Fishin 23'

On Monday, my dad tasked me with helping him and his business partner to put our two boats in the water. It was very reminiscent of the work we did with Jordan. First, we had to pick up the trailer across town and then bring each boat from the boatyard. I wasn't really needed until we got the boat to the water, which is when I got in the boat as my dad and his friend strategically reversed the trailer. I then drove our boat from the boat ramp to our slip and repeated the process with the other boat. My dad and his friend probably could have done it without me but it was very fun to briefly drive the boats. In total, I worked 1:30 hours today.

We wrapped up working with Jordan on Thursday, though we each continued our projects at home. After staying with Jackson in Marblehead, I went home on Sunday. I was unsure how to continue to fulfill hours for my project, so I watched a couple videos of blue marlin fishing tournaments in Florida. They were very cool videos and their trolling techniques looked very similar to the ones we used. Since I only got one hour of work, I ended up fishing with my friends off the pier at home around sunset. We were just going for scup by dropping lures to the bottom. Unsurprisingly we were unsuccessful because piers are some of the hardest spots to fish. In total, I only worked 2 hours today.

  Second Weekly Reflection We started this week off nicely by fishing with Jordan on Monday. We left the house early, and we were out on the water by 8:30, and once again, we practiced trolling until we reached deeper waters. After the first few fishing trips, Jordan emphasized the filming and social media aspects during this trip. We were intentional about getting good shots of Jordan's sponsored items, like filming the jig dropping into the water or getting a photo of the rod bending with a fish on. It was fun to branch out and switch between filming and fishing, and it was nice to see that our clips were good enough for Jordan to post on his business Instagram account. It was a slow day, and ultimately I only caught one small Benita, and Jordan caught a large Blackfin Tuna. When we returned to his house, we cleaned the boat while he cut up some tuna for us to take home. That night we made tuna sashimi and seared tuna sandwiches with the fresh tuna.  On Tuesday, Mark was unlucky

 Today we met Jordan at 8:00 am and went fishing. The conditions were perfect, with no wind, and it took us just a couple of minutes to get 5 miles offshore. We practiced slow pitch jigging again, and our improvement from day one was significant from when we initially tried it. The wind from the night before had pushed all the sand and sediment offshore, so offshore fishing became far more complex. We tried all the way from 130-foot depth to 700-foot depth, and ultimately we didn't catch anything. When we returned to the house, we cleaned Jordan's boat one last time and debriefed the work we did for him. In total, we worked 6 hours today.

Once again, we met Jordan at his house around 8:30 am and quickly headed to the docks. We brought frozen bags of Benita and Tuna and got to fileting them on the stand at the pier. It was surprisingly tricky because we had to cut it a certain way. If we didn't get an even strip or cut against the grain, it was considered crappy bait, and we'd have to throw it in the water. Locals were fishing off the docks, so it was fun to chum up the waters and watch them try to catch stuff. Eventually, someone fishing at the docks hooked a massive tarpon and handed Mark the rod, though it quickly got away. In total, we worked 3.5 hours today.

 On Tuesday, we all met Jordan at 8:00 am, though we quickly split up. Mark lost rock paper scissors and was assigned to cut the metal from chainlink fences (so they could fit in the dumpster), clean the boat, and salvage some old cushioning pieces from the boat while Jackon and I ran errands with Jordan. First, we went to a reel repair company to service his Accurate reels. Next, we went to a high-end tackle store to look around, and Jordan spoke with a company representative about hosting one of the monthly seminars. Lastly, we went to Costco to get Gatorade and water, as well as a pizza for lunch. When we got back to the house, we took down a rotting tree right next to Jordan's driveway and rigged a couple of rods before enjoying the pizza. In total, we worked 5 hours today.