Random Stuff

After reading the post at Fishing Jones a few days ago, the effects of the hard winter and extended cold periods that the fish have had to deal with this year, the mortality rate looks bad among snook in Florida. Now you have to understand that a "normal winter" in Florida is where we get a cold front, it gets into the 40's and 50's for a few days and warms back up and repeats the cycle next week. This year, we've had long cold snaps of a week or longer with temps in the low 40's high 30's with lots of wind and overcast skies, which takes away the water warming qualities of the sun on shallow dark bottom areas that snook prefer to warm up. The result is quite a bit of dead fish, which opens up another whole host of problems to the fishery that I'll touch on later....

Kyle Perkins from Compleat Thought and his team of artists have developed a new logo for the blog that I hope to unleash soon. It's really cool, modern and humorous all at the same time. It'll help at trade shows and the like.A shot of Bad Backcast Central

I get encouraging comments on the blog and from time to time, e-mail. Readership is all over the map, but I get the bulk of my traffic from northern states, Texas, and the mid west. (Don't ask me why) Denver areas and Montana seem to be a hotbed of fly fishing that visit the blog daily. One reader from New Hampshire recently e-mailed me to tell me how bad the blog sucks, but can't stop coming back, and wishes I'd post more photos of me holding fish....but he likes the interviews and the posts about "the broads" who fly fish and my list of blogs and cool sites. I'm just taking a gander that this reader from NH is your prototypical crusty old guy (since the term "broads" hasn't been used in decades) using a Pflueger Medalist (nothing wrong with Pflueger, I use them) with duct taped waders and smelling of old bucktail and moth balls, hanging about the local fly shop talking about the good 'ole days and never buying anything...probably drives a 1977 Ford pickup truck and has a seasonal residence in Largo. Dude! let me clarify that I primarily wade fish. Wading the flats when the water temp is in the 50's isn't my idea of fun. I don't own waders and I really don't want to...especially when the local waters are full of rotting fish corpses. I'm not trying to turn my blog into a Moldy Chum light or anything else like it....and the "broads" that you refer to are very nice, intelligent women who love fly fishing as much as we do....that's why they do it and write about it. So when you're at the fly shop later this afternoon, make sure you tell anyone who'll listen about my blog and how much it sucks....AND BUY SOMETHING CHEAPSKATE! As you know, fly fishing is a niche making up less than 1% of the blogdom. If I were in it for the money, I'd be blogging about Brittney Spears or American Idol. Here is a photo of me holding a fish - see ya tomorrow!