Tattoo Tuesday -- On Sail

After an epic trip to Casa Vieja Lodge in February, I’ve become a little bit more than obsessed with sailfish. We caught 37 of them, including 23 in a single day. Every one of them stripped line, jumped at least 10 times, and put on an unforgettable show of acrobatics. Even when you finally get them to the boat and subdue them, they’re still gorgeous – lit up with iridescent colors. That likely makes them both tempting and hard to tattoo. On the one hand, even at their most blah they are a striking fish, but on the other hand it’s hard to capture that glory in ink. Here are some of the best ones we’ve found on the web:

Matt Stebly of Twisted Anchor Tattoo Gallery in Mississippi nailed the detail and somehow managed to show the depth complexity of a sail’s coloring without overdoing it.

Here’s a beauty from Leviathan Key West’s Anjy, which reminds me of a Guy Harvey painting while retaining the artist’s stamp.

This epic black and white billfish (plus tuna, plus roosterfish, plus GT) scene comes from Tattoo Inkville in the Netherlands. I’m not sure if they have billfish there, but the artist and recipient clearly put in a lot of time.

ABT Tattoo of Massachusetts captured the pandemonium that accompanies every sailfish fight.

I love the panicked look on the lure in this one from Tattoo Charm in South Africa.

And this one from True to You Tattoo in Florida, done earlier this year, was the customer’s first tattoo. That’s commitment!