Sharkey

This has got to be one of my favorite images of all time... I laugh every single time I see it... >:D

Tough to debate these kind of results...

I sent this to my wife at her job on Valentines Day entitled "A poem for my love on Valentines Day". She called me having a frickin heart attack... >:D

We had big wide-glide Harley's that I rode back in the mid and late 80's as a Statey. Wanna have some fun? Try chasing someone on a cop Harley with a HAND microphone and try to call in locations whenever they change streets...lol Never a dull moment..

I could never live far from the ocean but you are indeed making my mouth water thinking about all them salmon man... One of my personal treats is picking up one of those little packs of salmon they sell in grocery stores and I indulge whenever I bump into a good looking package of it with a couple extra bucks in my pocket. Having a smoker filled with it, ya know, if I even HAD a damn smoker, would be more than I could handle and I would probably go into Salmon overdose on a regular basis... >:D And I know what ya mean about the "east coasties" sometimes bud but I live in a pretty small and protected area so I don't normally need to put up with too much and when guys get "moody", I seem to have kind of a knack for making em wanna go be "moody" somewhere else... :auto:

Good karma... That's something I talk about quite a bit when I am teaching my boys to fish. The ocean has always been so good to us and being near it also brings back memories of my Great Grandfather and my Grandfather and I talk with them both often when I am there, knowing they are beside me as I cast off into the darkness. When the fishing is slow, I'll tell my sons stories about them both and our times together by sea so they will know that their ancestors stood EXACTLY where they are standing back when I was just a boy like them and did the exact same things we do together today. Heritage, tradition, bloodlines and the spirits of damn fine men beside us as we all share times together, the men of the past, those of the present, and those of the future. Both of my boys, right after they had each been born, were brought to the ocean so I could introduce the next generation to those before. My wife cried the first time I did it because she had no idea what I was really doing at first and then she could feel it as I walked her through it all. I brought a bottle of non-alcoholic champagne and a cigar and I spoke to the ocean as if everyone were all standing there with us. After introducing my newest son to the ocean and my grandfathers, my wife and I would each have some of the champagne as we shared the Monte Cristo #1 cigar and I would talk of fishing trips I had made with them. Then, when we had smoked half of the cigar and were down to 2 glasses of the champagne, I would fill the glasses, set the cigar on a rock, still burning, pour the champagne into the surf, and say a prayer of thanks for all of those who had come before me. Nothing like a drink and a fine smoke shared with ancestors. God is good and well felt by the sea and what we do, no matter where we stand, is never hidden from either.

The official Rhode Island definition of a boat is "a hole in the water into which you throw money". If I had the money to throw right now, I'd be tossing happily. Offshore, miles from anyone. No phones, no crowds, no traffic. Just me and my family, baits in the water and the time it takes for some sharks to come-a-cruisin.... Happiness... I've had a commercial license for longer than I can say but have NEVER sold a single fish. I feed all seniors and a couple of ministers and their families with most of what I catch, some of whom with pretty big families. All I ever asked from any of them was to give me a box of gallon sized ziploc bags now and then so I could have stuff ready when I swung by their houses to reduce time as I made deliveries and worked my way home. When I would come in with a big Mako or a tuna, I'd have it all steaked out and in buckets and everyone would be able to grab enough to feed their families real quick and I'd be off to the next stop. Usually by the time I made it home, I'd have enough for us to eat for about a week and then it would be time for another trip out anyway... ^-^

Not to sound like a macho jack-wagon but I actually prefer some weight in my shotgun. To me, it just helps keep the bow down and helps get me back on target faster. The M4 can push 10 rounds down range in a couple of seconds and when shooting 1600fps slugs, the more it weighs up front, the more accurate I tend to place those rounds when firing fast. I'm also a pretty big guy (6'2ish and 235) so a little weight up there isn't all that big a deal to me as it might be to others (no disrespect here men). .

I miss having my boats so damn bad.... A good day for me was heading out at 2am, quite often all alone and hitting open water by 3. Being set up on a spot by 4 or 5ish with chum in the water, baits out on 4 rods and a soft breeze, 40 miles from shore as I throw a pillow down on the floor of the boat and take a nice nap till one of my reels wakes me up like an alarm clock - screaming away as a nice big mako makes a 50mph blazing ass run, waiting for me to wake up and set the hook so it can start the aerial display.... Battling sharks alone all day can give you a feeling of having done something lemme tell ya... Especially when you get home and still have all your limbs... :)) Somehow I don't think I'll ever get over needing SOME kind of risk in my life...Shark fishing alone can definitely bring that factor to bare...

I'm a 5th generation Surf Fisherman and my sons are the 6th. I have a crap load of plugs but we also enjoy just baiting up and sitting on the rocks waiting for the striped bass to find out baits... Bottom fishing can produce some damn fine bass as well as plugs so we almost always go equipped with whatever I think will ensure we come home with some dinner. My wife and the boys have been talking about it so much, I'm already getting the damn "itch" and we're expecting more SNOW tonight for God's sake... I'm WAY ready for the ocean to start warming up already... The good (and also a little torturous) thing is, since I'm also a member of a huge fishing forum, I can see the reports of guys catching fish all the way up the coast as I watch our temps and chomp at the damn bit till we're fishy enough to go... :))

I'm still upset since I found out there are more than 50,000 battered women in America and I'm still eating mine plain....

I finally broke down and ordered a Surefire M80 Forend for my Benelli M4. I just couldn't resist any longer. Pricey bastages but I found a deal so I went for it. I'm looking forward to seeing if they really are all everyone raves about. If not, what the heck, I'm sure I can resell it - these are pretty popular items... :))

I like em. Wish I had the greenage to do some bizniss with em right now... Nothing like helping out some brothers AND getting a great product.

Today's my first day off in a couple of weeks. I even skipped church (God forgive me) today so I could just veg and mess around with some stuff and just started going through some of my tackle, getting things ready for the ocean to warm up and the Striped Bass to come in. A little early perhaps but my boys AND the wife have all been talking about hitting the surf this year already so I figured I start cleaning things up ie, changing old hooks on plugs, oiling reels and changing out the spikes on my rock cleats. Since I had a "few" of my plugs out, I figured I'd throw out a photo of some of em. All but a few of the plugs I own are hand-made by one guy or another, many of whom make a pretty good living making these things and I threw in an old scale at the center so you guys could get an idea of the kinds of lures I through into the surf chasing Stripers. Who knows, maybe one or two of you might make it to RI this year and will need something to do for a night. I've I'm not getting up at 3:30am to go to work, maybe we'll see if we can't find you a striped bass or two. Any of you guys getting ready for fishing yet? Our trout season starts on the second Saturday of April and I'll take my sons and wife but we don't get too worked up about it since trout are just little things in these parts and since I grew up in the "trout capital of RI" anyway, we'll go to a couple of spots I know and catch em till we're bored with it and then put the fresh water stuff away till next opening day and wait for the stripers to start coming in. We live on fish probably 3 nights a week all season when the fish are in since 1 good fish will feed us all for anywhere from 1 to 3 meals so it's definitely worthwhile for us to hit em regularly. Here's a pic of some of my "little" plugs. I've got plugs that are 14 inches long although none are in this photo since I haven't gotten into the other closet yet..lol

Ya ever been standing in a men's room or sitting there doin yer business and just reading the walls to pass the time? I'm sure at some point we all have. One of my favorites was found above a urinal. It read: "Don't look up here for laughs pal, the jokes in your hand.." That was always one of the best ones I've seen and laugh about it every time I remember it; thinking of some poor bastard getting all pissed off about it cuz it was true...lol Ever found some unique graffiti that hung with you? Another one I saw in my old high school when I came back on leave from the Army - not really funny but just one that hung with me. I was back in town and figured I'd drop by and visit with the athletics director and the disciplinarian I got to spend so much time with (yea, I was in trouble once or twice) and when I walked into the "boys room" for a leak, I saw something that just made me feel like I was TRULY back at my old school. It read; insert some girls name - "is a lezbane".... When I saw that, I KNEW I was back at my old high school and also made me think of how lucky I was to at least have learned to spell before I graduated and went into the Army... You guys got anything?

Back when I was a Statey, we had to patrol a landfill for a while cuzza too many out of state trucks sneaking in with trash. I decided to take my cruiser down into the landfill to have a look-see during a slow spell. As I drove down in, I could see the heavy loaders all working to get things in order and there were like a frickin BAZILLION sea-gulls all over the place, most of them just standing around looking for breakfast. Being the genius that I am, I figured a mass take-off might be cool to see so once I thought I was in what appeared to be the center of the bio mass of birdies, I reached down and gave my siren a quick WHOOOP!!! Well lemme tellya something about sea-gulls. Apparently they don't like to fly with a full belly so picture about 1000+ birds, all taking off at one time, scared to hell, and at about 20 feet off the ground, every single stinking stupid one of em takes a flying crap.... I sat in my cruiser thinking I was gonna be at the damn car-wash for a month getting that thing clean and once the rush was over, I cringingly stepped out to take a look at the damage as the guys on the equipment laughed and all looked over at me. Not one single turd had hit my cruiser...not ONE...I was absolutely dumbfounded for a second there and as the workers all were looking my way anyway, I shouted over to em - "Even the BIRDS around here know who not to crap on in THIS state"...lol I considered it a lucky day and didn't do the siren thing anymore near the landfill... :))

Scumbags... I was actually in contact with a guy for quite a while who was a SERIOUS Poser. Claimed he was a retired Air Force General who flew the SR71 and over 300 mission in nam flying Thunderchiefs. Called himself "Trigger" on a fishing site I'm a member of and a number of members had even fished with him and all thought he was righteous for a several YEARS before he was found out. His name has shown up on a number of "poser" sites now along with several other aliases he's used. These kinds of scumbags need to be charged, jailed and given some solid lessons in prison love.

I've always been a "tactile" type and need to be able to touch and feel anything and everything I am doing. Gloves take that away so i say no. Either glove-less or at least finger-less gloves if you feel you need at least SOMETHING on there. It's been a cold winter so I've had my finger-less on a lot although people seem to ask me "why bother" quite a bit. It's definitely a personal preference thing though so no "best" answer depending on what you train with.

Gonna be a fun one. I'd like to see that once it's in..