Nova Scotia International Tuna Tournament 2010

The Nova Scotia International Tuna Tournament, Canada’s biggest tuna fishing tournament, has come to an end. I wasn’t able to make it to the weigh-in again this year as I had planned, but a friend of a friend was able to snap a photo of one of the big tuna as it was being hoisted up to the dock near downtown Halifax. No word yet if this was the winner or not, but it looks as though its well over 400 pounds, which would would have put it in the top three caught during last years tournament. Last years winner was a massive 531 pounds, but there are occasionally tuna caught over 1000 pounds in these waters. Nova Scotia is said to contain the largest concentration of giant bluefin in the world, including the world record bluefin that weighed almost 1500 pounds!

Photo by Brandon Joy

I’ll post the details about the winning fish as soon as I get them!

The Calm Before The Storm

I live in Nova Scotia, Canada – in a tidy little city called Halifax. Its pretty far north. Usually we are well out of range of hurricanes, but every now and then one decides to pay us a visit. In September 2003, well before I moved here, hurricane Juan made landfall on an rather unsuspecting Halifax with winds reaching 105 mph (165 km/h). It was the biggest storm Atlantic Canada had seen in over 100 years, causing several fatalities and millions in damage. The effects can still be seen in many provincial parks in the form of once proud fallen trees by the thousands.

Typically the waters off of Nova Scotia are very cold. So cold in fact, that its rare to see more then a handful of swimmers in the water at the beach on any given day. This week has been abnormally warm and I’ve witnessed more swimmers in the water here then ever before. While thats sounds finer and dandy, its also a recipe for disaster as far as hurricanes are concerned.

Its pretty calm and cool outside right now, but in about five hours we expect the hurricane to hit the southern coast of Nova Scotia. Most predictions anticipate that the storm will be downgraded from a hurricane by the time it reaches us, but only time will tell for sure.

Happy Belated Canada Day!

Canada turned 143 years old yesterday! To celebrate, I did what every good Canadian does, I drank beer, ate BBQ and watched fireworks!

Fireworks in Halifax, Nova Scotia

What did you do for Canada Day?

via DrgnMaster on Flickr

Triumph Boats – The Toughest Boats In The World

I was able to get out to the Halifax International Boat Show this weekend and really had a good time. I would have liked to see a fishing and boat show combination like most other cities have, but I guess the demand isn’t here yet. There were way more boats then I expected and my two year old son Ash absolutely loved every minute. He immediately hopped in the captains seat on every boat and started pressing buttons. I was surprised to see that most of the boats still had power (at all of the car shows I’ve been to, the batteries are disconnected) and Ash scarred more then a few people when he managed to find the horn of a big Striper 3301.

Overall there were only a handful of boats that really stood out to me, but my favorite boat was from the Triumph lineup (specifically the 1700 SKiff). Not only did their boats catch my attention, but they were moderately priced, tough as hell and my son loved them too! He laughed hysterically while watching their promo videos…

Check out more of their crazy tough test videos at ToughBoats.com

37% of Sewers Drain Into Lakes and Rivers Untreated

I live on the east coast of Canada in Halifax, Nova Scotia, located right on the Atlantic ocean. It’s not a big city, but as recently as this summer it was dumping raw sewage into the harbor. Granted, there was a problem at the sewage plant, but the plant was only opened fairly recently. It’s alarming that in this day and age waste is being dumped into oceans, rives and lakes untreated. While the harbor here looks clean, I for one wouldnt want to swim in it, and I’m sure they fish that do aren’t terrible healthy.

As cities have grown rapidly across the nation, many have neglected infrastructure projects and paved over green spaces that once absorbed rainwater. That has contributed to sewage backups into more than 400,000 basements and spills into thousands of streets, according to data collected by state and federal officials.

On the bright side, at least I’m not this guy…

more via treehugger

Beware Of Bill

So the locals here in Halifax are in a bit of a frenzy about hurricane Bill. The current path of the storm has it landing directly on Nova Scotia sometime on Sunday with winds up to 120km. Nova Scotia was last hit by Juan in 2004 and there was massive damage. Being born, and having spent significant time in the Caribbean, I’m no stranger to hurricanes, but it never hurts to be prepared, so stock up on water at the very least. Chances are the hurricane will have lost a a lot of its power by the time it reaches me, but Bermuda is feeling the effects as we speak. Hopefully everyone down there is prepared.

via NOAA