NOTHIN' LIKE GNAWIN' AN OLD BONE

Got a call from a really nice guy today. For the sake of this piece, Jorge Peso will be his his nom de plume. Jorge and some of his SoCal stalwarts had been to Mag Bay this year, and had a good trip. Upon returning home Jorge wrote the trip up, and sent it and some pictures of their scaly victims into the Western Outdoor News, as that established periodical solicits and publishes articles from civilians. Aside form receiving free material, this practice allows them a precarious hold to claims of veracity and accuracy in their reporting. After waiting a couple of issues and not seeing his piece, Jorge called them up and wanted to know how come the tale of his friends and he had not yet seen the light of day. "Well", he was told, "We haven't seen that come across our desks, could you resend it." Being a good guy, a trusting member of our greater community, Jorge resent the article, complete with info as to who he fished with and undoubtedly some kind words for Captain Chris. When he saw one of the pictures in a subsequent issue they had merely published the photo, referred to Mag Bay, and Jorge, and that was it. Jorge then called me to ask, "Do they have a big hard on for you, or what?" I assured him that while I was certain that nothing about their aged erection could possibly be big, it certainly does exist. And now, as my idol Paul Harvey was want to say, "The rest of the story."

After an evening of thinking it over, fuck it, I'm not going to drone on about this. Suffice it to say that my experience with them includes:

Relabeling of Fishermens Fleets' customer pictures to say that they were caught during a WON event.

One of their writers was an investor in one of my competitors, during which time several articles, once even two issues in a row, touting this competitor were published.

No less than 3 other customers with experiences identical to Jorges' when submitting articles documenting their trips with us.

During the many years here I have been solicited to buy advertising in the WON, and on two occasions I have been told, on the phone, that this would result in articles covering my business.

When I asked Mr. McDonald about this at the Fred Hall Show he politely told me that, "We have a business to run, and this is how we run it." I think that Enron used that one too.

OK, I get it. Business. But if the advertising and editorial policies of WON are going to overlap to this extent I think that they should print the little "Paid Advertisement" label that magazines use when that is what an article appearing advertisement is published.

Remember also that any business paying the rates that WON charges passes that business expense on to those who buy their product so the money that advertisers pay them is actually paid by you. The money we don't spend on them ends up in your pocket, with which we hope you buy even more fishing.

So, if you haven't guessed by now, short of lining the bottom of the cage of a very large and messy parrot, I see no viable use.

Damn, is this election thing almost over? Need a diversion? Go fishin'. It continues to be good here, with yellow fin tuna still comin' in daily, often wahoo, the large marlin are still here, some pargo. "No different than last time?", you ask. " I thought that you didn't update unless things had changed", you say. Right enough. I wrote this for my General, who I can hear grumbling from here. The thing that wasn't in the last report is Magdelena Bay. In our 6th year there it remains one of the highest quality fishing trips on the planet. Groups this year are scoring on grouper, yellow tail, yellow fin, wahoo, amberjack, cabrilla, sierra, and a few "i don't know what it was, but it tasted good" fish. Leavin' town excited and antsy, returning a week later a little browner, happy, tired, fishingly spent if you will. Our perspective is that this trip is a much better value, with better variety and quality of fish than most of the trips to Alaska, and a fish load cheaper. Depending on who you want to win the election, and on who wins, feel free to at least temporarily escape the end of the world as you know it. Go fishing.

It's almost over, let's get together and make it better,
David Jones