Tidelines – July 28, 2011
Our most recent cover, the July 21 cover with Bob Arrington holding a “gator” speckled trout, has easily been our most talked about cover of the year. For one (and this is no secret to Bob), Bob is a rather large fellow. And when I say “rather large,” what I’m really saying is he’s massive.
For two, our issue with Bob on the cover was delivered about the same day as North Carolina Sportsman delivered their latest issue with a girl in a bikini holding a red drum. Even casual observers noticed the contrast, and I think the covers being polar opposites fueled the discussion.
Bob’s a big man holding a big trout, and if a smaller person were to hold that same trout, then we would be talking about it as a massive trout. Capt. Ricky Kellum sent in the photo of Bob, as Bob has been one of his regular clients through the years. Bob’s had a tough year, Ricky was telling me, so getting in the newspaper would be a highlight for him. I imagine Bob was pleasantly surprised on July 21 to see himself on the cover, and I think he would also appreciate how many people noticed.
Our take on the matter here at Fisherman’s Post? We’re suckers for attention. We just enjoy it when people are talking about us.
The comments on Bob’s cover got me reflecting about other recent feedback we’ve received. A few weeks ago I received an anonymous letter—no name or address on the envelope, and no name or signature inside on the note.
Inside the envelope was a cut out of my Tidelines column from the June 16 issue, and the person had highlighted every time I had used the words “I” or “me” or “my.” Then they wrote at the top, “Man are you stuck on yourself. Get over it!!!” And then at the bottom, under a photo of a cobia caught while I was fishing with Capt. Donnie Davis of DOA Charters, they wrote, “I caught the bigest (sic) cobia in the world!!”
The English teacher in me liked that the person had identified the potential problem of repetitious language in my writing. Maybe this person has even been a student of mine in the past because repetitious writing is something I like to call out in the classroom. However, Tidelines is a monologue, and monologues tend to use the words “I” and “me” and “my.”
Then the English teacher in me would go on to say that his/her criticism would be more valid if they (1) spelled “biggest” correctly and (2) didn’t overuse exclamation marks.
Last week I was lucky that a reader from Arizona called our Editor (rather than me) to complain about our use of the word “dolphin.” His point was that we should use the name dolphinfish (from the scientific chart).
People in general—but especially people from around Arizona—stood a strong chance, he argued, of being confused by our use of dolphin as opposed to dolphinfish. By just using dolphin, people would think that we were talking about catching the mammal.
Max countered by pointing out that dolphin was now widely accepted, and that by far the lion’s share of our readers (saltwater anglers) understand what we mean by dolphin. He also noted that the dolphin in the photos bore no resemblance to Flipper.
I think after about 15 minutes they agreed to not agree.
My last reader-feedback anecdote came in just a few days after the July 21 issue hit the stands. A reader from Rocky Mount was touched by the Guide Time trip that my boys and I had done with Capt. Jeff Wolfe of Seahawk Inshore Charters. On our voicemail, the reader had commented that he’s been a long time reader and fan of Fisherman’s Post, but reading about kids growing up on the water and experiencing activities like crabbing, clamming, and fishing had been by far his favorite article to date.
Please let us know what you think about our efforts here at Fisherman’s Post. We promise to listen politely for up to 15 minutes. And we may listen even longer, as long as we’re not trying to get out on the water to hook and gaff dolphin!!!!!
