Just wandering through some saved links this morning and found myself drifting back to the Caribbean. I was happy to re-visit a blog site for a photog friend who lives and shoots there full time. Josh is dialed into the local scene and has an eye for beauty on an island that is provides it at every turn. If you want to take a virtual trip to Grenada and see some fantastic photography, take a look at Josh’s site “Modern Day Gilligan“. It is an explosion of color and scenic beauty from a jem of an island.

Marlin mag’s latest issue hit the news stands this week. Their choice for a cover photo always interest me and this issue is no exception. They chose the first frame in a sequence I captured last summer while riding along with Capt. Butch aboard the Prime Time in St. Thomas. Clearly this first frame is the best choice, since the composition goes south as the fish flattens out during the second half of the jump. To see the entire motor drive sequence, click the image above to start the movie. This shows that you don’t need all the bells and whistles in a fancy digital camera motor drive, you could shoot this sport with a single shot. What do you think?

The Art of Pitch Baiting. No method of big game fishing demands more performance or provides more excitement. And no other group of professionals do it better than the crew of the 80′ Merritt boat “Reel Tight”. This video (above) shows the boys, and girl, in typical smooth perfection as they raise a blue marlin, tease him to the boat, and switch him over to the hook bait. In this case, an artificial lure lovingly referred to as the “Ting um”.

The reports are coming in from Mexico and the Qualifier has reached a milestone. The newest 56′ Paul Mann custom boat went to Isla Mujeres for it’s maiden voyage and boy did they do it in style. This boat was tuned in right out of the box and never stopped raising fish. They just finished up their winter push and stopped fishing with 1000 Sail fish released over 49 days. Not bad for a first trip. Just wait until they get everything dialed in. Congrats Fin, Chris, and Sinapo for an incredible season opener. Now keep that roll going for some of those tournaments back home.

This 30″ clip shows a dwindling ball of Sardines getting eaten by a pack of hungry Atlantic Sailfish. An incredible displays of animal feeding behavior to watch from the sidelines. It goes on and on and on … until that final Sardine is gone. Yum!

The North Drop in the British Virgin Islands gives up another cover photo. This months shot came while I was riding along on a familiar platform, the 58′ Revenge Custom Yacht. It’s kinda rare that I get to film a lure caught fish any more with most every team pitch baiting every opportunity. So I really welcomed this bite and was delighted that it stayed on and then jumped in range of my camera. Many thanks to Sam and Jon for the ride, and always grateful to Mike, Dean, and Ryan for letting me run around their office and do my thing. The only bad part of this cover photo is that when this magazine issue was going to print, someone dropped the ball and put the wrong photo credit on the title page. So this lovely creature is misidentified as a Black Marlin and the photo is credited to some other chap.

The wind is blowing and it’s cold in the Yucatan. Locals tell me that this is the longest cold spell they can remember. The good news is that the annual push of Atlantic Sailfish is going on strong. With the brisk North wind come the sails. And this week they are here in force. And the report is that they have been here and biting very well for several weeks now. It appears to be one of the quieter winter fishing seasons in a while with regard to the transient sportfishing boats. Sad for those who aren’t here, good for those who did make it. I arrived just behind a strong winter front and barely brought enough clothes to pull it off. A brief stay but boy am I seeing some fish. If I count the sails in the spread, tailing, and feeding under the birds, I’m seeing hundreds of sails each day. The conditions are right for fishing the birds, and this also makes for some world class trolling in between bunches. I’ve fished several days aboard the newest Paul Mann boat Qualifier, and also aboard the Keen M. Both boats have put me in the meat each day.I’ve only been trying to get this shot for a few years now … a bait ball of Sardines on the move with dozens of Sailfish and Frigate birds picking away.

Frigate birds battling Sailfish for a fresh Sardine meal.

What they lack in size, the Atlantic Sail makes up for in attitude.

Every so often, one special fish comes along and displays the most magnificent rich colors of blues, green, and gold.

I’m back from the Spice Island and had a wonderful trip. While the fishing was much slower than I was hoping (that is a familiar theme with me), the rest of the trip went so well that I can’t stop thinking about how to get back there. Beautiful clean island, very green with lots of rain and abundant fresh water, and every person I met had the same warm and welcoming attitude towards tourist. It also didn’t hurt that the pampering at Mount Cinnamon Resort and personal touring from Port Louis Marina staff seemed to have no limit. I managed to get a bunch of scenic photos on the extensive land and sea tours too. I even went out on a boat that was powered by a piece of cloth, I think they called it a sail. Very strange craft, but oddly relaxing. The local Caribe beer might have had something to do with that euphoric illusion. An exchange rate of 2.7 EC to 1 US dollar worked out to be not that overly expensive for our day to day stuff. I would go back to Grenada on vacation in a heart beat. To see a slideshow of my photos, click the arrow in the bottom right corner of the image above to start the show. Or mouse over the above image and left/right arrows will appear.

This just in from the front line. Anthony Mendillo from Isla Mujeres called me this morning to tell me about Tuesday’s action aboard his charter boat “Keen M”. Every once in a while the moon and the stars align and last Tuesday was one of those days. So many things have to fall in place for it to happen: weather conditions, the ideal skilled angler, and the perfect mix of bait and birds. It doesn’t hurt that Anthony is one of the best Sailfish charter captains and the most observant student of their behavior. A nice early start put Anthony in the birds and bait at first light and his angler Nassim Joaquin went to work. Nassim is very familiar with the routine since he lives locally and charters the Keen M whenever conditions look ideal for fly fishing. When the day ended, they managed to get the release of 12 fish, and lost countless other every which way possible. The local record (and Atlantic record?) was 10 releases on fly. That was set a few years ago by another team of ace fisherman, angler Joe Zimmer and Captain Butch Cox aboard the Prime Time. Way to go Anthony!

Time to pack my cameras again. This time I’m off to new island near the bottom of the Lesser Antilles chain. UK based developer Camper Nicholson is building a mega marina in Grenada and is looking for some press to show off their facility. This island is familiar to most of us for the brief coup attempt that received military action by the US back in 1983. Not quiet known for their swarms of billfish (yet), They do have some good days with a variety of species. I hope to catch some action on film and help put them in the forefront of the fishing community. This trip coincides with Grenada’s annual Spice Island Billfish Tournament.