The work in progress

Sometimes, when I shoot I'm not sure of what I want to achieve, but when I see the image in Lightroom I start thinking about it and the ideas start flowing to my mind while I play with the software. Thus, there are other situations when by the moment I glue my eye to the visor that I know what I want to say, what the image means to me or what I can do with it during the editing process. 

This image, when it happened, it was quite clear, even though I understand it can give room to many different interpretations. The simple and plain idea was: a lonely man walking away from the camera in a sad and moody autumn’s afternoon. If you give it a deeper look, you will notice that at the end of the walk is not exactly clear what he will find. The trees are quite thick and apparently there’s no sign of another track going anywhere else. Is he about to get lost in the park or swallowed by the dark trees? This uncertainty probably adds a bit more of pathos to the frame, but the main thing, if we don’t want to get too far and clever in the interpretation is that is sad and moody. 

This is the key scheme of the shot but to achieve that I had to work on the best composition, even before the man arrived. I had the camera on the tripod because I was working on a slow shutter speed (1/4 sec) and had to wait until the man was a tad farther from me, right in the place where I wanted him to be. At home, later, I had to convert the shot to black and white, quite gloomy and blue, while it was originally a decent afternoon with the sun setting nicely.

Not every time I have the chance to think so much about a photo and to be able to explain it decently, as I hope I did here. Usually is my gut that keeps me pushing the shutter button, and the brain start working later, especially when I’m on the “reporter” mood. Every once in a while I will post some “image with a thought” and comment it for those willing to read about it.

The Habano now available in three sizes

We finally have three different sizes of the Habano, one of the stickbaits that excited me the most during the last season. A superb design by Alle's lures

The 20cm came first, a lure designed for GT, Cuberas, Tunas and big animals in general. Now we have added a 16cm X 70g and a 13cm X 45g, more appropriate for smaller fish, like Bluefish, Leerfish, Snappers, Barracuda, Kingfish and also again for some big pelagic, like a Tuna that is more interested in smaller offerings.

As always the construction is very meticulous, the wood is deeply impregnated with protective resins to avoid water absorption when bitten by a toothed critter. Six layers of paint that stick chemically to prevent peeling, and three layers of epoxy especially developed for the tropical treatment complete the armour. All lures have a sturdy wire-thru construction and carry oversized swivels of the highest quality

So far available in two colours but later we will have more. Soon available the 11cm X 30g size, a beast for the Sea Bass.

My Favourite Stickbait

Without a doubt this has been my favourite stickbait of the last season. I have used and abused it mercilessly trip after trip and for some strange reason, when most of the other lures went lost, this one always made it back home. Is a lucky guy, and it now deserves some rest in the museum of the great survivors

It can work as a walking the dog, is this was the right way to use it, but is when it gets speedy that it shows its potential. I managed to sink a bit its nose in order to play it under the water making its belly shine, but this is not the easiest way to work with it. To take advantage of its real potential you have to think like playing with a pencil popper, just a tad slower, with more stops and more rod tip action. This is how it worked for me with almost any kind of predator.

I managed that the guy who makes it builds few for me; they will be available at the shop in two nice colours. But what I’m truly looking for is to have it build in several different sizes to use it with every kind of predators. We are looking for a name, even though “El Habano” is gathering quite some consensus

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...