Photog Blog- By Jason Stemple

Red, White and Blue Show

sunrise at the marina, looks like a good start to the day. nikon d800, 16mm, f/4.0, 1/30 sec

fire in the sky. nikon d300s, 70mm, f/4.0, 1/80 sec

The day we shot the Red, White and Blue show was probably my favorite day of the trip. We arrived at the marina and loaded gear into the two boats while an amazing sunset exploded the sky with color. As we rolled out into the channels that led us to the Mississippi it became clear that this would be by far, the calmest day we had seen. We stopped on our way out to cast net some mullet, then headed out a little ways to Sabiki up some blue runners as well. I was on the fishing boat from the start, so was able to shoot some good bait catching shots and some other detail stuff that I hadn’t been able to do from the camera boat. 

a nice run out the mississippi. nikon d800, 16mm, f/5.6, 1/800 sec

The little sharks were quick to join the blue runner party, so as Scott and Steve loaded up the livewells, I shot some underwater of the little bait stealers. I use a GoPro on a long extendable pole for this kind of shot, it allows me to stay dry and to switch quickly back and forth between underwater and regular photography. The little sharks were fired up after eating a couple of runners, and would come right up to investigate the GoPro with mouths open. I had to dodge the teeth and bump them a few times, but got some fun shots. In about 20 minutes, we were full of bait and settled in for another half hour run out to a deep rig that Captain Billy Wells hoped was holding tuna.

Quickly after arrival at the rig, we saw tuna busting the surface, so they tossed out a few freebies and dropped back a couple of baits and quickly came tight. Scott made quick work of a little Yellowfin, which Steve handled and released. Scott dropped another bait back and a few minutes later called out “white marlin”. He had just seen a quick glimpse of a rounded dorsal working his bait and blurted it out. He came off the declaration a bit as he talked through what he had seen, “could have been a shark…” But he was determined to find out, a moment later he felt the bite, and dropped the bait back so that the fish could eat. Then he reeled down on it, setting the circle hook, the line came tight and the rod bent under the pressure, but there was no jump. Probably just a shark we all thought. But Walker had just come from a summer of amazing white marlin fishing in Maryland, so certainly nobody would want to call his instincts into question. A moment later it launched proving his call correct, and then kept jumping putting on a great aerial display. 

Scott loves white marlin almost as much as sailfish, so hooking this fish 1200 miles from where he was catching them a couple of days earlier was awesome.  The fight lasted about 25 minutes and when they pulled the fish along boatside, they realized that it was about a 100lb fish, which could have won a lot of money at the tournaments that Scott had been fishing back in Maryland. After a nice release we circled back around to the original position a little ways off the rig. 

Now it was Steve’s turn. In the next half hour or so, they caught a few little tuna and worked through some sharks then Steve got a big bite. It became apparent quickly that he was locked into a pretty big yellowfin and that this might take a little while. After about a half hour, he got it to the surface, but with a cameraman in the water and the camera boat coming over for a shot, each time it came up, it would sound again. I was able to use the extended battle to my advantage to get some underwater shots of the tuna and a hammerhead that was investigating the activity. Eventually they brought the tuna on board and again we circled back to deploy more baits. 

blue marlin launching. nikon d300s, 150mm, f/4.5, 1/5000 sec

another blue jump. nikon d300s, 200mm, f/4.5, 1/5000 sec

This time they dropped back a little tuna with the other baits to see if there were any bigger marlin around, and it turns out there were. A half-hour after catching the tuna, Steve’s marlin bait got hit hard, and a big blue marlin went airborne. Next, it did a series of jumps right past the rig before circling back around us. The fight went on for about 10 minutes before the big fish broke off, leaving us in silence. Despite losing the big blue, it had been a great day. They went on to catch a few more little tuna before a nice relatively smooth ride back to the docks.

blue marlin tailwalking past the rig before breaking off. nikon d300s, 70mm, f/4.5, 1/5000 sec

Photog Blog- By Jason Stemple

Red Snapper Show

The northern Gulf of Mexico can be a nasty place. As Steve said, when the wind blows, this place is no joke! So, we had some days when we could get out and chase pelagics, and other days when we were lucky to get out at all. We had the 39’, so that upped our game and allowed us to get out when others were stuck inside, but still on some days going way out just wasn’t a good idea. Luckily, the Gulf has a lot of options including cobia, tripletail and red snapper when going way out isn’t a great idea. On this day, we chose to hit a nearshore rig and have some fun pulling on red snapper and put some filets in the box.

sticking your camera in the water helps make the seas look big. gorpo 3+ black, f/2.8 1/850 sec

It’s likely that no other fish has been the center of as much controversy over the past few years as the red snapper. There is an extreme disparity between stock evaluations and ideas of whose to blame if there is indeed a problem. In the Gulf there seems to be even more issues: with all the oil and money involved, State and Federal agencies have much more to think about, when it comes to who gets to regulate the fish/fishing. Either way, there is no arguing that the oil rigs make excellent habitat for red snapper and that there are plenty of snapper rigs available. So we headed out to hit a rig with Captain Kevin Beach of Mexican Gulf Fishing Company with red snapper in our sights.

Our first stop, as usual, was to catch some bait. This time, we headed into one of the many shallow bays and threw the nets to catch menhaden instead of using Sabikis for blue runners.

steve prepping the net. nikon d300s, 135mm, f/4.0, 1/2000 sec

pancakes for breakfast! nikon d300s, 35mm, f/4.5, 1/1250 sec 

Right off the bat, they were hooking up on nearly every drop back into the rig. Many of the fish were pretty small, but eventually, Scott worked a live bait down through the smaller fish and pulled up a couple of keepers. Steve went a different direction and tried to 3 or 4 on at a time and was successful with a multi-hook rig, but Scott’s fish were bigger. A bigger jig was dropped back a few times to prospect for cobia as well, but none showed up at this rig.

Steve hooked up. nikon d800, 155mm, f/5.6, 1/1600 sec

steve with a single triple. nikon d800, 300mm, f/6.3, 1/2500 sec

scott with a nice red snapper. nikon d300s, 160mm, f/5.0, 1/1000 sec

Later back at the dock, the Bubba Blades came out and the snappers were fileted, some heading to the dinner table and others went into the Yeti Hopper for the plane ride back home.

ready for fileting. nikon d300s, 145mm, f/4.5, 1/1000 sec

snapper scales closeup. nikon d300s, 200mm, f/7.1, 1/640 sec

Scott working the bubba blade. nikon d300s, 135mm, f7.1, 1/800 sec

yeti hopper full of filets ready for the airport. nikon d800, 135mm, f/5.0, 1/1250 sec

Jason Stemple
www.jasonstemple.com
jason@jasonstemple.com
IG @jasonstemplephoto
FB Jason Stemple

Photog Blog- Yellowfin Shows

The Yellowfin Tuna Shows

We came to Louisiana to sample the variety of offshore fishing available in the Northern Gulf, but #1 on our list was Yellowfin Tuna. The tuna fishery is strong and relatively reliable there, and we were fishing with the Mexican Gulf Fishing Company who have them pretty well dialed in. The winds had been blowing 20-30 for a bunch of days, so nobody had been out on the hunt, and this was the first day that it had laid down a little, so we were excited to get out after them. We met up at the marina at dawn and loaded a bunch of fishing gear into the Yellowfin 39 and a bunch of camera gear and crew into Captain Billy Wells’ boat and idled out. We came on plane in one of the many channels through the marsh and headed out towards the Gulf, passing by shrimpers, commercial fishermen and giant container ships on the way. 

sunrise at the marina. nikon d800, 35mm, f/ 4.0, 1/2500 sec

Out in the Gulf we ran out about 10 miles passing a few rigs on the way stopping at another to load up on bait. As we pulled up there were giant schools of blue runners just off the rigs pushing some sort of smaller bait to the surface where thousands of terns were dancing on the surface picking off the easy meal. It was an amazing sight to see. I guess these blue runners weren’t the right size for tuna, so Captain Wells set up the Yellowfin right up against the rig and Scott and Steve dropped sabiki rigs back pulling up doubles triples and occasionally a full pull of bait, filling up the livewell in a half hour or so. After shooting this for a little bit, I tried to get some underwater shots of the blue runners, with varied success. They were fast and wary of the boat, so my best shots came from casting a GoPro on a float rig that I built into the school and hoping for the best.

Once loaded with bait, we set up to make a run out to a rig in deeper water that Billy thought could be holding tuna. The wind had laid down a lot but it certainly wasn’t slicked out, so the 45 minute ride was still pretty bumpy and the forecast was for the winds to ramp back up in the afternoon. Eventually, we arrived at a rig way out in a couple thousand feet of water and we began pulling out the camera and fishing gear. Steve and Scott threw out some live chum and dropped a couple baits back while Billy got on the radio and talked with one of his friends who had been working the area for a half hour or so. The report was not encouraging and after only 5 minutes, Billy wasn’t feeling it and made the call to move on. On the camera boat, we had just finished working out the kinks after the long bone jarring ride and were not thrilled when we got the call that it was another 27 miles to the next spot. So we locked down the gear and settled back in for another 45 minute run.

the stena forth. nikon d300s, 16mm, f/5.0, 1/1600 sec

Finally, we arrived at our fishing location, the Stena Forth, a huge mobile exploratory drilling ship that had been testing the bottom for oil in 5000 feet of water for over a year in this spot. Almost immediately, we started marking bait and fish on the Simrad and the first few handfuls of freebies tossed out the stern led to impressive surface explosions. Baits were quickly dropped back and it didn’t take long for a nice double of Yellowfins to be hooked up. After 10-15 minutes Steve had brought his fish to the boat where it was gaffed, but Scott’s had a few more pounds on it and took a little longer. Eventually both fish were lifted on board and things were looking up. The double had taken us down current alongside the Stena Forth, so we idled back to our initial location off the Stern of the rig and started live chumming again.

doubled up on yellowfins on a yellowfin. nikon d800, 200mm, f/6.3, 1/640 sec

that's a lot of sushi! nikon d800, 98mm, f/5.0, 1/2000 sec

This time Billy and Scott dropped baits back and Steve started hucking a new topwater Orca plug they had received from Shimano. Billy was first, making quick work of a nice tuna, even though he said he hadn’t had the chance to actually fight one himself in a long time. After that Scott and Billy doubled up, while Steve continued to throw the topwater plug hoping for the big explosion. Once both Billy and Scott’s fish were landed they heading back to the spot and everybody started throwing topwater. This time Steve and Scott doubled up on top, but Steve’s fish was a bonita and came in quickly. 

Billy and Steve lift scott's topwater fish on board.nikon d800, 200mm, f/5.0, 1/5000 sec

steve's topwater fish finishes off the day. nikon d800, 190mm, f/6.3, 1/2500 sec

Eventually Scott got his topwater fish to the boat and Steve gaffed it and they put it quickly on ice with the others. It was starting to get a little late in the afternoon and as promised, the winds and waves were picking up. We decided to pull back up to the spot one more time and toss out the rest of the freebies for one more try. As before the live chum led to big blow ups a ways behind the boat. Steve continued to bomb them with the Orca plug and was finally rewarded with the big bite he had been looking for. Once more we drifted down with the fight alongside the Stena Forth and Scott stuck the big fish as Steve worked it to the boat. As they pulled it aboard you could just see the tip of the plug sticking out of its mouth. With that last fish we called it a day, with a long bumpy ride home and a lot of tuna to clean back at the docks. 

the start of a long bumpy ride home. nikon d800, 135mm, f/4.5, 1/1250 sec