Archive for the ‘Fishing’ Category
Friday, December 11th, 2009
I lived in the little town of Maili, Ohau Island, Hawaii from 1985 to 1992. I was gone mucht of that time on the road to South East Asia (SEA) but made time to go fishing when I was home. We lived five houses from the main highway that circled the Island, almost. On the far side of the highway was a beautiful beach and the ocean. It does not get more convenient than that!
My pole was about ten feet long and I used a large open face spinning reel. I had a large swivil at the end of the line, then put a leader with a weight on it and threw it out as far as possible, maybe a 120 feet or so. The weight would normally hang up in the rocks so you could have a good tight line that would not be thrown back up onto the beach by the wave action. When you had a hit, the lighter line attached to the weight would break and you could fight your fish. I baited my nice sized hook with a long strip of squid or eel, and put a heavy duty leader on it that was tied to a swivil type clip. After clipping the baited hook and leader to the line, it would work its way out to sea until it hit the larger swivel at the end of the line. After getting it all set I up, I placed the pole in a holder stuck in the sand, hooked a bell to the line, picked up a book, pretended to read it while I watched the girls and waited for the bell to ring.
Most of the times, the bell did not ring. Long Line fishing was in a state of flux with many long liners plying the close in waters. (See my blog on long line fishing.) Yet one day, the bell went nuts! I grabbed the pole and jerked it back with some strength. For the next 45 minutes or so, I fought something, but had no idea what it was. I just knew I was getting tired. Meanwhile a big crowd of people gathered on the top of the berm behind me waiting to see what monster I had hooked. Finally, it showed in the surf near the beach. A HUGE turtle!
No way! I can’t keep it, even though they make great soup and the shells look great in combs. But even worse, it is illegal to hurt them or do anything to them. On the other hand, if I just cut the line, it will be a death penalty for the turtle eventually. So, I just kept fighting it hoping to get close enough to use my pliers to remove the hook or at least cut the line very close to the turtle so it won’t strangle in it.
All of a sudden, there was a big wave and my line was slack. I was SO happy, the big one got away! I think everyone on the beach sighed a sigh of relief with me. Go back to the wild, lay a lot of eggs and avoid the turtle eaters in life.
I do think, if I had been using my Emmrod Packer, with a bait casting reel and a gulf master tip, I would likely have been able to land it. So, I guess we just need to be happy they were not invented at that time! But, if you are going to fish for some large fish, read the earlier story on Mel and look at some of the heavy duty options on my website which can be reached at any of these addresses:
www.mycompactfishing.com, www.Emmrodfishingfun.com, www.emmrodfishing.info, www.whybuyemmrod.com, www.emmrodeastwashington.com, www.emmrodfunstore.com, www.emmrodidaho.com, www.emmrodfun.com
Tags: 8 coil fishing rod, Barracuda, compact fishing, Emmrod, Emmrod fishing pole, Emmrod Fishing System, Emmrod fishing systems, Fishing fun, kayak king, ocean fishing, Pacific Ocean Fishing, Philippines. Emmrod
Posted in Environmental issues, Fishing, Fishing Equipment, Fishing and Hawaii experiences | 1 Comment »
Friday, December 11th, 2009
When we first moved to Hawaii in 1985, we lived temporarily in a condominium on the far west end of Oahu Island. We were about a half mile from the end of the road. Where the road ended was about a mile walk from the northwest tip of Oahu and not that far from the big wave surf beaches of the North Shore. But, this story is not about surfing. My only story about that involved a brief stop in Oahu in 1969. I stopped for a day or two on the way back from high school in Manila to live with my uncle, aunt and cousin in Birmingham, Alabama. One stop was at Waikiki to hang out with some of my classmates who had also stopped there. I borrowed a surf board from a guy. Saw the wave coming, climbed on the board, the wave arrived, the wave went, and the board sank. Story of my life!
This is about fishing. I really did not have a clue about HOW to fish for anything, but, I found a likely spot, went out about 8 pm, and fished for an hour or two. The only thing I managed to get was a snarly Morey eel. Dude was NOT a lady! It was ugly as sin. I had heard these could be skinned and cut into long strips which were great for Ulua fishing. This is a big eyed Jack that weighs over ten pounds if I recall correctly. Mostly we saw the babies which were Papio. So, I kept it.
By the time I got home, I was really tired. Instead of taking time to clean it, I just put it in a sauce pan, put the lid on it and stuck it in the fridge. I headed towards bed but got to worrying. My wife gets up way before I do. I did not think she would be filled with joy and thanksgiving at her husband’s great hunting prowess. Also, my wife is from Thailand and most things that look like snakes from that part of the world are not something with which normal people want anything to do. I went back and wrote a note and taped it to the pot lid.
IF YOU DON’T OPEN THIS POT, YOU WON’T GET THE LIVING DAYLIGHTS SCARED OUT OF YOU!
I think she actually opened it. Due to the warning, she was not scared. On the other hand, she was not impressed with “Today’s Catch.”
I did skin it and use it to try to catch some fish. Caught some little ones, but nothing to write home about.
As a point of interest, due to the coral and rock and lava on the ocean floor, you could not put the hook on the end of the line and the weight up higher. We would put a large swivil on the line with the leader above the swivil and capabile of sliding up and down the line a bit. Then, we would put a lighter line below the swivil with a weight at the end. We expected to loose the weight as that would catch in the rocks and the weight leader would break letting you recover your hook and any fish that might be on it. If the weight was above the hook, you would likely loose the entire rig and most importantly, the fish. At times, you would cast out and set the weight in the rocks, then, hook the leader with the bait on the line and let it float down to the swivil. Typically, we would park the pole in a holder in the sand of the beach, put a bell on the pole, sit down and read a book, cook or sleep until the bell rang.
To use the Emmrod fishing system like I used to fish, I would use the Gulf Master or the Gulf Master II. You can check these out at www.MyCompactFishing.com or www.WhyBuyEmmrod.com
Tags: 8 coil fishing rod, big eyed jack, compact fishing, dock fishing, Emmrod, Emmrod Fishing System, Emmrod fishing systems, Fishing fun, hawaii, Makaha Hawaii, morey eel, night fishing, ocean fishing, Pacific Ocean Fishing, Papio, waianae Hawaii
Posted in Fishing, Fishing Equipment, Fishing and Hawaii experiences | No Comments »
Wednesday, December 9th, 2009
I really enjoyed my time working at the Barbers Point dry dock in the mid 80’s. It was a job I did until the investigations of the cases of Americans missing in South East Asia kicked in late September 1988. At that time, I became the NCOIC of the Investigations branch and went on the road constantly for the next three years. As much as I loved fishing at the dry dock and hated to give up my part time job, I was thrilled to do this exciting work in SEA. I will include some blogs about Vietnam later.
However, two incidents stand out in my mind from my time on the dock.
There came a night when we had the spot light focused just off the end of the dry dock about about ten feet from shore. I would guess there water was about 20 feet, maybe even a bit deeper there. The light penetrated easily to about 15 feet. There were at least two nice schools of fish. We were pretty casual about other folks fishing in our light and as I recall two or three of the employees were fising off the end of the dry dock and there were one or two guys fishing from the bank. Another guy came along and asked for permission to “throw a net.” I told him he was welcome to throw a line, but, if he threw a net, I would get out my knife and cut the net up. He pulled out a pole and caught some nice fish.
I do not know why nets upset me so. I guess as a short fat kid growing up, I developed a bit of feeling for the under dog. Those stinking nets take everything, there is with no chance of escape. If I had let him throw the net, he would have cleaned out the fishing for a long time to come. On the other hand, there was almost always someone fishing there both day and night. We never sufferred from a shortage of fish. So the moral of that story is, let’s shepherd our resources so we can all enjoy them for a long time and have the courage to stand for some reasonable principals.
The other conversation I recall was with a guy named Alex. He was a big guy. Chinese extraction but about six feet tall and certainly over three hundred pounds, not that I ever picked him up or weighed him. I did notice whenever he walked on to the dry dock, the dock tipped. He was from “The Big Island” (Hawaii). We were chatting during a slow time one night and he asked where I lived. The conversation went like this: “Hey, where you stay?” “I stay Waianae side.” “You stay Waianae side? What one hauli boy stay Waianae Side fo? Kinda rough, yeah?” “I nevah get no problem deah.”
In other words, he could not fathom (seing we are talking about the ocean), how a white guy would live out in the Waianae coast area. Now, I was not the only white guy out there, but, it certainly was an area that was primarily “local people” from Hawaii. I got to thinking on the subject and figured out it really has more to do with how we ourselves behave than anything else. I have been a minority or foreigner most of mylife. I grew up as a third culture kid. That is a child who grows up in a country that is not his own. Diplomats, overseas businessmen, missionaries, military kids fit the bill for this definition. The Thais call these children “Chamelion people.” It is an apt expression. All my life I had worked at fitting into the society where I was temporarily residing. No where was home, but, you figured out how to fit in. It worked the same in Waianae. You made it a point to “talk story” over your fence with your neighbor. You did not have to agree with everything, you just had to be friendly. You made it a point to meet the guys down the street. You made it a point to meet AND HELP people in the community. It was amazing how kind, helpful and wonderful the people were. To me, it was not “rough” at all. It was a blessed and joyous seven years I thank God for having the opportunity to enjoy.
So, when in Rome, eat spaghetti! When near water, Fish with the Emmrod Fishing System! Check them out at www.mycompactfishing.com
Tags: 8 coil fishing rod, Emmrod fishing pole, Emmrod Fishing System, Fishing fun
Posted in Environmental issues, Fishing, Fishing and Hawaii experiences | 1 Comment »
Wednesday, December 9th, 2009
My last duty station in the military was at Barbers Point, Hawaii. In 1987 and a bit of 1988, I worked part time as a night watchman on a dry dock just outside of Barbers point. In and of itself, there are quite a few interesting stories to tell about that. This dry dock was involved in making the decorations depicting bomb strikes on the vessles used to film “Winds of War.” That was neat to see. Then, there was the huge sailboat we had in the dock for about six months while we cleaned it up and fixed the break in the keel which was caused by not blocking it correctly. At least, that is what the owners said. Then, there were other boats that came and went including a submarine which was also used in the movie.
Now, those things are neat, but not the reason why you take a low paying night time job. You take it because these little man made bays off the ocean are prime breeding areas for all kinds of fish. On top of that, you have a huge spotlight at your disposal to draw the fish to the good ol’ fishing hole. We had so much fun fishing there.
I have tried to recall and look up names of fish we frequently caught and have struggled on both accounts. There was a large eyed Jack we called Papio. I think when it got over five or ten pounds we called it ulua. What we caught off the end of the dock was Papio. These were a nice silver fish that tasted great. When they hit, the really fought and were great fun to catch. They tended to school with a reddish colored fish whose name I could not locate. It too tasted quite nice. If you caught an eight inch fish of either type, we figured they were pretty big. Then, there was the Oio. This is a Ladyfish or Bonefish. These were really fun. They looked a bit like Walleyes and were typically 18 to 24 inches long. You cleaned these fish by “Spooning” them. To do this you cut off the tail about an inch into the fish. Then, you took a large spoonand gradually worked the meat out the cut end of the fish. It would squirt out like toothpast. Then, you took the bowlful of meat and mixed it up with eggs and other spices and vegetables and made deep fried meatballs from it.
My FAVORITE fish to catch was the Hammerheads. They were about two feet long and fought like crazy. It would take about 20 minutes to land each one. The interesting thing about these fish was they stunk to heaven. But, if you gutted them and let them hang in the water overnight, they cleaned right up and you had some very good meet with no bones. MMM MMM MMM! If you ever fish for hammerheads, be very careful of their teeth and skin. The first one I caught sliced me like a razor and the skin is like an 80 grit sandpaper so handle with care.
I just wish I had had my Emmrod fishing poles back then. It would have been so easy to put all my gear in a little bucket and have it convenient to go fishing. The packer to bring in those guys you caught with bait and the kayak king to go after the Oio and Hammerheads by spinning. Yes sir, if the opportunity to get a job on a dry dock presents itself, jump for it!
I am going to put in a word of caution. I am not sure how healthy these fish were. Who knows what kind of impact those rusting hulks we cleaned up had on the water in there. But, my last kid was born after we ate a lot of these fish and I was not able to sell him to the circus. On the contrary, he has his Mother’s good looks, His father’s wife’s intelligence, graduated from Whitworth University summa cum laude and is now teaching English for the Japanese Government in Japan.
Check out the Emmrod fishing system at www.MyCompactFishing.com, www.Emmrodfishingfun.com, www.emmrodfishing.info.
Tags: 8 coil fishing rod, dry dock, Emmrod, Emmrod fishing pole, Emmrod fishing systems, Fishing fun, hawaii, night fishing, ocean fishing, Pacific Ocean Fishing, Philippines. Emmrod
Posted in Emmrod, Environmental issues, Fishing, Fishing Equipment, Fishing and Hawaii experiences | 2 Comments »
Tuesday, November 24th, 2009
Back in late 1975, I was stationed at Ft. Bragg, North Carolina. This was a pretty good assignment for a regular military job. I was lucky and spent most of my 26 years with Uncle Samuel in off the wall jobs out of the mainstream of routine military life. I did not really enjoy the 5 am Physical Torture (PT) sessions and spending 12 hours a day doing a job that could be done in much less time. Never-the-less, for a regular military job, it was pretty good with a number of out of the ordinary jobs to keep it fun. One of these was a three month trip to Panama. This was before President Carter did the unthinkable and gave up the Canal Zone. So many stories to tell about such a short period of time.
There was Rock Hunting because of the candy store nature of rocks in this area. Agates, amethyst crystals, quartz crystals, petrified wood, petrified coral. The list is really endless. As a rock hound, I was in heaven! Also my good friend PSLW and his family were there so that was good. He and I were in the same unit in Vietnam, then Thailand so it was great to reunite. The work was really fun and interesting too. But, the FISHING!!! We were on the Pacific side of the Ismuths which means we were on the side with great fish. I fished off the shore and caught some nice fish. Considering I did not know what I was doing that was great. I also broke a tip on a borrowed rod. Very embarrassing. (You can save yourself some embarrassment by getting an Emmrod fishing system where you are just not going to break the rod tips! Check them out at www.MyCompactFishing.com )
The crowning joy of the trip was a weekend fishing excursion. First day was a total bust. I probably chummed a good part of the journey by giving up what I had eaten the previous couple days. The fish did not like it either. But, that night, we hove to at some island getaway. We had a collective bet. Whoever caught the biggest fish won all the bucks in the pot. Frankly the fishing was pretty crummy but about 1030 pm, I got a big strong hit. For about an hour, I fought this monster fish without having any idea what it was. Finally, I pulled it into the boat. It was a beautiful sting ray! No wonder it was so hard to pull in. All that wing work!
I called the guy who held the pot. He grumbled something about it not really being a fish. It should not count. Moan, moan moan, grumble, grumble, grumble. But, finally, he paid me the pot. With joy I counted it out. NINE BUCKS! Retirement was near!
Well, 34 years later I still remember that experience with joy. My only regret was not just letting the ray go. It was a lot of fun but we had no use for it. So, that is the moral of the story. If you ain’t gonna eat it, your buddy ain’t gonna eat it and the poor family down the street ain’t gonna eat it, let it go.
PS. The next day, we hit a school of “Whahoo.” For about 2 hours we drove around in circles until we were sated with bringing in these big barracuda like fish. I think we caught about 20 or so. These guys were delicious! Great nice round steaks of white meat that hardly had any fish smell at all. How fun!
If you ever get offered a Central American fishing trip, take it!
Tags: Barracuda, Central American Fishing, Emmrod, Fishing fun, florida fishing, ocean fishing, Pacific Ocean Fishing, Panama Fishing, Sting Ray Fishing
Posted in Barracuda, Central America, Emmrod, Fishing, Fishing Equipment, sting ray | 8 Comments »
Monday, November 23rd, 2009
One of the joys of the Emmrod system is the ability of each user to adapt it to their special need. Over my trip to Salt Lake with Jim Markley, we talked about Mel L. and his exploits fishing from the dock in Florida. Mel, if I misrepresent anything here, shoot me a note and I will make the appropriate change.
Mel’s goal is to catch the biggest shark with the smallest pole! He has done a pretty good job so far catching sharks in the five foot long range. But, I am getting ahead of myself. Mel’s basic gear is the Emmrod Packer Pole (You can see all the products Emmrod sells at www.MyCompactFishing.com ) with the Rugged Flex Rod. Emmrod says the Rugged Flex Rod is warranted for fish up to 50 pounds. Mel’s argument is you can catch any fish with any rod if you take enough time and use the drag in conjunction with the pole you are using. It sure seems to work for him!
 Check out his Emmrod Packer Pole! You can see the Emmrod Packer Pole w/ the green handle no less! Mel is using the double tipped Rugged Flex Rod ($49.95). Here in lies the joy of the Emmrod system. Typically, we would sell this pole with a 4 or 6 coil Rod for those fishing for larger fish. We would use the 7 or 8 coil rod for those fishing for smaller fish. But not for Mel! NO! He is not content with puny 25 or 30 pound fish, he wants some of those big guys! So, he just steps up to the double tip rod. Imagine pulling in these 50+ inch fish with your Emmrod Packer! Or, for that matter, with ANY pole. I recall landing some “Portegee Marlin” off the Waianae coast, Oahu, Hi. I am not sure if they were barracuda, but they sure looked like it. I think the ones we got were about 2 feet long–it has been about 17 years so the memory is somewhat hazy. Even the 18 inch scar on my leg where one of the fish bit me when I brought him into the boat has faded away into nothing. IF you ever help someone land one of these guys, DON’T grab them by the tail and swing them into the boat. They really do not appreciate that. Their teeth are like razors and I found that out right away!
 Another one of Mel's conquests! I am having a hard time staying on point tonight folks. Sorry. So, back to Mel’s tackle. If you look closely, you will see he is using a large bait casting reel similar to what the trolling boats that go out after big fish use. He has the harness that wraps around his shoulder to his waist so he can use his body strength to help wear out the fish and ultimately land them. This is what is so cool about Emmrod. Do you have something you want to fish for in particular? If we do not make a specific product for that use, I bet you can mix and match the different Emmrod poles and rods to create the perfect tool for your target fish. (You hold the poles and the Rods are the stainless steel tips you insert into the poles.)
 Another great catch! So folks. Figure out what you want to catch and we will help you do it. Fishing is all about fun and if you check the New Funky Waggers dictionary, you will see this definition: Fun. Emmrod! Check us out and see lots of photos and some videos at www.MyCompactFishing.com
Some of the Emmrod Products are: The Packer, The Packrod Casting and The Packrod Spin Casting, The Mountaineer, The Kayak King, The Rugged Flex, The Gulfmaster and Gulfaster II, The Stream Master Fly Rod. New innovations are coming on line all the time. Some of the website names I use are: www.EmmrodFun.com, www.WhyBuyEmmrod.com and www.MyCompactFishing.com. The will all take you to the same location so type in anyone and check out the products and the blogs.
 
Tags: 8 coil fishing rod, Barracuda, dock fishing, Emmrod, Emmrod fishing pole, Fishing fun, florida fishing, ocean fishing
Posted in Barracuda, Emmrod, Fishing, Fishing Equipment, Uncategorized | 4 Comments »
Wednesday, November 18th, 2009
Wow, what a weekend. My knee is still killing me from standing up for so many hours. I just got back from helping a friend as an indentured servant for the past week as he went to sell the Emmrod Fishing System in Salt Lake City. It really was, on many levels, a great vacation away from my Real Estate Business. It also was a great training trip for me. I do not have a lot of recent fishing experience so listening to Jim talk about his expoits for the past week filled my head with many ideas.
I really just want to talk about three things I learned on this trip.
First, Fishing is for just about everybody! The old, the young, men, women and children. Black, White, Indian, Hispanic and even a German loved our system. We engaged the already raving enthusiasts, the skeptical and the intrigued. Virtually anyone who fished stopped to chat with us.
Second, Lots of times, it is the women who are the fisher”men.” I do not recall how many times women stopped to chat and said how much they missed fishing and how much they would love to buy one of these neat poles but there husbands did not like fishing so they did not go any more. This led to the explanation that the Emmrod Packer Combo breaks down into such a small package it would fit in their medium sized purses. They could tell their husbands “Honey, I am going to the Mall!” and their husbands would never know they actually were going fishing!
Finally, kids really learn fast! I could not believe how quickly kids picked up on how easy it was to cast the Emmrod system either by shooting it or just regular casting. Some of the older folks had more difficulty than did the younger ones!
So, it was a great trip! Jim and I sold some poles, talked to a lot of folks and came away with sore knees and feet and some great memories. Check out the Emmrod Fishing System on my web site www.MyCompactFishing.com or email me at Compactfishing@gmail.com. Don’t forget, we love to have photos of you to post on the site where you can bragg about the fish you caught with your Emmrod!
Dave Atherton
Some of the Emmrod Products are: The Packer, The Packrod Casting and The Packrod Spin Casting, The Mountaineer, The Kayak King, The Rugged Flex, The Gulfmaster and Gulfaster II, The Stream Master Fly Rod. New innovations are coming on line all the time. Some of the website names I use are: www.EmmrodFun.com, www.WhyBuyEmmrod.com and www.MyCompactFishing.com. The will all take you to the same location so type in anyone and check out the products and the blogs.
Posted in Fishing | 1 Comment »
Thursday, November 5th, 2009
I moved to the Inland Northwest (Spokane) about 13 years ago. Part of the plan was to relax. I have not done much of that since getting here. When I made the decision to sell the Emmrod Fishing System, I said, “Well, I better figure out how to use it.” I have always been the type who could sell something I believed in but could not sell something I did not believe in. Boy did I have a hard time as a door to door shoe salesman at 18 years old in Birmingham Alabama! (Knapp shoes? Good shoes, but I did not understand the measuring system) Even in my Real Estate business, I do not sell, I educate. It is pretty hard to educate if you have never used a product. An old communist I worked with in Vietnam in the late 1980’s and I used to discuss the difference between theory and practice. I understood the Emmrod theory, but did not have a clue about the practice.
On a beautiful Sunday afternoon, I prostrated myself before my bride of 30 some years and requested her concurrence with a short pass to go liberate the denizens of the deep. I spent the 50 bucks or so to buy a license, a parking permit, some weights, leaders, orange marshmallows and some other stuff and headed on to Eloika Lake.
Eloika Lake is a great 2 mile long, 800 acre, if I recall correctly, lake. It is one of several lakes filled and drained by the Little Spokane River as it wends its weary way south to its confluence with the Spokane River which then joins the Columbia River. It is open year round to fishing, is one of the top four bass lakes in the NW and is convenient to my home. It also has Jerry’s landing where you can rent a boat and get whatever supplies you forgot to bring as well as a nice assortment of fat pills. Unfortunately, I got there the last day of the season and they were out of worms and out of Jerry who had gone firewood hunting. I got a great big ice cream sandwich and that made up for some of my disappointment. I did pick up a couple little 1/4 inch long lures. I think they were called poppers but would not bet on it. I went out to the end of the dock and threw out the lures I had from a yard sale and the poppers I had bought, but no cigar. I enjoyed relaxing in the sun for about an hour and headed up to Miller’s One Stop and bought some night crawlers, drove down to the public boat launch and put a line w/ a big fat crawler into the water.
About ten minutes later my bobber dove for the bottom. I pulled back on my Rod which was the standard Emmrod Packer handle with an Emmrod eight coil fly rod tip. OOOH was that fun. Five minutes later I pulled in what I knew would be at least a five pound fish. So much luck on my first day in 7 years of fishing! I was elated and prancing around like a six year old girl.
I eagerly rushed to the edge of the water and lifted the fish out of the lake. FIVE INCHES! How can a five inch fish weigh 5 pounds? Then, I weighed the weeds—4 pounds 12 ounces.
Thursday, October 29th, 2009
Hi! Welcome to Compact Fishing! Your home of the world’s most advanced fishing system. It is designed to give you lots of FUN! It is easy, uncluttered, convenient to use and easily adjustable to what you want to catch. That means less time getting ready to fish and more time fishing which means more FUN in the Sun, and rain, and wind, but, still more FUN! Check in this thread for scheduling and other special notices.
Comments welcome, but, keep them clean and pleasant. If you have a merchandise issue–rare but it does happen–we work to resolve those quickly so contact me via email at CompactFishing@gmail.com
I would love to have you lay out your experiences and post photos of you and your fish (They may appear in advertising so if you do not want that make sure I know! I will assume I may use them. Try to include your Emmrod in the photo! Dave
Keep checking us out at www.WhybuyEmmrod.com which will take you to the www.MyCompactFishing.com site. The Emmrod line of products has something for virtually everyone. Dave Atherton
Tags: Emmrod, Emmrod Fishing System, fun fishing
Posted in EMMROD Sales Schedule, Fishing, Fishing Equipment, Uncategorized | 3 Comments »
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