Editor Bubak Smells Something Fishy

As journalists, it’s our lot in life to be skeptical — if not downright cynical. So when the publisher of Latitude created the ‘Latitude Fishing — and More — Contest’ item for the May 24 ‘Lectronic, which included the photo below, Editor LaDonna Bubak wrote back, "You know, of course, that the photo has been heavily Photoshopped." As we all know, thanks to Photoshop and similar image manipulation software, you can no longer blindly trust the veracity of any photograph.

Our immediate response to our editor’s evaluation was, "Baloney!" After all, we not only knew Ethan Smith of the Ya Ta Hey, New Mexico-based Ovni 36 Eyoni, who speared the fish, but we had him and the rest of the crew from Thor Temme’s Custom 45 tri Meschach, on which the fish had been landed, over to our BBQ in Punta Mita to cook and eat some of the fish that very night. It was delicious.

But ever the professional, LaDonna was relentless in her skepticism:

"First, the fish looks way too big to be 75 lbs. It’s almost as long as Ethan is tall! Secondly, the resolution on the fish looks suspiciously different from Ethan, and its edges look just a little too sharp. I also noticed that Ethan’s left arm looks as if it’s at an angle to be holding something that’s dangling below it. Where is the rest of his left arm? Additionally, the shadows, to my eye at least, don’t quite match. Finally, having seen the original as it was sent to us, I noticed that this photo was the only one of the entire batch with an edited name — instead of ‘IMG_0075’ or similar, it was titled ‘1 Pargo 75# 2010 copy’. The file info on the photo showed it had been edited four days after it was taken, and the version we received has the bottom corner cut off at an angle. Of course that could be explained by Smith wanting to straighten the horizon a bit, or perhaps it’s a piece of the boat, but combined with all the rest, it seems a little hinky. So, while I’m not totally committed to the idea that the photo has been doctored a little to make Mr. Pargo a wee bit more impressive-looking, I’m confident enough to keep that 30-cent bet with the publisher on the table."

To make things more interesting, the folks at Yachting World, England’s most prestigious yachting magazine, emailed us to say they’d seen the piece in ‘Lectronic, and wondered if we could put them in touch with Smith. Not wanting to be the source of what we thought had even a slight possibility of being a fraud, we told them we’d get back to them as soon as we could get confirmation — perhaps via other photos — from Smith that the photo was legit. We have not yet heard from Smith and family, although it’s likely because they are now cruising the wilds of the Sea of Cortez and haven’t been in email range.

For the record, not only do we still believe in the photo, but so does Racing Editor Rob Grant, and he knows all about fish.

But what about you? Is the fish photo fishy or the real thing? Email us your opinion.

In the item Smith sent to us, he said he included a photo of his five-year-old daughter Zada getting a 180-yard long ride on a surfboard at Mantanchen Bay, Mexico. Because of incompetence on our part, we were unable to open the photo at that time. But as you can see from below, we’ve solved that problem. And no, it doesn’t look Photoshopped — not even to LaDonna.

By the way, the response to our ‘Fishing — and More — Contest’ was absolutely underwhelming. About the only other good response we got was from Tom Frey, who sails San Juan Flyer, a Cal 2-30, out of West Sound, Orcas Island, in the summer, but is smart enough to be based out of San Carlos, Mexico, in the winter. It was out of San Carlos, obviously, that he landed the 44-lb dorado in the photo below.