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Photo Samples, Tropical Fishing
If I ever had a "speciality",
tropical sports fishing must be the one. Having caught close to 400 different
species from all around the world, I have, of course, been shooting lots and lots of rolls
of film, trying to make a fish look a bit more creative than it did last time I caught one. Maybe I don't succeed all the time, but I do try.
As usual, all photos are, of course
© Claus
Qvist Jessen, and none of them are to be used without my permission. |
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Shot of a life-time: A jumping (hooked!) flying fish,
Exocoetus volitans, caught with a
manual SLR while holding the rod in the left hand and the camera in the
right. By luck, the fish just jumped into the focus of the camera, and I got it. Location:
Isla de Fogo, Cape Verde. © Claus Qvist Jessen |
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More Capeverdian fish: A beautiful, hard-fighting wahoo and the same flying
fish as above, this time inside the boat. © Claus Qvist Jessen |
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Danish angling legend and close friend Jens Ploug Hansen showing good humour, posing
proudly with the bucket which was tied to his line. © Claus Qvist Jessen |
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A very unlikely angler: A Afghanistan mujahedeen from the central part
of the country. Not suprisingly, neither of us got anything.
© Claus Qvist Jessen |
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| The
Himalayan mahseer is smaller and more slender than its Kavery cousin,
but nevertheless a great experience on the right tackle. This beauty
weighs somewhere around 20 pounds and was caught in a fast-flowing rapid
of the upper Ganges, India. © Claus Qvist Jessen |
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Waiting for the strike. Night fishing in Kavery River, South India.
© Claus Qvist Jessen |
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| Avoiding
stress in a pleasant way. Danish angler Flemming enjoying South Indian
life at the banks of the Kavery (Cauvery) River.
© Claus Qvist Jessen |
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| 21 kg
Indian mahseer from the Kaveri River in Karnataka. Most likely, this is
the single fish I've been happiest ever to land. Not the biggest or the
most fantastic fish, but because it took eight days to get a proper
strike - and another two hours to land the fish! © Johnny Jensen (www.jjphoto.dk) |
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| The head
of a nice pink carp from the Kaveri River in Karnataka, South India.
© Claus Qvist Jessen |
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According to my
humble opinion, the most
fantastic fish in the world is the mighty tarpon of the Carribbean. When
hooked, they put on an aeral display not seen anywhere else within
sports fishing, such as this 80+ pounder off the coast of Costa Rica.
© Claus Qvist Jessen |
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An 80 pound Costa Rican tarpon, displayed by a local fisherman of Barra
del Colorado. © Claus Qvist Jessen |
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A fat, mid-size, 20-pound tarpon from the Laguna de Tacarigua,
Venezuela, most likely the best place on earth for "baby tarpon".
© Claus Qvist Jessen |
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Fly fishing for tarpon is a great sport, regardless the size of the fish.
This baby is from Tacarigua, Venezuela, caught on a morning where I had
more than 100 strikes in three hours of fishing. Unfortunately, I lost
90 % of the strikes, a feature very common in tarpon fishing.
© Claus Qvist Jessen |
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Danish traveller, photographer and angler Johnny Jensen fighting a big
giant trevally, hooked in the Rio Colorado, Costa Rica. 15 seconds later,
his rod broke and the fish was lost; a proof of the immense power of
jacks. © Claus Qvist Jessen |
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Step 2: Broken rod and trying to land the big fish by hand; Rio Colorado, Costa Rica.
© Claus Qvist Jessen |
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Step 3: Broken rod and broken line. The fish was lost, and true
depression is beginning to spread. These three shots were taken within
less than one minute; Rio Colorado, Costa Rica. © Claus Qvist Jessen |
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| A nice
catch of tasty and hard-fighting jacks from Barra del Colorado, Costa
Rica. © Claus Qvist Jessen |
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14 lbs of solid Jack Crevalle, one of the best fighters beneath the
surface; Barra del Colorado, Costa Rica. © Claus Qvist Jessen |
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Three ugly but very effective "Coast Hawk" jigs on a background of large
tarpon scales; Barra del Colorado, Costa Rica. © Claus Qvist Jessen |
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Dog tooth snapper, caught off the coast of Barra del Colorado, Costa
Rica. © Claus Qvist Jessen |
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Local fishing guide Eugenio unhooking a small snook from the back-waters
of Barra del Colorado, Costa Rica. © Claus Qvist Jessen |
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Drumfish (= whitefish); Barra del Colorado, Costa Rica. A fun fish on
small jigs. © Claus Qvist Jessen |
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Rain forest fishing; Tortuguero, Costa Rica. © Claus Qvist Jessen |
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| Small
moharra cichlid; Tortuguero,
Costa Rica. © Claus Qvist Jessen |
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More small cichlids, left a small guapote, while the right one is
another mojarra; Tortuguero, Costa Rica. © Claus Qvist Jessen |
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This colourful 100 gram cichlid was caught in a small crocodile-infested
lake on Isla De San Andres, a Columbian cocaine drenched island off the
coast of Nicaragua. © Claus Qvist Jessen |
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| Senor
Valanzuela with a mornings catch of big snook
from Rio Naranjo, Tenosique, Mexico. © Claus Qvist Jessen |
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Early morning spinning for machaca and cichlids; El Castillo, Nicaragua.
© Claus Qvist Jessen |
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CQJ
anno 1993, displaying a nice colourful catfish from Rio San Juan, El
Castillo, Nicaragua. © Claus Qvist Jessen |
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Snappy teeth! A nice barracuda from Isla de Maiz; Nicaragua.
© Claus Qvist Jessen |
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25 lbs+ barracuda caught in thye blue water outside Gambia River,
Gambia. Pay attention to my broken 30 lbs rod - the barra killed it!
© Claus Qvist Jessen |
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Same barracuda, same guide and same broken rod! Gambia, West Africa.
© Claus Qvist Jessen |
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Dutch angler with a beautiful "kabiljau", caught by bottom-fishing
outside the mouth of the Gambia River; Gambia, West Africa.
© Claus Qvist Jessen |
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Local Nevis fisherman after helping me landing this magnificent stingray
of unknown weight (25 kgs+?). The ray was caught by accident while
fishing for smaller fish underneath a small pier, and it took me almost
an hour to land.
© Claus Qvist Jessen |
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Namibian shark fighting. Any shark above 30-40 kgs will take in between
30 minutes and more than an hour to land. Aerobics go home! © Claus Qvist Jessen |
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The result:
A proud author with his first Namibian copper shark, caught right off
the beach and estimated to 75 kgs.
© Claus Qvist Jessen |
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A nice gully shark from the Skeleton Coast of Namibia.
© Claus Qvist Jessen |
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In Namibia, beach fishing is carried out using 4 metre, one-piece
beach-casting rods. The transport of the rods is taken care of by
mounting a rack in front of the car - just avoid a frontal crash!
© Claus Qvist Jessen |
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The bait for Namibian beach fishing: The head of a mackerel.
© Claus Qvist Jessen |
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65 kg copper shark after having been caught right off the Skeleton Coast. As
always, catch-and-release is the order of the day.
© Claus Qvist Jessen |
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A small "black chessa", caught in the Zambezi River, Zimbabwe.
© Claus Qvist Jessen |
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The magnificent teeth of a 2 kg African tiger-fish, one of the best
targets on a light spinning rod. © Claus Qvist Jessen |
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The South American parallel to the tigerfish is the mighty payara,
easily capable of splitting any plug into atoms. © Claus Qvist Jessen |
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From the side, the payara doesn't look much more pleasant. This
12-pounder hit a red-white Rapala, my all-time favourite plug in the
tropics. © Claus Qvist Jessen |
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However, the prize as the ultimate plug destroyer is taken by the fabled
piranha. The proof is below, and this beauty is from Pantenal,
Brazil. © Claus Qvist Jessen |
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A former 5 gr Rooster Tail spinner with all the hooks cut off by
piranhas. The spinner managed to catch about 10 Pantenal piranhas,
before the last of the hardened steel hooks was cut off. Not torn off - plainly cut off.
© Claus
Qvist Jessen |
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Local guide Jorge with a nice pacu. Belonging to the same family as the
piranha, the pacu is famous for having very solid teeth as opposed to
the razors of the cousin. This is due to the pacu living from crabs and
other shellfish; Pantanal, Brazil. © Claus Qvist Jessen |
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A closer look at the crushing teeth of the Brazilean pacu. The
resemblance of the piranha is quite obvious; Pantanal, Brazil.
© Claus Qvist Jessen |
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| Pintado
catfish. This is a small one - they grow to more than 50 pounds!
Pantanal, Brazil. © Claus Qvist Jessen |
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| Three
more pintado
catfish - three different species, all caught within 10 minutes in Rio
Miranda;
Pantanal, Brazil. © Claus Qvist Jessen |
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| Funny
catfish - and it actually emitted sound when it was brought to the dry
land.
Pantanal, Brazil. © Claus Qvist Jessen |
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A couple of Lake Guri (Venezuela) peacock bass, a healthy nine-pounder caught on a
surface plug and a slightly smaller one caught on a fly. No, it's not
the same fish! © Claus Qvist Jessen |
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The peacock bass (pavon) has an amazingly hard strike, as proved by
these bent hooks - after just one strike. © Claus Qvist Jessen |
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Nice 9-pound peacock bass (pavon) from Lago Guri, Venezuela.
© Claus Qvist Jessen |
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A freshly landed 8-9 pound peacock bass from Lago Guri, Venezuela.
© Claus Qvist Jessen |
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Fishing Lago Guri the cheapest way - by being marooned on a sunken tree.
© Claus Qvist Jessen |
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A funny creature from the Venezuelan jungle: An electrical eel! Capable
of speeding off more than 600 Volts, this is a fish not to be touchd
until after is dead. Very dead. © Claus Qvist Jessen |
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Electric portrait of the fish above. The fish was never weighed, but 8
kgs (18 lbs is probably not a bad guess. © Claus Qvist Jessen |
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aggressive and eternally hungry "guavina" are easily caught using small
plugs or spinners.
© Claus Qvist Jessen |
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A tiny peacock bass from a small pool at the upper Orinoco River,
Venezuela. © Claus Qvist Jessen |
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A corner of a mid-size river in Central Guyana. Very good for catching
piranha and electric eels(!) it turned out. © Claus Qvist Jessen |
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A magnificent 1½ kg piranha, caught by me and shown by a local Indian
woman; central Guyana. © Claus Qvist Jessen |
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The shy and elusive Carribbean bonefish is generally regarded as the (pound
by pound) hardest fighter anywhere. Despite a size of only 1 kg, this
fish easily pulled off more than 100 meters of line - in a few seconds......
© Claus
Qvist Jessen |
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A fantastic experience, just a few kms from Muscat, Oman: Dozens of
seagulls from above chasing a school of sardines. From below, the
sardines are chased by huge yellowfin tunas. Great sport on mid-size
tackle. © Claus Qvist Jessen |
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38 kg (84 pounds) of massive muscles. A nice yellowfin tuna from Muscat,
Oman. © Claus Qvist Jessen |
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Pure beauty: 93 pound sailfish from Niue, Pacific.
The giant fish was caught from the small dinghy below, and it took more
than an hour to land it; Niue, New Zealand. © Claus Qvist Jessen |
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| A
beautiful 10 kg (22 pound) mahi-mahi (dorado, gold mackerel) from Niue,
far out in the Pacific Ocean. © Claus Qvist Jessen |
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Sunset fishing from the jetty; Alofi, Niue. © Claus Qvist Jessen |
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Traditional fishing boats from Lautoka, Fiji Islands. © Claus Qvist Jessen |
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A nice bluefin trevally from Lautoka, Fiji Islands. © Claus Qvist Jessen |
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| A
colourful "rock-fish" from Fiji.
© Claus Qvist Jessen |
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A beatiful 15 pound (7 kg) king mackerel from Lautoka, Fiji. The
"Danish" red-white Rapala proved to be the best, here along with almost
anywhere else. Red-white colours are very hard to beat for deep-sea
trolling. © Claus Qvist Jessen |
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An angry-looking and hard-fighting giant trevally, caught off the coast
of Viti Levu, Fiji. © Claus Qvist Jessen |
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Malaysia is not exactly a hot-spot for freshwater sports fishing,
however, in the artificial Lake Kenyir, great fishing can be done for
the aggressive and hard-fighting snakehead fish. The fight is not made
any easier by the forest of drowned trees. © Claus Qvist Jessen |
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An angry toman (snakehead fish) on the way to being landed from the
murky waters of Lake Kenyir, Peninsular Malaysia. © Claus Qvist Jessen |
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A small "bream", caught by fly fishing on the beach of Ras Madrakah,
Oman. © Claus Qvist Jessen |
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A nice 5 kg bluefish, caught while beachcasting from Ras Madrakah, Oman.
© Claus Qvist Jessen |
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Late-afternoon beach casting; Ras Madrakah, Oman.
© Claus Qvist Jessen |
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American angler Ray Montoya proudly showing a good-sized bluefish from
Oman. © Claus Qvist Jessen |
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