Fly Fishing

jeremy

This original post got too political and off track. The bottom line, the way I see it is ... I love to capture the entirety of my fly fishing experiences through the lense of the camera. Always have, always will. I also release everything I catch, mostly because I can't stand the taste of fish and they literally stink. With that said, I consider myself to be an conservation and preservation minded fly fisherman .. with that said, here are some simple tips and tricks I have learned through many years of capturing the essence of fly fishing with still and video cameras ... Would love to hear what tips and tricks others may have, for better shots and proper release of fish.

1. Don't squeeze the fish hard.. I have learned that a fish handled like a baby is less likely to jump all over the place like crazy.

2. A quick release is not good all of the time .. A quick release into the fast water might result in a belly up fish. Depending on the extent of the battle .. spend sufficient time with a fish and only when absolutely sure that it has its strenght back .. release it into the fast water.

3. If someone is taking video or pictures .. use the time that they are fumbling for the camera to get the hook out and keep the fishes head and gills in the water.

4. Hold the fish by the tail with one hand and under the front of the belly (not in the gills) and when your friend is ready to take an "out of water shot" lift the fish for a reasonable amount of time and then submerge the fish again.

5. Get an underwater camera to take advantage of the shots/video available while your friend is reviving the fish.

6. I have noticed that many fish will actually let you take your hands off of them and they will position themselves in a comfortable and easy resting spot in shallow water with slower flow. If you move quietly and don't startle them .. they will let you get surprising close for more "hands free" video and photography opportunities. Sometimes, this can last 10 minutes or so ... and you can get some great shots .. and then all you gotta do is just touch the fish's tale and he darts like a rocket ship into the fast water

7. If you are by yourself and want to get a photo, don't land the fish and keep it on the bank while you find your camera and get it out etc.. Relax and think and use common sense. Find a slow pool of water near shore and move the fish into that pool .. you will notice that the fish calms down dramatically and will often just rest totally submerged while you get your camera out etc.. then lift the fish with one hand take some video/photos ... have your camera attached to a caribeaner or string so when you are done, you can just let it hang and not waste any more time letting putting the camera in the bag etc... remove the hook .. and revive the fish in some faster, but not the fastest, water. If your camera is still dangling and on .. you can use this time to get some very cool video and photos as kind of "bonus" stuff .. because you already got the shot you wanted and these are just extra .. sometimes the fish will blast away without giving you the opportunity to take any more photos .. but, more often than not .. if you are relaxed, the fish will let you revive it and not feel totally threatened and blast off when he is ready to blast off .. giving you some really nice photo/video ops...

9. Overall .. just relax and think the whole thing through .. rather than just scrambling like a maniac for your camera think where you are going to land the fish ... is ther an ample supply of slow water or a nice natural pool for the fish to rest in .. find that spot .. then use common sense to take photos/video in the most effecient manner possible while accounting for the time necessary to remove the hook .. and get the fish in faster water .. i like to be absolutely certain a fish is ready .. because once you let the tail of a fish go in fast water ... there is no going back .. i guess .. the real bottom line tip is .. common sense. you know and the fish knows when he is ready to go and what is and isn't too much time out of water ... listen to your gut and act responsibly.

hedrush999 · Newbie Joined: Aug 16, 2004 Posts: 49

Like a lot of us, I am on the water a lot, with a lot of different people. Everybody seems to have their own way of handling fish and filming them, some more harmful than others. Some like to make sure they get a shot of every fish they catch, no matter what. I believe that not every fish is worth capturing for a few reasons:

-The smaller the fish, the more fragile it is when it is handled. You can't wrestle a 15" snook the way you do a tarpon, so be gentile.

-Fish that are smaller, appear way smaller on film, and most likely the footage will end up in the recycle bin (trash for you fellow Mac users). So get that fish back in the water so it can grow up and be photo worthy.

-The more you manhandle your catch, the more slime gets disturbed. When bonefishing, that disturbed slime is an invitation for a shark to have an easy meal.

When handling fish to remove the hook, and get footage of it, I like to make sure of some general handling guidelines:

-Most of the fish down here get the "lip lock" hold, make sure not to put much pressure on it's jaw, it will break.

-If you hold many species upside down (cradled like a baby) they will remain calm, and make the hook removal much easier for all of us. Once the hook is out grab your shot while getting the fish back in the water. I'm getting sick of the stereotypical shot of the happy angler holding his fish at the camera while either looking at the fish or camera. Get creative, that "live action" shot is usually going to be the best.

-Get the fastest camera you can afford, and turn off the flash. This allows you to take 20+ shots of the fish quickly instead of posing and hoping for a good one. The more shots you take while that fish is still under your control, the better your chances are that one pic is really good.

Matt1515 · Posted: Tue Jun 05, 2007 9:21 am Post subject:

One thing that I have learned to appreciate is a net. I tend to be somewhat of a minimalist when it comes to gear on the water so I am very guilty of neglecting to carry one. I have however, found that if a fish is landed quickly and scooped with a net, they tend to be a little less stressed out. When I use one, it allows me to handle the fish less. I can reach in with forecepts, get the hook out, and dump the fish back in. If I could learn to carry one everytime, I'd be a more concious fisherman.

Outside of just the handling part, hook removal can end up very poorly for the fish. Push down the barbs or tie with only barbless hooks. You may lose a few here or there but overall, they make removal so much easier. I think out of all the bad things we could do to a fish, the worst is tearing their mouths up as a result of using hooks with barbs. Am I alone on this?

As far as photography, it definately is a clumbsy endevor. The lanyard can save fish and cameras.

jeremy · Posted: Tue Jun 05, 2007 9:24 am Post subject: dave

very good points dave .. and you take some amazing photos and videos down there in florida ... i absolutely agree with the "no need to take pics or vid of every fish" that would be silly ... the "fastest camera" tip also saves a ton of time and makes for better shots ... this can sometimes also be achieved to some degree by setting the frame rate appropropriately ... i don't disagree with one thing you say but also don't totally agree .. when you say, "I'm getting sick of the stereotypical shot of the happy angler holding his fish at the camera while either looking at the fish or camera." ... i disagree to some extent because i get a bit sick of just pictures of fish ... i am constantly taking underwater shots of fish with and without hands .. and try to get amazing perspectives of fish and fly fisherman .. but, i can not personally say that i don't like the pictures of the angler with the fish ... after all the PERSON is a big part of the equation and in many instances the PERSON gives perspective and makes the shot of the fish more dynamic by nature ... so, i agree with you and balance is the key .. get both ... i typically try to always get the shot of the fisherman with the fish and then during the release process I get all sorts of angles and different perspectives above and below water of just the fish ...... but, personally, from an artistic and story telling perspective the "stereotyical" shot of the person with a fish is something i like. the key becomes to do as you say and look for new angles or more dynamic ways of capturing the angler with the fish .. i will work on that this year .. great points .. thanks!

Barbless · Newbie Joined: Jan 09, 2007 Posts: 6

I like this track better....

I like to take movies now. Almost exclusively. There are some extrememly small and fast Point & Shoot cameras that give great video. I find that in 10 seconds of video, you capture much more of that moment. If the fish flops or something in the net, then so be it, its cool on film. You can always extract a still image from the video, and since most cameras now shoot 30 fps...thats a lot of frames to choose from.

hedrush999 · Newbie Joined: Aug 16, 2004 Posts: 49

I did not mean to imply that the "stereotypical" shot is by any means a negative thing, just that creativity is what makes certain footage better than others, and I'm putting emphasis on that fact. he he

I thought of another really important thing. Many trout anglers that come to fish the salt down here extend the length of the fight WAY too long, trying to exhaust the fish before it is brought to hand. This is not good at all, and stresses the fish for longer than it needs to be. Part of the fun in fishing is the fight, so fight! If I punched you in the face you would hopefully not pinch me in return. If the fish pulls hard, pull hard in return. The rod tip is not meant to tire a 10+ fish, use the butt section. Use the 20-50lb line we use down here and get that fish to the boat, and get ready for the next one.

jeremy · Posted: Tue Jun 05, 2007 10:22 am Post subject: exactly..

barbless .. EXACTLY .. that is why i shoot video .. rather than 1 or 2 still images ... i am, in essence, capturing thousands of frames .. all of which can be extracted and use for still image purposes .. however, if you are shooting for magazines or professional stuff .. that won't cut it .. they typically require super high resolution raw files .. but, video is nothing more than a bunch of still images .. super fast .. so fast that the human eye can not see the changes .... i like video ....

a camera that i recommend is the sony cybershot series .. small .. and takes 640x480 .mpeg movies and the time you can record is only dependant on the size of the stick ... 1 gig stick = 40 minutes or so .. and underwater "sports pack" housing is 60 bucks or so online for all models .. the .mpeg format is flexible and universal and not a proprietary format such as .mov or others ... so, i personaly have a couple of these cameras .. in addition to 2 hard drive video cameras for more elaborate projects and shots .. the hard drive video cameras are a bit costly .. but coming down in price .. sony has a 30 gig hard drive video camera that is very small .. no tape .. so basically, right from the camera .. drag and drop and start editing ... 8 hours or so of record time and all of the crazy zoon features .. i also have the jvc hard drive camera .. but, i do not like the jvc compression .. all of the files have to be imported into their proprietary software and then renered into .mpeg format .. too time consuming ..... so, granted i do alot of this stuff for work, but it is not uncommon for me to carry 2 sony cybershots .. and a hard drive video camera .. and another very cool tool is the gorilla tri pod .. with flexible legs it negates the need for traditional tripods and you can get a steady straight shot by wrapping the tripod around any structure such as a tree branch or a boat handle or whatever ... very cool ...

waterwhippa · Posted: Tue Jun 05, 2007 10:27 am Post subject:

Alot of good points made here. I agree that the least amount of time the fish spends out of the water eqivocates to lower catch and release mortality rate.

We do a ton of steelhead fishing here during the deep freeze...i.e. January through March. Windchills can exceed -30 degrees. I have read some studies that suggest when air temps are below freezing it only takes a couple of seconds for the wet gills of a fish to form a thin layer of ice which will deprive the fish of oxygen and potentially kill it. This season I will be more concious of the threat sub-zero temps can have on our quarry and keep them submerged when dis-lodging the hook and only take underwater shots.

ChrisR · Posted: Tue Jun 05, 2007 10:34 am Post subject:

Great tips guys. One thing I have done lately is to get my camera out before I even land the fish. If possible of course. I do a lot of solo fishing so I like to take the pics as quick as possible. The smaller fish I'll usually take a few underwater shots quick and then just release them. They are usually pretty easy to deal with so I generally won't even take them out of the water. Bigger fish I will usually net, if they fit in the net, and then shoot a pic while in the net. I like to look for a spot where the water is shallow just over some rocks so the fish isn't on dry land. That or I'll just hold the net up and snap some if I can't find a good spot to set it down. Bigger fish that don't fit in the net are tougher to deal with though. Again I like to find some wet rocks and snap a few then get the fish back in the water. Another tip that Jeremy taught me last spring is to just keep snapping pics. Especially underwater. I set my camera up so I can just hold the button and get a pic a second. One is bound to be a good pic. And the crappy ones are easy to delete.

Austin · Newbie Joined: Jan 10, 2005 Posts: 80

I aggree with all of the above. If you have a buddy fishing with you have him get the camera ready while you are fighting the fish. Make sure the camera lense is clean and it is on the setting you have intended to use. This saves alot of time and could me less time for that fish out of the water. Also, hook removing devices help getting flies out of fish and often times make a huge difference. If you cannot get the fly out of the fish no matter what....be sure to cut the tippet off as close to the fly as possible, rather than just cutting the tippet at any given place. Good luck and be responsable.

Austin

jeremy · Posted: Tue Jun 05, 2007 3:00 pm Post subject: good point

austin -- that is a good point that we have learned the hard way many times .. especially in salt water .. be sure to wipe the lense of your video or still camera before each trip .. as it is prone to getting gook on it while in your pocket or splashes of whater that dry and leave a mark on the lense that will ruin any solid photo .. also ... especially for underwater in salt .. be sure to wipe the lense as the salt water will build up a film on the lense and negatively affect the lighting sensors or your pictures again will come out with a big dot in the middle because of dried salt .. a hard tip to remember .. as i often forget to do this myself .. but, its dissapointing when what you thought was a nice shot has a big blur spot in the middle...