I have collected fish my whole life, I did it for a living for many years about 3 lifetimes ago! I have been really sick with my second multi-organ transplant (March 21st is my 2 year anniversary of the second one) so I haven't been able to do much but if the wind ever dies down I hope to dive in the next month or so, I'll post photos if I can get in the water.
Many of you know I spend a lot of time in Hawaii and have my aquarium collectors license for HI, in November I spent almost a month there. I have family with a big house in Ewa Beach and I dive with a couple of friends who are commercial divers when I am there, one is on Oahu the other is on the big island, this trip I was only on the big island and I only collected on 3 of the days, mostly yellow tangs for a special order, but I got some potters, fishers and a pair of flame angels one day. I caught something really cool but I didn't keep it because I know they don't stay black but I also got the smallest black long nosed butterfly I have ever seen, it was just under 2 1/2 inches from tip of nose to tail, I couldn't believe how small it was only because it was black, I have never seen one that wasn't an adult.
Here are a few of the fish we collected before I was sick, it was 2009 on the north side of Oahu
Hawaiian longfin anthias, I didn't collect these but in 2 dives they got 9 if I remember correctly, it may have been a couple more but that was a long time ago.
Crosshatch triggers
My first super male flame wrasse, this was in 2005
I have more photos but they are all about the same, fish in the live wells, here are a few of the animals I have kept while collecting,
flame wrasse from above
Different pygmy angels
Some other fish and inverts I have collected.
And finally a photo of one of my prizes and a word of advice to any new or casual collectors, sometimes you just get lucky, these were collected on the first day I ever collected in Hawaii, off the beach on Oahu in less then 20 ft of water, when I saw the first one I thought I was dreaming because of where I was and how few people even see them let alone collect them.
