Gametime | Top US Billfish Tournament Photographer

It all started when...

In 2022 while on spring break with my family in the Dominican Republic, I was coming off a most spectacular 2021 season that had allowed me to produce great works all across the western hemisphere. From Alaska, down to Belize, and everything in-between. I saw the likes of Alaska for the first time. It would end being a total of three trips that year for photo and video production of fly- out trout and salmon adventures in Bristol Bay.

It was on this exact trip, in the Dominican Republic where I had a chance to do some soul-searching. I could not have been any more proud of what we were able to accomplish with Buffalo Media Group in 2021 and the years preceding that with shoots out west at ranches and in our home state of Minnesota covering resorts...we were booming!

But within that, I was searching for a deeper meaning. I wanted to push myself mentally to dig deep and get to the core of where I wanted to be and I could not stop reflecting on all the amazing bluewater fishing excursions I was fortunate enough to go on and the success we had.

A bit of a backstory takes me back to Cabo in 2009 where I got to experience deep sea sport fishing at it’s finest...I was ruined. For the next 14 years, that would always still go down as one, if not the coolest adventures I had ever been on. My wife and I walked down to the concierge to look into charter fishing. That’s where we met our future boat anglers whom split the boat with us. Jim and Rhonda, from Maryland, walked up to the concierge and were looking to do the same. We got to talking to them and decided it would be the four of us splitting the boat. So the next morning we set sail in a 30-ft. bay boat and headed out into the wild blue. The fact that we were right in the middle of a huge tournament going on was pure magic and utter excitement. Thankfully I had my camera aboard. Now I was heavily tied into the wedding industry, where I would find the first half of my career. The timeframe was early November. I was nearing the end of my 70 wedding stint in 2009, a personal record. I had already knocked out 63 and wanted to treat myself to something special...enter sport fishing. I had absolutely no idea at the time what I was in store for. It would end up being one of the most amazing and pivotal moments in my life.

That day on the boat we shot out of the harbor and straight past the Key to the Pacific and right into the deep blue, rich waters of a world-class fishing destination. Marlin and tuna were the name of the game. Cabo is considered the “Marlin Capital of the World” and it certainly lived up to its lore.

Within just a couple short hours of trolling we hooked into a beautiful 25 lb. yellowfin tuna which was reeled in by Jim. It would end up being our table fair that night over caipirinhas and Cohiba cigars.

The next fish to take was mine and in the next hour I was hooked into a giant striped marlin. The first feel of the power and voracity of this giant pelagic was all enthralling. It was in this moment that I knew I was in for a fight as I saw it shoot out of the water some 200 yards away. I will never forget that instance. I was jacked..striped marlin on. Here I was, having fished open water fishing my whole life and now I was being indoctrinated into a whole new realm. What transpired next was a hour long fight that left me absolutely exhausted. As the marlin reached the side of the boat, they grabbed the bill and then turned and yelled over their shoulder, “do you wanna keep it?”, without a moment of thought I yelled...”Hell yes!”

We landed it, the day was won for me. It wasn’t right away for I quickly proceeded to chum the waters after all the hysteria and excitement. I’m sure drinking tequila and cerveza’s the night before didn’t help and the fact I popped two Dramamine seconds before hooking up. My mouth was straight completely dried up. They proceeded to tie the striped marlin across the back of the boat where it stretched from one side to the other, a total of 101”, roughly a 120 lb. fish.

The story of that day was not done yet as our boat partner Jim hooked and landed a “97 striped marlin about an hour later. We were kings!

Now fast forward to 2011 when visiting the north shore of Oahu where I solo charted a boat with a captain and first mate for a day chasing Pacific blue marlin. We ended up spending the majority of the excursion chasing pacific blues to not much avail. The captain asked if I wanted to peel off and chase dorado where he assured me we had a much better chance at landing those. I said I was rolling the dice and staying the course for my trophy blue marlin. So we spent the final two hours of that long afternoon hitting various different spots. I was riding on the emotion that two 300 lb. blue marlin’s were caught just the day prior with their boat. Unfortunately, no fish were landed but it certainly reinforced my love for being in bluewater.

In the time frame from 2011 and 2016, I spent a great deal of time fishing the warm waters of Tampa Bay where my Mom had a house on the bay and a 24’ bay boat. Everyday was an adventure chasing cobia, jack crevalle, sharks, pompano, sea trout, snook, etc. When the house was sold, I turned to fishing for trout and salmon as a new challenge and source of adventure. It’s in the timeframe of 2016 to now that my fishing partner, my cousin Jeremy and I, started making annual trips to the southwest lower peninsula of Michigan to target the king salmon, coho salmon, and steelhead runs. We had a lot to learn and learn we did. We loved it right from the get go. Hooking into 30 lb. kings on fly rods in narrow rivers was pure elation. As they say, the tug is the drug and we were fiends. From walking and wading to venturing down the rivers in kayaks, every bend in the river was a new opportunity to experience nature and the thrill of the hunt.

Next was another moment in my history books of sport fishing. We were on a family vacation to the Big Island of Hawaii. It was on this trip that we booked a charter out of Kona. There we were, my family and I all aboard. My girls were treating me to a very special birthday present. The date was March 2nd, 2021. We first boarded the boat at 7:00 am and the crew was just starting their season. Fishing was slow the first week and they made us aware that there were no guarantees we would hook up on any fish. “No worries I said, but I bring good luck.” They were like...”Okay...we see ya!” So out we go again into the wild blue straight into 5,000 ft. of water...we were trolling immediately out of the harbor.

We trolled for 2.5 hours without any action. I proceeded to stand up and stretch and I looked over at the first mate and said, “it’s starting to feel very fishy.” Like I had an intuition. I went to the head and relieved myself because again I had this beckoning if you will that something was about to go down. I swear it wasn’t 5 minutes later, this birthday boy was hooked up with a shortness spearfish. Now that was my exact goal was to land one seeing they are only native to Hawaiian waters. The moment we hooked into the spearfish, the first mate yelled up what to the captain...”He just called it, I can’t believe it...he just called it.” After a 20 minute fight I landed my first shortnose spearfish and I could not be anymore happy. So now we could all breath a little easier, we accomplished our goal and the birthday boy got his fish. So now we still had four hours of fishing left. I’ll never forget what my wife said to me next...”The next line to go down...it’s mine.” Sure I says, of course, by all means. She loves to fish! Well as we were headed in at high noon back to shore, which subsequently was the name of the charter High Noon Sportfishing, all hell broke loose. At noon one of the rods completely bent over and the drag on the reel was screaming! I will never forget that sound. We knew we had something big! The first mate was like “this is a big marlin...who wants it?” Without hesitation my wife Chrissy heeded the challenge. Now I kinda knew that it was going to be hell for her but she was determined. So much so, she fought this blue marlin for 1.5 hours with every ounce of energy she had. She was gassed half way through but she gutted it out. I remember her saying the only thing more painful was childbirth. We all had a good chuckle and I told her...”this is only temporary but will live on forever.” That was my rally cry to her and she was not going to give up...a true badass. By the time we got it beside the boat we were all in disbelief as to the size of this behemoth. We got it aboard and all just sat there for a moment, quiet. She won the day! We immediately took out the measuring tape...133”. Yes, 11’ 1” long and which we found out an hour later equates to a 446 lb. pacific blue marlin. Talk about a day, one that is etched into our minds forever.

So we contacted our friends over at Gray Taxidermy for replicas and they are all staring at me in my office as I pen this love letter. I get a daily reminder of that adventure everyday in my office.

From here on out, I made it a personal goal to catch all nine species of billfish in my lifetime. We are a third of the way there. I still need to get my blue marlin but Chrissy’s will do for now.

Now to circle back to our time in the Dominican Republic. The months and weeks leading up to our trip I was doing a ton of research on the fishing waters of Cap Cana and the white marlin fishery that is so prevalent. I waited to get there so I could go down to the docks and get the low down and see what charter I would like to book. Unfortunately the late winter winds were gusting so much for our last three days that we were not able to make it out. Sort of a let down for sure but that’s fishing. So the next three days I spent contemplating of all things life and adventure. This is the very moment that The Wild Blue Films popped in my head and I could not ignore it...I became obsessed with the idea. Luckily I had my notebook and began jotting down notes and putting together a gameplan for success. Upon returning home in the spring of 2022, I went to work. I began putting together my portfolio and building leads. My network was quickly growing and I was making some really great connections. The rest of the year and into 2023 was furthermore spent marketing my new business. Now here we are in 2024 and timing is meeting my preparation and I’m ready.

My first big break came with The Driftless Fly Fishing Company out of Preston, MN. They are the only Orvis-Endorsed fly fishing outfit in Minnesota. We began shooting trout fishing for them in April and are planning on seasonal shoots for the remainder of the year. What comes next is hard to articulate into words and emotion.

In late 2023 I became media producer for Lake + Company magazine. We had a whirlwind of success right away and I was dreaming up stories to cover for the Minnesota-based magazine. The magazine is catered to the outdoor adventurer with a passion for embracing the unknown...hence Lake + Company’s slogan...Celebrate The Unkown, and Those Bold Enough To Explore It.

Now Lake + Company magazine is producing a very successful National magazine as well. Without more than a second thought, Ocean + Company sprung into my convoluted head but it made perfect sense. I brought it up to the owner and CEO, Megan Kellin, and she was all for it. Seeing as I already travel so much this made perfect sense for a coast to coast magazine. Enter Ocean + Company magazine. We are steadily working on the stories and projecting a late fall launch this year. Life is crazy but when you love what you do, you are slingshotting yourself out of bed every morning and up all night dreaming of the amazing and infinite possibilities.

Now The Wild Blue Films is acting as the media backbone to the stories for the magazine and it all makes perfect sense. With that, we are now fully dedicated to bringing those stories to life and the forefront of the sportfishing and saltwater adventure world. The primary focus is a strong foundation in bluewater sport fishing with an emphasis on saltwater adventure, culture, and lifestyle. It’s going to be a very luxurious travel tourism magazine.

Our first order of business, get on back of a freaking boat and start filming.

Low and behold, it fell on the right eyes and ears and it’s as though we are on our way. On our way to Nova Scotia that is. We have been in talks with Marlin magazine and their Marlin Expeditions for a few weeks now. These have been some anxious weeks for us here at The Wild Blue Films but we finally got our break and it’s the best break I could have ever imagined and then some. We have been invited to film for Marlin Expeditions in September to chase bluefin tuna in Nova Scotia...unreal. As I pen this, my heart is racing with adrenaline and optimism.

Furthermore, we have just booked out a major marlin tournament in August, that being the Pirate’s Cove Billfish Tournament in the Outer Banks of North Carolina. Here’s where we make our splash on the scene as media provider and sponsors. We are looking very much forward to being engulfed in the tournament and meeting many new people and potential clients.

So for all the hardwork, countless hours of dreaming, hoping, wishing and praying, it appears we have won our way into the world of saltwater sport fishing and adventure and we plan on being here for a long time.

We can’t wait to see what the rest of this story looks like at the end of 2024 and heading full steam ahead in 2025.

UPDATE :

I wrote this yesterday just to have a memoir and ended up spending the whole afternoon just pouring out the thoughts and emotions. The overall goal was for us to formally announce to all our family, friends, and network about The Wild Blue Films at a later date. See the thing is, I was waiting for the right exact moment to announce this but I felt that all the ducks were not in a row yet. Mind you, I have been curating and cultivating this brand for 2.5 years now. Then upon hearing of us being onboarded with Marlin magazine and then being hired on to cover Pirate’s Cove Billfish Tournament in North Carolina in August…I was riding very high with emotion. That’s when I started writing this glorified blog post. I picked up the phone and called my business partner Megan Kellin and mentioned what we just booked and what I spent all afternoon doing. I just said the hell with it…”I’m going to send it to one particular party I have been in talks with this week…these people need to know who I am and where my passions lie.” “Totally…do it!” Megan exclaimed. So I did..I sent this to my lead and low and behold I got a response 30 minutes later…”Hi Justin, I enjoyed reading this, thank you for sending. We’d like to partner with you.”

I immediately yelled a huge “WAHOOOOO”…(this time I wasn’t in Belize landing a wahoo like back in October right Brian and Paul) and started thanking God and all those cheering me on looking down on me from up above and burst into tears. Earlier in the day, before I knew we were subsequently going to be hired on by the second tournament, I told Megan this, “hey I was going to wait until August to formally announce The Wild Blue Films on a much bigger platform but if I get this next tourney gig, I am going live with it now…no looking back.” The sheer, beautiful grace and momentum is with us right now and I wanted to let you all know how thankful I am and we are for all the support from our family, friends, peers, clients and networking partners…I am living the dream and cannot wait to get out there and dive right into THE WILD BLUE.

A very special thanks to Jen, Sasha, and Heather for placing your trust in The Wild Blue Films…it’s going to be unforgettable!