Salt Life Blog: 2012

Monday, November 19, 2012

Kid's Dock Tournament

Thanks to the Jacksonville Marine Association, we held another Hook the Future Kids Dock Tournament at Beach Marine. 119 families showed up early on a Saturday morning to wet a line,

and enjoy the morning together!

Connecting on the water.... That's what it's all about!

Fish after fish were being pulled in as fast as our volunteers could get to them!

Lot's of first catches were made!

Which made for a lot of happy fishermen!

Now this is the way to live the Salt Life!

Families learning to fish together.....

There were a lot of nice fish caught!

"We won't forget this day!" a proud Mom exclaims!

The fish of the day was this nice 26 1/2 " red! Which earned this young angler
and his family a bass fsihing excursion at Walt Disney World!

Talk about dedication....Fishing with two broken arms! Grey's Taxidermy
gave her a free fish mount for her enthusiasm!

Everyone loved their rod & reel combos and life jackets!

Tails were told of the fish that got away, " I could see him right there Capt. Don!"

Teaching the kids about flounder......and the trick to catching them.

Look what I caught! Look what I caught! I bet I heard that a
a hundred times today!

What a day! Lot's of fish.... first catches......a few big fish... and most of all lifetime memories were made with families fishing together!

Each time we are involed with a dock tournament the participants just blow me away! We had a Grampa, whose son was serving our country in Afganistan, bring his two grandsons out to fish! Big kids, little kids and all in between behaved supremely as good fishermen today!

Big Slimy 5's to Beach Marine for being such great hosts and allowing us to invade their docks for the day, To all our volunteers who give so unselfishly of their time, to Southern Propane for providing each angler with a PFD, to all the great sponsors like Salt Life and Eagle Claw for providing the kids with awesome prizes, and to the Jacksonville Marine Association for believing in the future of families and fishing!

Today's memories are right up there with the best catches of my life..... priceless!

Livin' the Salt Life.... from the dock today!

Slimy 5's,

Capt Don

Monday, November 5, 2012

Rainbows In The Rockies

Denver doesn't seem a likely place to be living the Salt Life, but this week is an exception. I'm in town for the Trokar Salt Water Hook Summit at the Eagle Claw Factory.

It's good to be with a long time industry leader such as Wright & McGill! They are American made, they listen to the fishermen and have the know how to put out the best hooks in the world and they do!

This week decisions will be made on styles, promos will be shot for the new add campaign, and of course a little fishin' somewhere will have to be worked in.

Day one, Salty Captains and top engineers have candid discussions on what fishermen want and how to create the best hook there is for each fishing arena. I'm very excited about the new Salt water Trokar series! They are simply the sharpest, strongest, best hooks in the world!

Day two we are up early and shuttled over to a huge movie-like set with a full production crew to shoot the new promos for Salt Water Trokars. For hours fellow pro staffer Blair Wiggins from Addictive Fishing and I held hooks, posed for shots on spinning stages , and followed directors orders.

Day three is finally here! It's time to fish! Ryan McCullough & Matt Smiley from Eagle Claw are gonna guide us to shoot a rainbow trout Hook the Future episode in the Rockies!

We drive almost two hours away from Denver to Spinny Mountain Reservoir.

On the way seeing Mule deer, Antelope and Buffalo. I'm not in Florida anymore...

It's cold! The first snowfall of the year is coming tomorrow and the temps are dropping! Once we were out on the lake catching fish things started to warm up fast!

Our anglers Cole and Benny knew the game! Fish after fish... they hammered 'em!

Nice fat rainbows a couple of browns and even a few pike. Over twenty fish in a couple of hours! Talk about fun!

Those trout were some of the slimiest fresh water fish I've ever held... I just kept dropping them which I'm sure will be highlighted in the next blooper episode!

Bite after bite Lazor Sharp Eagle Claw Hooks produced fish after fish all morning long!

Slimy fives to the entire Wright & McGill / Eagle Claw family.

Livin' the Salt Life every day... even in the Rockies!

Slimy 5's,

Capt Don

Sunday, November 4, 2012

Fishing With Dillon & Trevor

I love running charters and putting people on fish. Every trip is fun! But each year there is always one or two anglers who truly stand out... this year it was Dillon and Trevor. We had tried to shoot a Hook the Future episode with these guys in the summer of 2011 for Kingfish, but we just din't get enough quality fish for a show before bad weather started blowing in, then we tried again last winter only to get rained out, So finally we have Trevor, Dillon the cameras and this time plenty of fish! These guys are ready!

Dillon's attitude towards life with the daily obstacles he has to face as a high functioning quadriplegic is just inspiring... and he doesn't stop there! This guy doesn't just fish, he plays rugby, has been surfing and water skiing, Nothing can stop him! With the support of his family he rises to every challenge. Trevor is pretty special too! He's always there for Dillon. Helping out with everything.

We have become such a spoiled society, and take so much for granted....fishing with these guys sure makes me look hard at the blessings I have.

The fish were chewing ...

40" red, 42" a double header, get the shot, reel, reel reel!

Slimy 5's everywhere! Talk about exciting! At one time Trevor reels 6 or 7 big reds in, one after another with no break!

Dillon was up front putting every fish he fought in the boat!

What a memory! What a lesson those boys gave me on the boat that day... So for everyone out there living the Salt Life... know how valuable those memories are!

Slimy 5's,

Capt Don

Friday, November 2, 2012

Its That Time Of Year

Each year from Labor Day to Halloween I take time off from Hook the Future and run charters for big bull redfish in the St Johns River.

Over the years many clients have become friends, usually they bringing along someone new each time to catch big reds for the first time. I love hearing the boat come alive when the first big red of the day comes to the surface boat side!

This years run was very steady with big fish in the river. Day after day big red after big red....

Every day on the water was a good day this season but there were some trips, catches and people that just stood out.

How about the slowest charter of the season. The clients had purchased the trip through a charity auction and was ready to tear up the redfish....but a weak cold front had pushed over and the redfish were just not eating, I soaked crabs and croakers... for two hours ... nothing. It was terrible! Then finally a hit! when the angler picked up the rod, I thought... this ain't no redfish....for a good fifteen minutes or more on 30 lb gear with 20 lbs of drag the big fish gave him all he wanted!

A monster Black Drum pops up boat side! They look like old dinosaurs! This one was Huge! Big black drum are not uncommon in the river, January - April for the spawn but in early October? Surprise catches are always memorable.

Many trips this season included Dad's sharing the experience with their kids for the first time, and many grown men "Paying back" their fathers and treating them to a day on the water.

Another season in the books... time to get back to the show. Livin' the Salt Life!

Slimy 5's!

Capt Don

Monday, September 10, 2012

SURF EXPO 2012!

Salt Life featured their newest line of products at the Surf Expo in Orlando, Florida on Sept 6^th-8^th. Our latest and greatest tradeshow booth featured our latest product launches of Salt Life Skin Care, Sport Optics, Footwear, Apparel, Beach, Boat and Lifestyle Gear, Bags and Accessories. Check out some of the products that were showcased below which will be available soon for purchase!

Salt Life backpacks and bags!

An assortment of Salt Life tumblers for your drink on that hot sunny day! Salt Life tumblers will be available in an assortment of colors and designs.