Products
May 06, 2013
Repel Biting Bugs with ThermaCELL
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This is a story about Mosquitoes. If you fish, hunt, camp, or eat in your backyard here on the Gulf of Mexico (or anywhere in Florida, for sure) you know them well. Them and a tiny insect that doesn't sting but sure can (and does) bite hard and bite often. Called noseeums, they must have jaws the size of a dump truck stuck on that little plastic head of a Barbie doll. This is a story about wireless heat, and getting the… Read More
April 19, 2013
Fish Decoys
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If you are anything like me, when you read the title of this article you did a few things. One subconscious and almost primal; a twitch more than a nod. This subconscious event probably happened above your eyes. You raised an eyebrow. Depending on your personality type, you may have raised both. But you raised an eyebrow. I sure did. The second thing I did when I first heard about Austin's fish decoys (yup, just like… Read More
March 25, 2013
Crown USA Headlights
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Depending on the person reading a story – or more importantly the person you're talking to about anything related to the outdoors – what people see outdoors varies widely. There's a big business nowadays in something called "Eco-Tourism". To us that means paying some local to drive you around in a cab to wave at the tourists, or worse yet holding onto a wire while they swing you in the air, or slide you down-wire to the… Read More
March 13, 2013
Good Fish and a Good Cigar
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Let's face it – a lot of people think it's stupid to smoke tobacco. That said, we're gonna write a story about smoking a cigar and catching fish. Because like it or not, there are a select few guys who love a stogey when they're on the water. When we found out that the people behind the beautiful hand-made cigars available at Thompson cigars were serious anglers, and smoked the same cigars that some of us do while… Read More
December 22, 2012
Fishing Kayaks from NuCanoe
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Where the heck did the idea for a fishing kayak come from? In 1971 a young guy living in the sun and surf of California designed and produce his first kayak from a fiberglass mold. The first day he slid it across the sand and into that beautiful blue water, he really had not thought of selling them. He was a high-school graduate on his way to a real life. He didn't think of being one of the top watercraft designers our… Read More
December 07, 2012
Unique Holiday Gift Ideas for Fishermen
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Every year I'm looking to top last year's Christmas gift for my boyfriend, Michael, who absolutely loves fishing. So this year I thought it would be perfect to share some of the gifts I have bought him over the years. Here are just a few unique holiday gift ideas. Monthly Fishing Clubs Fishing Enthusiast – This is the perfect gift for fishing enthusiasts, where fishing lures are sent right to his or her door every month.… Read More
December 05, 2012
97 Miles from Fishing Florida's Flats
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Two book reviews are in order. Why two? First, it's Christmas, in case you haven't noticed. If you hate Christmas and gifts and just being nice and passing on good will towards fellow beings, then there's a second reason: we just got two great books to review and got them both at the same time. The birth of the Prince of Peace aside, if you have an angler in your life, and would love to get him or her a cool gift, we… Read More
November 05, 2012
Boomerang Tool Company
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From the day we started The Online Fisherman, we concerned ourselves first with the quality of the content and being the most helpful and family-friendly site out there. If you believe the input from our ever-growing reader base, we have done just that. So free stuff was never all that important to us; we had all the fishing tackle a human being could ever want and then some. But lately we came across something that… Read More
October 04, 2012
Wings on the Water
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This is the story of an American company called Wright & McGill. The company that made it a habit to support women's sport teams (in the 20's), employ the disabled as well as "people of color" at a time when few companies would even consider such "progressive" ideas. This is a story of fishing, a story of two guys meeting on a stream, and a love of trout fishing. And a story of America. "To those needing introduction to… Read More
September 28, 2012
Navionics App for Android and iPad
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The first couple of months we had this site, the idea of having more than a couple of hundred people a week read the stories, articles, fishing reports, forecasts, fishing maps, the collection of tide, wind, weather and conditional resources, or even just use the forums was just a dream. Today things are different. But then, as now, the real draw to the site was content. So when I wrote an article about the incredible… Read More
September 15, 2012
Tideline Boats
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"That's interesting" I thought after clicking on the link that one of the TOF team members had sent me - "a really nice looking fishing boat with a catamaran hull". So interesting in fact that I picked up the phone and dialed the 252 area code. "Tideline Boats - this is George" said the friendly sounding voice on the other end. This is how the story you are reading began - and is in fact how many of the stories you read… Read More
July 14, 2012
iCast 2012 Product Reviews
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Walking the floors at iCast 2012 in Orlando Florida with an iPad, a Nikon Digital SLR, fourteen pounds of brochures, lures, and car keys made it more than impossible to list everything cool we saw last week. It was a long walk, and I swear you could stop at one booth and be there for 20 minutes without any problem. Lures, spinning tackle, bags, pouches, jigs, spears, knots, lure-parts, rods, sticks, racks, you name it,… Read More
July 10, 2012
Bluewater Outriggers
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We spend a lot of time in tackle shops. From the tiniest mom and pop bait shop to the biggest online mega-tackle-shops - we love em all. So it's a real treat to find one that offers the best of both online purchase convenience and the personal touch and knowledge you expect from a well stocked and managed physical location. I recently got a chance to talk to the people from one of the country's most successful online… Read More
June 19, 2012
Bass Assassin
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"What is the best redfish lure?" "I am new to snook fishing! What's the best lure for snook?" "What should I use to catch speckled trout?" The question's are so common that my partner Captain David M. Rieumont's "Ask the Captain" section is often the most clicked-on module we manage on the entire site. The answer to the best baits for fish-x isn't who makes them, it's what they do. But some companies do better than… Read More
May 21, 2012
Working at Eagle Claw Hooks
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When I was a kid – maybe not that long ago, come to think of it – there was this thing called "a bookstore". Back in those days, you see, there wasn't any way to read a book other than getting this heavy thing you had to carry around. It was made out of dead trees, on which chromium inks were pressed using a huge mechanical monster called a "Printing Press". I have one of those old and environmentally-destructive,… Read More
April 03, 2012
Boat Hulls
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My 21' Robalo is going on fourteen years old. In those fourteen years, it has been on a lot of fishing trips. It's hit rocks, oyster bars, metal crab traps, and God knows what else. I remember making a tight turn around a corner in a place called Double Branch (knowing the place like I know my backyard) only to hit mud so thick it hurt my hair when the mud fell from thirty feet above our heads. The bottom unit of my… Read More
March 20, 2012
Onyx Outdoor Gear
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Quality fishing gear can oftentimes make a difference in one's angling experience. I'm not a pro by any stretch of the imagination, but according to my wife, I apparently make it a point to buy the costliest items available when a fishing equipment need arises. To me, you get what you pay for. As great as Onyx outdoor gear is, however, they are far from the most expensive. You can find fishing outerwear that isn't even… Read More
March 12, 2012
Building Custom Fishing Rods
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There are fishing rods and there are fishing rods. This is going to be a story about custom fishing rods. Specifically about rods being built by a guy that spent most of his life fighting fires and saving the lives of everyday people (and their animals; I'm big into what happens to my terriers in the event of societal collapse, let me tell you). In a long life of being on and around the water, both fresh and salt, in… Read More
February 20, 2012
Mudhole.com
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Every company has a history, and once a company gets beyond the one or two people whose vision and passion for the products or services they provide, it becomes more than just a company. It becomes the lifeblood of all the many people that make up the team behind the product. Talking to a company like Mudhole.com, whose passion for fishing and technical knowledge combine to make them a global leader, gives us insight… Read More
January 18, 2012
Yamamoto's Custom Baits
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I was just talking to a tackle shop retailer about how he determines inventory strategies. He compared a fisherman to somebody that loves tennis. Other than that first racquet and an ongoing supply of balls, tennis doesn't create the kind of “continual” purchase stream, that lures, lines, or fishing rods spawn. Our sport comes with a built-in urge to keep spending money. The question is, how effective is the money we… Read More
December 15, 2011
Fish Art by Cliff Moore
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Creative talent is something you're just born with. For almost three decades our publishing company has developed course material for the artists now found in many top advertising agencies, web development firms, package designers and magazine publishers. Being a “how-to” writer isn't the same as carving something, or coming up with an advertising campaign like the ones you see from Apple computer. It's technical… Read More
December 06, 2011
Mojo-Gear; Protect Yourself from the Sun
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I was talking to one of the people that work on the site the other day about my philosophy about failure; that you don't learn all-that-much about something when you do it successfully. The only time we really learn anything is when we fail at it. That holds true in life whether it's trying to learn to hit a fast ball as a kid in Little League or a newcomer to our sport, learning the tricks needed to get big redfish out… Read More
October 25, 2011
SlideOn: The Value of Custom Trailers
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Products are one thing; services are another. Over the past three years-or-so, there aren't many people that haven't felt the impact of the economic slowdown. While the retail fishing industry has held its own, companies that manufacture products important to our sportfishing lifestyle have had to deal with reduced revenues. It's true for people that make custom rods, it's been true for people that make boats, and it's… Read More
August 02, 2011
Sea Sucker
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The reason my best friend doesn't spend much time guiding anymore is because of the time it took to clean his boat. No kidding. Following a five-hour trip putting very pleased (and repeat) anglers on the waters catching loads of everything you can imagine, Captain David would spend four hours or more, cleaning his boat. Believe me, it shows; but what it doesn't show are holes. When you first visit the SeaSucker.com site,… Read More
June 26, 2011
How Important is Inventory?
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Vance Tice is something of a legend in local fishing circles--and with good reason. The man knows as much about inshore and near-shore grouper fishing as anybody in the country. That's not because of a two-decade-plus friendship between Vance and I (although the thousands of hours we've spent laughing and fighting the same battle for our freedoms doesn't hurt!). Vance Tice has joined Captain David Rieumont, Captain Mike… Read More
June 03, 2011
How Fish Behave; Using A Fish Tales Log to Improve Your Catch
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When I got my very own copy of the popular FishTales log book, I was like any kid with a new toy. The first thing I wanted to do was get on the water, catch something and start a new log. You don't have to start a new log in January; it’s keeping them up-to-date and well-marked that’s the trick. Having this with my tackle will ensure it happens. Keeping logs is something that proves to be a very common practice among top… Read More
May 17, 2011
Economic Impact of Fishing on the Economy
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For Immediate Release: May 16, 2011 Contact: Rob Southwick, rob@southwickassociates.com, 904-277-9765 Federal Hunting and Fishing Excise Taxes Create Enormous 1,000-2,000% Annual Return on Investment to Outdoor Industry FERNANDINA BEACH, Fla. - An analysis conducted by Southwick Associates and Andrew Loftus Consulting for the Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies found that federal excise taxes collected on the sale… Read More
![Historical Logos of the United States Coast Guard](/modules/mod_raxo_allmode/tools/tb.php?src=/images/stories/Images_Publisher/MarinersLearning/coastguard.png&w=150&h=125&zc=1 "Get Your "Six-Pack" Online...")
April 06, 2011
Get Your "Six-Pack" Online...
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From the Publisher: We've been lucky enough to meet a company called Mariner's Learning System through our magazine's connection with the Recreational Fishing Alliance. The unique, structured, highly-professional, Coast-Guard approved courses the company offers are delivered online. The best product of its kind we've ever seen anywhere, it allows you to take the (normally) two-week course over a period of time that fits… Read More
March 17, 2011
Get your Captain's License Online
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A lot of people -- your humble correspondent among them -- have thought about what it would mean and what it would require of me to become an actual Charter Captain. There was even about a month-or-two when I was in my twenties, full of fire, and almost as able to find fish as I am today, not to mention much crazier and willing to fish under any circumstances regardless of danger or the health of me and the anglers on… Read More
January 27, 2011
In the Keys with a Chittum
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New Flats Skiff By Chittum Skiffs Islamorada 18 Here are a few photos of my new flats skiff, it was built by my old friend Hal Chittum. This is by far the finest flats skiff on the market, & i am one of the lucky 16 who have one. The boat rides great, is incredibly dry, & floats where water use to be. I have it set up with a bow casting platform, & as an option i also have (the spider as Hal calls it) which is the same… Read More
December 19, 2010
Caught in Flight Kites: Kite Fishing
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When angling from a drifting boat, offshore or inshore of Florida waters, you are at the mercy of the tides and wind currents. If the wind is prevailing in the correct direction, you could use a balloon; but by doing so, one risks polluting the marine environment with discarded synthetics. Many different styles of fishing have originated in the hopes of catching the big one! Perhaps the most effective style of getting… Read More
November 27, 2010
Need a Special Gift for your Kayak Angler
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As many of you know, I am the tournament director for the Kayak Fishing ClassicS. In doing so, I have seen some very innovative thinking by both the anglers and the manufacturers. I have been told that anglers are difficult to buy a special Christmas gift for so I thought I would share some great information with you. Over the past year I have gotten to know a number of company owners that make some unique products… Read More
November 03, 2010
New Skiff from a Hell's Bay Founder...
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From the publisher: Many of us have experience fishing on -- or owning -- Hells Bay boats. If you've been coming to the site for a while, you know that being Floridians by blood (if not birth), we strongly recommend the incredible custom boats you can find being built here if you're considering a purchase. We're going to get an opportunity to meet Hal because of our relationship with Captain Greg Poland, and will be… Read More
October 16, 2010
Steve Whitlock Game Fish Art
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The art of Steve Whitlock is very unique to say the least and the story behind the artist is also equally so. I became aware of Steve’s artwork while reviewing artists work to become eventual sponsors in the Art category for the Kayak Fishing ClassicS national tournament series. Steve’s work is done on a marine chart which has been duplicated onto special artist paper. He then paints fantastic scenes upon the chart.… Read More
September 11, 2010
The Hybrid Flurry
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I have used lots of baits throughout my life. You name it and I’ve tried it, but like a lot of our fellow anglers, I am partial to top water dog walkers. Recently, I was introduced to a new, soft swim bait by Edge Products called The Hybrid Flurry. Now I know what you’re thinking -- all swim baits are the same. I don't believe that's true. The Hybrid Flurry has a larger button tail, which gives it lots of vibration; so… Read More
August 02, 2010
Wet Phone? Ask Wes...
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This article came from our forums, where Wes provided this great list of things to do if -- God Forbid -- your phone gets wet. Like another forum member commented, we sure hope it never happens to us, but there's this rule I think I heard in Fishing 101. Something about a guy saying "if it can happen blah blah...". If your camera, cell phone, or other device accidentally gets wet when you are traveling (or at home), try… Read More
July 16, 2010
Fishy Products
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Sufix 832 The Line that Changes Your Game Last year in July, I had the privilege of attending the 2009 ICAST as over 7,000 representatives of the sporting industry converged on the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando, Fla., in showing of their respective and innovative products. This Phenomenon was a something I most surely plan to attend again and had I had the opportunity this year, I would have been there in a… Read More
July 01, 2010
A Small Thank You...
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The Beginning of a Community and a gift for our readership... If you're reading this article, you've already registered with what is clearly and without question the fastest-growing online fishing magazine in the nation, -- TheOnlineFisherman.com. But without readers, there's no reason to write, so we want to thank every single one of you from the bottom of our hearts. Besides registered users -- and you're one of a very… Read More
June 24, 2010
Navionics on your iPhone
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I'm a geek. It comes with the territory of being part of a team that generates a web site the likes of TheOnlineFisherman.com. Since we have no other publications -- print or otherwise -- that we're directly involved in, all we do is play with technology. The better the technology, the more organized, timely, and real the data is that we feed to our audience. We don't create the need for the latest reports, tide… Read More
June 03, 2010
The Best Fishing Books in Town
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Kayak Fishing and Skinny: How to Fish in Shallow Saltwater -- bringing it all together Some of you have read Skinny: How to Fish in Shallow Saltwater by Captain Mel Berman. Another book that should be on every fisher-person's library shelves is Kayak Fishing; an outstanding work by publisher Jon Shein, co-owner of America's leading online kayak fishing magazine, KayakFishingMagazine.net. Berman's Skinny and Shein's Kayak… Read More
April 19, 2010
Spot Devices on Tour
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SPOT Teams up with Backpacker’s 10th Annual Get Out More Tour Tuesday, 06 April 2010 00:00 MILPITAS, CA - (April 6, 2010) Spring is in full swing and it's time to gear-up for the summer months ahead. Spot LLC, a leader in personal satellite messaging and emergency communications is sponsoring Backpacker Magazine's 10th annual Get Out More Tour, a national, interactive mobile media and education road tour designed to… Read More
March 20, 2010
Lee Fisher Cast Nets
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In his very popular book Skinny: How to Fish in Shallow Saltwater, written just before the local fishing community lost one of the true legends of our sport, Captain Mel Berman wrote that there were three kinds of people when it came to castnets. First, people who couldn't care less. Second, people who wished they could use this proven and almost artistic method of catching live baitfish for snook, redfish, and just… Read More
March 20, 2010
A retail store? A fisherman's dream store.
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Tampa Bay Fishing Outfitters is more than a tackle shop. It's rapidly grown to become the most well-known and successful of all the very popular and successful stores in our region. Through tough economic times and bright ones, the shop has stood by the community with an unbelievable product inventory, a collection of guide "teams" and -- most important of all -- a range of experts serving your fishing needs. The store… Read More
