Wednesday, February 28, 2007

2/28 - Trout re-opens tomarrow! With a windy start.....


You want to know what every single first week in March and the re-opening of the Speck's means?
SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY IN EFFECT FROM THURSDAY MORNING THROUGH FRIDAY MORNING...yeah sure. More like all day, probably.
Believe me, when I tell you, I know!
This is the "norm".
I have too many log books to flip thru, to prove it.
Right when you want to go full bore into Trout attack mode with some customers, here comes the wind. Plus, I have a guy who moved his charter from last Sunday (probably because of the forecast, to March 2nd..."so he could keep more fish", and now the forecast is worse, than last Sunday. (SCA-small craft advisory = one tough ass day!)
Went out today "solo" so I could look for a new spot if my "go to" creek area fails on Friday.
Caught 6 Redbass all about the size of the one in the picture, with I think one "mini" Red, at 15". A bunch of small Trout & 3 keeper sizers, and a 14" Flounder. Found a spot that should be a great Flounder haunt in the spring. That I could even wade fish, better than fishing in the boat. It's a sand bar in a creek, with a slew of water with oyster beds between a island that has a pond of water in the middle that drains into the slew........"whewww, I gotta keep my eye on that spot!"
I'm going reiterate something I said on my old Forum on a post I made. And something I learned while fishing with friend Nick on Monday. (if your here reading this for an educational purpose)
-do you realize, that there is a new hot spot, right next to an area you already fish?
**Most people think everything is about a "magic spot", when its not that at all.
-I'm usually in "Economy Mode" when I go out and fish solo. That means I want to spend a gallon or two of gas and that's all, so I go to an area very close, fish a good spot and then beat the area to death trying to find as many ways of fishing that same area as I can. Another oyster bed, a different bank, a shallower area next to the deep spot.
** I see people come in to an area, not catch anything and then get frustrated and take off to another so called great spot they heard about. That doesn't really work.
-Today, I never left the same 1/4 mile area. No further than a few miles from the boat ramp.
** that's how I learn the bottom, the topography, the currents, and where the fish are.
10% of the fisherman catch 90% of the fish, and 90% of the fish are in 10% of all the water.
MAN, DOES THIS REALLY APPLY TO INSHORE FISHING!
_______________________________________________________
My 23' MayCraft is sold........HURRAY!!!!!!!!! (it only took 6 months)
Sold thru Consignment Boat Sales, Ocean Street in Mayport.
A nice fella in Georgia that has a dock in a creek off the St. Marys River is gonna be the new owner. He's going to have a great do-all boat that's for sure. (and a brand new trailer to boot)
________________________________________________________
I'd love to know if anyone reads this new Daily Reports page, and if you like it better than the old Forum. If you have a minute e-mail me if you visit this part of my web site. I'm afraid no potential customers are finding it, or even look at it. I'd appreciate it.

Monday, February 26, 2007

2/26/07 - A really fun day with Nick











Whewwww....
Had to wait till Monday to go fishing.
Well, I actually had a weekend charter, but they ended up changing the date to March 2nd
when Speckled trout opens again. Plus there was the 300 boat El Cheapo Sheepshead Tournament on Saturday. I was a sponsor, had a free entry, and still never fished it.
I love fishing tournaments when they are 50 boats or even a 100 boats. BUT 300 boats??? Count me out.
That's what happened to the Redfish SPOTS tournament too.
I fished it, till it got way out of hand, then quit fishing it.
I'm not into crowds.

That's why I waited till Monday to go fishing.
And after seeing Nick Watson, drummer for my favorite band RATHKELTAIR, a Celtic Rock Band at the boat ramp the other day while he was out with his buddy from another Celtic rock band, SEVEN NATIONS and they didn't do so good, I called Nick and invited him out with me, because I wanted to help him out with some of the finer points of Float-rig fishing.
Nick and I always talk about Float-riggin', and I always like to hear what's the latest on the band, and what he's been up too lately. (I find the musician life interesting) and like Nick's willing to learn.
So we left out at 6:30am to go catch the falling tide in the creeks.
Low tide: 10:30
High tide: 4:30
(Mayport)
First spot was the one of my "go-to's" that I've been hitting because it's just so damn productive on the Redbass, since Trout season has been closed. I catch plenty of trout there, but sometimes I can really clean up on the nice slot reds. We had 3 good ones today from 23-26 inches.
A bunch of Trout to 18 inches....and of course a few pup reds.
Then since I was doing a little show and tell so Nick could pick up some tips, we moved around and went into a few more creeks. We had a "sea-breeze" problem on a certain spot, and couldn't even fish it, as the tide flooded in, and after that as it rose higher. Our fish catching was over.
Can't catch anything on a incoming tide soon as I get 2 hours or more into it. But we tried and picked up a small trout and a Flounder.
I had a really good time sharing some time with Nick. I wanted him to see the new boat, and how shallow I can go, the tackle, the techniques, and the areas to fish. I want him to take his musician friends out in his boat and "be the man", and get them hooked up on a few, next time.

The rest of the pictures (8) from our day are on Recent Catch Page 5 on my web site:
If you're wanting to learn more about float fishing for Reds & Trout, the time is now to reserve your day. Speckled Trout season opens in a few days, from the reprive from the Float Freak.
And March 's good tidal days are filling up fast.

Thursday, February 22, 2007

2/22/07 - Making Trails, then big time rod bending











How many times have a said, "I just can't find any decent bites on the incoming tide, since the water's cold"?

So why was I in the water and wanting to catch some fish at 8:30 am?

Today's Mayport tides:
Low tide: 6am
High tide: 12:17pm
Low tide: 6:07pm
So there I was, and I just knew it was a futile to beat this dead horse. So I went and utilized the $4,000.00 worth of electronics I have on my boat. I went and made "trails" on my chart-plotter, (a laymans term would be "bread crumb trails") up in the Hannah Mills area. I wanted to chart the way from Sisters Creek to Clapboard Creek. There is a miriad of creeks back there between the ICW and Clapboard creek, that are navigatable. And I haven't been up there for years, but found my way thru, and made a permanant "trail" to follow via using my color chart-plotter and GPS. MORE WINTER SPOTS TO TRY.
I did all this on the incoming tide. And by the time the tide turned, I went back to my "go to" area for some fish catching on the falling water.
And if you haven't kept up on it, the tides this week have been L-O-W.....I mean, there's areas that are going dry that haven't been that way for a long time.
But never fear......MY 26' Black Lab is here! The only 26' sea-going, rough water able, boat that can go in incredibily shallow water.
My new favorite spot is in shallow water.....that get's impassable for most boats my size on tides like we're having now. But I had this week, 2 charters up in there and had 4 anglers plus me in the boat and still got in and out. That's why I'm so happy. My boat does it all. What a great choice I made. I'll never fish fiberglass again!
Well, I had (all on the float-rig) in shallow water :
16- Speckled Trout to 4 pounds!
11- Redfish to 28 inches
1- Flounder 18"
All on one spot as the tide ebbed.
Then I left and went home.
As you can see in the photos, that's my anchor line and you can even see my anchor barely sticking out of the water. That's where I started out! I was anchored up there, and had to keep letting out anchor line so I wouldn't sit on the bottom, as the tide dropped.
I didn't get a picture of the big Trout because I booked 6 charters today alone, and half the time as the phone rang, I was reeling in a fish. It was a very busy phone day!
The wind was a real pain in the butt, blowing hard from the west. And the front (clouds) didn't clear till at least 11am. But afterwards it was sunny and warm.
Have I mentioned lately how effective and fun fishing the float rig is?
I had a blast.
And if it can't be caught on the float rig, it ain't worth catching.
But I catch it all on the float-rig.....so whats that mean?
It means, do I ever need to do anything else? NOPE.
I was watching a boat full of guys today, just casting out and sitting there like bumps on a log. And I was 200 yards away up in my shallow spot waxing the fish. I never saw them catch a thing. Too bad they don't know the ways of the float, and how to fish it. Then, I had a Kayaker come near, as I caught at least 5 fish insight of him. Never saw him get a bite. Why are the Kayakers fishing where the birds are wading? If the birds are wading around your Kayak, I think the fish maybe in a tad deeper water.
Wanna learn the tides, the currents, and the structure.....book a charter with the Float-Freak and you'll learn more than you will on your own in two years worth of poking around weekend after weekend staring at your rod tip.

Wednesday, February 21, 2007

2/20/07 - Media General Corp. group charter

I WISH I TOOK A FEW PICTURES....sorry they had me running, and time was of the essence so I never got around to it.

But, I had a 4 boat 13-16 passenger trip that headed out Tuesday. It was in the planning since back in October before I even got my new boat.

BIG problems though, as usual. NO LIVE SHRIMP were to be had. Except on my boat, because I run a shrimp farm in my live well most of the time.
With the weekends cold cold weather no shrimp could be caught, so a few of the boats had to just "wing-it". And go with mud Minnows or dead shrimp.

I know I had plenty so a few of the big-wigs jumped on my boat, for a 1/2 day of float rigging.
They told me, "Dave, we have a big pot going for largest fish...so put us on them."

Just what ya wanna on a February charter huh? So I was under the gun.

On the first spot, and only spot I had that would produce "I.G." - instantaneous Gratification", we were on Trout the first drift of the float!
Then came a few more. For I think it was (3) 17-19 inchers.
Then a few pup reds, and then a 29", 8.5 pound Redbass.

I said, "Here's your winning fish!" As one of the guys took 15 minutes to get it to the boat.
(the fella who hooked into it wasn't by now means a Roland Martin type fisherman)

And then I think we picked up another small pup red again...and that was it. This spot was OVER and DONE with.

But what did we have yesterday?? The lowest tide of damn near all of 2006 and 2007.
The ICW was 10' deep in the middle, the creeks went dry, and by the time we left out of where we were, the tide was so low I couldn't go anywhere else in a creek, or if I went in the river the current was so strong we couldn't fish.

So we spent our nickle on that one spot.

One other boat did really well tossing jigs and Gulp and Mud Minnows, and caught Reds, Trout, and a nice fat Flounder while using the trolling motor up inside Hannah Mills area.

Now we still have no shrimp at the bait shop, No fiddler crabs, just clams....and here comes the JOSFC Sheepshead tournament this Saturday. I'm a sponsor and may or may not fish it.

But I will trade my entry for 20 dozen live shrimp...anyone??

Monday, February 19, 2007

2/19/07 - After the big Blow

That was some serious wind yesterday, huh?

Gale force gusts, in conjunction with some nice strong tides made for 'NO' water as I went over the ICW-Wonderwood Bridge and looked over the side as I always do while going and coming from B&M bait and tackle. The "ditch" was dry! A heavy duty west wind and a very low tide, made for some big time exposed shoreline.

I had to hurry up and get to B&M because I no sooner get home and had to pro-cure bait for a Monday charter, that I booked while walking the Miami Beach Convention Center halls, with Sam Kennedy who called and wanted to go fishing with 3 of his buddies.

The rush to B&M bait and tackle was because when there's seriously cold (hard Freeze type weather) You can bet there was NO live shrimp delivery in days. The shrimp just bury up, and no one catch's any. So I hoofed it quickly over there to get some for Today's charter and Tuesdays charter. I have keeping them warm, comfortable and alive for days down pat, thru obvious trial and error of many years. My secret "a heating pad"....yep, the same thing you may use on a bum knee, with a good slathering of BenGay.

And ya'll think, us fishing guides just go get bait, because it's always plentiful and just show up to go fishing in the morning huh? Naw....it's far from that many days in the "deep" winter. Babying bait, rushing to get bait before it's all gone, having a really tight relationship with the manager of the bait shop, and getting up at 3am to check on them is all things I have to do. And I did a lot of it last spring when no one was catching many shrimp. And then there's those holiday weekends and live shrimp are scarce, and people call and have no idea what hoops I have toi jump thru to make sure we have bait to use. But all that is another story.

Today, after yesterdays huge blow. And not fishing since last Thursday. I couldn't believe how fast the tide moved out today. I picked up Sam and three of his buddies at 11:30am to fish the falling tide all day.

And we float rig fished to start. And one spot produced...even though the tide was great. Low tide in the late part of the afternoon, perfect timing for a chilly day.

We caught a bunch of what you see in the picture. Small "pup" reds. And them had a double header of a pupper and a 23 incher. Our only keeper fish of the day.
I tried some clams at the jetties and just plain bottom fished. Good ole Bait-N-Wait fishing.
B-O-R-I-N-G...as hell. And the 4 guys aboard would agree. We had a few "pecks" but no Sheepshead which was the target species. So we stayed at the jetties and went back to Float Rig fishing and caught way too many small bluefish. (We never got any brown water)

It wasn't the festival I was wanting, of course. But on a short notice trip, and me not knowing what the deal would be, we did okay and caught a few fish, most were just very small.

Now, tomarrow it's a company group charter, 4 boats.

Man was it a beautiful day today though, it remained cool, but the wind went away, and the sun was nice and bright.....the waters still very cold though.

Sunday, February 18, 2007

2/16-2/18 - MIAMI'S SOUTH BEACH





MIAMI INTERNATIONAL BOAT SHOW - If you've never been there, and you like "water-sports" you just don't know what you are missing. The largest boat show on Earth....and held in maybe the 2nd CRAZIEST place on Earth. Miami's South Beach. (First CRAZIEST place I'm assuming is New York City.)

You can read more about it on my web sites NEWS PAGE. Just click on the home page link here on the BLOG page and then go to NEWS.

Tuesday, February 13, 2007

2/13 - Something was goofy....




I don't know what the deal was today other than not having a strong tide, but either way something was goofy. (YEAH, LIKE THIS WACKO WEATHER!!)
But I went to my go skinny water spots and had to wait forever for the tide to move, I was there before the sun was up again. I cannot find any good action on an incoming tide. So all measures are taken to fish just falling water.
But, I did catch some fish. And that's a good thing. Just wanted some bigger Redbass really, instead I got a bunch of lil' pupper reds,a 20" Red and this 23 incher. Some small Trout, (I've been avoiding them) and 3 small 7-stripers from my go to Sheepshead spot in the I.C.W.
Fished from 6:30- 12:30. And even went down river to try my big time Trout and large Redbass on the float-rig spot, and it was dead.
The cloudiness made it feel funky, for some reason today. Maybe it was just me.
I wish the weather would make up it's mind. Like my buddy D.O.A. Rob says; "I love those really cold mornings up in the creeks, they really bite for me then" , I have to agree. The warm-cold-warm-cold thing isn't for me either. I can take the cold. I'm not in love with it, but I am when the fish are chewing.
And it's really funny or actually sad for me. The minute I go to make plans for heading to the Miami Boat Show, I get calls galore for that same weekend. This month has been dead as hell, so I figure get out of dodge for a few days, it'll shorten the closed Trout season if I'm not here thinking about them. Then as far as today, I've had a total of 6 calls for either this Friday, Saturday or Sunday, when I'll be in Miami!!!!! The one thing that's making me feel okay is that the weather here this weekend is gonna be for crap, with high winds and cold. So if anyone can take all these people out, "It's gonna be very challenging to say the least!"
I do not get a single vacation in three years, and when I do make plans to be gone for 3 days everyone wants to go those same 3 days out of a whopping 28.
I cannot figure the "public" out, and I never will.
I'm over and out till Tuesday of next week. Then is when I have a 4 boat company charter heading out for a 1/2 day trip 12-5pm.
I hope all my "homework" pays off.
I plan on having them catch Reds, Trout, Flounder and Sheepshead, but will be happy with 2 out of the 4 species.

Sunday, February 11, 2007

2/11 - Early bird gets a lot of FISH!






Ya gotta get up pretty damn early to beat this "4 minute kid" to the bait shop! 4 minute kid, because that's how long it takes me to get some live shrimp at the bait shop from my drive way, and then another 4 minutes to get to the boat ramp.
So when I'm on a mission......look out, I'm there!
I was on my spot at 0630 hrs. before the sun came up. Ready, and armed.
Yeah, another beautiful morning. And I had to go solo, because no one wants to go. I think next January and February I'll just go get a "real" j-o-b, like the rest of the world. Because as far as everyone thinks. The world just halts, because it's winter..."and that's total bull!" The world doesn't stop, it just keeps going. And the tough get going, because if ya wanna catch some fish, you better be tough. I've got zero tolerance for winter whiners.
As you can see from my self portraits, if you wanted any falling tide, you'd have to be on the spot before sun up. AND I WAS! It was cold, too. But I had new rods to try out. 8'3" Bad-azz G.LOOMIS Greenwater series rods. Remember, I said I was going l-0-n-g-e-r?????
We'll I did. And will now also have clients using longer 7'6" Greenwaters, rather than 7 footers.
Yes, 6 inches makes a lot of difference!
Low tide came early. And this is the only time I can catch anything worth going.
I tried the incoming tide 3 times earlier in the week. And didn't report on it because I had zero to report about! It's R&D, and let me tell ya'...If you wanna fish on an incoming tide, so be it. But YOU picked the day, not me. FALLING TIDE, IS IT RIGHT NOW, period.
Float fishing 4 feet of water. First drift of my float-Flounder. Second drift of my float - Redfish, Third drift of my float-BIGGER Redfish, Forth drift of my float-Speckled Trout. You get the picture. It was a riot.
Ended up with:
9 -Reds to 28"
1-Flounder 15"
7-Speckled Trout (had a limit of 5 easily)
1-Sheepshead 5 pounds
7-Yellowmouth Trout all 15"
I can go in such shallow water with my 26' boat, I'm amazed. If you really think an aluminum (plate alloy) boat is some kind of odd-ball boat, call me. I'll show ya. This is the best boat for my kind of fishing there possibly is. Super rough deep water to shallow. I can do it all. Think twice before you go out and shop for one of those "look-alike Euro Clorox bottles" the next time you want to upgrade. This baby is all fishing, any where you need to go. I'm loving it!

(Rest of the pics on my recent catch photo pages on my web site)

Sunday, February 4, 2007

2/4- SUPER FISH SUNDAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!





WHERE WERE YOU?
Today, was a beautiful Sunday with low winds, blue skies, and yes it was cold...but real fisherman, don't really care.
I'm obviously tougher then a lot of you. More dedicated, yeah that's obvious.
I'm so hard core, wives hate me, and their husbands get defensive. Because I'm a bad influence on their domesticated husbands.
I used to make them wish they were in my shoes. Talk them into going fishing too much, spend too much money, and stay out too long. Yes, I'm a bad influence, so keep away if you want to stay married.
But I don't do that any more. I just go alone, I don't talk to many of these men much anymore. I do whatever I want when I want and don't have to share a phenomenal bite, like I had today with anyone.
Or was it because there was a foot ball game on, this evening? The water was nearly vacant? Or was it because it was cold this morning?
For what ever reason.........THANK YOU for staying home. Because I had a great day.
Today was a nearly perfect tidal day.
High Tide: 4.4 feet @ 10:05 Mayport
Low Tide: -0.3 @ 4:00 Mayport.
What's that make the tide height? A 4.7'.....just perfect! The wind, no concern at all. And the JEA plant smoke stacks? They were straight up, almost all day long. The cold? Well, it really wasn't all that bad.
First stop was up in a creek, and before the boat settled tight on the anchor I had 5 small reds and 5 small trout off a Oyster bar, using of course the float rig. That was on the last of the incoming tide. And I actually left because I just wanted to make sure they were there, for future reference. So I picked up and left.
I won't go thru each and ever move I made, but I'll tell ya I never fished in any water deeper than 4.5 feet all day long, no matter what the tide was. At one point I was in 2.5 feet of water, catching one Flounder after another fishing double Floats. The tide was easing along so perfectly. I cast out two float rigs and have them drift off the starboard side of the boat at the same time and just watched them drift on a slack line, till one of them went under.
Later, I caught a bunch more Reds in a hole, literally a hole or a pocket in a sandy bottom with a shell bar adjacent and behind it. I spent the whole rest of the day at the second area I went to.
It's a "way" of fishing actually. I refer to it as "tracking". Go to one spot, catch some fish, and when they stop biting, move 50, 75 or only a 100 feet to the next "likely" spot they'd be at.
This system works for me so well, it's absolutely incredible. Don't run around, especially if you found fish in an area. If they stop biting it's most likely they moved with the tide. (they do that ya' know??)
I arrived on the second spot I went too, at high tide. And by low tide between 4-6 hrs later, I was only 500 feet away from where I started. (I hope you caught that... because I'm giving away Pearls here.....)
This way of Float rig fishing insures you're learning the area, the way the water moves, the way the currents flow, it's subtleties, and with that it's usually the way the fish move too. Just do it. You'll be so surprised.
Today's catch was so good I started a tally on a piece of paper, to keep it all straight.
Redfish- 15 (Largest were 30", 28", 21". The rest were pups.)
Flounder - 7 (in a row, fishing double float-rigs.)
Trout - 12 (not even trying for them, could have had a nice limit from 18" to 20")
Sheepshead - 1 ( fought a 5 pounder class one all the way to the boat, then it got off the hook.)
It was another "Super Fish Sunday". Just like many other's I've had on Super Bowl Sunday's.
I thank the usual masses of weekenders for being (you know). Or more kindly discribed as..."being fair weather fishermen", and staying home.
My favorite game is played on the Fluid turf, in a big alloy plate platform, that I have found goes unbelievably shallow! And I even had 100 gallons of gas in her.
(rest of the photos are on my recent catch pages #6)

Saturday, February 3, 2007

2/3 - some tackle history...FYI




Always facinated by the dog-eat-dog world of the fishing tackle industry. I have an interest in the how's and why's of the G. Loomis company.
(I'd actually love to take a vacation and go to Woodland, Washington to the factory. And while there fish for Steelhead or Salmon on the local rivers. Ya' know they "float-fish" up there for those species! Plus hit Marysville, Washington where my 26' BlackLab Marine boat boat was built.)

I first became a Pro staff or Guide Program member for G. Loomis Rods about 5-6 years ago.
I remember always wanting a set of Loomis rods, when I was much younger. Because, G. Loomis for me was always thought of as an innovative company making high quality rods for specific anglers need. For specific fish, in specific places, for a demending angler.
Well, G. Loomis is celebrating it's 25th anniversary.

Here's a bit of history by Bruce Holt, who's been with the company since the beginning.

Gary Loomis has always been and will always be an avid outdoorsman. He is a unique individual. He is passionate, driven, opinionated and strong-willed. He is one of those individuals that hits the floor running and never slows down.Several years ago, he had a dream. He wanted to make the best ultra-light steelhead rod that money could buy and nobody in the world made anything close. As time went by, he refined his techniques and his rods and the next thing you know he started building blanks. Within a year or so, he started a blank company (Loomis Composites, Inc.) and a few years later, following a short hiatus from the fishing industry, he started making rod blanks under his own label...G.Loomis, Inc. That was January of 1982 and today, G.Loomis is recognized as one of the leaders in the fishing rod business, making very technical, high performance graphite rods for bass, walleye, trout, salmon, steelhead, bonefish, tarpon, redfish...well, you get the picture. In May of 1997, Shimano American Corporation purchased the company from Gary and today, it's bigger and better than ever. Gary still has an office here at the factory where he not-so-quietly takes on salmon fisheries issues © Copyright 2007 G Loomis, All Rights Reserved
With that said. BUY THE BEST EQUIPMENT YOU CAN AFFORD! At this point, it should be pretty clear that cutting corners on your equipment will ultimately be reflected in the number of fish you hook and land. Plain and simple, fishing garbage gear will cost you fish! Pay attention to detail, eliminate every controllable variable, and most importantly, buy the very best equipment that you can afford. As technology rockets forward at break-neck speed, most of us “average Joes” will quickly come to realize that constantly upgrading our fishing equipment is just not economically feasible. So where do you draw the line? Before parting with my hard earned cash, I like to ask myself one simple question: “does this purchase have the potential to either enhance my equipments performance or raise my confidence level?” If the answer is a resounding “yes,” then I think its money well spent. Without a doubt, the equipment advantage is one of the fastest and easiest ways to improve your Trout, Flounder and Redfish or (what ever species) success rate! 2007 G. oomis all rights reserved

And believe me when I tell you. That I have friends that didn't always have the highest grade of tackle. And they caught plenty of fish. Now, as they have progressed. You ought to see what they catch thier fish with now. One of those guys that comes to mind is my buddy, nick-named "DOA Rob", (that's him up there at the top of the page in his Bad-azz Hobie Kayak). He has a nice boat, a wow-factor Hobie Kayak, and now some serious tackle. And this guy has specialty tackle for fishing his favorite lure of all, a 1/4oz. DOA shrimp. Now that's what I'm talking about! Once you figure out what works best for you, and your favorite kind of fishing, go ahead and make the upgrade. And that's where Loomis rods come into play.

And that's why you'll use all G.Loomis rods when aboard my boat, because I want you to have the best performing equipment, and the highest confidence level. Because, you can float fish with anything. But then there's specialized float fishing tackle, that'll never let you down.

Friday, February 2, 2007

2/2 - Bored to tears...large enough to surf. Cyber surf that is.

Well the weather screwed me!!!!
Had a charter call yesterday, for today.....(gotta love the late notice crowd) Yeah there was loads of planning going into that trip, huh?

It was blowing 25 knots yesterday and I looked at the weather that morning and today it was supposed to blow hard too. So I said to the guy, "I think the winds gonna be way to strong", but now of course it isn't.

So I was sitting surfing the web. And checked out Yahoo, to see my listing. Then, found where I come up in the search listings. Then saw a tab for "more information" so I clicked on it.

Soooooo, this is where people get all that old stuff from. I recieve calls all the time where people tell me they are looking at my web site and telling me that they see _____. When that stuff hasn't been on my web site in 8 years!!!

I'm not all that search engine savvy, but now I get it. And either is half the callers I get.
They click on anything that moves, obviously.

Well, I found VERY old archived pages of my web site. Now remember, I've had a web site before there was Google and Yahoo. My dad (35 years in the computer field) started me a one page web site, the minute the Internet was public. When was that....over 10 years ago??
Now look at the world wide web, huh?
I always say, "I had a web page back when web pages weren't cool!"

So of course I have many, many generations of web pages out there floating in cyber space.

That explains the "what are you looking at.....?" reaction you'll get from me when I hear your looking at a page from 10 years ago. Which today is ANCIENT history.

You may or may not notice I change things on my web site almost weekly. "I had a good teacher". I go in and tweek pages all the time.

But I found these from surfing around on Yahoo:
http://www.captdaves.com/Article.htm

You may find this a bunch or crappola, or interesting educational reading, as many did back in the day. But yes, I did have a complete articles page for a while. Because I did 6 years worth of monthly columns for the Jacksonville Fisherman Magazine. That's a lot of fishing stories.

That seems like a life time ago, now. When even the charter biz in Jacksonville seemed different. And I had such a "following readership" also. I guess the Internet kind of sterilized that kind of relationship between readers and writers. Now, there's too much out there. But still, here I am!
Cooking along, as a survivor.

Rusty, owner of B&M bait and tackle keeps asking me when I'm going to do a Newspaper article again, like in the Beaches Leader Newspaper. I tell him no one bothers to ask, and like the military it's all political, I'm sure. Plus, since my literary mentor is Tred Barta (back page of Sport Fishing Magazine, and author of The best and worst of Tred Barta, and host of his own TV show)

I may not always tell it the way people want to hear it either.....like Tred.
I'm an opinionated SOB, just like him.