Mahi Mahi Extravaganza! Part I of The Epic Wildlife Encounters

June 9th, 2009. This day should be marked as one of the most memorable wildlife excursions in my life. My fiends, Makoto, Naomi and I started late this morning as we did manta ray dive last night. We cruised straight to the first FAD to make up the time loss from our late start. No fishing boats were around. Yep, that was usually a bad sign. However, from my experience, I know sometimes I get lucky.

• Visit Mahi Mahi - Common Dolphinfish Pictures - Stock Photo Gallery

As we approached the buoy, we saw several mahi mahi hanging around. We successfully shot HD video and captured stills, and then picked up five of them! More than enough for our dinner as well as our friends' and families' dinner!

mahi-mahi, dorado, or common dolphin-fish, Coryphaena hippurus, adult bull, Kona Coast, Big Island, Hawaii, USA, Pacific Ocean

Mahi mahi is such a good eating fish as well as photogenic. To tell you the truth, it is very hard for me to photograph mahi mahi seriously, because I become an excited fishermen when I see a mahi mahi and usually forget about photography. My good clients like Sport Fishing Magazine always ask me to supply more pictures of fishing actions, mahi mahi, wahoo & tuna pictures from Hawaii, but I've been failing to do so. If you are a fisherman, you'll understand. Fishing is just too exciting and too important for a man!

mahi-mahi, dorado, or common dolphin-fish, Coryphaena hippurus, adult bull, Kona Coast, Big Island, Hawaii, USA, Pacific Ocean

Well... this time we had plenty of mahi mahi in our cooler, so we decided to photograph them. Mahi mahi is such a beautiful fish! When they are hunting, the neon blue color dominates their body. When they bite something or are hooked, their flashy greenish golden color takes over their entire body in the blink of an eye.

While we were having fun catching them, we were soon discovered by other fishing boats nearby. Mahi mahi could not help leaping out of the water numerous times, and could be easily seen by others who were located a few miles away. Mahi mahi bites were disrupted by arrival of bigger boats, so we left the scene totally satisfied with everything we've got.

To be continued to: Blue Marlin Attack! - Part II of The Epic Wildlife Encounters.