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Changes and a 2011 Fly Fishinig Tournament in Tampa Florida Feb 26th
11.29.2010
The other day I was talking to a friend of mine about getting more people to take an interesting Salt water fly fishing. Not that I’m the greatest fly fisherman of all times or anything but I think it’s pretty cool and I wanted to share it with people.
Except in small circles, It just seemed like you don’t hear much about it anymore. The perception seems to be the guys that are really good at fly fishing and looked up to comes across as non approachable and at times arrogant. The basic thought is, unless you’re paying them $600/day to push you around they really don’t have much time for you.
Now as the conversation goes on, he says to me, “Well, typing stuff on the internet ain’t gonna do anything.”
Of course my instant response was a defensive one. I think I said something like “well what have you done?!”. Of course the answer was silent. Even though he makes his money in the fishing industry, he’s really hasn’t done anything. Nope, not even typing useless information on the internet.
The irony of all this is that typing stuff on the internet does make a difference after all. As hard headed as the fishing industry is to embraced technology they can’t deny the fact that more and more interest is generated via the internet at an astounding pace.
I’m pretty sure I am not the only one here. Even if I were to look to buy the item from a local store, I know if I’m buying something, the first place I research is Google. I read all the good/bad reviews that is out there and make up my own decisions.
Example: Saltyshores.com get tons of hits daily from people searching for GLoomis NRX Flyrods and Minnkota Talon
Google those items. Besides the actual manufacture themselves, Saltyshores is #1 #2 or #3 and in many cases all of them. These are people researching their buying decision and the first place they hit is Saltyshores.com. They are reading the articles, checking out all the photos and videos about a product they are interested in, ala getting their “first impression”.
As a manufactures all they really want to know is are they or are they not interested in buying my products? I say if they have the slightest interest they will be researching it on Google first. They get their first impressions via whatever they come across weather it be Saltyshores or another review.
You know what they say, “First impression is many times the last impression.” I guess this is why companies pay combined billions to show up on Googles first pages. And here I am doing it for essentially free go figure. 
So in a way, typing stuff on the internet does change things after all.
Speaking of making a difference. There sure is a lots of chefs in the kitchen but not many cooks. 
Saltyshores 2011 Fly fishing tournament Feb 26th 2011
We are putting together a Fly fishing tournament for 2011. I have ran fishing tournaments in the past with 150+ entrants before so I know it’s never too early to start planning these things.
The date will be Feb 26th 2011, the weekend after the Miami Boat show.(if this works out we will be putting together a tarpon fly tournament as well)
This may change but as of right now it will be in the Tampa area.
- Photo released 2 red fish 1 trout
- A Calcutta for the most spot on a red fish
I already have commitments from some manufacturer and shops. Yes the raffle is gonna be awesome for this tournament.
More rules and information in the days to follow at the fly fishing tab on the menu bar.
Photo tips interview with Bob from South West Florida Outdoors
11.29.2010
A couple months ago I shot some photos of Bob’s grand daughter Taylor for her start in the modeling world. Bob who runs Southwest Florida Outdoors a fishing TV show, took the opportunity to do a little interview with me about fishing photography. A shorter version will appear on his TV show soon.
He did a nice editing job considering we did not have a green screen to work with.
I don’t consider myself an expert by any means but I did my best to explain what I know. Hope it is helpful to some of you.
In the video I cover
SLR and DSLR
Polarized filters
Composition
Photoshop Elements 9.0 for $40
Adorama has Photoshop Elements 9.0 for $40, (not in stock but you can order and get it when it comes in).
Here is the link”: http://www.adorama.com/ABPSE9WM.html
Buoy Bassin’
Went on a quick trip out of Port Canaveral with my brother, his dog Romeo and our friend David. Winds were expected to pick up about 20mph in the afternoon so we decided to stay close around the buoy line and target the tasty Trpiletail (aka Buoy Bass) because we knew it was going to get a little rough for the 22ft Pathfinder Tournament Edition. With the short amount of time that we had to fish, we hooked 5 Tripletail, landed 3 and 2 were keeper size. We saw plenty of fish on buoys and floating debris that we found.
At one point we had a Cobia pop up on us. My brother grabbed a Cobia jig and casted at it, the fish chased the jig down but did not take it then disappeared. About 10 minutes later, it resurfaced for a second and disappeared again. My brother then tips the Cobia jig with a whole squid that was intended for bottom fishing that day and sent the jig down to the bottom in about 45ft of water. Starting to jig it back up, he gets the “thump” and amazingly the Cobia had found the scent of the squid tipped jig and the battle was on! After we landed the Cobia, the wind picked up as expected and we called it a day. The Cobia weighed in at 48lbs on the scale.
If you would like to catch some Tripletail, now is a good time to give me a call while the fish are still out there. You may also get that bonus Cobia along with plenty of Bluefish and Spanish Mackeral.
-Capt. Willy Le
www.nativeflycharters.com
321-303-7805
Snail on a Gloomy Day
11.27.2010
It’s overcast drizzly and raining today so getting some more things done around the house. I haven’t been fishing in quite some times but that’s ok I’m actually getting a few things done that needed to be done.
This morning as I walk the dog I came across this little snail on top of the mail box. It was still of dark out so I took him inside and kept him on a wet leaf until it got light out so I could take some photos of the little guy.
Not sure what kind of snail this is but I thought it was pretty cool. He was pretty cooperative and was moving around a bit. I took the opportunity to shoot a quick video.
He was released into the bushes unharmed 5 minutes later.
Video Note: I made the video more dramatic by enhancing the contrast and adding music. All that is missing is a voice over of how the snail struggles to find shade and you got yourself a animal planet show.
Stocking Stuffers and 2010 Black Friday Sale for fisherman
Vero Back Country in Vero, Fl
www.verobackcountry.com
Apparel: These are the guys that are having sales for Black Friday
Breathe Like A Fish
-Free Shipping til Christmas no codes needed
-Pink BLAF’s are now available
Skinny Water Culture
Code “Blackdrum”
-35% “Black Friday” Sale
I Hunt Fish
Use promo code: “holidays”
take $10 off ANY shirt
also Free shipping on orders of $50 or more
RedZone Apparel
Free Shipping
Through this weekend spend $100.00 get a $25.00 gift certificate, $250.00 get a $50.00 gift certificate and $500.00 get a $100.00 gift certificate!
My Favorite underwear is on Sale amongst other Exofficio things. 25% off at:
Exoffio
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If you are looking for an inexpensive Stocking Stuffer here is one good idea that fits most everyone’s needs for about $12.00. Well anyone that wears glasses that is. I have shown these to many fisherman. I don’t know many that does not like them.
I have been testing out the Croakies Arc for the past couple months. I have been using the ARC on and off the water pretty much every day I needed glasses.
Essentially it’s a glasses strap. what makes it different is that it stays off your head/neck. It’s is plastic coated steel so it does not absorb moisture/sweat and stink up after a while. Since it is stiff, when running in a boat it doesn’t flop around either.
The Arc, comes with two connectors, so you can use them on different pairs of glasses(thin frame reading glasses and larger frame sunglasses). The strap itself snaps on and off with a little sideways pressure. The Arc concept also allows you to change the pivot of the strap relative to your comfort level and glasses frame.
So far the durability in the salt water and sun has been excellent.
I don’t know any retail store that has them but any shops that carry Croakies product should have or can get them. You can also get them online: http://www.croakies.com/Products.aspx?cat=ARC
Bait Ball Video, Marlin, dorado, whales, seals feeding on bait
11.25.2010
My friend Drew put this up on his Facebook page the other day. The footage is awesome, I had to share it. Makes me want to be in there taking photos. Good find Drew!
Things to say…
When I was looking up the world record distance fly casting I constantly came across people making comments about the video or the news of the record etc. About 50 percent of comments goes something like this.
“why would anyone want to cast that far? ”
“I can’t even see fish that far, why would I bother casting that far?”
“he has to use special equipment”
“useless skills…”
and so on.
Well I guess they have a point, but you could use that argument for just about anything competitive.
Nascar – “why would I want to make only left turns and go that fast all the time..?”
Football – “why would I wear all those padding and run across the grass.. that’s just childish. Besides it’s too hot outside.”
UFC/Boxing – “Why would I go in the ring and fight people? I would never do that in real life.”(most of you anyways)
Skate boarding – “All those crazy tricks and jumping, flipping. You could get hurt doing that…. ”
Cycling – ” Why ride a bike up all those dam hills? You could just take a taxi”
Dancing – “All the gyrating, wasting energy. That’s just silly stuff.”
fishing – “Why go waste time and money all day looking for fish. Then when you catch one you let it go anyways.. total waste of time!”
Thanksgiving – “Why cook all this stuff? The mess would just be crazy. Cleaning up would take forever. Besides dealing with all those family members will be a nightmare.. ”
Bottom line is.. There will always be haters and you can not please everyone.
Live your life and have a good Thanksgiving.
World Record Distance Fly Casting of 243 feet and the Big Gun Shoot out by Richard Traugott
11.25.2010
2010 Big Gun Shootout by Richard Traugott
Fly fishing event put together by the Tampa Fly Fishing Club
The big gun shootout is an event hosted by the Tampa Fly Anglers Club every year to test casting skills. It is comprised of 6 stations worth 100 points each, for a max score of 600 points. The nice part is each station is timed, but you can do the stations in any order that you wanted. I used 2 rods during the event, an older 9ft Pro1 8wt w/ Triangle Taper WF8F/S line. The second rod was an 8wt BVK with Rio Bonefish Taper. Everyone at the event was issues a 6ft leader and pink yarn.
Station 1 was the Hanson Cup. Personally I think this was the hardest station of all. It is a cup set in a wood box about 30ft away. Every time you put the fly in the cup it is worth 20 points. You have 30 seconds to put the fly in the cup 5 times. I got to practice it a couple times and put the fly in the cup, but when it came time to make it count… I got a ZERO. Not the best way to start out the competition at all.
Station 2 was called Under the Mangroves. It’s a PVC frame that is about 2ftx3ft, and 2ft deep. You had to put it in the hole, and about 2ft back for it to count. There were distance lines set up at 30,35,40,45, and 50ft. Each distance was 20 points and you had to complete one before moving to the next further distance. I think timing was 90 or 120 seconds. I was very optimistic about this because this is what I had been doing fishing for Snook on the dock lights with good success. I was able to get the 45ft cast but could not convert on the 50ft’er. 80 points for the station.
Station 3 was Accuracy over Distance. Basically it was the same set up as Under the Mangroves but it was a fish with a wooden “V” in front of it. The only thing was that you could only put your leader in the V, and not your fly line. It was a little difficult because the issued leader was only 6ft and a slight cross wind cast. The BVK with the Bonefish taper really helped out with this one. I was able to get the 45ft cast, but ran out of time on the 50ft’er. 80 points
Station 4 had to be my favorite. It was a hula hoop on a PVC frame about chest high. From a distance about 35ft you had to put a loop through the hoop, and you fly had to land at least 20ft from the base of the hoop. So it’s a 50ft cast through a hula hoop! If you fly only made it 10ft through the hoop they would keep running the timer until your cast totaled 20ft. I managed to do it in 14 seconds, not to shabby! That was until I heard that someone else did it in 8 seconds.
Station 5 was the standard Hula Hoops on the ground. There were 3 hula hoops between 30 and 50ft away. They were placed at 9, 12, and 3 O’clock so you had to make at least one cross wind cast. There was a Frisbee in the middle of the hula hoop. If you landed in the hula hoop it was worth 20 points, and the frisbee was worth 25 points. After you made the 3 hula hoops you had to make an off handed cast, or a back handed cast (over opposite shoulder) I was able to get 3 frisbee’s but I got caught on my cross wind cast. 95 points.
Station 6 was the Big Gun. It was a 100ft cast using the same rod as everyone else. A Sage 8wt with SA distance line. You were allowed to have a couple practice cast, but one you were ready you only had 3 chances. A 100ft cast qualifies you for “The Big Gun Shootout” where the top 8 casters go in for the longest cast. I got to practice with the BVK and was able to get it into the backing so I figured that I was a sure thing for the 100ft cast. I made my 3 cast and was only able to managed in the 80ft range. 100ft is a lot farther than you think it is! I would encourage everyone that says then can make a 100ft cast to go out and measure next time you try! Casting into the backing is not 100ft like I thought. Even if I did managed to qualify there was no way I was going to be able to hang with the top 8. Dave Olson won it with a 138ft cast. It was pure art to watch these guys casting and carrying 70+ft of line in the air!
Richard Traugott
Here is a small clip of all the stations.
SA mastery Distance Taper
Speaking of long distance fly casting, naturally I had to look up what the world record is.
Using special fly line and rod the World Record Stands at 243′ by Steve Rajeff, good lord.
I got this from the American Casting Association website.
1-Hand Fly Distance |
||
| Division | Caster(s) | |
| Men | 243 feet | Steve Rajeff |
| Senior Men | 180 feet | Ed Lanser, Zack Willson |
| Women | 125 feet | Pamela Peters |
| Intermediates | 151 feet | Dustin Revel |
Here is a video clip of Steve casting using regular fly line and rod indoors. I believe he got 120′+.
Flint Creek Outfitter 30 second commercial
11.24.2010
The last couple days I’ve been trying to complete the calendar projects and finishing up this 30 second commercial for Flint Creek Outfitters. This will be shown on the local TV channel 8 which is the local NBC affiliates. Since this was kind of a rush project there were a couple things I wanted to fix but didn’t have the time to do so.
1) there were lens flair on outdoor building shot.
2) the logos were not high res as I did not have them or had time to send correspondence. I pulled the best version off their website but they definitely could be better.
If you are Costa Del Mar, Orvis, Northface or Patagonia rep and are reading this, please send me links to the high res logo.
Video note: Editing was done using Sony Vegas 10. This version of Vegas deals with DSLR footage much better than older versions. The fly fishing footage was was shot with the Nikon D300s. The hiking shot was a stock footage I bought from istock photos.
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