Went out with my buddy Don today and we clubbed em pretty good again...Started the morning off on a school of about 200-300 Black Drum in the 8-12lb range and caught 5 before leaving them biting to revisit a favorite sandhole at a undisclosed location.....Got distracted by Upper slot Reds that were moving around potholes on the flats next to the sand hole. We ended up catching 9 of them between 25-30" before hitting what we call "Giant Sand Hole".....see if you can figure out why?
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.... and so you just go home, flop that on the kitchen counter and command "Honey, I'd like to eat 'round 7ish" ?
True-life story =
Back in the '80s, I "created" a mail order t-shirt company (out of one bedroom full of the equipment). I ran demo photo-ads in "Field and Stream" and "Florida Sportsman". The ad had a photo of me holding up a huge bass (almost covered my torso). But I held it enough to the side so you could see that my t-shirt had that same photo, me & my proudest catch printed on it. {Okay ... I started the whole business just so I could name products & write catchy-copy & be a published creative writer.}
Headline =
"History Fishstory Shirt"
The copy: "Send photo of you holding your most proud, brag-worthy catch and we will return to you your "wear-it-every trip" lucky fishing shirt. A shirt of you holding a monster that your buddies will have to look at all day. (Here's a bonus: "No guys, can't help clean 'em. Don't want guts or scales on my lucky shirt").. Also, just send a photo of you posing as holding a monster bass and we'll put one as part of your line. (Start rehearsing your glorious fish-tale, so you'll be convincing and never waver.)
1980, so there was no computerology for fancy fakery. No PCs in homes, just with uuniversities & military.I had to earn it the "old fashioned" way -- very fashioned. Hell, The shirts where I supplied the humongous bass looked real. The "History Fishstory" shirt sold well. $3,000 first month but advertising cost $3400/month and that's with me going to the bank and establishing an account for my own ad agancy:
"Adwise Advertise" by that means the magazines deposited 15% of the ad-price as commission into my Adwise account as kickback for placing the ad with them. Costs were $3400 but your orders gather more momentum 'cause people see the ad in June-mag during July, Aug, etc.
Sign of the times story. I had the idea for the "History Fishstory shirt burning my skull, when randomly driving around some well kept modest-homes neighborhood in Hialeah (down Miami way) I spotted an open 2-car garage door. Inside there a guy was working his "at-home" taxiderm business. I strolled in, gave him the sort version and "Could I borrow that huge taxidermed bass over there. He said "sure". He didn't let me sign anything or even take my name = just a handshake between two folk trying. I took that huge bass, curled body, gaping mouth like fighting to throw the hook.
I superimposed that fish on nearly 600 shirts (over about 6 months). Of course, I returned that bass-stiff to my garaged Cuban benefactor with a gift bottle of Chivas Regal.
By the data from all beginner minor mail-order track records my fish-shirt business was projected to be a success as most lose money for the first 9-22 months. But I was on to wilder profits = teeny boppers? I would side-by-side print the teeny's face with her fave rock/tv star David Cassidy, ??? even non-teens ask for older stars Linda Ronstadt, ???
The copy :
"Starmate Stardate shirt"... you and your starmate on a stardate. Looks like you two belong together. Blah, blah, blather, blah. I advertised in "Teenbeat", "Tigerbeat" etc. etc. On that ad shirt my wife was pictured together with Rod Stewart. They really looked like they belonged together.(I always rented time with a commercial art studio for the photos for the ads.) Now, this was a big success. I'd get a letter requesting a star & I'd just go through the teen section at a large magazine shop and buy it. Once home, I cut out the stars photo & copy her photo the teen sent, sizing them correctly & heat transfer.
Of course, this was illegal since I had no stars' permission (license) to profit from their likeness.(My plea to the judge would be: "Judge read what these girls write; this isn't likeness this is loveness.") Anyway, I knew as small $ as I was I'd just get an attorney's "you decease" letter, sharp letter opener included. What scared me into quitting was worldwide success. One day I got an envelope more eloquent than any I've ever received. It was from Spain. The letterhead photo was an architecturally exquisite T-Shirt manufacturer building -- they wanted to meet to draw up contracts to be my European Distributer. I folded shop.
