Tidelines – March 29, 2012
While the reality of working at Fisherman’s Post is often long hours of computer work with deadlines pressing, or miles of driving to deliver the latest issue to locations up and down the coast, we try to convey a different image to you, our readers, within the pages of the newspaper.
The image we like to present at Fisherman’s Post is that working here means fishing, fishing, and more fishing. And this issue, I believe, goes a fairly long way towards presenting this more “glamorous” side of Fisherman’s Post, and does little to substantiate my charge that working at Fisherman’s Post is, in fact, a challenging and tiring gig.
Guide Times, our feature articles that we run to highlight a charter boat captain and a specific fishery, have long been a favorite in the office. What’s not to like about being a guest on a guided fishing trip, seeing different parts of the coast, targeting the varied species that North Carolina offers, and meeting many of the great personalities in the business of fishing? And as you can imagine, I often (always?) use my “boss card” to make sure I’m a part of these Guide Time trips.
In this issue’s Guide Time, though, I gave up my seat so that the new salesman, Joshua, could join our Editor, Max, to get a feel for the glamorous side of working at Fisherman’s Post. They both earned a reward, Max for putting in long hours at boat shows and fishing schools, and Joshua for cranking out phone calls, emails, and face-to-face visits to generate sales, which makes our newspaper bigger, which means we need to go on Guide Time trips to have good text to fill out the newspaper so it’s not dominated by ad copy.
You can read all about their trout fishing excursion with Capt. Dave Stewart, of Minnesott Beach Bait and Tackle and Knee Deep Custom Charters, starting on page 36. Max, the veteran, landed plenty of trout (nice work). Joshua, the rookie, needed to keep the line more taut as he was trying to work that hard plastic (it’s hard to find good help these days).
And while I thought about presenting this as a selfless gesture, me giving up my seat so that the two star employees could enjoy a fishing trip together, I knew that eventually the truth would come out, the truth being that I had a fishing trip of my own planned for that same day.
While Max and Joshua made the trek to Minnesott, I did the quick drive to Swansboro to join my friend Rob (Capt. Rob Koraly of Sandbar Safari Charters) for a leisurely lunch on the Swansboro waterfront (where we brainstormed on a video project—stay tuned to Fisherman’s Post as details emerge) followed by a search-and-find mission for early spring schools of reds.
Rob found the fish, had the wind mostly at my back, put me in position, and somehow I rose to the challenge and presented my fly (after only two false casts) to one of the reds we had sighted. I only needed one quick pop of the line to get the red to turn and take the fly, and there I was hooked up with a red drum on the fly in a shallow water bay in the Emerald Isle area.
We took photos, caught the tail end of the fight on Rob’s GoPro (including some underwater footage), released the fish, and then headed back to ramp. Yes, it was a good day at the office.
So Max and Joshua were happy, I was happy, and Dave Stewart and Rob Koraly were happy. And the next time I start trying to explain that Fisherman’s Post is actually very hard work, eyes will roll in disbelief and people will scoff, and that’s okay with us.
