The newest episode of Finding Demo Surf Fishing has dropped with: ME! That's right folks, you have to hang out with just me this week as we do a quick talk about Spring Fishing coming up and some topics that I felt the need to bring up. I hope you have an outstanding weekend and that your fishing area is stacked this weekend!
Bait Check:DS Custom Tackle: Tackle Supply for all anglers. Floats, rigs, jigs, bait, and more
Bait Check: Kids Can Fish Foundation: Kids Can Fish is a state and federally-recognized 501(c)(3) charitable foundation. Their mission is to teach kids fishing fundamentals and, most importantly, HAVE FUN!!
The newest episode of Finding Demo Surf Fishing has dropped with: ME! That's right folks, you have to hang out with just me this week as we do a quick talk about Spring Fishing coming up and some topics that I felt the need to bring up. I hope you have an outstanding weekend and that your fishing area is stacked this weekend!
Bait Check:DS Custom Tackle: Tackle Supply for all anglers. Floats, rigs, jigs, bait, and more
Bait Check: Kids Can Fish Foundation: Kids Can Fish is a state and federally-recognized 501(c)(3) charitable foundation. Their mission is to teach kids fishing fundamentals and, most importantly, HAVE FUN!!
Podcast by a Panhandle Surf Angler for all anglers of any level. We will talk weekly to guests that are anglers and also industry professionals. I want you to walk away from this podcast with some knowledge either refreshed or new for you to become a better angler. Though it will start in the Panhandle of Florida, it will be around the entire United States so we can all learn something about fishing in different regions.
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This week's episode of Finding Demo Surf Fishing is being brought to you by the Sinker Guy. Head on over to the sinkerguy.com and take a look at everything that Chip's got going on in the Sinker Guy garage. Need rigs? He's got them. The Bruno, the UNO?
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Oh, lots of good ones. He's also got snoods. Lots of things set things set up from the fishing mortician. Sinkers got you covered on all different weights. Lots of good ones in there.
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You can reach out to him and see if there's something special you need made. He might be able to hook you up. But there's a lots of great things on the website. So, again, the sinker guy.com. Go take a look.
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Get your order in today. Hello. Welcome to a new week, new episode. Hope you're doing well wherever you are. Fishing has been great for you, and things are just stacking up.
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We're coming out of winter. We're moving into spring, and the fishing is only gonna get better. This week, you're stuck listening to my voice. That's right. You're gonna listen to me flap my jibs for however long I decide to make this go for.
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I haven't even really come up with it. I got kind of an outline, and we're just gonna run with it. But, there's been some stuff that's kinda happened recently that I wanted to talk about, and it made me think, you know what? I should just do an episode on it because, a lot of times I do have guests. So, well, every episode, pretty much I have a guest.
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But I think this time, I really wanna hammer down on some stuff that came up in a recent podcast and kind of discuss some stuff going forward that I'm seeing and kind of my views on some things. So last week, I dropped an episode with captain Chip out of Hilton Head, South Carolina, and it was great. Absolutely loved just about everything about that whole episode. Actually, no. I loved everything.
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There wasn't a just about. It was a great episode. It was very fun. I when we got into the conversation, my first worry was he's a boat guy. You know, what am I gonna do with that?
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But it turned into something better, and it turned into exactly what I'd hoped it would. It turned into a true discussion about sharks and the science that come, that comes from catching them. And the fact that he was catching great whites, you know, the the forbidden fish, was huge. It was so great because he isn't doing it for the clout. He wasn't doing it for, oh, hey.
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I killed this shark. You know, if you go back and you heard the episode, if you haven't heard it yet, go back and take a listen. He was very specific about his, you know, why he does it. He does it for the science pieces, you know, where his beginnings were, what he used to do, you know, how he used to catch fish, killing fish, growing. He's like, I've grown past that.
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Now he's on to other things. But the way that he talked was so passionate about it, and it really hammered a few things back into my brain about, man, we should probably talk about that some more. So I wanted to talk about conservation and science and those things based on just a couple of things that I've seen. Now the other part that brought this up, the social media anger was not nearly as bad as I expected. I got more anger out of Texas than I did anywhere else.
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And it wasn't that bad. You you know, a lot of people were asking for stuff, but it was mostly because they didn't wanna listen to the episode. You know, they took a look at the the notes and the synopsis and said, yeah. Here you go. They made their questions and comments, which was fine.
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The misinformation that comes from just looking at a picture and guessing and thinking, you know, what's happening versus listening to the whole thing, I kinda kinda screw you up there. So the whole thing was really about conservation, and it was about science and learning about sharks, and it was phenomenal. And all the things that they picked up from that have been great. It turned me on to learning about, Atlantic white shark or or dot org. That's the website.
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That's the Atlantic white shark conservancy. And I've been since that episode, I think I've been on that website 5, 6, 7 times. I mean, I've just keep going back and, like, that's cool. That's cool. Oh, wow.
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I didn't know that. And, yeah, it's about white sharks, and that's cool. I mean, you're gonna love me. We all grow up thinking the great white shark. Yeah.
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You know, jaws, blah blah. But it was fun because it really showed how many things we think we know. And then when you start digging into the research and seeing what other people do and what the scientists are showing and the con conservation and the learning, you realize, man, I really don't know much. You know, Shark Week can only teach you so much. Right?
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But learning from the experts and the people that are involved in these is so much you you gain so much more. So I highly recommend taking a look at that, especially if you wanna learn more about sharks. You wanna talk to people about sharks. Or if you're thinking about shark fishing, it's not a bad place to look at some stuff and, get some knowledge. So now that we've talked about that, again, captain Chip, phenomenal job.
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Thank you so much. I I had an absolute blast with that, and it was just it was such a really, really good time, and I'm very thankful for all the the moments that you gave me with that. I mean that. Thank you. And, hopefully, you all, are following him and following his adventure.
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I wanna talk about a little bit more here about conservation. Now people are if you're rolling your eyes, hey. I get it. You probably stop this podcast and be like, ugh. Brian's gonna get on a soapbox.
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I am. I really am for this reason. The fishing as an individual angler, I, me, you, us, we, we're not gonna hurt the population. We're not. That's just you're not gonna do with a rod and reel.
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Sorry. Not sorry. You're just not. We do have limits, though. Why do we have limits?
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Because, well, somebody above us in the whole conservancy thing has said this is what we should be allowed to catch. Now we can dig into the whole politics, blah blah. I'm not here for that. That's not what I wanna talk about with conservation. What I do wanna talk about is a perfect example being pompano.
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Easy one to talk about. Surf fishing here in Florida, we'd love them. If you're in the gulf, running up and down the East Coast, you know, it's a great fish. Total fun. We'll talk about a couple other ones here.
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But our limit here is 6. 6 palm. That's not that many. In in the big scheme of things, that's not that many. But can you key you know, should you keep 6?
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I don't know. That's on you. Me, personally, I know that if I catch pompano, I know I'm gonna catch 3 is probably my limit personally. And my reason for that is I know that I'm gonna eat 1, have 1 in refrigerated after doing to have it again. And then the third one, if I don't eat it in time after I'm gonna freeze it, and I'm gonna have a chance to eat it.
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If you're the one catching 6 and you can eat all 6, that's great. But if you're catching 6 and you're just throwing them in the freezer and hoping that you're gonna eat it one day, are you? Are you? Are you gonna If you are, hey. You know, that's on you.
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I'm happy. Good. You did you know, you're you're eating what you caught. That's great. But if you're not, what are you chasing?
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Likes? Atta boys? Atta girls? On social? Now if what I'm saying is offending you, I'm sorry, not sorry.
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It just why? Why are you catching what you know you're not gonna eat? That's unpopular. I mean, I know this is a podcast. Yeah.
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And who am I to tell you anything? I'm nobody. You can listen to me. You can tell me to pound sand. I'm just telling you my opinion, you know, without typing it on social media.
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You're actually getting it from me face to face. Another great one is whiting. I love whiting. Oh my gosh. It's such a good fish.
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Dare I say, it can be better than pompano at times. There's no limit on whiting. None. That's a great healthy fishery. Well, if there's no limit, I guess I can take as 100.
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You could. You absolutely could. But I go back to the same thing. Are you gonna eat it all? Are you gonna freeze it?
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How long are you gonna freeze it for? Those are questions I ask myself. Every Thanksgiving, normally, the Wednesday, the day before Thanksgiving, I will normally go fishing for whiting. That is one of my family's things, and I bring home probably, I'd say, 6 to 10. And I take them in, lay it all the way down, cook it up, chop it down, and we have fish tacos.
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The next day, we have fish salad. I'll also mix up into I'll make tuna fish sandwiches like we had as kids. I'll mix it up with the mayonnaise and sriracha and stuff like that, and I'll have it again. Well, for about 3 or 4 days. I know I'm gonna eat it all.
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I don't waste it. Now if you know you're not gonna eat it, I go back to the question I had before. Why are you catching so many, and why are you keeping them? If it's about the clout, I get it, man. It's fun.
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It's fun to catch a limit. It's fun to catch the amounts. It's fun to do all that and, you know, post it up and show that you're a great angler, and that's cool. There's that's you. I I get that.
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I'm not judging. You you do you. Now if you throw if you're wasting fish, I'm judging you. Yeah. And I hope the rest of us would be judging each other for that because that's not what this is about.
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You're catching it. My hope is you're catching it to release it because it was that fun, or you're catching it to eat it, and you're gonna eat it, and everything's gonna be good, and you didn't waste it. Now let's talk into another one here. I'm not trying to beat a dead horse, but this is kind of another one that runs into the conservation. Black drum.
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Beautiful fish. Interesting fish, but a cool fish. Here in Florida, in our region, you can catch over slot black drum. You can have one. The problem that I find myself always having with this conversation is you take out a monster black drum.
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Just one. One over slot big ass black drum. You've killed a super breeder. Because the bigger they are, the more the eggs. Right?
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They're gonna let more eggs out, more eggs, possibly more fish. You know, they gotta go through their whole cycle. Not every fish is not every egg is gonna hatch. Not every fit everyone that hatches is gonna make it, and then not every other one of them is gonna make it to that size to continue the cycle. Some of them, you know, that's why we have upper little slot limits.
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Hey. You can't keep them over this. Why? Because they're super breeders. You don't need to keep it over that.
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A lot of times too, they're chock full of worms. Yeah. I know worms are protein. I know. Josh, calm down.
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I know. But that's big fish, and that big fish is giving you 3rd, 4th, 5th order of effect of it hatching. So, again, why keep it? Now if you're in dire straits, hey. I get it.
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Never mind. Brian, shut your mouth. You don't you're not the boss of me. You don't know me. You don't you can't come through my speakers and tell me how to live.
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You're right. I can't. I'm not. I'm simply asking a question as to why. What are the yield?
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What did that do for you? But that's my big thing with conservation. So when I talk about it, some people are all like, oh, you're a tree hugger. Sure. Alright.
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I'm a tree hugger. Whatever. I care about that. You're just beating a dead horse. You're right.
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Maybe I am. But even if I'm beating that dead horse to you, I have a feeling that that dead horse is not dead to somebody else, and they need to hear this. And something to think about when you're out fishing. Am I gonna eat all this? Do I need all this?
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If I do do it, am I gonna be able to keep all these? Okay. Cool. You know? It's your it's your checklist.
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The rules are already there in place. And if you break the rules, hey. You got people there. They're gonna freaking come after and do their thing if they catch you. Roll the dice long enough.
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Right? The pieces that come with overfishing is definitely above the individual anglers problem. It's not us. But the changes that come from that in overfishing can very easily cause this next part, regulation changes. That limit.
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We had it happen with flounder. Man, all of a sudden, our flounder limits changed. Why? We're getting overfished. Man, going out there crushing it.
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And nothing to you guys that can go out and nail 5, 6 a day. That's cool. Good good on you. You're a better angler. That's I'm proud of you.
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I wish I had your skill. Are they eating them all? I hope so. I I believe most of them are. I think the majority of individual anglers is doing that.
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They're catching what they they're eating what they keep. They're doing everything the right way, and I'm always gonna think that. But even if we go too crazy with it, regulations have to change because we've seen what happens when you overfish. Going into the history, I love history. Think about whales.
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We talked about it when we were talking, up in New England, with my Cape Cod or my fishing Cape Cod. He had mentioned the story of the whales back then for loan to extinction. Rules weren't there. Fish oil or, whale oil and the blubber was big money. Big, big money.
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Who knows what could have changed? Now the conservation thing is here. Now we're getting it back. You know? Some some of them, I believe, we lost a few species total.
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That's unfortunate. Will that happen nowadays? No. Not really. I don't think we're gonna run into that.
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I think there's enough rules that prevent it. But that history has led us to where we are today. So overfishing can change regulations and cause us to only keep 1. Speaking of regulations with that, regions. Every region is different.
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I am 30 minutes from the Alabama border. I can cross the border, and I can keep more redfish over there. I can't keep as many pompano. I can only keep 3. Our fish come from the same bay.
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We're within zones. What's the deal? Different rules, different regulations, different block, different managing bodies. The East Coast gets to keep I think it was 10 triggers. I'd have to look it back up.
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I can keep one trigger fish. What the heck? What's the difference? Coast and coast. Bodies of water.
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Regulations. FWC has said this is what it is. They've got it off of the scientists, and it's all come to that. That's the rules, and they're there. Now if you wanna change the rules, hey.
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FWC, when they were on here, they told you exactly what you needed to do. If you had questions, comments, concerns, they told you exactly where to go. Come take a look at this. Check this out. Message us here.
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Do these pieces. They had it all. All you had to do was reach out, and nothing bad would come from a phone call. Right? We've had some cool changes with red snapper for that.
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We've gotten more of a season. It's pretty damn cool. So good things do come from. With that being said, this is gonna be a different episode, so you're gonna get paychecks a little faster, but we need to do one. This paycheck is being brought to you by Ninja tackle.
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Head on over to ninja tackleva.com and take a look at those beautiful ninja daggers. You guys know I love them. I absolutely am wholehearted all in on it. 7 footer, 8 footer, 9 footer, 10 footer, 11 foot, 12 foot. There's now a 13.
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All sorts of great rods, and they're phenomenal. Every rod I've had with from Matt at Ninja tackle is a great rod. I very much enjoy it. I fully endorse it and all those pieces because I do fish it, and I know they're good. If you need reels, he's got them in there.
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Bait covered. Rigs covered. Lures covered. Everything's there. It's a one stop shop.
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Great place to go. Ninja tackleva.com. Go take a look. So after regulation changes, let's move on to something kind of into the more fun part of this that we're talking about conservation is you've got the programs, like, catch a Florida memory, where you catch these fish, and you get to put them up and keep a tally. You know, you don't have to even keep it.
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You can catch it, take the picture, release it. All good. It counts on towards it. They are also doing a ton of things with conservation because all the pictures you take and the information you send sends information to them. A 3rd, 4th, 5th order of effect.
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Right? And you do something. It's gonna yield this. It's great because you're still getting to do all that same stuff. You're catching the fish.
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You're taking the pictures of it. You're getting the enjoyment, and you're gonna win For well, hold on. I just paused there at an awkward moment. You can win prizes for doing that. They do a lot of contests, and they give away stuff.
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It's really cool, but it's also for the science. The science is huge. They're all wins with that. And so don't take don't take my whole thing as doom gloom. Now now that we're talking about spring, we've got off that one.
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Let's get into some positive stuff. Alright. Let's get off the the sad angry ugh. I hate talking about that stuff, man. It's like a downer.
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There's an article that popped out not too long ago, and there's been great memes and videos about it of fishing bringing mental clarity and stability. You know, you can catch no fish, and then, you know, they're it helps the person out. Take it from captain skunk here. Yeah. You're damn right.
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And I've said this numerous episodes, and you've heard numerous guests say it. You're at the beach, surf fishing, white powder sand in the Panhandle here. We we've got clear blue water, soft sand, nice sun, and just happiness. You're out there fishing in the eye. That's a bonus you catch.
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Of course. That's freaking phenomenal, man. You went out there to catch and you caught. That's great. Even if you don't, it's still a damn good day.
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It's worth the mental clarity. Now as a veteran, yes, you guys know, you guys have heard me talk about my time. I've had numerous veterans talk about how it saved their lives. I can't say that for me. Mine was a different thing that got my life saved, but damn, if it doesn't bring me to a whole new level of happy.
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All that crap from the week just washes away on the beach, man, every time. I can be stressed about work. Hell, I'm stressed right now. I just got home from work. It's midnight.
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If I were at the beach right now, I wouldn't be thinking about it. And when I go this weekend to fish, I won't be thinking about it. It. I'll be fine. Things will be good.
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I don't get to catch fish. Mindfulness that comes from it, it brings that focus back. You can take away all the day, you know, eating the entire pie in one sitting, constantly gobbling you all the stuff that you have going on coming at you fast, fast, fast, fast. When you're there, you're concentrating on 1 or 2 things, not a 100. You can let it go.
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Let it go. Let some of that stuff fly. Stay at the water. Hell, go down to the water and tell the water your problem. Get it out.
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Make it go away. Water, I'll take it for you. It'll take it right down out. You never have to deal with it again. It's just a place where you can unwind.
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Let that let your brain get back to where it needs to be. Speaking of that nature, there's something to be said about being in nature. When my family, we travel in our RV. One of the places that always sticks out to me is the redwoods. And you're out there amongst these ginormous trees and the redwoods, sequoias, all that together.
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You're in the forest. There's nothing but forest around you. There's trees, no houses, no anything else, just you in the woods. And it is a weird healing feeling because you're just reconnecting. I don't know.
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We're we're connected to the earth. I know somebody has said that to me before, and it's been written, I think, in a couple of articles. But we are. We're connected to that. So getting yourself reconnected with some of that stuff can help with, I'd love to say life.
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It just helps make things better. And better is good. Better is so good, especially when you're just hating it. Another one and, yeah, I've run a bunch of notes here. That's why you keep seeing me look to that side because, thankfully, if I don't do notes, you guys know me.
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I will squirrel, and I will just completely lose my mind. Physical activity, you get the PT out there. You've ever ever had to push a cart couple hundred couple half mile or half mile, couple 100 yards down the beach. And now granted in the Deerfield cart, It's pretty nice. It's a lot less painful.
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Brian makes a hell of a rig, but you're still out there having to give some work into that sand. Casting, walking from your line down to the water, soft sand, you gotta do that. Raking up those sand fleas, yeah, man, still counts. You're still pulling. Right?
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Even if you're getting up and sitting down every few minutes, you know what? You're probably doing that more than you would be at work or stuck in front of the TV at home. You're up and about and moving. You can enjoy that. If you're doing the fun day, the walking, the throwing the throwing the lure, oh, man.
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You're You're gonna cover some ground. You're gonna cover some walk. You're borrowing more calories. Get you out there. My tubby, yeah, I should probably do that more.
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And I got a winter coat 10 times over. Is there anything better really than catching, though? When you catch that sense of accomplishment, that, like, I did it. I did it. All that work I did, all that things I planned for, all the things I've done, I did it.
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I won. I caught 1. It's a good day. Now let's add into the skunk day. You know what you did?
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You got out of the house. You went to the water. You casted. You retrieved. You learned something new about that spot that you probably didn't know before.
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You didn't lose. You won. You still won. You still had it. You still win.
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Don't let it be negative. There's always a win. Always. Our community, interaction, meeting people. This the fishing community is one great community.
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I'll say that. It's a great community. It's a strange community at times depending on where you're at, but it's a phenomenal community. I've had the very fortunate ability that I've met a lot of great people. I really have.
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The podcast has made me meet some really, really awesome individuals. People that are just so in love with the sport, and I I I couldn't ask for anything better. And I love that I get to bring that to you guys weekly. That's it's such a win for me. It really is.
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And I hope it's been a win for you too. But getting out and meeting people, especially nowadays, is nice. Like minded in the world of fishing, doesn't matter the other stuff. You know? You you take your conversation however you wish with that.
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But meeting people that fish is fun. We have something to talk about, something we can bond over, something we can discuss, not something divisive. Just, yeah, divisive. Yeah. That's the word I was looking for.
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You're just talking about fishing. What you learned, what you did, what you didn't do, what you missed, what worked, what didn't work. It's fun. It's so great. It helps on so many ones.
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So, you know, if you need to make friends fishing, there's great communities. Panhandle Surf Fishing, I'm one of the admins there. Tony from Fishgum created the group. I'm fortunate that he lets me still do the admin thing in there. But I've met some great people through there, and I think it's 18,000 members.
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Everybody has something good to add. There's always something really, really good going on in that page. So it's always worth the scroll and picking up knowledge pieces. But even with that, there are times where, hey. I'm going fishing.
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Does anybody wanna meet up? They happen to go out, go enjoy, go meet somebody. All those great things, man. Yeah. I'm almost to the end of my notes.
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There's so many benefits to that, to just going out and fishing, and I know you all know that already. You listen to the show. You you probably thought of a few things as we were talking here when I was just flapping my jibs, about how wonderful it's been. You know? Something that you've enjoyed and picked up on.
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Something that's just made life better, and it was because of fishing. There there's no way you didn't think of that, but I hope that this helped bring that out for you. So before we move on to the next topic here, let's get another bait check knocked out. This paycheck is brought to you by d s custom tackle. Dscustomtackles.com is the website to take a look at.
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If you need to get your hands on, oh, I don't know, everything regulated. It's so good. You would need droppers covered. Single, double, all day. You need beads, floats, easy.
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No problem. Hooks. Gotcha. I don't know. Maybe you need some different types of teasers, different types for different types of, different types of rigs for different types of fishing.
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It's not just saltwater, and it's not just the Panhandle and the East Coast. It's all over. It will cover you throughout the world. Lots of really, really great products in there, and the team up there in Delaware is doing phenomenal, and they're growing so big. There's so many good things that you can get your hands on.
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So go take a look. Dscustomtackle.com. You won't be sorry. It's a great, great, great resource to have. Spring fishing is probably one of my favorite times.
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Lots of changes. New fish coming back. The migration. It's it's the circle the circle of life. It is so much fun come springtime.
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So the tuna in our area are start they're still here in March. Come the end of March, it'll be gone. It'll it'll rotate back, and then the Kings will start coming in. The cobia, the pompano, the red drum, they're always here, so you can sometimes always catch them. Flounder, trout, so many different ones.
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Snapper, this is a great time because everything's changing. I love this time of year, and this is also a perfect time to start trying new things. The winter is a rough well, and summer for that matter. Winter and summer are rough times to even try new things. Spring, this is where you can start getting the to steal from back.
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Little crazy with the cheese whiz. Throwing lures, throwing metal, throwing pump jigs, learning different techniques while you're sitting there set rig fishing is a great thing to do. Trying different types. You guys know the lures I love. ES, absolutely beach bum.
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Can't go wrong there. There's just, I can name them all. I don't have my notes for that, but there's so many great rigs that you can throw to try different things. And it's the perfect time to try new areas. You know, I will do a little bit of travel on my off time here.
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I'd love my little zone, but I need to go out to some different zones. This is the perfect time to try a new place and to try a different type of fishing. I will be probably trying more bridges and piers this year because that's something I need to do. I've wanted to do it. I'm gonna do it.
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I have to. I have to force myself. It's uncomfortable, but I have to do it out in my kayak. I gotta do it. It's uncomfortable.
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It's scary. I'm gonna do it. Why? Because this is I bought a kayak, and I need to use it. This is the perfect time to start doing that before we move into the summer when it's hot as hell.
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So find out what, what species are in that area. I highly recommend go to your tackle shop, talk to them about what species are around that time of year. With that being said, I didn't say this earlier about conservation, and that was my failure as I stare at my phone here. I cannot recommend this app enough. Fish rules.
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Fish rules is a phenomenal app to have in your pocket on your phone. You always have your meme machine. You always have it. Take it with you. I mean, you pull it up.
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It'll tell you a fish. Here's the amberjack. I I can't catch them apparently. I need to get them on the list. Tells me it's closed, tells me the size limit, tell me these ones.
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But the cool part is with these, if you go through the app I should have it on the computer. I'm sorry. I don't hear. But if you, you know, you get stuff like that, you take a look. It it knows I'm in the Florida Gulf State Waters.
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It'll start telling me about fish. It'll tell me it's got pictures of fish on there so I can identify it. Yeah. It's not by name. I think that they've updated some of it for the search.
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It's a phenomenal tool to use. Have it on your phone. Have it. Have it. Have it.
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It's going to be probably one of the best apps you have for fishing because it's gonna tell you what these fish are. The other one, Google Lens, I will give them a bit of props. They've been getting better about what they have, available. So if you take picture of a fish, it has been getting better about saying, oh, this is what this is. Another option with your meme machine in hand is just hyping into the damn thing, fish spot by tail.
Demo:
Describe the fish into Google, and it's gonna start populating things. Don't forget to put where you are. Gulf Florida, Gulf State Waters, you know, Louisiana, or you're in New England, Massachusetts, California. I am off the West Coast. You know, Something like that.
Demo:
Put that into the description in Google and what the fish looks like. Yellow stripes, black stripes, 4 black stripes. You're gonna get some options. I mean, hell, you Google all the weird things anyway, and it's giving you some great suggestions. Right?
Demo:
I mean, it's there. Use it. And it helps you not have to post on Facebook Phish ID and get the responses that you all know that you're just like, you gotta weed through a whole pile of shit. I hate to say it like that, but that's what it is. I'm allowed a couple of those before I have to market super explicit.
Demo:
You gotta weed through it all, and that's annoying. Oh my god. It's annoying. And as a group admin person, I will tell you, if I see a fish, fish ID pick, I'm looking at it. I'm either gonna give an answer or I'm gonna turn off comments after I see the right answer, and then I'm gonna start deleting and blocking people from the group that are given the bad answers.
Demo:
That's just what we do in panhandle surfacing. I can't say anything for other groups. It's a pain. You can do it. You can do whatever you want.
Demo:
But, hey, I I'm a fan of my own research. Maybe it's just my old ways, but try to look it up that way. It will help you. And if you're not sure, don't hold the damn thing in a bucket waiting to figure it out. Don't be that angler.
Demo:
Please don't. If you're not sure, you got about 30 seconds, and then you gotta let it go. Get it back on the water so it survives. Don't hold it. Not to mention on 2, if you're holding it and you have an illegal fish you're holding it in a bucket, guess what?
Demo:
That counts as a fine. That means you caught it, and you have it. It doesn't have to be in your it doesn't have to be in the cooler. It's not in the water. It's in a bucket.
Demo:
It's in your hand. Technically, that's a catch. That means you're holding it. You're not gonna win. Don't do it.
Demo:
If you're not sure, take your picture, smile, throw it back out, figure it out. And if somebody says, oh my gosh. You caught a world record. No? Well, you may have, but, hey.
Demo:
You caught it. You have a picture. That's cool. It's about the best shoots. A lot better than catching a fine.
Demo:
Right? Oh, speaking of that, I have to bring up sharks again. Florida, you all know you gotta look at the FWC sign. You gotta do the shark course. Right?
Demo:
I gotta redo mine. Mine's expired before I fish this year. The shark course is not just a click through thing. It's a really useful tool to learn about sharks and what you can and can't do. And I say that because there are certain sharks you can't have out of the water.
Demo:
Even the babies, we do get pup sharks here. That happens. Certain sharks, you gotta keep their lung you gotta keep their gills in the water. You can't take them out. You gotta do certain things a certain way.
Demo:
Be careful. And we've said this on other episodes. If you do catch a shark that is kept, capable capable capable. And it's a word. If you keep them, don't hold it by the damn tail.
Demo:
That shark can reach back and bite you. It can get you. And I love that video. I saw that guy getting his nipple bit, and, hey, I'm guilty of it. Justin Reed fishing was out with me the first time I I caught a bonnet, and I was holding it the wrong way and had it by the tail.
Demo:
He was like, don't do it. And it turned and tried to get me. I was like, oh my god. Dropped it. I learned a valuable lesson that day.
Demo:
Never did that again. Grabbed it right by the gills, on the backside on its head, held it firm, then grabbed its tail so I had control. Don't hold the tail. It doesn't end well. But take the shark course.
Demo:
And if you're not from Florida and you wanna take a look at the shark course for education, it's a very, very good resource to take a look at, and it's free. Doesn't cost you anything. It's very much so worth it. Lots of good tips on there. You can also go back to all the episodes on finding deer most are fishing here on all the shark catching.
Demo:
All the captains. They'll tell you a bunch of stuff and lots of good knowledge there. But, again, know what you can and can't catch. Don't don't don't get yourself in trouble. It's not worth it.
Demo:
And I think we've got just enough time. We do. We have enough time for the last one. Let's do that. It's your final bait.
Demo:
Check out the episode. It's from Kids Can Fish. I absolutely love the Kids Can Fish Foundation. I'm very, very happy to hear that they're coming here to the Panhandle. They're putting on a camp.
Demo:
I cannot wait for that at the end of this month. I'm so excited. Feel super fortunate that they picked us, the Panhandle, to come do this. I am I'm stoked. But kids can fish dot net.
Demo:
Take a look at the website, all the stuff that they're doing for these kids. They do these camps where these kids come in. They learn cast netting maybe on that one or a different camp for surf fishing. And when they get there, they're gonna have gear for them. And then when they're done, they get to take the gear home.
Demo:
That's a huge win. But in order to do that, they also need your donations. Your money goes right back into the foundation that helps them continue these camps and helps get a kid out there fishing. Hey. We all know how expensive this gear is.
Demo:
We all know how the sport goes. But a kid that has their own rod and reel, what's gonna happen? Dad, take me fishing. Mom, take me fishing. Somebody, take me damn fishing.
Demo:
I have the gear. It's really, really great stuff. So go take a look. Kidscanfish.net. You're doing great things.
Demo:
With all this fun of happiness, sadness, doom, gloom on this podcast episode, and you had to listen to me flap my jibs for this whole time, I just wanted to say thank you. I'm happy every week that I get any comments, likes, subscribes, all that stuff is great. And from the shares that you all do, thank you. I hope that this show has helped you in some way wherever you are in the world. I hope that it has helped you become a better angler.
Demo:
It has taught you something. It has shown you a new area that you're like, oh, I wanna fish there now, or that you've gone to that area and have phished and you were successful and maybe a tip from the show helped you. I really hope that. And thank you for telling me when it has. Thank you for the reviews that you've done on the podcast.
Demo:
It's helped this show grow with the, what is it, Apple, Spotify, transistor my home page, all that stuff. You are the ones that have helped me make this bigger. I I just get to push record. I mean that. I really get to push record, do some editing here and there.
Demo:
I am fortunate in that realm, and I am beyond thankful that you all let me into your ears weekly to share knowledge and share this life and experience with you. I am beyond thankful, and I hope to continue to do that for you. And if you have ideas for the show, don't hesitate. Let me know. I'm only gonna go as far as I can with what is in this brain.
Demo:
I I am not the end all, be all. I wish I was that cool, but I'm just I'm not. I can only give what I can give you what I can give you. So if you got recommendations, fire them off. I've got a whole notebook full of names that I need to contact still.
Demo:
I've got a lot of episodes still coming out of different areas. We still got Florida. We got some Alabama, Georgia. I'm working on Texas. We need some more Louisiana, up and down the East Coast, Virginia, West Coast.
Demo:
West Coast, talk to me more. Why are you guys not coming out of out of the woodwork? I don't know what's going on there. Hawaii. Oh, yeah.
Demo:
Hawaii is on the list, baby. Oh, man. I've been trying so hard to get you guys Hawaii. I didn't think people would be you know? So no.
Demo:
I don't wanna talk about that. But there's some good fishing out there, and we will hopefully get it. But you've been listening to Finding Surf Fishing. Thank you. Thank you.
Demo:
Thank you. I'm so appreciative you were here. I look forward to talking to you next week. We'll have more fun stuff coming. Until then, I'm out of here.