InTheBite

  • Home
  • News
    • All News
    • Featured Stories
    • General News
    • Captain of the Year
    • Tournament Results
    • First Builds
    • Splash Reports
    • Old Salts Rule
    • Tackle Tips
    • Dock Talk
    • Crew Records
    • Conservation
  • Tournaments
    • Calendar
    • Captain of the Year
    • Champion’s Cup
  • Shop
    • All Products
    • Subscriptions
    • Back Issues
    • Shirts
    • Hats & Visors
    • Miscellaneous
    • Release Rulers
  • Classifieds
  • Job Board
  • Contact
    • Contact InTheBite
    • InTheBite Media Kit
  • Log in

#What The Hell is Happening?!! —The Strange World of Fishing Social Media

April 9, 2018 By InTheBite Editor

#What The Hell is Happening—The Strange World of Fishing Social Media
By Elliott Stark

This article first appeared in our March 2017 issue Volume 16 Edition 2 of InTheBite The Professionals’ Sportfishing Magazine.

At the risk of sounding like a grumpy old timer, it is time that someone says it. For the love of God some people in sportfishing have gone far too crazy with social media. The fishing industry is not the only place where things have gotten crazy, but there are those among us whose social media habits have more in common with the likes of Britney Spears than with conduct suitable for the once dignified pastime that is big game fishing.

Could you imagine a picture of Hemingway standing next to a marlin with smiley faces and hashtags posted on the photo? What would have happened if someone hash tagged a picture of Davie Crockett with one the bears he killed with hearts, polka dots and emojis? He might have stopped bear hunting and started beating the person responsible. Now, for some reason, it is acceptable for even the manliest of men to take selfies holding fish…. #beachday! Something has changed.

Change is not bad. People used to actually get dressed up in tuxedos to fly on airplanes. These days you’re lucky if the guy next to you is wearing pants. This grand cultural shift got us thinking. Social media in the electronic age have changed fishing in some pretty strange and unexpected ways. Here is a list of some of the weirdest, most profound examples of change.

The Coconut Telegraph from Hell

In the early days of sportfishing, captains who fished in remote areas made sure to help one another. Given the difficulty of getting to places and the isolation once there (think Costa Rica in 1983 or St. Thomas is the early 1970s), boats understood the risks of fishing in far off places. If someone broke down, ran aground, or hit something while running, it was their fellow captains who would lend a hand to make sure that people and equipment were safe. This was an unwritten rule.

Today captains still help one another. The sportfishing industry is very tightly knit and most travelling captains have networks of friends ready and willing to help out in time of need. With the advent of social media, however, something very fundamental has changed. The change is not necessarily for the best either.

These days when something bad happens involving a boat—running aground, striking something, sinking, etc.— the first reaction of many is to grab their camera. Taking either pictures or video footage, onlookers are all too happy to capture someone else’s really terrible day. Once they have the pictures, it’s boom—straight to social media. “Like” whores don’t care whose picture they take, they just want likes.

Once the photos or videos are uploaded, even if the original photo is published with a message such as “Good thing everyone is safe, accidents happen…” it’s only a matter of time before a flood of insults, jokes, and ill-informed comments rain down from all corners of the internet. People from all walks of life— even those who have never set foot on a boat will comment– chiming in on what they think happened or what so and so should have done. With social media, for better or worse, everyone is an expert. Anyone can post anything.

Instantaneous news of an epic bite is great. When people a continent away find out that you’ve had the best fishing day of your life, that is pretty cool. But when something goes sideways and someone posts a picture of it, however, you’d better have some thick skin. You better not try to hide from it, either.

The Creation of Fishing Carnies…

Perhaps the strangest thing of all to happen because of social media has been the creation of fishing carnies. The word carnie is used to describe people who work at carnivals. They travel from town to town and constantly promote whatever it is that they’re doing along the way. They holler and dance around, generally harassing anyone who passes their way. The combination of fishing, self-promotion and social media have created some really crazy things.

You know the type, there are probably five or six that pop up on your phone. They are the ones who claim to have invented fishing and post live videos of themselves line dancing after catching a sheepshead. They often make crazy faces and weird hand gestures and force whoever is fishing with them on that day to do the same. They are generally nice people, many are excellent fishermen too.

Even when you can understand the motivation behind their actions—everyone has to make a living and most all people like to be recognized for what they do—it can be hard to take someone seriously who puts 50 hashtags behind the five things they post each day. What the hell does #MariahCareyMahiMahi mean? This can be especially hard to handle when you have good friends who do it.

“Oh, no buddy! Please stop putting things like that on social media…” You know it’s a good one when your wife calls, “Look what so and so posted now!” Everyone knows that guy, or sometimes a few of them.

The Purpose of Fishing.

For some, the purpose of going fishing is now to post pictures and selfies rather than to catch fish. What has happened? A charter man in North Carolina described recently that some of his clients now want to catch a few fish and race back to the dock to be the first to post the pictures of their catch on Facebook. Rather than trying to convince the captain to stay out for an extra hour or two of fishing, some clients cut their trips short in order to put some pictures online. For some, it is not the gratification of catching the fish that matters but the recognition for how many likes they can get from the picture of the act. This seems like a strange way to spend $2,000 per day.

Who Are You Fishing For?

Captain Tim Palmer is staple of the fishing community in Stuart, Florida. When it comes to fishing, Palmer has done it– if it swims he can catch it. Palmer is noticeably absent from social media. “I like keeping my cards close to my chest. It’s the way of the times, but I have a hard time sharing every aspect of my life,” Palmer reflects. “But I understand it as a tool for charter guys and those who need to promote what they’re doing.”

“A lot of knowledge that we attain is attained the hard way,” Palmer says. Before the advent of the internet, the most direct way of learning something was by doing it (you couldn’t just watch an instructional video on YouTube). “I’ve never had a Facebook account and I never will.”

Why does Palmer not have a social media account to show off all of the fish he’s caught? This is a fair question. In his living room, there are photos of 600-pound swordfish, giant grouper, huge blue marlin, permit the size of manhole covers, and 60-pound king salmon. Why not show this for all the world to see? For Palmer, the answer is simple, “I don’t fish for other people’s gratification, I fish for my own.”

The Loss of Adventure

Another unintended side effect of the power of the internet has been the loss of some of the adventure. While it is great to have access to videos about literally anything—that can show you before you go—some of the mystery and mystique of mastering the unknown may have been lost along the way. Captain Billy Borer started fishing professionally in the mid-1970s. Originally from Rhode Island, Borer started fishing in Stuart, Florida in 1978.

“The only things we had back then were radio, telephone and face to face conversations. Things filtered down from other places, but it was a lot slower than today,” the captain recalls. “There were no cell phones, no GPS and not much of the technology that we have today. Knowledge spread by guys going further and further.”

While a jaunt to the Bahamas today is common place, before GPS and satellite weather, such trips were altogether different. “Trips were a big deal,” Borer recalls. Reports of great fishing in some far-off corner of the Caribbean would entice captains and owners into having a go at fishing the unknown. Borer recalls the first captains to go to St. Thomas, Cuba and other fisheries that are now standard trips. “Some guys would have the gumption and would go. They’d come back with stories. It was a lot more of an adventure than it is today.”

“It was hard to be the first guys to go places. Lots of planning, lots of ifs and buts… lots of 55-gallon drums,” Borer says. “To me some of it has been lost… it was really exciting.”

# Conclusion

Social media is not bad, but I’ll be damned if it’s not strange. Marketing and the spreading of news are wonderfully easy with social media. The power of social media is immense and it has literally transformed the way we interact with the world. That said, nobody likes a fishing carnie.

 

Liked reading InTheBite commentary? Keep up with the now and SUBSCRIBE today!

 

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Email

Do you have any comments or questions for us? We’d love to hear from you.

    Filed Under: Featured Stories, News Tagged With: commentary, digital age, don't be that guy, fishing carnies, fishing industry, hashtag, InTheBite, social media, sportfishing, the strange world

    Recent News

    NC Billfish Series

    NC Billfish Series Dates

    Tuesday, March 2, 2021—The largest billfish tournaments in North Carolina are proud to present the NC Billfish Series. The eight NC Billfish Series tournaments have teamed up with weigh masters Randy Gregory and George Lott to recognize and award the … [Read More...]

    wild hooker on the water

    2020 Hawaii Division Captain of the Year Capt. Shane O’Brien

    Wild Hooker, 2,150 points Lazy Marlin Hunt 2nd Place – 300 pts. Firecracker Open 1st Place – 500 pts. Kona Throw Down 1st Place – 500 pts. Skins Marlin Derby 3rd Place – 100 pts. Big Island Marlin Tournament 1st Place Release – 500 pts. Haw … [Read More...]

    uno mas team at los suenos

    Uno Mas Takes First at Leg 2 of Signature Triple Crown

    With 33 sails and three marlin equaling a total of 4800 points, team Uno Mas was the winner of Leg 2 of the 2021 Signature Triple Crown. For the Champion's Cup, that gives them 500 points for first place within the International Division. First … [Read More...]

    vela boatworks catamaran gamechanger

    Vela Boatworks Enters the Sportfishing Market with New Catamaran “Gamechanger”

    Some things in life are just meant to be. For Tommy Jones and Blake Kingsbury it was boat building. The two had attended middle school together and were friends all the way through high school but ended up losing touch when they went to college. It … [Read More...]

    boats running

    The Extremes of Tournament Fishing

    By ITB Staff The time was, perhaps not too long ago, that tournament time meant rounding up a few friends, grabbing a half-dozen cases of beer, a handful of plugs and taking a boat ride. During some tournaments, the most important thing to … [Read More...]

    Leave a Reply

    Connect With InTheBite

    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Twitter
    • YouTube

    Sign Up for the InTheBite Newsletter


    Be the first to hear about the latest Sportfishing News, Products, and Services!

    Subscribe to InTheBite Magazine Today!

    InTheBite Magazine Current Cover

    Our latest issue is hitting the docks now! Be sure to subscribe to the hottest bluewater mag on the market. Purchase or Subscribe »

    Upcoming Tournaments

    Wed 03

    The Masters Angling Tournament

    February 28 - March 4
    Wed 03

    Jimmy Johnson’s Quest for the Ring

    March 2 - March 6
    Fri 12

    Quepos Billfish Cup

    March 12 - March 13
    Fri 12

    Pelagic Shamrock Shootout

    March 12 - March 13
    Wed 17

    Los Suenos Signature Billfish Series, Leg 3

    March 17 - March 20

    View More…

    InTheBite Champion’s Cup

    InTheBite Champions Cup Logo

    New for 2021, the Champion’s Cup is an optional paid entry with a winner-takes-all prize format for teams who want to up the stakes in each division utilizing our longstanding tournament scoring formula.

    Captain of the Year Cup Standings

    Captain of the Year Cup Standings Logo

    View the current standings for InTheBite's Captain of the Year Cup... Leaderboard »

    News

    • NC Billfish Series Dates

      NC Billfish Series Dates

      Tuesday, March 2, 2021—The largest billfish tournaments in North Carolina are proud to present the NC Billfish Series. The eight NC Billfish Series tournaments have teamed up with weigh masters Randy Gregory and George Lott to recognize and award the best tournament boats and anglers in North Carolina. The mission of the NC Billfish Series is to promote North Carolina’s... [Read More...]

    • Native Son Takes First in Leg 2 of the "Quest for the Crest" Sailfish Challenge

      Native Son Takes First in Leg 2 of the "Quest for the Crest" Sailfish Challenge

      First Place: Native Son, Capt. Art Sapp Second Place: Weez in the Keyz, Capt. Chris Zielinski Third Place: The Edge, BAR South in Top Spot for Most Sail Releases for the Florida Division Congratulations to BAR South and their six sail releases during Leg 2 of the "Quest for the Crest" Sailfish Challenge. This puts them at the top for... [Read More...]

    • New Updates on COVID Vaccine Requirements in Hawaii

      New Updates on COVID Vaccine Requirements in Hawaii

      Hawaii-Guide.com recently provided a new update to requirements and changes in regards to Hawaii travel and the COVID vaccine parameters. Read the excerpt below or click here for the full article. The Vaccine in Relation to Hawaii Travel Presently, proof of vaccination is not a recognized exemption to the Hawaii travel quarantine. The state continues to evaluate the latest science and... [Read More...]

    • Caterpillar Marine Releases the CAT C32B 2433 MHP Triple Turbo Marine Engine

      Caterpillar Marine Releases the CAT C32B 2433 MHP Triple Turbo Marine Engine

      Caterpillar Marine, Houston, Texas—Following the successful launch of the C32B 2025 MHP engine, Caterpillar Marine has announced the release of the new Cat® C32B Triple Turbo 2433 MHP (2400BHP) high-performance marine engine, with a rated engine speed of 2300 rpm. With an incredible 20% increase in power output, the C32B Triple Turbo engine leverages the same core engine upgrades as the... [Read More...]

    • Palm Beach Inlet Boat Gallery

      Palm Beach Inlet Boat Gallery

        January 16, 2021—Check out the gallery of some of the finest sportfishing teams returning to Palm Beach inlet. Most of the vessels are competing in the Operation Sailfish tournament. Scroll to the bottom for a new video showcasing the incredible speed of these modern-day machines as they return from the competition.  [Read More...]

    Search InTheBite

    Copyright © 2021 InTheBite, LLC · All Rights Reserved.

    loading Cancel
    Post was not sent - check your email addresses!
    Email check failed, please try again
    Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email.