FISH CATCHING TRAVEL

“SAVE OUR WATERS”

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The Wade Right Fishing Belt

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The Best Wading System on the  planet

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Talk about getting excited, I am in full mania for our trip to Colorado at the end of the November.  With the Boss very interested in fly fishing we are off on another great adventure.  We will be staying at a cool resort next to Estes Park and I can not wait.  Besides tons of animals, viewing and chasing them in the mountains has become one of our real joys, it has some of the best trout fishing in America.  Since the weather could be sketchy we have not made a specific reservation, but we will be fishing with a guide.

As part of that we bought our first freshwater fly combo, an Orvis outfit specifically for beginners, which we both are.  The trips we are looking at provide everything but I want her to have her own stuff to allow her to be consistent as she learns.  And part of introducing someone to any type of fishing is results, and our last trip with a guide sure peaked her interest.  If she continues to like it there will be many more trips to come.

We are looking at private waters known for consistent fishing, and also for big trout.  Over 25 years in Arkansas on the White and North Fork I have caught my share of rainbows and the occasional nice brown, but not fly fishing.  My few experiences make me nothing more than a rank amateur at best, so it is also nice to expand my fishing experience.  I have never wanted to be a one trick pony and this is just a natural progression.  Of course catching fish is the plan, but for me developing a hobby that we can share in our travels is the real goal.

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The new Knockin Tail Lures are coming soon.  Now I am really excited.

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I heard from SA Joe after my guide encounter the other day.

Doug,
Did that guide work for a bigger company or himself? Can you report people like that?
ALways enjoy being anchored and someone blast past, even the no-wake zones at the boat ramp. Happened to me on caleveras here in san antonio yesterday. Dude came in moving some wake at the boat ramp, make all the boats bounce…UGHHH…

Not sure if he works for any particular company or fishing service, but trust me many do not give a crap about you.  This has happened to me so many times at POC I have lost count.  Guess I will start keeping the camera really ready to take a quick pic.  There is no excuse for this behavior and calling him an asshole is no disrespect to assholes, but his behavior reflects on all guides.

Time for a real licensing procedure for guide licenses instead of just a test.  Once the Coast Guard relinquished the test to private contractors things have gone downhill.  Think about it, you pay $1000 to take a private course, how long would they be in business if folks did not “pass” the test?  I would also suggest that all licensed guides should have their  license numbers clearly posted on the boat.  Like all things, if you have nothing to hide what is the problem?  Worried about the public knowing who you are, your objection to that is what?  My guess your complaint would be folks potlicking on “your” private spots on “your” water.  That is the very attitude that drives the problem.  I acknowledge the problem is real for guides, but it just comes with the territory, it always has and always will.

This type of behavior will end up leading to increasing regulation since the profession is unwilling to police itself.  But there are a few sensible regulations needed to protect the customers. Including inspection for all boats for hire, no matter the water, and flotation devices on all customers when on plane.  And before you get your panties in a wad I guided for 20 years on 2 major lakes and on one of the most famous trout waters in the world, so been there done that.  I feel very fortunate that my past behavior did not result in trouble.  If I were guiding today I would be happy to live under these rules, it would not only help the quality of the profession but would actually help protect guides from legal liability.

Trust me, sneaky attorneys will be looking for ways to make your life miserable when something happens.  Think about this for a minute.  Someone is hurt or killed on your boat and you are on the stand and the attorney asks the following questions:  You are a professional guide correct?  And your boat can run 70mph on the water, correct?  Are you aware you can roller skate on water at 60mph?  Sounds like it makes the water pretty hard doesn’t it?  (Remember they already have your read out of the RPM when the accident happened through discovery.)  And of course you know that all respected authorities on boating recommend that everyone on board wear a life jacket while operating?  So could you tell this jury why in your infinite wisdom you decided to flaunt this most basic life saving rule by running 60 mph with your paid customers and not having them wearing the most basic piece of life saving equipment?  Hell I just thought up that line of questioning in 5 minutes.  Imagine what he will do to you with 6 months to prepare.  It would be ugly.

Think it could not happen to you, or always happens to the other guy?  Well keep deluding yourself, shit does not just happen to that other guy.  When the Boss and I were paramedics we fished guys out of trees 20 foot up the bank, folks with hypothermia out of the river, seen a friend almost lose her legs when hit by a prop, and the list goes on.  Why you would not want to protect your clients, yourself, and your assets, is beyond me.  You want to be considered a professional, time to act like it.  The good old days of the crusty guide rowing a metal boat around are long gone.

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And to illustrate what you need to request when buying a high dollar used boat this is it.  And also what the attorney will request when you have an accident.  They will be looking for a pattern of operation.

Nothing lets you know what, and how, a boat has been used than this readout, which is available on any late model engine.  Along with the maintenance records you can make an intelligent decision when buying a used boat.  If they can not provide, or are unwilling, to provide this information run away.  It is your money.

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One of the things that increasingly concerns me is the declining water quality all over the country.  If your love fishing and are not concerned time to do a little learning.  So I will be blogging some about the problem, it is real.  And what happened recently in our area is a perfect example.  One of the local plants was found liable for dumping plastics into our bay.  Once found liable they were fined millions.  The problem with that, the money is a drop in the bucket to them.  Time to not only fine those who intentionally pollute, but to demand a complete clean up of the pollution no matter the cost.  And if it was intentional and knowing to criminally prosecute.  Think that is to harsh?  Look at it this way.  A septic company dumps a tank in your yard, then the company pays a fine to the state, and is told don’t do it again but does not require a complete and thorough clean up.  You would be ok with that?  Sure you would.  It is the same thing. And after I wrote this I found this post from Flip Pallot.

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Here is the words of one of the greatest saltwater anglers alive.  In fact the guy who stirred my saltwater fishing urge.  It still gives me chills to think about the intro to Walkers Cay Chronicles.  His post does not just apply to the Everglades but to water quality all over this country.  (And if you fish the salt and do not know who he is use that iPhone for something, he is the man.)

Flip Pallot Laments The Loss of The Everglades As We Know It.

HOW SAD WHAT THE MALPRACTICE BY OUR LEADERS HAS DONE TO NATURAL FLORIDA IN OUR LIFETIME AND CONTINUES TO THIS DAY

My name is Flip Pallot and I write in response to having read your Miami Herald piece on python invasion…I was born and raised, as were my parents, in South Dade County. I grew up in the Everglades alongside many of its’ pioneers, or Gladesmen.

I knew the Glades intimately from Cape Sable to Alligator Alley…from west of Miami to the Gulf of Mexico…I ran airboats, polled canoes, Glade Skiffs, walked and waded the best part of my life through what was the most precious eco-system on the planet. The number of ducks, wading birds, deer, otters, hogs, bear, lions and other fur bearers was astounding and virtually remembered today by very few! The road from Florida City down through the Everglades National Park to the village of Flamingo, at the bottom of the State, was literally infested with deer, swamp rabbits, snakes, frogs, crawfish, gators, hawks, nesting turtles and crows…while the prairies on either side of the road were covered in vegetation which no longer exists. As far as the eye could see there were thousands of wading birds of every species…now all gone, their rookeries abandoned. Ride down that road for the next 100 mornings and you will not see a single deer or swamp rabbit and birds only where a very few puddles of water exist.

It’s mostly gone now, never to be restored, which has nothing at all to do with wild hog invasions, python invasions or the “Skunk Ape”. Someone should have the “Stones” to look the problem in the eye and call it what it is rather than blame the python and hog for the death of the Everglades! It’s like saying : “My eyesight is getting really bad because of my hemorrhoids”.

What the loss of every single thing in the Everglades has in common is WATER!….The lack of it when and where needed and the quality of it when it is present, is the only issue. The fact that so much of the Everglades is closed and/or inaccessible to the people who care about it and would blow the whistle on real problems does not help. Focus your attention for a moment on the dollar value of chemicals that the State and municipalities buy each year to kill unwanted aquatic vegetation.

EVERY SINGLE DAY, AROUND THE ENTIRE STATE, IN EVERY ROADSIDE DRAINAGE DITCH, EVERY LAKE, EVERY RIVER AND STREAM…VIRTUALLY EVERY BODY OF WATER IN THE ENTIRE STATE is being sprayed with herbicides…basically a generic “Round Up” manufactured by Monsanto. There is little or no science, other than that supplied by the manufacturer, dealing with its effects upon amphibians, larval stages of fish or crustaceans or the life of the chemical in marl, mud or the decomposed plant matter that it creates. All this to eliminate hydrilla, hyacinth, water lettuce and other aquatics deemed noxious by governments.

This chemical and others, surely find their way into the aquifer which underlies the State. It also finds its way into rivers, braids and sheet flow that ultimately make their way into the Everglades and other estuaries which are suffering from algae blooms and sea grass die offs and even the death of offshore coral reefs.

Follow the dollars back to the providers of these chemicals and you will understand the real nature of the problem. Add to all that, the damage done by agri-interests north of the Everglades, run-off from golf courses, private homes, public streets, effluent releases untreated for anti-biotics and steroids, the flushing of millions of toilets, the selfish manipulation of water levels in the Everglades…….and then, in prospective,……figure how much damage the python has really caused.

Hell, we should be nice to the python…he may be the last creature standing in the Everglades as that national treasure slips away!

My God….We’re doing this to ourselves!!!!!!!

I now this is long but this is exactly what has happened to many of our lakes.  It just seems counter intuitive that we have to clean and drain and wash our boats but these lakes are allowed to wantonly spray and kill the vegitation.  I call bullshit on TPWD.  As Flip says follow the money.  Why are they allowed to do whatever they want without a minute of oversite?  How much of our tax dollars are going to TPWD and they allow this to continue?  A perfect example of the failure of TPWD to protect OUR resource is the spill that killed tons of fish on Falcon, and the end result – Nothing!  And unless I am mistaken where were they with the tons of plastics puked into Lavaca Bay?   I agree with his premise, our leaders are committing malpractice.

Flip’s comments on Monsanto and the herbicide that is often used is spot on.  Where are the long term studies by independent researchers?  You trust Monsanto with our waters?  If you trust Monsanto for the health of our waters, much less everything that lives in or around it, and the health of your children, you are sadly mistaken.

I know I can rant at times but this is past that.  All of you who post your pictures, bragging about how great it is, or you are, are missing the point.  What have you done lately, or ever?  If we continue down this path you can take your $75k boat and sit in the driveway.  Time to get involved in some way.  It does not take much from each of us but if things continue like this we really will be talking about the Good Old Days.  We already have plenty of places where we can’t eat the fish, so why do wildlife departments all over this country sit on their hands?  Fish and wildlife departments are happy to tell you what and how you can fish but where are they when the very thing they regulate is harmed?  Follow the money, it is no more complicated than that.

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On a completely lighter note it was great to hear from my buddy Faye, who had a great birthday trip to POC!

Good afternoon,

I hope your trip has gone well.

We fished Monday & Tuesday. The weather was awesome, post cool front, falling tide, showers missed us and I only had the pants I wore down for the whole trip (haha, yep they were right where I left them hanging).

Monday we ended up fishing a drain off the big flat at the end of Big Bayou. It was a frenzy of undersized reds, a flounder and a trout.

Wednesday BB wasn’t hitting so we went up a drain off Saluria and fished where two channels meet and drain a large flat. It was filled with a lot of healthy young trout and apparently a huge red that screamed a lot of line out. I thought it got off but it was coming back at me only to lose it as I tightened the drag. Mixed in with the undersized trout there was a limit of keepers if we had wanted to keep them.

It was so fast that Steve just didn’t fish. He kept my line baited and caught fish removed. Nice birthday present indeed!!!!

Both places we were fishing popping cork with live shrimp. I really think they would have hit on most anything. We would pitch to the shallow flats and then slow pop it off the drop off. It was an easy 20-30 each day.

I’m already planning our next trip down in the next few weeks.

Best to you and The Boss Lady,

Steve & Faye Corrado

Happy Birthday!  Nothing like laying the smack down on them.  And nice to CPR, it does not take pictures of dead ones to define a trip.  So keep checking in, I will be fishing POC with the Austin Boys 3 days next weekend, plus a day or two on the river before they get here.  As usual great to hear from you and Steve.

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Sorry for the double rant this time but both issues are critical to our sport, and our fishing future.  I have been lucky enough to have had at it for almost 50 years  (Yikes!) and my time is short, but I care about this sport.  I want you, your kids, and grandkids to have clean water and good fishing.

The Boss and I will be back Sunday and there are a couple of fishing things I want to share but since I have not posted in a week I wanted to let you know I am alive.  First thing Monday morning I will be back on the water for what looks like 5 days at least next week.  Can’t wait to see how that cold front you all have had has helped the fishing.  I love fall fishing and intend to take full advantage of the great fishing to come.  So keep stopping in and thanks for reading my stuff.

Good Luck and Tight Lines