My new article & cover shot in Marlin World

I wrote an article about some of the great fishing adventures I had in Kona, Hawai this past summer for a really cool online magazine called Marlin World. The web has completely changed publishing, and Paul Watson, the editor of Marlin World, may well be onto something we'll see a lot of in the future. One can visit his website or subscribe to the free mailing list, and then you are can view the publication on your computer. The cool thing is that it reads much like a magazine- a virtual magazine. The pages flip with the help of some fancy dancy computer program and you can zoom in and out, and also watch videos imbedded on the page. It's interactive. Videos play as you are reading text above and around it. Pretty wild!

In any case, in the article I talked about the great times and luck I had photographing marlin, sharks, and other big fish from all sorts of vantage points in Hawaii, including face to face underwater (that's how I got the cover shot of the blue marlin that you see on the cover of Marlin World) and even from helicopters. Tell you what, between the pic I took of the marlin for the cover, and the self portrait I took above, I think it's pretty safe to say that I'm uglier than a marlin. Like, way uglier. Is that sad or what? Maybe if I got a hairpiece....

                                      

But I digress. Back to the Kona trip... I got so lucky that on the very first helicopter ride of my life, I witnessed something possibly only a few people have ever seen from above- a marlin jumping out of the water behind a boat!

The bizarre thing is that, as I noted in some hastilly scribbled text on the above photo, this is a photo of a marlin, jumping behind a boat called "Marlin Magic", owned by a famous captain named Marlin Parker! ( That's not something he calls himself, his dad named him that. His dad caught the first recognized blue marlin in the Pacific in, I think, 1954, and then months later had a baby, so naturally he named him Marlin.)  In fact, right now I am penning a series of articles about Captain Marlin Parker and his fishing techniques for a fantastic magazine called Bluewater Boats and Sportfishing. I was lucky to have one of my photos chosen for their cover earlier in the year- a shot I took of a sailfish being released in Guatemala:

The first article I write for Bluewater Boats will be on Captain Marlin Parker's fish fighting tactics. In reviewing the tapes I came upon a story of Marlin's that blew my mind; he and a friend were chasing the world record, day after day, when they hooked into a MONSTER that was "way bigger" than the 1400 pound behemoth he landed at another point in his career. He and his friend fought this fish for 23 hours and, well.... you'll have to find the rest in upcoming issues of Bluewater Boats!

Now if you don't mind I am going to share some photos that I took in Hawaii last summer. My wife and 3 girls were there with me for two of the four weeks I was there, and we had a great time hanging out and sight seeing.  Seems like no matter how far we go from home, all my girls ever want to do is lounge in the pool! Then when I chase after them with the camera they tell me all I ever do is want to take pictures. Below is a picture of them chillin' at one of their favorite places, the Sheraton Keauhou.

Now here's a pic of them at the Hilton Waikola:

One of these days I am going to write a major tome about all of the cool things to do in Hawaii. They have an active volcano and they also have inactive ones. You can take hikes through the tubes that the lava used to flow through. This is one of the pics I took that I like the best from that area

( Hawaii Volcanoes National Park)

They had these awesome flowers there at the Park ( it's a huge place, like Yellowstone, so when you hear 'park' don't think like the postage stamp place down the street from you where the kids play). Anyway I spent hours photographing these flowers. Then the problem is I get hundreds of nearly identical shots and can't help but look at each one carefully to pick the "best". Moreover, I snuck over a rail to get some of the flower shots, my expensive shades fell out, and I immediately stepped on them. The curse of the sunglasses repeated itself at Tropic Star Lodge in Panama not more than 4 months later.

And here's your standard. guy throwing flaming sticks in midair and then catching it in his legs shot.

And then we'll wrap it up with a picture of my youngest daughter at a luau. Her name is Leilani, it's a Hawaiian name and it means flower from heaven:

My new article on fishing and travel in Panama

The editors of Official Guide to Billfishing contacted me recently; they'd read my travel articles on Cabo San Lucas, Nicaragua, Panama, Guatemala, Hawaii, and Costa Rica ( which you can see on my site in the "articles" section) and asked if I could write an article on Panama. I've been there three times in the past year and it's one of my favorite destinations, so I jumped at the chance!

One of the reasons I was excited to do this article is that the editor wanted me to include a lot of travel content. Panama is more than a great fishing destination- it's an incredibly diverse country that plays host to a thriving modern metropolis (Panama City), dense jungles, indigenous tribes, a large amount of retirees from the United States and Europe, and the Canal Zone, which is like a mini Hong Kong because of the Duty Free Zone.

Plus, Panama uses the dollar- did you know that?

It's listed in many travel magazines as one of the best places in the world to retire. Google "Panama" and "Retirement" and you'll see what I mean.

I grew up 45 minutes from New York City, so I am not usually wowed by cities, but Panama's capital is indeed impressive. This waterfront city is mostly comprised of completely new and soon to be finished high rise condominiums, office buildings, fancy malls, and even a John's Hopkins Hospital and Trump Tower (I'm not sure if he actually calls it that, but he owns it and it's a towering building!)

The article gave me a chance to share some of the images that I'd recently taken of the bustling Panamanian skyline, as well as photos of Choco Indians and upscale stores like Tiffany's and Gucci. 

People's eyes always pop when I show them these photos and then tell them where they were all taken in the same country! To read the full article, follow this link:

 Panama Pastimes: Fishing and Travel Article by Jon Schwartz

My New Article in Marlin Magazine: Hawaiian Lure Magic!

I wrote an interesting article on fishing with lures in Hawaii called "Lure Magic" that's in the March 2010 issue of Marlin Magazine. Funny story: I had already penned several features on my trip to Hawaii in various publications, including another article in the February issue of Marlin on fishing for spearfish in Hawaii (see earlier post ), but I couldn't find anyone who was interested in having me write an article on Kona's great blue marlin fishery.

Why? Well, the topic has been covered many times over; writing an average garden-variety article about fishing for blue marlin in Hawaii is like writing an article about the existence of taxicabs and skyscrapers in New York City!

Anyway, I followed Jim Rizzuto's advice (Jim's a legendary writer and expert on all things fishing in Hawaii) and made arrangements to accompany Captain Teddy Hoogs for several days in August.

Teddy ( pictured above) is a young, talented, and very well respected captain on Hawaii's Kona Coast,  and happens to be the son of  Kona Legend Peter Hoogs, who's been operating a charter boat in Kona since the late 60's. Teddy happens to run one of the nicest boats in all of Hawaii, a 53' Merrit called the Kila Kila.

                                            

 During a lull in the action, I decided to pass the time by documenting how they rigged lures. Along with recording the whole process on audiotape, I took about 50 close-up pictures of the lure as it came to form in the boat's salon. Once the lure was completed, Teddy's mate put it into the spread behind the boat and then only half jokingly said, "Now watch that lure get hit."

Within minutes all heck broke loose- a real started screaming, and we all ran to the deck. One of the lures had gotten hit by a nice blue marlin- the very same one that the mate had painstakingly constructed in front of my camera only minutes earlier!!

The fish  flailed wildly in midair, tossing the newly-rigged purple Bomboy Llanes bullet lure like a ragdoll. I got some decent pics of that, and then dove in (Teddy and I had rehearsed a plan well in advance) and I got some really incredible photos of the marlin swimming underwater with the same lure. To finish the release of the fish, the mate grabbed hold of the blue marlin's bill, held the fish's head parallel to the water to run water through it's gills, and they made a pass by me as I lay submerged in the water. Right when they began to pass me, just as planned, the mate released the fish and it went streaming off calmly into the clear blue depths.

If this sounds too good to be true, check the article and the pics out! I have a slew of images documenting the whole episode, and they are all among the best underwater images of blue marlin that I've ever taken.

My latest cover shot, Saltwater Sportsman Magazine Feb. '10

I took the above sailfish shot, now the cover of Saltwater Sportsman, last year in Guatemala during a stay at Casa Vieja Lodge. Yes, that young lady did catch the fish! Here is a pic of her in action:

As soon as the fish calmed down and got near the boat, I dove in and started taking pictures.

 When I am taking pictures, especially underwater, I am not usually thinking about getting a size estimate on the fish, I'm more concerned with getting myself and the fish into position for "the shot". It wasn't until I looked at the photos later that I realized this was one huge sailfish! Everyone keeps asking me how big the fish was, and my honest answer is, I have no idea, I just know it's very large for a sailfish. The fish was released in great shape right after the shot was taken.

On board was the young lady in the shot, and her father Ric Weider and younger sister. The older daughter got the cover shot, but I don't want to leave the youngest daughter out. She caught several with the help of her dad. Here's her in action: 

If I didn't get a picture of her with a fish it wouldn't have been fair, so I jumped in and got this photo:

I talked to Ric yesterday and he said the older daughter was running around her school showing off her cover shot. That must have been fun for her! I'm glad I was able to play a small part in enhancing their Guatemalan vacation.

New Article on Fishing for Spearfish in Marlin Magazine

Do you know what a spearfish is? Pick up a copy of the Feb. 2010 issue of Marlin and read my feature on spearfish, the world's rarest billfish, to learn all about them. The title of the article is "Spearfish Skippers", and it has a lot of insight on how three top Kona captains fish for the shortnose spearfish.

I interviewed veteran Captains Marlin Parker, Guy Terwilliger, and Gene Vanderhoek for the article, spending days with each one during the height of the season on the Kona Coast of the Big Island of Hawaii.

 

There's been very little written on the species. When I was tasked with writing the article, I felt a little overwhelmed, so I let the experts do the talking, quizzing them for interesting information, tips, and anecdotes. For example, Gene Vanderhoek talked about the time he hooked one on 4 pound test, and 6 hours into the fight, his potential world record fish was eaten by a giant blue marlin!!

You'll also get a chance to see some of the very rare shots I took of spearfish. Catching a spearfish is rare enough, but getting high resolution images of spearfish is much more difficult because you never know when they are going to be there. It was all about being in the right place at the right time, and with a LOT of luck, I ended up with lots of goodies, all of them taken from the water. That shot on the cover is not mine, though- it's a striped marlin taken by Brandon Cole. I wish I took that shot!

To read the article go to this link Spearfish Skippers: Fishing for Spearfish in Kona, Hawaii

New Article: HIBT, Hawaii's Legendary Marlin Tournament

If you go to this link you can see one of my latest articles. HIBT: Legendary Hawaiian Marlin Fishing Tournament. It's on the Hawaiian International Billfish Tournament's (HIBT) 50th Anniversary that took place in July. Kona's got some of the calmest, cobalt blue waters in the world, and some of the best big game fishing on earth!
By the time you read this post there will another article of mine on newstands; it's one about fishing for the world's rarest billfish, the shortnose spearfish, and it will be in Marlin Magazine. I'm really excited to see how it looks in print. There will be many rare spearfish shots that I took above and below the water and it will be exciting for me to see how the magazine laid it all out. There will also be a shot of mine that is on the cover of Saltwater Sportsman Magazine due out in about a week.

Photos in new books from Guy Harvey and Rybovich Boats

Two new coffee table books are due out soon that feature my photographs. One is from the legendary Guy Harvey, entitled "Panama Paradise: A Tribute to Tropic Star Lodge" and another was put out by the world renowned Rybovich Boat Company, simply titled "Rybovich". I  look forward to seeing these books as they come out in a matter of weeks, and it's an honor to have my work selected for inclusion. If you go to my gallery pages Jon Schwartz Photo Galleries, which happen to contain over 50 new images, you will see some of the photos that will be in the books.

This week I also submitted feature articles to Marlin Magazine and the World Billfish Magazine. The article in Marlin is about how the pros lure rigs in Kona, and the other article is about Panama. This is the second article I've written on Panama, and this one goes into Panama's history, the history of sportfishing in Panama, and reviews some of the best fishing lodges in the area that exist today.

For the Kona article, I spent many hours interviewing Teddy Hoogs, captain of the Kila Kila, a beautiful 53' Merrit, and I interviewed a wide range of people for the Panama article, including Guy Harvey.
I may end up going back down to Panama in February. I have some time off from my school teaching job ( you know I teach third grade, right?) and the places I reviewed look so spectacular, I just may have to visit one!

Fishing for Marlin in Panama

I am having a grand time here at Tropic Star Lodge in Panama. The setting here is incredible, and the fishing is fantastic. It's a fishing resort deep in the heart of the Darien Jungle in Panama, 100 miles from the nearest paved road- or maybe any road for that matter.

I wrote an article about this place for Sport Fishing Magazine after my first visit here, which you can read here Fishing and Travel Articles by Jon Schwartz

I came here to witness 'His Majesty the Black Marlin' jump within meters of the boat. They get huge here, and they hit big trolled baits about 10 minutes offshore, depending on the season. When I say big baits, I mean BIG. Here's a mate holding a live bonito bait just before he bridles it to a huge circle hook and tosses it overboard to entice a bite from a monster:

The marlin are pretty thick here right now- good numbers of them. The bite usually happens first thing. First baits in the water get bit. As soon as the reel starts screaming they back the boat down at warp speed and the fish launch themselves all over the place. The fights are full-on adrenalin rushes. It's hard to get good photos because the boat is backing down so hard to catch up with the fish and there is water coming over the transom.

Although the fish get huge, the Humboldt current here, according to several staff, make for an oxygen-poor environment at deeper depths. Instead of heading for the deep like they do in many other locations, the fish tend to stay near the surface. For that reason, they are able to use much lighter tackle- 50 pound rods and reels versus 80 and 130 pound gear that is used in many other big marlin locations- so the interaction with the fish is much more intimate. Smaller boats lower to the water with lighter tackle like they have here make for front row seats to big fish mayhem!

Last year, the first day on my first visit to Tropic Star Lodge, I lucked out with a photo that made it onto the cover of Marlin Magazine.

 

I kind of had a feeling that after having such luck on my last trip, I would have to do some dues-paying this trip, and my feelings were right. Although the fishing here turned out to be much hotter than last year, I did a lot of zigging when I should have been zagging. I accompanied one couple who caught 8 marlin here in six days ( I think 5 blacks averaging 400 pounds and 3 blues averaging 300), but their best luck occurred on days when I was on other boats.
This all started to mess with my head; I started to think I was bad luck, and went looking for all sorts of things that may have resulted in the hex. Could it be my white socks? I tried wearing the same shirt for 4 days, stuff like that.
Catching fish is hard, but catching a photo of a jumping fish is many times harder. Not only do I have to be on the right boat that is experiencing the action, but the fish has to jump, the lighting has to be right, I have to maintain my balance in the midst of a lot of action, my camera settings have to be spot on, and my gear has to be functioning perfectly. The below shot is one of me posing. In the heat of the battle it's all I can do to stand up straight, and you'd never find me sitting down.

Anyway, as soon as we got here, they had some children from the small village across the bay come and do some folk dancing. It was awesome! It made me realize I should have brought my kids ( I have three girls). My kids are bilingual, and my wife is from a similar-sized town in Mexico; they would have become best buddies with these kids right off the bat.

I took some neat pictures of them, with them, and then made a CD for their parents so they can get them printed the next time they travel to Panama City. For most, if not all, of the parents and children, these are the first photos that have ever been taken of them!  You should have seen the look on their faces when I downloaded the shots and showed them to them on my laptop. They are such dolls. Que bonita!

I was super stoked to hang out with them too, but don't show my wife these pics of my new Panamanian beauties!

I talked with their teacher, and it turns out that that her husband is the head of the school at the village. I want to go visit the village tomorrow and hang out with the kids and their parents. Many of them work here at the resort. It's a special feeling, you meet the kids, and then go out on boats manned by their fathers. The personal aspect of it makes it just that much more exciting to me, because I am also a 3rd grade school teacher.

I am already thinking that the coolest thing to do would be to maintain contact with these kids and the teachers and their parents, and have them be pen pals with my own students in San Diego. They are all about the same age. I'll be able to speak with them as I can get by in Spanish, and my wife and daughters can help out with anything I can't handle. It would be terrific if I was able to combine teaching with my sportfishing photography and travel writing and involve my students as well as my own family!!!

I was fishing with Richard and Edie Kearley for several days as well. They were very fun to hang out with. Here is a photo I took of Edie on the way out to the fishing grounds.

And here's a photo of Richard 'going great guns' on a 60 pound tuna:

Below is a shot of Richard with a tasty dorado.There's so many dorado here, they are like pests. Pretty funny considering that these same fish would make for trophy fish on many other fishing excursions.

They ended up landing 8 marlin in 6 days of fishing, but almost all of them were landed on days that I wasn't with them. One day they had 4 black marlin! Of course I wasn't with them that day. Arrgh!!

I also accompanied famous fly fishing angler and multiple world record holder Margo Vincent and her grandson Kyle Vincent.

Kyle set a (pending) new world record for mullet snapper at 24 lbs! You can bet his grandma was super proud of him! Everyone kept telling him, "You realize you have the coolest grandma in the world, don't you?"

He also landed a 375 pound blue  marlin earlier in the same day. Here's him fighting the big blue as Margo looks on from the bridge:

Pretty amazing for a 12 year old, no?!

Both Richard and Kyle kept Dockmaster Albert Battoo busy recording their various achievements. With his first black marlin in day one, Richard his Royal Grand Slam: catching one of every type of billfish in the world!

The funny thing is that the most elusive billfish, the spearfish, was actually the first one that he landed like 30 years ago. I took particular interest in this because I wrote a 2500 word feature article about spearfish that will be featured in the February issue of Marlin Magazine, which should be on newsstands in about 3 weeks.

Here's Richard having his Royal Grand Slam recorded by Albert Battoo.

And here is Albert, one day later, making the sign for Kyle Vincent's pending world record 24 pound mullet snapper.

In addition to taking fishing related photos, I enjoy portrait, scenic, and architectural photography. I took a photo of the spa area and got this neat shot of Marisol the masseuse working with a client:

In addition to taking fishing related photos, I enjoy portrait, scenic, and architectural photography. I took a photo of the spa area and got this neat shot of Marisol the masseuse working with a client:

Finally I ended my week's stay with a visit to the nearby village of Pinas.

I wanted to check out the computer lab that is being set up and meet up with some of the folks I met last year there. 

Jose ( pictured on the right) works with Tropic Star and also lives in the village. He introduced me to the teacher of the school (on the left) and they showed me the lab. It'll be cool when it's up and running in the next couple of months so I can communicate with my friends down there!

On the way out of Pinas I met up with one of the mates of the boats that I had been on over my week's stay. His name is Alexi. He is Margo Vincent's favorite mate and is probably going to end up as a captain at some point.

He also happens to be super friendly and he introduced me to his children when I walked by the house. It's funny to see these guys chase around monster fish all day, every day, and then see them relaxing at home. What seems like extreme angling to many is for them another day on the water. They've undoubtedly wired and released thousands of huge marlin, perhaps as much or more than anyone in the world. (FYI "wired" means grabbed onto the leader, brought the fish to the boat, and removed the hook). Thrill seeking anglers from all over the world travel to Pinas Bay to take part in a ritual that these fellows perform as a matter of course. Here's marlin whisperer Alexi with children:

Last year, I took a lot of scenic and architectural shots when I was at the lodge. It turns out that some of my photographs will be included in the soon to be released book by Guy Harvey called  Panama Paradise: A Tribute to Tropic Star Lodge.

The book has 334 pages, and in it, Guy Chronicles the beginnings of the lodge in 1961 to the present day. Needless to say I am thrilled and flattered to have my work featured in Guy Harvey's book!

I am writing an article about Panama for the World Billfish Series Magazine. The editor of the publication Sam White suggested that I might like to get some scenic shots of Panama City, so I hired Panama's best guide, Luis Singh, to take me on a tour of the city. I went with him last year but needed to get more material. I desperately wanted to get good night shots taken from on high that showed the city's skyline, but after touring the city with Luis, I began to think I might strike out.
Most of the skyscrapers in the city- and there are a lot of them-are closed to the public. They are the homes of the ultra wealthy. Not sure if you know but Panama has a lot of new development and new buildings.

Trump Towers type of stuff, but even richer, and a new John's Hopkins Hospital branch, a bustling modern business sector, and tons of high-cotton shopping malls that feature stores like Rolex, Gucci, and all the rest.

After a series of unsuccessful attempts at getting a good vantage point for a shot, I decided to get crafty. Luis let me off in front of a popular tourist spot, and suggested I try to find the best spot I could on foot. I talked my way into the lobby of a posh 51 floor condo high rise, and the bellman let me onto the exercise room on the deck of the 15th floor. I was so excited! He left me there alone, though, and the room was so hot, I ventured out into the hallway to cool off.
A couple walked by and we started talking. The next thing I knew they were asking me if I wanted to go up and take pictures from the penthouse on the 51st floor!!! The bellman came back to keep an eye on me and sees me with my new friends, so I say, "These kind folks are gonna take me up to the penthouse!" All he could do was smile.

I had with me my Nikon D700's and several of my favorite lenses, and I got some AWESOME shots that I will post and include in that article for the Would Billfish Series magazine. I was so happy to be up there by myself, I was simply ecstatic! I completely lost track of time, and when I returned to Luis's car two hours later he said in a panic, "What happened to you??"

I proudly pointed to the tallest building in the sky and said, "You see that one? I was on the penthouse taking pics of the city!!!!" We had a laugh about that and his eyes bugged out when I showed him the shots. Yahoo!!!