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 The Diving Fisherman |
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| The Diving Fisherman |
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| diving fisherman |
| The Diving Fisherman Return to index of stories... |
Like the 300,000 others in NH and 44 million nationwide, Mike Laptew loves to fish. In his quest to be a better fisherman, Mike combined his passion for catching fish above the waves with his love of diving under them. or he is known as the Diving Fisherman. It's giving people something they - always as anglers we see ourselves being inquisitive and questioning and always wondering what's happening under the surface. To reveal that is something that people are anxious to see. the money shot, the one shot that everybody wants - is they want to see the big fish - the trophy fish - coming up and eating the lure. To a degree we try to do that… … But that's such a difficult task to orchestrate because your sheer presence is enough to put off fish as you are so much larger than they are they just take you as a predator and so on. .strive to get natural behavior To date Mike has produced x videotapes….opening the porthole to the undersea world of fish. some of the most exciting action I've gotten most recently is summer flounder on the bottom. As the scene opens - the way it is cut - you don't realize that there's even a fish there. It is so well camouflaged and then exit stage right - a begawl - a small baitfish swims into frame and this carpet comes up off the bottom and strikes about as fast as a cobra. **** Your frame rate of course is 40 frames per second and this is coming off the bottom - you count the frames and in a fifth of a second it's gone from being on the bottom to where its smacked the bait and taken it right out of the frame. That's the kind of exciting stuff that shows the fishermen that this flat fish is not this benign, calm, placid fish that just sucks bait on the end of their hook and they are an incredible predator. You don't have to add narration - it speaks to itself. But like other temperamental artists, the fish don't always cooperate. And that certainly was the case the day we caught up with Mike on Great Bay in Newington. But all was not lost. the fish that were breaking on the surface early on - because we were doing a shoot today the fish got word of it. So where there were thousands of birds and thousands of fish showing themselves yesterday and the day before - today that all quit with the tide really starting to come in. So we set ourselves up - we went to an anchoring situation and we chummed the fish and brought them in to us. Because of all the wind and because of all the adverse conditions it wasn't the best for fly fishing. It wasn't the ebst for running and gunning so we just called them in to us. The way we did that was by putting a sack of ground herring over the side and then pitching larger pieces and then eventually over the side goes a piece with a hook Wonder what's going through Mike's mind as he heads into the water? no different than anyone that hunts - I am hunting fish. I've got a background of 15 years in competitive spear fishing. So to that end, the only thing different is I am not shooting them with anything but a camera. And so all of the same ambushing techniques, all of the same signals a hunter would get as a hunter is going through the woods looking for that sensory that data input that's going to say 'i'm apt to see a deer.' I am looking for the same kind of sensory input. I'm looking for drop-offs. I'm looking for underwater game trails. I'm looking for ambush points. Then when I find one that's when I'll settle in and wait and look and hopefully get rewarded by something coming up from out of the depths. And that's the thrill of it. That's the real enjoyment I get out of the sport of videography underwater. Though somewhat limiting, Mike Laptew prefers the freedom of free diving. it's simply because free diving affords you the ability to get closer to fish and view them in an undisturbed manner. So that you are as unobtrusive as you possibly can be and if you just try to melt into the surroundings - if you don't display any threatening gestures whatsoever. A threatening gesture can simply be the way you motion with the camera. so again there's the challenge that I love. And that challenge is here I am in an alien environment and I am trying to just literally disappear and observe them as a window into their world and share that with other people.******* I'm looking on average to make a minute diveor a minutes and a half dive and in situations where something really really great is unfolding underwater then with the necessary prep time on the surface, if the current is not blowing me off the spot then I'll invest enough time in preparing myself mentally and physically on the surface to maybe pull off a 2 minute dive but that is rarely the case. great movies are made up of 7 second bites and those segments stitched together can really tell a great story. It's just that I have to work very hard to get those little segments. We put it all together and it tells a story. I get to see a lot of sunrises and I never saw one that I didn't like. certainly it is a great sport and it is truly a sport. And it is a chess game. I enjoy catch and release fishing. But by the same token I have no qualms about bringing fish home for the table whether for my table, for someone in the family, friends or neighbors. I think it is important to pass down this tradition to unfortunately a generation that is detached from the outdoors************* I think the importance of being into the sport is beyond just sharing something you enjoy. If you want to be a great steward of the environment, of the resource itself you have to bring people into it because they are not going to protect something that they are not aware of. For example who does more to save ducks than those who shoot ducks? They spend the money to acquire the land to make sure that there is a suitable habitat and so there will be ducks to hunt and the same with fishermen. What's more breathtaking that the underwater world and the fish we love to fish for. |
| diving fisherman Return to index of stories... |
Like the 300,000 others in NH and 44 million nationwide, Mike Laptew loves to fish. In his quest to be a better fisherman, Mike combined his passion for catching fish above the waves with his love of diving under them. or he is known as the Diving Fisherman. It's giving people something they - always as anglers we see ourselves being inquisitive and questioning and always wondering what's happening under the surface. To reveal that is something that people are anxious to see. the one shot that everybody wants - is they want to see the big fish - the trophy fish - coming up and eating the lure. to a degree we try to do that… … But that's such a difficult task to orchestrate because your sheer presence is enough to put off fish as you are so much larger than they are they just take you as a predator. To date Mike has produced x videotapes….opening the porthole to the undersea world of fish. some of the most exciting action I've gotten most recently is summer flounder on the bottom. As the scene opens - the way it is cut - you don't realize that there's even a fish there. It is so well camouflaged and then exit stage right - a begawl - a small baitfish swims into frame and this carpet comes up off the bottom and strikes about as fast as a cobra. **** your frame rate of course is 40 frames per second and this is coming off the bottom - you count the frames and in a fifth of a second it's gone from being on the bottom to where its smacked the bait and taken it right out of the frame. That's the kind of exciting stuff that shows the fishermen that this flat fish is not this benign, calm, placid fish that just sucks bait on the end of their hook and they are an incredible predator. You don't have to add narration - it speaks to itself. But like other temperamental artists, the fish don't always cooperate. And that certainly was the case the day we caught up with Mike on Great Bay in Newington. But all was not lost. the fish that were breaking on the surface early on - because we were doing a shoot today the fish got word of it. So where there were thousands of birds and thousands of fish showing themselves yesterday and the day before - today that all quit with the tide really starting to come in. So we set ourselves up - we went to an anchoring situation and we chummed the fish and brought them in to us. Because of all the wind and because of all the adverse conditions it wasn't the best for fly fishing. It wasn't the ebst for running and gunning so we just called them in to us. the way we did that was by putting a sack of ground herring over the side and then pitching larger pieces and then eventually over the side goes a piece with a hook voice over Wonder what's going through Mike's mind as he heads into the water? no different than anyone that hunts - I am hunting fish. I've got a background of 15 years in competitive spear fishing. So to that end, the only thing different is I am not shooting them with anything but a camera. And so all of the same ambushing techniques, all of the same signals a hunter would get as a hunter is going through the woods looking for that sensory that data input that's going to say 'i'm apt to see a deer.' I am looking for the same kind of sensory input. I'm looking for drop-offs. I'm looking for underwater game trails. I'm looking for ambush points. Then when I find one that's when I'll settle in and wait and look and hopefully get rewarded by something coming up from out of the depths. And that's the thrill of it. That's the real enjoyment I get out of the sport of videography underwater. Though somewhat limiting, Mike Laptew prefers the freedom of free diving. it's simply because free diving affords you the ability to get closer to fish and view them in an undisturbed manner. So that you are as unobtrusive as you possibly can be and if you just try to melt into the surroundings - if you don't display any threatening gestures whatsoever. A threatening gesture can simply be the way you motion with the camera. so again there's the challenge that I love. And that challenge is here I am in an alien environment and I am trying to just literally disappear and observe them as a window into their world and share that with other people.******* I'm looking on average to make a minute diveor a minutes and a half dive and in situations where something really really great is unfolding underwater then with the necessary prep time on the surface, if the current is not blowing me off the spot then I'll invest enough time in preparing myself mentally and physically on the surface to maybe pull off a 2 minute dive but that is rarely the case. great movies are made up of 7 second bites and those segments stitched together can really tell a great story. It's just that I have to work very hard to get those little segments. We put it all together and it tells a story. I get to see a lot of sunrises and I never saw one that I didn't like. certainly it is a great sport and it is truly a sport. And it is a chess game. I enjoy catch and release fishing. But by the same token I have no qualms about bringing fish home for the table whether for my table, for someone in the family, friends or neighbors. I think it is important to pass down this tradition to unfortunately a generation that is detached from the outdoors************* I think the importance of being into the sport is beyond just sharing something you enjoy. If you want to be a great steward of the environment, of the resource itself you have to bring people into it because they are not going to protect something that they are not aware of. for example who does more to save ducks than those who shoot ducks? They spend the money to acquire the land to make sure that there is a suitable habitat and so there will be ducks to hunt and the same with fishermen. |
| draft 4 Return to index of stories... |
Like the 300,000 others in NH and 44 million nationwide, Mike Laptew loves to fish. In his quest to be a better fisherman, Mike combined his passion for catching fish above the waves with his love of diving under them. or Laptew is known as the Diving Fisherman. always as anglers we see ourselves being inquisitive and questioning and always wondering what's happening under the surface. To reveal that is something that people are anxious to see. the money shot, the one shot that everybody wants - is they want to see the big fish - the trophy fish - coming up and eating the lure. To a degree we try to do that… … But that's such a difficult task to orchestrate because your sheer presence is enough to put off fish as you are so much larger than they are they just take you as a predator and so on. .strive to get natural behavior To date Mike has produced 4 videotapes….opening the porthole to the undersea world of fish. brief sot some of the most exciting action I've gotten most recently is summer flounder on the bottom. As the scene opens - the way it is cut - you don't realize that there's even a fish there. It is so well camouflaged and then exit stage right - a begawl - a small baitfish swims into frame and this carpet comes up off the bottom and strikes about as fast as a cobra. **** Your frame rate of course is 40 frames per second and this is coming off the bottom - you count the frames and in a fifth of a second it's gone from being on the bottom to where its smacked the bait and taken it right out of the frame. That's the kind of exciting stuff that shows the fishermen that this flat fish is not this benign, calm, placid fish that just sucks bait on the end of their hook and they are an incredible predator. But like other temperamental artists, the fish don't always cooperate. And that certainly was the case the day we caught up with Mike on Great Bay in Newington. But all was not lost. the fish that were breaking on the surface early on - because we were doing a shoot today the fish got word of it. So where there were thousands of birds and thousands of fish showing themselves yesterday and the day before - today that all quit with the tide really starting to come in. So we set ourselves up - we went to an anchoring situation and we chummed the fish and brought them in to us. Because of all the wind and because of all the adverse conditions it wasn't the best for fly fishing. It wasn't the best for running and gunning so we just called them in to us. The way we did that was by putting a sack of ground herring over the side and then pitching larger pieces and then eventually over the side goes a piece with a hook Wonder what's going through Mike's mind as he heads into the water? no different than anyone that hunts - I am hunting fish. And so all of the same ambushing techniques, all of the same signals a hunter would get as a hunter is going through the woods looking for that sensory that data input that's going to say 'i'm apt to see a deer.' I am looking for the same kind of sensory input. I'm looking for drop-offs. I'm looking for underwater game trails. I'm looking for ambush points. Then when I find one that's when I'll settle in and wait and look and hopefully get rewarded by something coming up from out of the depths. And that's the thrill of it. ". Though somewhat limiting, Mike Laptew prefers the freedom of free diving. it's simply because free diving affords you the ability to get closer to fish and view them in an undisturbed manner. So that you are as unobtrusive as you possibly can be and if you just try to melt into the surroundings - if you don't display any threatening gestures whatsoever. so again there's the challenge that I love. And that challenge is here I am in an alien environment and I am trying to just literally disappear and observe them as a window into their world and share that with other people.******* I'm looking on average to make a minute dive or a minutes and a half dive and in situations where something really really great is unfolding underwater then with the necessary prep time on the surface, if the current is not blowing me off the spot then I'll invest enough time in preparing myself mentally and physically on the surface to maybe pull off a 2 minute dive but that is rarely the case. great movies are made up of 7 second bites and those segments stitched together can really tell a great story. It's just that I have to work very hard to get those little segments. I think it is important to pass down this tradition to unfortunately a generation that is detached from the outdoors************* I think the importance of being into the sport is beyond just sharing something you enjoy. If you want to be a great steward of the environment, of the resource itself you have to bring people into it because they are not going to protect something that they are not aware of. What's more breathtaking than the underwater world and the fish we love to fish for. |