Catch 22

The past two seasons have been really tough for me and plenty of my friends down here.  Going from around 300 trips a year to less than 100 has impacted my finances considerably.  Oddly enough, I have had more than enough trips booked to survive the poor economy, it is just those darn catches that have messed everything up.  The weather permitting catch followed by the being healthy enough to fish catch were the cause of most of my misfortunes.

This winter's weather cost me over 20 trips.  Very few people wanted to vacation in the Keys with temperatures dipping below 40 degrees.  Then having windier than normal conditions in late spring cost me a few more.  Weather is always a cause for lay days, this year the lay days were a bit more inopportune than normal for me.

Health wise, side effects from my blood pressure meds and some crud that was going around cost me several more trips.  A couple of trips I spent nearly as much time puking as I did talking.  I was chasing a good size shark one trip all the while puking over the rail.  So after changing my diet, losing 20 pounds, eating vitamins and finally quitting drinking I managed to reduce the side effects and get rid of the crud.  Things were looking up when bam, a blood clot takes me out of the game for a while and I lose a few more trips.

The fear of oil didn't help much either.  While we never had any impact from the BP oil spill, fear of the oil cause a number of trips to be canceled.  I only know of seven trips I lost due to the spill but I suspect a few more were lost. 

All things considered I would have had a respectable season even with the bad economy, had it not been for poor health, weird weather and the largest oil spill in the history of the United States.

Now the health issue due to my newly acquired deep vein thrombosis (that's the fancy way of saying a friggin' blood clot) has my future up for grabs.  The text book treatment for a clot is to use anti-coagulants to prevent the clot from getting bigger and hopefully stabilizing the clot so it doesn't go on a road trip to the lungs, heart or brain.  Warfarin, the anti-coagulant or blood thinner I take which initially was and is used as a rat poison, doesn't dissolve the clot but can provide blood conditions that "may" allow the clot to gradually dissolve via your body's natural processes.  There are drugs that will dissolve the clot but are only approved in life threatening situations since the they have the potential side effects of causing stroke or just plain killing you.  So the only answer I can find for when I will be able to guide again is FIIK (F*** If I Know).

With adequate amounts of opiate based pain medications, I could be fishing in a couple of weeks.  Though I doubt fishing with overly drugged guide really ranks very high on most people's "to do" list.  Especially, one with a cane and the personality of Greg House. 

So that's it for now, I will keep y'all posted on any changes.

Marathon in the Florida Keys should be your next fishing vacation destination. Join us for charter fishing, fishing guide trips or our fishing 101 so you can fish on your own with better success.

Tight lines,

Capt. Dallas