Fishing and Lovell Island

So first of all, yes, I did hook the biggest fish of the day. That was me. Please, no applause - I'm much too humble for that. Of course, I didn't reel it in mind you; I have people for that.

Now for notes. I think they were better than my last batch, but could definitely use some work. I re-wrote some of them to organize them better (and because my little notebook got crushed in my bag), so hopefully they're readable.

This page describes our first task - which was to take the boat to the deepest and coolest waters in the harbor (the main shipping channel) and fish! Bruce mentioned that the water is cooler now than it was last year at this time, and that that would likely affect which species we encounter and what we'll find in their stomachs.

I attempted a few drawings of the sea worms we were using for bait as well.

Next I've got some notes on the fish we caught. The first was a black bass that was about 14". I noted that it had 4 fins behind it's head, two on the bottom and one on each side. It had a dorsal fin running from about 1/3 it's length back from it's head down to where the tail narrowed. It had a fin on the bottom just below where the tail narrowed (which i now know is an 'anal' fin), and then it's tail fin.

The first one we caught had a noticeable bump on the top and just behind it's head, which Bruce pointed out as a sign that it was in the process of changing from a female to a male. The eyes looked about 1/3" to me and it had two very small rows of teeth. It's scales were iridescent purple and blue in some areas and overall it had a black and white pattern.

 Here's a photo of the black bass:

 We caught 2 flounders as well one about 12" and the other 16". They were both right-sided meaning their bellies were positioned to the right

Here are my drawings of the bass and flounder:

When we got to the tide pools at Lovell island, the tide was still fairly low but was making it's way back in. I found my Asian shore crab, periwinkle, and some barnacles, and also picked up some slipper shells. Here are my notes and drawings of the slipper shells:

The periwinkle:

Two types of barnacle, that I believe are little greys (the small ones) and a northern rock (the larger one with ridges.

And finally here is my Asian shore crab:

And one more picture: this is Charlie, our boat captain cleaning the big striper we caught. when he cut open the belly there was nothing in there - I assume because the unusually cold water is affecting the population of whatever he would normally eat.