Blood, Guts & Glory

Blood, Guts & Glory

Around 55 days of Fishing off of Pina's Bay Panama, have finally come to a close. We packed up the ships, pulled the anchors and headed on home.  Overall the Fishing was not that bad through out Dec/Jan/ Feb, but the fishing was not the usual Pina's Bay Fishing that you would normally see at this time of the year.  The Black Marlin didn't really show up in hordes like they normally do at this time of year, but we managed to catch a couple of those nice Black Marlin along with mostly Blue Marlin and some Stripes as well. Battle's where won and lost, full Blood, Guts & Glory stories where had.

Here is our total for Dec/Jan/Feb:

Raised over 51 Marlin

Caught 23Marlin (Mix of Black and Blue)

1 Grand Slam (Blue,Black & Stripe)

Caught over a Handful of Sails

Plentiful Tuna (1 over 200lbs) /Jack's/Mackerel

Bryan Trying his hand at filleting some Dorado.

Captain doing his thing.

Waylon getting on his first Blue Marlin!

REEL!!!!

Lots of Sails around through out Dec/Jan

Bryan on his Nice Blue Marlin

Double handing the reel to get the job done.

Jack Fishing

Waylon with his hand at Filleting

Some Nice looking Dorado in early Jan.

The Captain fillets over a 200lbs Tuna. "Is there something on my face"?

Chasing Records

Chasing Records

The Hooker was nursing a broken Turbo Booster, so the beautiful Picaflor was to be our trusty ship for 9 days of Record Fishing with Gary Carter in Pinas, Panama.

With Captain Wade leading the charge, Gary and the Picaflor managed to raise 17 Blue Marlin, Caught 7,  broke 2 record fish off the line; and caught plenty of sailfish and Tuna. Even though he didn’t yet get his record on this trip, the fishing was hot and the Weather was a bit variable.  Gary was using light pound test line, 8lbs, 12lbs and 30lbs line. He was trying to get the 8lbs Blue Marlin Record, 12lbs Blue Record and 8lbs Dorado Record as well.

In the releases that Gary had, he managed to hook 2 different fish on 8lbs test line. Both fish were too small for the record of 315lbs, but he came close with both of the fish approximated weight around 280lbs or so.

Here is a Selection of Shots from our 9 Days of Fishing with Gary. Record Fishing was pretty neat to watch, the patience and skill it takes to be able to handle the fish is truly an art!

30lbs Test Line, Nice 360lbs Blue Marlin

Nice Blue Marlin

Gary on 30lbs Test.

Nice Blue Marlin

Gary's Captain from the SILVER-ROD-O, Yoan; tries his hand at leadering!

Taken from a remote camera on the Tower of the Picaflor.

"DUCK!!"

The Picaflor got Her work out on this Marlin Fight!

"Whoops"

Nice Blue Marlin smacking at the drop back bait.

We had this guy on 8bls test. The pictures later revealed that he wasn't actually hooked. Just carrying the bait around with him.

Captain Yoan, ready for the Fish.

Bait Ball's stacking up under the boat.

Yoan and Gary ready to Gaff in a nice Tuna! Gary using 8lbs Test Line and a Spinner Real.

Captain Wade Richardson, trying his hand at Leadering! Nice 200lbs Blue Marlin.

If you are looking to stay dry, then the back of the Picaflor is not for you!

Gary Taking a much needed Reeling Break.

Yoan, Trying to get us some bait!

Bait Ball's are one of the coolest things to be able to photograph.

Hand Lining with Wade 101!

TUNA Frenzy!

Ligorio Showing off his Filleting skills!

The Man and General Badass!!

Fogcouver

Fogcouver

Well its been around 2 straight weeks of fog sitting over the beautiful city of Vancouver, but today the sun finally came through and the fog dropped low enough to get some nice shots of Downtown Vancouver.  The sun was setting and I headed out to start shooting. The shots where taken on a Nikon D800 with a 70-200 2.8 VR 2.

I stitched together a couple of Pano's using Autopano Pro. Super easy amazing program that doesn't make your computer churn as much as when trying to process large files in Photoshop.

Here are some of the shots that I got.

As the Sun set's behind Vancouver Island, you can just see the Lighthouse at Lighthouse Park clearing from underneath the fog.

City of downtown and finally be spotted after almost 2 straight weeks of Fog Cover.

West Vancouver's shore line has not seen the sun in weeks!

Landscape shot of the city

Sun setting behind Vancouver Island. The ships in the Straight of Georgia have been sounding their fog horns non-stop!

19 image Pano Stitch---Keep Scrolling to the right on the picture to see the whole Pano. Or click the image to enlarge it.

Hit the Ground Running!

Hit the Ground Running! This past week and a half have proved to be a crazy work week.

I flew in 4 planes, 5 helicopters (1 with the doors off), Up and down to Langara Island in Haida Gwaii twice, photographed 3 Weddings, Spent hours in a boat shooting in the rain, photographed a Galla at one of the most amazing hotels in Downtown Vancouver, photographed a Canucks Kids Camp, Baby Portraits and managed to finish editing a Wedding in my spare time!

Instead of posting multiple individual posts, I have decided to post them all together!

Here is a sample of my work week!!!

 My OFFICE; A.M. and P.M. !

There is nothing else I would rather take pictures of then these amazing creatures!

Photographed the release of this little guy!

Started my morning off with a Doors Off Chopper Ride. Photographing the Shot Gun start for the Fishing For Kids Derby, West Coast Fishing Club in Haida Gwaii.

Just imagine the massive Chinook Salmon that could be just sitting in this Kelp!

Seriously obsessed with theses guys!

These big Sea Lions are super territorial and Smelly!

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Jenna and Sam's Harrison Wedding!

Jenna and Sam's Wonderful Harrison Hot Springs Wedding.

Loved the Sun Flowers!

Apparently this was some kind of street fighter gaming thing!

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Gary & Shannon's Vancouver Wedding Bash!

Gary and Shannon had a wonderful slightly rainy Vancouver Wedding.

The boys!

Downtown and cruising around!

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Shannon & Sean's Steveston Wedding

Shannon's Red HOT Dress!

We defiantly moved a "no entry" sign out of the way for this pic.

Nice FORM!

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Meet Sebastian!

Shot with my New Nikon D800!

"don't eat that stick!!"

Mama Robyn and Her wonderful Sabastian.

Well That is all. I am tired and Now its time to Rest! Thanks to everyone who helped to make my week busy!

Prime Time!

Prime Time! I decided to Walk the Streets of Casco Viejo, panama; using only a 50mm 1.8 Prime Lens and an 85mm 1.8 Prime Lens. Prime lens street photography is actually hard, because you have to get close to your subject. I got caught snapping a couple of times. Casco Viejo, is an incredible place where old Spanish/French influence some together to create some amazing architecture.  There is a mix between the very rich and the very poor. Some buildings should be condemned, but you will see families living out of these boarded up houses; living in anything that is available.

Here are some shots from my explorations today. I am used to hiding behind a 70-200 2.8 or a 24-70 2.8 Lens, but today, I decided to just try my primes out and get over that horrible awkward feeling of taking a strangers picture!

Its hard to get up to someone with a Prime 50mm Lens. I am no longer able to hide behind my Zoom!

I was Caught Red Handed!

I gave this guy some change, so I felt better about taking his picture!

And of course the Famous "Welcome to Panama Man" He is always singing and Playing!