On the Line

Misery Loves Company

By Mike Conner, Editor-in-Chief

A bad day of fishing can be more impressionable than a good one. After a bad day, you torment yourself over what went wrong, and what you could have done differently. On days that you flat out clobber 'em, you just chalk it up to your skill, don't you? Admit it.

And while you're at it, also admit that you get a twisted kind of satisfaction when your fellow anglers blank out on the days when you do. I will right here and now.

A few days ago, I fished my home water on the Indian River Lagoon, and hit at least 10 spots where I fully expected to find seatrout, pompano and a few redfish. After 7 hours of hard fishing and no distractions (I fished alone) well, I won't mention my tally, okay?

I went home at 4 p.m. with my tail between my legs. Just two nights before this trip, I had a banner night of fishing flies and soft plastics around bridges and dock lights. So what happened in 36 hours? I mean, come on! Two strikes in 7 hours, and shallows devoid of any life forms at all?

That night, a friend in Miami called to say he saw zero bonefish in 6 hours on Biscayne Bay that very day. ZERO! And this guy is an expert on the Bay. And a local guide buddy said his fishing for pompano, snook and flounder absolutely stunk, during the same hours, just south of where I fished.

Okay, I was feeling better now. Their collective failures and misery was salve for my wounded ego.

Just out of curiosity, I emailed a guide friend in Texas. "Redfishing on the flats was tough, today," he wrote back. "Didn't see squat until late in the day, and then only a couple."

Alright, something universal was afoot. Looked at a facebook post from a guy who I talk to occasionally in North Florida, and alas, he was floored that he failed to catch a mackerel in the surf that afternoon. They had been thick the previous day.

One more call--to a commercial hook-and-line surf fisherman in town. One pompano, 4 rods, 8 hours. Wow.

With just a little sunlight left, I grabbed a baitcasting rod from my garage rack and headed for my neighborhood pond. My wife said, "Haven't had enough, sport?" as I headed out the door. The pond's usually good for a few bass at dusk.

You know the rest of this story. I didn't get a sniff, even after casting well past dark as the moon rose.

But who cares? It wasn't me. I felt fine. Because misery loves company.

On the Line

One Fish, Two Fish Grammar
By Mike Conner, editor-in-chief

Maybe I am thinking too much, but as a fish mag editor I obsess over the following:
Is it snapper or snappers when referring to more than one snapper? When do you add the "s" and when do you go without it?

Wait, don't laugh yet. Consider that there is no firm rule, and what sounds right to you may not jive with your fellow angler.  The English language is a mess in general, and inconsistent at best as far as usage.

Whenever an old fishing buddy would tell me that he caught five "snooks" on fly, or on lures, whatever the case, I would roar with laughter."You mean SNOOK!"  Five SNOOK. Snook is both singular and plural," I would explain. "And you say there were a dozen TARPON in that school. Not a dozen TARPONS. You follow?"

He responded with, "What about pilchards or crabs? You don't cast net a bunch of pilchard or buy a half-dozen crab, do you?"I was stumped. He had me there. But there has to be a rule, just not sure what that would be.

An editor of a highly regarded fishing magazine once corrected my use of SHRIMP as a plural. He preferred SHRIMPS. We talked about it, and both chuckled. But in my opinion, you chum for bonefish with fresh shrimp, not SHRIMPS!

And you can cast FLIES to them, and if you land one, you caught it on FLY. On the flip side, if you caught three bonefish (NOT BONEFISHES) on jigs, you couldn't very well say you caught them them on LURE, right? Sounds stupid.

Three GROUPERS? No. Two SAILFISHES. Hardly. A limit of SEATROUTS? Really?

But, "We caught a mess of GRUNTS, CROAKERS, PUFFERS, SKATES, SARDINES, JACKS, BLUE RUNNERS or STRIPERS" rolls off the tongue without offending the ear.

Think about it, go down your mental list of gamefish, and get back to me with your opinion. Email mike@flyandlighttackleangler.com.  I promise not to laugh--though I might have a few LAUGHS in private.

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STEWARDSHIP

Voters Take Conservation Funding Issues into their Own Hands
By Terry Gibson, Senior Editor

For sportsman and other outdoor enthusiasts, one of the most troubling aspects of the 2012 election race was the near absence of constructive discussion about the role that conserving and restoring our natural resources plays in economic recovery.

With a few exceptions, the presidential candidates, as well as those vying for office in U.S. House of Representatives and Senate, assiduously avoided the subject of our great outdoors and the health of environment. Worse yet, some thought that they could earn points with scared voters by blaming the recession and national debt on those of us who work to put sound, enforced policies and regulations in place—policies and regulations to protect the natural resources that sustain us economically, and in terms of our outdoorsy way of life.

Scariest of all, rule-makers around the country seem to think that the shortest road to economic recovery is to remove protections on some core economic engines—our fish, wildlife and the habitats they depend on—and slash the budgets of the agencies in charge of protecting those treasures. What a road to ruin.

Fortunately, they’re not getting away with it. In the months leading up to November 6, voters in many states took vital conservation matters into their own hands. Voters in 21 states approved ballot measures that will provide over $1 billion overall, including $767 million in new funding to support water quality protection, parks, natural areas and working farms and ranches. For anglers, the water quality component is really inspiring. It demonstrates that our community is profoundly aware that polluted water is the number one threat related to healthy ecosystems and recreational fishing access in this country.

Most of these ballot measures earned their spot on the ticket the hard way, thanks to Herculean petition-signature collection efforts that surpassed the respective state’s minimum number requirements. These are called “popular referendums,” essentially measures placed on the ballot because hundreds of thousands of registered voters felt strongly that the state’s citizens themselves should get to decide whether to accept or reject funding for fish and wildlife. The electorates responded tremendously in favor of dedicated funding in support of our resources. An 81-percent overall approval rate topped the long-term 76 percent approval rate for ballot measures. Now that’s government for the people by the people, and for the wildlife that can’t vote.

Props go to The Trust for Public Land and the Conservation Campaign, which funded and helped organize many of these ballot initiatives. Complete results can be found on The Trust for Public Land's LandVote website www.LandVote.org

Notable wins include:


Alabama Forever Wild: Alabama voters statewide approved a 20-year
renewal of the state's successful Forever Wild land conservation
program by 75 percent.  This will provide $300 million to for
conservation over 20 years.

Land for Maine's Future: Maine voters also approved additional
funding for the Land for Maine's Future land conservation program,
voting 62 percent in favor of a $5 million bond.

Houston, TX, Prop. B - Houston voters overwhelmingly approved a $166
million parks bond to fund completion of the city's bayou greenways
network, voting 68 percent in favor of the bond.

Gunnison County, CO - Gunnison County, Colorado voters approved
renewal of the sales tax supporting their land conservation program by
80 percent.  The sales tax will provide nearly $5 million for land
conservation.

Bozeman, MT - Voters in Bozeman overwhelmingly approved a $15 million
bond for land conservation, which will fund a key TPL project, Story
Mill.  The margin of victory was 73-27.

Bend and Willamalane, OR - TPL won both Oregon park district
measures in Willamalane and Bend.  Together, these bonds will provide
$49 million for parks and natural areas.

On the Line

Now You Know Before You Go 

I've long used the saying, "You don't know unless you go" when it comes to fishing conditions. 

I once lived 20 miles inland, but could look up at clouds before dawn and tell if the wind was strong on the coast.  I could look at heavy the dew on my truck windshield and know that I may need a raincoat. 

That was way before sophisticated home computers, and the Internet. And smart phones. 

Weather was unpredictable, and still kinda is, but now there is less need for guesswork.

You're less likely to get blindsided, unless you're wearing blinders.

Every day, whether I am going fishing or not, I run through a quick check of  four or five web sites, and now apps, that tell me what to expect. Or, that tell me to go back to bed. 

From behind a cup of Joe and my iPad, I can remotely see the coast, the beach, the inlet, and even a main launch ramp in town every five minutes, thanks to web cams. Better yet, I can determine sea, wind, and other weather conditions thanks to Doppler, sea swell charts, you name it. If its a no-go today, well, what about tomorrow, or even a week out?  

These days, you can know, even before you go. 

 

                                                                                --Mike Conner, Editor-in-Chief

On the Line

By Mike Conner, Editor-in-Chief

We've Got "App-titude!"

Fourteen months ago we had an idea. The core staff of Mean Tide Media, publisher of Fly & Light Tackle Angler magazine--me, senior editor Terry Gibson and creative director Ron Romano--casually bounced around with the idea of re-entering the sportfishing magazine fold.

The first rule was no print. No way.

Been there, done that, we were all laid off by print magazine companies at a time when frankly, the public's taste for print was souring a bit. That trend continues, and many print pubs are gone. Those that refuse to embrace change are failing fast, drawing their few last breaths.

Don't get me wrong . There will always be a place for print journalism, because there will always be readers who prefer print magazines. But speaking for all of us, we have no desire to have a place in it. Not anymore.

When we decided that digital was the only way to go, and more specifically, full-blown, interactive digital on the revolutionary iPad, the fire was lit. We were enthused again.

Enthused, but intimidated. Could we actually build an app? It looked daunting. It seemed too technical.

So today, as I gaze at our first issue, just released for sale this week in the Apple app store Newsstand, I am proud.

I am also relieved, and not that we actually turned out a damn good first magazine. I am relieved that we were able to tackle the task of learning the process, and better understand the nature of this growing technology.

And we are blessed to have the talents. support and commitment of expert angler-writers and photographers such as Bob Stearns, Kenny Wright, Steve Kantner, John McMurray, Zsolt Takaks, Drew Chicone, Pat Ford, Scott Sommerlatte, Joe Mahler and a promising list of other vets whose bylines will grace our pages soon.  

Mobile content and delivery is here to stay.

And now that this team has "app-titude" chances are good that we are, too.