Advertisement

Amazing Underwater Game-Fish Portraits by Jason Arnold

Jason Arnold gets up close and personal with these game-fish.
01 - redfish chases lure, 00000000_xx_8768_16c1f60691b0ae9e5f237f564d9cc900.jpg
In a few years, Jason Arnold, of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, has established himself as one of the premier fish/fishing photographers in the United States. Along with some outstanding jumping-fish and fishing-action photography, Arnold is a master at capturing amazing underwater portraits of game fish, including live-action shots of predators pursuing lures. There is a trick to this, but we are sworn to secrecy upon penalty of death or worse; however, we can say definitively that neither fish nor lure are photoshopped or placed into the photos. Fish and lure are shot as you see ’em. This gallery represents an “editors’ favorites” of a sort, since we were given the opportunity to cherry-pick these 27 images as our faves from his current stock. Arnold’s work has been widely published; he is a regular contributor to Sport Fishing magazine, including several covers. Shown here: A bull red chases down a Yo-Zuri 3D Minnow near Whipray Key in Florida Bay.
02 - sea 0002 dolphin0909.jpg

Dolphin mahi mahi

A big male mahi prowls the blue waters of the Gulf Stream in the spring off Fort Lauderdale. JASON ARNOLD
03 - kingfish chases jig, jau_8555.jpg
A kingfish is hot on the tail of a Daiwa speed jig cranked up off southern Florida.
04 - bluefish 015.jpg
While photographing the fall mullet run off Florida’s Atlantic coast, Arnold spotted bluefish following the forage fish and added some blues to his portfolio. JASON ARNOLD
05 - bull shark, 00000000_xx_2660_b3c8b55fe587f6cd21acaad68c251d10.jpg
What lurks in the gathering dark…. Arnold’s flash catches the dorsal surface of a bull shark cruising in water barely deep enough to cover its back off Mississippi’s Cat Island as Okuma’s John Bretza pedals past in his Hobie kayak. JASON ARNOLD
06 - red grouper chases jig, jau_9198.jpg
Rushing up from the bottom, a red grouper would make a meal of a metal jig off Southeast Florida.
07 - flounder.jpg
Startled, this flounder dashes out from under the sands of Jupiter Inlet, where it had been buried, waiting to pounce on prey. JASON ARNOLD
08 - sea0002thresher1019.jpg

Atlantic Thresher Shark

Although he’d hoped to get some swordfish photos this day, Arnold wasn’t disappointed at the chance to shoot a 12-foot bigeye thresher shark. JASON ARNOLD
09 - mullet 054.jpg
A massive wall of mullet confronts the photographer off Florida’s east coast. “It was weird since they were offshore,” he says — “a five-acre school in 90 feet of water. Also weird: Nothing was chasing them.” JASON ARNOLD
10 - jason arnold kingfish.jpg

Philadelphia Phillies v Miami Marlins

Photo looking down a kingfish’s maw reminds us why we need to use wire. Jason Arnold
11 - sea0002sailfish-1025.jpg

Atlantic Sailfish

Just released, this sail shows his colors with a raised dorsal. JASON ARNOLD
12 - snook 00000000_xx_1776a_f05cc73e0c55060dd3826bc061fb7b96.jpg
A small, spawning snook tracks a Berkley Powerbait at high tide (providing exceptionally clean water in Jupiter Inlet).
14 - bonefish, 00000000_xx_8339_656b0d0ff4cb38fda365b257fc70a9fa.jpg

bonefish

A bonefish in southern Biscayne Bay checks out a Hank Brown jig tipped with shrimp. Jason Arnold
15 - hammer head shark1000.jpg

Hammer Head Shark

This scalloped hammerhead circled Arnold, checking him out, over a deep wreck off Fort Lauderdale.
16 - tarpon.jpg
Under the lights of a Key Largo dock, these tarpon hover patiently, waiting to pick off something that swims or drifts past.
17 - sea 0001 african pom0010.jpg

AFRICAN POMPANO

Juvie African pompano retains the elegant dorsal- and anal-fin filamentous rays it will lose in adulthood. JASON ARNOLD
18 - lemon shark, sea 0002 shark 01.jpg

Atlantic Sailfish

Lemon sharks like this one commonly roam grass flats like these on the bay side of Islamorada. JASON ARNOLD
19 - dolphin mahi mahi004.jpg

Dolphin fish (Mahi Mahi/Dorado)

What Arnold calls “a wolf pack” of schoolie mahi join forces in the Gulf Stream. JASONARNOLDCOLLECTION.COM
20 - sea0002grouper0005.jpg
Trolling South Florida’s shallow patch reefs in winter was the ticket for this gag grouper that snatched up a Rapala X-Rap. JASON ARNOLD
21 - redfish, 00000000_xx_5302_ceb86d55daee8af197b3e2c261869080.jpg
Redfish feeds in the sands of Florida Bay.
22 - white marlin, jac_5634.jpg
White marlin swims the blue depths of the Atlantic off Venezuela.
23 - sea 0002 kingfish0005.jpg

KINGFISH

This kingfish is indifferent to Arnold and his camera as it searches for more live pilchards being tossed out of a nearby boat as chum. JASON ARNOLD
24 - sea trout 012.jpg

Spotted Sea Trout

Seatrout emerges from hiding in turtle grass in Florida Bay’s Whipray Basin. Jason Arnold / www.JasonArnoldPhoto.com
26 - sea0002false albacore1003.jpg

FALSE ALBACORE

Little tunny. JASON ARNOLD
27 - snook 136.jpg

Common Snook swimming

Large snook lurks near pilings of a Florida inlet. JASON ARNOLD
Advertisement
Advertisement