9/3/12

Blue Marlin Fishing Photo: Releasing Big Fish in Kona Hawaii

Most marlin that are caught in Hawaii are released. Here's a picture I took of a big lit up blue marlin just before the crew took the hook out and let the fish swim free. If the captain and angler are skilled and use heavy enough tackle to quickly land the fish, the chances of survival are increased, and many marlin have been caught, tagged, and shown to have travelled thousands of miles after their initial capture.
Organizations like The Great Marlin Race and The Billfish Foundation prove this with satellite tags which fall off of the marlin several months after they were implanted.
These tags float up to the surface and send data to computers on land that can determine how deep and often the marlin dove, what temperatures they were in, and their travel routes. For more information on the Great Marlin Race check this article out: Marlin Travels 2225 Miles in 94 Days.

Wahoo Photo makes Sport Fishing Magazine's cover shot

A picture I took of a razor-toothed wahoo swimming straight at my underwater camera made the September cover of Sportfishing Magazine. Yahoo! I took the image when I was in Fiji fishing with Captain Adrian Watt and Glenn Gardener of Bite Me Gamefishing Charters. Click here to see what their location is like at Matava Resort. I also did a lot of resort and scenic photography for the website of their tropical paradise.
I've been really fortunate to have had cover shots in many prestigious publications, including Bluewater Boats, Marlin Magazine, and Saltwater Sportsman, but this is my first in Sportfishing Magazine. You can see my cover shots here. The mag features a lot of fish that I don't typically photograph, like redfish, snook, tarpon, and cobia, so there are fewer opportunities for a fishing photographer like me who specializes in large pelagic fish like marlin and tuna.

In fact, that's one of the reasons I wanted to go to Fiji, because there are a lot of Giant Trevally (or ulua in Hawaiian) and wahoo, and I didn't have many pictures of either species. We hooked this wahoo on a skiff trolling between reefs inshore and it was a big surprise because we caught it in February. At other times in the year they hook into huge marauding packs of big wahoo offshore, and in fact they sometimes even jump out of the water to pounce on lures! I am going to have to go back there during wahoo season to witness some of that action!

Wahoo are one of the fastest fish in the ocean, reaching speeds of 60 miles per hour. In Hawaii they are called Ono, which means delicious. When filleted, their firm white flaky meat makes for great cooking and eating, and it's one of the least "fishy" tasting fish on the menu. I don't have a favorite wahoo recipe, but restaurant chefs use them a lot in cooking meals because wahoo tastes great broiled, sauteed, baked, and fried. Wahoo would be perfect for picky eaters who don't like the taste of most fish.