigedo Islands Marine Reserve, Mexico, for tagging yellowfin tuna and wahoo. The tagging project is a collaborative effort between the IATTC, the National Institute of Fisheries of Mexico, and the owners of the Royal Star. The permit obtained from the government of Mexico for this project provides a unique opportunity to conduct a comprehensive scientific evaluation of the movements and behavior of yellowfin tuna and wahoo within the Revillagigedo Islands Marine Reserve and in areas to which they might move, through no-retention tag-and-release fishing trips aboard the Royal Star. The cruise was highly successful as 467 yellowfin were landed aboard the vessel, measured, and tagged with conventional plastic dart tags, with another 2 yellowfin pole tagged in the water using plastic intra-muscular tags. 151 of the tagged yellowfin were greater than 100 pounds.. An additional 25 yellowfin were landed, measured, and had archival (electronic data storage) tags surgically implanted in their peritoneal cavities (9 released at San Benedicto Island, 4 at Roca Partida, and 12 at Clarion Island). In addition 39 wahoo (mostly 20 to 40 pounds) were tagged and released in the water with plastic intra-muscular tags.
Dear Ballast Point Brewing:
During my recent April 2009 yellowfin tuna tagging cruise to the Revillagigedo Islands Marine Reserve aboard the Royal Star I caught a big yellowfin, estimated weight of 330 pounds, put it aboard the vessel just like all the other yellowfin using a large scoop with knotless webbing and the boom and winch, then tagged and released it. This was my first yellowfin caught over 300 pounds, and something which I've been focusing to accomplish the past few years, before getting too old for pulling on such beasts! I hooked the fish at Clarion Island only about 3 hours before the trip was over and we departed for Cabo San Lucas. The morning consisted of a few big fish being caught by passengers, but mostly everyone hooking lots of silky sharks. I had hooked 10 silky sharks straight from morning until noon. Just after mid-day and having a hot Italian sandwich in the galley for lunch, during a short 10 minute break, I selected a large bait and while soaking it about 200 m or further from the boat got bit and the fish took about 200 m more of the 135 spectra off the Tiagra 50 LRS. I'd setup the drag sytem the night before as well as a new 135 lb Izorline leader and there was probably about 40 lbs of drag at that point. I actually timed the battle with my casio watch and it lasted for almost exactly one hour. It was an epic fight, inspiring experience, and thought I'd share the tale and attached images with a select group of friends whom may relate.
This was our 6th trip since beginning this project in 2006 and the most successive to date with 634 yellowfin tagged and released with an average weight of about 70 pounds and 4 fish over 300 pounds. The Royal Star had not had more than 3 fish over 300 pounds in about 15 years, so that puts the trip somewhat in perspective. We have now tagged over 3,000 good size YFT with conventional tags and over 200 with archival tags during this project. We are beginning to accumulate some remarkable multi-year data sets from deployments in this area. This project has been possible through the participation and financial support of a visionary group of long range anglers interested in sportfishing, conservation, and furthering our understanding of yellowfin tuna biology.
Best wishes - Kurt
Hi Yuseff,
I hope alls well with the brewing and distilling activities at Ballast Point!
I returned to SD last week following successful bigeye tagging cruise to equatorial central Pacific, in and out of Honolulu on commercial vessel. We tagged about 2,300 bigeye with plastic dart tags and 80 with geolocating archival tags from which we are able to reconstruct their horizontal and vertical movement paths.
Best wishes - Kurt
Dear Ballast Point/Yuseff
The fishing/tagging cruise aboard Royal Star during February 11 to 28, 2007, to the Revillagigedo Islands Marine Reserve, Mexico, for tagging yellowfin tuna and wahoo was highly successful. We tagged 537 yellowfin with conventional plastic dart tags, of which 160 were 100 to 240 pounds, and tagged 65 additional yellowfin with archival (electronic data storage) tags surgically implanted in their peritoneal cavities (20 fish were 10-50 pounds, 10 fish were 60-90 pounds, and 35 fish were 100-200 pounds). In addition, 12 skipjack (13- 16 pounds) were tagged with archival tags, and 120 wahoo (mostly 20 to 40 pounds) with conventional tags.
I regret there were no fish brought back from the cruise, so I have no fresh or frozen tuna or wahoo to eat or share.
I'll look forward to making the time to come sample some of your products at brewery which I haven't yet tried such as the Dorado. Also look forward to purchasing some cases of black marlin and other BP favorites!
Thanks again for the donation to IATTC for the 2007 Revillagigedo Islands tagging project.
