Too funny...

Check this out folks, is jusy hilarious!

Save Our Sharks

I'd apreciate if you could watch this video. Is quite dramatic and for the faint of heart, but is truly worth a considerate look

The Magic Strait

Truly magic, and I really mean it. How many times in your life the stars are aligned to the point that everything, and I really mean EVERYTHING goes well ? Such it was for us last week and if you care to listen, here's the real story.

Two entire days of fishing in the Strait of Gibraltar, a bit of jigging (almost nothing) and a lot of popping, so the Master Paquito decided for us. he knows his home turf (and surf). Two smal boats left the harbour Monday morning, 12 meters the pair, you don't need a yacht for this kind of fishing. 4 fishermen, Paquito and Nelson (well his name is Félix but we have re-baptized him Nelson, the Cuban skipper, but this is too hard to explain) at the helm and Vincenzo and myself, pretty much looking forward to see what the Strait of Gibraltar was going to deliver. Dani and Fran, the cameramen, with as much expectation as the rest of us.

The one who's writing this report has been the first to cast. the first to have a strike, right on cast one. And it never stopped! Two days in a row of non-stop fishing, cast after cast until the sun, too high in the sky called for the quits. Lunch break, a little siesta and back to the battlefield for more hours of amazing action. I have fished few and far remote seas all over this darn planet and believe me, very few times I have seen anything like that!

We landed four different kind of fish, Barracuda, Bonito, Amberjack and Sea Bass. Most of them on top water and few with swimming plugs and minnows. We used the magic Habano for the top water action and it killed the Sea Bass, the Brugas again for the Bass in the foam from as well as the T-jerk and Finder Jerk this time for Barracuda and Bonitos, Surface Cruiser and Roosta Poppers completed the arsenal and as wild card the Trairao, Imakatzu top water star, that landed the big Amberjack.

I used my Lamiglas travel rods, the 7025 up to 1 1/2oz, both for casting and spinning. They worked wonder, casted flawlessly, fought like Spartans and handled the roughest situation at the best. Three pieces, lightweight and just perfect, a lot of fun to fish with them. Two daiwa reels completed the tackle department, both rigged with 30lb Tuf Line, always MY line of choice. We rigged a good deal of lures with single hooks, and they worked wonder. In fact, Vincenzo landed the Amberjack only because he had a Decoy Sergean' in the rear, the belly treble just opened up like a banana skin...


Paquito told us it was probably going to be good but he didn't say it was going to be THAT GOOD1 Awesome. Amazing! Just one (or two) of those days. I will never forget it.

Colours and smiles

There are a few things, among many, dramatically affecting a fishing portrait: colors, or rather the contrast between them and the attitude of the fisherman. That man that holds the fish and that despite not being the main subject is very important just because is a bulky thing in the middle of the frame.

Pictures in marine environments, from boat or from shore, have a backgound that more than often is blue. A blue of various shades, sometimes dull and sometimes with an intensity almost cobalt. In both cases, having in front a subject whose overall color contrasts with the background, will result in a more powerful and successful image. Especially in the tropics, we find fish that have bright colors that help a lot. I think about the Cuberas and the Snappers, Groupers and of course the Dorado.

If we stop to think for a second about the species we have just mentioned they all have in common fewf colors: red and yellow or a reddish brown. Now if you look at the image of the color spectrum you can see that exactly on the other side of the blues are the yellows, oranges and reds, which means that these colors are opposites. This is exactly what we want; these are the tones that will create the necessary contrast in order to achieve a photo that will pop up, with major depth and strong personality.

Thus not always we have colorful fish in our hands hence, I humbly believe that it is the fisherman who has to add a drop of brightness to the image providing clothing that stands out. An orange, yellow or red shirt will surely strengthen the shot even with a gray sky behind, and obviously even more with a strong deep blue one that we can even improve with the use of a polarizer.

The attitude of the fisherman is another important element and I say this knowing well that I often forget about it either when I make the photos or the few times that I am the subject. A fisherman with a serious face simply doesn’t work. It seems that the guy instead of having fun is upset with something, and conveys a sense that is absolutely antithetical to what the reader expects. Something does not fit the image, and does not work. I can understand that you can be tired after a struggling tug-of-war with a strong fish, or with strong seas for that matter, once again we're having fun, and somehow it has to show!

Finally we have the casual fisherman who enjoys it a lot and you can see in the photo. It’s brightening. It gives off positive energy, he’s happy and it shows and his attitude is highly contagious. This man will have a much better chance of ending up in a two spread in a magazine or in the front cover, than any other moody or grumpy guy that may have taken a bigger fish.
Small details matter!

Back from the Queen's Gardens in Cuba. Just spectacular!

I have just come back from Cuba. The location is the same, the Queen’s Gardens, thus this time we explored an area I have never been before, and this is something because I have already fished the place 12 times…. Our route was heading east, towards the Cabo Cabeza del Este, on the very other end of the area I know. Quite a chellenging trip, nothing we knew about the area, the fish we could find and the environment. I just knew it couldn’t have been bad.

We left the jigging rods at home. The boats there have no sounder and to be very honest with you, my friend and I just wanted to use top water lures, both on light and heavy tackle. I had 5 rods with me: 1 heavy popping rod the Daiwa Saltiga GT86, 2 medium spinning rods, one built casting and one built spinning. Same blank, the good ol’ TP7030SP better known as Caranx Medium by Lamiglas. Las but not least, I carried in the suitcase 2 light Lamiglas Travel, XTC7025 casting up to 1 1/2oz and XTS704 spinning, up to 3/4oz. Eventually, the latter two became my favourite together with the heavy popping rod.  The very light one was with me for the Bonefish. Small jig heads, tiny grubs and good sight needed. Thus, I used it a lot with offset hooks and weightless soft plastics, like the Super Fluke, an all time favourite. I matched the rod with a tiny Daiwa Bradia and Tuf Line XP 10lb line with a 15lb fluorocarbon leader. Incredible good fun! Amazing fishing! I landed a couple of Snappers in the 10lb range in less than 10ft of water. Fought hard, digged the rocks, got stuck and finally hopped into the boat.

The 7025 was the walking the dog stick. Rigged with a Daiwa Fuego low profle baitcasting reel and 20lb braid, handled pretty well the majority of the mid size fish, including several snappers, Cudas and Tarpon. Had is rought moment when fighting a very large Cubera in 20ft of water: almost managed to turn its head to finally give up on a big rock where the leader parted. Twice it happened, not much to do about it… Didn’t use much the Caranx Medium rods, either I wanted to fish lighter or heavier, I wasn’t a trip for grey tones, mostly black and white. The Daiwa GT86 showed everything it can do and pulled hard on the big fish. Hooked three Cuberas and landed them all on 80lb braid and 130lb wind on leaders (I’m making them pretty decent now…) . The rod is a beauty to use, not the best for popping thus a great pole for stickbaits.

To make a long story short the 5 days of fishing have been nothing short of sensational. Between the two we counted more than 120 fish landed with probably as many strikes of fish we hooked and lost. Best day topped almost at 50 fish, most of them in the 4 to 10lb range because we really wanted to fish light tackle in the small pass and canals among the mangroves and the shallow reefs. Mutton Snappers, Dog Snappers, Jack Crevalle, Yellow Jack, Barracuda, Groupers, and then Bonefish and Tarpon, the ultimate gamefish of the flats. Our skipper, Vicente, an old fried, sure is the major responsible of our success, in fact nobody know the place for top water fishing as he does. The guy holding the Cubera is him :-)

I have been to this place many times as I said at the beginning, 13 now if I’m not wrong, and for some reasons I haven’t been back since 2005 but, I promise you, as soon as the skiff started crusing among the calm lagoons, running between the mangroves I asked myself.” Why on heart did I take so long to come back?” This is the place where I have learnt most of the things I know about saltwater spinning and tropical popping. I think I have lost some great years of amazing fishing in one of the best places I have ever had the pleasure to visit.

The Queen’s Gardens is one of the lost paradise of this poor planet. The nature is untouched, the fishing nothing short of amazing and the people the best you can find ever. The whole crew we had on the boat was amazing. Great guys, right attitude, good food, excellent service and total dedication. If you don’t want to go there is because you are either crazy or maybe … crazy! For me it sits among the Top 3 fishing spot around the globe. I have been away for too long, not going to do the same mistake again.


Check the web site here: Cuban Fishing Centers

The "perfect models": The deep water Jobfish family

Many tropical jiggers hate this fish; I don’t even dare to repeat the names they call it or how disappointed they are when they land one. Is pretty easy to catch and its average size is not so exciting thus, to its detractors I like to point out a couple of things.

First of all I show them the size of the tail of the fish. Is just huge. This is a strong swimmer, fast and powerful. Then I tell’em that if this fish would grow in excess of 30 or 40 kilos nobody would be chasing Dogtooth Tunas anymore, because the Rusties pull way hard. When you catch eight kilos Jobfish you find yourself with your hands full, I promise. You start thinking you have a nice Doggie , or a medium Amberjack for that matter.

But my love for this fish doesn’t ends to its sport value. For me is the perfect subject for my distorted, over exaggerated, ultra wide angle photos. His mouth to me is as beautiful as the best mannequin’s face to a fashion photographer. The texture of its skin (scales) is just perfect for side lighting, and its colour a real plus when working against a blue sky. Is also easy to handle and to hold for the fisherman, which makes things better and most of the time is among the favourite choices for dinner, so there’s no hurry to release it.

Well, so much for those who don’t like it. I’m Rusty’s # 1 fan, bring’em in and I’ll shoot’em. You’ll probably ask me for the photo later 

Jigging the Andaman

I have just come back from the Andaman and I must say that it has been a very surprising trip. I knew that Akshay and Darran had been working hard on the jigging side, but until I could figure out myself I didn’t know what to really expect.

I must admit that the results have been quite spectacular, not only in term of fish landed or size, but in the map that these two guys have been able to design in the last two years. During our week we fished areas that are probably untouched as far as jigging is concerned, and the long trip to Invisible Bank, once the Mecca for the vertical style, is no longer necessary.


In fact we visited the Bank on a beautiful day, blessed with a flat calm sea and fast run, and we landed a massive amount of fish. Thus, the majority was GT and apart from one decent animal, most of them were medium to small size. It was also more difficult to find the right places, the area is indeed very big and scouting the places is not something that can be done on a daily basis, and we hopped on the biggest school of fish by chance, moving from one place to another.

So the right places are not too far away from the dock, well at least as far as Andaman is concerned, and the marks on the plotter are growing by the day. We landed a very interesting variety of fish, from GT to Doggies, Snappers, Ajs, you name it. And the funny thing is that in certain areas you can have two guys tossing poppers and one jigging and they all will catch fish.

I have to say bravo to my Indian friends, they worked hard to develop a brand new fishery, and it will sure payback in then future giving more opportunities to their costumers. Check their web at: Game Fishing India

Back to the Tropics

Off I go my friends, back to the tropics. It is going to be a humid and sweaty week, sounds awful yet is great, I missed it big time.

4 guys plus myself, fishing unknown waters, with not a single clue about what we can expect even though, expectations, as usual, are pretty high. Fishbase made us droll with all the sport fish available, and if only 50% of what they say is true and those species are available in decent numbers we're set.

This is an exploratory trip, probably will be mostly dedicated to jigging but we will carry popping gear too, just in case. We have 5 days to scout the waters around the island, not much time, yet enough to get an idea.

I hope I will come back with some good pictures and a decent story for the blog, keep posted !

Good Intentions

We are very close to the end of this dreadful year, and full of hopes for the forthcoming 2010. For some funny reasons when a year ends we expect the new one to be much more favourable, like there was a net separation between December 31^st and January 1^st. A borderline. An abyss with no links whatsoever.

Amazing how the human being is. This is like believing in superstitions (I’m Italian, I do). Is like thinking that a politician is different from another. A democrat is better than a republican or vice versa. We’re like little kids, that’s what we are.

Anyway, after such philosophical introduction, and among us, absolutely out of context in a fishing, travel and photography blog, I’d like to spit my good intentions for the so much awaited 2010, and these are fishing, travelling and photography related.

Good intention for fishing: run away from the tackle fashion. Become a better fisherman, not a tackle expert. Use what I have and concentrate on the technique, not the latest lure. Develop my instinct and make good use of my experience.

Good intention for travelling: Travel less, travel better. Discover new places, take time for fishing, photography and actually know the place better. The people. The culture. Become a better traveller.

Good intention for photography: Know my camera better. Is what I got and I have to get the best out of it. Study the lights and improve my lighting, again with the tools I have. Think out of the box and vice versa, you never know. Work out “new” compositions. Move a step forward.

It IS going to be an amazing year.

Ciao

Nicola

The Black Pharaoh

Have you ever met a Black Pharaoh? Neither do I but I’m sure I met a descendant of the inhabitants of the Kingdome of “Kush” as the Egyptian called.

The Nubians where established in the northern part of Sudan and southern part of Egypt and their history reverts as far as 2000 B.C. First conquered by the Egyptians for their mines of Gold, the Ivory, cattle and Slaves, they got their freedom back around 700 B.C, not only chasing the Egyptians away but also gradually conquering the south of the country, founding the dynasty of the Black Pharaohs that will later unify and rule the whole of Egypt.

Well, I met my new my friend Negrashy, a true Nubian, on my latest trip. We were floating on some sort of fishing boat, scouting a new area in the south, and he was the man in control of the local burocracy and logistic. Is a great guy and we had a jolly good time together, but the real reason why is here in my blog, friendship apart, is because an early morning I took a nice picture of him.

Nikon Flash SB800 shot through a Honlphoto Grid. Nikon D90 with the Tokina 11-16, not the most flattering lens for a portrait, yet quite successful here, with this “tight” close up, as tight as a such wide angle allows.

About time for some fishing

People sometimes complain that there’s not much fishing in this blog. Fact is that for me, living in a city like Madrid, there are more opportunities to take photos rather than go fishing. Said that, a couple weeks ago I drove some 500km to the north east of Spain to meet a couple of friends and fish the waters surrounding the Delta of the Ebro River.

This place is quite emblematic for the Spanish coast. Is probably the best spot for Leerfish, Bluefish and Sea Bass plus a number of smaller pelagics. Sometimes Tuna and False Albacore show up yet it offers a very scarce jigging action. I have fished this area since 10 years probably, and I think I can say that I have been the first in consistently using top water lures, introducing the technique to many people who now use it with great results

During our two half days and one full day session we had seen quite a bunch of fish following our lures. My friend Oriol hooked a pretty large Leerfish and as many times happen he lost it during then fight. These darn fish for many different reasons are very tough both to hook and to keep hooked. I don’t know if is because of the hard mouth, the way the hit the plug or the fight they develop, but the fact is that for every 10 you have following your lure you are quite in good shape if you bring one to the boat

The Bluefish amused us with their spectacular strikes and fun fights. They’re not the main target but hey, they’re a good alternative and deliver tons of action. We also tried the Sea Bass, with scarce luck. Three small fish caught and one monster behind a lure creating a wake of impressive size. The good thing about Sea Bass fishing is that you can use very light tackle, and this is for me, at the moment, a major pleasure.

Oriol and Carlos, my fishing buddies, showed me how far the top water technique has been developed in their area to catch all these predators, and the funny thing is that in other areas of the Spanish coast, things can be dramatically different, and what works in the Delta, doesn’t’ work in Alicante, just to make an example.

I must admit that now what really attracts me is the light tackle action. I’d love to nail a large Sea Bass with an 8lb rod and line. I’m addicted to the walking the dog top water lures, I’d love to be more acquainted with the soft plastic and everything able to give me back my wrist sensibility lost in many tropical battles. Medium or heavy top water fishing can be fun, but for me it makes now sense to do it if the opponent is a member of the Tuna family. I have a pending affair with those fish and they’re at the top on my favourites list, but this is another story yet to be written...

Maldives, new trip ready to start

Back to the Maldives, departing on Thursday, good news for me such is the love I have for this specific fishing Safari. Fishing is usually good, lodging perfect, food great and most of the time the costumers are top notch. In this trip I travel with a bunch of Spaniards, one Italian, one Austrian and one Portuguese guy. It is quite a blend, and I'm sure we will have a great time together. We have one stop in Dubai for a day visit, hopefully I'll manage to grab a couple of shots. You will see images of the whole trip here when I come back, stay tuned.

The new Tropical fishing season is about to start

It truly is, in less than one month I will be hopping on the first airplane with the first group of costumers. Destination Bermuda, for an exploratory jigging trip, the first both for me and the costumers. I have always been curious about this spot. In the IGFA book of records there is a good deal of massive Amberjack caught in these waters and I wonder how our irons will behave. My friend Miguel, an excellent Portuguese fisherman, last year landed this massive Amberjack in Cape Verde, I'm showing here the photo for you to see what we are after in Bermuda... pretty ambitious guys uh ???

Can you get back home happy after a dreadful fishing week-end?

Yes, you can. This is my answer to the title of this article. Last week-end, having been released from my duties as a father and husband I picked up the phone and called my friend Fernando in Marbella, to see what the weather was like and if there was a chance to do some jigging in the Straits of Gibraltar. Fernando, probably a saint or at least a man of great patience and a great friend of his friends, told me that the forecast was fantastic and that he would be very happy if I could go and stay with him. I didn't have to think about it for too long, picked up the phone, booked me a hop in the Ave train, and on Friday morning I was at the Atocha station, loaded with luggage, ready to begin my journey to the south.

Atocha, for those who don't know, is one of the most beautiful train station you can find in the world. Inside the huge building you find a gorgeous tropical garden, perfectly taken care of, regularly sprayed with drizzled water or steam to keep the temperature constant. I got to the station almost 45 minutes before the train departure and soon put my hands on the D80 and started taking some pictures. People were looking at me in a funny way, wondering what that guy was doing in those weird position loaded with a quite large suitcase (at least for a week-end) and a long black tube that looked pretty threatening (the rod case). Couldn't care less, I was in my own little world, right behind the viewfinder, trying to awake the photographer in me.

The train trip was relaxing and comfortable. I love trains as much as I started hating airplanes. I spend a good deal of time travelling from one end of the world to the other during the tropical fishing season and I'm getting planephobic, if I'm allowed to say. But trains are different and the AVE (Spanish high speed trains) offers a beauty of a ride. Is fast, quiet, spacious and in less than 3 hours it delivers you to the Malaga station, something that by car takes at least around 5 hours and dimes. During the trip I took some horrible pictures that nobody would ever want to see. Thus, since this is a diary of my week-end I will show them, sorry!

After a quick change to a slower commuter train to Fuengirola where Fernando was waiting for me we headed for the first important stop, the restaurant. We picked a good meat place, in fact we though we would have enough fish during the following days. Lunch was average, the meat OK but not impressive and we resumed our short drive to Marbella. Once we were done with the supermarket shopping for food and drinks for the boat, we unloaded the luggage and the purchase into the Bormar VI, Fernando's beautiful 58ft Hatteras.

This was going to be home for the next two days, and I couldn't be happier. What happened was that once Fernando knew that I was coming, he called our group of closer friends and organized a live aboard trip, where the crew would stay on the boat, for fishing, eating and sleeping. This was a major surprise for me, I wasn't expecting it and I thought was just the perfect plan. Even if the fishing sucked we would have had a hell of a great time, in fact the company couldn't have been better. Imagine yourself stuck for 2 days in a limited space with some of the nicest and funniest guys on earth. The only risk you can run is to die of a heart attack because you laughed too much, but apart from that, nothing could go wrong. Of course I spent some time taking pictures of the port, but there's no need to say it right ? After dinner, only myself and Fernando would sleep on the boat, the other guys were expected to arrive at 06:30 in the morning for the departure. None of their wives allowed them to join us on Friday for an early start, good boys...!

Saturday morning, as sharp as Swiss watch all the guys arrived at the mooring. I had a bad sleep and woke up early to catch the sunrise (too early though...), but we were fast on maneuvers and the boat left Marbella at first light. We cruised at good pace heading to Gibraltar where we could refuel, buy some spirit and depart again towards the fishing grounds.

A good chunk of the morning flew at 18 knots, cruising and cruising until we hit the first spot. At this point I have to tell you that I will talk about the fishing at the very end of this piece, there's no point now. For some strange reason while on a boat I eat like a hyena. Everything edible that was coming from the fridge, was being processed at the speed of light. The massive supermarket purchase was shrinking as fast as it gets and my belly slowly changing shape, into a more rounded one. Yep, more than usual.

In the evening we approached Barbate, our port for the night and we saw an helicopter and a rescue boat working right on the area of Cape Trafalgar, a good chance to use my 200mm. Now, you have to understand that in Barbate there's one of my favourite restaurant ever. I have been there with some Japanese friends a couple of years before, again with Fernando and his boat, and just loved it. El Campero is the name, and if you ever happen in this pretty ugly and not too interesting town, please pay it a visit. The entrees are just fabulous, but my target was pretty clear: Toro sashimi.

Barbate is a major point of Bluefin Tuna processing and harvesting. The Almadrabas (giant fish traps) still catch a good deal of giants before they enter the Mediterranean for the spawning, and the tuna meat is either sent to Japan (the largest part), a bit to the Spanish market and a part is treated locally in form of canned Tuna, smoked etc.

Back to the sashimi, this is made with the most priced part of the Tuna, the belly. For a tray like those they serve at El Campero, in Japan you would pay a fortune, but here hey, ain't cheap but neither is untouchable. Tuna belly was also my choice as main course, this time grilled, and a couple of bottles of Luis Caña, a delicious red wine from La Rioja, killed our thirst. The dinner was a truly joyful moment. Six grown up men behaving like silly teenagers and having pure straight fun. It could have been great even without the wine but it sure helped warming up the atmosphere. Somehow we left the restaurant on foot and got the the boat for a sound sleep but unfortunately the only sound was coming from a club all night long, until 06:00, with painfully ugly music.

The following morning was not so easy to leave the bed and we had quite a slow start. The sun was already high on the horizon and our faces didn't look as good as the previous day, we needed a rush of adrenaline to clean the arteries and get back on track. And adrenaline we had, or at least Fernando had, because one of the engines started heating too much. Fortunately was a minor problem and once fixed we could resume the cruise and the fishing. We made our way back slowly, from spot to spot, looking for finned critters willing to give us a thrill. Once my stomach settled down, I resumed the eating process and most of the guys helped me clearing what was left in the fridge. The day was slow and nothing exciting was taking place so what could we do better than eating and chatting? Well, some sleep wouldn't hurt, in fact between one spot and another people were disappearing downstairs and coming back with wrinkles in their faces. The pillows were being hammered.

We arrived late in the afternoon to Marbella, and while the Atlantic in the Strait was pleasant and flat, the Med welcomed us with a rough face and lots of big waves. No big deal for the large boat, and we moored in the Marbella port safe and sound. It was finally time to say goodbyes and hug the Andalusian friends. I put my camera on a tripod, grabbed two flash and the remote control and shoot some group photos, as a memory of a beautiful week-en. From left to right: Fernando, Victor, Cecilio, Kikin, Juanjo and myself

And the fishing? Well, you can imagine, it sucked. One of the worst week-end ever, this fish you see here below is the only think we landed that was over 100g. Who care, this was one of the best fishing trips of my life. I relaxed, had fun, and enjoyed the company very much.

Muchas gracias chicos.

Jigging feature in Sport Fishing Magazine

More than one year ago, Doug Olander, the editor in chief of Sport Fishing Magazine (http://www.sportfishingmag.com/), contacted me in order to put together a sort of jigging symposium in Panama. He wanted an American, a European and a Japanese jigging expert to fish together the waters of the Gulf of Chiriquí and compare techniques of three different schools, with three different anglers, all supposedly "experts" in this field.

I thought the idea was brilliant and knowing Doug's skill on the PC keyboard would have come out great. I contacted Hideyuki Kitamura, probably one of the most experienced jigger in Japan and sure enough one of the most respected. My friend Setsuo Hamanaka (http://www002.upp.so-net.ne.jp/Ham/) helped with the logistic and communication and Dough brought in Ben Secrets, an excellent fisherman from California who, while working for Shimano, not only helped them putting out the "Butterfly Jigging" campaign, one of the smartest marketing campaign done recently in the fishing history, but also learned a lot from the Japs Shimano-pros. By the way, Ben is now at Accurate (www.accuratefishing.com), and the American brand came out with some amazing conventional and spinning reels for jigging, machines that I am lucky enough to use.

Hideyuki gave us all a major class of how to fish in a sea that those days was not too generous. He hammered the critters while I could barely follow his lead. I have learnt a lot from him, and you can learn too by reading his comments.

The article is great, Doug nailed it, picking the best from the best. The most important tips and information are there, available for those who know how to "read" them and put them in practice. The issue is September/October, you shouldn't miss it.