Fishing Blog HD Video and high end photography by Sam Root of Saltyshores.com

Kodak Playsport Underwater Footage from the Keys

2010-11-04T17:59:00.000-07:00

11.4.2010

by Sam Root of http://www.saltyshores.com

All the clips in this video was shot on the Kodak Playsport back in August. Right after this my camera gear kinda walked away so I didn't really pay much attention to the video footage I got that weekend. I finally got around to looking at some of it today and it was actually pretty nice. I got some nice Tuna underwater shots down at the Marathon hump. This was work related just hanging out with some friends down there. Benny, Jeff, Chris Walters, Chris Lewis and Paul F.

With some good lighting that $150 camera did great.

My Thailand Travels: return flight eating bugs

2010-06-14T04:44:00.001-07:00

June 13th 2010

Friday I began the long journey back home from half way around the world. The last day in the Thailand was filled with running around getting a list of things friends and family asked for. We visited a market next to a river. I would expect the river to be totally lifeless considering how poor most of the people are here it would be fished out. On the contrary however. The fish was abundant and came up to eat out of your hands. The locals tells that it was because the market is next to temple so it is forbidden to harm wild life there. The fish apparently knows this because they were all over the place.

After dinner we were packed and ready to head to the airport. We were to fly out via Korean Airlines at about 11pm. Not knowing how the traffic was going to be we left early and got there at 9pm. We had an hour flight delay so flight out of Bangkok to South Korea was now midnight. We pass the time buying some wi-fi time, and cruise the internet which I have not done for for a bit. Apparently the US is the only airports providing free wi-fi for your laptop.

Five hours in the air we landed in South Korea for another 3 hour layover. I took this opportunity to get some much needed sleep. My brother law tells me I was snoring but I didn't care. The 30minute nap I got was well worth it. This was to be the epic flight back to New York and for whatever reason I just can not sleep well while flying. I say epic because the flight leaves 11am S. Korea time, with the time zone changes and half way around the world we were not to land on US soil until 11am (yes 24 hours later) the next day! I think it came out to like 14 hours in the hair but that is a loooooooooong time to be anywhere much less a single economy class chair in a crowded airplane.

The flight was an eternity. If it wasn't for the built in entertainment system I do not know what I would have done to keep myself busy. I must have watched 10 movies during the flight. My favorite was "How to train a dragon". Next time I do this I will have to bring my ipad, ipod as they do have a usb charger as well. There were music, new releases, classic as well as foreign movies, board games, arcade games.

After landing in NY we had to go through customs. By the way, US customs does not like you to use you cameras in that area. I was told immediately to stop and delete what I had recorded. I complied quickly. I do not think it had anything to do with my video taking but I was sent to be interview more and not just walked through after checking papers like my brother and law. They asked me all kinds of questions but at the end all was good minus a small delay. I call tell looking around that room though, that some was being sent back or interrogated more and did not look very happy.

We are now on US grounds. No sleep and looking at a Wendy's we at our lunch. I have been eating Thai or Korean food for the past 11 days and was ready to get some good American food in my stomach. It was the best hamburger I've had in a long time. We will need the energy for yet another 5 hours of layover before heading to Orlando as our final destination.

The New York airport was crowded old and dirty compare to the new Thai and Korean airport. I wasn't very comfortable but was I was glad to be one step closer to home. I killed time charging all my gear(out of the country 220v was the power) and making phone calls and following up on emails and voice mails. I did not utilize my Verizon phone in "roaming mode" while I was away. It would've cost some crazy amount plus I really did not want to be attached to a phone the entire time I was in Thailand.

After almost another 1 hour delay we were off finally. 9pm we landed in Orlando and was greeted by my brother in law's family. I'm not home just just yet. We drove to Lake Whales to drop him off then I had to make the 1.5 hour drive back to Tampa. This is cake to what I normally drive but if you count how long I have been up, I have been with out sleep for almost 48 hours now. I had to fill up on gas and down some energy drink.

The drive home(alone finally) gave me time to reflect on the trip and the long journey half way around the world. Though it was not meant to be, this trip will definitely be a life changer for me. I am fortunate enough to see the other side many never get a chance to. If you care to listen, I will share my perspective as this blog goes on. We are fortunate here, we are compare to most of the world.

I arrive in my driveway right before midnight. I should be dead tired and falling over from lack of sleep but I was not. Now to get over the jet lag.......

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Eating Bugs:

While I was there I avoided most of the tourist hot spots. I leaned towards more of the local flavors. I didn't want to eat at fancy restaurants I wanted street foods. I wanted eat things I could not eat back in the states. The exotic fresh fruits and strange types of meets and insects that they eat there.

I must have sampled 10 different type of insects while I was there. From Dung Beatles, silk worms, flying ants, rice roaches, crickets, inch worms, I even tried the eggs horse shoe crabs. Most of the bugs didn't have much taste at all after it got fried. My favorites were the flying ants. The local names is "mang mun" this translates to "oil insect". The bug has oil bladder, which has an excellent taste as the gland explodes in your mouth.

Tri Shear cutter, the ultimate cutting tool for fisherman.

2010-02-27T04:12:00.000-08:00

Tri Shear line cutting tool video review. This is my first video review of a product, as just writing about it will not do it justice.

Tri Shear

I came across the Tri Shear by Innovative Fishing Tackle at the 2009 ICAST in Orlando Florida this past July. I was pretty impressed. The tool is light weight aluminum that will cut just about any line you could possible used on a fishing boat. It cuts mono obviously but it cuts mono up to 600lbs. It cuts braid all the way up to 200lb test. The most impressive is seeing it cut steel leaders all the way up to 600lb test, single or multi strand. It never gets dull so the next cut after cutting steel can be 10lb braid.
If it does get dull the company said they would replace it. For about $80 bucks, it comes with a lanyard and a holster plus a lifetime warranty. Not a bad deal.
I couldn’t get a hold of one and I’ve been looking for them in the stores ever since. Well, I started to see them in stores lately and got a hold of one. I sat in the garage and started to look for things to cut up. I got a hold of steel shark leaders, dacron, small diameter braided line. I have to say it did it’s job nicely. This tool will be staying with me almost every time I get on the water.
Locally I have seen the tool at Tampa Fishing Outfitters in Tampa and Captain Ted’s Tackle in Charlotte County.

Everglades Alligator Photos

2010-02-19T09:27:00.001-08:00

Feb 19th 2010
I had a few minutes this morning to go through some photos from the last couple of weeks.
From the everglades mother ship trip to the Miami Boat show.
Coming up today or tomorrow a couple of lure review by my friend Rich Osgood. I got him a prototype Sebile magic swimmer. He really digs it.
I was about 10feet away from this everglades alligator. The photos was a little out of focus I was it was low light and I was shooting in f2.8 but I thought it was a cool blurry action shot.

Miami Sky Line

Calamari

Jungle Jooooooooooooose! no it was not mine. yes I tasted it.. thumbs down.

Poor man’s way of How to shoot in the rain.

Rough Day boating and fishing that day with Sebile.

Tailers with Captain Joe Harley

Wang Anchor Photos shoot and the new Mirro Lur Scented baits. Lil John and the Provoker!

2010-02-10T04:12:00.000-08:00

Most of the day was spent working on a video project that wasn’t the most exciting thing in the world. It was a website corporate video about repairing potholes. Yes, not exactly jumping tarpon on fly exciting but it pays the bills so can’t complain.

I got a few request for images from the magazines so I had to search in my archives as most of the photos were sent off almost a year a go. Perhaps things are looking up for the magazines finally. I know I have been pretty busy with request for video and photography lately. Who knows this could be the year the economy stabilize. I know many guides that are hurting pretty bad right now due to the slow down. The recent fish kill did not fair well for the fishing industry either.

In the afternoon I had a studio shoot with Tom of Wanganchor.com lined up. We were to shoot some product shots for his new website. This time we got Jackie a local model to make Tom’s product even cooler than it is. After all, his motto for the product is “Hang out with your wang out”. The shoot went very well and Tom was very pleased with the results. We even shot some cool video clips with Jackie saying the motto. I will be editing that footage here in the next few days.

Mirrolure is Tampa Base lure company. Their product has been proven time and time again as one of the most popular fish catching lure in our local waters. My personal favorite of theirs is the ever popular mirrodine. They had just came out with some scent soft plastics called lil Jon and provoker. I was talking to Mike, one of the guys over at Mirrolure he will be sending me some to test out, review and use here in the next couple days.

They are also sending products for us to give away for the saltyshores newletters readers. They will be sending Soft and hard plastics to give away to our readers. So if you have not join please do so by clicking on the menu link above.

Everglades Mother Ship video, rough cut.

2010-02-04T19:50:00.001-08:00

Mothership rough cut from Sam Root on Vimeo.

World Record Snooks, Found dead near the Manatee River after the freeze of Jan 2010

2010-02-01T20:59:00.000-08:00

World Record Snook perhaps. This Five feet Monster snook was found dead on the banks of the Manatee River after the freeze.

February 1st, 2010
Author: Sam Root of Saltyshores.com

Perhaps a World Record snook for sure.

When I first looked at it, I thought it was a big drum of some sort but a closer look reveal it is definitely a snook.

This Giant snook measured 60″ long. Yes that is a real 5 feet long snook not just a fish story. This leviathan was found dead on the side of the Manatee river after an unprecedented freeze that took the lives of millions of fish.

Flamingo Fish Kill 2010, Jan 24th 2010

2010-01-25T18:18:00.001-08:00

Flamingo Fish Kill

By Sam Root of Saltyshores.com

I just back from fishing Flamingo, Florida aka Everglades National Park. I got good news and I got bad news. Bad news is the fish kill is very very serious and unfortunately 9 out 10 of the game fish that were killed were snook. I went out there with Honson and his friend Luigi(yes like in the Mario brothers). It's been a couple weeks since the freeze so we wanted to see what has come back. We only took fly rods to see if we can get into some sight fishing.

The conditions were slick calm that morning and we could see for miles, except for one thing. Super fog! We took our time running around the gulf side of the Everglades. Once the fog lifted we saw lots of death drifting in the glass calm waters. We would pass by anything large we saw on the water. I am sorry to say most of the large fish we ran by were breeder snooks that never made it through the freeze. A very very sad sight when you see hundreds of dead fish floating knowing most of them were breeder size snooks.

While stopping at one carcass we did see lots of life compared to one week ago. One surprise was a bunch of Palolo worms. These were the same type of worms that are found in the keys during the summer months. The Tarpon just love them. There were small bait fish slurping these little guys up all around us. This was breath taking to see. Life starting to come back once again. Hopefully tarpon would follow soon.

We poled the flats in some of the creeks and saw only a couple reds. On the way out we did bump into Honson's friend Brian. Brian was using jigs with shrimp and saw some reds and snook earlier in the day. He did manage one redfish before they spooked off. We followed Brian back into the creeks and he caught a few snappers and groupers in the deeper holes. During the run we did see a few dead Goliath groupers that did not fare well in the cold.

Although it sound like no one should ever fish again, all is not lost however. There were plenty of reds and trout being caught that day. The water temperature was rising and the bait were showing back up on the flats. The fishing can only get better I believe. The only species I'm really worried about are the snooks. There were just way too many breeders dead. Not even seeing one alive all day is never good. I did not see any dead redfish and compared to the snook the Tarpon did fine considering. When we got back to the ramp later that day the researcher told us no one has caught a snook all day.

I will be checking out Chokoloskee later in the week. I am afraid I will be seeing the same thing. Hopefully, it should be warm enough for the fish that did make to safe haven offshore, to find their way back once again.

Photo notes: Dull and dreary day filled with images of dead fish. As you can see my images reflect that. The edits are very monochromatic on purpose. My camera still have color. :)

This was the scene at the boat ramp at flamingo, hundreds of dead baby tarpon and snooks. Sadly this was all too familiar. The smell was rancid.

Palola worms.

Andros 32 by Sam Root of Saltyshores.com

2010-01-13T17:30:00.001-08:00

Andros 32, How to photograph a boat from a helicopter, By Sam Root of Saltyshores.com

January 13th, 2010

How to photograph a boat from a helicopter:
Well I got out today in Sarasota Florida to do a helicopter Boat shoot. The boat happens to be the new for 2010 Andros 32 .

At 6am this morning I wa making the drive down to the Sarasota airport. To meet up with the helicopter pilot. It was fridget 38 degrees out side. I bundled up and got out into the gulf of Mexico. We found the 32 feet Andros and started to do all kinds of crazy maneuvers. The pilot was awesome, he ws like 50′ from the boat at times and I had to ask to be backed off it was crazy. We even flew under a bridge following the 32 back when we were finished.

To shoot a moving object you have to have a fast shutter speed. So I set my camera to Shutter priority at 800/s or 1000/s or more if you have enough light. The faster the better. I set my ISO between 200-400. 200 if you have plenty of light 400 is low light setting, like this morning.

Since the chopper was costing $700.00 per hour I had better not screw up! I set my camera to shoot in bracket mode. What bracket mode does was shoot multiple exposure shots with one push of the button. In case there was bad lighting one out of those 3 shots would have been exposed properly. It’s kind of a insurance policy, just in case.

I also set my camera to meter center weighted. This means it meters the scene using what is near my focus. Since all I care about is exposing the boat properly and not worrying about the water etc. Since were shooting a dark colored boat a general 3D matrix exposure probably would not have worked as good.
By the end of the hour I was at almost 600 shots fired.

Here’s a little Iphone clip shot from the boat, Yes that’s me in the chopper: (warning: turn down your audio, it’s loud)

Here are some I had a chance to edit. Very little editing as the morning light was great. I did not use the shadows and highlights at all, as evidence in the lack of the famous halo effects.
New for 2010 Andros 32 More details as I get them. They are just 30 minutes from me so that should not be a problem.

How to make a fly fishing stripping basket, Orvis Stripping Basket.

2010-01-11T04:49:00.000-08:00

By Sam Root of Saltyshores.com

While I was out wading and fly fishing for the redfish yesterday it’s pretty apparent to me that the fly line sitting on top of the was causing lots of drag not to mention a tangle mess. When you try to make a long cast it just doesn’t go as far due to the water resistance. I know there are wading striping baskets you can buy but they are usually $50.00 on up. Since youtube is a plethora of information these days I just did a search on making a stripping basket and came across one. Even though it’s been a couple of years since he put it up, it was very well done. I put one together with the parts I had laying around in the garage and it works pretty well. I think everything cost less than $10.00. I can say, it’s not the coolest looking thing in the world to be walking around with, but it sure does work and work well.

Now if you do want to spend the money, the best one I have used is the Orvis Stripping basket. This is what makes it better than the others available out there.

Orvis Stripping Basket

It curves to fit your body comfortably.
Built in conic shape to keep fly line tangle free.
Belt is very well made and stays tight.
Built in rod holder.

The only improvement I would make is drill a couple small holes on the bottom of it to drain the water build out up. Other than that it’s a pretty well thought out design.
I’ve tried a couple other ones. For saltwater wade fishing anyways, the cons outweigh the pros.
Related posts:

Tampa Fly fishing then Miami for sailfishing(cody, jason, jack)

2010-01-10T17:15:00.000-08:00

The last 48 hours has came and went in a blur. Thursday I get a call from my friend Jason Stock of Jmsnooky Kayak Charters telling me he and a couple buddies(Cody Chivas and Jack of Championanglers.com) are going to Miami to do some sailfish. He said I was welcome to come along if I wanted to. Since I haven’t been sail fishing at all this season I really wanted to so I hurried pack my things and jammed them into the truck. I get a call from Tom of Wanganchor saying he wanted to get out that afternoon of redfish on fly as it was very sunny out today. Not being able to say no, I said ok, packed the fly rod and drove to meet him at the ramp.
The fly fishing for reds wasn’ t on fire but we did manage a couple fish. They were not plentiful but the ones we got were quality fish of about 31 inches. As the sun started to go sideways and we couldn’t see any more we ran back to the ramp I took off to wards Miami. Jason had called and told me they were on their way down. I caught up to them at Bass Pro shot in Ft. Lauderdale and we had some dinner at the Outback Steakhouse next door. The food was ok and everyone was excited to try get on some sail fish. Towing a 31′ Contender wasn’t and easy task but I call Cody has done this plenty of time. He was making U-turns and all kinds of crazy maneuvers.
We didn’t arrive in Miami until midnight and parking was definitely an issue. We tried to squeeze it in a place we shouldn’t have and took off the rub rails. We finally found a hotel that would let us leave the boat in the parking lot. After pulling the gear out we did the circus clown car trick and piled into my truck to drive back to the condo we were staying at. By this time it was 1:30am and we had to be up by 5:30am to try to get some bait.
530am we were up and ready. By the time ate, breakfast, pick up the boat, did a car switch, and found the boat ramp it was 8:30am before we hit the water. We ran the beaches for bait and got really lucky near south beach.(yes the famous one) We caught lots of bait but the coolest part was there were tons of tarpon every where. Rolling milling and happy. It was tough getting close to them in a 31′ Contender but we did manage to jump 2 before left for sail fishing.
The winds were blowing the wrong direction for sailfish today but we heard the bite had been good. We dropped a kite back and started to drift some baits. The southerly winds didn’t help things but we did see one boat hooked to sail fish so it kept us going. We got 3 Mahi on the drift lines. A few minutes later we doubled up on Bonito. Three more Bonito later we were starting to get frustrated. We were seeing lots of bait and flying fish scattering but no sailfish. We eventually had one sail came up to the spread and a couple free jumps but that was it for the day. The sun was going down and the opportunity was lost.
After we found a place to store the bait and got cleaned up it was 8:30pm. We tried to get with my friend Honson(a SS contributor) but he was too far out and were beyond hungry. Gave Cheese Cake Factory (excellent chain of restaurant btw: lots of food,consistantly good, a variety menu) a try but the hour wait on this Friday night was way too long for us. We found a Tony Romas on north miami beach to dine at. Two past dishes, a slab of beef ribs, a slab of baby back ribs later we were full. I wasn’t very impressed with Tony Roma’s food(or speed of the food came out)but the food was ok/average andwe were starving.
By now it’s 10pm and I had to make my way back Tampa as I my friend Jose’s wedding to attend. With very little sleep in the past 24 hours I was feeling a bit tired. Not mention the 4 hour drive and being on the water for 12 hours that day. By the time I hit alligator alley was doing the bobble head doll impression. Knowing this is quite dangerous for mine and everyone elses sake I decided to pull over for a quick knap. The quick knap turned into 3 hours as I awake at almost in the middle of an alligator ally parking lot. I tell you one thing though, I was pretty well rested. I drove back to Tamp in the rain as the front was hitting. Driving up to my drivway it was in the mid 40’s and raining. I tried to lay down to get some sleep but 45minutes was all I could do before the sun came up and I just couldn’t sleep.
As I’m typing this I just left the wedding early(I gotta gotta get some rest in) and got home to write up this report. I had a couple beers and saw lots of friends I haven’t seen in a while. I will be putting some video clips up hopefully tomorrow but here are some photos I thought turned out pretty cool.
Oh and don’t forget to check out the “Sex Drive” energy drink. I found that down in Miami beach and thought.. what will they come out to market next?

Had to put his in here. A new Sex Drive energy drink!

Banana Foster's video in HD using my NIkon D300s

2010-01-06T17:16:00.000-08:00

Nikon D300s 12MP CMOS Digital SLR Camera (Body Only)

When we were in Louisiana with Greg Dini , John and I ate at a place called "the Palace" down on Canal street. The food was ok but the Desert was excellent. Since the banana fosters were made right in front of us I decided to video it using the Nikon D300s DSLR. It's a little dark and I was shooting it all in auto mode so the lighting kind of shifted a bit. Overall though it came out ok.

This video is nothing special.. it just shows you how good the low light capabilities are of these DSLR when shooting HD videos. I will be using some of these types of footage when I compile some of the fishing videos I will be shooting here shortly.

Banana Fosters' HD from Sam Root on Vimeo.

Tampa Fly Fishing for Redfish in the freezing cold today.. well freezing for Tampa anyways.

2010-01-02T17:32:00.000-08:00

Tampa Redfish Fly fishing, wading in the icy cold.

Jan 2nd 2010

I looked out side it was very cold and windy but there were no clouds in the sky. This will make it excellent for sight fishing. Now a days if I can see the fish I would rather catch them on fly because it makes it more interesting.. yes, more pulling your hair out as well. Heading out by myself, I packed up the skiff with limited gear. I met up with Tom of Wang anchor and Joe of Carbon marine who was already out on the flats. As I pulled up Tom was releasing a small redfish he caught on the fly.

Since I was by myself I couldn’t really control the boat much. After a few frustrating tangles I decided to get out of the boat and waded. I was on fish with in a few minutes but I kept spooking them. I figured out they didn’t like the false cast very much as these are Tampa redfish not those dumb Louisiana ones. I got a nice over slot fish landed and released. That was the formula Joe and Tom quickly noticed and did the same. We landed 8 reds on fly today in 3 hours and 5 of which were over the slot. Once we lost the light it was pretty much over. 2010 for my armature fly fishing is starting off very well.

9wt Gloomis CC GLX, Loop Ecotech reel, Sharkskin line, about 12 foot of leader 15lb tippet.

While wading I dunked my reel a couple times in the saltwater, releasing fish. Loop tells me they have a waterproof drag. I got home and rinsed it off with fresh water I will let you know the results.

Tom snapped a shot me and my 1st fish.

These shots were done on they Olympus waterproof cameras. Very bland, I tried to fix them up in photoshop but this was the best I could do.

Fireworks 2010, Tampa Florida

2010-01-01T07:29:00.000-08:00

fireworks photos 2010, Tampa Channelside

January 1st, 2010
Author: sam

Jan 1st 2010

Happy New Year everyone! Last night I was fortunate enough to get a cool vantage point looking over the fireworks in Tampa at my friend’s John’s place.

Photo note: The photos were shot on a tripod using 3 to 8 second exposure at f16. I used a Nikon D300s with and lens set at 17mm.

Underwater video if Mahi down in the Keys with Pentax Optio W30

2009-12-25T13:14:00.000-08:00

Underwater video if Mahi down in the Keys with Pentax Optio W30.
You might want to look into the Pentax W80 as it shoots in HD and waterproof.

Saltyshores Christmast Update

2009-12-25T13:06:00.000-08:00

by Sam Root of Saltyshores.com

I am moving data from the old lap top the new laptop. I old laptop was just slow and overloaded these days. Since I’m moving more toward the video side of the media I needed a laptop that can handle video editing. I got a good deal on an HP with 8 gigs of ram and 1 TB of storage. This will allow me to work much better on the road and deliver media much fast to Saltyshores as well as at least give you guys some teaser video clips.

Speaking of video Clips, if you noticed at the top I have added a couple tabs. One is the email list tab that I’ve been talking about for the past month but the other is a “LIVE” video tab. Yes live! This will hopefully work it self out to be some cool live videos of on location stuff. It could be something as simple as a boat show cam, or something really cool like having it with when I’m in Boca Grand pass Tarpon fishing or on tailing red fish with fly.. who knows. I’m just working out the logistics and the feasibility of it all. I gotta say, so far it looks pretty darn do able. I will be posting date and time of each broadcast once it’s all figured out. I will have a test run here in about week so keep and eye out for the Saltyshores live fishing cam. Woo hoo!

One thing you might noticed as well is the new Saltyshores will now have a “similar post” feature. If you are reading something that’s not on the home page it shows other post that has similar tags and titles. For example if you are reading something about fly fishing, there will be little text links at the bottom suggesting other post you might be interested it. Cool eh?

Baby Tarpon on Fly in Chockoloskee Video

2009-12-21T18:01:00.001-08:00

Baby Tarpon on Fly quick clips.
Nothing fancy...just a 2min Video Clip from David and I trip to Chockoloskee yesterday.

This video was shot with the GoproHD 1080 camera

Scott S4s Fly Rod Review by Capt Colby Hane

2009-12-18T17:29:00.000-08:00

Scott S4s Fly Rod Review by Capt Colby Hane

Scott S4s Fly rod

Every now and then I come across a fly rod that just makes me smile. One that has some soul that you know will rub off on you…A rod that will just flat out do what you want when you want it to. I have had the pleasure over the years to cast and own a few of these jewels and I finally stumbled onto the one I have been searching for, the Scott S4S.

The rod shares some of the same characteristics as other top shelf salt sticks with the high end components and fast action designs. But I am more concerned on how the rod performs in the elements of fishing rather than its components. The model I’ve been throwing is the 9ft 2piece 9wt. I like the 2 piece configuration due to the lack of ferrules and added sensitivity, plus something mental tells me it might be more durable on large fish. The nine weight is what I consider to be a great windy redfish/snook rod or a typical Keys bonefish stick.

The rod is extremely light in the hand but very heavy in power. It has the ability to throw heavy flies in a stiff wind without suffering from power loss and deliver a fly with laser accuracy. The action is fast and responsive but it’s sensitive enough to feel the line load from short range or into the backing without the need to overline. The finish is low glare and stealthy….exactly what I want in a rod for spooky flats species. The 10wt joined with a matte black reel would make a deadly stealth Permit setup! It comes in sizes 6 through 12 weights and is one of the few high end models still available in a 2pc or 4pc. The series won the “Dealers Choice Award” at the 2009 fly fishing Retailer show and I can definitely see why it prevailed. I know there are a lot of quality rods available these days, but I find my self reaching for the Scott every time I’m on the water. I am looking forward to testing the bigger sticks this Tarpon season!

Capt. Colby Hane

Gopro HD 1080p video of Hells Bay Skate

2009-12-18T17:08:00.000-08:00

Dec 18th 2009:

Today I Shot some video of the Hells Bay Skate today with the Gopro HD 1080p helmet camera I just last week. I gotta say I'm quite impressed. This was of course totally hand held. I rendered it in Sony Vegas to add some contrast. I have to say it rivals many normal point and shoot camera in quality.

The body was very sturdy and it came with a waterproof case. I dunked it in saltwater a couple times while testing it. I will be shooting more with it here very soon.

As you can see from the footage it was overcast raining and drizzly...consider there wasn't much light out there I thought the little $299 camera did great!

Hells Bay Skate Walk through using my Toy Gopro HD 1080p from Sam Root on Vimeo.

Scott S4S Fly Rod and Hellsbay Skate

2009-12-18T03:22:00.000-08:00

Scott s4s fly rod, Capt. Colby Haine, Hellsbay Skate

December 18th, 2009

Scott s4s fly rod

I got up this morning at 4:50am …why? I couldn’t tell you as I type this. The only sound is my keyboard clicking away and the whirl of the fan in my computer. I got my cup of instant coffee in front of me on my cluttered up desk littered with business cards, demo reels, video tapes that needs to be digitized and a pile of unopened mail. Not to mention all the coffee stain rings on top of scraps of papers, old outdated magazines with numbers and notes written down of I don’t know what anymore. As I type this I noticed I had my coffee cup sitting on top of an check I got from one of the magazines yesterday along with a Christmas card. I just moved it so I wouldn’t spill coffee on it and have to ask for a new one.

I’m wearing an old micro fiber shirts with no logo on it. I have not shaved in a week so feeling and looking kind of rough. Horrible sitting position as I’m slid down and leaning back in my almost new, imitation leather office chair I got from Costco or Office depot a couple months ago. The old muscle aches a bit so I’m contemplating downing an Aleve and chasing it down with some good old instant coffee. When I was younger I could not understand all the Aspirin commercials I see on TV. As a kid, you just don’t feel these little annoying aches and pain that pretty much accompany you most mornings.

hells bay skate

In about 3 hours from now I’m meeting Colby and Tyler from Castaway Customs to do a little fishing. We get to play with some new toys this morning. Colby has the new Scott s4s fly rod which is Scott fly rod’s flagship salt water rod. Tyler is towing behind him the new Hells bay Skate.

The weather is not the greatest but that means it’s a good day to test things. Testing products in ideal conditions always yield the best results. What most people want to know is when it’s not so idea how does the product handle. Well within reason anyways. I mean you wouldn’t want to test a skiff offshore or fight a marlin with a spinning rod if you know what I mean.

I’m off to make me another cup of delicious cup of Nescafe instant coffee. In a perfect world and if all goes well I should have some nice pics and hopefully a tailing redfish next to these guys.

Jig heads, mission fishin jig heads, Basspro jig heads, Review

2009-12-17T15:57:00.000-08:00

Jig heads, Mission Fishin Jig heads, Basspro Jig heads, Flats Jig heads

December 17th, 2007 | Author: sam | Edit

Flats Jig
I noticed when ever there are questions asking about favorite lures the simple jig always make it near the top of pile. Since the jig is also my personal favorite(all around) lure (especially for reds) I would like to do a jig head review this week.

There are so many different types of jig heads out there these days. There are trolling jigs, deep offshore butterfly jigs, pyramid jigs, and on and on. You can write a book about just the type of jigs and their uses. I am going to limit this review to jigs I’ve personally use on the flats of Tampa bay.

I’ve tried my share of jig heads in the pass 12 months. From all the varieties of freshwater ones, the ones you can only get off the net, off course all the ones available at Wal-Mart, local tackle shops, Basspro, and Sports Authority. It would take too long to go through them all so I’m just going to narrow it down to the 2 I’ve narrow my choices down to and why.

I mainly use 1/8th oz or 1/16oz as I usually fish for the most part in waters less than 3’. At times I would use 1/4th oz for waters 4’-10’ of water.

My jig head of choice is the Basspro “standup” or “shad head” jig head. They come in a variety of colors and weight from 1/8th to 1/2 oz. The hooks are strong Mustad Ultra Point and at $3.19 for 8 per pack it’s a bargain for such good quality jig heads. Most similar molded jig head available you will get 3 for the same price.

The shape of the head of these jig heads are great for inshore flats fishing. If you look at the curvature of head it makes the jig head semi weedless. They have a smooth upward curve to them which passes over grass quite effectively. The other design simply catches more grass and weeds. You can find similar design being used by DOA, Bass Assassin, Exude Mr. Twister, and a few others. The barb that holds the lure is also nice on this jig head. It has 3 of them which makes holding on to plastics really nice. And if you use gulp products they can get slippery and hard to stay on the jig head at times.

The only quality lacking in this jig head is the attached eyes. They come off fairly easy and sometimes out of the package the hooks are covered some with over dipped paint. That being said, I don’t think that matters much to the fish as I’ve caught plenty of fish with jig heads with no eyes and the paint almost gone.
I also use Mission Fishin jig heads. I especially like their 1/16oz ones. If I need to use 1/8 I will opt for the Basspro. Made in Florida, and found only in local tackle shops, the Mission Fishin is a high quality product. The hooks are very sharp and strong. The barb holds the plastics really well. The paint quality is excellent and last a lot longer than the BP jig heads. 2nd to none, there are lots of varieties of colors available. They are a bit pricey at $3-3.50 for 3 in a pack. I continue to buy them however as the quality is unquestionable.

To conclude the jig is one of best versatile lure ever invented. If I had to depend on one lure to survive on desert island, it would have to be a jig. You can use any jig head out there and they will all catch fish. My choices for the flats are the BP standup jig heads and the Mission Fishin as they will give you a slight advantage in design, quality and an overall value.

Bass Pro Standup
Action: 8
Hook quality: 8
Bait Barb: 9
Aesthetics (longevity of paint and looks / variety in colors and sizes):6
Value:9

Mission Fishin
Action: 7
Hook quality: 9
Bait Barb:8
Aesthetics (longevity of paint and looks / variety in colors and sizes):9-10
Value:7
Disclaimer: I am not a guide trying to book charters. I do not get kick back, paid or is sponsored by any of the goods products or services I’ve written about. I do not claim the products above are the end all and be all of anything. If I like a product, they are just products I’ve field tested (and spent lots of $ trying similar products, and willing to try more) and has proven to myself that they work and work well for my personal type of fishing(Tampa Bay). It is an unbiased review please take it on it’s surface there is no hidden agenda no cloak and dagger no black helicopters. =)

Loop Push Pole, Fishing for Reds with Richard and Marsh works jig heads photos

2009-12-17T03:27:00.000-08:00

Loop Push Pole, Fishing for Reds with Richard and Marsh works jig heads photos

Yesterday I got out with Ricard and his father down south in the Bradenton Fl. area. It was much winder than we had expected but I had my rain gear ready. That’s one good thing about living out of your car at times, you have all your junk there from the last trip. It’s almost Christmas and it will be in the 80’s that day so the jacket was not staying on that long. Instead of 5mph as expected it was more like 15mph from the north blowing all the water out of the bay.

Since there was no water the strategy was to work pot holes and edges of the flats. Richard polled us around while we worked DOA Gold Rush jerk baits and paddle tails. ( Yes the good old Gold Rush makes it return this winter. )I was almost immediately rewarded with a trout. This was a not surprise this time of year. Cooler water seems to bring the trout shallower where we normally fish for red fish. Several trout later we were ready to catch a red fish but the water was still too low. We were hoping to have a nice incoming tide and to see the red fish tail on the shallow bar. I brought along my fly rod just in case we see some.

I tried some topwater but they had no interest so I went back to the jerk bait. A couple more trout and I finally got a nice thump and pulled in a nice redfish. Richard’s dad followed suit a bit later but none the less we all got our redfish. We stayed around the bar polling waiting for those tails to pop up but they never did. I took the idle time to shoot some more product photos for Marsh-works lures.

I also tested out the Loop Push pole by Carbon Marine. I’ve seen them at shows, I’ve picked them up but really didn’t pay much attention to them as I already had a couple of Stiffy Hybrid which I was totally happy with. I’ve owned cheap fiberglass poles, Moonlighters carbon and Biscayne pushpoles and I’ve always liked the Stiffy best. Besides, the Loop push pole was multi piece pole. Multi piece is great as you can ship them easily making the cost to consumer cheaper and easy for dealers to carry. (Usually if you buy a Stiffy, since its so long the shipping cost alone is $100. )In most cases though multi piece means less stiff and usually heavier. I was assuming this was the case with Loop.

I was on the poling platfrom giving it a good test in 15mph winds upwind downwind and spinning the boat for about 30minutes. It was also a 24′ push pole so I’m expecting more flex than my Stiffy. I was very impressed on how light and stiff the Loop/Carbon Marine push pole was. I mean there are Stiffy push poles that runs $1500.00 that are lighter but for about $600 for a 24′ push pole it was awesome deal. It’s actually cheaper than the retail on my 22′ Stiffy Hybrid and lighter. The texture is not quite as defined as the Stiffy but it’s also not as smooth as the Biscayne and Moonlighter. I liked the texture feel but I’m sure this just comes down to personal preferences.

Since I’m doing more and more fly fishing and push poling lately I might have to upgrade my push pole. In a perfect world, my 1st choice would be the Stiffy Extreme at almost $1500.00 after shipping etc. I will have to do one more test on the Loop Push pole, but so far I’m pretty impressed. Especially when I can get a 24′ real carbon no shipping cost push pole for about $600.00.

Photos were shot with Nikon D300s and Nikon 17-55mm 2.8

Posted in Fishing Reports, Fishing Reviews, Inshore, Photography, Reviews | Tags: carbone marine, loop push poles, stiffy hybrid

Finally got on some tailing redfish action with Jim Lemke and Brian

2009-12-15T15:19:00.001-08:00

Finally got on some tailing redfish action with Jim Lemke and Brian

December 15th, 2009 |

Today I didn’t do anthing crazy like waking up at 2am ala yesterday. I did however got up before the alarm went off as I was so tired yesterday from that long day, I went to bed a bit early. I met up with my friend Jim Lemke at the ramp to do some tailing redfish photos and hope to catch them on fly. We picked up another friend Brian a few minutes later and we on our way to the fishing grounds.
Once the tide got low enough tails started to pop up all over the place. Jim poled us around the area and I started clicking away trying to get the perfect shot. The water was slick and they were beautiful tails popping up. Only one prolem…. it was so still they were crazy spooky. Every small movement moved the fish further and further as they could feel the pressure from the boat. I shot away and got some good photos before finally stopped tailing about 1.5 hours. Of course by the time I wanted to fish instead of taking photos they were all but gone.. go figure.. can’t fish and take good photos.. always a dilemma!
Brian did got out and waded to a few fish on his own. He was rewarded with a nice 29″ redfish so all was not lost.

Falconry with Ron

2009-12-12T17:20:00.001-08:00

Dec. 12th 2009

By Sam Root of Saltyshores.com

Today I decided to tag along on a Falconry hunt with my friend’s bother Ron. Ron is a master falconer and has been for over 10 years. It’s a pretty cool sport.

The basic premises is take a bird of prey condition to hunt with you.

We got out on a open field put let the bird sit on a perch. They then used sticks or dogs to Russel the bushes and scare out prey. Prey like rabbits, rats, and other small birds like quails and believe or not ducks.

Today we hunted the red tail hawk, the Harris hawk and the coolest of them all the peregrine falcon. The peregrine goes waaaaaaaaaaaaaay up then does a crazy free fall at almost 200 miles an hour. Attacking their prey but grabbing them by the neck. This method does one of two things. One it strangles the prey and two breaks it’s vertebrae.

I filmed most of the time as photos would’ve been pretty tough considering all the brushes in the way. I got the birds attacking rabbits, quail, rats and ducks. Not all is great footage as these guys are fast! I the kill video on many of them as well. The most exciting part of the day came when we ran into a 5.5 to 6′ rattle snake! He was coiled up and rattling for well over 20 minutes. I got some great video as well as stills.

I made a quick short clip to share with you guys. This video here is the done on the D300s but I got better action stuff on the tape.

Dec 11th 2009 Journal Updates

2009-12-11T18:41:00.001-08:00

Dec 11th 2009

Spent most of the day working on the New Saltyshores lay out. I created Users for all the current SS contributors. I also sent them emails explaining how to use the new format and how flexible the system was.

I spent a good chunk of the day also copying over some post from the legacy SS to the new SS. I will try to copy over all the cool stuff like reviews and articles that are I think has value. This is going to take some time so you might see some old post mixed in with the new post on the new SS. All the data will still remain on the old SS I will have links to it on the main page.

While browsing some video sites I came across this cool video. It was shot in Northern Mongolia home of the largest trout in the world. Very cool. (it's embedded on the new SS just press play).

http://saltyshores.com/wordpress/2009/12/11/destinations/the-river-that-time-forgot/

Trying to work with the stealth black them for Tibor reel shot, I waited til the sun went down and shot this photo with a black cloth background. I'm trying to give it coming out of the shadow effect.