I've been doing radio, podcasts, and on the scene reporting for a number of years now. Although it doesn't have anything to do with coins or coin collecting.. We broadcast from Angels Stadium every sunday evening at 8pm on 830AM...we do a Sportfishing show with call-in's and special guest stars, trivia questions, and discuss the "Latest and Greatest" in Saltwater Sportfishing. I am also what is known as a "Pro-Staffer" for our web-site, and that job mainly consists of going on our sponsored fishing trips in order to teach newbie anglers how to become better fishermen/women.. I'll hold Seminars on Knot-Tying, how to rig-up your terminal tackle for the specific species of fish that will be targeting, How to fight your fish, and what to do in case of tangled lines....and I also do on the spot call-in reports that are posted directly to the web-site in less than 5 minutes, as a Pod-Cast. Then I do a complete write-up on the Boat, the Crew, the Food in the galley, how the Fishing was, what the catching ratio was, what gear worked the best (or was more consistant), how the live bait worked, how Artificial bait faired in comparison to the live bait, and who caught the largest fish of the trip. On a side note, my girlfriend Pam is a Pro-Staffer for 3 different companies.... Izorline (one of the largest fishing line companies in 976-Tuna, and our Youth Fishing Program...she has also been a member of The Challengers Sportfishing Club for well over 10 years and regularly outfishes every guy in her club. You guys think you are pretty good saltwater anglers?... I'll bet you One Thousand Dollars that Pam can out-fish you, any day of the week. She is 5'-4" tall and weighs 105 pounds, and I've watched her catch 4 yellowfin tuna that had a total combined weight of almost 750 pounds.(no harness, no chair, etc.). I've also watched her catch a limit of Yellowtal (thats 10 fish per angler, per day) at San Clemente Island...all of her yellowtail weighed in excess of 30 pounds, and she caught all 10 in less than 2 hours... You should see (and hear) what the guys on the boats she fishes on say about her....those guys' ego's are so butt-hurt when she outfishes them that they actually accuse her of cheating! I just tell 'em "Dude, you just got outfished by a girl....again." Does she outfish me?...yes she has, and I couldn't be more proud of her than at that moment. We also have a Youth Fishing Program where we take underpriviledged and at-risk kids from alot of the poorer neighborhoods, (Compton, Watts, Boyle Heights, Echo Park area, MacArthur Park area, etc), put them on a bus and take them down to one of the plentiful Sportfishing Landings here in Southern California. We then put them on a Coast Guard Certified fishing vessel (most are 85-100 feet in length), and then we provide them with fishing rods, reels, line, tackle, cold drinks and a warm lunch at NO Charge to the kids or their parents.... With our program, our Youth Fishing Program we take, on average, about 5,000 kids a year fishing.... And since we started this program, we've taken almost 40,000 (yep FORTY Thousand), underpriviledged kids fishing. Not one single ProStaffer or volunteer makes a dime for the help they provide....it's just our way of giving back to our community. Make a difference in a kids life....Help get those kids hooked on fishing, not on drugs. OK, back to the "show".... In case you are wondering how could a sportfishing show survive in Los Angeles, I submit the following.... This is a 250 pound Yellowfin tuna that I caught at Hurricane Bank (Shimada Seamount), which is 980 miles south-west of San Diego. It takes 4 days of travel time just to get to the fishing area.. I got this particular fish to the boat in 25 minutes (most anglers average 1 to 2 hours)...we don't use harnesses, or fighting chairs..this is called "West Coast Stand Up Fishing". It took five gaffs to get the fish on board. I've caught 79 yellowfin from 100 pounds to 262 pounds so far...(I don't count anything under 100 pounds). Since I broke my back, I've been unable to fish, so I started collecting coins. But I still do the radio show, so at least I'm still involved in some way. My good buddy Phil Friedman has the largest fish reporting website on the planet, and during the high point of the fishing season, the website gets over One Million hits a day...yes, a day.
Peter...on some of the trips that I go on, they last 13 straight days without getting off the boat.... When I catch alot of big fish...I'm talking about catching 15 yellowfin tuna that weigh well over 200 pounds each, and you do the math...that tends to be a crapload of fish. So...what do I do with the fish? I have the fish professionally cleaned, filleted, cut into dinner sized protions, and then have that vacuum sealed. I'll keep enough to load up my freezer, and then I'll DONATE the rest of those thousands of pounds of fish to Food Banks, Rescue Missions, and Churches of all denominations here in So. Cal. And to make myself feel better about giving away literally tens of thousands of dollars worth of prime sushi quality fish, I'll write it all off as a tax deductible donation for full market value. Market Value?....yes, sometime's it's between $14 and $20 a pound for quality tuna....lets see, 3 thousand pounds of sushi quality tuna at $20 dollars a pound is.... Yep...it's a crapload.
That is something Kenny & you are able to help the homeless as well, I have a place in my heart for them as well. All The Way, Steve
