Cold Fishing Trip AGAIN!!!

[Marilyn]

I'm going on my third fishing trip of the year this Saturday, and here's the forecast:

Sat
Nov 15

Sunny / Wind

High 67°
Low 41°

10% chance of precipitation

This will be the coldest day in a ten day period, same as the other two trips!!!

It is really cold out on the water when it's 41° and the guide is running the boat between 30 and 50 mph. Last time, in October, I ended up with a really bad cold and a big fever blister. It may have been a coincidence, but I really think getting so cold contributed. We may also be having a bit of red tide which contributes to the problem.

Here, for comparison is Friday's forecast:

Fri
Nov 14

Sunny

High 81°
Low 55°

20% chance of precipitation.

At least there is less chance of rain on Saturday. Hopefully we will catch lots of fish and no one will get sick this time. Keep your fingers crossed for us!!

I'll be entertaining customers, again, so this will not be a purely fun trip. I was taking two high up plant managers though, and they cancelled on me today because their CEO is coming in on Saturday for a special meeting (hope it's not bad news). So at the last minute, I had to find replacements. I actually only found one, so tomorrow morning will be on the phone again. It's also hunting season, so lots of folks are in the hill country chasing the deer.

[DianaB]

Maybe you should take them golfing!!!! I'd be bundled up for sure!!! I don't handle cold very well!! Just ask Janet!!!!

[gja1000]

Marilyn,
My SIL goes on lots of trips like this too - sometimes he's being entertained, sometimes he's doing the entertaining.

[Marilyn]

Originally Posted by DianaB

Maybe you should take them golfing!!!! I'd be bundled up for sure!!! I don't handle cold very well!! Just ask Janet!!!!

Golfing would be much better, plus we wouldn't be leaving the dock at 6 a.m. I have to pick the guys up at my office at 5:15 a.m. which means I have to leave my home by 4:30, which means I have to get up around 3:45.

Friday evening I have to be at a dinner from 6:00 to 9:00 p.m. in a town about an hour drive from my home. Then have to make sandwiches for the fishing trip before going to bed.

Doesn't this sound like fun???

I was just sharing this with hubby and he's going to do my grocery shopping for the trip and make my sandwiches for me!!! What a guy!!!

[DianaB]

So when is it that you get to sleep?

[Marilyn]

Well, the fishing trip is finally over!!! It was very cold, and so horribly windy. As soon as the guide gave the boat the gas, a huge thermos of coffee one of the guys brought slid off the console and into the bottom of the boat. Coffee and thermos glass went everywhere. We had to stop and clean it up. Then the guide ran the boat aground on a sand bar and they guys had to roll up their pant legs, put on water shoes and push us off the sand bar. One of the guys got his jeans really wet, and one of his socks fell in the water, so he was wet and cold from much of the trip. Most of us got splashed at one time or another during the day, and with the wind chill, it was really, really cold.

We cast off at 6 a.m. and returned to the dock at around 2:30 p.m. Weigh in was at 3 p.m. We caught some trout, but it was a hard day fishing. The wind was gusting much higher than predicted. We're guessing around 40 mph, and the swells on the bay were around 3 feet. We tried to stay in sheltered areas, but the anchors wouldn't hold us in that wind, so we kept drifting way too quickly and having to fly back around and drift again.

I don't ever, ever want to do that again. Three fishing trips this year and every one of them cold. I did bring a nice flounder home for the freezer, but other than that, this is not a redo.

I need to take some guys out fishing, but we are doing it when we can pick a nice day, not a required tournament day like this one.

My face and lips feel so chapped from the wind. Will be so glad when my face feels normal again.

[gja1000]

Brrrrrr...... I've been out fishing on a day like that and the memory is not pleasant!!! My hubby is a died in the wool hardy fisherman - but even he wouldn't be happy with those conditions. Actually, I would have been sick, with the wind whipping up the swells, I don't do well with that!!!

Hope you never have to do that again!!!

[DianaB]

I think that I would have canceled with conditions like that! For one, I would have been so sick that it would have been an awful day for me!!! You're one tough girl to have stuck it out!!!!

[2tiredmom]

You are one brave woman. There's no way I'd go out on water like that.
It has to be at least 80 degrees before I'll even get in the boat.

[Marilyn]

I wore a transcope patch to prevent sea sickness, or I'd have never made it. Now I'm getting a fever blister on the edge of my lip. I know it was triggered by this trip. Just hope it's not going to be a big one. I use Abreva to minimize the effect, but I really don't know if it helps much.

Oh, well, all I can say is live and learn, and never again!!!

[judy]

Obviously, this was a business related day. Having been a teacher, and not involved much in corporate life, I don't really get the whole thing.

It seems to me that if the weather is bad, the fishing should have been postponed
and something more fun planned. I guess it doesn't work that way. Who makes these decisions?

I would never make it as a corporate person. You know I would have called the CEO and insisted that the plans be changed. If I got a "no," I would have called him an idiot, just like I called that judge last year. Then, I would have been fired and have to collect unemployment while looking for another job in this economy!

I give you credit Marilyn! You have the stamina for this.

[Marilyn]

This trip was a fishing tournament put on by a professional organization. Many of my customers are on the board for this organization. I'd already paid the entrance fee and booked the guide service. The tournament was supposed to happen in September, the day after Hurricane Ike hit Galveston, so had to be rescheduled. I was hoping they would reschedule in May or June of '09, but no, they decided to do it in November. We have some beautiful days in November and the day before would have been perfect, but Saturday was not a good day.

Last year, was a day of heavy thunderstorms, so my team backed out. We got no refund and had to pay the guide his expenses for getting his boat ready and buying the bait.

One thing, I gained a lot of respect from my guy customers for being a trooper and going through with the trip this year. I am paid well for what I do, so when something like this happens, it's kinda like I'm earning that pay, so really shouldn't complain.

No one would have really given me a hard time for backing out though. My upper management would have understood, and so would my customers, so I don't plan on doing this again. From now on, fair weather, or we don't go.

[judy]

You have had 2 years of bad weather for this trip. I'm glad you have the option to change it if next year's weather is not good either. You really can't blame the guide for charging even if it is canclled. They prep for it and should be paid for that.

Hopefully, next trip will be on a lovely day and you'll all enjoy it thoroughly, plus you'll be getting paid!

[Marilyn]

Originally Posted by judy

You really can't blame the guide for charging even if it is canclled. They prep for it and should be paid for that.

Hopefully, next trip will be on a lovely day and you'll all enjoy it thoroughly, plus you'll be getting paid!

Oh, please don't get me wrong, the guide treated us very fairly. He made the effort, had legitimate expenses and the weather was not his fault. He was definitely due what we paid him.

I get paid salary plus sales commission, so am not paid directly for something like a fishing trip. The idea is to build relationships that increase sales. Over the years, we've built up a pretty good following in the area by delivering extremely good service. Usually getting to take customers on a fishing trip is fun for us and for them. The weather just doesn't cooperate sometimes.