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Posted on June 4, 2015 by

Fishackathon – Fishing for Sustainable Code

No, we’re not talking about the worst Perch fillets you’ve ever seen. We’re talking about bringing talented people together across 15 cities around the world on a three-day coding marathon to support our global fisheries! The challenge is to use technology to help solve real world problems in fisheries management, conservation, aquaculture, and traceability.

fishackathon

Fishackathon is a public-private partnership that aims to capitalize on the expansion of mobile technology use across the developing world to address sustainable fishery challenges. The annual Fishackathon event calls on coders, designers, creatives, architects, product managers, project managers, oceanographers, fishers, ichthyologist, phycologist, algologist, and beach combers from all around the world to come together to create new applications and tools for use on mobile phones, devices, and other end-solutions, which can help fishers work smarter and more safely in sustainable fishing.

Working smarter and more safely toward a sustainable future is a worthwhile pursuit for any organization. But to set your target on our largest and most threatened ecosystem, which is utterly essential to life on this planet, might seem lofty if not impossible. The oceans are just too big, right? Consider all the effort and ingenuity we’ve invested into everything we’ve done off this planet like how many humans are in space right now looking back at this majestic blue (not green) marble we call home. Surely some of that novel inventiveness could make a huge impact on our oceans.

If this one weekend of sacrifice could lead to a better fishery for everyone how could anyone refuse? Fishing and camping might be my preferred way to spend my weekends, but I spend my weekdays working with technologies that have the ability to make these types of extraordinary leaps into the impossible, which is why I will be volunteering my time this weekend to help organize a fishackathon event here in Toronto, and perhaps why you should volunteer your time as well.

Be sure to follow FishingFury twitter and fishhackathon twitter on Twitter for live updates throughout the weekend!

First King
Posted on July 26, 2013 by

Offshore Kayak Fishing Trip Takes a Dangerous Turn

I just had one of the most epic adventures of my entire life. The day before Independence Day I set out for a four-day kayak fishing excursion to the Texas coast. I would end up pushing my limits to the max, having a brush with death, and catching some amazing fish in the process. This was an experience that I will remember for the rest of my life. Here is my story…

I loaded up the kayak and all of my fishing and camping gear and began the long journey from Dallas to Corpus Christi, TX. I arrived after dark and drove along the beach to my campsite. Straight off shore on the horizon I could see the blinking lights of my destination: the Mayan Princess oil rigs. I pitched my tent near the water and climbed in, thinking of nothing but the adventure that lied ahead.

When I awoke the conditions were ideal: the surf was flat, the wind was calm, and the water looked like glass beyond the breakers. I was amazed at the beauty of this place; it was not at all what I think of when I hear “Texas coast”. The sand was white, the water green and clear, and hardly any seaweed in sight. At around 7:00 AM the guys I was meeting began to arrive so we loaded up our kayaks and set off into the surf.

The three mile journey to the oil rigs could only be described as pleasant and serene. I saw a piece of trash floating in the water so I pedaled over to grab it and throw it in my kayak. My hand stopped inches above the bag when I realized it was not a bag but a huge Man o’ War. I looked up and realized they were everywhere. Needless to say, I elected not to go for a swim that day.

Man-o-War

I was trolling on the journey out, and as I approached the first rig, BOOM one of my reels starts screaming as the line peels off the reel. I grabbed the rod, tightened the drag, and held on for the ride. The water clarity this far out was simply incredible. A half hour into the fight, I looked down and could see a beautiful shade of yellow and gray over 20 feet below me.

Jack Crevalle Underwater

I had hooked into a gorgeous Jack Crevalle. This thing put up an incredible fight. I pulled it up into the boat and was grinning from ear to ear. I had landed my first deep-sea fish from the kayak, and it felt amazing.

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Fishing Camp- The Game
Posted on June 30, 2013 by

Review Roundup

Check out these two new product reviews we’ve just posted and stay tuned for more reviews already in the pipeline. As always if you make, sell, or just plain love a product and think we should review it, contact us and let us know!

Fishing Camp The Game

Fishing Camp- The GameFishing Camp is an educational trivia-based board game for the whole family made by Education Outdoors. The game retails for $24.99 USD, supports up to eight players at once, and has challenging trivia questions for novices and experts alike. Education Outdoors also makes several other outdoor related games about camping, hunting, even cryptozoology, and donates a percentage of their profits to organizations geared toward educating children and families about the great outdoors.

Continue Reading “Review: Fishing Camp The Game”

Swedish FireKnife

Swedish FireKnifeThe Swedish FireKnife is a tool that was given to us for review, and so I ran it through its paces on my previous trip to Algonquin Park. It’s a collaboration between Mora, a Swedish knife company, and Light My Fire, who primarily make flints and firestarters. This is a sturdy-looking knife, a practical size, has a solid sheath, and as a bonus has a flint in the handle. The Swedish FireKnife retails for about $30 USD and is available in four different colours.

Continue Reading “Review: Swedish FireKnife”

Posted on June 27, 2013 by

New Photo Gallery From Mystery Lake

We’ve got 60 new photos from Mystery Lake to top off the spring fishing season. We were lucky enough to spend both bass and musky opener there and even though the weather didn’t cooperate we had several successful outings. Thanks to “The Famous Believer”, one of our top five spring musky lures, Mike was a musky catching machine!

Big Musky

Photo Gallery: Bass and Musky Fishing on Mystery Lake – Spring 2013

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