Some rainy day time spent in front of the computer this morning and I came up with this. This sequence comes from the Venezuela archive and was always a favorite of mine. It was taken just after sunset on a very gray and cloudy day. This late in the day the ISO gets cranked up and the shutter speed rolls down and I usually cross my fingers too. Everything came together with this fish as I prefocused on the distance I thought we had to go and hoped the flash batteries could keep up if I got lucky. It all came together with this sequence and I was reminded to never give up when the light fades and don’t be afraid to experiment.

Here we are on the North Drop, in the waters off the British Virgin Islands.  This 90″ clip is the final moments of a catch and release.  It’s performed by a team who have caught plenty of fish, and do it as well as anyone on the drop.

If you are unable to view this video by clicking on the photo below, try this link to Vimeo.

 
 
After some bait catching this morning, Tim put us on some select spots of the reef where the conditions look good for casting. Prime Giant Trevally spots are places where no boater would ever intentionally maneuver their boat. Lucky for us, Tim has mad boat handling skills. And the Tradition handles like a sports car.
 
 
One of the bigger GT’s we’ve seen yet. But still a baby as far as GT’s go.
 
 
Our one bite today really had us all going. Late in the day the big skip bait disappeared and this fish stayed deep and pulled really hard for 30 minutes. It had all the right moves. The crew snapped on the gaffs just in case. About 100′ from the boat the hook pulled. Never did see how big she was.
 
 
Ended our day anchoring down in the tranquil bay of the famous Lizard Island with a few other gameboats. Very cool place. So much fishing history here.
 
 

The weather conditions are improving as of today, and so did the fishing. A light SE breeze filled in and stirred up some small Black Marlin. We bait fished this morning and then put the hooks in the water around noon. Ended up getting 4 bites and missing two of those.
 
 
Another Scaley comes to the boat.
 
 
All eyes on the spread.
 
 
The big skipping bait gets lots of attention. Even by the smallest of Black Marlin.
 
 
The swivel and leader pop up quickly around here. It’s all Carl can do to clear the deck and get his gloves on.
 
 

After spending some time recently in the cold waters of the North Atlantic, I thought I would warm things up a bit, like maybe the Coral Sea. This months adventure has me at 15º South Latitude, on the Great Barrier Reef (GBR). I was invited to document the Black Marlin quest of angler Stephan Kreupl of Bluewater Fishing. Our ride for this trip would be the charter boat Tradition run by veteran Aussie captain Tim Richardson. After a series of crazy long flights and layovers to get here, we finally meet the boat and head offshore. The deckies on the Tradition are Steve Hall and Carl Copeland. Both multi year GBR veterans.
 
 

300Km North of Cairns is the city of Cooktown, and pictured above is the Fisherman’s Wharf. This is the end of road in NE Australia and the jump off spot for most of the gameboat operations fishing the GBR. Folklore has Cooktown populated by as many Crocodiles as locals. I didn’t see any during my brief time on the ground, but I plan on looking some up on my return pass thru town.
 
 
 

On our way out to deep water we spent some time in the inner reef catching fresh bait. Large swimming plugs are the norm for this. Steve flips a nice one over the covering board. This one is headed for the rigging table.
 
 
 

When the Scads and Scaleys aren’t biting, a welcomed bycatch is this Giant Trevally.
 
 
 

Add some poppers and spin rods to the bait catching chore and it becomes light tackle game fishing!
 

It didn’t take long for me to notice that everything is bigger over here. And the rigged bait is no exception. I can’t wait to see the animal that thinks of this as a snack…
 
 
And then we had a bite.
 
Our first billfish of the trip, and our only bite of the day.
 

 
Carl and Steve make short work of the tag and release of this fish. They called her around 500lbs. This angle and lens combo make this fish look very small.

Here’s to being in the right spot at the right time. Thank you Capt. Mike.

I finally had another opportunity to ride along with my friends on the Mojito, and I even brought some luck this time. The mini movie below shows a glimpse of the North Drop action that Pico, Tito, and Aileen showed me. Thanks for the ride!

This is one of those rare moments when I find myself on the other side of the view finder. While shooting Giant Bluefin in the cool waters of the North Atlantic recently, I was offered the chance to jump in the chair and dust off my angling skills. Let me tell you, all these years of chasing billfish and thinking that 30lbs of drag was heavy … well that gets put in a new perspective in this fishery. Thanks to Brad Simonds for picking up my camera and catching this on film.

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”.