The Neil Blog: It’s been around for a while now. It has a following actually. I’m honored. I tell it like I see it. Not going to comment that much on it. I do include the feedback I get, when I get it. At the bottom, attached some of the notes from other things going on. A potential environmental disaster. Input on resource management.
“Neil. Enjoy The Blog every time it comes out. You put the effort into it. I’ve truly enjoyed the last few of them immensely. I like the way you think.” Well, I don’t do it to get people to agree with anything. I don’t do it for any reason in particular. It is for entertainment. I just bring up the things I see and make my commentary. Like it or not, take it or leave it, this is the Neil Blog. And, all indications are that it will continue. The world has a way of giving me new content all the time so I will just work with that.
Womens basketball. Do they have extra confusion when talking about periods? I’m stopped calling it Organized Keepaway. Arizona women, in the final 4. They beat Connecticut: On to the Finals. Against Stanford. All Pac 10 finals. And, Stanford wins. Arizona missed 14 layups. Stanford, one. That was the difference. The men: Fired Sean Miller. Finally. I’d see calling for it for eight years. What took so long?
Mens basketball, if I picked Ohio State to lose, I might be a big winner this year. Baylor wins, I sneak into a tie. Baylor winning. I won the NCAA pool (tied) for the fourth time. Good payout.
Another year: Football is done. College basketball is now done. Hockey is in the home stretch. Baseball, just getting started. The Devil Rays win the first two games. And haven’t won since. It’s like the old days. Arizona football, in the cellar for years. Arizona basketball, who is the new head coach now that they fired Sean Miller (seven ball, who is the new head coach now that they fired Sean Miller (seven years late.) My idea. Steve Kerr’s NBA team is bad. He did his winning there. Make him an offer. Bring him back to Arizona.
Hockey: The Lightning up two to zero twice, lose both games. An easier schedule, they should be a contender for first place at season’s end. They didn’t start out good. Third loss in a row. Still in first place, they have to get back to winning. Then, wins just barely. They need to score more and they need to not make as many mistakes. Their penalties count as mistakes if you ask me. Kucherov: Coming back? They have said he’s getting closer. They need that. Losing to Detroit 5 to 1, not good. Benched Vasy. He’s young, play him. Losing to Columbus. Lost 5 out of 7. Then, they beat Columbus, finally scoring some goals. On to Nashville: The Predators completely outplayed the Lightning but the Lightning win the first game 3 to 0. Nashville has been hot. Won 9 of 10 coming in. Gourde and Colton coming through. Strong for the second gam in a row. The bleeding has stopped? Both Florida and Carolina lose the same day. They have games coming up against those two teams. A couple of wins they are back in a tie for first place. With how much is left in the season they are positioned good. Kucherov back, they can make a great run at it again. Back to benching Vasy = Lose the second game to Nashville. Also a loss: 8 o’clock starts. Still not sure “why that is a penalty.” Instant replay: helped my team. Would have been fine with how the officials called it. Now: The Florida Panthers. It’s between Florida, Carolina and Tampa Bay. Nashville is a ways back. No other teams are right on their heals. FL, Car and TB are neck and neck. Home against Florida. Two big games. All three teams tied with 58 points. TB the most victories, not sure how their system works but I would think in a tie, most wins would mean something? Overtime win against Florida in game 1. Losing or tied the whole game, they pulled out a big win. 13 games left in the season. 3 more against Florida. Stamkos, out again. Not a big deal if they don’t play the backup goalie.
The woman who sang the anthem before the Lightning game on the 15th, needs a music contract.
After hockey ends, that’s it for me for the year. I won’t watch baseball. Not interested. That being said, I watched two games. Devil Rays beat the Yankees both times. Always good to see the Yankees lose. A third win, they lose because the catcher didn’t hold onto a foul tip. If he does, they win 4 to 3. He drops it, they tie it and they lose by four in the ninth. It’s a really good thing I don’t care.
The baseball dreams continue. Usually about the playoffs. I got demoted to Double A in the last one. Worked the playoffs, I didn’t tolerate anything. Ejected one guy before the game started. A good dream if you ask me.
I’m so old, I remember Bruce Jenner as a great athlete. Not a woman. He’s different now. Or, she. Whatever. The transgender thing doesn’t compute with me really because I don’t know anyone who is. Not one.
The fence: Final court date. The final verdict? Nope, another court date in a month. The judge is a nice guy. He’s just doing his job. The rest of the front: Ground Clear to kill the grass, cement going in there. Better parking, easier to keep leaves blown off there.
The vines growing on the fence; a bee population like I have never seen. They love my sugar water. 7Up has been going in vodka drinks. They are drinking like two gallons a day. Spent $20 on sugar, that should last for several months. I could pour it less strong but I like to give them significant sugar. They are interesting: I have not been stung a single time. All of the sudden, butterflies like the sugar water. Wasps and flies come in. They die (if I am successful). The birds, continuing their nest building in the front vines. Up high. One stick at a time. They are working it. Lizards, bees, squirrels: It’s like National Geographic out there.
Stung by a bee. My fault. I think I just closed my hands on one. My connected battle: Killing wasps and flies. I’ve gotten really good with the spray bottle. Soap water wills them all. I will sit there and wait for them to arrive and boom, they’re dead.
The neighbor guy, confirmed what I already believed to be true “If something happens to this animal, I’ll be inconsolable.” Since I have lived here, he walks that dog five to ten times a day. It is a nice dog.
The day of storms, over three inches of rain. Twice the wind went up high enough to flip chairs over. For the dry season, a lot of rain. And, they are calling for another three inches. In the dry season. My yard likes it. Let it rain. I do look forward to the regular rains of summer. More things being planted, the more rain the better. Now, they say it could rain six inches next storm. Fine by me. No charters, let it rain.
Done fishing, thanks to the virus, back home to make my own dinner and pour my own drinks. Five months now, the amount of money not spent is astounding. Not great for the economy, very good for me. The stress of buying a house is long gone.
Things came up I didn’t get into the blog right away and were forgotten. Usually I email it to myself so I don’t forget it. This time, I let some things slip. Remembered one or two of them. The others, they will come up again later.
You’re driving that big truck, get off your cell phone.
The guys with loud cars and motorcycles, please leave my neighborhood.
That’s not an ugly chick, that’s a dude.
The new company, the mold is in progress. Decals are being printed. It’s coming along. Diagrams. Meetings. It’s all stuff to work on. Things we need. Where to get it from. Coastal Mojo. The boat: The Fishin’ Magician. Later, a paddleboard. It’s name: Wha SUP. A third boat, a sit-on-top self draining kayak will round out the brand. Not yet named, that mold will also be designed, probably third after the Magician and the stand up paddleboard. The stand up paddle board will have an indentation to fit a standard size cooler. No cooler, you an put grip pads there for standing. That might be standard. All of this is slow in the development but it is happening. In time, this should all come through and these boats will be all over the place.
Capmel.com continues to grow. Home of the Blog, four to five fishing reports post every day. I have issues with the site and haven’t been able to get any help with it. The Google ads have been broken for three years. For 20 years this site paid two to three dollars per day. Now, nothing. Zip. Captain Mel started this web site. He built it. I took over and I quadrupled the size. Then I doubled that. So little left to write about, it’s mostly the fishing reports. Four of my own and all the other guys from all over the state.
My work, most prevalent here. I am published like 4000 times on capmel.com. Nearly out of things to write about, I just keep up with the reports (four of my own, and those of 35 other guides around the state).
The other clients: Good trips. The fishing here has been really good the past year. Pretty much every time out. Good variety. Easy action for trout and ladyfish. The species closures, trout go back. Will they reopen? Snook and redfish need to remain closed. Read on below.
John Veil, three days of fishing. All successful. The schedule, pretty strong. As good as I have seen since the virus started. The virus, I got my vaccination. A drive-up location where you don’t even get out of your car. John hadn’t been here in 15 month. Precautions with the virus, he didn’t leave home until this trip. It was great he had good action pretty much his entire visit here. Topwater worked. The action in general was strong. For John, Florida is done and he is on his way back home. I saw where he got into the offshore species on the east coast with opportunities we don’t have. Same thing when he was down south: Bonefish. We just don’t have the same thing here.
Took an umpire and his kid out after John left town. Ben and his son caught them easily for five straight hours. The next trip after that, a beginning fly fishing lady, didn’t go as well. She learned but she didn’t have the action everyone else had been getting. She bought one of my spinning rods and will use that as a backup especially until her fly casting gets better.
From way back in the past. Me and George H.W. sitting in his office. I asked him “What is something I don’t know?” He tapped a pen on the desk and said slowly “I had relatives on the Mayflower.” I thought that was pretty neat. My relatives came here much later. He had people on the original ship. Barb was very interesting. And kind.
Upcoming trips: There’s six of them. A good schedule. Sitting home not spending any money, this is all very good. Two of them, fly fishing guys. Flounder came back. Five years of drought. Pompano, what will they be like this year? 2018 and 2019 the pompano fishing was outstanding. Will it be like that again? Time will tell. Education is a big part of my trips regardless of how the fishing action is. But, the action has been very good for close to a year now. Silver trout have disappeared which is very odd.
For Dave, instructional trip. “That was the best fishing I have ever had.” That’s good.
Fishing late May: Ryan. He needs the vacation. Training for when he takes over. Plans for some flounder jigging and he wants to intercept redfish. He remembers back to the good redfish days. I used to be able to take people to catch a redfish with no problem every single day. Will it ever return to that?
Days not fishing: I’m sitting at home feeding my bees. Interesting to watch birds start building a nest in my vines. That’s a new one. Fighting the flies. It’s that time of year. The soapy water good for getting the wasps but it cuts down the flies too. In addition to the bees: The lizards are flourishing. I stopped killing the ants and it brought lizard numbers up. It’s funny, all the sudden, butterflies like the sugar water. Everything: Birds, bees, lizards, butterflies and squirrels. My yard has become a nature place.
What’s on TV? Nothing good lately. Who is in charge of programming? I tried to watch some things. Minutes into it I was telling myself “this is stupid.” Who would watch this? I watched those two baseball games because “there was nothing else on.” A big problem, I’m already seen it. They can’t put on stuff I’ve seen that I wouldn’t mind seeing again? I could probably drop cable and not even watch TV for a while. Bad TV, entering my dreams. I get up, turn the TV on. Go back to sleep. The programs that are on enter my dreams. Just last night, I told George Lopez if I ever saw him again, I would kill him. He seemed brash and unbelieving so I poked him in the eye and smashed a bottle over his head. Then another show comes on. I’m talking to the actors and saying “You had better just be doing it for the money because the show has no value.” I’ve given some shows a chance. And they have failed. How does this crap get on TV?
Are white people just not being killed or does it just not make the news?
The vaccination, done. Oops, spoke too soon. Was getting the one dose shot but they put a stop to that the day I was going in to get it. So, I’ll wait. I’m not around anyone so I don’t see any problem with a delay. They say it will be addressed in days. So, I’ll wait. Not that it matters. I don’t see anyone. It will be good to get it done. I will do it as soon as possible. The whole world vaccinated, do masks disappear?
What is never over? Me trying to make things better. I try. I often fail but I always give my input. Rules changes match my recommendations so there is evidence that they are starting to listen. I have a lot of support. Everyone’s voice counts. My voice should also mean something. My past. My amount of time out there. My knowledge. Maybe this comes through in the future. I will continue to try. Discussions: I’m doing the right things. My gains as minimal as they seem are probably better than nothing.
On the conservation front:
Input was requested. Who am I? A guide for 15 years, heavy into Florida fishing for the last 27 years: I put in more time on the water than nearly anyone. I have been big in conservation measures in the past. I still strive for “what’s best.”
The species closures, I supported. Trout: Didn’t need to be closed. Spawning year-round, they have the most resilience. Therefore, they could reopen at any time. I did not see a dramatic improvement from their closure.
Redfish and snook should remain closed indefinitely. Both species, not in a good situation. Redfish have been off for six years now. Snook never made a full recovery from the 2010 freeze. More work on hatchery fish should be considered. These species only spawn once a year, a major difference between them and speckled trout.
No question, Florida lags the most behind in “enforcement”. Having rules is great and all but with no one out checking people, what good are the rules going to do? It is a major deficiency here. I have fished a total of maybe 40 days in Texas total. I have been checked by marine resource officers more times there in those 40 days than in my 51 years fishing in Florida. That is just an example. Change is needed. People need to get caught doing things that are illegal. Poachers need to be caught more regularly.
The big three of inshore fishing, could be great again but it will take our help. Human pressures have beaten down our species. There is just no way around it: Too many people doing it now, it is a strain on our fishery.
Worse yet:
An impending environmental disaster. Piney Point. The phosphate industry strikes again. They were pivotal in a past huge Red Tide. Now, a direct spill into Tampa Bay could happen at any time. How is this possible? The fault lies at the feet of your state legislature. At the feet of those who bend to the will of the “Chamber of Commerce”.
The potential ruination of one of my main fishing spots, what’s in it for me if this happens? $30,000? More??
My hatred for the phosphate industry grows. Houses evacuated. This is a big deal.
A major issue was avoided. We got lucky. The rain that came a week earlier would have ruptured that dam and it all would have gone into the Bay. Attention to it, they say that Piney Point will disappear and no longer exist. Something that should have been done 20 years ago.
- The Neil Blog… - July 26, 2023
- The Catfish - July 26, 2023
- update - July 22, 2023
