We decided to take the 8 bluefin tuna to shore to load on the Monterey Bay Aquarium's specially designed truck to send the tuna up to the Tuna Research and Conservation Center (TRCC). The high value of the small bluefin tuna to our year round research program necessitates that we move them quickly from the open sea to the lab. Our team will put these bluefin through their paces up at the lab- as these fish, the "Lance Armstrong's of the sea", reveal the secret of their athleticism to our students. The Shogun carried its research load of fish to Scripps Institution of Oceanography's MARFAC facility where a specially built Tunabago truck was waiting to receive the bluefin. Dr. Andy Seitz a former technician at the TRCC got the nod to hop into the wells to remove the bluefin. Andy, being from Alaska these days opted out of using a wet suit- and quickly removed the bluefin from the wells and placed them into the vinyl sling filled with seawater. Each tuna was carefully lifted to the deck where Dr. Mike Lipnick and I placed avid pit tags that carry an identification number into each fish. Fish were quickly carried up to the truck and placed inside the seawater filled tank. The fish looked super in the transport tank. The tank is kept at the cooler end of the bluefin tuna's comfort zone and as they go in I love to see them light up as they swim around in the tank mouth's gaping open a sign of their continuous need for oxygen. The truck took the fish within 9 hours to Monterey where all 8 fish were reported to look great swimming in our tank at TRCC ( www.tunaresearch.org ). We were back fishing by noon and spent the day hunting for more bluefin. Sure enough we found a school and Norm's excitement was palpable as he called out "Get ready on the bait tank". Despite throwing over a lot of live sardines the bluefin literally ignored everyone's baited hooks and continued to feed on a large bait ball disappointing all. This picky nature of the bluefin, the difficulty of attracting them from their rich natural forage to our lines has frustrated us for years. It makes me appreciate how each fish we do catch and tag or capture is so valuable to our research efforts. Hopefully, they'll bite again tomorrow.