happy new year

The production crew is behind closed doors this week in full planning session. In these year end meetings, there’s usually some celebrating the end of the year, brainstorming for ideas and marking the calendar for events coming up in the New Year. While they are tied up with all that business stuff, we’ll take a page from the season finale and continue to look back at 2010.

The year started out with a chill in the air much like the one we are experiencing this week. The temperatures dropped and the body count rose as the snook population took a hard hit from the bitter cold. This sparked an idea put into motion in the Spring of 2010 and Project Snook was born. The fund raising project enabled Addictive Fishing to directly contribute to Mote Marine’s snook research facility. By bringing together both sponsor and fan participation, Project Snook was able to turn a project that was on the verge of closing its doors to keeping the pumps running. Throughout the year we were able to see first hand the importance of our donations. A batch of snook was hatched around the same time the AF project was launched and we were able to bring the Mote facilities into the homes to our viewers in a four-part segment shown in episodes during the season. With sponsor donations from Star brite, Dick’s Sporting Goods and TrueFlies Apparel combined with donations from fans & fishermen wanting to do their part, the final tally for 2010 was $17,750.00! Project Snook isn’t over! We will continue to provide our support and give back to the fishery that has provided for us all these years.

The cold spell also caused production issues. The reality of this TV show is the difficulty in shooting an episode when the stars don’t show up. Slow fishing forced a reschedule of air time. When the water started getting back to average, the shows started pumping out and they looked better than ever! 2010 brought some anticipated changes when the show was aired in full HD format. We were finally able to show off the true capabilities of a new VariCAM thanks to network upgrades.

If the frigid winter wasn’t enough, an oil spill in the gulf threatened the livelihoods of everyone that made a living in, on or around the Gulf of Mexico. As the spill pushed closer to Panhandle shores, AF shot another amazing cobia episode in Destin, FL. It would be weeks later that the hole in the bottom of the pond would be plugged but the water was a brilliant emerald green during our shoot.

We saw great new products come out this year (some of which we cannot talk about at the moment; hint, hint). The Capt. Blair Wiggins signature series rods from Wright & McGill took on an overhaul. The grips were switched to a new split grip, the rod took on an unmistakable look with its camouflage blue paintjob. Best of all, the prices were lowered! The S-curve technology gives the new stick plenty of backbone but still has the sensitivity to feel a redfish looking at your bait. A perfect match to the “Flats Blue” rod is the new FINS XS extra smooth braid. Available in a matching blue or contrasting orange really compliments the AF colors of your outfit. FINS adds extra Spectra fiber to their XS braid making it rounder and smoother for better performance.

Who can forget all the products we gave away this year? Every month we had the pleasure of calling an unsuspecting winner of the Minn Kota/Humminbird Giveaway. Minn Kota trolling motors and Humminbird 385ci Combos were shipping out to winners on a monthly basis. We also showed up to Mogan Mania with a truck load of prizes from all of our sponsors that were raffled off for donations to Project Snook.

We usually run into a few celebrities in our travels. We hung with Skeet Reese at ICAST, Blair was a guest on Bill Miller’s Hooked On Fishing, Manny Puig showed up at the DSG Mogan Tour and we bumped into Vince Neil in Vegas. The highlight of the year was having bass legend Bill Dance on the show. We shared a lot of laughs working with Bill and look forward to fishing with him again.

The year wouldn’t have been what it was without the support of our fans and sponsors. The Dick’s Sporting Goods Mogan Tour traveled the state visiting each DSG in Florida and a few in other states. The tour allows us to have one-on-one time with the fans and show off some of our sponsors’ new products.

Stick around! We will have more flashbacks, more sneak peeks into what the New Year has in store and many more Mogans. As we close out 2010, we thank all of our sponsors and fans for their support. May 2011 bring prosperity and tight lines to us all.

Always popping the cork a little early,

BillBird