NAUTICAL MILE

P  U  B  L  I  C  A  T  I  O  N  S

September  2010

 

6    Robin’s Corner

Creative Business Marketing

with Robin Catron, RA Media

 

7    A Note from the Publisher

 

14  Scarlett Player

Pine Island Kiwanis

 

16  Mel the Guide

Mel’s Recent Costa Rica Trip

 

25  Capt. Joe Greco

Product Review

Pathfinder’s New HPS Hull

 

31  Capt. Jack Innis

One Can Only Imagine

 

33  Capt. George Howell

Magic Eraser

 

34  Capt. Bill Russell

Hooked on Foul Weather Fishing

 

35  Capt. Jim Kalvin

Days Afloat

 

40  Barb Hansen

Summer in Paradise

 

41  Snook Cowboy

Summertime Fishing

 

46  Dockside Dennis

Restoring your Electric Systems

 

48  Capt. Gregg McKee

Bonefishing in the Caribbean

 

49  Capt. Chick Melfi

In Hot Pursuit of a Good Read

 

50  Calusa John Paeno

Southwest Florida Island History

 

51  Capt. Dick May

September in Pine Island Sound

 

 

In This Issue-

6    SW Florida Fishing Guides

7    Local Marine Events Calendar

9    Saltwater Fish ID

11  Annual Filet and Release

11  Summer Slam Shootout

12  Lee County Tides

14  Power Squadron Classes

14  Cape Regal welcomes

          Capt. Gregg McKee

18  How Old is Grandpa?

19  Restaurant Contest - Win $500!

19  Local Water Access Restaurants

22  New Liquid DeFishing Soap

23  Ask the Trailer Guys

25  New Pathfinder HPS

26  The New Shimano C14

39  Capt. Dick’s 12 Deadly Sins

40  Capt. Dick’s Baked Mackerel

42  Local Marine Directory

44  Local Wrecks and Reefs

44  Places to Fish from Land

45  License - Regs - Ramps

46  Docks at Mound Key?

47  Pacho, the 17 Foot Pet Croc

52  Hurricane Tracking Chart

53  Upcoming Dive Trips

53  Mel the Guide in Costa Rica

54  Habervision Sunglasses

54  2011 Boater’s Guide

 

 

 

September from the Publisher

 

it’s august 22nd and i’m wondering what else can happen this month. first of all i broke my right hand. i figured out the bathroom but i’m finding the left handed mouse and left handed one-finger peck typing to be a bit difficult, not to mention writing or signing my name. that’s why you’re not seeing caps in this text, it would take a left-handed contortionist. capt. dick may taught his cat to swim, island boatworks moved into a new building, robin has only had her real estate license for a month and has already sold her first home, and we’re relocating the company to a big new office in the cape. pretty busy month. oh, and i developed something in my left foot called plantar fascitis. except for me falling apart, things are going pretty well. it’s actually been the mile’s best summer. a customer commented that they are with us because we’re “active”, & not just waiting for economics to turn around. thank you.  

 

ok, the broken hand. i didn’t want people to think i was a violent person so the cover story was that a cooler fell on it, that sounded reasonable with my line of work, but still a front indeed. i’d like my readership to know that i’ve only been in one other fight in my whole life, in 6th grade. i lost, but it wasn’t fair, she was twice my size....  anyway, a cooler did not break my hand, i’ll go ahead and come clean. the break was from a guy getting nasty with a girl at a local boat ramp. things were loud but only verbal till he shoved her. kids were fishing nearby and watching the fuss so i calmly asked the guy to watch it around the kids, just take it somewhere else. he stormed over, got in my face, told me to mind my own business. he poked me in the chest, made a few violent gestures, then found himself looking up at the sky wondering where it came from. i’m a lover, not a fighter, but i love fishing and this guy was in my way. i felt physically threatened and i clocked him! i just knew he was not going home quietly and if someone was going down it wasn’t going to be me. if lee county would clean their ramps once in a while he may not have fallen.  

 

i felt a bit guilty and tried to turn myself in over the phone for assault but nothing was reported so there was nothing to turn in. i went to 3 doctors and 2 orthopedic offices with an ace bandage wrapped around a swollen, broken & iced hand and none would see me claiming that they were not accepting new patients. what ever happened to the oath they took? on the 4th day i ended up at the cape hospital er, which was great till i saw the bill. thanks to our wonderful government allowing insurance companies to run wild with no accountability i had to pay cash for the whole thing. i wonder if there’s a woman’s rights group that would help with the $2,500 er bill? i broke the ring finger metacarpal bone across the top of my right hand. it was called a “boxer’s break”. the force of the punch heard around the world (or me not knowing how to) snapped it like a toothpick. i’m such a brute....  so the moral is- don’t get rough with women, especially around kids, at lee county boating facilities because the publisher of your local marine guide just may be nearby waiting to teach you a lesson.

 

one of my ad customers asked if i punched out the coastal angler guy. no, actually i get along good with the local franchise owner. he’s a great guy and a hard worker. instead of paying writers, fishing guides deliver a lot of their papers in exchange for the “privilege” of writing a column, and last month a lot didn’t get delivered. sometimes guides just can’t fit that into their schedule, or maybe they just don’t feel like doing it. I should probably leave them alone this month.

 

boy, if i could get free distribution i’d be in hog heaven, but the results will sooner or later backfire. i’m actually looking into another private distribution company to add 50 stops to our route. it’s not cheap but it keeps us on top of the industry.

 

onward to the new office- i’m out of room. with housing so cheap i figured a bigger commercial space may be worth looking into. i took a wrong turn and got lost in a neighborhood in the cape while looking for buildings. my “jim’s having a tough month and needs a break” angel was on my shoulder this fine sunny southwest florida day. by mistake, that turn lead me to the perfect place for the future home of the nautical mile. a big “for lease” sign was in the parking lot of a new building. the owner happened to be in one of the units at the time, we met and signed a deal that day. the owner is a regular client of capt. howell. my neighbor on one side is a limo service and the other side is an underwater camera company. i’m going to fit right in. i now have a huge 24x16 office, an office for robin to use, a kitchen and a 20x40 outer room for deliveries. i’m also considering an air hockey table plus mitsubishi makes an 83 inch hdtv..... hmmm. it’s in the cape near nicholas and p.i. road and there’s 2 other units available if you’re looking. fair rent with awesome owner & management. contact ralf dietz at ability construction. 233-0298. it’s near a 24hr gym too, i guess there’s no more excuses.

 

the waterfront dining contest we announced last month has gotten better. in a nutshell- visit our water-access customers and enter a drawing to win prizes. this month we’ve grown to 13 water-access restaurant customers and we’re adding more monthly. pick any 3 between now and december, send us photos of you at their business and get your name in a drawing. it started with going to 8 different ones, but we want it to be easy and fun, and we want a lot of entries, so we changed it to only 3. details on page 19. more prizes are being added but it starts with a $500 shopping spree at the marine trading post. we may also kick in a limo ride to the boat show in november. qualify to win by sending pictures of you eating at 3 places by december.

 

www.robinslistings.com - robin is really getting into the whole real estate thing. she closed her first condo within 3 weeks of getting her license. the cost and time involved of that first sale is virtually non-profit, but something i respect in her character is her ability to enjoy the price of success, not complain about it. it’s a great business if you’re not a lazy complainer. what makes a good realtor? i learned a valuable lesson here- i bought a property 5 years ago with damage that was to be paid for by the seller. the nautical mile was growing fast and i was busy, i made the mistake of trusting a realtor i knew to write everything up properly. i paid cash and made the deal. the seller disappeared to new hampshire and i was out $5,000 for the unpaid damages. i went to small claims court but all got for another $300 was a piece of paper saying the seller owed me $5k, no money. court was useless.

 

my realtor could care less. she got her commission and it was done. when you’re dealing with a realtor, read their body language and definitely their eyes. are they paying attention to you or are they watching their phone for a text message? you’re hiring them to do a job, and their job is to go to bat for you and to look after your interests. if there’s anything out of the ordinary, have them read and explain every bit of the contract to you in great detail. if you tell them you want a 2-story 4 bedroom and they show you a 3 bedroom flat, they obviously are not listening to you. if they ignore your desires, questions and concerns up front, just move on. what makes a good realtor? one that actually listens to what you want to invest in, and one that cares about your referral. that sounds simple, yet most don’t even remember your name. forget about the after-gifts and fruit baskets, watch their body language.

 

i haven’t bought enough property to know everything about it, but the most valuable thing i do know is that you don’t call the realtor on the sign. you call YOUR realtor and you let them make contact for you. money is changing hands, be cautious of using “friends” that are realtors. let YOUR realtor make the calls and negotiate.  

 

fishing- you’re on your own. i can’t hold a rod for 4 weeks. however, all of the fishing guides i know are on good fish. the redfish have moved in with the warm summer waters, capt. george howell is having a record year and our tarpon season this year was the best in decades. though the media damage still lingers, the false threat of oil is forgotten. pathfinder announced a new step-hull design, tarpon point has created a beautiful public facility with the class of vegas in sw cape, the boat house opened up a new location in englewood, the marine industries assc is gearing up for the november boat show and we started on our yearly lee county boating guide early. we cut a deal with our printer to run it in november but delay the press bill till january so we could delay advertiser’s cost till then. we ran out of last year’s in may so we’re printing more this year. august and september is tough on nautical businesses in sw florida, but our marine industry in general is on a nice up-swing.  

 

a special thank-you to guts and glory bait and tackle on ft. myers beach for the gift below. it’s a custom gaff with our name and logo on it. i’ll use it when my hand heals. they have several hanging for sale, or you could talk them into a custom one.