Father's Day Weekend in Mobile, AL

I love logistical travel challenges

“Sounds like fun! Are you going to bring back any fish?”

This is the question I’ve gotten from most friends who I’ve told I’m going fishing in the Gulf of Mexico this weekend. And since I really only fish to eat, the answer to this question is “hell yes!”. The only problem is, I’m not sure how bringing back fish is going to work.

WHAT I PACKED

Given the fact that I also plan to film much of this adventure, the first challenge is accounting for all the stuff I need to bring. I need multiple cameras, enough battery power, ikejime and filleting tools, a storage tool, and a transportation vessel for the fish that will hold a cold temperature for at least 8hrs. It’s a lot, but I think I’ve got things figured out.

Let me explain.

So the camera and other tech gear is pretty straight forward. I’ve got a total of four cameras — my primary Sony ZV-E10 — and three action cameras, my latest being the DJI Action 4. Each camera has an SD card for storing footage and a backup battery. I’m also bring two power banks, which, thanks to my good friend Morgan, have become essential kit for filming in the field. Each camera has a mount and/or tripod and ND filters that will definitely be needed on the two sunny days we plan to be fishing.

I’ve also got my laptop, external hard drive, and two books to keep the entertainment and business buses rolling.

My tech and clothes are split between my backpack and a carry-on suitcase (the blue one). The new packing cubes are DOPE and have really helped me better organize what has normally been a fairly chaotic and inefficient process of transporting the things I wear.

For fish related equipment I’ve got two checked items; a suitcase and my Orca 40L cooler*. The cooler is empty, but will hopefully be full upon my return. The suitcase contains my vacuum sealer, my main camera tripod, and my knives and other sharp things.

*If I had to buy a cooler all over again, I would get this one instead. Buy once, cry once.

I’ve talked about the importance of knives several times before, and ever since purchasing a knife roll, I’ve been able to conduct much more efficient processing away from home. I snagged a pair of kitchen shears from Dry Aged Fish Guy that he’s uses to process fish in his business and I’m eager to put them to work this weekend. In addition to the shears, I’m packing my chef’s knife, boning/fillet knife, a fish scaler made in Japan, my Ikejime spike and wires, and two sharpies for labeling packages of fish.

PLANNING FOR ON THE BOAT

I don’t yet know details about the boat my step-Uncle is going to have us on, but processing the fish on the boat will require a cooler with a larger capacity than the one I’m bringing. In order to execute the Ikejime method properly, I’ll need a cooler long enough to place the whole processed fish into an ice slurry bath.

There are two issues that I already know will present a challenge for this final step of ikejime. The first is that the high temperatures for the two days will be fishing are 97 and 98 degrees Fahrenheit. Friggin blazing hot. We’ll be out in the mornings on both days, so we’re not likely to see temps above the low 90’s by the time we’re done, but that’s still hot for keeping fish cool.

The second challenge is making sure the ice slurry is of salty water close to the salinity of the sea. This is important because fish adapted to living in salt water maintain an internal salinity by preventing water loss from their bodies. But put these fish in fresh water, they begin to rapidly take on water due to osmosis and a physiology that can’t prevent the influx of fresh water to their bodies. It’s complex biology, but if you’ve ever seen a salt water fish put in fresh water, you know they don’t last long.

A fish that takes on a lot of water into it’s body will have flesh with a completely different texture than they otherwise would have, and so in order to make sure I can enjoy these fish to their fullest, I’ll need to make sure any water I put them in doesn’t cause their bodies to take on unwanted water. Not to mention the added weight in water I’d be transporting.

So, I plan to buy a bunch of sea salt to add to the fresh water ice we purchase to make my slurry. As for storage on the boat, we’ll need to buy a cooler large enough to hold up to a dozen fish, the minimum length of which is about 16in. That’s a lot of damn fish, but I hope we have that logistical challenge.

And that’s prepping for a fishing trip with air travel!

I should also mention that I organized all of these thoughts and ideas in Notion. This app has really helped me get organized, which was a serious friction point in my travels.

TRAVEL DAY

So, I couldn’t sleep. My son was restless in his own room and then at about midnight he came into our room and climbed into bed. Dennis Rodman wishes he had the boxing out skills of our son! I have no idea how someone so small can so effectively push me to the edge of our bed.

I gave up on sleep with about 2hrs left before I planned to leave. I’m too excited to sleep. But it turned out well because I used that time to go through a deep stretching routine I hadn’t practiced in almost a year. That really helped me settle my general anxieties over travel and focus on my intentions for the trip. The stretching routine also helped keep fatigue at bay and created some good circulation for the hours of sitting I was about to do.

I also spent the time listening to one of my favorite rapper’s — Rapsody — new album. It was contemplative and lyrical, just like I like my hip hop, and I really enjoyed turning a frustrating night into something I could still do for my body, that I hope will make me better able to pull in fish on Friday.

Having Delta elite status along with a Delta AMEX cards has also been extremely helpful, as I didn’t have to worry about breakfast this morning (it was served at the Sky Club) and I don’t have to pay for any of the bags I plan to check. If I could go back in time to my late twenties, one of the things I would tell myself is to fly almost exclusively on Delta and to get this credit card. When I think of all the frequent flyer miles I could have had for my dissertation research and all the conferencing I’ve been doing…

Okay! Time to board my flight, but I’ll be back with updates of the weekend, so keep reading!

DAY 1

It’s so cot damn hot down here! The heat index was 103 today and it was more than a little choppy out in the bay. I’ll talk and show much more about the fishing the upcoming YouTube episode, but for now, I want to talk about what it’s been like documenting fishing in Mobile thus far.

My first thought is that filming crews for all outdoor activities are underpaid. I don’t know what they’re paid, but they’re underpaid because the amount of physical work, intelligence, planning, vision, and improvisation that goes into making quality outdoor film is a lot!

First, let’s talk about what went right.

The neck mount I purchased for my action camera worked great! I found that chest mounts were not as reliable in terms of them having the right frame for the shot, and they are awkward AF to work with in the field. Neck mounts are the way to go for fishing for sure.

The DJI Action 4 is a great action camera and far more liable than the Hero 8 by GoPro. The two models are not an exact comparison because the Hero 8 is several years old and the Action 4 is DJI’s latest model, but I have zero complaints about the Action 4 and given the unreliability of my GoPro’s, I don’t plan to ever go back.

My shears by Dry Aged Fish Guy were spectacular! I was able to perform 2 out the 4 steps of the ikejime method on the fish I kept quite easily with just the scissors alone; which I needed to be able to do one handed because of how choppy it was on the water. I’ll explain why I was only able to do 2 out of the 4 ikejime steps in next week’s newsletter, but for now, check out this link about the difference these red snapper! The larger one died via the suffocation method and the smaller one I used steps of the ikejime method. Bonkers!

Lastly, the travel plan I built in Notion has been everything. There were several instances getting ready for this trip where I remembered crucial items because I had listed them as a checklist item on my travel plan. When I reviewed my checklists before getting in bed, I realized that I hadn’t packed some crucial items.

Now for what didn’t work.

Those effing GoPro’s are dead to me. Literally, one died on me and I wasn’t able to use it at all. I should have checked to make sure they both worked before I left, but I didn’t (a new checklist item for my travel plan template for sure). I didn’t get any mounted boat shots today because the other GoPro kept needing to reformat the SD card and not turning itself off without removing the battery. So frustrating!

My shorts performed great except that they aren’t the best for husky gents who have to sit a lot on choppy water. Let’s just say, my boys didn’t have sufficient room for all that jostling.

The last thing that didn’t work was the cot dang heat! Specifically, my main camera could take the heat and had to shut down just 10min into cleaning the day’s catch. So you won’t get to see my fillet job of the snapper, which is just as well because I was riding up front in the struggle bus trying to process those fish.

And that’s Day 1!

REFLECTIONS ON THE “WHY” OF DOCUMENTING

“Our stories are all we got.”

I think I heard Lin Manuel Miranda say that on Chicka’s latest album. I agree wholeheartedly. Humans are first and foremost story telling animals. Stories move us, shape us, define us on every level.

I started putting content online about 10 years ago because I wanted the stories I was experiencing to be preserved and shared with my kids. Specifically, I wanted our eldest to have a firs hand account of her dad’s perspectives that they could come back to. I love the fact that no matter what happens to me for the rest of my life, part of who I am will live on, as I was in that time, for as long as these digital copies of myself are legible.

So on this trip of building memories with my father, I want to continue the preservation of self, so that the library that is my life can have as many volumes as possible.

Okay, photo dump time! Enjoy!

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TWO HUNDRED SUBSCRIBERS?!

WHAT?! This is bonkers! I’m still a long way from my goal of 1000 subscribers by next year, but this is just wild to me that these many folks have hit the subscribe button on my content.

I feel like almost each video is a massive step forward in improving my content, and I’m just so grateful that people find it interesting enough to tune in. THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!!!!!!

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Wild Food Update

SNAPPER!

There’s not really much more to be said about this other than I can’t wait to eat all this fish. Who’s ready for a fish fry?

Recommendation

NECK MOUNT OR BUST!

If you like to fish and film your fishing adventures, then I can’t recommend ditching your head and chest mount for a neck mount enough. I went with the one from PGYTech after some YouTubers I follow recommended this particular brand for its build quality, features, and aesthetics. I couldn’t agree more. Pick one up!

Business Update

I need a director of content, a scheduling administrator, and film editor. There’s just so much work to do!

Thanks for reading this week’s newsletter!

-Jonathan