Suggestions for photographing C&R for AOTY

For AOTY purposes, its better to take a picture of the fish towards the back half, so we can clearly see where the tail meets the hash mark.  But should be done at a good enough angle to see the lips of the fish touch the fence.

It is difficult!
The only suggestions I can make are to wet your hands before handling a fish, wet the trough, and be quick about it. In the past I have dipped the trough into the water and slid larger fish onto it and tipped onto my lap for the pic. I find that fish will give you a small window of time after the fight when they are somewhat sedate, especially if you are calm about it. They wake up though, which I fear is when they start thrashing around for round two, and end up getting mishandled.

I like the idea of slipping them on in the water.  I'll give that try.  Of course, another big dilemma with photographing C&R fish is having the mouth closed for the photo.  Guess, I"ll just have to eat the penalty.  Its not like I'm a contender anyway.. its just for fun.

You need to at least try to get the mouth closed. If it is laying on the board wide open and no attempt to get it closed it will be dq'd. That is in the rules.

bmb
Archie Marx is the snobbiest member of the
AOTY Committee



But, he comes by it honestly!!

bmb
Archie Marx is the snobbiest member of the
AOTY Committee



But, he comes by it honestly!!

C'mon now, Im not that snobby. I'll mix a VSOP sidecar when whole foods is out of XO. 


...but I digress. Here is a pic of a great AOTY submission. The photo angle is good, the mouth is closed and against the board lip, the hash marks have been sharpied (without being too wide), and we can clearly see the length off the fish against the board.

This photo was taken by Bird.
Bird takes very good AOTY photos.
Bird won AOTY.
Be like Bird.