The tagging effort begins.

After receiving 25 tags provided generously by Gray Fishtag Research, my efforts to tag striped bass traveling down the coast in the fall migration has begun. Last night I went out fishing, planning to fish the outgoing tide at sunset, which conveniently coincided with the moon's major phase (from roughly 6 pm to 8 pm) I believed the stronger tides during this period would trap the bait, and give me the highest likelihood of running into large feeding bass. I arrived at 5 pm, put on my wetsuit, and made my way out to the rock I was fishing. The fish weren't where I thought they'd be and there was little action for the first 3 hours, but fortunately when the tide slacked I was able to locate some feeding schoolies. The first fish was caught on an Sp minnow just feet off the rocks, I was able to land this fish quickly and it shook the hooks out within seconds of me landing it; allowing me to tag and release the fish almost immediately. I continued to get bites, but most of the fish seemed to be side-swiping the lure as they would only be hooked for a second or two so I switched to a super-strike needlefish and was able to hook another schoolie very close to shore; which also threw the hooks when I landed it allowing for both fish to be tagged and released in excellent condition. These fish were named Thea Jr., and Purtple, two names given by my friend Thea, and its gonna be interesting to see where these little guys end up.