Middle Aged Man and the Sea.

Here is an article written by a friend of mine about a day of fishing with me down in Key West.
A local magazine called FishMonster ran the piece. The article ran a few months ago and I am just getting around to posting it on the blog. If you can see it well enough here you can go to www.fishmonster.com.
and look in the digital issues to find it.
I hope that everyone is getting through Winter by having fun and enjoying the cold.
Adios.

Too far south to fish.

Here we are again in McMurdo Station Antarctica. I have been here for a couple of months and still have a few more before I am back on the H20.
Things down here are going along just fine. I have been to West Antarctica for a week. Almost spent Thanksgiving out on the flat white but we made it back to the big city in time for the two day weekend.
Other than that all is normal down here. I have been out quite a few times via helicopter to our 'local" communication sites.
I am scheduled to leave on Friday to fly out approximately 100 miles to inspect a tower we built a few years ago. This trip should just be a day trip
I just realized it is 12-12-12!!! I am not sure what that means but I like it. Actually for most of my friends back in the states today is only the 11th. Anyway.
I just thought I should write a little something so that my blog is not shut down and wiped away into the ethos called the internet.

Here us a photo of the view from the top of a 30ft tower we built last week. A few 1000 years and some more global warming and we can turn all of this pesky ice into warm water and we can set up a fishing lodge in Antarctica.

What Migration???

Hello again, Been awhile since my last stab at blogging.
I am in Key West and have been for a little over a month.  I have been very busy getting things in order to start a charter operation. I have taken the USCG test and passed. I now have my Captains License!!! Very pleased with the outcome of that part of the process. When I first started this trip a couple of years ago I thought that getting my "ticket" would be the most difficult part of this process. That alone was not the hardest part of all of this. Actually I will say that is caused me the most stress. The remaining things involving the state,city and county along with insurance, along with finding a spot to pick up customers were also a bit of work. As of today it looks like I am all set. I even have a trip that is supposed to happen tomorrow. I am nervous and excited about it.
I have all of my gear and am ready to fish. One problem. The fishing sucks right now. The Tarpon migration looked to be starting off as it should this time of year. We were catching fish and starting and all was well. The weather has been very very iffy. Lots of wind and more wind followed by rain and more rain. As I write this the wind driven rain is drenching Key West. I am hopeful that the weather improves sooner rather than later. I do not want give the impression that life is not great down here in the Keys. All is well down here. Come on down and see for yourself.
Until next time,Adios.

The world out your window.

I am not sure where this is going to end up. I will start with letting you know that I am many flights from Key West. I am looking out the window at blowing snow. Snow being pushed by winds in the 75 to 80 knot range. Wind chill is probably near neg 60? Ambient temp is right around zero. Pretty warm eh?

The "house" is filled with 6 of us. Lots of reading,sleeping and some communication. Talking is pretty tough because the wind sounds like a train passing through the front yard. We were planning on heading back to McMurdo in the a.m. tomorrow. I have a feeling that we will be here for at least 3 more days. You want to know the best part of this? This is my job. A co-worker and I came out to secure a small antenna that is mounted on a 10 foot tower. At this point we have only been able to get outside to apply what we hope will be a sufficient band aid to the bobbling rocking antenna. I hope the little fella makes it for a few more days. The upcoming football season hangs in the balance for the U.S. Antarctic program at McMurdo Station. Anyway. The above photo is what was left of the dome after the last big blow from this time last year. I think we broke 105 knots during this storm.

I hope your day is less dramatic and that you are able to get outside and get in the H2O.

Made it!!!

So after much effort and time I am finally in Key West with a flats boat. I bought the boat in Islamorada at the Islamorada Boat Center. If you are ever looking for a boat down here I would suggest that you give Jen a call.

I was lucky enough to have two friends with me for the maiden voyage of my boat. Even though the boat is only 17' having a couple of extra hands around was a big help when docking and navigating the narrow back country channels. We have mainly been tarpon fishing. Hooked a few and finally got one to the boat yesterday. Big fish that was probably close to 100 lbs. He was still a little green but I got excited and wanted to land this fish. We had chased him around for over an hour and a half already. I leaned over the rail of the boat and grabbed the leader. The tarpon was still keeping his head down and that big tail was moving from side to side. I was able to raise the fish and just when I thought I was going to be able to grab his bottom lip the line broke. !@#$!@ So no pics. That's alright. Probably a bit better for the fish. He did not hesitate to swim right off. All part of the learning process.

I have many more stories to write about but now I must pack and get ready to catch a flight later today.

Adios.

Just a little setback.

I can hear my name being called over the intercom system in Tampa airport right now.

"Final call for Mr. Asher, Mr.Asher please report to check in immediately."

Sorry Tampa. I am still in Denver. Not going to make the flight.

I just wanted to catch you up on what has been happening with Operation Fla. Keys. We have been a little delayed in getting the show on the road. I took my truck in for a check up and an alignment a few days before I was scheduled to leave. I new the truck was old and could use some love but I was not prepared for the news I got from TWO separate garages.I will spare you the details but it was pretty much thousands of dollars needed to get the old truck up to speed again. I decided to invest my time and money into a new truck. The last week and a half have been full days of driving all over Denver looking/driving/and researching used trucks.

Just when I thought I had found the truck for me I came across a late night listing on C-list. I called first thing in the morning and put down a deposit that afternoon. I am the proud new owner of a Toyota Tundra. Very pleased so far and am looking forward to pulling a flats boat with it later this month.

I am picking it up today and with a little luck can pack tonight and be on the road in the a.m..

I AM BACK!!!

O.K. it has been awhile since any activity on this little experiment of mine. I apologize to the handful of visitors. Thanks for stopping by I do appreciate the interest. So just a quick recap of the previous months. Spent 6 months working down south again in Antarctica. Great season. Lots of very interesting projects to work on. Finally finished a project that has taken 3 years to pull off. Nice to put that one to bed. My girlfriend and I just made it back to the states a couple of days ago. We spent 4 weeks cycling around Tasmania. The trip was a great experience. We definetly had some hard days along the way. I did not really do any sort of "training" for the trip and would have to suggest to anyone considering a bike trip,you get yourself on some sort of workout routine prior to day one. Like I said we had some hard days and I cant help but think that if I were in better cycling shape those days would have been easier. In my defense it is very hard to get into cycling shape while in Antarctica. In the end though I felt stronger and had even broken in my new saddle.Well broke in my back side along with the saddle is probably a better explanation of what happened. Now to the fishing that is coming my way. For months I have been looking at flats boats and places to rent in Key West. For so long it all seemed so far away that it did not even seem real. Well now I am about 4 days from leaving Colorado headed for Florida. I am going to make a go of it down there for a few months this year.My goal is to find the right boat and then fish every day until I leave in July. I can not get my fingers to describe how excited I am. I will keep you posted on the adventure as things develop. Currently I am packing,getting the truck sorted out,and planning my route. Pretty much go east and take a right somewhere around St Louis. I am meeting a friend in a couple of weeks who will be joining me on the first part of the trip.I am looking forward to hanging out with him as well as having him around when looking at boats. I hope that once I find the boat we will be able to get it in the water before he has to head home. Adios.